Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home

Grant heavily prepared for his first day solo. After driving the route with Cash the day before, he drove it again on his own after his shift, mapping out each detail along the way. He arrived on time the next morning but took longer than everyone else to case his mail; luckily, a co-worker named Kat helped him along. 

Visiting each stop along his route, Grant found himself returning to places that connected him to parts of himself and his family. He delivered mail to the Corporate Research Center, where he had worked for several years, to TechLab, where his mother worked before developing dementia, drove the same road his father would take walks along, and delivered mail to the daycare where he used to take his daughter. Grant also delivered to all sorts of other companies, schools, and residences. Though he still felt lost internally, he began to feel grounded in the familiarity of Blacksburg.

Grant discusses the primary vehicle of the USPS mail carrier, the Grumman Long Life Vehicle (LLV). These vehicles, Grant notes, have a fond place in the hearts of Americans, but they are also deeply flawed. Though they do their work in organizing and delivering mail, they lack proper visibility and provide a crude, bumpy ride. LLVs do not have air conditioning, which means enduring unbearable heat in summer; Grant cites one mailman who died for this reason. He recalls how, in training, everyone was told that all accidents were their own fault and fully preventable. However, many accidents could be prevented if the vehicles were replaced with something newer and safer. He compares the vehicles to his family’s canoes, which were made by the same company and of the same aluminum, noting how aluminum can be remade without losing its integrity and arguing that it is time for LLVs to undergo this process.

A month into the job, Grant was finally given a rural route as a substitute for a regular carrier named Wade. The route was long and involved gravel roads, areas without cell service, and hours of isolation. Grant rode along with Wade for two days and saw how Wade cared about the people on his route, befriending them and bringing them upgraded mailboxes to help them receive their parcels. It occurred to Grant that he was not a regular and that being a substitute was never going to be the same. 

Still, Grant was confident and felt ready for the new challenge. He was required to supply his own vehicle, so he borrowed an SUV that belonged to his wife’s grandmother. On his first day alone, Grant attempted to drive from the right-hand side of the vehicle so that he could deliver the mail more quickly. He ended up careening down a hill and nearly hitting a tree but managed to brake at the final moment. The experience alerted him to just how inexperienced he really was.

Grant came to rely on a co-worker named Kat, a middle-aged woman who was married to another mail carrier and to the postal service itself. She was a dedicated worker and supportive friend who helped Grant by splitting his route with him and helping him case his mail in the mornings. She also helped Grant become more comfortable driving from the right-hand side of the vehicle. Wade loaned Grant one of his work vehicles, which made the job a little easier, but Grant was still overwhelmed by the demands of the work. One day, he neglected to notice that a house on his route was marked “vacant” and went to deliver mail there. He stuck it in the mailbox only to discover a massive hornet’s nest. Grant managed to drive away in time, but the experience terrified him and made him question whether he should continue the job. It was Kat who reminded Grant of why he took on the position in the first place, helping him to fight another day.