This interview originally aired on "In the Moment" on SDPB Radio.
Brian Sime was recently named South Dakota's Rural Letter Carrier of the Year.
Sime has driven his mail route around Revillo, South Dakota, for 35 years. Before that, his father drove the route, so the route has been in his family for 70 years.
He joins "In the Moment" to talk about staying safe on the job, driving 145 miles every day and why some packages start cheeping every spring.
Plus, we talk about taking care of our neighbors and assisting with emergencies, big and small.
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The following transcript was auto-generated.
Brian Sime:
Well, my dad started as a rural mail carrier also out of Revillo. I was a sub for him for eight years. I started in 1982 as a sub, and then he retired in 1990 and I took over the job starting then. My dad carried the same route for 34 years, and now I've done it for 36 years.
So for 70 years now, it's been either my dad or myself who I've carried it all around. So it's kind of unique.
Lori Walsh:
You have a perfect safety record. Tell me about that.
Brian Sime:
Since I've started there, I haven't had any accidents. When I hit my 30 years, they have some criteria you have to meet to get the Million Mile Award, they call it. You have to have worked 30 years without an accident. So I met that criteria.
So five, six years ago I got that award and still have not had an accident. So we're at 36 years right now accident-free, and I'm hoping it continues to the end of my career.
Lori Walsh:
I hope so too. How often or how common is it for you to get stuck or to need a push or to shovel out?
Brian Sime:
In my younger days, it was probably quite often in the wintertime because I was inexperienced. You didn't know what you should do and what you shouldn't do. But as I've gotten older, if it looks this risky, I just would maybe call ahead and say, the road doesn't look good and I can either take your mail to your neighbors or I could take it back to town.
So the last few years I've been, like I said, been very cautious and haven't really had too much need for assistance. But my family also lives in the community, so when there was a problem, I had a brother that would always come to my rescue if I needed anything.
Lori Walsh:
You're very much a part of this community, even as a first responder. So when you say I would call someone and say, "Hey, what can I do with your mail? This isn't safe." They know who you are.
Brian Sime:
Exactly.
Lori Walsh:
Yeah. How much of a part of your lives are you? Most people don't have that experience.
Brian Sime:
Well, yeah, I've been trying to think how I'm going to answer this question. I truly love my job. Working for the post office is a great job, but working in a community where you grew up and everybody knows you and you know everybody else and you have family, that's what makes this job great for me because I drive around my backyard every day and I see my friends.
It's kind of like just a drive in the country for me every day. So that's why I really just love my job and the people I work with are great, and the community is so supportive. Anything I need, if I need help or anything, they're always there.
Lori Walsh:
And likewise, you're there for them. Tell me some of the times where you have either helped somebody on your route in an emergency or an urgent situation where you happen to be the person who was nearby or just checking in on people who you might be the only person they talked to that week because they're homebound, for example.
Brian Sime:
Sure. Yeah. So every day I drive 145 miles. So you're always coming across somebody who either has a flat tire or is maybe not even in an emergency situation. Maybe they're trying to open a cattle gate and they're only one person. They need a little help you to stop and give them a little assistance. I think every day there's some type of a need for that.
On a few occasions, there have been some emergency situations. I took a package up to a residence and I was walking towards my car and I could hear somebody hollering from a horse barn, and so I walked out there and she had fallen off her horse and broke her leg. So I was just there to wait until emergency people showed up.
So occasions like that do arise, but the biggest need is just minor things.
Lori Walsh:
Do you ride in silence? Do you have something playing in your truck or car? What do you drive? What are you riding in?
Brian Sime:
I drive a right-hand drive Jeep. So what I listen to, probably a lot of 80s rock-and-roll most of the time, and then a lot of times just silence is good, too, to think about things.
Lori Walsh:
Is there a favorite part of the drive that you love the landscape of?
Brian Sime:
Yeah, there's always those certain areas where the view is the best, but that changes with the seasons. Of course, there's always beauty in the wintertime with the frost and snow-covered things.
And then it's the same in the spring when things start turning green and you get green trees and you get baby calves and baby sheep and flowers.
Every season has something unique to offer, and there's certain spots on my route where they're highlighted more than other places, of course.
Lori Walsh:
What is the strangest thing that people try to send in the mail, whether it's outgoing or incoming?
Brian Sime:
Oh, boy. Oh, boy. The outgoing thing, I don't know because they are packages, so it's not a good idea to look inside.
But incoming, the spring is always when we get baby chicks in the mail, so we'll walk in the post office and you'll hear the chirping of chickens and chickens are here, so that's always cool. Getting live animals in the post office is always unique, and everybody who comes in, you have to show them the baby chicks before we deliver them.
Yeah, that's probably the most unique things we receive that we know of, anyway.
Lori Walsh:
Right. Yes. How about Christmas and letters to Santa? Do kids still do that? Do they send mail to the North Pole?
Brian Sime:
Yes, they do. Yes, they do. And there's actually an address that they actually go to Santa Claus, so I think we get to three or four every year, of course. And there's a place they go in North Pole, of course.
Lori Walsh:
And make sure that they get there.
We live in this increasingly digital age, and yet people like me are still enamored with the mail, with stamps, with sending a letter. You've seen that change and your father saw that change.
Tell me a little bit about that, how you have seen what is passing through your hands change over the years?
Brian Sime:
The mail itself has changed. We used to get a lot of personal letters for people on a daily basis, just correspondence between friends or whoever. And now mostly that personal mail just comes on birthdays or Mother's Day or Christmas cards, but there's definitely a lot less personal mail and a lot more packages, delivery type of thing.
The mail volume is definitely down, but the packages are up. But the biggest changes, there's just no more personal letters going back and forth between people.
Lori Walsh:
Yeah. Were there things that your dad taught you that you still put into practice today?
Brian Sime:
Oh, boy. Things have changed so much since he started.
Well, I think more the ethical thing. Yeah. You need to be very responsible and considerate of the mail, and you got to be professional. Of course, you taught me that because you do handle some mail that is personal. Very personal sometimes.
Lori Walsh:
Yeah. If you could pass on the advice from your dad and that you have learned to the next person who has this route, what are some of the things that you'd want that person to know?
Brian Sime:
Defensive driving, of course, is a huge part of it.
Be friendly. Be professional. Be on time. People respect the post office. And just do your job well.
