Working his last day on Tuesday at Hume & Iser Mitre 10, Geoff said retiring has been a bittersweet feeling.

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"I am still not used to it as of yet and I don't know what to expect because retirement is different for everybody," he said.

Wearing many hats over his career, Geoff has worked as a driver, forklift operator, office worker and more recently a yard employee.

"I have had lots of jobs over my 52 years and I started out as an office boy then I went to taking phone orders and doing things like that," he said.

"I soon began driving trucks for a few years and forklifts and the last couple of years I have been in the warehouse shed putting orders together.

"It wasn't too bad driving around in the trucks and it's all been fairly good. I liked working and being outdoors and it's better doing things outside then doing office work."

Geoff said a lot has changed over five decades.

"There are lots of differences in the industry since I started," he said.

"When I started they didn't have any forklifts there, it used to take half a day to unload a truck, now they do a full load of pine in about 15 minutes."

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Hume & Iser Mitre 10 managing director Stephen Iser said Geoff will be sorely missed.

"Geoff has been a wonderful long term employee with us," he said.

"We will be missing him and his comments and just his work ethic around the business - it will all be missed."

Stephen said workers like Geoff are hard to come by particularly in this climate.

"He has just been a hard worker and a model employee," he said.

"In this day and age if you get five to 10 years out of an employee you have done well so to get 52 years, it is amazing."

Although Geoff said he will miss seeing his co-workers and customers everyday, he is looking forward to giving back to the community.

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"I am going to do a little bit of volunteer work a couple days a week, I will also be going to go away for a couple of weeks in Queensland and spending time with family," he said.

"I did plan on going to Switzerland but with COVID that unfortunately can't happen.

"I am hoping to do something with the Bendigo Foodshare crowd and a little bit more with the Salvation Army but want to fill in my day by helping and volunteering."

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