Tip your mail carrier
July 26, 2018 4:10 PM Subscribe
Six months after being laid off by the Fort Collins Coloradoan, journalist Stephen Meyers started delivering mail for the USPS. Now returning to the writerly world, Meyers relays what he learned about America and himself during those two years as a Man of Letters.
The postal service is only “cash strapped” and “losing money” because they have to pay their pension obligations 70 years into the future unlike any other part of the federal government.
posted by rockindata at 4:42 PM on July 26, 2018 [55 favorites]
posted by rockindata at 4:42 PM on July 26, 2018 [55 favorites]
I'm flagrantly virtue signaling here, but for my mail carrier I leave out a cold seltzer (with a freezer pack) if it's forecast to be over 85F in the summer, chemical hand warmers if it's below 20F in the winter and in temperate months, small candy bars if I have any outgoing. And tip at the holidays, of course. In return, last year, I got a wonderful thank you note and stamps(!) from our carrier, in addition to very good delivery service.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 4:45 PM on July 26, 2018 [39 favorites]
posted by Cold Lurkey at 4:45 PM on July 26, 2018 [39 favorites]
Cold Lurkey, that's such a wonderful list of suggestions -- thank you. I am mortified to admit that I had no idea tipping your postal worker was a thing you could or should do. I've got a lot of missed tips to make up for.
How do you actually tip them, though? Do you leave the tip in the mailbox for them, or...?
As someone who genuinely never knew this was A Thing, I'd really (and sheepishly) appreciate someone outlining the mechanics of it.
posted by mylittlepoppet at 4:50 PM on July 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
How do you actually tip them, though? Do you leave the tip in the mailbox for them, or...?
As someone who genuinely never knew this was A Thing, I'd really (and sheepishly) appreciate someone outlining the mechanics of it.
posted by mylittlepoppet at 4:50 PM on July 26, 2018 [8 favorites]
My mail carrier regularly gives me my neighbor's mail.
posted by JamesBay at 5:28 PM on July 26, 2018
posted by JamesBay at 5:28 PM on July 26, 2018
My mail carrier regularly gives me my neighbor's mail.
They probably neglected to tip.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:41 PM on July 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
They probably neglected to tip.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:41 PM on July 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
I can empathize with the author - he lost 5 pounds in his first week as a carrier. As a mail handler, I lost about 20 pounds in my first year with USPS. Almost 23 years later, I'm still with the company. It has its pros and cons, but I don't regret working for them.
posted by Roger Pittman at 5:45 PM on July 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by Roger Pittman at 5:45 PM on July 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
After a stint as a rural carrier I now leave out cold/hot drinks (I made a box out of a mini-cooler and ran a cord out for a mug warmer, ice pack in summer) and homemade cookies. That is a HARD job and carriers are heroic-- I didn't have what it takes, but mad respect to them. Also the most diverse place I've ever worked.
posted by The otter lady at 5:46 PM on July 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by The otter lady at 5:46 PM on July 26, 2018 [14 favorites]
Also the most diverse place I've ever worked.
Which is another reason some people make "fun" of the USPS.
posted by aramaic at 5:59 PM on July 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
Which is another reason some people make "fun" of the USPS.
posted by aramaic at 5:59 PM on July 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
I tip over 20% and give perfect scores on all surveys for service industry people I interact with but I'll be in the cold, cold ground before I tip a letter carrier. Sorry, I appreciate the service (to the extent that I can appreciate a service that only delivers bad news) but I pay taxes (I'd happily pay more taxes) and that is the only way I'm willing to pay for a postal service.
This is where I draw the line.
Edit: Upon reviewing another website, gift cards are apparently considered acceptable/appropriate. I will give a $20 Amazon gift card in the future.
posted by vocivi at 6:14 PM on July 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
This is where I draw the line.
Edit: Upon reviewing another website, gift cards are apparently considered acceptable/appropriate. I will give a $20 Amazon gift card in the future.
posted by vocivi at 6:14 PM on July 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
"only delivers bad news"
This is called Charlie Brown Syndrome.
posted by Brocktoon at 6:27 PM on July 26, 2018
This is called Charlie Brown Syndrome.
posted by Brocktoon at 6:27 PM on July 26, 2018
> I pay taxes (I'd happily pay more taxes) and that is the only way I'm willing to pay for a postal service.
Your taxes don't pay for the Postal Service. Buying stamps, paying for postage, and now most likely, your Amazon purchases, are what is funding the USPS.
If you would like a way to support the USPS, besides tipping your local carrier, push for Postal Banking, which could alleviate their budget issues and also put pay day loan scammers out of business.
posted by mrzarquon at 6:29 PM on July 26, 2018 [51 favorites]
Your taxes don't pay for the Postal Service. Buying stamps, paying for postage, and now most likely, your Amazon purchases, are what is funding the USPS.
If you would like a way to support the USPS, besides tipping your local carrier, push for Postal Banking, which could alleviate their budget issues and also put pay day loan scammers out of business.
posted by mrzarquon at 6:29 PM on July 26, 2018 [51 favorites]
"only delivers bad news"
This is called Charlie Brown Syndrome.
And as anyone who's seen "A Charlie Brown Christmas" knows, Linus delivers the Good News.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:36 PM on July 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
This is called Charlie Brown Syndrome.
And as anyone who's seen "A Charlie Brown Christmas" knows, Linus delivers the Good News.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:36 PM on July 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
Your taxes don't pay for the Postal Service. Buying stamps, paying for postage, and now most likely, your Amazon purchases, are what is funding the USPS.I didn't know that. Also, really it's only that last one (which seems really bad) because I don't pay for stamps or mail anything anywhere. Seems like I should be supporting something like this with taxes or some other compulsory money transfer system.
posted by vocivi at 6:37 PM on July 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
My dad was a mail carrier for about 20 years in San Francisco. A little old lady on his route on Joost street got to know him & mentioned that since she was probably going to kick the bucket sometime soon, he should get on the waiting list to buy her house, (I have no idea how this sort of business worked in SF in 1970– my folks were divorced by then & I was living semi-nomadically with my mother) which he did.
He ended up buying the house, & with a little ingenuity, managed to re-arrange his route so that he walked up to his own door to deliver his mail to himself at exactly 12:00 pm each day. I can remember, on summer days when I was there due to custodial arrangements, him lumbering in with his mail sack, plopping it down on the kitchen floor & making himself a nice sandwich.
I don’t remember too many of his stories from his mail-carrying days, but I recall that the very first day they got those little jeep-truck things they talk about in the article, one of his friends at the station managed to turn one on its lid before he got out of the parking lot. Another guy at the station quit delivering a good portion of the mail so he could slack off, & they finally caught on to him after several years & he had a house filled to the brim with old mail.
For a while in the pre-internet days, the postal service itself was drowning in mail & the stations were filling up with undelivered mail, too. They couldn’t throw any of it away because it’s a serious federal crime to tamper with the mail, & they couldn’t deliver everything they were getting- it was a serious problem & managers ramping up quotas & shouting demands across the stations were common complaints amongst him & his buddies. He worked with poets, musicians & various other erstwhile artists & they were an astute & entertaining lot who educated me to the finer points of beat poetry & be bob Jazz when I was a teenager.
He sold that house in about 82, cashed in his retirement fund & bought himself 40 acres up in the hills of Mendocino to become a farmer. That was a great gig for a while until they started flying over with heat-seeking C-130’s, & generally making everyone’s lives miserable. He got out of the farming business by the early 90’s when, after his neighbors got raided by the feds & came up empty-handed & left, they came back late that night out of uniform with guns drawn & & said “ show us the plants” & robbed them of everything.
Now he teaches clarinet to college kids down the hill from his place in Gaston, over in Cherry Grove & keeps his garden strictly legal. We were talking retirement last year when he was down for a visit & he vaguely regretted cashing in that retirement fund- it was to his memory, a pretty good plan.
Me, I’m so sick of my job that this article is giving me ideas. It would be pretty funny to follow in the old man’s footsteps after all these years. I’m tempted to start the application processs.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:30 PM on July 26, 2018 [52 favorites]
He ended up buying the house, & with a little ingenuity, managed to re-arrange his route so that he walked up to his own door to deliver his mail to himself at exactly 12:00 pm each day. I can remember, on summer days when I was there due to custodial arrangements, him lumbering in with his mail sack, plopping it down on the kitchen floor & making himself a nice sandwich.
I don’t remember too many of his stories from his mail-carrying days, but I recall that the very first day they got those little jeep-truck things they talk about in the article, one of his friends at the station managed to turn one on its lid before he got out of the parking lot. Another guy at the station quit delivering a good portion of the mail so he could slack off, & they finally caught on to him after several years & he had a house filled to the brim with old mail.
For a while in the pre-internet days, the postal service itself was drowning in mail & the stations were filling up with undelivered mail, too. They couldn’t throw any of it away because it’s a serious federal crime to tamper with the mail, & they couldn’t deliver everything they were getting- it was a serious problem & managers ramping up quotas & shouting demands across the stations were common complaints amongst him & his buddies. He worked with poets, musicians & various other erstwhile artists & they were an astute & entertaining lot who educated me to the finer points of beat poetry & be bob Jazz when I was a teenager.
He sold that house in about 82, cashed in his retirement fund & bought himself 40 acres up in the hills of Mendocino to become a farmer. That was a great gig for a while until they started flying over with heat-seeking C-130’s, & generally making everyone’s lives miserable. He got out of the farming business by the early 90’s when, after his neighbors got raided by the feds & came up empty-handed & left, they came back late that night out of uniform with guns drawn & & said “ show us the plants” & robbed them of everything.
Now he teaches clarinet to college kids down the hill from his place in Gaston, over in Cherry Grove & keeps his garden strictly legal. We were talking retirement last year when he was down for a visit & he vaguely regretted cashing in that retirement fund- it was to his memory, a pretty good plan.
Me, I’m so sick of my job that this article is giving me ideas. It would be pretty funny to follow in the old man’s footsteps after all these years. I’m tempted to start the application processs.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:30 PM on July 26, 2018 [52 favorites]
For one of the best novels about any postal service, I highly recommend Pratchett's Going Postal.
The first postmaster was Ben Franklin under the Continental Congress and was a cabinet position until 1971. The mail was considered vital enough to the country and democracy to warrant that level of appointment and position in Presidential succession. The Post Office was never supposed to make money since it was considered vital to the democratic workings of the country, which is why Congresspeople get free franking or mail privileges to communicate with their constituents. The first time it showed a profit, in the 19th century, the postmaster at the time thought it was unseemly and promptly turned the money over. Keep this in mind, the USPS has been one of the great supporters for new modes of transport. Government contracts and mail bags traveled by any means necessary. For a nice review of two books on the history of USPS
The good that a good mail system provides is a good that gets spread throughout society and not something that bare-knuckle quantification can fully encompass. It is one of the know the price of something but not its value kind of situation.
posted by jadepearl at 9:16 PM on July 26, 2018 [20 favorites]
The first postmaster was Ben Franklin under the Continental Congress and was a cabinet position until 1971. The mail was considered vital enough to the country and democracy to warrant that level of appointment and position in Presidential succession. The Post Office was never supposed to make money since it was considered vital to the democratic workings of the country, which is why Congresspeople get free franking or mail privileges to communicate with their constituents. The first time it showed a profit, in the 19th century, the postmaster at the time thought it was unseemly and promptly turned the money over. Keep this in mind, the USPS has been one of the great supporters for new modes of transport. Government contracts and mail bags traveled by any means necessary. For a nice review of two books on the history of USPS
The good that a good mail system provides is a good that gets spread throughout society and not something that bare-knuckle quantification can fully encompass. It is one of the know the price of something but not its value kind of situation.
posted by jadepearl at 9:16 PM on July 26, 2018 [20 favorites]
Daughter of a postal clerk here suggesting that it's also nice to do something for your local postal clerk(s) if you interact with them frequently. Yeah, they get to spend most of their time indoors, but while it may be true that as Meyers says, "No one is ever upset to see their mail carrier, you know?" window clerks get a lot of grief.
posted by camyram at 10:03 PM on July 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by camyram at 10:03 PM on July 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
Reminds me of this AskMe from a few months ago, with a lot of interesting comments: What does the mail carrier think about my mail
Thanks for the post. When I was growing up, my folks always gave a Christmas gift to our mail carrier (I think it was usually a box of chocolates), and we'd get a thank you note in our mailbox sometime later. This was in the suburbs, and for years it would be the same person, followed by another person for another long term. I remember once when college friends came over to visit me; they picked me up and on the way down the street I saw the carrier and waved, and he waved back. They were like "Did you just wave at him?" "...Yes? He's our mailman." They thought it was really strange.
My local carrier now seems to change pretty often, multiple times per year.
At one of my old jobs, a really nice regular perk was a paid lunch that we had as a group (it was a small office -- the two bosses, and me). Once, the mail carrier came upstairs to deliver the mail in person for some reason. I don't remember why, because usually the mail was just left inside the office mailbox IIRC, so maybe a package or a signature required.
We had just gotten sandwiches for lunch that day, and the bosses invited the mail carrier to join us, since there was an extra sandwich. I have to admit being surprised -- I didn't realize this was something people did, especially in a workplace setting, but she said something like "Well...I guess I could take a break for lunch," and sat down with us in the break room. I have no memory of what we talked about. Maybe the food, and her route. After she finished, she asked how much she owed for the sandwich, and the bosses said not to worry about it.
No idea if that was common -- I didn't work there that long (under a year) but that was the only time it happened while I was there.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 10:30 PM on July 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Thanks for the post. When I was growing up, my folks always gave a Christmas gift to our mail carrier (I think it was usually a box of chocolates), and we'd get a thank you note in our mailbox sometime later. This was in the suburbs, and for years it would be the same person, followed by another person for another long term. I remember once when college friends came over to visit me; they picked me up and on the way down the street I saw the carrier and waved, and he waved back. They were like "Did you just wave at him?" "...Yes? He's our mailman." They thought it was really strange.
My local carrier now seems to change pretty often, multiple times per year.
At one of my old jobs, a really nice regular perk was a paid lunch that we had as a group (it was a small office -- the two bosses, and me). Once, the mail carrier came upstairs to deliver the mail in person for some reason. I don't remember why, because usually the mail was just left inside the office mailbox IIRC, so maybe a package or a signature required.
We had just gotten sandwiches for lunch that day, and the bosses invited the mail carrier to join us, since there was an extra sandwich. I have to admit being surprised -- I didn't realize this was something people did, especially in a workplace setting, but she said something like "Well...I guess I could take a break for lunch," and sat down with us in the break room. I have no memory of what we talked about. Maybe the food, and her route. After she finished, she asked how much she owed for the sandwich, and the bosses said not to worry about it.
No idea if that was common -- I didn't work there that long (under a year) but that was the only time it happened while I was there.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 10:30 PM on July 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
> Daughter of a postal clerk here suggesting that it's also nice to do something for your local postal clerk(s) if you interact with them frequently.
Any suggestions? My local PO has a fairly long retail counter -- sometimes I see new faces but most of the clerks have been there for years. I always say hi and ask how their day is going, and if I'm mailing something with forms, I always have them filled out ahead of time.
One of my favorite things is to ask "Do you have any new cool stamps?" or recently e.g. "Do you have the Sally Ride / Mr. Rogers / Lena Horne / STEM Education / scratch-and-sniff popsicle stamps" and especially if it's not a busy day, taking the time to nerd out over the stamps with a clerk who'll flip through the binders to show me all the ones they have available. The last time I got the STEM stamps, I guess the clerk hadn't really looked at them closely before because he got really excited and started pointing out things he liked about the designs.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 10:41 PM on July 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
Any suggestions? My local PO has a fairly long retail counter -- sometimes I see new faces but most of the clerks have been there for years. I always say hi and ask how their day is going, and if I'm mailing something with forms, I always have them filled out ahead of time.
One of my favorite things is to ask "Do you have any new cool stamps?" or recently e.g. "Do you have the Sally Ride / Mr. Rogers / Lena Horne / STEM Education / scratch-and-sniff popsicle stamps" and especially if it's not a busy day, taking the time to nerd out over the stamps with a clerk who'll flip through the binders to show me all the ones they have available. The last time I got the STEM stamps, I guess the clerk hadn't really looked at them closely before because he got really excited and started pointing out things he liked about the designs.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 10:41 PM on July 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
USPS having a really strong union is a major reason that the corporate power structure keeps trying to subvert it and divert its business to its private competitors. (See also: charter schools.) I've given up hope that the public will stop eating that unions-are-bad shit sandwich, because so many people think they love the taste.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:29 AM on July 27, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:29 AM on July 27, 2018 [15 favorites]
The hiring process is long—I applied in mid-February and didn’t start until May—and includes two exams, a personality assessment, and the 473 Postal Exam, which tests your ability to check addresses for errors, accurately fill out forms, and memorize and recall lists of street addresses....
About 40 years ago, I took the test (singular—it was a simpler time) for wannabe mail carriers. It was ridiculously easy, I had more than enough time to double check my answers, and I was fairly confident that I had aced it.
Never heard from them and forever after wondered why.
posted by she's not there at 5:51 AM on July 27, 2018
About 40 years ago, I took the test (singular—it was a simpler time) for wannabe mail carriers. It was ridiculously easy, I had more than enough time to double check my answers, and I was fairly confident that I had aced it.
Never heard from them and forever after wondered why.
posted by she's not there at 5:51 AM on July 27, 2018
I used to live in a big apartment building and never really saw the mail carrier, or never knew if we had a regular one. Now I live in a house on a quiet street and often get my mail directly from the carrier if I happen to be working in the yard when he comes by. During the holidays I left a gift card in my mailbox for him, just addressed to "regular mail carrier" since I'd been too awkward to ever get his name. I thought that it was really sweet that one morning I got a knock on the door and the very apologetic Weekend/Vacation fill-in Mail Guy was letting me know that he wasn't going to take the envelope since he wasn't Regular Mail Guy.
Later that I week I got a very nice thank you card from Regular Mail Guy (and now I know his real name, even better!).
posted by TwoStride at 6:13 AM on July 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Later that I week I got a very nice thank you card from Regular Mail Guy (and now I know his real name, even better!).
posted by TwoStride at 6:13 AM on July 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
As the grandson of a postal worker I’m glad to see all the love for the post office in this thread!
I’m pretty sure John Prine’s time as a mail carrier in Chicago helped inspire this song.
posted by TedW at 6:23 AM on July 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
I’m pretty sure John Prine’s time as a mail carrier in Chicago helped inspire this song.
posted by TedW at 6:23 AM on July 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
I have a lot of postal workers in my family. Hate for the USPS pisses me off. Those folks do a fabulous job under ridiculous restrictions. Congress is full of shitheads, but their enmity to the post office is just mystifying. (The aforementioned union is a big part, I'm sure.) Assholes, the Post Office is the best-working part of the government, leave it be.
posted by corvikate at 6:38 AM on July 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by corvikate at 6:38 AM on July 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
Also the most diverse place I've ever worked.
Which is another reason some people make "fun" of the USPS.
The USPS has historically been one of the most common ways for POC to rise to the middle class. It's not a coincidence that it's a constant target of attack from the right, even though it is literally running a government service (mandated in the Constitution, unlike standing militaries) as a business.
posted by Etrigan at 6:39 AM on July 27, 2018 [19 favorites]
Which is another reason some people make "fun" of the USPS.
The USPS has historically been one of the most common ways for POC to rise to the middle class. It's not a coincidence that it's a constant target of attack from the right, even though it is literally running a government service (mandated in the Constitution, unlike standing militaries) as a business.
posted by Etrigan at 6:39 AM on July 27, 2018 [19 favorites]
"Tip your letter carrier," indeed.
One of my neighbors makes a box of chocolate-covered peanut butter balls for every house on our block at Christmastime. She wraps them in pretty ribbon, and pops them into our mailboxes when they're ready.
A couple of years ago, my wife watched with horror as the letter carrier drove down the street, and took the box of candy out of each mailbox, one after another.
The next year, we watched the treats go into the mailboxes, then ran out to get ours and frantically texted a few neighbors so they wouldn't be robbed again.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:58 AM on July 27, 2018
One of my neighbors makes a box of chocolate-covered peanut butter balls for every house on our block at Christmastime. She wraps them in pretty ribbon, and pops them into our mailboxes when they're ready.
A couple of years ago, my wife watched with horror as the letter carrier drove down the street, and took the box of candy out of each mailbox, one after another.
The next year, we watched the treats go into the mailboxes, then ran out to get ours and frantically texted a few neighbors so they wouldn't be robbed again.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:58 AM on July 27, 2018
> One of my neighbors makes a box of chocolate-covered peanut butter balls for every house on our block at Christmastime. She wraps them in pretty ribbon, and pops them into our mailboxes when they're ready.
Why the hell doesn't she just go and give them to people in person? Plenty of people leave treats for their carrier in the mailbox; we used to do it ourselves back when the wonderful Mo delivered our mail (back before she was replaced by the Gorgon from the Lower Depths). "Robbed," indeed.
posted by languagehat at 7:10 AM on July 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
Why the hell doesn't she just go and give them to people in person? Plenty of people leave treats for their carrier in the mailbox; we used to do it ourselves back when the wonderful Mo delivered our mail (back before she was replaced by the Gorgon from the Lower Depths). "Robbed," indeed.
posted by languagehat at 7:10 AM on July 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
She wraps them in pretty ribbon, and pops them into our mailboxes when they're ready.
Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits any mailable matter such as statements of accounts, circulars, sale bills, or other like matter, on which no postage has been paid, in any letter box established, approved, or accepted by the Postal Service for the receipt or delivery of mail matter on any mail route with intent to avoid payment of lawful postage thereon, shall for each such offense be fined under this title.
Sure, it's not likely that she would otherwise mail the balls to her neighbors, but mailboxes are accepted to be for four things: incoming mail, outgoing mail, batting practice in movies about 1960s rural life, and presents to letter carriers around Christmas. Tell her to put them on the ground like UPS and FedEx.
posted by Etrigan at 7:48 AM on July 27, 2018 [11 favorites]
Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits any mailable matter such as statements of accounts, circulars, sale bills, or other like matter, on which no postage has been paid, in any letter box established, approved, or accepted by the Postal Service for the receipt or delivery of mail matter on any mail route with intent to avoid payment of lawful postage thereon, shall for each such offense be fined under this title.
Sure, it's not likely that she would otherwise mail the balls to her neighbors, but mailboxes are accepted to be for four things: incoming mail, outgoing mail, batting practice in movies about 1960s rural life, and presents to letter carriers around Christmas. Tell her to put them on the ground like UPS and FedEx.
posted by Etrigan at 7:48 AM on July 27, 2018 [11 favorites]
OK, so there's this blogger and cartoonist, Mike Lynch, who often posts scans of cartoons from decades-old magazines. Today's batch from the September 1947 issue of Farm Journal included this one, with the caption
posted by moonmilk at 9:41 AM on July 27, 2018
Remember the first time the rural carrier dropped mail in the new box at your gate? It was a happy and significant event. For years Farm Journal insisted on free mail delivery to farmers, and was later given credit by the Department of Agriculture for bringing this service about.What's up with that? I'd always thought that the post office was founded on delivery to everyone, but apparently they needed to be lobbied by Farm Journal?
posted by moonmilk at 9:41 AM on July 27, 2018
Two days ago I had to mail a bit of a complicated package and I went to the USPS close to the campus. (Got there before the lunchtime rush just so I wouldn't be *that guy* holding up the line.) I was a little apprehensive because the clerk had a pretty down look on her face as I walked up, but she was patient and super-helpful, and I as I left, I said, "I love the Postal Service" and her face lit up with a smile.
The other day in the politics mega-thread, USPS came up, and someone said that customer-service survey (linked on the receipt) can really matter in a small USPS office, so I gave them top marks across the board.
posted by martin q blank at 9:44 AM on July 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
The other day in the politics mega-thread, USPS came up, and someone said that customer-service survey (linked on the receipt) can really matter in a small USPS office, so I gave them top marks across the board.
posted by martin q blank at 9:44 AM on July 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
From twitter “Conservative: “DO YOU WANT HEALTH CARE TO BE RUN LIKE THE POST OFFICE”
Me: *drops a letter right outside my door that will travel from DC to California in less than a week for 50 cents*
🤔🤔🤔🤔
Why yes, yes I do”
posted by The Whelk at 12:05 PM on July 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
Me: *drops a letter right outside my door that will travel from DC to California in less than a week for 50 cents*
🤔🤔🤔🤔
Why yes, yes I do”
posted by The Whelk at 12:05 PM on July 27, 2018 [17 favorites]
Screw all of you, those peanut butter balls are FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC and that letter carrier lady knew exactly what she was doing when she picked up five identical parcels in under three minutes.
*squints* Whose side are you people on, anyway?
posted by wenestvedt at 12:38 PM on July 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
*squints* Whose side are you people on, anyway?
posted by wenestvedt at 12:38 PM on July 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'd always thought that the post office was founded on delivery to everyone, but apparently they needed to be lobbied by Farm Journal?
Originally there was a post office in every town but delivery to every home was a development that came a little later. Just having a post office where anyone (women!!) could go communicate with anyone was pretty revolutionary at the time. I grew up in a rural town and the post office was a huge deal for us. We had an RFD address when I was a kid. When my mom died--still living in that same town and house--her letter carrier came to her memorial service.
Everyone should read The Postal Age The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth-Century America if this is a topic that is near and dear to you.
I just went to the post office today, sent five packages, insured, to five different corners of the US and paid about $40. I also bought some of those smell-o stamps.
I got on a jag after I read that book about making sure the early history of PoC within the postal service--something USPS and the postal museum take the care to document--was accurately reflected on Wikipedia. It was time well spent. Thanks for this post.
posted by jessamyn at 1:43 PM on July 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
Originally there was a post office in every town but delivery to every home was a development that came a little later. Just having a post office where anyone (women!!) could go communicate with anyone was pretty revolutionary at the time. I grew up in a rural town and the post office was a huge deal for us. We had an RFD address when I was a kid. When my mom died--still living in that same town and house--her letter carrier came to her memorial service.
Everyone should read The Postal Age The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth-Century America if this is a topic that is near and dear to you.
I just went to the post office today, sent five packages, insured, to five different corners of the US and paid about $40. I also bought some of those smell-o stamps.
I got on a jag after I read that book about making sure the early history of PoC within the postal service--something USPS and the postal museum take the care to document--was accurately reflected on Wikipedia. It was time well spent. Thanks for this post.
posted by jessamyn at 1:43 PM on July 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
Screw all of you, those peanut butter balls are FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC and that letter carrier lady knew exactly what she was doing when she picked up five identical parcels in under three minutes.
*squints* Whose side are you people on, anyway?
Screw you too then, I'm on the side of the letter carrier. A mailbox isn't some secret, clever way to store whatever you feel like, it's specifically for the mail. You weren't robbed, mailboxes are for the mail and gifts for the letter carrier.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:51 PM on July 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
*squints* Whose side are you people on, anyway?
Screw you too then, I'm on the side of the letter carrier. A mailbox isn't some secret, clever way to store whatever you feel like, it's specifically for the mail. You weren't robbed, mailboxes are for the mail and gifts for the letter carrier.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:51 PM on July 27, 2018 [9 favorites]
When I was a kid, I used to see embossed on the front of mailboxes the words "APPROVED BY THE POSTMASTER GENERAL" and I used to imagine someone sitting around inspecting mailbox prototypes all day.
posted by 4ster at 2:07 PM on July 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by 4ster at 2:07 PM on July 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
Another thing I saw shared this week was Zeynep Tufekci's 2016 NYT opinion piece "Why the Post Office Makes America Great" where she talks about her reaction to the USPS after arriving from Turkey.
posted by waninggibbon at 2:25 PM on July 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by waninggibbon at 2:25 PM on July 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
Well, I never. No peanut butter balls for you then, Goat.
*flounces out of thread with unrecounted, on-topic anecdote under arm*
posted by wenestvedt at 4:15 PM on July 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
*flounces out of thread with unrecounted, on-topic anecdote under arm*
posted by wenestvedt at 4:15 PM on July 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Full disclosure; I'm a postal brat, holiday cookies for the letter carrier are a thing. And summer zucchini.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 7:11 PM on July 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by ActingTheGoat at 7:11 PM on July 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
(Goat, I was a college dorm mailman, and I am always nice to our letter carriers. We had a ball in the Postal Museum in D.C. a few years back. I love the damn Postal Service!)
posted by wenestvedt at 7:31 PM on July 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by wenestvedt at 7:31 PM on July 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
When I was training as a rural carrier, they told us, "Do not accept gifts! It's not ethical!" So I subbed for the regular worker on my route one day the week of Christmas and everyone was leaving and offering all kinds of stuff, packages, envelopes, plates of cookies, everything. I kept politely refusing, saying, "Sorry, I can't. It's not considered ethical." When I got back to the office, the regular carrier was there, saying, "Hey, where's all my stuff?" I'm like, "What stuff?" "The GIFTS, where's all my gifts?!" "I turned them down, it's not ethical to accept them," I replied. She was not happy. There were 700 stops on that route.
posted by jabah at 9:17 PM on July 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by jabah at 9:17 PM on July 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
Thanks for the great link, waninggibbon! I started reading it yesterday during my lunch break as a temp letter carrier in downtown Bergen, Norway. This is my second year as a temp letter carrier (just during the summer when lots of full-timers take off for vacation) and I've been curious what it's like being a mail carrier in other countries, especially the US since that's where I'm originally from. My experience is pretty different from Stephen's --I don't have a million Amazon packages to deliver, thankfully--but I did go through the same rude, sweat-laden awakening of, "Oh god, delivering mail is tough work" After my first week on the job, I felt like my body had been trampled over by angry elephants. (The downtown routes are all done on foot with the help of electric mail wagons.) Many times when I've told other newish Norwegian residents like me that I got a temp job at the post office, they ask if there are any other openings. I usually say something like, "Ohhnono, YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE A LETTER CARRIER, IT HUUURTS." But it is a good job for lower-skilled people like me who can barely converse in Norwegian. I'm thankful to have this job!
Cold Lurkey and the Otter Lady (and anyone else who leaves drinks/snacks for letter carriers): OMG, YA'LL ARE THE BEST. I would remember you forever if I delivered to you. When I'm working on especially hot days, I fantasize that there will be a cold drink waiting for me on someone's mailbox. Or if it's not a hot day, then...cookies. Or any food. (There never is, but I don't blame anyone here for forgetting us mail carriers exist. I rarely encounter the people I deliver mail to because they're all at work or on vacation.) I carry water with me, but I don't carry snacks because I found that I'm too focused on getting through my route quickly to take a snack break. (Not because any higher-ups are pressuring me, just because I want to go home.) But if there was something waiting for me during my route, I'd toootally go into face-stuffing mode.
posted by roboppy at 4:35 AM on July 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
Cold Lurkey and the Otter Lady (and anyone else who leaves drinks/snacks for letter carriers): OMG, YA'LL ARE THE BEST. I would remember you forever if I delivered to you. When I'm working on especially hot days, I fantasize that there will be a cold drink waiting for me on someone's mailbox. Or if it's not a hot day, then...cookies. Or any food. (There never is, but I don't blame anyone here for forgetting us mail carriers exist. I rarely encounter the people I deliver mail to because they're all at work or on vacation.) I carry water with me, but I don't carry snacks because I found that I'm too focused on getting through my route quickly to take a snack break. (Not because any higher-ups are pressuring me, just because I want to go home.) But if there was something waiting for me during my route, I'd toootally go into face-stuffing mode.
posted by roboppy at 4:35 AM on July 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
My letter carrier is terrific. He'll bring a package up the drive and leave it in the car or inside the door if it's raining. He took care of my mail when my friend neglected to pick it up and I was away. I baked him a blueberry pie. He's due for another one.
posted by theora55 at 4:45 PM on July 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by theora55 at 4:45 PM on July 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
I genuinely wish that I could deliver the mail in Bergen.
[does not ... exactly ... hate his life, he promises]
posted by aramaic at 9:40 PM on July 29, 2018
[does not ... exactly ... hate his life, he promises]
posted by aramaic at 9:40 PM on July 29, 2018
To roboppy, and everyone else in this thread who has gone postal in the past: perhaps it's because i'm so heat sensitive and generally dragged down when it gets above 85F and don't want to leave any AC I encounter for love or money, lest I droop to death, but when I see postal workers just fucking abiding in oppressive heat, my heart cries out for them. You all do (and did) a great job, and my left offerings are the only way I can (legally) acknowledge all of your work in often hellish conditions.
One of the dudes that regularly covers for our normal carrier has made it known to me that he doesn't care for the seltzers I put out. Okay, I ask, what best then, water? whiskey? Water, just water, he says. This would be fine, except we don't keep bottled water in the house, cooled or otherwise, as we do seltzer.
Today is hot AF. I put a seltzer out with coldpack in the late morning, but our regular carrier wasn't on. Late this afternoon, I see mr. water(only) carrier is covering her route. Seltzer is warm and disgusting, I espy him at his vehicle and bring out a glass of ice water, lime juice in my pocket if he would want it. No, nothing else, he says, how was your day? While he downs the icewater, I tell him my day was sweaty, as was his. The water is gone in seconds, and I ask about his route remaining ( primary difference between our normal carrier and others is that she comes to us first). He's almost done, and we're last. The water glass will be refilled and waiting for him at our door, I say. I go, refill the glass with ice and water, set it outside the door with a paper towel covering it bound by a rubber band, because of bugs and stuff. I go do other things.
Our mail arrives within the hour: our voter registration cards and a retirement account statement. On the paper towel over a thoroughly drained water glass is written "THANK YOu!!" and goddamn if it wasn't the best feeling I've had all day.
tl;dr: think of your mail carriers, and anticipate their needs, because they will let you know their appreciation when you do.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 4:50 PM on August 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
One of the dudes that regularly covers for our normal carrier has made it known to me that he doesn't care for the seltzers I put out. Okay, I ask, what best then, water? whiskey? Water, just water, he says. This would be fine, except we don't keep bottled water in the house, cooled or otherwise, as we do seltzer.
Today is hot AF. I put a seltzer out with coldpack in the late morning, but our regular carrier wasn't on. Late this afternoon, I see mr. water(only) carrier is covering her route. Seltzer is warm and disgusting, I espy him at his vehicle and bring out a glass of ice water, lime juice in my pocket if he would want it. No, nothing else, he says, how was your day? While he downs the icewater, I tell him my day was sweaty, as was his. The water is gone in seconds, and I ask about his route remaining ( primary difference between our normal carrier and others is that she comes to us first). He's almost done, and we're last. The water glass will be refilled and waiting for him at our door, I say. I go, refill the glass with ice and water, set it outside the door with a paper towel covering it bound by a rubber band, because of bugs and stuff. I go do other things.
Our mail arrives within the hour: our voter registration cards and a retirement account statement. On the paper towel over a thoroughly drained water glass is written "THANK YOu!!" and goddamn if it wasn't the best feeling I've had all day.
tl;dr: think of your mail carriers, and anticipate their needs, because they will let you know their appreciation when you do.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 4:50 PM on August 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
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posted by waninggibbon at 4:11 PM on July 26, 2018 [1 favorite]