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MARSHALL - Mark Erickson has always tried to add extra touches as he worked in the Marshall Post Office the past three decades and that is what customers and his boss will miss after he retires on Oct. 30.

"Betty Olson taught me people like it when you call them by name," he said. "I try to learn one new name a day."

"I think Mark knows everyone in Marshall on a first-name basis," said Debby Otto of Marshall. "He's friendly and courteous and never seems to have a bad day."

Erickson will take advantage of an early out retirement plan and his last day on the job is Friday.

"Mark, as a sales associate, has a tremendous rapport with the customers and has always provided a high level of service to those customers," said his boss of 11 years, Carol Noble, who said cakes will be available in the lobby on Friday for those who want to stop by and talk to Erickson.

"I've gotten a lot of good friendships from customers and employees," Erickson said. "It's more fun and you have to have fun. It's been a great career."

"It was always nice to walk in and see your face," Chellsie Travis of Marshall told him. "I will miss you."

He had already made the decision to leave in 2010, but was recently offered an "early out."

"My wife, Jill, and I decided to take it," he said. "They offered it to 30,000 clerks and you had to meet certain criteria."

He is a postal clerk and works the counter in the mornings, and does the bulk mailings in the afternoons, occasionally filling in on counter duties when needed.

"Time goes fast and it's hard to believe it's been this many years," Erickson said.

Erickson started in July 1980, but with time off he's accumulated, he will officially retire with "Thirty years, one month and 13 days," he said. Erickson has worked for the Marshall Post Office the whole stretch.

He came to Marshall to attend Southwest State University, where he met his wife, and decided to stay to be near Jill's family.

After graduation, he taught in various schools for five years.

"I was teaching summer school math at Marshall Middle School," Erickson said. "My wife was pregnant and I needed to find something."

Teaching positions weren't opening up, and he had taken the post office civil service test. He applied for an opening at the Marshall Post Office and was hired as a clerk/carrier.

There have been many changes. They used to give out mints on Fridays.

"Elderly people would come in and it would make their day," Erickson said. "It was a fun tradition. It's been 10 years since we stopped doing it, but people are still coming in asking for their Friday mints."

"Computers and e-mail" are the biggest changes he's seen.

"E-mailing has kind of killed us," Erickson said. "Businesses want you to pay online now. The volume has just dropped.

"When I started here, you had twice as many clerks because you were sorting it by hand, but now with automation, you don't have that," Erickson added. When workers left or retired, they weren't replaced.

But if computers have cut into the profit, they have also reduced the work.

Erickson used to spend an hour or more totaling all the checks by hand.

"Now, at the end of the night, you push a button and everything is printed for you. Done in about five minutes," Erickson said. "With computers now, it's so nice."

As he postal career ends, he plans to take it easy for a couple of weeks and go deer hunting. After that, he wants to get some part-time work.

"I have to find something so I won't drive Jill crazy," Erickson said.

He plans to spend more time with her and their two sons and daughter.

He will miss the interaction with customers and they said they will miss him.

"He's a super guy and I don't want him to go," said Sue Oliveira of Marshall.

"I wish him the best and we'll miss him at the window at the post office," said Judy Wallerich of Marshall.