The United States Postal Service turned 250 years old this year. A Tulsa letter carrier has been on the job for nearly a fifth of that time.
His day starts with a mountain of mail, almost as tall as he is. Rick Lankford organizes all the packages and letters in the order he’ll deliver them, and then it’s time to head out. He has had the same route near 51st and Sheridan for nearly two decades. But his career started almost 44 years ago.
“It’s enjoyable for the fact that you’re involved with people,” Lankford said. “You get out, you meet the public. That’s the thing I think I enjoyed the most about it.”
Lankford has gotten to know some of the people on his route, and even receives Christmas cards from some of them.
“I’ve got one lady in a wheelchair who, at Christmas time, she makes me a card, and she’s very good, and she does crafts and sells them and things,” he said. “And I have a collection that I save because I get them out every year for decoration because they’re that nice and they bring a lot. And it means a lot to her knowing it means a lot to me.”
The exercise he gets is an added bonus. Lankford doesn’t even concern himself with how many steps he’s getting.
“I don’t want to know,” he said. “I just, I know I’m walking a long distance, and I know I’m walking for hours. I just let it go and don’t worry about it.”
Lankford started his career with USPS in Iowa, then continued in Florida before moving to Tulsa, where he’s been for the last 28 years.
And in all that time, the 2007 ice storm tops his list for extreme weather.
“Branches drop for I don’t know how many days, for nights. So you’re walking along, you’re having to walk around and over branches that the whole time you’re tense, you’re walking, listening for the crack and the pop…because they can drop it any time,” he recalled. “So you want to make sure you’re ready to run if you need to run. Now that was most tense. Most tense.”
The 73-year-old said he “tried to retire” three years ago, when he took a few weeks of vacation.
“Well, I’ll just lay around for a couple of weeks, and then I’ll get into doing some projects or something. Well, my body didn’t last that long. I got so stiff and so sore I couldn’t do anything. And I was like, nah, I gotta go back to work. So I haven’t tried that since,” Lankford said.
Rick’s work anniversary is January 10th, when he’ll mark 44 years at the postal service.
“It’s been a staple for our country, something people depend on,” he said.
Rick is one of a handful of current Tulsa letter carriers who have been with the USPS for four decades or more.