By C.J. Sullivan

ANGRY DELIVERY Jackson the mailman hates this time of the year.

"The mail never stops," he complains. "I mean, it's not like you get an easy day. All year it just keeps coming in. No rhyme or reason. Then December and January come, and it kills you. The holiday mail. The weather. The stress. I used to like this job."

Jackson delivers mail in Richmond Hill, Queens.

"Used to be, the neighborhood people here made Christmas good. They'd tip you. It wasn't much, they were all working people, but $10 here and $20 there and it adds up. And those that didn't give you a tip, they made you brownies or cookies. They all moved out. Gone. Now around here I never even get a hello or a thank you. And forget about a tip. Which is funny because a lot of these guys around here work as cab drivers and depend on tips. They want tips but don't give them."

I walk with Jackson down the street as he jumps from house to house dropping off bundles of mail.

"You see how most of these mailboxes are locked now? That is 'cause [crooks] were cruising this neighborhood and stealing people's mail to get their identity. Imagine stealing mail? That's like sacrilegious."

Jackson keeps a good pace going. For a man pushing 50, he's in remarkable shape. He credits the job.

"I've been walking a mail route for 20 years. I do like five to seven miles a day. Easy. That's five days a week, and I don't miss much work. I never get sick. My doctor tells me I got the heart and lungs of a man half my age."

Still, being a postal worker wasn't exactly Jackson's dream.

"I should have left this job years ago. Now it's too late. I wanted to be an engineer. My dad died and I had to quit college to work to help the family. Took this civil service job and it just sucked me in… It's better than being in some airless office, but it ain't like I'm proud of what I do. I tell my kids I'll kill them if they ever deliver one piece of mail."

As we walk down the street, I ask Jackson about why his coworkers go postal.

"It's the supervisors. They suck. A lot of them come out of the military and think they have a rank or something. They treat the workers like dirt… This job is already low and then you got some boss treating you like a red-headed stepchild who stole something."

What does Jackson want to do when he retires?

"Go somewhere sunny and never see another piece of mail the rest of my life. I'll do everything over the internet. I don't even want to see a mailman."