The greatest fear for posties – no, it’s not the dog bites

When 71-year-old Peter Thompson began working as a postie in 1981, he was issued with a local route, a shoulder bag, and a dog whistle.

Eventually, shoulder bags were phased out for more ergonomically friendly solutions, and dog whistles also quickly became a tool of posties past. But the social aspects of the job? Those remained intact for years.

Peter Thompson: “There’s always been a great camaraderie at Australia Post.”

“Many of the streets on my run were only about 25-foot wide (7.6 metres), so people on both sides of the street could hear you and would come out. A lot of them were at the gate when you got there, so there was plenty of chatting,” says Thompson.

The history of Australia’s posties dates back well before Thompson’s days. The country’s first postmaster was a former convict, Isaac Nichols, who, in 1809, used his home to sort the mail he collected from ships arriving in Sydney Harbour.

It was likely a much lonelier career than Thompson’s. When he joined Australia Post, his colleagues sorted their mail by hand before setting out on foot to make deliveries.

“The mail came in great bags which we’d empty out and first sort into eight different beats. Then, each postman would come around and grab their mail and put it on large tables with what they used to call ‘plugs’, which had the street names on them. You had to manually grab the letters and put it into Smith Street, or James Street and so on,” he says.

‘The exercise is part of why I like it, but I also love the degree of autonomy.’

Peter Thompson, Australia Post

It was a social occasion.

“The eight large tables were all roughly belly button height, and we could all see each other and talk as we sorted the first- and second-class mail,” Thompson says.

“There’s always been a great camaraderie at Australia Post.”

The postie’s trusty 100cc steed.Credit: Louie Douvis

Now, after more than 40 years on the job, plenty has changed for our posties.

The introduction of postcodes in 1967 and the associated technology (contained in a giant mail exchange building in Sydney’s Redfern) attracted global interest and changed life for posties. A mechanised sorting process now helps Australia Post’s 20,000-strong team handle over 10 million parcels across the country on an average week.

Throughout it all, Thompson has delivered his mail on motorbikes and by bicycle, but walking his route is one of the reasons he still loves his job despite the 6am starts.

“I average 26,000 steps a day, although 33,000 is my most.”

While a dog bite in the 1980s temporarily took him off the job, that has been his only canine attack in decades on the job. Fast-forward to today and Thompson fears not dogs or magpies but rain.

“Cold and wind don’t bother me, but trying to keep the mail dry is my first priority. Rain is, in my opinion, the worst of inclement conditions,” he says.

He’s hesitant to offer formal advice for the next generation of posties (“Everyone knows what we do; there’s nothing secretive about it”). However, his 14-kilo weight loss – mainly thanks to all that walking – is part of the appeal of the work.

“The exercise is part of why I like it, but I also love the degree of autonomy. Once you’re up and running and out on your run, the decisions of the day are up to you. I always liked that.”

It adds up to plenty of reasons why, even as his next birthday approaches, retirement is far from Thompson’s mind.

“As long as they’ll have me, I’ll have them.”

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