By JORDAN ESSOE/YachatsNews
The husband-and-wife team of Michael and Cherish Nowatchik, both 34, are Waldport’s newest mail carriers.
Last August they took up what is referred to internally by the United States Post Office as Route 71, which includes roughly 720 addresses between Crestline Drive near Waldport High School and Fircrest Way in the Sandpiper Village neighborhood on the north side of the Alsea Bay Bridge.
The Nowatchiks learned Route 71 needed a new carrier through Cherish’s mother, Selina Krous, who runs Chaleureux Thai Massage & Bodywork in Waldport. One of Selina’s clients successfully bid for the route after the previous carrier of 27 years moved on.
For rural routes like 71, USPS uses nonunion, non-USPS workers who don’t receive any benefits or the ability to contribute to a federal pension. The Nowatchiks are just happy to have the work.
Rural routes are bid on by contractors who then often subcontract the labor to folks like Michael and Cherish. Yachats resident Rick Fritcher, who last year won the bid for Route 71, also manages USPS routes in Yachats, Newport, Depoe Bay, and Siletz.
Michael and Cherish moved to the area in September 2020, coming from Spokane, where Michael was born and raised and initially worked for the Florence Post Office.
Cumulatively, Michael has been a mail carrier for about five years. Cherish tried it first and urged Michael to apply because he has a photographic memory and a talent for numbers.
Delivering mail isn’t for everybody. Long hours, physically strenuous, and repetitive. Michael said a lot of people can’t hack it. But it’s more money than his recent jobs working at Napa Auto Parts and Newport Toyota.
He and his wife alternate workdays so each can switch off being primary parent to their two daughters, Ania, 5, and Gemma, 3. Sometimes they go in to work on their day off to help organize for the following shift or assist their spouse getting a delivery load out the door. Michael said Cherish is usually faster than him at the route because he spends more time talking to people.
Operating the right-hand-drive delivery vehicle is not a big deal. They imported a used car from Japan, installed a flashing light on the roof, and stuck decals on the doors that say “Rural Carrier” along with their first names. Not all subcontractors go to the trouble of marking their car, but Michael said they wanted to make sure people knew who they were when they stopped on the side of the road or entered a private driveway.
Can you tell readers more about how this subcontracting of rural mail routes works, and how you got the job?
Michael Nowatchik: A route comes up for bid and people can bid on that contract. I don’t know how they decide who gets it. Probably the lowest bid because they don’t want to pay a lot of money. If there is only one person bidding, they just award the person that route. It’s an annual cost for the whole route plus mileage plus vehicle maintenance plus parcel load. There’s a whole bunch of stuff you’ve got to calculate into the bid. Our route was bid I think at $107,000. Something like that. We’re making $76,000 for roughly a year. Cherish told me Rick (Fritcher) was only going to bid on the route if we were both going to do it. She’s like, he’s only bidding on it for us. So I ended up quitting one job, going to another, quitting that job, and then doing this.
What are the best and worst parts of being a carrier?
Michael: The best part is making sure everybody gets their packages and mail every day. The worst is the heavy packages. Like dog food – a 50 pound bag in a box. Or cat litter. There are people that have it set up for a monthly subscription. I delivered a kitchen sink yesterday. The other carriers told me they would’ve just left a notice. But I delivered it. Cherish and I deliver everything.
Do you learn things about your neighbors through the letters and packages they receive?
Michael: People like to get a lot of stuff. And they don’t like to go to the store. [Laughs.] You guys don’t order a lot. I have a package for you once every two weeks maybe? Most people are two or three packages a day.
The job must allow you some time for daydreaming while you’re driving around. What do you daydream about?
Michael: I’ll stare off into space thinking about what else I could do. Cherish wants to do something else in addition to this for more income. I also think about adopting a child. Cherish doesn’t want any more. I’d like a boy. I keep telling Cherish, we should adopt a boy. And she says we need to wait until the girls are older. It would be a while – about five years. But I’ll be 39, I wouldn’t be that old.
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your life?
Michael: Two daughters fighting all the time.
Tell us a secret.
Michael: Most mailboxes have spiders in them.
- Jordan Essoe is a Waldport-based freelance writer who can be reached at alseajournal@gmail.com