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Rural letter carriers keep delivering on tradition

LEESBURG - Beth Payne is among about 4,000 rural letter carriers in Florida, maintaining a postal tradition that dates back to the Pony Express.

But unlike the riders who carried mail from Missouri to California by horseback before the Civil War, rural carriers such as Payne, 47, are here to stay. She has delivered mail in Lake County for 25 years, becoming part of the family while also selling customers such things as stamps and money orders.

"I know their birthdays and they know mine," Payne said. "Some of them were even at my wedding three years ago. ... I've grown up with these people."

The strong bonds forged by rural carriers are in no danger of being severed. Although the rural areas are rapidly disappearing as Florida continues to grow, postal officials say the need for rural carriers is actually growing.

"The term "rural carriers' has in many areas become something of a misnomer," said Joseph Breckenridge, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service in Central and North Florida.

Nationally, there are about 334,000 letter carriers. While their numbers are generally expected to decline in the next few years because of competition from alternative delivery systems and new forms of electronic communication, the demand for rural carriers is expected to increase.

Because rural carriers are essentially post offices on wheels, they serve as an alternative to more post-office buildings.

"It is less expensive to add a carrier than a building," said Nancy Pope, curator of the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C., explaining why rural routes remain despite the shrinking countryside.

Allan Jones, state steward for the Florida Rural Letter Carriers Association, said urban areas are as likely to be serviced by rural carriers today as city carriers.

"Being on a rural route doesn't mean anything anymore," said Jones, explaining that even though more parts of Florida and the nation are transforming into urban and suburban communities, the mail routes remain designated as "rural."

The service provided by rural carriers hasn't changed.

"They sometimes are the only outsiders in the communities on a regular basis," Pope said.

She said rural carriers watch over neighborhoods in addition to delivering letters and parcels, tracking down changes of address for snowbirds and selling stamps and money orders.

"Rural carriers are just closer to their customers, as a rule," agreed Lee Whinnery, a resident of the Mid-Florida Lakes community in Lake County and a retired rural letter carrier. "It's just a different relationship."

[Last modified June 26, 2005, 00:33:18]