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Here in West central Nebraska the only time we didn't get mail for a day or two was after the blizzard of 1949 when the mail was delivered in rural areas by airplane twice a week. Otherwise the mail goes as scheduled. Perhaps in the most rural areas there may be reason to not deliver for several days. We are right at the edge of the Nebraska Sandhills and there are miles of narrow roads and no houses for great distances as most of it is pasture land so it would be bad to get stranded, but I think they deliver as scheduled unless it is absolutely impossible.
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There are three types of letter carriers. City carriers (who wear a postal uniform), Rural carriers, and Highway Contracts carriers. The City and Rural carriers each have their own union. The difference is how the employee is paid, their benefits, contracts, etc. City carriers may also deliver in rural areas as well as Rural carriers may deliver in cities. It all depends which type of delivery would be cheaper for the postal service to supply deliver in that particular area.
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The only time a letter carrier is not required to deliver your mail is if there is a loose dog in the yard (yours or neighbors). Safety is the first priority. If you want your mail delivery uninterrupted bad weather, keep those sidewalks shoveled and sanded. The carrier shouldn't have to risk life and limb.
The Postal Service is a government agency and the rules and regulations are made at the Headquarters level in Wash., DC. No local post office (anywhere) has the authority "to run things pretty much their own way". That's a Federal offense and should be reported to the U. S. Postal Inspectors. They are the law enforcement arm of the U. S. Postal Service. They're the "good guys". My carrier in Colorado never skips a beat. |
not so sure about today's postal carriers but my DH is a retired postal carrier and for 30 years, he delivered his mail rain snow and even right after a tornado tore up most of his route. It's a toss up now. Last winter we had a real snow (not so common here) and they didn't deliver our street for 2 days.
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Originally Posted by aneternalpoet
Yes, the Post Office does really deliver in the snow.. but, its not the PO that does, its the letter carrier, who sacrifices so much in the cold, the wet, the dangerous, and most often times, unshoveled sidewalks, just to get us those special packages, or squishies! For 33 years, the man I married, delivered mail to our town, and in those 33 years, he missed ONLY 4 days of actual work due to sickness, or injury. Yep, you heard it.. He was bitten many times by dogs, ( and one cat ), he suffered deep injury to an ankle, when someones porch stair, covered with built up snow piles, decided to cave in, basically trapping his foot because he could not move.. He was unable to deliver mail for weeks due to that injury, yet, on crutches, in walking boot, rehab ect, he went to work to sit behind a dreaded desk, answering phone calls, doing hate paperwork.. Yet he never missed work in that incident. He really did deliver in our often times, below zero weather, and 2 or more feet of snow.. " Yes, Virginia, there is a hero " lol..
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The letter carriers deserve good reviews, for sure, but many people don't realize the clerks on the afternoon and night shifts ALSO have to make it through all kinds of inclement weather to work the mail up to have it ready for the carriers in the morning to take it out and deliver to their routes. I was a Postal Service clerk for 30 years, and the only acceptable excuse for not making it into work, especially during the Christmas rush, was "your OWN funeral!" But even through all the crazy long hours, it was a good feeling to know that we were helping to make Christmas happen for so many others.
The carriers would chide the clerks, saying we had to make it in to work to have their mail ready to take out and get the glory for delivering in those same weather conditions! :o) But it was all good teamwork. |
Kudos to all the PO employees out there. Few folks realize just how hard they have to work, and how much they are required to do. I think everyone should have to work just 1 day at the PO, then their perception would change entirely.
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in 35 years in this rual area US Mail failed to dilver only 2 days 1n 1998 blizzard closed all N.S. roads. Mail carrier cars have studs and are equiped with chains We are 20 min So of Cannadian border in Washington
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Originally Posted by Born2Sew
Kudos to all the PO employees out there. Few folks realize just how hard they have to work, and how much they are required to do. I think everyone should have to work just 1 day at the PO, then their perception would change entirely.
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we are not equipped o/here but throughout the snow and ice had daily delivery of papers and most days had post altho they have missed some.
Am up a track off main road and ice has been lethal but they have walked off road. |
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