September 12, 2017
For many, many years, my building had the mail delivered by one regular postman. Other than his regular summer vacations, he was always here at about 1:oo. At some point his route changed and he started coming at 4:00, but whichever time he was supposed to be here, he was here.
He was really good and dependable. Packages were brought to our door and we knew him, and he knew us, by name and friendly greetings. Eventually he retired and of course for years now our mail service has sucked. He was probably the only good mailman in Brooklyn.

Everyone loves 1950’s clip art!
I’ve detailed before how packages get stolen in my building, letters don’t arrive, and the postal carrier shows up anywhere from noon to six pm. (But I will give him credit. Most of the mail ends up in the correct boxes, at least half of the time.)
But lately the mail has been showing up at close to 8 pm. This can’t be a regular route. What postal worker is out delivering mail at that hour?
And it gets odder. I’ve seen the mailman twice. Both times he was delivering the mail with an “assistant,” an older woman that has to be his wife. She doesn’t wear a uniform and takes mail out of a school knapsack.
Also, I get a service from the USPS. They email me pictures of my mail that is scheduled to be delivered that day. For a while it was spot on, now the letters in the email arrive about three days later. If at all.
So am I right in assuming that much of my mail is sitting in that guy’s living room, along with piles of other people’s mail that my carrier may never get to because he has fallen so far behind?
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