Everyone has a story.
I recently sat down with a self described Mr. Postie. This is his self given moniker. Seriously. I couldn’t have come up with a better name myself!
Mr. Postie works for Canada Post as a motorized carrier. This means that he drives a vehicle to deliver parcels and often larger items that letter carriers could not carry to your mailbox. I met Mr. Postie by basically scaring the poor fellow as I lurked outside by his parked truck waiting for the driver to return. (Yeah, I am the crazy stalking blogger gal – my kids role their eyes in embarrassment)
Now, Mr. Postie has some great stories. Take for instance the time when he delivered a package to a home where the woman was to be leaving on a trip the next day. Whatever was in the package must of have been critical for her journey for the response Mr.Postie received was quite something. As she opened the door and saw her package, she could hardly speak. Her face looked torn between complete joy or spewing forth a fountain of tears. Then, she looked up at Mr. Postie and, for a brief second, he was sure she was going to lunge forward and kiss him! That is how happy she was to receive her mail.
Then there was the time Mr. Postie thought something was rotting in his truck. The stench was unbearable. So, as any good postal person would do, Mr. Postie begins to investigate the contents of his truck. It turns out that it was a huge box of Kimchi for delivery. This Korean delicacy is fermented vegetables, often napa cabbage, radish, or cucumber that traditionally were buried in the ground in jars to ferment. Kimchi, also spelled kimchee or gimchi, comes directly from Korea and Mr.Postie finds himself delivering boxes of it regularly to Korean restaurants and homes.
So, perhaps you are wondering what, if any, observations our Mr.Postie has when it comes to the status of the mail these days. Well, as you might guess, he does confirm that letter mail has decreased as of late. But parcel mail has dramatically increased. He believes this is due to a huge shift to online shopping. Most of his home deliveries are parcels of goods purchased online — shoes and clothing are most popular.
When I first met Mr.Postie I couldn’t help but be reminded of one of my favorite kids books entitled “The Jolly Postman.”
No doubt it was the jolly part that rang true….and his stories!