January 1st might most famously mark the beginning of a new year, but the start of 2013 also marks a very significant anniversary for American history, for it will signify 100 years since a parcel postal service became available to Americans, which helped to stimulate national trade throughout the country. To celebrate that achievement, we've decided to rack our brains and come up with the most memorable postal workers from film and TV, and though it's not a profession that immediately inspires creativity within pop culture, there have been a share of gems if you look closely enough. Whether adhering to the now-classic stereotype of "going postal", or simply trying to do their job and get a package from A-to-B, these characters are iconic relics of the postal service, for better and for worse. Here are the 10 most memorable postmen on film and TV.
10. Myron - Jingle All The Way
Jingle All the Way, though far from a great film, does have one severely overlooked element going for it, and that's how pointedly it critiques the greedy, consumerised nature of Christmas, how parents strive tirelessly to please their bratty kids, effectively losing their minds in the process. This holiday TV staple has a beleaguered, overworked dad (Arnold Schwarzenegger) desperately trying to obtain a Turbo Man action figure in the lead up to Christmas, and finds himself at once teaming up and competing with a local postman, Myron (Sinbad), to see if they can find some of the dolls without ripping each other to pieces. Sinbad plays the character as suitably, hilarious psychotic, warped by a desperate need to earn his son's approval by getting the action figure, a more subversive element of the film that concedes its criticism of Yuletide excess. While he's a resolutely sad character, he has his own bonkers "postal" moment, whereby he threatens a local radio station with a Christmas package that is, in fact, a bomb. Oh the humanity.