VIDEO: Walk along with Bynum on her route at bottom of page
One thing that hasn’t changed for longtime mail carrier Linda Bynum is the joy of chatting with the customers along her route.
“They look forward to me coming in,” she said. “A lot of times I just go in to say hello.”
Linda Bynum sorts mail for delivery at a sorting station in Forest Acres. Bynum has been a postal carrier for 17 years.
- Tracy Glantz /tglantz@thestate.com
Linda Bynum sorts mail for delivery at a sorting station in Forest Acres. Bynum has been a postal carrier for 17 years.
- Tracy Glantz /tglantz@thestate.com
About this series
The State examines the bonds between communities and post offices: the significance and beauty of post office buildings, the work of a neighborhood mail carrier and the delight of getting personal mail.
Through Dec. 30, readers share stories about their cherished letters.
Dad's letters spun tales of adventure
125-year-old letters provide connections to country, family
2,000 letters chronicling a lifetime.
In Cheraw, post office ‘keeps the soul of our community together’
VIDEO | Postal Carrier: a look at the joys of the job as told by Linda Bynum.
Original depression era artwork adorns old post office
CLICK HERE to read about some of the efforts nationwide to save post offices threatened with closure.
Post office buildings on the line
Station-branch consolidation
Florence Federal Station
South Anderson
South Greenwood
Cheraw
Closing in the coming year
Minturn
Kinards
Pacolet Mills
White Stone
Rion
Under study for closure
Blair
King Haigler/Camden
Chappells
Elliott
Gable
Horatio
Lodge
Peak
Shaw Air Force Base
Ward
Edgewood station / Columbia
Cordesville
Grover
Russellville
Williams
Fork
Long Creek
Newry
Slater
SOURCE: U.S. Postal Service 11/10/2011
Video from around the world
Bynum delivers mail to commercial and residential areas along Decker Boulevard in Columbia, walking as much as four miles a day, regardless of the weather.
“When I’m out there on the street, I feel like I’m my own boss,” she said. “I get to mingle with my customers along my route.”
A letter carrier for 17 years, Bynum, 46, began her career in New York. She transferred to Columbia in 1997.
Looming cuts in services and staffing, and possible reassignments for others, are on the minds of postal carriers these days. But Bynum prefers to focus on the positive.
“You have to adapt,” she said.
Her customers help.
Michelle Clifton of A Classy Touch Salon said Bynum “is like family”. On Bynum’s birthday in August, Clifton presented her with balloons and a card that Bynum still cherishes.
“We look forward to seeing her,” Clifton said.
Still, change is evident along her Decker route, as Bynum loads more and more boxes into her truck, evidence of customers shopping online.
Personal, stamped letters are rare as more people use email for correspondence, she said.
“The post office will prevail, regardless of technology,” she said. “I take it one day at a time. That’s the way I see it.”
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