Now I live in a large city and have several different mail carriers such that I don’t see any one on a regular basis.
Before this I lived in a tiny village of about 450 people and our postmaster there was always quite interested in the mail I sent. There wasn’t much mail volume there period and most of it was business mail like from the local bank etc. or people paying bills. When I was younger I had many penpals from other countries (this was very much pre-internet) and I remember fondly many visits to the post office to purchase the correct stamps and the discussions about the countries far away. And later when I joined postcrossing he was always interested to see where I was sending and getting cards as well.
My name is pretty famous in my post office because I am the only person who receives postcards from around the world constantly for many years.
There was a very important document that was sent to me with the wrongly typed street address. Luckily the postman recognised my name. So, he sent the letter to me. His action actually changed my life and I can’t imagine what would have happened if he sent it to the wrong address.
I actually never spoken to my mail person. I have never had a consistent person either. When I moved in, i remember seeing a lady deliever the mail and never again. During the pandemic, it was a skinny guy who wore an American flag bandana over his face. The closest interaction i ever had with him was handing him a letter. He was about my height. 5’10" 178 cm. He had a beard. I knew because one time when he was far away, he took off the bandana. Then in 2021, he was replaced by another guy. This guy was short, maybe 5’7". He was young. He had muscles and had a big butt. Lol. I know. That and the fact that he had a giant rose (not colored) tattooed on his neck were two features that stood out about him. I also handed him a letter and several postcards. As quickly as he appeared, he disappeared.
By 2022, we had a series of random and different carriers a day with whom I had no interaction with. Many of them coming at different times. The majority of carriers do not have a specific time to arrive. They pretty much have a window of when to arrive which is anywhere from 1pm to 4pm, in my area. The last time I saw a carrier was Thursday July 28 2022. I saw the mail truck on the corner and a not quite young but also not quite middle aged black woman with braids putting mail in the boxes. Ate you a mail person in San Diego reading this? Will you ever get North Park, San Diego as a zone? Will you be my next mail person? Time will tell.
I dont know if this counts, but when I would go to the coffeehouse to sit and write letters and post cards, I noticed the same mailman arrive all the time at 1pm. So the only interaction I had was handing finished mail to him. The only thing I remembered about him was he wore a giant straw hat to keep out the sun.
However, I have a somewhat consistent mail person at the post office. A clerk named Nina, but oddly enough, when i first met her, she had a name tag named Rene.
Since joining postcrossing and play on tags I get a lot of card. My mailman used to send me just 2 or 3 envelopes when I was still doing penpal. Now he’s delivering me 5 and sometime even 20 cards more frequently, it made him ask how many sack of postcards I have now as a hoarder
(It’s just a banter)
I’m not even an old member , so I wonder what he will say after years later
Growing up, we had the same mail carrier for quite a few years. He would always say, “oh hello young miss (my last name),” as a greeting, and would have lollipops and other candy for us kids. At some point he was assigned to another route, but I ran into him years later and he recognized me and remembered my name. There is now a mural in his memory (he passed away a few years ago) not too far from where I grew up.
so interesting and heartwarming to read these stories about people’s mail carriers and postal workers!
unfortunately, i found out today that both my favourite post office clerk and regular carrier are moving on to different routes/locations soon; so i thought i might share some stories (this post has been sitting in my drafts forever!):
my regular mail carrier has flown under the radar ever since i moved to my current place because mail is typically delivered during my working hours. but the pandemic happened and i was home a lot more as i started working remotely - one day i came back from getting a coffee and ran into my carrier. i stopped him to ask a small question about a vacation hold and he asked me what unit i was and i told him. he goes “you have a lot of friends - you get all the postcards and envelopes, right?!” me: “” turns out i stick out like a sore thumb on his route lol so now we are very friendly and if i run into him, we chat for a bit before he moves to the next adress. i tell him about my life, work and postcrossing and he tells me about his kids and family or teases me when i dont get any mail that day also my carrier is very consistent so (without fail) will arrive within a 10 min window of when he delivered the previous day! it is so scarily consistent i can always tell when someone is subbing on his route haha
today my regular knocked on my door to let me know that his last day on this route will be next friday. omg i am still so sad about this; i am going to miss him alot i was thinking of getting him something to say thanks for going above and beyond for me but i haven’t figured it out yet…stay tuned?
special shoutouts to my favourite local post office clerks - i usually will pass my postcards over the counter so i can ask what stamps are in stock. sometimes they will say what they have on hand before i can ask or before i even get in line lol sometimes i will send them postcards when i am on vacation too!
i once walked into the post office that i usually dont go to and asked the clerk if i could buy a sheet of non-machinable stamps (usually used for the square envelopes but i like using them in combination as part of postage for international postcards). the clerk says “i can tell that this isn’t your first time asking because nobody else knows that these stamps exist” me: “”
My apartment is a bit old and has 4 stairways to service only 6 apartments, so getting parcels delivered to the right door is a bit of a whack-a-mole (there are signs, but they’re a bit confusing). Often when I hear a knock, I’ll stick my head out the door, and look across to the opposite staircase and see the postie over there, and once we establish that I’m the right person they’ll roll their eyes and either leave it at that door, or pass it through the crack in the two stairways up to me. But I remember one postie who actually found the whole thing absolutely hilarious. I told him he could just leave the parcel at the other door and I’d come get it but he refused and went all the way back down the stairs, around to the other side of the building and all the way back up the other side, chuckling all the way. We had a bit of a chat when he got here, talking about confusing old buildings, and my parrot, who likes to sit on my shoulder when I answer the door. And then by happenstance I had another parcel delivered the next day by the same postie. He came straight to the right door this time and left with a cheery “see you tomorrow” I haven’t seen him since, but the memory always makes me smile.
When I was 12 years old, a friend’s mother would take me home to my parents after college. I opened the door to get out, so I was standing in front of the car door when my friend’s mother asked me a question, so I sat down to answer her… At the same time, the mailman backed his car all the way back and smashed the window and the vehicle door. At a second ready I found myself sandwiched between the door and the postman’s car…
Luckily I got nothing.
I live in a very small town, and was pregnant during the height of the pandemic. Because we couldn’t have gatherings, a friend threw me a “virtual” baby shower, and many people shipped gifts to me. My mail lady knew I was having trouble walking at this time, so she put all of my packages (some very large!) and my mail in the car, drove them to my house, and even had her husband bring them inside for me. It is worth noting where I live, we do not have mail routes, you pick up mail at the post office only, so she did this in her personal vehicle, on her own time. This is just one of the many kind things our postmistress has done over the years! She also mails our daughter $100 on her birthday and Christmas.
So far, my mail people seem to be interested in why a relatively young person is visiting and mailing so often! I get the feeling that the post office being local and small means the majority of visitors are a lot older than me. They seem somewhat fascinated by postcrossing which makes me smile
Sometime ago, @kindnessgal (who doesn’t have a forum account) shared this story with me. I thought it was so nice, I asked her permission to repost it here. Enjoy!
Hello,
I wanted to share with my story about Postcrossing. For some reason I have on several occasions I have forgotten to put the ID number on my postcards and I appreciate that you have been able to help the recipient locate the ID. This time however I forgot to put the addresses on several of my postcards (I was mailing a batch of 6 at one time). After I dropped them off in the out going mailbox which is located in our small neighborhood I then realized that I had forgotten to address some of them. I called the local post office to find out what I could do but they did not answer the phone. I went to the post office to speak with them directly and they said they were not sure what would happen to them since there was no return address on them either. They probably would put in the dead mail file at one of the sorting facilities. So I went home and left a note for the postal carrier asking them to put the postcards back into my mail box. I was not sure that would work so I kept going to the mailbox hoping I would run into the mail carrier to ask them in person to retrieve and return the postcards to me. I was lucky and was able to meet the carrier and explain the situation. Apparently the mail carrier knew my name and knew that I was always mailing and receiving postcards and even said that she started Postcrossing and telling others because of the postcards that she saw coming and going from my mailbox. So I will now be able to address these postcards and send them on their way.
May we all be blessed with caring and thoughtful mail carriers!
I have a PO box, so when I get a package, I have to go to the counter and tell them I’m here to pick up a package for Box # XYZ. My name isn’t pronounced like it looks in English - think Mary Smith pronounced as Susan Jones - so the Clerks call me “Postcard Lady.”
My post office knows me well enough that when the machine tears off all or part of the PO Box line and just leaves my city, state and ZIP code, I still get the postcards. I’ve gotten about 10 that way in the past year.
I just picked up a piece of registered mail from my post office (courtesy of a wonderful PCer), and the postal worked was very excited by all the lovely stamps and told me I needed to keep the envelope to show my grandchildren one day And then proceeded to give me tips on how to mail cookies.
I usually do the same for cookies at home. Mostly with a slice of bread. But never thought before about to use flat bread or tortilla to keep them fresh if I mail them.
Please give thanks to your postal worker from me. It is an awesome tip.
Hi !
Since a few months I have a new mail carrier. Today I came home at the same time she delivered the mails so we had a little chat because well… I’m receiving a lot of postcards compared to all my neighbors (you know what I mean haha).
She told herself “oh this lady has a lot of foreign friends” and then “well… no it’s too much postcards”. So she made a little research and then she created a postcrossing account
I’m so glad !!
We talked about the official postcards of course, and then we talked about round robins, lotteries… Maybe she’ll come soon in this forum
, so I wonder what he will say after years later
” turns out i stick out like a sore thumb on his route lol so now we are very friendly and if i run into him, we chat for a bit before he moves to the next adress. i tell him about my life, work and postcrossing and he tells me about his kids and family or teases me when i dont get any mail that day 
also my carrier is very consistent so (without fail) will arrive within a 10 min window of when he delivered the previous day! it is so scarily consistent i can always tell when someone is subbing on his route haha
i was thinking of getting him something to say thanks for going above and beyond for me but i haven’t figured it out yet…stay tuned?
sometimes i will send them postcards when i am on vacation too!
