Post Office

Published in 1971, Post Office is the semi-autobiographical debut novel by American writer and poet Charles Bukowski. It chronicles his life from the early 1950s to 1969 through his fictional alter ego, Henry “Hank” Chinaski. Bukowski, already established as an underground poet known for his raw, unflinching depictions of working-class life, uses this first novel to turn his 12 years of employment with the US Postal Service into literature. Post Office belongs to the genre of autobiographical fiction (autofiction), combining elements of memoir and gritty realism, and offers an uncensored account of menial labor, alcoholism, unstable relationships, and the daily battle against bureaucratic authority. Written during the postwar American literary era, it reflects a countercultural rejection of conformity and institutional power through themes that include The Futility of Formally Resisting Authority, Substance Use as a Coping Mechanism, and Menial Labor and the Degradation of the Body and Spirit.

This guide references the Ecco paperback edition of Post Office.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of sexual assault, substance use, suicidal ideation and/or self-harm, and cursing. In addition, the source material uses potentially offensive language to refer to minorities.

Plot Summary

Hank Chinaski begins a job as a temporary mail carrier in Los Angeles, California. He initially thinks the job is easy, but the long hours and brutal pace quickly wear him down. His own behavior exacerbates the situation: He and his girlfriend, Betty, stay up late drinking, leaving him exhausted for his early-morning shift under a tyrannical supervisor, Jonstone, who assigns him difficult routes when he gives him work at all.

As a substitute, Hank has few rights on the job and little say in his daily activities. Defiant by nature, he continually clashes with Jonstone. Punctuating the job’s continual aggravation and tedium are bizarre episodes at the station and on routes. The rainy season nearly pushes him to quit. Hank’s routes are full of eccentric and aggravating individuals. One insists on receiving mail by hand, running down the street to stop Hank from leaving it in the box. When he tries to get a woman’s signature for a registered letter, she attacks him, drawing blood, which triggers a bizarre encounter. During a heatwave, Hank endures a punishing day in ragged clothes and worn-out shoes. Petty encounters frustrate him so much that he challenges a man to a fight. The life and career of a coworker, George Green (G.G.), are ruined when a misunderstanding leads to false accusations of child molestation.

After three years, Hank becomes a regular with steady pay and five assigned routes. However, he finds stability dull compared to the chaotic days as a sub. A petty dispute escalates when Jonstone repeatedly writes him up. Hank throws the write-ups away, mocking the process. He resigns after three and a half years, shocking the Federal Building clerk. He returns home to Betty and drinks, unaware that he’ll later reenter the post office as a clerk for another 12 years. Betty gets a job as a typist to support them while Hank is unemployed. He frequents the racetrack and makes a good living betting on the horses. Life is easy until Betty tires of the arrangement and breaks up with him. Hank gives her their house and their dog.

Hank meets Joyce, a young Texan woman, at the racetrack. They date, and Joyce insists that they marry. Hank agrees and spends his remaining money on a quick Las Vegas wedding. Strapped for cash, they move in with Joyce’s rich parents in Texas. They hate Hank, believing that he’s only with Joyce for their wealth. Despite several instances of intimidation, Hank begins to like the slower-paced life in small-town Texas. However, Joyce soon wants to move back to Los Angeles.

Upon returning to the city, she insists that they prove their independence, prompting Hank to reluctantly seek employment. He works as a shipping clerk at an art store, where his idleness is tolerated, and he avoids interfering in coworkers’ petty thefts. At Hank and Joyce’s new apartment, insect infestations; their small dog, Picasso; and Joyce’s relentless sexual demands complicate Hank’s life. He grows frustrated and fatigued, but continues to support Joyce and manage household chaos.

Hank returns to work for the post office as a clerk and again contends with the monotony and pressures of the work. Enduring 12-hour night shifts, difficult training, and constant surveillance, he observes the system’s absurdity, noting the drudgery, strict quotas, and relentless supervision. Joyce briefly works for the police, giving Hank some relief, but brings home noisy parakeets, which Hank frees to get some rest.

Further straining their relationship, Joyce becomes infatuated with a man from work (whom Hank calls “Purple Stickpin”), dismissing Hank’s warnings about office flirtations. Hank continues to navigate his demanding work life while enduring Joyce’s emotional and sexual intensity. On a rare day off, Hank attempts a romantic gesture by preparing an exotic seafood meal, which Joyce finds repulsive. The relationship deteriorates, and Joyce files for divorce, leaving Hank confused, but he handles the separation pragmatically, comforting Joyce, sharing a final intimate moment, and then moving out to find a new place to live.

After the divorce, Hank continues working at the post office. He keeps the car Joyce leaves behind and reconnects with Betty, who has aged and experienced misfortunes in the intervening years, turning increasingly to alcohol to cope with disappointments in her life. Despite the hardships, she proposes rekindling their relationship. They drink and reminisce, hiding alcohol from the post office nurse who checks on Hank when he calls in sick. They share stories and laughter, but their intimacy is hollow, and Hank reflects on how time and circumstance have robbed them both.

Meanwhile, Hank maintains a distant connection with Joyce. Joyce’s infatuation with Purple Stickpin fizzles, and she returns to Texas to care for her ailing grandmother. At work, Hank faces scrutiny from the Federal Building regarding an omission of a DUI on his job application. He writes a highly elaborate, 42-page explanation, which impresses the personnel staff and allows him to continue working while the case is pending.

At the post office, Hank confronts a disruptive coworker, Butchner, for harassing a young female employee. Supervisors ignore the situation, instead reprimanding Hank for briefly leaving his seat. The job’s demands include 12-hour night shifts, oppressive supervisors, and a complex mail sorting scheme that requires memorizing hundreds of streets and zones and passing timed tests, which quickly reduces the group of trainees from around 150 to fewer than 20. Hank tries to subconsciously learn the scheme by recording it, but has minimal success. He requests and is granted temporary relief from the training, giving him a brief reprieve.

He spends Christmas with Betty, sharing food, alcohol, and intimacy. However, complications from her alcohol use lead to her hospitalization. Hank tries to advocate for her, but the nurses insist that nothing can be done. She dies, and Hank organizes a lonely funeral, which only he and Betty’s estranged son attend.

After the funeral, Hank returns to the racetrack, where he meets Vi, a Black woman from the central post office. They flirt, cook, and spend time together, though he’s too drunk to have sex by the end of the evening. Back at work, counselors and supervisors challenge his absences for the funeral, but Hank asserts himself successfully. Eventually, he passes the mail sorting tests, becomes a regular, and has manageable shifts. David Janko, a younger coworker and aspiring writer, complains nonstop. Despite his resentment toward Janko, Hank agrees to read his manuscript, which he finds insipid, though not without merit. Janko, however, is too proud to take Hank’s constructive criticism.

Hank enjoys a brief taste of freedom after winning money at the racetrack and fantasizing about wealth, fine food, and leisure. He takes a 90-day leave of absence from the post office and settles into a routine of betting, drinking, and traveling along the coast. At the track, he meets Mary Lou. They quickly engage in a passionate affair, but a violent encounter with her man abruptly ends their relationship, leaving Hank paranoid but unharmed.

Hank’s luck at the track fades, and he returns to the post office, physically and emotionally drained. Fay, an older, politically active woman, moves into his apartment, bringing idiosyncrasies and frustrations into his life. She becomes pregnant, but her habits remain unchanged, and Hank struggles with exhaustion and persistent dizziness from demanding 12-hour night shifts. The oppressive environment of the post office, with grueling workloads, tedious bureaucratic oversight, and coworkers who exploit seniority to avoid labor, compounds his stress.

Hank supports Fay through the birth of their daughter, Marina Louise. He continues working, navigating riots in the city, conflicts with supervisors, and health challenges, including dizziness that a prescription only partially relieves. Eventually, Fay moves out, taking Marina with her to a hippie commune in New Mexico.

Hank spirals out of control and receives several warnings for being absent without leave from the Postal Service. After 12 years of thankless service, he resigns from his job. He likens the sudden decompression to the bends, as he descends into an alcoholic bender, and only the thought of his daughter keeps him from dying by suicide. After a hazy period of drunken debauchery and partying with strangers, Hank wakes one morning with the urge to write a novel, which he does.