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Neither snow nor rain nor heat keeps Sharymar Gonzalez from the swift completion of her appointed rounds.
As one of six mail carriers for USC's postal service, Gonzalez does get slowed down by jaywalking students, illegible address labels, and heavy traffic. But she is the very picture of patience and--like the Pony Express--always finds a way to get the mail through.
"I was a waitress for six years at the Officers' Club [at Fort Jackson] before I started working here," Gonzalez said. "That helped me to be organized."
Altogether, USC mail carriers deliver some 230,000 pieces of mail and packages every month, and organization is the key to sorting and delivering each piece to its proper destination. Arriving at 7:30 every morning to sort the mail for her route, Gonzalez loads her van with rectangular plastic bins and sets out by 8:30.
First up are the psychology and anthropology departments where she guides the van into a narrow space between Sloan and Barnwell. Wearing her standard-issue garnet polo shirt and khaki slacks, Gonzalez is a familiar sight to administrative assistants in every building who call out her name as she drops off their mail and scoops up outgoing letters and parcels.
"Our drivers are an extension of USC's postal service, so along with delivering the mail, they are a resource for helping each department understand correct procedures--making sure off-campus mail is properly addressed and tagged for postage, for instance," said postal services director Barry Meyers.
"We're the face of mail delivery, so we're the ones who get the complaints even though the problem might be a wrong address label or something else beyond our control," Gonzalez said. "You definitely have to understand customer service in this job."
All mail carriers aim to complete their morning routes in about two hours, which calls for efficient movement. Gonzalez takes elevators up and stairs down, quickly sorting the mail she picks up into four separate bins in the van after each stop. That saves sorting time after lunch before the afternoon pick-up and delivery run.
Gonzalez has been a mail carrier for about a year; she started out sorting mail at USC after earning a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from the University in May 2005. She's a year away from earning a master's degree in school counseling and hopes to launch a career in that field, possibly in Charlotte.
In this first year on the route, she's worn out four pairs of shoes and developed more upper body strength--and more back pain. But the biggest job hazards?
"Paper cuts and rubber bands that pop when you stretch them," Gonzalez said. "That, and driving over your foot with a hand truck when you're not used to using one. Other than that, you've just got to be really patient driving around campus because students are walking everywhere."
Back on the route, Gonzalez stops at McKissick and Osborne. Mail volume for the University's main administration building is surprisingly slim on this particular Friday. The busiest days are Wednesday and Thursday, and the busiest seasons are the beginning of fall and spring classes when the University's population swells to that of medium-sized town proportions.
Continuing on her rounds, Gonzalez makes a stop that covers Harper College, South Caroliniana Library, publications, African-American and Women's Studies, and McCutchen House, social work, and Thornwell Annex. Then it's on to public health, the President's House, criminal justice, special events, religious studies, library and information science, math, statistics, and the various offices in Petigru.
The morning route has taken about two hours, and given the pleasant temperature, Gonzalez isn't even perspiring despite maintaining a pace that would make an aerobics instructor smile. July's heat was tough, though, and she's grateful for the powerful air-conditioner in the delivery van. "I do better with cold--you can put on layers to stay warm," she said.
On those very rare South Carolina days in which snow falls, it's quite possible that Gonzalez and her fellow mail carriers will be delayed from the swift completion of their rounds. Not to worry, though. They'll find a way to get through.
9/06
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Sharymar Gonzalez
