'I will miss the people': Beloved postal worker to retire after 37 years serving downtown St. Pete

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - There aren’t many open air post offices like the one in downtown St. Petersburg. It’s one of only three such facilities in the entire country, and only open air post offices have letter carriers who deliver the mail on bicycles. 

Tommy Albritton, 71, is one of those letter carriers. 

"When I had my knee done, I told my doctor what I did for work, and he said that was good therapy for my knee," said Albritton.

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But, carrying the mail is just a part of it. He said his favorite part of the job is the customers he serves.

"He is amazing,"  said Linda Fyvolent, one of Albritton's customers. "Every day he comes in with positive words regardless of weather or what’s going on in here. He always makes us feel wonderful."

His job is the mail, and he’s meticulous. He makes sure that everything gets to everyone, but as he thinks about retiring this month after 37 years with the U.S. Postal Service, he doesn’t think about all the letters he has sorted. 

"I’m not going to miss the job," he said. "I will miss the people and my coworkers, I’m definitely going to miss that part of it." 

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Many of his customers work on various floors of several downtown office buildings. He always has time for a kind word. 

"We talk about everything, kids and life. He stops in, and he’s always cheering," says Julie Bowman, another customer of Albritton's.

He has a lot of friendly visits behind him, but also some happy plans ahead of him. 

"I’ve got some grandkids that I’ll be glad to spend some more time with," smiles Albritton. 

He said he plans to continue to ride a bicycle, although maybe not every day. His customers hope he’ll ride by to visit.