Longtime Employee Retires From Newtown Post Office

By Nancy K. Crevier

After 27 years of service to the United States Postal Service, the last 20 of which were served at the Newtown Post Office on Commerce Road, Dee Duprey retired, Thursday, October 27.

Starting out as a part-time flexible employee in the Ridgefield Post Office and then at a branch in New Bedford, N.Y., Ms Duprey transferred to Newtown just after the new Commerce Road facility opened.

“I originally worked the window here,” said Ms Duprey. “You get one-on-one with the customers in that position, which I liked. Then the bulk mail position opened and I applied. That is also a good opportunity for one-on-one customer contact,” she said.

Since then, Ms Duprey has worked as a bulk mail technician, handling thousands of pounds of mail each day for any customers that do multiple mailings. “When I started, we were kind of a little mom and pop deal, here. Now, this is a multimillion-dollar facility, so far as bulk mail goes,” she said.

As a bulk mail technician, Ms Duprey is responsible for filing reports each morning, weighing bulk mail, verifying permits, seeing that bulk mail is correctly sorted by the customer, and verifying the payment method when customers come in to the post office. She verifies and calibrates the scales each day, as well.

Ms Duprey also facilitates plant loads at area businesses, including a weekly onsite plant load at The Newtown Bee printing plant on Commerce Road. This involves verifying the weights of the bulk mailings, making sure that all paperwork is in order, and that the order is sealed and securely loaded onto the USPS truck that picks it up and takes it to the Wallingford facility, from which bulk mail is distributed.

“I’ve gotten to know my bulk mail customers so well. I can’t think of one that is not nice,” said Ms Duprey. “I’ll miss them when I retire. They’ve made it easy for me,” she said.

Her decision to retire was not made lightly. “I like this position. I like that it has a physical aspect to it. There can be quite a bit of lifting and running around. I like what I do, because it’s not the same every day. It’s challenging. Things are changing every day,” she said.

Change is one thing she became used to in her job, she added. She has seen more post masters come and go than she cares to remember. She has seen regulation changes, physical changes in the facility, staff changes, and changes in technology.

“How the mail is processed, the mechanics of it, and even the way mail is delivered has changed quite a bit in 20 years,” Ms Duprey said.

The cost of first class letters has changed greatly, as well. “I think first class postage was around 29 cents when I started here,” she said, “and now it is 44 cents, and soon to go up to 45 cents.”

She will also miss her co-workers at the Newtown Post Office.

“I’m here 9 am to 5:30, every day. That’s a big chunk of the day. These people become your family,” Ms Duprey said.

What she will not miss is the winter commute from her New Milford home. “Last winter was awful. I want to get back into photography, which I used to do a lot of. There are a number of things I haven’t had time to do, and I’m looking forward to doing them again. I’m not one to sit still,” Ms Duprey said, although outside of a wedding Halloween weekend, she had no immediate plans. “The first couple of weeks will probably seem like I’m on vacation,” she said.

She plans to devote a good deal of her time this winter to work on her house, “and then in the spring, I guess I’ll relax,” she laughed. “I’m looking forward to time with my friends, too, who are also retired.”

Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet — nor her retirement — will stop the bulk mail from going through, though, she said. A clerk will take over the bulk mailing basics until a permanent replacement for Ms Duprey is hired. “I feel confident that my trainee knows what she is doing,” Ms Duprey said.

Newtown Post Office supervisor Rich Crowther is among the many at the Newtown Post Office who regret seeing Ms Duprey leave. Thumbing through a 1½-inch-thick stack of reports Ms Duprey had generated Tuesday, October 25, he said, “It will be hard to lose her 20 years of experience.”

“I have mixed feelings,” admitted Ms Duprey, “but I think it’s time to go.”