I interviewed for a job as a letter carrier with the post office. It has been a dream job for me, in this odd way: as someone who prioritizes exercise into my schedule, I’ve often thought it would be easier to exercise and work at the same time. I’m too pudgy to be a personal trainer, and too urban to be a forest ranger. Letter carrier should work, especially in a Mediterranean climate.

As it turns out, there are a few surprises. The USPS is modeled on the US military in the sense that one must start at the bottom and work one’s way up. Every City Carrier (CC) starts as a City Carrier Assistant (CCA), filling in on the days-off of CCs, at any location in the county; covering the Amazon contract work and private-carrier overflow on Sundays and holidays; and working six- or seven-day weeks on a schedule dropped two days before it starts. This lasts for a minimum of three months, a likelihood of one year, and a possibility of five years or more; it ends when one has sufficient seniority to capture the CC job of someone leaving.

On the positive side, there is minimal supervision, and all carriers become very fit, often walking ten miles per day. Once you achieve full carrier status, you have a regular route and can establish relationships with your customers, and a regular five-day schedule, though not necessarily weekdays. There are full benefits, including the possibility of a pension for those who last enough years.

It would mean giving up my volunteer work, and I have been a regular volunteer as long as I have been a regular worker. Nights would mostly be my own, and while I’m not sure I would feel like folk dancing after walking ten miles, maybe my fitter self would. I have no idea how one fulfills dental or medical appointments, or attends the symphony or the ball game. My sister does this work, in Texas. I visit Texas and see other family members, but usually not her; she can’t get the time off.

Both of the two friends to whom I have mentioned this think I should try it. My husband’s immediate response was, You would hate that. The interesting part is not so much what I will decide, rather, what full-time hourly-wage work can be like. I see why the USPS is much more constrained than, say Wegmans. The mail has to be mostly delivered during business hours, or at least daylight hours, and often by a specific date. Instead of customers standing in line longer when there aren’t enough cashiers, CCAs work longer hours when there aren’t enough of them.

Which is always the case. There are a lot of folks out there working very hard, without many breaks, sometimes thirteen or more days in a row.

Did I think about this the next time I ordered from Amazon? I did. I even tried, briefly, to find the items in stores. Then I ordered from Amazon.