I am the daughter of a man who delivered mail to a rural ranching area back in the days when his first days as a mail-carrier was on horseback or by wagon and a team, and his parents had the mail contract for the area prior to his. The job carried responsibility and commitment to being well done. He shared a number of stories of the excitement and the challenge of fulfilling that idea that "the mail must go through." His area covered 60 miles, picking up mail at a town post office located on the railroad, that had brought the mail that far via the rails. He also delivered to some ranches between the official post offices, the one by the railroad and the one ranch that was designated as a post office in the ranch country, about sixty miles north. When he could afford a Model T Ford that became his means of conveyance, but still the mail got delivered, rain or shine, blizzard or toast.
Delivery was important. When I now hear of the delivery of Fed Ex or UPS, or even businesses of a purchased product, it is often beyond belief, and these who are responsible even have our modern GPS to guide them to the recipient's homes by the addresses on the parcel or item. I hear of packages being left off at the neighbor's, some left at the door of a nearby church, one left in a barn, and quite often outdoors where the supposed delivery is subject to whatever weather might come before its whereabouts is discovered. These are just samples of the ongoing problem. It seems that the GPS might get the drivers somewhere in the vicinity of the correct address, but then it is left up to the actual human to make the correct connection. Occasionally a language barrier contributes to the situation, compounding the difficulty of landing items at the right place.
It could be taken as amusing, but only if you are hearing the story, not if you are anticipating the arrival of an item in order to move forward. We think of ourselves as modern, up-tp-date, etc. but this is not much of an example of progress. Just my opinion.
