On June 28, postal carrier John Schaefer filled his final mailbox, capping nearly four decades with the United States Postal Service.
For those close to Schaefer, the reaction was universal: “Wow. He actually did it.” Flirting with retirement for years, the relentless mailman always seemed to come back for “one more year” as he kept his route along Sombrero Beach Road.
Schaefer’s 38-year postal career began in 1987 in Lake Worth, Florida after his service in the U.S. Navy. He transferred “back home” to Ohio before eventually escaping to paradise in the Florida Keys, where he’s maintained one of the most visible routes in town while acting in just about every role imaginable at the community theater.
He’s known for taking special care of his customers, and taking on extra routes when others are in need – frequently keeping him on the road until 8 or 9 p.m. during the busy holiday months. Now one month removed from having – well, a LOT – more free time, we sat down with Schaefer to reflect, in his own words, on a well-served career.
I liked the idea of the postal service because I’m a people person. On a walking route, you’re going to people’s actual doors every day. It’s fun, getting to see all the people.
I came to the Keys when I was working a desk job with the postal service in Ohio. I was getting kind of sick of it, my boss was about to retire, I didn’t want to work for anyone else, and one of my jobs was to get all the faxes. One of them said “work in paradise,” and I looked at it and said, what’s this all about? I decided to come down and check it out, made it to Founders Park, looked out from the beach they have there, and said “Yeah, I can do this.”
My worst days on the job were up in Ohio when it was 35, 36 degrees and raining. There was nothing you could do – you’re just stuck until the end of the day. You get home, pour a hot bath and try to warm your core up.
One winter (in Ohio), we decided to wear shorts the whole time. Me and another guy, Tim Bowman, always had this competition to see who could be the last person to put on pants as it got colder. Every year, the postmaster would come in one day and say “Tomorrow, both of you, in pants.” I saw a news story where two postal carriers up in New York were wearing shorts all winter to raise money for a charity. I thought, “If they can do it, we can do it.” At the same time, I knew a school for kids with disabilities was putting in a new playground. That stuff is expensive. So we called it “Freezin’ for a Reason,” and we raised $4,000. I learned that as long as I keep my core pretty warm, I’m fine in shorts down to zero degrees.
But we had a few days where the wind chill was just ridiculous. One day it was 35 below, and I had this part of my route where I walked up this big hill and back down to the truck. I remember getting in between two houses where I was out of the wind and in the sun, just going “Oh my God,” trying to warm up.
Through rain, snow, sleet and hail, you just know that whatever it is, you have to get through it. When I had a walking route, I had a satchel, and I hated that once you put a lot of mail in there, the flap wouldn’t cover it when it’s raining. My mom actually sewed a Velcro strip on my bag so I could keep the people’s mail dry.
I never really thought about it a lot, but that attitude of keeping going, it’s the same thing in the theater. No matter how things are going, you have to step on that stage. You do everything you can to prepare, but eventually it’s go time.
My best day on the job was helping someone on Sombrero Beach Road chase down his dog that had gotten away. The dog had been in the canal, wet and muddy, and it wanted to play with a lady on the bike path who was deathly afraid of dogs. The dog just wanted to play, but she was losing it. I showed him some treats, grabbed his collar and got him back. Ever since, that dog loved me.
My craziest experience was delivering mail after Irma. Mailboxes were gone, so we’d bundle people’s mail and keep it at the post office. If a vehicle was there, I would put it under windshield wipers. I was trying to get around downed telephone poles.
As a mailman, we love big mailboxes. The ones that are designed for letters only, when they get a magazine or something, you’re screwed.
But we hate delivering huge, lopsided boxes of toilet paper, paper towels – all things you can get at Publix. And furniture. If somebody buys a house and decides to furnish it via Amazon, I’m stuck with bed frames, weights, all that heavy, heavy stuff.
I think it’s important for people to remember that when you order something online, there’s a person in between that transaction and your door. People used to buy 25-pound bags of dog food because they hated carrying bigger bags up the steps – but now they buy 45-pound bags because it’s cheaper on Amazon. Just don’t expect that mail person to take it up the steps.
When I first started, the average number of packages on a route for the day was 15. Now, that base number is around 80 or 90 packages – and that’s not counting the little ones that can fit into a mailbox. On Monday or the day after a holiday, it’s over 300.
I couldn’t tell you a favorite house on my route because there are honestly too many to name. They’re all wonderful. One year, I don’t even know how they knew, but I had a customer leave a birthday card for me in the mailbox.
I loved watching kids grow up on my route. Seeing them at the school, and then they’ll go away to college, and sometimes they’ll come back and remember you.
The thing I’ll miss the most is seeing the people every day and taking care of them. I’m still getting texts from some of them, and I do what I can – I was just at the post office yesterday talking to a supervisor and making sure their mail was okay.
Now that I’m retired, we’re going to travel more. I just got married, and we took a trip to Alaska last month. That was fantastic and eye-opening. I decided to finally try directing at the theater, and this year I’m directing “Little Shop of Horrors.” And I’ve got some NASA rocket models that I’ve had for years. I can’t wait until I can sit down and take the time to put them together.
