ANDERSON, Ind. —
Ruby Smith was surprised when a U.S. postal carrier knocked on her door Christmas morning.
As per their unofficial creed, carriers will deliver in snow, rain, heat or gloom of night.
But on Christmas Day and other national holidays, most have the day off.
“I just took the package, thanked him and wished him a merry Christmas,” said Smith, of Anderson.
On Dec. 25, offices in most major metro areas deliver packages sent on Christmas Eve, via overnight express mail.
But local carriers take it a little further — “Anything that looks or smells like Christmas, we get it out,” said Anderson Postmaster Randy Brown.
That’s been a tradition for many regional post offices for years, said Stephen Parks, who supervised Tuesday.
Seven local carriers — four for the city and three for the county — delivered about 200 packages.
One of them was Rachel Phillips, who spent Christmas Eve with her kids and “thought this would give someone else a happy Christmas,” she said.
She said she delivered a package to one man, who’d ordered it as a present for his wife and didn’t think it would arrive in time.
“He was just so excited,” she said. “He wished me a merry Christmas. And that kind of makes it worth it.”
The carriers volunteered, but did get paid.
“Most of them have kids that are already grown, or their family’s out-of-town,” Parks said.
The carriers got in around 8:30 a.m. and spent about four or five hours delivering around Madison County, he said.
Phillips said they look for packages with things like holiday stickers and wrapping paper, but “we pretty much deliver every package that day, just to be sure.”
Find Baylee Pulliam on Facebook and @BayleeNPulliam on Twitter, or call 648-4250.
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Local postal workers deliver Christmas
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