Steve Carpenter retires after 31 years at Pulaski Post Office

Pulaski Post Office window clerk, Steve Carpenter, processes mail from Roger Dean, during his final week before retiring after 31 years of service with the Post Office. (Danielle Reid/Patriot Publishing)

By DANIELLE REID

Patriot Publishing

Although it had been several years since this reporter visited the United State Post Office (USPS) in the Town of Pulaski, it was a pleasant surprise to be greeted by the tall man in the window who said, “Welcome!  It’s been a while since you were here.  Ms. Reid, right?”

It was astonishing that USPS Clerk Steve Carpenter remembered my name.  We had moved our P. O. Box delivery to the Dublin location a few years prior because it was more convenient to our home and pattern of business.

Carpenter’s co- worker, Samantha Daubach, chuckeled as she explained, “Steve remembers everyone’s name.  And that’s a lot of names to remember over his 31-year career with the Post Office.”

On Wednesday, April 30^th, Carpenter left his postal window and retiried; so the responsibility of remembering Pulaski Post Office patrons’ names will be in the capable hands of other Pulaski USPS employees.

“Everyone is cross-trained in each other’s jobs, so service should continue smoothly to our postal customers,” agreed Carpenter and Daubach.

At that point in our conversation, Roger Dean approached the postal window with his day’s mail and amicably chatted with Daubach  and Carpenter.

The conversation flowed like a script out of the Mayberry TV series, featuring small talk about the people and community.

“I’ve known Steve for 20 to 30 years,” commented Dean.  “He’s an outstanding employee of the postal system: a diligent worker, kind, knowledgeable, practically irreplaceable,” he added.

Carpenter, who is modest in his demeanor and humble, seemed temporarily overcome by the praise.  He says that one of the most positive things about his job was getting to know and work with the public, especially the people of Pulaski.  The other positive event was meeting his future wife, Sue, in 1997 when they were both working as clerks.

Carpenter has seen a lot of changes in the Postal Service since he started working in September 1994.  For one thing, the price of stamps has risen from 29 cents to 73 cents  (with another potential increase coming soon).

Automation has been another big change, Carpenter added.  When he started working, everything was done manually but now, everything is computerized.  At that time, there were four full-time Postal clerks.  Now there is one full-time and the rest are part-time.

During his tenure, Carpenter said he has worked with eight different Postmasters.

Carpenter has endured through the 2001 Anthrax bio-terrorism tactics, when after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, anthrax spores were mailed to major news outlets and congressional offices.  More recently, he remembers the challenges of COVID-19 where the entire nation depended on the Postal Service to still deliver medicine, supplies, Social Security checks, legal papers and personal and business correspondence.

Prior to working for the Post Office, Carpenter served his country in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1987 to 1993.  He was stationed in Camp Lejeune, NC and Kaneohe Bay, HI.  He also honorably served in Desert Storm and Desert Shield.

When asked what his retirement plans are, Carpenter said he would be working on his farm and traveling.

Maybe the best part of retirement will be saying goodbye to constantly having to repeat the USPS-required, “Anything liquid, fragile, perishable, potentially hazardous such as lithium batteries or perfume,” to being a gentleman farmer.