My name is Michael Mendez, and I’m a mail handler at the Detroit Network Distribution Center. I help keep the mail moving so USPS can deliver excellent service to its customers.
I start my workday at 7:30 a.m. During the course of the day, I process packages, print and scan placards used to sort mail, and operate equipment.
Customers are my motivation. I never see them, but I know my work contributes to customers wanting to come back to the Postal Service. I feel that if I don’t do my job, the customer is going to go somewhere else.
Before I joined USPS, I was a musician. I played the drums. I lived in my mom’s house on a street where three brothers and their cousin had a band called Catalyst. They didn’t have a drummer, so I started playing with them. The cousin went on to become famous: He’s now known as Jack White of the White Stripes.
My postal career began in 1985 when my mom brought home an application and said, “Get a job!” I was hired as a casual employee, then became full time in 1986. My mother and sister both worked for USPS for a time. They went on to do other things, but I stayed.
I’ve gained a lot of friends through the Postal Service. I’ve bought a home. I’ve raised a family. My wife Laura and I have been married 18 years. We have a 7-year-old son, Michael Jr.
I’m proud to be a postal employee, but I always tease my mom and tell her, “I was supposed to be a famous musician and you ruined that.”
“On the Job,” a series on individual employees and their contributions to the Postal Service, appears regularly in Link.