Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds — inscription found on the General Post Office at 8th Avenue and 33rd Street, New York City.
When the U.S. Postal Service announced Wednesday it will eliminate Saturday delivery of mail by Aug. 1, we felt a pang of sadness.
We will miss the Saturday morning ritual of the mailman's appointed rounds here in the North End when our carrier walks by with a chipper "hello" as the kids shoot hoop and we sip coffee on the back deck.
Our fellow seems perfectly content working Monday to Thursday and Saturday. Now he’ll get the whole weekend off or perhaps work his shift indoors, though cost cutting moved carrier operations from the Unionville Post Office to Burlington a few years ago.
It’s not like we won’t see him anymore, of course, but not many folks are home during the day when the mail carrier makes his or her rounds. We arrive home after a long day of work to find an envelope or flyer in the box, carried by unseen hands.
That is until Saturday, when if we’re outside, we get the mail handed to us. It’s something that’s rarely done in today’s e-culture.
Farmington Patch asked our Facebook fans yesterday how they feel about the change. We received an array of answers:
- Mark Blore Think it's good for the workers if they still have jobs. Plus only 2 kinds of mail now- half I throw away, the other half I don't want to pay.
- Bill Stanford If it keeps the Post Office solvent, I am all for it.
- Jane Braff Paquet At least they had the sense to keep Sat package delivery. That is where I seem them having a competitive advantage over private services.
- Marybeth Griffin Petersen Think of the positive environmental benefit of all those fewer trucks on the road!
