When Bluffton native Denny Edinger starting working for the U.S. Postal Service you could buy a first-class stamp for a quarter and get three cents change.
That was 1986.
Denny, a fixture at the Bluffton post office stamp window, won’t be there tomorrow or Monday. On Friday he retired after 30 years with post office.
After three decades handling patron mail requests, you might guess that Denny can identify you by your street address.
“I see some people and suddenly can’t think of their name, but I know their address,” he said.
To test this, Ed Reichenbach stopped at postal window and Denny greeting him, “Hello, 341 South Lawn Avenue.”
During his postal tenure, Denny covered all three city routes and worked with 17 Bluffton postmasters or postal supervisors.
For a time, he served as postal officer in charge of several area post offices. Those included Cairo, Middle Point, Mt. Cory and Arlington.
Denny claims that some of the postage that came into the Bluffton office actually spoke to him.
That mail included live baby chicks, bees, crickets, geese (overnighted), at least one rooster, worms and even eggs – which didn’t talk back.
Holidays for postal employees are often observed on the clock. Denny said that many of his Christmas Eves and Christmas Days were spent delivering Priority Mail.
With his postal career soon behind him, Denny plans to spent lots of time in his woodworking shop and with his grandchildren.
With woodworking taking over much of his time, he admits that: “Of course, I’ll miss all the people who stop in the post office.”
And your postal customers will miss you, Denny.
