Postman John retires after 22 years serving the community

AFTER 22 “wonderful” years working as a postman for An Post, John McMahon will be donning his satchel full of letters for the final time.

Over the past nine years, John has been working in his own locality, with his route taking him around the Tymon area – something he is full of pride over.

“I’ve been nine years on my present route, it took me a few months to get used to it at first but you get the hang of it,” John tells The Echo.

“The people are great in how they have helped me, directly and indirectly.

“They’re just smashing.

“So this is major for me because I got to know them all so well, the craic I do have going around here and there is absolutely wonderful.

“It’s a great loss, I deem them all as my customers you see and if you look after your customers, they’ll look after you – and they have really looked after me.”

John retires this week from An Post

Working in the area where he lives, John does deliver his own mail.

“I get the post before Ireland gets it,” he says laughing.

A native of Ballyfermot, John originally worked with the Irish Defence Forces as part of the Cavalry Squadron – the unit responsible for escorting the President – for 14 years.

Also travelling to Lebanon on a peace keeping mission during his time with the forces, John entered security for a brief spell before seeking a new challenge.

“I had to find something different and an old friend of mine, Noel Fitzgerald, I remember him so well, gave me the application form for An Post,” John tells The Echo.

“I looked at it and weighed up the pros and cons, the pros outweighed the cons and I’ve never looked back since.”

John says local people are ‘just smashing’

Comradeship and stability were the two main pros that caught John’s attention, and he found those traits working out of the sorting centre in Tallaght since starting on August 27, 1999.

Having raised seven children with his wife Eileen, the almost-66-yearold intends on spending more time with his family but by no means is he slowing down.

“I’ll keep doing my bit of cycling, I got a bike with the cycle to work scheme last year, so I’ll do that so I don’t seize up,” he says.

“I’d do 28 to 30km a day on the bike, so you’re talking around 150km a week on the route – I want to make sure I keep my mobility.

“I plan to keep myself active, I don’t want to turn into a couch potato.”

John’s final day on his Tymon route was Thursday, August 5.