For the first time in its 108-year history, all five of the letter carriers this summer aboard the U.S. Mailboat Walworth on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin are women.
Known as jumpers, these special carriers leap from the moving boat onto piers to run the mail to mailboxes, collect outgoing mail and then jump back onto the boat, which is moving at 5 mph.
The jumpers serve 75 homes along the shore.
It’s a job that takes athleticism and attention to detail while offering a distinct opportunity for summer hires who make the cut.
Seasonal tryouts for high school and college-age candidates are held every year in early June.
Applicants are also required to have at least one year of experience as an employee of the Lake Geneva Cruise Line, which operates the mailboat.
More than a dozen applicants tried out this year for the five jumper spots. The jumpers also act as tour guides on the 2.5-hour mailboat trip that runs 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. daily during the summer.
Marie Nickolette and Marissa Torres-Raby are returning mailboat jumpers who said they are proud to be a part of the first all-female team. Both are 20-year-old University of Wisconsin students and former high school track runners.
“It’s the perfect summer job. It’s definitely a good way to get your steps in for the day. I just think it’s really a unique experience that not many people can say they do,” Nickolette said.
Torres-Raby has family ties to the position: Her siblings also worked for the Lake Geneva Cruise Line, including a brother who was a mailboat jumper.
“I wanted to work where they worked,” she said.
Mailboat jumpers are selected based on athletic skill and delivery, their ability to narrate tour information and for their overall enthusiasm.
The boat operates seven days a week and holidays, with daily newspaper delivery included. The jumpers also clean the boat as part of their duties and sell stamped postcards for tourists.
There are three jumpers on the boat during each tour. One is at the back of the boat in case one of the jumpers falls in and needs to be fished out. The jumpers wear life jackets that inflate as soon as they touch the water.
No one has fallen in the water this summer, but Nickolette said she fell in on her first day last year.
When it rains, there’s an art to what they do.
“You have to pattern your feet really quickly, so you don’t just jump and slide on the piers,” she said.
The Lake Geneva Cruise Line has a team of veteran mailboat jumpers who will take over the delivery route when the college students return to school before the last weeks of the summer season.
“All of our employees think it is a neat and unique way for our customers to receive mail, and of course they do not mind getting to hand off some of their packages,” said local Postmaster Christopher Taylor Jr.
Customers must request mailboat delivery each year, including filling out a change-of-address form.
USPS resumes normal delivery for the lakeside addresses once the season, which runs mid-June to mid-September, ends.
“This is a tradition the Lake Geneva Post Office is known for throughout the country, and we get many visitors from various parts of the country inquiring on the mailboat,” Taylor said.