Letter carrier Sal Miscioacia of Rockville Centre retires after 42 years

Salvatore Miscioacia, a letter carrier with the United States Postal Service, will be retiring early next month after 42 years at the Rockville Centre Post Office. During his time with the post office, he’s experienced the evolution of the delivery industry and how important his role is to the many residents in the community.

Miscioacia said that over the years he’s worked with so many great people that it’s going to be hard to say goodbye.

“I’m really going to miss a lot of people,” Miscioacia said. “People that I’ve worked with and people I’ve delivered mail to.”

Miscioacia’s career path began when picked up a copy of The Chief-Leader newspaper, a privately owned publication with a focus on civil service and government jobs in and around the New York City metropolitan area.

With the encouragement of his parents, he took all of the civil service tests, and was selected as a possible officer with the Postal Police Office, with hopes of working at Kennedy Airport.

When that option wasn’t available, he went back and took a test for a position at the Post Office. He passed and after a job interview, became a clerk. But he wasn’t interested in the job for too long. He wanted to do something different. After speaking with his boss, he decided to become a letter carrier, and quickly found he enjoyed it more than he did with the last job.

“You’re out with the people in the community and you meet some really great people. That’s the best part and that’s the part I’m going to miss,” Miscioacia said. “Throughout all these years, some of these people became a second family. I delivered their mail when they were married. I delivered it when they had children, and then I saw their children go to college. And then get married. So it’s almost like another family.”

Having been in the position for so long, Salvatore developed valuable skills. He became so familiar with his daily routes that he didn’t even need to look at the addresses on the letter, and could recognize them just by the name alone. He found that even if the address was wrong or missing a number, he could recognize the name of the person it was delivered to.

Miscioacia has delivered the mail to doctors, lawyers, dentists, and so many others that he’s formed companionships with. He recalled how one time, he had a bad toothache while he was delivering the mail to a dentist, and one of them offered to give him an X-Ray without any charge.

But being a letter carrier can also be challenging. Over the years, the numbers of parcels that have been sent through the postal service have increased. Miscioacia said it had gotten out of control during the pandemic. Some mailmen even had to work extra jobs with UPS. While everybody was under pressure, they managed to work through it together as a team.

Throughout the years, he has witnessed a great many changes in the mail service industry. When he first started as a letter carrier, more than four decades ago, the mail was sorted and organized by hand.

When machines were introduced to the industry they were put in charge of sorting, scanning, and documenting the mail too. He went from driving a small delivery truck to driving a big delivery truck with the exception of air conditioning. He believes the one thing that will stay the same is the post office and letter carriers.

Once he retires, Miscioacia plans to take things easy. He hopes to travel and get started on some projects being done at his house. He’s also considering looking for a part-time job at Home Depot or a dog shelter.

“Sal is a super friendly guy that goes out of his way for his co-workers,” Cira Devito, a letter carrier and “work wife” of Miscioacia, said. “He is a union representative that fights very hard for justice. We will all miss him. He’s a peacekeeper who always looks out for those in the craft.”

Devito has known him throughout her entire career at the Rockville Centre Post Office. She said that she will miss Miscioacia for his sense of humor and his good nature and that she wishes him nothing but the best with his retirement.