Long-serving Otago Daily Times employees John Driver and Hugh McLean retire this year after nearly 49 years with the company.
But the coincidence does not end there.
The pair have been almost stapled together since birth.
They were born on the same day (June 16, 1947) and started at Kaikorai Valley High School on the same day in 1960 and were in the same class.
"One day Hugh said he'd been for a job interview that morning as an apprentice linotype mechanic at the Evening Star," Mr Driver recalled yesterday.
"I said, 'You're kidding? I've just been for an interview as an apprentice linotype mechanic at the ODT'.
"We even both started work on the same day - January 13, 1964."
The pair have worked under five editors in their time and said the industry had changed since they started.
"There have been so many changes," Mr McLean said.
"The old technology had a lot more character. Computers have made it a bit boring, in some ways. You used to have all the hustle and bustle of the old newsroom, whereas you can hear a pin drop now. It's a much cleaner environment now, though."
"We used to make the plates by hand," Mr Driver said. "Now they're done automatically. A lot of the old trades and skills are gone now, because they're not needed any more ...
"We probably had more fun back then, but we still got the job done. I remember celebrating a bit too long after Green Island won a rugby championship once and turning up for work a bit under the weather and they locked me up in the workshop overnight. That wouldn't happen now. You'd be down the road," he said with a chuckle.
"The news industry has been such a great industry to work in, though. I'll never forget big events like the night of the Wahine disaster, the Erebus crash, Abbotsford slip and Aramoana. Working in newspapers has been something I've thoroughly enjoyed."
Mr McLean was farewelled at a staff function yesterday and Mr Driver will help produce his last ODT on November 29.
"We've had a good run and been very lucky," Mr McLean mused.
"Forty-nine years ... It just wouldn't happen nowadays."
