On all roads from urban to rural areas, from bustling industrial zones to remote coastal fishing villages in the province, there is no place that does not bear the footprints of postmen working in the Postal sector. Every day, they start work much earlier than the prescribed "office hours" to deliver newspapers, letters, parcels... bringing information and joy to many people.
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| Ms. Tran Thi Cai, postal worker at the Delivery Post Office - Transport Exploitation Center (Provincial Post Office) prepares postal items for delivery to customers. |
Ms. Tran Thi Cai, a postal worker at the Post Office - Transport Exploitation Center (Provincial Post Office) has been working as a postal worker since 2011. Before that, she was a transaction officer. Ms. Cai is currently in charge of the area of 3 wards: Loc Ha, Thong Nhat and Ha Long. The area is large, there are many letters and postal items to be delivered. In winter as well as summer, she wakes up at 5 am to go to the market, cook for her children so that she can start a new working day at 6 am. At 6 am, she and other postal workers are present at the Provincial Transport Exploitation Center to exploit goods, take goods to the Giai Phong Post Office and deliver them. After collecting the goods, she will deliver them "all the way" until 2:30 pm before stopping for "lunch". Ms. Cai takes the opportunity to eat lunch and rest for about 45 minutes so that from 3:15 pm she can continue to exploit goods and deliver them. On average, the distance she travels each working day is about 60km. Ms. Cai will finish work at around 6-7pm. “That is the schedule of a normal day, there are many days when I have to finish work later, around 8-9pm, because customers are busy, they only make appointments to receive the goods at that time. For us postmen, we have to deliver all the goods to be considered the end of the working day”, Ms. Cai said. Having worked as a postman for about ten years, Ms. Cai enthusiastically told us about her job, about her passion as well as the joys and sorrows of being a postman. “Although I have not been a postman for long, because I have worked in the Postal Service for a long time, I understand the work of a postman relatively well. The 80s and 90s can be considered a very difficult time for postmen, with low incomes and difficult travel. Back then, men, women, and men had to deliver letters, newspapers, and parcels by bicycle, and the roads were not as good as they are now. In 1995-1996, only the well-off could afford a motorbike, and they had to choose old ones because they were afraid of being stolen when stopping to deliver letters and parcels. Although we have a hard life now, we are still much “happier” than men, women, and men in the past, with more convenient roads and means of transport,” Ms. Cai confided.
Being a postman is hard work but also has its joys. According to Ms. Cai, a few decades ago, when the internet was not yet developed, mobile phones were a luxury, and landline phones were also limited, it was the golden age of handwritten letters. For postmen, it could be said that each time they delivered a letter was like "bringing joy" to each family. Nowadays, although handwritten letters are less common, there are still cases where people like to write and receive handwritten letters, especially the elderly. "For the elderly, a phone call from a relative asking how they are doing is sometimes not as joyful as receiving a letter. Therefore, when they receive a letter, they are very touched and thank us profusely. At that moment, all my fatigue suddenly disappears," Ms. Cai added. However, according to Ms. Cai, delivering letters sometimes makes postmen like her fall into a "half-crying, half-laughing" situation. Specifically, in order for a letter to be delivered to the correct recipient, people need to write the correct address including house number, street, commune (ward), district name, city, province, phone number... However, the current urbanization process has made it impossible for some people, especially the elderly, to update their new addresses in areas that have been upgraded from "hometown" to "street". Not to mention, many newly formed residential areas do not have house numbers, so people have to use addresses according to lot numbers when they are allocated land and take names according to land allocation projects. When there is a new street name and house number, but the sender cannot update in time, causing difficulties for the postman to deliver letters and parcels. “In cases like this, we have to follow our “experience”, look up the names of previous letters to “guess” the recipient’s address. We also regularly go online to read information to update ourselves on new neighborhoods, new street names, new streets, etc. to serve the delivery work. After finding households to receive letters and parcels, I also remind them to update their home addresses to inform the sender, to avoid confusion and loss of letters and parcels in subsequent deliveries,” Ms. Cai said. The practice of not writing complete addresses with house numbers, street names, ward names, phone numbers, etc. still exists and is the cause of complaints every time letters, newspapers, and parcels arrive late or cannot be delivered because the postman cannot find the address. Especially for important documents such as exam notices, admission notices, etc. When there are complaints, the first responsibility is always “attributed” to the postman, and no one thinks that most of these mistakes belong to the sender due to unclear addresses. This is also one of the occupational risks of the postal profession.
Mai Van Luc, born in 1995, Nam Tien commune (Nam Truc) has been a postman for more than a year. Previously, Luc was a freelancer. As a postman at the Nam Tien Commune Cultural Post Office, in charge of the two communes of Nam Tien and Nam Loi, Luc's working day is quite busy. At 8:00 a.m., Luc goes to pick up goods at the Co Gia Post Office, Nam Tien Commune and the Nam Loi Commune Cultural Post Office and then starts delivering from 10:00 a.m. until all the goods are gone. At 5:00-6:00 p.m. every day, Luc starts a new job, picking up goods from people's homes or shops that the post office sends. It is not uncommon for the young man to still be on the street at 8:00-9:00 p.m. to deliver mail and goods. On average, Luc delivers 50-60 orders a day with a distance of about 60km. For Luc, the difficulty of the job is that many times when calling, the recipient of the goods or parcels sees a strange number and does not pick up, or intentionally "bombs" the parcel, making it difficult to go back and forth many times. This is also a relatively hard job, no matter what the weather is like, the postman still has to "go" to complete the task. There are sunny noons or freezing cold winter afternoons, even big storms and strong winds, the postman still works diligently on every road to ensure that newspapers are distributed on time, letters, special postal items, especially express delivery, reach the right recipient. Although hard, however, for the young man, the job of a postman is "more happy than sad". "Being a postman gives me the opportunity to travel a lot, meet many people, know many different situations, thereby accumulating more experience and life skills. Moreover, being a postman also helps me be proactive in terms of time, so I feel very comfortable".
As society develops, modern information technology is becoming more popular and is gradually replacing handwritten letters. However, many people still trust contracts, invoices, documents or goods to be sent through the postal system, and postmen are the ones who directly deliver and receive them. And although the work process is still difficult, the postmen we met always identify their responsibility: "Ensure speed, convenience, timeliness and accuracy". Their love and dedication to their profession are therefore even more valuable./.
Article and photos: Hoa Quyen
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