So when I was a bike messenger there were two messenger companies in town. The big one had a couple couriers on bike for last mile shit but they were a larger, mostly car and truck based company. I worked for the pure-hustle company, basically a crew of well organized punks.

We'd dunk on them because their volume was comically low compared to ours. They'd do slightly longer runs on road bikes and maybe handle something like 50 deliveries in a busy day. But they had an office and let us use it to dry off sometimes so we'd never dunk too hard.

Riders at my company would do more like 350 deliveries a day, and we averaged about 40lbs on our backs, sprinting through traffic on track bikes. We were the idiots you see glorified in "bike messenger" lore, but genuinely: there's no feeling of pride like an empty bag at 5pm.

So we'd crow to the other company. We'd make fun of bike cops until they'd race us. And we damn sure did more stupid shit than anyone on the road. It felt great, even on the days you bounce off a car.

But you know who we never, ever clowned on? The mail carriers. Holy fuck they did so much more volume than us. If they needed a door held we'd hold it. You need an extra hand carrying a crate of mail? We got you. Heat wave, rain, blizzard: they were the only ones out with us.

If you want to know the state of the post office ask a mail carrier, not some bloated Agent Skinner in a Men's Warehouse suit. Letter carriers are unsung heroes working their asses off day in, day out. None of our lives would work without them, so say thank you when you see them.