(Video above: Mark Lipscomb serves his unique mail route along Alabama’s Gulf Coast)
The U.S. Postal Service does not have an official creed, but for most Americans, an inscription on the James Farley Post Office in New York City sums it up:
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
The Postal Service is one of the only government agencies explicitly authorized by the Constitution, tracing its roots all the way back to 1775 when the Second Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin the first postmaster general.
For the past 240 years, the descendants of Franklin’s operation have made sure the country’s mail arrives in a timely manner, no matter what. Today the USPS employs 617,254 workers who deliver mail to every corner of the country, from the concrete jungles of inner-city New York, to Supai, Arizona, where it could take a week to deliver a package by mule.
One of the country’s most unique mail routes is along Alabama’s Gulf Coast.
Since 2006, Mark Lipscomb has served the people of Magnolia Springs, Alabama as the full-time mail courier on America’s only year-round, all-water mail route.
The Pulse recently detailed a day in Lipscomb’s life:
As with any water travel, weird occurrences keep Lipscomb on his toes. When he begins his daily rounds delivering mail, he worries more about being attacked by alligators and snakes than neighborhood dogs. He says he’s seen deer swimming across the river, comes upon alligators on a daily basis and even has fish that jump into his boat, unknowingly getting mixed in with the letters and packages he’s delivering.
But residents don’t mind a few delays. “The people on the route enjoy it and they do what they can to keep it going,” says Lipscomb. “They like it because it’s unique. They’re proud to be part of the nation’s only water mail route.”
Water delivery does present problems to Lipscomb, the route’s only full-time courier. In the low tides of winter, he has difficulty reaching up to the boxes. With summer high tides, he may not be able to navigate under the bridges. He says that rain or shine, he’ll always be out on the river making his customers happy.
Interestingly, the challenges of the route — and the fact that it is a contract job without federal benefits — have not made it difficult for the Postal Service to keep the position filled. In fact, less than a dozen postmen have served the route since it began in 1915.
“On a regular route I’d have air conditioning in the summer and in the rain or cold I’d have a heater,” Lipscomb told The Pulse. “Instead, I get to see the fish jumping, the flowers blooming and get to enjoy the scenery. You appreciate things more when you’re out here.”
Lipscomb was born in California, but with a mindset like that, it’s no wonder he fits right in here in his adopted home state.
Check out the full story over at The Pulse.
Rain, sleet, hail or gators? Meet the Alabamian working America’s most unique postal route https://t.co/cfM9yamVuh
— Cliff Sims (@Cliff_Sims) November 9, 2015
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