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

Mailman is a memoir on the experience of being a mail carrier during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Originally published in 2025, Mailman tells the story of author Stephen Starring Grant, who spent most of his adult life as a marketing consultant but found himself without work when the pandemic hit in 2020. He took a massive reduction in pay and had to learn an entirely new line of work when he became a mail carrier for the United States Postal Service (USPS) in the Appalachian mountains of Virginia. His memoir depicts him experiencing The Transformative Power of Work while also exploring themes of Finding Oneself Through Embracing Imperfection, The Necessity of Civic Institutions, and Confronting the Past and Coming Home Again.

This guide utilizes the 2025 Simon & Schuster hardcover edition of the memoir.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, illness, death, sexual content, racism, substance use, and cursing.

Summary

In 2020, Stephen Starring Grant sat at the airport after being told that his marketing job was no longer needed. He had prostate cancer and a family to look after. Grant and his family moved back to his hometown of Blacksburg, Virginia, hoping for a more affordable life and some solitude, but the town was charged with political tension and wasn’t quite what Grant remembered. Grant applied for a rural mail carrier position with the USPS, taking a pay cut for the assured healthcare. During training, he began meeting the people who would define his experiences and time in Appalachia, like Jackie, who talked about being shot by her ex. Grant finished the training, swore an oath, and started to experience a new kind of responsibility and purpose.

However, Grant’s first days as a letter carrier made the complexity and demands of the job clear. He learned that mail delivery involved more than carrying mail; it required sorting mail into “cases,” memorizing addresses, and working efficiently at all times. Though the work itself felt tedious, Grant found that the people around him made the job worthwhile. With guidance from coworkers like Cash and Kat, he began to understand the rhythm of the job. As he delivered mail, Grant also passed places that were connected to his past, such as former workplaces, landmarks, and familiar roads, which began to force a reckoning that he had not anticipated. When he was assigned a rural route as a substitute carrier, Grant observed the care that the regular carrier showed the people he served; Grant longed for that same sense of connection and sense of service. 

Without a proper vehicle with right-hand drive, Grant attempted to deliver mail by driving on the wrong side and nearly crashed. The moment showed Grant just how inexperienced he really was, humbling him. After a horrific encounter with a hornet’s nest when Grant neglected to read the “vacant” card, Grant seriously considered quitting, but Kat reminded him of why he had taken the job and helped him push forward. On a hot day near the end of his route, Grant realized that he had missed a package and drove back to deliver it. When he arrived, the view of the river overwhelmed him, and he had a spiritual experience in which he cried, prayed, and realized that being bad at something had taught him more about himself than success ever did. After this, he resolved that continuing forward was enough. 

As he grew more comfortable on his route, Grant began delivering to people he already knew, including Amanda, his wife’s yoga instructor and former therapist, who once helped him manage his anger. When her friends became upset over a missing letter, Grant reassured them, becoming a source of stability, connecting with the “other side” politically, and feeling for the first time like a real mailman. 

During the pandemic, parcel volume became overwhelming as people shopped online to pass the time, and Grant delivered everything from sex toys to furniture. When Amazon began diverting its overflow to the USPS, tensions rose as parcel volume reached all-time highs. Since he was still unable to afford a work vehicle of his own, Grant briefly delivered mail with help from his daughters, which became an irreplaceable gift, despite being illegal.

Grant delivered unusual items and often went above and beyond, as when he carried a mini fridge and freezer across a slippery creek. Grant also learned to carry essential tools and supplies, like a first-aid kit, pens, a logbook, a rain jacket, and rubber bands. During election season, he saw the care his coworkers took to ensure votes were handled securely, and he admired their dedication to their obligations. Grant also had several alarming encounters on route, including a moment in which he thought he might be shot. Grant encountered various dangers, from aggressive dogs to desperate people trying to steal mail, and learned that while working on his own, his ability to prepare was often the only protection he had. Physical challenges like injuries and hypothermia deepened his awareness of his own body, resilience, and connection to the land. Grant eventually managed to find his way back to office work, realizing that he became a mailman to reconnect with his roots, serve his country, and remember that growth often comes from failure.