I've been writing a friend pretty much daily who's had a major surgery. Ever since my own enforced home incarceration several years ago thanks to my feet troubles, I learned the hard way how important snail mail is to someone house bound. The key here is 'writing to a friend'. No, I'm not trying to shame you into writing _________. (Yes, everyone has a certain person they should be writing to.)
Anywho, I frankly did a 'Sun City' and guessed at her address since I was too lazy to fire up my computer and check the address. I was positive of the street, knew the zip because it was mine for 20 years, and pretty sure of the first three digits of the street number. My Sun City thinking went like this: The post person will know who the person is I'm writing to, and he/she will just deliver it to the right house. Sure enough. I've been writing many days, and finally, the post person got exasperated and circled the digit I didn't get right thereby suggesting I stir myself to correct the address.
Sun City is a small town. It's filled with people who greet the post at the door as it's delivered. There are no newfangled kiosks in Sun City. It's door to door delivery if you live in a stand alone house. It's the old fashioned postal system we oldsters grew up with. The postman has an established route, and he does it everyday. Superficially, this person is the first big brother personified. He knows where you're from. He knows when you're having company. He knows who you buy stuff from. He knows if you've been sick because he can see the stream of medical bills arriving. He knows if you have cable or not. He knows if you write people, or if they write you. He also knows if something is wrong.
Everyone lives 'away' in Sun City. Only a few residents' families live close by. The post people are often the poor or stubborn person's 'life alert'. I've often wondered how many ambulances they've called or bodies they've found. They grieve when realizing their long time deliverees are 'losing it' either mentally or physically. My postman knows me well enough to 'chat' whenever we encounter one another, and he's admitted being the postman for the ancient has more responsibilities than just dropping off the mail.
The twist in desert delivery is the post person rides a bike rather than walks the route. It's a 24" bike with an oversized front basket. My guy rides his streets cheerfully dispensing mail. He's a singer, and he often sings while he works thereby alerting his clients to his arrival. He favors show tunes. He rides as much of the route as can be stuffed into the bike basket. Then, he rides back to the traditional mail truck he's strategically parked and packs up again. Finally, he uses his truck to deliver large or unwieldy packages after the envelope/small package mail is delivered. Even if you're a snow bird coming here for the winter, the post person knows you. My postman greets me by name, and two years ago, he blithely told me not to fill out a stop mail/forward on-line, just tell him when we were going. I can tell he's eager to hear about where we've gone when we're away from his 'beat' since he knows we don't go back to just one place.
Thus, I have little patience with people who grouse about the United States Postal Service. (FYI: That's what USPS means.) In 2012, a British study named the USPS as the most efficient postal service in the world. In 2015, after a reorganization and slight postal cost increase, the USPS is STILL the cheapest way to ship lightweight consumer packages for e-commerce business people or anyone else. They will go to the nth degree to chase down lost or misdirected mail and packages. (The airlines should take a lesson!) The post people will give you a free tutorial on any mail system. (The postman in Fraser, Colorado saved my bacon and helped chase down packages UPS didn't/wouldn't deliver.) How many businesses can you walk into and say, "What's the cheapest way to use your service?" AND have someone actually tell you truthfully. They move heaven and earth to get packages to soldiers overseas.
Today, I'm going to give the Hurst, Texas, post person a break and address the envelope to the correct address. However, if I continued to write the address incorrectly on every subsequent piece of mail, rest assured, he knows my friend's situation and would keep right on delivering my envelopes to her.
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