Joe the Plumber may have been the rage three weeks ago, but there’s a new folk hero in town: Steve the Mailman. When faced with an expanding route and debilitating health problems, mailman Steve Padgett needed to think creatively in order to promptly deliver the mail that mattered to people. So instead of delivering junk mail, he saved everyone some time and hassle by burning it or burying it in his backyard.

Unfortunately, this turned out to be one of those things that is both awesome and illegal; last week, Steve got stuck with 500 hours of community service and a $3,000 fine.

When we heard, we thought people might like a way to show support for Steve by helping him with that $3,000, so we started a campaign to spread the wealth and recoup Steve’s loss. Donations started trickling in, and then awesome email marketing provider MailChimp (we use them for Groupon) stepped in with a donation to tip the campaign.

Now that Steve the Mailman is back in the black, all that remains to be seen is whether he will leverage his national celebrity as shrewdly as his plumbing counterpart. A Steve the Mailman book deal? A run for congress? A website where you can pay to read musings on his blog?

-Filed in Case Studies