Letter Carriers Can Retire To Florida In Style on the Cheap

Postmarks feels sympathetic towards all of you poor carriers who have to be outside working in this terrible heat. But if you get used to it now, perhaps you'll be acclimated when retirement times comes around.

The following excerpt was taken from NALC.org.

Nalcrest, the letter carriers' retirement community, is located in Central Florida just south of Route 60, midway between Tampa on the Gulf Coast and Vero Beach on the Atlantic Coast just east of Lake Wales.

Nalcrest features 500 garden-style apartments, arranged in clusters of four to 10 apartments—and all are on ground level. Monthly rents range from $315 for efficiency apartments to $335 for one-bedroom apartments, which are all leased unfurnished on a yearly basis. Rental fee includes water, sewage, trash removal, basic cable TV, interior and exterior maintenance and use of all recreational facilities.

To live at Nalcrest, residents must be retired and able to take care of their normal housekeeping chores as well as themselves, as there is not a physician's facility on site. No pets allowed.

Those who are offered apartments must be members in good standing with NALC. There are no exceptions.

Lake Weohyakapka (Walk-in-the-Water) forms the backdrop of Nalcrest's recreation area and sports complex, named for NALC President Emeritus Vincent R. Sombrotto. Residents enjoy the heated, Olympic-size swimming pool and hot tub year-round, as well as shuffleboard, horseshoes, basketball, bocce, miniature golf and tennis. The softball field and driving range are located further from the lake.


"Everything is free," notes Mr. Kane, "even the golf balls and clubs."

Also free is use of the Nalcrest fitness center, which contains "all the equipment our good residents brought down here and realized they didn't have room for in their apartment," he says with a smile." In addition, two different exercise classes meet twice weekly—one in the pool and the other in Brennan Hall.


Bingo is very popular and attracts more than 200 players every Monday evening. "For $5 you can play all night. Prizes range from $25 to $250 and the profits are used for charitable works in the Nalcrest community.

To read more about Nalcrest, click here.