SINGAPORE — James Wee was a tour guide for 20 years, receiving tourists from China and Taiwan at the Changi Airport and taking them around the island.

But the 14-hour days and constant shuttling from one place to another took a toll on him.

“Old already, getting tired,” Mr Wee, who is now 60, said.

So in 2012, he became a postman, riding his bicycle as he goes around delivering mail at an estate in Yishun, where he lives.

Four months after Singapore Post began a trial of its MyPostman campaign in Yishun and Bukit Timah, Mr Wee has emerged as one of the five highest rated postmen.

The campaign has encouraged some two million households across Singapore to get to know the postman serving them, and to give them a rating out of five. It was officially launched nationwide on Nov 18.

The secret to Mr Wee’s high rating? A simple greeting.

Every day for the past seven years, he has made it a point to say a simple “good morning” to the residents.

Most of the time, the reactions were positive. Even when people did not respond to his greetings, he insists it is a matter of time.

“I try to be very friendly with them. I let them know that I am their postman,” he said.

When he delivers parcels to a resident’s door, he does it with a smile.

“If you go door to door with a good mood, if the resident sees you, they start to have a good mood. When a resident sees you with a sour face, as if you’re just doing your job, then they also won’t be happy.”

Mr Wee has made many friends around the estate. He said: “Even if I’m in civilian attire having lunch or dinner in the coffeeshop and they see me, they will call out ‘postman, postman!’”

‘NOT JUST A POSTMAN’

Yishun resident Angela Cher said her children, aged 11 and seven, will run out to greet him whenever he delivers her parcels.

“He’s very friendly,” said the 43-year-old. “He’s not just a postman, he’s like a friend already.”

When it is not Mr Wee who does the delivery, 11-year-old Reanne gets upset.

“Everytime I see a different postman, I think to myself, ‘aw man’,” she said.

Mr Wee recalled how once a resident in her 30s gave him a figurine of a postman she had hand-painted.

“When I sent (a parcel) to her house, she passed it to me and said ‘postman, thank you very much, this is for you’.

“On the bottom of the toy, she had written ‘thank you’. It was so touching.”

Does he ever tire of human interactions? “How to get tired of talking to people? Maybe it’s my character, maybe I just like to mix around with people,” he said.

To Mr Wee, there is little difference between delivering mail and his previous job.

“It’s still human relations,” he said. “My previous job, I see other countries’ people, that job made me so acquainted to people, to know how to handle people. So when I come to this line, I’m (serving) Singaporeans.”

‘THIS IS NOT A JOB, IT’S A MISSION’

And he is dead serious when it comes to his job.

Every day, he covers 15 blocks and over 2,000 units. He is confident he knows every last corner of his estate, so much so that he claims to be able to match many of the letterboxes to a resident’s face.

In his seven years he has only ever lost one piece of mail, he said.

A typical day begins at about 9am and stretches on to about 6pm, depending on the volume of mail. Delivering mail to each block takes about 15 to 20 minutes, but longer on special occasions like Singles’ Day sales and Christmas.

If there is an overwhelming amount of parcels to deliver, another postman will be assigned to the same area to help Mr Wee out.

On busy days, Mr Wee could end work as late as 8pm. “We will finish delivering all the mail given to us,” he said firmly. “Regardless of how late, we must finish it.”

“This is not a job, it’s a mission given by the sender,” he continued. “We have to fulfil their mission — we have to do the job and do it nicely and I cannot let down our senders.

“When I wear the postman's uniform, I must live up to it.”