Wheaton postal worker retires after 40 years

Being a postal worker runs in Tom Rademacher’s family.

His brother, Pete, delivers mail along a nearby route in Wheaton, and their father, Pat, spent 30 years doing the same.

After 40 years in the business, Tom Rademacher decided to hang up his mail bag for the last time Monday.

He doesn’t see his two kids following in the family succession line.

“I’m not encouraging them to go into the postal service,” said Rademacher, 58, of Carol Stream.

As the digital age transforms the way people communicate and do business, the post office has been forced to change along with it. That’s meant increased stamp prices, office shutdowns and layoffs.

After 40 years of delivering mail, Rademacher says it’s just his time to go. But economic factors played a part in his decision as well. His salary has gone down and he’s back to working six days a week — cost-cutting measures in response to a struggling business and economy.

“The Internet’s done a job on the postal service,” Rademacher said. “I pay my bills online, too.”

Rademacher has spent three out of his four decades at the post office delivering to subdivisions up and down Orchard Road, north of Butterfield Road, in Wheaton. He said he’s seen a significant decline in the amount of mail in the past few years. There are fewer bills, fewer magazines and fewer greeting cards. Most of what he drops off is advertising.

But he says some longtime customers still feel better putting a letter or bill payment in an envelope, sealing it shut, and slapping a stamp on it.

“They say, ‘I’m still gonna stay with the snail mail. I put the mail in the box and it gets to the place.’”

Rademacher began delivering mail out of his Chevy Nova in the 1970s, though it was while sitting on the passenger side to gain access to street-side mailboxes.

“I did the gas and the break with my left foot,” he said. “I still kinda do that.”

Back then, Rademacher says he got to know customers better since there were more people home during the day.

What has stayed the same over 40 years is Rademacher’s uniform — or lack thereof. As a member of the rural letter carrier’s union, he’s allowed to dress casually to work.

He said he’s enjoyed 40 years at the postal service and all the people he’s worked with. His current route will be split up among remaining employees — just some of the ways the post office is trying to save money.

“They’ve got to,” he said.