FARGO - People are now using Amazon to order things like big bags of dog food, cases of water and even bed frames.
While the Postal Service is seeing an increase in business, its carriers are not delivering justs letters anymore.
Joe Cusher has seen it all, a carrier for 25 years in Fargo, his mail route used to be pretty routine; letters and birthday cards.
"30 years ago, 1988, we had baby hampers for our parcels, if you had 4,5,6 parcels that was a lot," said Crusher.
"One of the problems, so many packages, some smaller get lost, and you are digging around, where is it, where is it, hardly room for your mail," said Crusher.
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Most mornings at the Prairiewood Post Office the floor is covered in Amazon Prime boxes,
"The walking route I had at Christmas time, I had 62 packages, and it was like, Wow, you have 62 packages, now that is average," said Crusher, "headed to homes around Fargo, and the deliveries, well it is not just a nice golf shirt, or pair of shoes."
The days of stopping at a mailbox and dropping off a delivery are over, carriers have been instructed to wear their mailbag with mace.
"We are required to wear this as a safety measure to protect us from dogs," said Crusher.
There are stories of local mail carriers lugging several cases of bottled water up three flights of apartment stairs, all because the customer can now simply order from Amazon from home, get it quickly, and have someone else carry it to their door.
Estimates are that Amazon uses the Post Office for 40-percent of its shipping.
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