Retiring to work for those he loves
BY ALLAN TINKER
BHG News
Thirty-four years of serving a “good bunch of people” marks the life of Randy Anderson with good memories. The work, with 29 regular years of mail delivery and five years of subbing adding up to the 30-year postal system credit for retirement, came because he was “lucky to get the job.”
Roger Boe, a regular rural mail delivery person, was looking for a substitute driver. Anderson was doing construction work and the work was “sort of slow,” so he applied and got the job in 1983. He was a substitute driver for five years, then became a regular route driver in 1988.
The miles remained the same over the years but there were only 135 boxes on the route. When he retired there were 240 boxes, some on the expanded route on the edges of the city of Turtle Lake where customers are more than ¼ mile from the post office.
Packages also increased, from about 10-15 per day then and 30-40 boxes a day now.
“There is a lot more to deliver now,” said Anderson. “There are fewer first class letters but much more bulk business items, magazines and political mail. At times, there are three to four phone books delivered, we just pack them all in.
“The people were good, no trouble with anyone; there is a good bunch of people out there.
