The mushroom lady
What is the new age form of the postman?
All this while, from my what I get from movies and such, is that the postman is someone who knows what everyone in the neighbourhood is doing - someone who is well aware of its ongoings - or maybe I'm getting been watching too much Postman Pat.
They meet and talk to so many people, they might even know more about your neighbours than you.
With physical mail getting much more scarce these days, the postman feels like on their way out.
On the other hand, with online shopping, we get some many parcels nowadays - especially since COVID, where literally anything could be found online.
This is probably a good time to talk about how delivery works in Singapore (from my experience with Chinese shipments, at least):
- From overseas, it comes in large woven plastic bag shipments by air/sea - each bag contains multiple parcels
- These are shipped to last-mile logistics companies
- They are broken down at there, and sorted out into regions
- Regional delivery teams take up and handle respective areas
- These are further broken down into estates - a driver will deliver items in bulk for an estate
- In the estate, it is further broken down into apartment blocks, due to the density of homes here, and many people have more than a parcel a day
Why the breakdown into blocks? It is not efficient for delivery to be done by the driver - will either be too sparse and disjointed, or need to park and deliver, which comes with additional headaches - like getting fined for illegal parking.
The solution? To have "walkers" - people who stay in the estate, to handle delivery for their block - with their trolleys, they take your parcels, by block, or even by floor, and use that deliver.
It is a great job for stay-home moms and the like, and that brings me to the mushroom lady.
The mushroom lady happens to be one of these "walkers", and she stays in my block - and why mushroom? Because of her chat display picture.
Hmm, one second glance, looks more like a bee in a hat though - for the longest time I thought it was a mushroom!
Usually these last-metre/foot/your-unit-of-choice delivery people deliver for a number of different companies - if it is their area, they just take all the deliveries, economics of scale and all.
Which means that she does know a lot from what I'm buying, and from that, what is happening in my life. Like having a kid.
With all the kid's diapers, clothing, toys, and various items that I've been buying :)
Just this morning, she asked if my kid has arrived yet. For many of us who live in an online world, it is easy to forget the physical connections.
How is delivery like in your area?