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Final Deliveries : 2 Valley Mailmen Retire Following 3 Decades on Job

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Aside from perhaps being just a bit warmer than they would have preferred, Saturday was a pretty routine day for letter carriers Don Stinebring and Joe Trpcic.

No rain, hail, sleet, snow or biting dogs.

The men bundled and delivered about 2,000 pieces of mail apiece, chatting with customers and patting a few friendly pets, then returned to their West Hills station on Sherman Way to punch out for the last time.

For Stinebring, it was the end of 31 years delivering mail, for Trpcic, 33 years, all working in the same Gault Street neighborhood west of Fallbrook Avenue.

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Besides retiring on the same day, the two share many other similarities. They are both 63, live in West Hills, and are “still married to their first wives,” Trpcic noted. They also grew up in the East about 130 miles from each other.

Neither has any regrets about his choice of career.

“It’s a great job,” said Trpcic, born in Reserve Township, Pa., outside Pittsburgh. “I would highly recommend it.”

He said the pluses are working outside, getting plenty of exercise and the opportunity “to get to know and see a lot of people.”

Stinebring, born in Wooster, Ohio, said the best part of the job has been the people: co-workers and customers.

“I’m going to miss them, but I don’t want to stay on this job forever,” he said.

He’ll still have a family connection. His son, Randy, who began working part time in the Canoga Park Station, is now a letter carrier in Apple Valley.

Stinebring described his 33 years as “rather uneventful,” and recalled having been bitten only twice by dogs.

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“Being on the same route, you get acquainted with your customers’ pets,” he said. “I feel sorry for our ‘floating carriers’ who have many more opportunities for encounters with strange dogs.”

Stinebring remembers when carriers had time for lunch and breaks on the job. Trpcic misses starting work at 6 a.m. and finishing at 3 p.m., making for a “cooler” delivery day. Now, in an effort to ensure more next-day delivery, letter carriers start their shifts at 8 a.m.

The biggest change they have seen is the volume of mail they deliver. If Americans are reading less, nobody can prove it by these two.

“People thought that when second-class postage rates went up, it would drive second-class publications out of business,” Trpcic said. “There are more magazines than ever, some devoted exclusively to things like swimming and bicycling.”

Christmas card volume is down, however, said Trpcic, who estimates he delivers only a quarter of the number of cards today that he did in the early 1960s. He attributes the decline to the inflation of postage rates.

When he started, a first-class stamp was a nickel.

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