Near 80, He Still Works to the Letter

On a recent day, Robert Carey, 79, shuffled out of the Brookhurst Street postal station to deliver the daily mail--as he has done for almost 40 years.

Few U.S. Postal Service employees have been at it so long. Even rarer is that Carey has spent most of his career delivering to a single neighborhood.

Although his route has recently been shortened to lighten his load, Carey has no plans to quit. And his customers are most grateful. They look forward to seeing Carey, who now uses a pushcart to deliver the mail, and worry when he misses a day. They describe him as conscientious, friendly, caring--and, most important, say that he always delivers the mail on time.

“He’s like the typical old-time postman: Through rain, sleet or snow, he’s going to get your mail to you,” pharmacist Sab Horiba said.

Added Bill Farrell, who admires Carey because he walks up a flight of stairs to his insurance office to hand-deliver the mail: “He’s really a good friend. He’s not just a postman anymore.”

Carey has been on the job for 39 years. The postal service includes all federal service in its tenure calculations, so Carey actually has worked 59 years, including 20 in the military.

He is one of two Orange County postal employees with more than 50 years of tenure. (The other employee, who no longer delivers mail, declined to be interviewed.) Statewide, of 90,000 postal employees, 15 have more than 50 years of federal service, and nationwide, of the 750,000 postal employees, 182 have more than 50 years of service.

“This is his life,” said fellow letter carrier Alex Sifuentes, who has worked with Carey for 11 years. “He says he looks forward to this every day. He’s doing what he loves. . . . He could have retired 20 years ago.”

But Carey, who delivers mail in the Brookhurst Street and Ball Road area, has no plans to hang up his satchel.

“I enjoy the work and meeting people. It’s just a happy atmosphere,” said Carey, a Garden Grove resident for 39 years. “This is like a family.”

Carey, married to wife Iris for 52 years, has never considered changing jobs because, he says, he likes serving the public. Postal customers have invited him to family weddings, parties and christenings and given him gifts at Christmas.

“It’s just a good life,” said Carey, though he has been bitten five times by dogs.

After retiring as a Navy chief hospitalman in 1957, Carey joined the postal service and worked a route in downtown Los Angeles. In January 1958, he transferred to the Brookhurst post office, where he has worked ever since.

Co-workers and customers say they are glad to still see Carey, who is also known as “The Hat” because he always wears his white plastic helmet adorned with his postal badge, No. 121. It is the number Carey was given when he became a letter carrier on March 13, 1957.

“What keeps him going is being here,” said letter carrier Debra Elizarraras. “He’s my inspiration--not that I want to be here that long, but he helps us make it through the day.”