A lifetime with the US Postal Service is enough for Tony Hall.
Cobleskill Postmaster for 12 years, Mr. Hall retired from the USPS on Thursday after 42 years.
“People ask me if I’m getting adjusted. It didn’t take long,” said Mr. Hall, laughing.
His mother worked for the Postal Service, and Mr. Hall planned a similar career all along. He worked part-time as Christmas help in 1978, took the required test his senior year in high school in Westchester County and started in Yonkers in 1979.
Mr. Hall moved to Cobleskill, where he still lives, in 1990 and worked at the Albany City Post Office for 12 years.
He became Cobleskill Postmaster in 2003.
“My aspiration was to be Postmaster here,” Mr. Hall said. “I love the community.”
In 2016 came a series of promotions: Operations Manager in Schenectady, Officer in Charge in Albany City, Schenectady Postmaster and then Senior Operations Manager, responsible for post offices from Binghamton to Plattsburgh.
All along he’s heard complaints about the Postal Service, and he understands––up to a point.
“It’s the high expectations we’re held to,” Mr. Hall said. “Even with the recent price increase, we’re the cheapest in the world. We’re the most reliable, the most dependable in the world.
“We’re expected to deliver and we do. When we get complaints, we follow through.”
Many of his longtime friends in the Postal Service have retired, and the demands of his most recent position––Senior Operations Manager––were demanding.
“My job was 24/7,” he said. “I had people working every single minute of every single day. Will I miss that? No.”
Mr. Hall said he’ll continue to play guitar, which he’s done for years. He and his wife, Kimberly, have a motor home, and they plan to travel.
In the future, the Halls will be snowbirds.
“Anymore, I can take winter up to January,” Mr. Hall said. “February and March, not so much. We’ll spend a couple of months down South.”