We lose our mailman next week. My street will no longer be on his route as of Thursday (June 25, 2026). He was informed that as part of restructuring, the U.S. Postal Service would adjust routes.
He warned us then his territory could change—and neither he, nor his direct superiors, nor others in the organization had a say in the decision. The Postal Service outsourced the task, so to speak, to an Artificial Intelligence.
The AI adjusted routes according to undisclosed criteria that presumably ignored written recommendations from our mailman’s superiors asking that he keep his route in part because of hearing impairment; familiarity is one way to compensate for the handicap.
Oh, is the route familiar! He started working this portion of University Heights around the start of the Iraq war in 2003. Yeah, 23 years! Today, he told me that he had planned to retire (in two years) on this territory. I’ll add: he is a well-known fixture among residents.
His remapped area is an interesting manifestation of head-scratching confusion about the decisions AI make. His new route incorporates the busiest, traffic congested street in the neighborhood. No reasonable human decision-maker would put a partially deaf mailman on a route where life and death could hinge on the ability to effectively hear oncoming vehicles. I mean, right? But the AI assessed a-okay. Would you?
Let’s talk Featured Image. That is not my mailman’s vehicle. I came upon it parked along Panorama Drive on April 4, 2026. I liked the composition beside the trees. I used Nikon Zf and NIKKOR Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR lens to make the moment. Vitals: f/6.3, ISO 100, 1/320 sec, 28mm; 1:01 p.m. PDT. Composed as shot, I applied Sepia filter in NX Studio.