Thank for clarifying. It still amazes me that postmasters can make 6 figure incomes with full benefits upon retirement in a business that is 3.5 billion in the red.
I think you are talking about Postmaster General, and there's usually only one of them at a time. The current guy has a substantial "deferred income" ~ the article about him getting paid $800,000 computed his retirement out for 20 years or thereabouts. Turns out that due to his much shorter tenure as a postal employee (than my own) he will have an annual retirement only marginally better than my own even though his working annual salary was about 80% higher than mine.
Remember, all postal salaries are limited to the same top salaries federal employees get. Plus, postal employees don't get the area differential the federales feed on.
Now, regarding federal retirement in general the average federal employee (non-postal) starts working for the fed at age 35+. That means he's going to retire with 25 to 30 years work time. It's the number of years you work that provide the greatest benefit in federal retirement. These guys who come in at age 50 as federal czars may well leave government with only 4 years and not even qualify for a federal retirement (outside of their 401(k) equivalent. That's one of the reasons you don't see Obama getting any first class talent in his regime. No one with any sense wants to waste 4 years with this bunch of clowns only to find out it doesn't count for a good retirement and it will make it difficult to get a decent job with a respectable organization down the road.