The cost of a first-class stamp has more than tripled in the three decades Connie James has worked as a postal clerk. The price of a friendly smile or laugh is still free though, and James has dispensed more of them than stamps over the years. She’ll spend her last day behind the counter at the United States Post Office in Annandale on Friday, May 2, before taking an early retirement and heading Up North. Postmaster Ellen Stifter has invited everybody to stop in that day between 2 and 5 p.m. to wish James well. Stifter, who’s worked with James for more than eight years, said her "right-hand person" will be hard to replace. "She’s always upbeat, positive and gets along well with the customers. "People just love her." James, 55, said she’s a people person and feels the same way. "I love the people of Annandale and the surrounding area," she said. She won’t miss having to get up every morning and having to be somewhere at a certain time. "But I am going to miss the people." James joined the postal service in October 1977 in Silver Creek and worked there for about three years as a part-time clerk. The late Val Lawler, who was the Annandale postmaster, called her one day and asked if she wanted to pick up some extra hours. She did and became a part-time clerk here until September 1999, when she started working full-time. James couldn’t recall, but according to a web site at www.swivel.com, a first-class U.S. postage stamp cost 13 cents in 1977. It’s now 41 cents and about to go up to 42 cents. She did remember, however, that as a part-timer she worked every Saturday-morning shift until 1999. Asked about the sunny disposition she displays behind the counter, James said she’s just following her mother’s advice and example. "My mom always said to us … if you get mad you’ll just have to get over it," she laughed. Her mother never complains, James said, and that state of mind has apparently been good for her. At 90, Bernice Hoglund lives in her own apartment in Monticello, and James believes her attitude is responsible for her longevity. She tries to emulate her mother, she said. "I try to look at the good in people, not the bad. I’ve been trying to practice that." James ranked development of the stamp that you don’t have to lick among the big advances in the post office during her career. "One of the best things they’ve ever done is come out with that self-adhesive stamp," she said. That and the computer have made things a lot easier on postal clerks. Before those innovations, the clerk had to weigh the package, choose various stamps to add up to the total value, lick all the stamps, put them on the package and cancel them. Now, you just put the package on the machine, it prints out a sticker with everything on it – date, weight, destination, stamp value and a bar code – and you slap the sticker on. "I don’t miss the licking of stamps," James said. And the automation is especially nice during the Christmas rush. She and her husband, Jerry, won’t waste any time moving up to the house they built on the shore of Lake Vermillion five years ago, James said. It’s about 20 miles southwest of Grand Rapids and has a Deer River address. "I call it our old folks home," she said, because it’s all on one level and there are no steps. They plan to do a lot of fishing as well as snowmobiling and four wheeling. "We hope we get a lot of company. We want people to stop in and visit." They’ll also spend some time on their hunting land near Staples, though James isn’t a hunter. "I just like to be around to listen to the silence," she said. With family and friends in the area, the couple will be back to visit, James said. Their son Brian lives in Maple Lake while Alan is in Brainerd. Besides her mother, James’ brother Gary lives in Monticello, her brother Dean lives in Annandale and Ron lives in Big Lake. "I know at least once a month I’m going to come home," she said.
