‘The accidental mailman’

Coeur d’Alene’s Jim Mathey has been delivering letters, packages for half a century

COEUR d’ALENE — In the past 35 years, the area east of 15th Street, between Best Avenue and Thomas Lane, has had one mail carrier: Jim Mathey.

“I have that whole section, right there,” he said recently, his truck filled with packages and envelopes waiting to be delivered to homes and businesses.

It’s a nice area, he said, near the mountains, in pleasant neighborhoods with friendly people.

“Once you get on your own route, the mail just kind of flows off your fingertips,” he said.

Mathey knows his customers.

“If I get a piece of mail that doesn’t have a name on it, only an address, it’s really hard for me to sort it,” he said. “Because I sort by name. I know the names.”

“My people like me. And I love dogs,” he continued. “I have this really good rapport with dogs.”

Well, not every dog.

There was the time years back when a blue heeler jumped through the rolled-down truck window and bit Jim on the shoulder.

The Coeur d’Alene man smiles as he explains what happened next.

He called his boss, told her of the canine attack, and she asked, “Can you finish the route?”

Not a problem.

“I said, ‘Yeah, ‘I’ll just put a couple of bandages on my bloody shoulder, but I’ll finish the day.’”

He did.

“I didn’t lose any time,” he said, clearly proud.

Mathey pauses, then completes the tale.

“I found out that was the wrong thing to do,” he said, laughing. “My boss got in a little hot water for that.”

When it comes to Mathey, the mail always gets through, come rain or heat or snow or an angry blue heeler.

It has ever since he began his career with the Postal Service 50 years ago. He was recently honored for his longevity and dedication with a National Association of Letter Carriers gold card with his name, a pin and a letter of appreciation.

“I’m good at my job,” he said.

Pam Shaughnessy, NALC Coeur d’Alene branch president, said Mathey’s dedication is an inspiration.

She couldn’t recall a time he called in sick and said he always volunteered to work when needed.

“We are lucky to have such a fine example and great coworker,” Shaughnessy said.

Mathey’s Postal Service career started in 1970. He had served two years in the Marines and had a four-year college degree in psychology, but needed a job.

“I was trying to find a job that was commensurate with my education, and there weren’t very many,” he said.

When his unemployment was about to run out after six months, he went to the labor office to check in. On the bulletin board he saw a notice about a post office test.

“I go, ‘Well, I gotta do something.’ So I went and took the test and I got hired,” he said.

He worked as a clerk in Goleta, Calif., for a little over a year, then transferred to Kent, Wash., for about 18 months. In 1973, he transferred to Coeur d’Alene to escape the rainy West Coast.

Mathey was a clerk when he arrived, but that changed when the man who hired him called him over as he was walking out of the office one day.

“He asked me if I was interested in being a carrier,” Mathey said. “I thought it over for about 10 seconds and I said, ‘Yes.’ So I’m the accidental mailman. That’s what I call myself, the accidental mailman.

“It was such the right call for me.”

Much later, something else happened that he would never forget.

He had a walking route and the snow was about 3 feet deep one particularly bad winter. Every day he trudged through cold, wet, icy conditions and returned home exhausted.

“Walking routes are hard and that’s mostly what I did my first 15 years,” he said.

Then, fate smiled on him.

The man who had the route Mathey drives today got mad at the postmaster and quit.

“Ripped off his shirt and walked out the door,” Mathey said, chuckling.

His bosses said, “Mathey, take over.”

So he did.

“That was an awesome thing. It changed everything,” he said.

At 74, Mathey has no desire to retire. He’s looking forward to a few more years of making his deliveries.

In a routine day, he’ll deliver a couple thousand envelopes, magazines and packages.

“I love working. And we get really good benefits,” he said, pointing out he gets holidays off, about four weeks of paid vacation and plenty of overtime.

“This is a deluxe job, which is why it’s hard for me to walk away,” he said

Today, Mathey enjoys working outside, making his rounds, and talking to residents. In five decades, he has received gift cards, treats and notes in appreciation for his service with a smile.

It’s his pleasure. After all, the mail must go through.

“That’s my number one job is making customers happy,” he said, “staying safe and getting the right mail into the right mailbox on the right porch.”

At the end of each day, though, it’s about more than mail for Mathey.

He looks after many of the seniors on his route like family. Some even consider him their adopted son.

“That’s one of the things we really do. We kind of keep an eye on older folks,” he said.

Mathey has also watched children on his route grow up, graduate, move away, and return to buy a home and start their own families.

“That’s one of the special perks, when you see kids born and raised and come back,” Mathey said.

And you can bet, he knows their names.