Popular Puyallup letter carrier retiring after 37+ years, the last 14 on the same route

When Paul Mahoney signed on with the U.S. Postal Service 37-1/2 years ago, things were very different than they are today.

Mahoney’s career began in Danville, California, and, when a family member relocated to Federal Way, Mahoney brought his family to Puyallup.

In those early days of his career, Mahoney said all the mail was hand sorted. The one thing that has remained throughout his career is the relationship he has developed with his customers.

His last day of delivering the mail was June 30, but his official retirement day is the end of August.

“I’ve gotten to know them, and they are like family to me,” he said.

Mahoney has had the same route in Puyallup for the last 14 years and said he knows just about everybody.

“They become part of your daily life, and you get to know them and have good conversations,” he said.

When the Cherokee Park neighborhood talked to him in 2013 about convincing the City of Puyallup to install speed bumps in their neighborhood, Mahoney knew just who to contact at the city to get the ball rolling. He helped neighbors contact every person whose house butted up to Forrest Green Boulevard to sign on to the project and they got the 60% of signatures needed to move forward.

“Neighbors were having a hard time and couldn’t figure out how to go about it, so I contacted the city and got the forms,” he said.

Another cause Mahoney headed up was approaching the city to consider Rainier Woods Park as the location for a dog park. The city’s plan was to locate the dog park in Wildwood Park, and Mahoney found that the job would cost about $500,000. He and the neighbors talked to others to see if anyone would object to the project, and, when the neighbors all agreed, Mahoney met with the Park Board and was able to facilitate the dog park’s installation.

“All they had to do there was put up a fence,” he said.

When a candidate for a local office was running for the first time, Mahoney suggested his customers support her.

“I think every house in Rainier Woods voted for her,” said Mahoney. That candidate won the election handily.

Mahoney takes his position as a mail carrier seriously and considers it part of his job to keep “his” neighborhoods safe.

If a customer is difficult to deal with, Mahoney flashes his winning smile and calm demeanor to tackle the problem.

“You get to know your customers and things go pretty smoothly most of the time,” he said.

After Mahoney and his wife, Loli, lost their adult daughter to a sudden illness in 2018, his customers came out in droves to comfort him.

“I had just gotten back to work from the loss and there was a group at Rainier Woods Park at a baseball game for the kids. One of the gals saw me and she brought everyone with her and I stopped my vehicle in the middle of the street.”

“That day,” said Mahoney, “I cried like a baby.

Mahoney will be facing hip replacement surgery and then he and Loli, who retired from the postal service 15 years ago, will sell their house and move to Arlington to be close to their son.

“What I will miss is the people,” he said.

It sounds like they will be missing him, too.