A day in the life of a postal worker
A person’s mail says a lot about them. A skiing magazine, missionary letters, postcards from grandparents and friends, clothing catalogs and bulky packages can be very telling of an individual’s interests and activities. Jody Crompton, Providence City mail carrier, said learning about people and making friends with the people on her mail route is one of the best parts of her job.
“You kind of learn about people with the mail that they get,” she said. “You’re kind of like a fly on the wall.”
Crompton said her day starts early, beginning at 7 a.m. at the Providence City Post Office. By the time she has arrived, a semi truck has brought all the mail up from Salt Lake City and the post office clerks have sorted them into each postal workers case, a big box with slots for each of the deliveries or stops. Crompton said she then sorts the mail into each individual slot, 600 total on her route.
“I usually spend three to four hours in the morning sorting the mail, then they bring us the flats (magazines and bigger envelopes) and then the parcels,” she said. “Then we put it into the trucks and go out and deliver it.”
Crompton’s route includes the benches of Providence. On a good day she said it takes her about three and a half hours to deliver the mail. Crompton said the actual delivery is her favorite part of being a mail carrier.
“It’s fun when there are people out and about,” she said. “There are people on my route that I almost consider friends now. I’ll see people around town and know who they are.”
She said winter and snow make the delivery process much harder and slower.
“On a snowy day in the winter, delivery can take four and a half hours,” she said.
Just like in movies and books, Crompton said mail carriers actually do worry about dogs.
“Dogs are a really big problem,” she said. “I’ve actually had a dog rip my shirt before.”
Crompton said a common pet peeve of mail carriers is when people park in front of their mail boxes, which actually creates a safety issue for mail carriers.
“We’re supposed to get out of the truck as little as possible,” she said. “But every time a person parks in front of a mail box we have to take off our seat belt, park the truck, put on the emergency brake, turn it off and get out of the truck … I know people just don’t think about it, but they don’t realize that we’re dealing with it 50 times a day and it gets to be irksome.”
Crompton said postal workers also get frustrated when they get phone calls from customers expecting them to know where their late package or letter is, or to complain about getting the wrong mail.
“People get really upset if they get the wrong mail, but sometimes it is really difficult,” she said. “There are lots of duplicate house numbers; in one neighborhood I have four different houses that have the house number 455, so you really have to pay attention.”
Crompton has worked for the postal service for about six years, but didn’t get her own route until about two years ago.
“(A mail carrier position) is a really hard job to get,” she said. “You have to kind of luck into it and a lot of people have to wait a few years.”
Crompton said she started as a mail carrier substitute being payed hourly and then just had to wait for one of three Providence routes to become open, which usually only happens when someone retires.
“Once people get the job they don’t usually give them up until they have to,” she said. “It’s a lot of waiting and hoping for things to fall into place.”
Crompton said mail carriers receive about $45,000 salary and good benefits, decent pay for a job that doesn’t require any education beyond a high school degree and training on driving the trucks and how to handle the mail.
Even though it may seem that instant communication like e-mail and cell phones has diminished the importance of “snail mail,” there is still a certain novelty about a crisp blue uniform, white truck and hand delivered post cards and letters.
“Something about the mail truck is a friendly thing,” she said. “(When delivering a package) people answer the door thinking I’m a solicitor, but as soon as they see my truck or uniform their expression changes. It’s a nice feeling that you’re bringing something that people want and that they want you there.”
–karlie.brand@aggiemail.usu.edu