There’s an interesting story in this month’s “Working Life” column in Texas Monthly magazine.  Galveston letter carrier Anthony Mack tells his story: how he became a mailman (he “needed a good-paying job with benefits” after serving in the U.S. Army), what his day-to-day job is like (“I really know the neighborhoods. I know the routines. I’m practically a one-man neighborhood-watch program.”) and what it’s been like post-Hurricane Ike (“I’d estimate that half of those on my route are able to live in their homes. The other folks’ houses were either completely or partially destroyed.”)

What stands out is the individual, one-to-one nature of the job:

Interaction with people is the best part. Sometimes they get upset when you bring bills, but a lot of times you bring good news. I like to deliver packages—that always brings smiles. Sometimes, on my ten-minute breaks in the mornings or in the afternoons, I’ll sit on someone’s porch and talk with them. You’d be surprised by the number of people who don’t communicate with anybody during the day except the letter carrier—especially older folks who don’t have a family member around. I knock on their doors and check in on them every day.

It brings a new perspective to our work — a reminder that when we send 25-, 100- or 250,000 pieces of mail, there’s an individual delivering and receiving it on the other end.

The entire column can be found here: http://www.texasmonthly.com/2008-12-01/theworkinglife.php

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