Take time to think not just of loved ones during the Christmas shopping season, but of the grueling labor required to deliver your packages -- especially during Covid-disrupted 2021.
Spot-on! I have a lot of sympathy and respect for the USPS drivers I see surrounded by and BURIED under all the packages in their vehicles. How in the world do they manage the influx of online shipping? No way can they see out of their rear-view mirrors! I was a temp ca. 2000 & they were swamped then - it’s gotta be 100-fold the volume now. They deserve good wages, the USPS needs to be fully funded, AND corporations like Amazon need to pay their fair share of taxes to pay for the infrastructure & services that make their profits possible. Just sayin’…
I was a carrier for 23 years before retiring on disability. I retired in 2017. Lucky in August. In 2016 I averaged close to 300 packages a day from the beginning of October till mid January. I can promise the carriers work extra hard and lose time with their families. A friend that still worked there last Christmas said the regular carriers were even working 7 days a week. That is REALLY hard on a persons body. I said all that to say please appreciate your carrier and let them know that you do 💜
I too appreciate our postal workers, but, regarding your reference to stop and think before pulling the trigger on our next Amazon purchase, I am not going to stop online shopping (at Amazon, Michaels, Walmart, or other places; online shopping is here to stay, and those companies, specifically Amazon, are developing ways to handle the influx of packages by building more distribution centers and buying more delivery vehicles. In our area, I am fairly sure the Amazon packages are only delivered by the USPS on Sundays. Many items our household has purchased in the past year can either only be bought online or other "local" retailers were charging three-five times more for the exact same items. For the holiday season especially, though, I think the bigger issue is that we have a love affair with stuff--collecting it, buying it, storing it, sending it, selling it, donating it...you get the idea. Do our relatives/friends really need to receive so many packaged gifts from well-meaning loved ones (only for those gifts to be regifted or returned or sold in a garage sale in 6 months?) Or would they be better served to be given the gifts of time and love and prayer? Sure I sent packages this year, but the large majority of my Christmas gifts, especially for my grandchildren, involved a "where" rather than a "what" and an experience. Time on the phone, video chats, teaching them to sew, reading to them, telling them I love them. Just my thoughts,.,,
Hi Barbara. I appreciate your thoughts and especially the admonition to buy less "stuff." Nothing will turn you against materialism faster than delivering literally tons of useless items. But I will correct your impression about Amazon's own deliveries. Their contracted delivery companies (not Amazon itself, despite the signage) cannot come close to delivering all the Amazon packages people order, and they operate only in areas where they can deliver most efficiently (read: cheaply) and leave the remote areas to the Postal Service, which adds to its financial burden. So, in town and in Pisgah Forest, Amazon pays to deliver a lot (but not all) of its own stuff. But you can be sure no Amazon truck has ever been on Glady Fork, Frozen Creek, etc.
I love this story. Also thinking about deliveries up and down the hellish driveways in Connestee and the other communities here. I’m getting envelopes ready for every driver coming up my driveway this month. Thank you
Spot-on! I have a lot of sympathy and respect for the USPS drivers I see surrounded by and BURIED under all the packages in their vehicles. How in the world do they manage the influx of online shipping? No way can they see out of their rear-view mirrors! I was a temp ca. 2000 & they were swamped then - it’s gotta be 100-fold the volume now. They deserve good wages, the USPS needs to be fully funded, AND corporations like Amazon need to pay their fair share of taxes to pay for the infrastructure & services that make their profits possible. Just sayin’…
Hey, Beth. Thanks and cool to hear you're a fellow postal alum.
I was a carrier for 23 years before retiring on disability. I retired in 2017. Lucky in August. In 2016 I averaged close to 300 packages a day from the beginning of October till mid January. I can promise the carriers work extra hard and lose time with their families. A friend that still worked there last Christmas said the regular carriers were even working 7 days a week. That is REALLY hard on a persons body. I said all that to say please appreciate your carrier and let them know that you do 💜
I too appreciate our postal workers, but, regarding your reference to stop and think before pulling the trigger on our next Amazon purchase, I am not going to stop online shopping (at Amazon, Michaels, Walmart, or other places; online shopping is here to stay, and those companies, specifically Amazon, are developing ways to handle the influx of packages by building more distribution centers and buying more delivery vehicles. In our area, I am fairly sure the Amazon packages are only delivered by the USPS on Sundays. Many items our household has purchased in the past year can either only be bought online or other "local" retailers were charging three-five times more for the exact same items. For the holiday season especially, though, I think the bigger issue is that we have a love affair with stuff--collecting it, buying it, storing it, sending it, selling it, donating it...you get the idea. Do our relatives/friends really need to receive so many packaged gifts from well-meaning loved ones (only for those gifts to be regifted or returned or sold in a garage sale in 6 months?) Or would they be better served to be given the gifts of time and love and prayer? Sure I sent packages this year, but the large majority of my Christmas gifts, especially for my grandchildren, involved a "where" rather than a "what" and an experience. Time on the phone, video chats, teaching them to sew, reading to them, telling them I love them. Just my thoughts,.,,
Hi Barbara. I appreciate your thoughts and especially the admonition to buy less "stuff." Nothing will turn you against materialism faster than delivering literally tons of useless items. But I will correct your impression about Amazon's own deliveries. Their contracted delivery companies (not Amazon itself, despite the signage) cannot come close to delivering all the Amazon packages people order, and they operate only in areas where they can deliver most efficiently (read: cheaply) and leave the remote areas to the Postal Service, which adds to its financial burden. So, in town and in Pisgah Forest, Amazon pays to deliver a lot (but not all) of its own stuff. But you can be sure no Amazon truck has ever been on Glady Fork, Frozen Creek, etc.
This is the best!
You're so nice, Sue. I should have solicited an illustration to go with it.
I love this story. Also thinking about deliveries up and down the hellish driveways in Connestee and the other communities here. I’m getting envelopes ready for every driver coming up my driveway this month. Thank you
Thank you, Susan. Connestee is also a nightmare because of its confounding Cherokee-inspired street names.