My Second Job: Amateur Mail Delivery Person

Many believe that the United States Postal Service provides the best mail delivery on the planet. In comparison to other countries, we are told by post office authorities, that the U.S. mail service delivers more letters and has a lower percentage rate for loss, theft, or damage than most other counties. If this is true, then why is it that I find myself all too frequently having to play postman and end up delivering people’s mail that I have received by mistake? My neighbors return the kindness by courteously bringing my mail to me, which was intentionally or unintentionally left in their mailboxes. The upside of all this is that we are getting to know each other better than we would have if not involved in this network of neighborhood amateur postal workers making unpaid special deliveries. (However, if I wanted a job with the postal service, I would have applied!)

UPS (otherwise known as Brown) is no better. At least the federal mail delivery person goes to each mailbox, even if he or she can’t always get the addressed mail in the corresponding boxes. UPS zooms by as fast as they can without stopping and sends the parcels flying out the door and onto your doorstep, (if you are lucky). This type of delivery system prevents the driver or the truck from being identified, making it difficult to phone and question the delivery methods of the United Postal Service. In comparison, when I phone the post office to request the carrier be more alert to the address he is delivering to, I am told that they will "talk" with the carrier. This only ticks the carrier off and makes him become even more lax with his deliveries. We have no alternatives, so what does he care? I don't know why some people are afraid of email and online communication. The problems with dealing with the postal delivery services are even more baffling than cyberspace!