Week #169 – Four Weeks to Happyness: Make your house a Special Delivery! (Happyness in Action — with Jessica Suto)

Greetings Happyness Tribe!

You might remember back in Week #95 a challenge to leave something cool to drink for our mail carriers and other workers who were sweating it out during a summer heat wave.

Well, the holiday shopping season is here — and we are headed into the two heaviest delivery weeks for our mail carriers, delivery drivers, and package handlers.

Which is why  I am so excited to share this story of Happyness in Action with you!

Rob’s classmate — Jessica Suto — posted an idea to her Facebook page that caught my attention this week.  It was a forward from another site with a basket of snacks/water on the doorstep as a thank-you to those who are handling the added volume.  

(You can see the original post here.)

Knowing Jessica and her heart of gold — I reached out to her to see if this was something she actually does.  Indeed it was!

“I saw a friend share it (the original post), then thought how great my delivery guys have been, especially my UPS driver, he actually brings heavy things to the back door and if I’m home, he will bring them in for me.”

Jessica is a Navy Veteran with some health complications.  Online shopping for food and supplies is easy enough…but a little help with the heavy lifting is a big plus!

“At that time, I wasn’t able to tip, and when my friend shared this it was just an instant thing.”

An instant way to Spread Happyness!  How about that?!  🙂

As I was chatting with Jessica over messenger, she told me that just today she came home to a porch full of deliveries…and an empty basket!

“That, as well, put a smile on my face!”

I checked around social media to see if others were implementing this idea.  One woman in Georgia replied instantly that she loved it and was going to see what she could scrounge up.  Within minutes, she posted a photo of her front porch with a basket of goodies and a thank you note to her delivery people!

It was interesting to hear from drivers/delivery people as well.  Jeffery Linden, a UPS team member from Windsor, Connecticut, chimed in:

“I remember being out on the road this time of year. People either smiled or grimaced at you. A grab and go snack will make them happy!”

I asked Jeffery, what other simple things people can do to acknowledge drivers/delivery people?

“Just understand their stops are measured by the seconds, and understand if they are polite but never stop moving.”

(That’s good to know!)

As for Jessica, I asked her what Happyness means to her this holiday season as she gets ready to pack up and move across the country.

“Norm (just like in Cheers) is my mailman.  He is always super happy-go-lucky with a big smile on his face. I want to pack him and my UPS driver and take them with me!!!”

Your Happyness Challenge for the week ahead: Make your house a SPECIAL DELIVERY!  Assemble a basket of goodies, water, gum, etc. and leave it on your porch with a note to your mail carrier, delivery people, or package handlers.  (A Giving Tree would be a lot of fun, too — with the goodies/snacks attached to branches!)  In Jessica’s words, “this time of year they are super busy, so make sure to thank them.  Also, the next time something is late, damaged or lost, don’t take it out on the carrier.  They didn’t necessarily do that.”  For Jessica, the fulfillment of knowing that these little gestures make their day — also makes hers!

Jessica’s note on her porch reads (in the photo above), “To the greatest deliverymen in town, thanks for all you do, and everything you have done for me.”

She’s going to miss them…and I think they’re going to miss her, too!

Spread Happyness — leave a Special Delivery for your delivery people this week!

(And if you or someone you know has a fun way to Spread Happyness this holiday season — please let me know!  I’d love to feature their story of Happyness in Action on the blog!)

12/8/17 by Grace Church
© Grace Church
grace@spreadhappyness.com

(PS: A very special thanks to Jessica Suto for her service to this country — and for taking extra time out of her day to trade messages with me!  And thanks to Jeffery Linden for sharing his perspective, as well!)