As you and I rely on the international machination of shipping, we find a certain softness begin to shine towards those physically making our click-and-pay dreams a reality this time of year. Despite being endlessly written off by big corporate logistics and economists in the name of financial inefficiencies, the American mailman still trudges onward through obscene obstacles and disadvantages. That's a bit of a depiction of life, isn't it?
There's a rare parallel between the silent effort of the American postal worker and our industry. Sure, we have the UPS's and FedEx's of our own world in the Onyx's and Barista Parlors, but just like USPS workers, our industry has a unique backbone of often overlooked and underappreciated members ignoring their smaller circumstantial footprint for the betterment of their local community.
It's ironic, isn't it?. Postal workers are underpaid, undervalued and slightly overlooked in society, yet they're often the hardest working in the industry; symbolic of western grit, still giving value to a society that largely undervalues their existence. You can find USPS workers trudging through snowstorms, braving heat waves and wading through knee-deep waters while big box logistics delays your packages. Why is that? There's something wildly American in not allowing one's size or significance determine one's value to our spinning rock we call a world.
It's synonymous with the seemingly endless efforts of the small independent shops, roasters and subscriptions who bust their ass for the one to two square miles of souls surrounding their operations - all in the face of mainstream media's larger focus on the Dutch Bros, Blank Streets and Starbucks of the industry. Long nights, early mornings and missing weekends are par for specialty, even when the societal merits are low. They're doing it for the love of the game, for the love of folks like yourself. We push at Promethium because life's too short to drink bad coffee, and in a world where dollars can seem scarce, you should get the most for each dollar you spend. Akin to delivery with the United States Postal Service. In the world of competitive pricing and business, why settle for service where you're merely a number. 
We have a personal friendship with our postal worker at our shop Iris. He's seen us at our lows, awkwardly delivering our back tax notices from Wake County, making sure to smile as I sign while we both know what's in the envelope. He's also been there for the highs when the line is wrapped around the entire block and he can't get in to deliver the mail. (We took care of the taxes by the way... I think.) It's always been him, he's still got the same smile and greeting five years later and knows all of the local pets by name. There are one thousand eight hundred twenty-five days in a five year span - that's just about how many different Amazon delivery guys we've had. No one has put in more consistent effort than our postal worker mate. That's just wildly American.
If this excerpt is nothing more than a different voice in your life momentarily, I hope what you hear is to remember the little guy when you see your postal worker delivering faithfully through thick and thin as they do. The Willow Houses, the Flux's, the Brandywines, the Promethiums may not be on the VC-funded leaderboards or ringing in the opening bell at the stock market, but they matter too. And they actively outperform the well-funded rapidly scaling giants more often than their social credit allows. Perhaps that's why the specialty industry still hasn't gone away despite the endless dooming news reports of our industry getting too expensive or doors shuttering - there's just far too much value and effort to be denied. Perhaps that's why we're still shipping American postal too.
Epilogue
Blue shirted workers all represent the incredible wonder we have as citizens: choice.
We get to choose who we support. We get to see and reward those outworking larger figures and over-delivering value for the size of their economic and social footprint. This season, support those people, businesses and organizations. Without it, we lose our soul and the very thing that makes our industry special.
