This reminded me that my uncle was a rural mail carrier. Interesting job. There was a lot more to it than delivering mail. He used his own personal vehicle.

This reminded me that my uncle was a rural mail carrier. Interesting job. There was a lot more to it than delivering mail. He used his own personal vehicle. He also served as kind of a scout for all kinds of things. Reporting that a road has washed out and the road needed repair and that kind of thing. For many of the families he visited, he was one of the few humans from the outside they would talk to. Receiving and passing on news verbally. He even helped name some of the roads as civilization matured. Apparently he was part of a political machine where these jobs were sought after and getting the job was a form of political patronage. When election time came around, my uncle had kind words for certain candidates. (Note he's dead and long retired so I'm not sure how it works these days) Never thought about how the traveling salesman problem applied to him, though. However I did get the impression that it was a pretty cushy job and there wasn't much incentive to optimize anything. He spent the time to get to know a lot of people.