Three Worthington postal workers saying their goodbyes

• Retirees

Three familiar faces — Roxanne Koster (from left), Wanda Stoberl and Russell Like — are retiring from their jobs at the Worthington Post Office. Their last day is Thursday.

Talk about it

WORTHINGTON — Nearly 85 collective years of experience will walk out the door of the Worthington Post Office next Thursday when Roxanne Koster, Russell Like and Wanda Stoberl retire.

“Does your package have anything liquid, fragile, perishable or potentially hazardous or contain lithium batteries or perfume?” the trio will rattle off at the appropriate moments on Jan. 31 before ending their U.S. postal service careers.

“You think 28½ years is a long time, and it seems long some days, but the funny thing is, we didn’t get a day older,” teased Koster, a Round Lake resident.

Like tops Koster’s length of service by a mere three months, but has maintained bragging rights on seniority ever since; Stoberl, of Heron Lake, began sorting mail and waiting on postal customers shortly thereafter, having logged 27½ years herself.

Dale Kruse hired Koster — the first woman to work at the local post office — in 1984, and she remembers him saying he’d talked to the guys about “watching what they said around me and not touching me,” she laughed.

It turned out to be the dry, quick wit of co-worker Like that kept Koster on her toes all these years.

“He harasses the customers, and they love it,” she quipped. “He might snarl at someone, ‘What do you want now?’ or ask, ‘Are you still here?’”

Before learning the ins and outs of postal delivery options, Stoberl, Koster and Like all had other callings. Stoberl did “odd jobs here and there,” Koster spent time raising her two kids and Worthington resident Like was in the U. S. Marine Corps and then an assistant manager at the Iona Elevator.

“I like the customers, I really do,” professed Like. “I’m going to miss them.”

Chimed in Koster, “We have fun with them, and they have fun with us; we joke, they joke.”

But sometimes, customers say or do the strangest things.

“Just recently, a person came in and wanted to buy up 46-cent stamps,” said Koster, noting that first-class postage increases to 47 cents this Sunday. “I explained that ‘forever’ stamps were what they needed, but it didn’t quite sink in.”

If these three have a pet peeve, it’s one that has developed over the past 10 years: discourteous cell phone use.

“People on cell phones will come up to the counter and will not stop talking, even if there’s a line behind them,” recounted Stoberl. “It drives me up the wall. We’ll be trying to help them, and they’ll hold up a finger as if to say, ‘Just wait a minute,’ and then keep talking.

“That, and people bringing in big bills.”

Koster explained the office starts off each morning with just $100 change in the till, so when people present a $50 or $100 bill early in the day for a small purchase, it can be problematic.

Earlier in their postal careers, the three workers were involved in daily sorting of the local mail. Most sorting is now automated, and according to Stoberl, “No piece of mail stays here overnight; it all goes to Mankato or Minneapolis.

“That’s kind of irritating — especially when it leaves here and doesn’t come back,” Stoberl said.

The issuance of passports is also a newer development in the life of the post office. Before the county discontinued that service, the post office issued around 150 annually, but last year it processed nearly 600 passports.

The Christmas season meets with mixed reviews from these veterans.

“I take two weeks’ vacation then, so I hardly notice,” laughed Koster, while Like said, “It depends; sometimes people are in better moods then, but sometimes they think the postage is high because they’ve spent too much money on other stuff.”

Despite recent dismal reports about the U.S. Postal Service’s well-being, Koster, Like and Stoberl feel good about having been part of providing a valuable public service for so many years — and they say traffic flow at the local office is still steady and fairly high.

“A first-class stamp cost 20 cents when I started in 1984, and it’s still amazing what you can get for 45 or 46 cents,” Koster said.

The three have modest retirement plans; Koster will travel more with her husband, Dale, and enjoy extra time with grandchildren Shea, Ava and Turner; Stoberl, who typically rises between 2 and 3 a.m. for her 4 or 5 a.m. shift start, intends to do “nothing much but get back to a normal schedule” for a time. Her two children and one granddaughter live in the area.

Like, who leaves a legacy of his own in that his daughter, Brandy, joined the local postal staff in 2007, says he will “shut the alarm off and not answer the phone.” He also hopes to keep riding his favored Harley-Davidson motorcycle and spend time with grandchildren — Jacoby, Taylor and the one “on the way.”

Losing so much experience and familiarity at one time may be a bit shocking to the public.

“We’re going to lose a lot of knowledge with their collective years of service, and they’ve been excellent workers,” Worthington postmaster Lynel Hokeness said. “We’ll miss them as co-workers and friends, and we’ll be short-staffed as we work on the hiring process so it will be hectic for those left behind.”

But the hijinks and good-natured ribbing the three have shared in their careers will not be soon forgotten. Like’s tendency to delay haircuts — sometimes for years — has not gone unnoticed. Koster and Stoberl said a few of Like’s rare haircuts were memorable.

“He got it cut for the kids’ wedding, then when he was in the hospital getting his appendix out — and once his friends cut it for him after a big night out,” hinted Koster.

“I just let it be,” defended Like. “It’s just me.”

Like, Koster and Stoberl were feted with a retirement dinner in early December that also honored Rural Route 1 postal carrier Wendell Wagner, who retired Nov. 1, 2012, after nearly 25 years in that position.

“I liked my patrons, and I felt people appreciated my service,” said Wagner, who continues to farm near Rushmore. “My route was 86 miles long every day, and the variable road conditions in the winter could make it challenging.

“Nobody knew I was retiring; I just finished it up and left, so a lot of people might think I’m still doing the route,” Wagner said with a laugh.

Wagner, who enjoys winter vacations with his wife, Mary, has five children and 10 grandchildren. While he faithfully drove his route for more than eight hours a day each week, he praises his office-bound colleagues, too.

“Those three are great workers, as dedicated as you get,” Wagner said. “I’ve worked at other offices where people don’t care as much, but it’s a pretty dedicated staff there. Our post office offers great service.”

The public is welcome to stop in and bid farewell to Stoberl, Like and Koster on Thursday.

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