The reason I ask is I received some very telling information from a national association and from a major vehicle manufacturer today.
I often wonder if postal workers can get a good idea about the people living in a home by the mail that comes through.
Combining the information I request and the catalogs I get, I bet a postal worker could get a good profile on the people living in a house or apartment.
< dare I explain some of the stuff I have received in the last month? >
Kinda related, I guess…
My father used to be the Post Master in the small town where I grew up. Sometimes when I would mention a name of someone, he would quickly respond, “Yeah, I know them. PO Box XXXXX.” I figure if he could put a name to a box number, I’m sure he could also recite what type of mail they recieved. Scary.
“Penises don’t belong in the mouth, girls and boys. You’ve got the wrong hole there. Just like you wouldn’t shove pizza up your nose.”
-From the Brother Jed flyer-
I have a lot of friends who are letter carriers.
Yes, they know what kind of mail you receive, and no, they don’t care. They deliver mail to hundreds of people daily, and literally couldn’t care less if you want to subscribe to every dirty magazine there is. As they plod along with an armload of mail, they’re thinking about their OWN lives, just like 100% of the people on this planet. They do notice when the unemployment and SSI checks come out, but that’s mainly because the recipients are out there on the front porch, waiting.
However, they DO notice in a big way whether or not you’ve picked up your mail, mainly because they can’t get any more mail in the box. All those stories you hear about the letter carrier noticing that the little old lady hadn’t picked up her mail for several days, and so called 911, and they broke down her door and found her lying helpless on the floor after a stroke–those stories are all TRUE. I was shocked, too. I know they sound like Reader’s Digest concoctions, but they’re not.
One of my post office friends delivered mail to a house, and as he was walking back down the sidewalk, a woman came out of the house dragging a toddler by the arm. She cussed at the kid, slapped him around, hollering, “Stay right there now!” and went back in the house, leaving the toddler on the front porch crying, with no coat on (it was a chilly winter day). Evidently she went back in the house to argue with the babysitter, coming back outside at intervals to yell at the kid and shake him around. So finally my friend, who is a decent family man himself, and who had been standing there watching dumbfounded, went over and picked up the kid, took him to a neighbor’s house, and called the police.
The woman came rushing over and started to grab the kid away, but then she saw his postman’s uniform and got real respectful all of a sudden, saying, “I know you aren’t supposed to mess with the U.S. Mail, and all…”
So he refused to let her have the baby back, just stood there holding it, and it took the cops 20 minutes to get there, and when they did get there, they shrugged and said there was really nothing they could do.
So, maybe he made a difference, maybe he didn’t. The point is, frequently it’s the mailman who calls the cops, just because he (or she) happens to be there.
And it works the other way. Another friend of mine slipped and fell on the ice this winter while walking her route and knocked herself cold, and a neighbor who was getting out of her car saw it and called 911.
But trust me, letter carriers don’t give a rat’s derriere what magazines you subscribe to, or how many times the bank tries to repossess your house.
P.S. to Squee: I have to know who Brother Jed is, and where you got that quote.
“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen
Nope, none here. But if you look across the square, hunched down atop the water tower, there’s onBAM!!
I was a substitute rural letter carrier for two years while in college. My moms family ALL, except 2 kids work for the post office.
(8 kids, 6 girs/2 boys), and grandma/grandad retired from the post office, and we don’t care what you get in the mail. As a matter of fact, get off a few of those mailing list so there is less mail!!!
PS WE’RE ALL POSTAL!!!
I pity the fool that brings a knife to a gun fight.