In this episode of Mailin’ It, we chat with Davita Lawrence, one of the many Postal employees who helps to make sure mail gets delivered to every address across the nation. Join us as we get a special look into the day in the life of a Mail Carrier. We’ll gain insight into the training, how someone gets assigned to a route, and more!
This week, we get a special look into a side of the Postal Service most people don’t get to see! Join us as we talk about the day in the life of a Mail Carrier with Davita Lawrence, who has been a Mail Carrier with the Postal Service since 2020. We’ll dive into the training, route assignments, and what it's like delivering to businesses. Davita also shares some of her favorite things about the role, the support and community within the Postal Service, and her hopes for the future!
Dale Parsan:
Hi, everybody. Welcome to “Mailin’ It!” the official podcast of the United States Postal Service. I'm Dale Parsan. We're gonna switch things up a bit for this episode. Normally, our conversations with Postal Service leaders give you an inside look at some of our big picture priorities like preparing for the holiday rush or keeping the Delivering for America plan on track. This episode, we're gonna go in a little bit of a different direction and talk with one of the hundreds of thousands of postal employees across the country who makes sure the mail gets delivered to every address across the country. Mail carriers are a special part of any community. I know it's cliche, but they really are out there in all kinds of weather, rain or shine, making sure their deliveries are made. We see our mail carriers out doing their jobs almost every day, but what is that job really like and why do they do it? It's demanding work and as we'll hear, delivering the mail is only part of the job. There's a lot going on behind the scenes that most people aren't aware of. Davita Lawrence has been a mail carrier since 2020. She's here in the studio with me today to talk about her job and share some experiences about delivering mail in Washington DC's Brentwood neighborhood. Welcome to Mailin’ It, at Davita.
Davita Lawrence:
Thanks for having me.
Dale Parsan:
Davita, tell me, how did you come to work for the Postal Service?
Davita Lawrence:
I came to the post office after the pandemic hit. I worked for DCPS schools for 13 years as a security officer. Once the pandemic hit, they let us go and I decided that I needed a job that was more stable, something that - if anything like this ever happened again - then you know, I would be secure. I remember at work as a security officer, I became friends with the mail courier and just got the pros and the cons of the job, and it just seemed like something that I can do. So I applied and it just happened. It just worked out for me at the right time.
Dale Parsan:
Yeah. So we said 2020, right? So that means it was the beginning of the pandemic. That must have been challenging, right? Obviously coming off of a previous job, but, but also just the state of the world. I mean, what was your training like at that time?
Davita Lawrence:
So the training, it was very detailed. It was very organized. My trainer was excellent. I think she taught me, yeah, pretty much everything that I needed to know. So once I got on the street, I was pretty prepared or so I thought,
Dale Parsan:
Nothing prepares you like when your boots on the ground right?
Davita Lawrence:
Nothing prepares you really
Dale Parsan:
So just curious, going back into the pandemic. So you left your previous job and then you're going to work for the Postal Service, but this was at a time where a lot of people were nervous about being outside, nervous about interacting with others. And the one thing that I know about my mail carrier that they do a lot of traveling throughout the day, a lot of interacting with others. Was there any concerns?
Davita Lawrence:
Of course there were. I had just had a baby. My daughter was maybe six months at the time. So it was really, really scary. Not only going back to work after being home for a year, but working around such intense conditions - going in and outta places that you've never been before. Just touching and dealing with things that you've never dealt with and touched before, and just being in close contact with so many people. But of course, they had the right precautions for us when we come into the station. They had hand sanitizer, they had masks, they had everything that we needed to be safe. And a few people did catch COVID… Not saying that, you know, they caught it from the post office or that they didn't, but when they did catch it, you know, the post office took the right precautions to protect us and those people were taken care of also. So well, I feel pretty safe moving forward.
Dale Parsan:
Absolutely. It's, it's one of those things that we saw across the nation. A lot of entities were, you know, slowing down or shutting down. With the Postal Service, with our mission to the American people, we have to keep going. So just hearing from you that, that the Postal Service at, at these levels, were really able to provide that sense of security both tangibly through the form of hand sanitizer, masks, et cetera, but also just, you know, giving you that mental relief of like, okay, they understand how to handle these types of situations in the best way possible. I feel comfortable coming into work. That's, that's great to hear.
Davita Lawrence:
Right.
Dale Parsan:
And congratulations on the, on the baby.
Davita Lawrence:
Well, my typical day starts at 8:30 and we, well, I'm gonna speak for myself. I come in, I clock in on the system on a scanner, and this is your scanner. It stays with you. Like your scanner is like your work life line. You clock in, you clock out, you make your moves.
Dale Parsan:
Yeah, this is the barcode scanner, right? So it's a, okay, so it serves this other function as well. Mm-Hmm.
Davita Lawrence:
Dale Parsan:
So I'm thinking something of a, of a floating mail carrier for different routes. I'm thinking something of like a substitute teacher. You go where you're needed that day. Okay.
Davita Lawrence:
Right. So what typically happens is you'll report to the supervisor and she'll tell you which route you will be on for the day. They usually give you routes that you're familiar with, you know, so you can get in and out, you can case your mail, you can come back in a timely fashion. You won't be all out there flustered or anything.
Dale Parsan:
I mean, sometimes I get, I get lost driving home, I can't
Davita Lawrence:
Right. Yeah.
Dale Parsan:
Whatever, whatever, smaller neighborhood.
Davita Lawrence:
Right,
Dale Parsan:
Right. So, so Davita that, that's great to hear. So we're talking 8:30 is when you scan in, walk me through a little bit more of what happens throughout that day, before you, before you hit the streets.
Davita Lawrence:
So you case, you case the mail, that's the fun part,
Dale Parsan:
Okay. So I've spent a little bit of time at, at, at post offices and plans and whatnot. So for me, casing mail, I'm, I'm remembering a large, let's say a bookshelf mm-hmm.
Davita Lawrence:
Yes. And usually it takes, I'll say maybe an hour to an hour and 30 minutes, but they want you to, once you get familiar with it, it gets easier.
Dale Parsan:
Yeah. I would think, okay. I associate these numbers with, you know, upper left hand corner of the case, lower right hand corner, stuff like that.
Davita Lawrence:
It becomes memory.
Dale Parsan:
Gotcha. Right. But as a floater,
Davita Lawrence:
It's difficult.
Dale Parsan:
Yeah. You're unassigned, so you, you have no muscle memory. I mean, you've been doing it for a while, so I'm sure you do now that you've been on a quite a few routes, but at first I would imagine it's, that's probably even harder than actually delivering.
Davita Lawrence:
Yeah. The casing to me is the worst part about the day. Just, that's just me. Because like you said, I'm a unassigned regular, so I could come in and she can say, Hey, go case route 10. And I don't, I've never cased, I don't know what Route 10 is. I've never been on Route 10. So you go to the case and you wanna just, you know, look at, look over it really quickly and try to remember certain things. If it's something that sticks out to you, maybe a store or maybe something that you're familiar with, and you just go from there.
Dale Parsan:
But at the same time, I've gotta imagine that if you are on a, if anybody's casing mail right, and they do something incorrectly, it's, it's going to be their problem down the line once they load it into the truck. Right? So it, you wanna try and get this stuff done, so it's not like, let's just blast through it. We'll figure it out later. Now it's gotta be right.
Davita Lawrence:
Right. Because can you imagine you have this large case, and then you're looking over it and you are like, okay, I got it, I got it. And then you start casing and you realize that you have 12th Place and 12th Street, and you put all the 12th Place mail on 12th Street
Dale Parsan:
My gosh. Yeah. And that's if you notice it, right? That's, I mean, if you notice it's going on mm-hmm.
Davita Lawrence:
Yeah. there's a bid sheet and the bid sheet comes out - I wanna say, and don't quote me on this
Dale Parsan:
Oh, mm-hmm.
Davita Lawrence:
Dale Parsan:
For whatever reason, the route's been vacant,
Davita Lawrence:
Whatever reason the route has been vacant. Thank you.
Dale Parsan:
Okay. So do individuals have to rebid every, let, let's say three weeks, three months, three years, whatever the cadence is right, for that bid sheet to come out? Do you have to re-bid or once you have something, you're locked in until you decide to, to vacate for whatever reason?
Davita Lawrence:
So once you're, once you bid and you actually win the bid, you're locked in. You're official
Dale Parsan:
Well, that's good. Oh. I hope you get put on a permanent Yeah. I think it'll make your life a little bit easier from casing mail to deliver. Yes.
Davita Lawrence:
It depends on the route. As for me, I like to park my truck because of course, we're in a really big truck. You don't want to double park, you don't wanna block people parking spaces in. So you wanna find a spot that you're comfortable in and go from there. So you may park on 10th, and you may have to deliver all the way to 12th. So I just load my satchel up and I'm just walking, walking all day, all day. And sometimes I get off of work and I look at my watch and it's 10 miles.
Dale Parsan:
10 miles. Mm-Hmm.
Davita Lawrence:
That's a lot.
Dale Parsan:
Okay. So let's fast forward to the point where you have successfully bid on a route. You've gotten it, you're locked in. What, what's the process like if for some reason you wanted to switch to a different route, you wanted a different change of scenery? Walk me through that as well.
Davita Lawrence:
So I have a colleague who just bid on a new route after being on a route for, I think she said four years, and she bid on a new route, and she won in the same zone, which is amazing and really unheard of.
Dale Parsan:
Okay. So what, what, what are the motivations like for doing that? I would think that the consistency of a route is, is an advantage, right?
Davita Lawrence:
Yes. But you have to think about when you bid on a route, you just trying to bid for consistency, like you said, and you trying to bid for comfort, comfortability, and you want to actually stay in the zone that you actually trained in.
Dale Parsan:
What makes a route better?
Davita Lawrence:
So say my original route that I've been on for four years may have been six hours, and the neighborhoods are great, the customers are great, but every block has steps. Every house that I deliver to has 10 to 12 steps.
Dale Parsan:
Or maybe some massive apartment building that's been brought up. So instead of having a block of single family homes, you're now looking at this massive high rise.
Davita Lawrence:
Exactly. And, and on a route that I had a hold down on, it was perfect, the perfect route for me,
Dale Parsan:
Davita Lawrence:
Because you have to think of the mail volume for the buildings. Then you have to think of, this is a new building. People are going to be ordering stuff. I have delivered a lawnmower before. Yes.
Dale Parsan:
Must have been a… Can't be a full size lawnmower, my gosh. Wow. And then we, we always talk about how, you know, just across the country, the amount of delivery points keep, you know, they keep fluctuating and generally they, they tend to go up in a lot of places. So that impact on the local post office, the impact on our mail carriers, I mean that, this is a good example of it. So we bring up a good topic around, you know, the development of neighborhoods, the development of cities, zones, routes just for the general public, people are moving in, right? More people in an area means more mail, but it also means more packages as you were alluding to. So what, in, in your opinion, what is the impact of the packages, right? Because we're talking things that could fit in potentially a satchel, if that's what you use, or something that's gonna require you to, you know, have only that in your hands and you're walking down the sidewalk or walking up to a home, you know that this could be, this could be very cumbersome. So, so walk me through some of that for you.
Davita Lawrence:
Packages on the route – they’ll make you or break you
Dale Parsan:
400 on a single day.
Davita Lawrence:
Yes.
Dale Parsan:
Are we talking this is like holiday season?
Davita Lawrence:
No. Oh,
Dale Parsan:
During a normal day.
Davita Lawrence:
So let's talk about pandemic. During the pandemic, there were times when I delivered a truck full of packages and had to go back to the station and deliver another truck of packages. Yeah.
Dale Parsan:
Oh, okay.
Davita Lawrence:
Yeah. One building can take up half of your truck.
Dale Parsan:
So, Davita that, that's all really interesting. I've got another question, right? So I'm sure mail carriers, you know, like everybody else, we decide to get up and move, right? Let's say you and your family decide to move to a different area. What's the process like? Do you have to reapply to a specific post office? Is there internal transfer programs? Do you have to rebid? What, what's all that like?
Davita Lawrence:
So, I don't know the specifics, but I do know that you can transfer to any post office anywhere. So if I decided that I wanted to move to Philadelphia to be closer to family, that's doable.
Dale Parsan:
That's fantastic. That's a huge upside. I did not know about that, and I thought it would've been a lot more, you know, laborious to try and to try and move locations. But that sounds, I mean, obviously there, there's a process and I'm, I'm sure that there's steps that we're missing, but it's good to know that something's there, something's figured out.
Davita Lawrence:
Right? That's a huge win for the post office.
Dale Parsan:
Absolutely. Personally, I'd like to go to Anchorage.
Davita Lawrence:
Huh?
Dale Parsan:
I think Alaska could be cool.
Davita Lawrence:
Cold,
Dale Parsan:
Davita Lawrence:
Right? You don't wanna deliver mail in Alaska, I'm sure.
Dale Parsan:
No.
Davita Lawrence:
Businesses are important because they get a lot of important mail. The route that I'm on right now has, I believe, four streets of businesses. And some of the businesses are real estate agencies. Mm-Hmm.
Dale Parsan:
We're talking signatures.
Davita Lawrence:
Yes. And if the person is not there to receive it, guess what? You gotta take it back and you gotta deliver it the next day. If they're not there the next day, then you gotta leave a notice. So it's a lot with doing businesses.
Dale Parsan:
Okay. So let's, let's talk a little bit more about that customer interaction. What are the customers on your routes like?
Davita Lawrence:
Amazing.
Dale Parsan:
Yeah.
Davita Lawrence:
Amazing. They're, they're amazing. Like, I never really noticed how much people need us as mail carriers. They become your friend.
Dale Parsan:
So there's a lot of interaction.
Davita Lawrence:
Yeah, it's a lot of interaction. Like it, sometimes I'll go to buildings and they'll be waiting for me.
Dale Parsan:
Davita Lawrence:
Yeah. Like, I knew you were coming, you're a little late today. Or
Dale Parsan:
Oh gosh. The accountability!
Davita Lawrence:
Dale Parsan:
So now that you've been in the position for you know, over two years, right? You joined back in 2020 we talked about the training and how, you know, you made the joke that the individual who trained you, trained you as, as well as she could, prepared you really, really well until you hit the street, right? Because then there's things that you learn on the job. So my next question is, you know, how does the reality of being a mail carrier compared to those expectations you had before?
Davita Lawrence:
That's a really great question.
Dale Parsan:
Thank You.
Davita Lawrence:
Dale Parsan:
It's a overwhelming at times, right?
Davita Lawrence:
Overwhelming. Exactly.
Dale Parsan:
It’s just you, the truck, the mail.
Davita Lawrence:
Exactly. It's the anxiety of making sure that you deliver everything, making sure that you deliver everything correctly, making sure that you're doing it in a timely manner that you get back. Number one is safety.
Dale Parsan:
Agreed.
Davita Lawrence:
I've never driven in a truck before.
Dale Parsan:
What kind of, what kind of truck are, are you usually driving on your routes? I'm curious.
Davita Lawrence:
We drive the ProMaster. But I'm really excited, I was really happy to know that I was driving a ProMaster, because then they have the LLV’s. And you're driving on the opposite side.
Dale Parsan:
Yep. The LLVs.
Davita Lawrence:
Exactly. And I didn't want anything to do with that.
Dale Parsan:
Back in 2012, I had the opportunity to actually participate in driving school for the post office and
Davita Lawrence:
Exactly.
Dale Parsan:
Davita Lawrence:
I love the fact that you become family with the people that you work with. I love the fact that there's no days where you have to do it alone. Anything that you need, they make it available to you.
Dale Parsan:
That is great to hear, considering the fact that in my mind, you kind of are alone, right? You're physically alone when, when you're on your route, unless when you're casing mail. So, so tell me a little bit more about the dynamics of the post office.
Davita Lawrence:
So you're physically alone yes when you're on your route, but just knowing that you have that support. Like, so my mom passed around Christmas holiday last year.
Dale Parsan:
I am so sorry to hear that.
Davita Lawrence:
Thank you. And it was a major, major blow to me, and I didn't know, you know, how I would be able to grieve and continue to do this job because it's such a strenuous job. And actuality, it really is. It's a job where you need all of your senses at its heightened level. But the, the people that I work with was just simply amazing, amazing. The emotional support. Just the cards and the wishes, the well-wishes. And I had a few carriers, you know, just coming over, just checking on me, and they send things in. Because I'm new, I really don't have a lot of leave accumulated. So a lot of time off and I exhausted all of my leave. And there were carriers that donated leave to me so that I can…
Dale Parsan:
They gave you their time off.
Davita Lawrence:
Yeah.
Dale Parsan:
Oh my gosh.
Davita Lawrence:
Yeah. So it's, it's just like, yeah, I'm at home grieving, but it's like, I wanna get back to work to be around the people that I know, you know, that really care for me and you know, that love me. Not saying that my family don't at home, but I know that's, it's different though. Eventually I have to get back to work. I have to, you know, get back out into the world. And they made it really easy for me to transition from, you know, that process of my life because that's major. That's major. I don't know if you heard any negative things about the post office, but what they don't tell you is, like I say, these people become your actual family. You spend more time with them than you do the family that you're given. So it was just a great feeling to know they got my back.
Dale Parsan:
It is, this is a side of the post office that I don't think a lot of people get to see. And I'm really happy. Thank you for sharing that with us.
Davita Lawrence:
No, I'm glad to share because like I said, this, the stuff that people don't see, like, I didn't even know that leave donations was a thing.
Dale Parsan:
Davita Lawrence:
And then I come to work and they like, yeah, we are gonna donate leave. And I'm like, what's that?
Dale Parsan:
They gave you enough to finish the grieving and still feel supported.
Davita Lawrence:
Right. Because, you know, you need time. You need the, the days, you know, right after it happened,
Dale Parsan:
I chuckle Davita, but I'm thinking that's the postal equivalent of bringing over a casserole,
Davita Lawrence:
They did bring food too.
Dale Parsan:
You got the best of both worlds.
Davita Lawrence:
Yeah. Got the best of both worlds. And it was just around the busiest time of the season, the busiest time of the post office year. And it's just like, they didn't forget. And it is roughly 60 people in the zone. So me being new, and then you have people that's been there for 20 years, I'm easy to fall through the cracks, but they didn't forget. And yeah, that's, that's a part that'll always stay with me with my post office memories.
Dale Parsan:
That is incredible. So, Davita, again, thank you for sharing everything about your journey so far with the Postal Service. I've got a question and you know, maybe you're prepared to answer it, maybe you're still focused on what you're doing today, but what's the future for Davita and the Postal Service? What, what do you want to do long term? Or is, or is this where you'd like to be for the, for the short term?
Davita Lawrence:
I love your questions.
Dale Parsan:
I mean, it gotta be, you know, it's gotta take its toll on the body though, right? I mean, you're talking 10 miles a day… all different types of gradients. Oh, gosh.
Davita Lawrence:
It does, but you get, so your body gets used to it. Like I think we had like a 18 degree day, and my customers are like, it's freezing out. And I'm like, it's okay.
Dale Parsan:
Davita Lawrence:
Right. I'm like, it's okay. It's not bad. And they're just like, oh, we appreciate you. So it's like you get the tough skin for it. And yeah. If, if you love what you do, it's, it's no limit to anything and nothing can stop you.
Dale Parsan:
Absolutely. No, well said. And, and I look forward to, to hearing about your future movement within the Postal Service. I think with, with a perspective like this, the sky's the limit.
Davita Lawrence:
Thank you. Yeah, I like that.
Dale Parsan:
Davita Lawrence:
Thank you for having me. I really enjoyed it.
Dale Parsan:
All right, everyone, it's time for Did You Know. This is a chance to share some interesting details about the Postal Service that most people probably don't know. We've all heard that some postage stamps are really valuable to collectors, but did you know that for a brief time, stamps were actually used as legal US currency? After the Civil War broke out in 1861, economic troubles drove people in the Union to hoard coins. As small change disappeared, it made it more and more difficult for people to transact everyday business. That led residents in the north to use postage stamps as change. The practice became so common that in July of 1862, President Lincoln signed the Postage Currency Act into law, making it legal. A month later, the government issued special postage currency, which featured reproductions of stamps on larger, thicker paper. This went on for quite a while during the early part of the war. A year later, the stamp designs were shelved and the paper coin replacements became known simply as fractional currency. Postage and fractional currency remained in use until 1876 when Congress authorized the minting of fractional silver coins to redeem the fractional currency still in circulation. Well, that wraps up this installment of Did You Know.
That's all for today's episode of Mailin’ It! We had the opportunity to sit down with Davita Lawrence and discuss a day in the life of a mail carrier. Don't forget to subscribe to mailing it wherever you get your podcast to make sure you don't miss the next episode. And follow along on Instagram @USPostalService, Twitter @USPS, and on Facebook.