... Neither By Snow Nor Rain Nor... The Weather And The Post Office

"The U.S. Postal Service does not have an official motto. The phrase which most people associate with the postal office is that which is engraved on the outside of the James A. Farley Post Office building at 8th Avenue & 33rd Street in New York, New York: Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

My part of the US has been hit with three major nor'easters in two weeks. I am sitting here, recovering from Round One of shovel-duty, knowing that we will not be seeing the mailman today (though someone in a delivery truck dropped off a package this morning). That made me start thinking...

It seems to me when I was a kid we got mail delivery no matter what the weather (we also went to school even if it snowed, but that is another story).

I'd like to know if older folks here can tell us how mail delivery service was when YOU were kids during crummy weather. I would think that in the days of mail delivery being far more important to businesses, taking a snow-day would have been a big problem.

Thoughts?

I live in the Berkshires of MA and grew up in Western MA. Back when I was a young whipper snapper the mail made it no matter what. Now if there is a big snow storm there will be no mail delivery. If there is a medium snow storm there will be no delivery. If there is a minor snow storm it will probably make it, not definitely, probably. The quality overall has gone way down as well with constant delays, late mail etc.. Twice in past five weeks I arrived home to find an envelope that would not fit in the mailbox on top of the mailbox in the pouring rain held there tenuously with a rubber band and soaking wet. Meanwhile Fedex and UPS are on time and get it to the house with zero drama. It is only a matter of time until the bankrupt, cash hemorrhaging USPS becomes a distant memory. Might be 20 years but it will happen. In the meantime they suck.

Ah, that means you are getting some of the white stuff today, too!

Another foot of white nastiness.

I also remember mailing coming through in all weather conditions short of a blizzard. But we also planted the mailbox post into a large farmers milk can so we could move the mailbox in before the snowplows came by and buried it for weeks at a time. (I do recall there were a few times when no access to the mailbox would interrupt a delivery.)

I now live in a slightly more moderate climate and our regular mailman makes deliveries up to around 2-3" of snow; beyond that no deliveries. But we also have a substitute mailman who refuses to deliver if it even rains.
Don

I never thought of the fact some people have mailboxes! We've always had a mailman who walks up to the front door...

Envelope mailed from northern NJ February 22 arrived here in central Indiana March 11. It is a monthly statement that usually arrives about the 25th of the month. Ain't modern technology wonderful.

Are you sure you don't all live in Canada? Your observations sound familiar to me!

Except more and more of us are now walking to mail boxes in the near vicinity and NOT having a mail delivery person come to our door.

Don

Both passenger and freight trains used to be similar, operating in what seemed to be extreme weather. Nowadays service can be shut down with a couple of feet of snow on the ground. Trains used to carry mail, with that service briefly revived in modern Amtrak times.

I also recall that mail service was a lot more dependable in the "old days". I'm now in my mid-60s and grew up in the Boston area. I don't remember a single occasion when the mail failed to arrive whatever the weather, although I seem to recall a big blizzard in the mid-60s when we were sure that the mail service would certainly be halted. Our development was still in the process of being built - took a few years back then - and we initial settlers all had our mailboxes on poles at the top of the street. While we kids were enjoying our day off from school and frolicking in the deep snow, we thought that we would check the mailbox just for fun. And, lo and behold, the mail was there - not just our mail but the mail for all our neighbors. The mailman had indeed arrived but, given the extreme conditions, had apparently decided to stuff the entirety of the neighborhood mail into one box and be on his way. We kids had great fun playing mailman that day by sorting out all the mail and putting it in the appropriate box.

Of course, that was also a time when we were all less preoccupied with safety. No seat belts, never mind airbags, people drove tipsy and smoked cigarettes more often, kids were just kicked out of the house and told to be back for dinner without our parents having any idea of where we were or what we doing, hitchhiking around town without a second thought, and EPA and OSHA not breathing down every business' neck (not that I disagree with that - interesting that those agencies were created during the Nixon administration).

Although there's little excuse for stopping delivery in moderate conditions, I guess I would still cut the USPS some slack with regard to having mail deliverers go out in hazardous conditions. I don't think I get anything in the mail anymore that is so super urgent that it requires a mailman to slip and slide to the post office to pick up the truck and the mail and then drive around in iffy conditions. If something is that important, I usually get it by fax, text, email or more expensive Fedex. Of course, I live in the Arizona desert where a snowflake can nary be found, so easy for me to say . . .

Oracle - since you were in my area "in the day", do YOU remember the governor shutting down the entire state, or the mayor shutting down the entire city of Boston, THE DAY BEFORE a storm was to hit?

And then the storm doesn't come...

I'd say that was a big NO. I chuckle when they announce "all non-essential state workers stay home"..........

I only have one thought every time I hear the term "non-essential workers"... which is if the job you do is non-essential then why do you have a job? I would feel pretty bad and lose any motivation if I was told that I was a non-essential worker. Pfft.
Don

THANKS Stude... I was afraid to say it and be accused of being non-PC..............

Nells - Nope, I don't remember that ever happening in those days. Maybe a much higher percentage of workers were essential back then versus in the current environment. Then again . . .

Don't forget that back when, homes in urban areas (at least) would get two deliveries of mail a day during Christmas time.