What:
Chester Reed, who proudly claims to be 95 ½ and is the nation’s oldest U.S. Postal Service employee, is ready to retire and will be turning in his forklift keys at his retirement celebration.
Who:
Mail handler and Honoree Chester Reed
District Manager Dallas Keck
Senior Plant Manager Larry Belair
San Bernardino Plant Manager Jim Olson
When:
4:00 P.M.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Where:
San Bernardino Processing & Distribution Center Cafeteria
1900 W Redlands Blvd.
Redlands CA 92373
Please Note:
Media is asked to RSVP to Eva Jackson at 858–437–1493 for further instructions on how and where to enter the facility.
Mr. Reed will be available for pre–scheduled one–on–one interviews. To make arrangements, please contact Eva Jackson at 858–437–1493 in advance.
Background:
On his retirement date, Chester Reed will have accrued 37 years and 16 days of Postal Service employment, and to top it off, will have never used a day of sick leave. Combined with his military service time, Reed has a total of 62 years, 10 months and 12 days of government service.
Reed was born in 1914 in Bridgeport, Ohio. As a young man, he worked as a manager at a Texas heating and air conditioning business. Reed enlisted with the Air Force at the age of 33 in 1947. He was stationed in the San Bernardino area, and after 25 years of service, retired from the Air Force as a sergeant. Reed then joined the U. S. Postal Service in 1973, and has since worked as a mail handler–forklift operator at the San Bernardino Processing and Distribution Center.
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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/news.
A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no direct support from taxpayers. With 36,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, the Postal Service relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $68 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 28th in the 2009 Fortune 500.
