For Darren Snelson, contact with people - both colleagues and customers - was always the highlight of his work with Victoria's postal service.

It will also be what he misses most, following his retirement last week as a 47-year career veteran.

Darren (or 'Buzz'), now 63, started his working life in Ascot Vale as a telegram boy and mail sorter, just two weeks shy of his 16th birthday.

"Dad worked for PMG (Postmaster General's Department), which later became Australia Post, and was the boss of the supply branch," Darren recalled.

"He said there was a job going at Ascot Vale, so I decided to take it.

"I liked delivering telegrams, and sorting mail was alright too - I still remember postcodes from when I was sorting 47 years ago."

After six months in the role, Darren moved to Altona North as a storeman, where he helped provide Victorian post offices with all their necessary supplies.

About six years into this position, Darren travelled to visit a mate who had moved to Wangaratta, and the city won his heart.

"It was a nice country town, and I loved the lifestyle," he said.

Shortly after that first visit, Darren moved to Wangaratta and took up a job at the city's post office, mail sorting, and delivering telegrams and parcels.

"I've been here ever since - I wouldn't go back to living in Melbourne," he said.

In 1990, a job as a postie came up, and Darren jumped at the chance.

"I absolutely loved it - you're out on your own, and I used to ride 20 to 25km a day, and as I got to know the customers, would stop and have a chat," he said.

"I did that for 15-plus years, then we moved from the old post office to where the post office is now, and a job came up as a night-sort supervisor, working from midnight to about 7 or 8am.

"We had about five or six people working through the morning, and we'd get the mail ready for contractors to deliver to all the country towns."

In a further change over the last decade or so, Darren's role with Australia Post has involved delivering mail by trolley around Wangaratta's CBD.

"I'd have to say that's the best job I've had, getting to know the customers in the main streets; it really is the people I've enjoyed most about the job," he said.

Darren, who said he was the last of Wangaratta's '90s-era posties to retire, said he had seen enormous change in the postal service through the decades of his working life.

"The biggest thing is the parcels - they've just gone through the roof; it's unbelievable how many parcels are sent now," he said.

"When I came here, if you got 100 parcels it was a big day; now, there are hundreds and hundreds, and our posties deliver a lot of parcels."

He said during his time as a postie, the push bike was the sole form of transport, while now there were motorbikes, e-bikes and electric delivery vehicles.

As memories from his career have floated through his mind in recent weeks - from the little dog off Hulme Drive which would always come running at his post bike; to the spontaneous middle-of-the-night song-whistling that would boost spirits during mail sorting in the busy pre-Christmas period; to the days when there was only one house in Cribbes Road and many streets now built-up were only paddocks; and being in the right place to help a Franklin Street resident who had fallen at home alone - Darren is grateful for all his career has provided.

"I never thought when I started delivering telegrams as a teenager that I'd still be here 47 years later," he said.

"I've loved every minute of it and made lifelong friendships along the way."

The father-of-three, along with wife June, will begin retirement with a journey to Queensland to visit their son, and there will be plenty more trips to enjoy - along with some fishing and camping.

"I will miss work, but it's time," he said.

"We've both worked long and hard, and we're looking forward to it.

"I feel very lucky to have stayed for that long, and to have done different jobs along the way."

Australia Post Wangaratta delivery manager Chris Colin said Darren would be missed.

"He has great rapport with people; I remember going around with him one day, and everyone who knew him was so happy to see him. It was fantastic to see," he said.

"Every time he came to work, he put a smile on our faces.

"He loves a bit of banter, and has made it an enjoyable place to work."