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

Okay, I'm of that genre which remembers mail was delivered in severe weather. Today there are several liability issues from OSHA suits (complaints) which would pose penalties upon putting employees in harms way. I worked for the USPS for 38 years & experienced many changes in workforce numbers & practices. The first time that I can remember delivery being curtailed due to weather was the Blizzard of '78. Governor Dukakis declared a state of emergency & prohibited driving for 3 days public, released mass transit, deliveries (inclusive of US Mail) after 2-days. US Mail transport started up again on the Thursday after the storm.(driving had been banned Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday for general public). I worked the night shift in an administrative, quality control position. On Thursday newscast it was announced that mail was being delivered to post offices in the metropolitan Boston area for delivery. Around 8:00pm I received a phone call from a concerned resident that the Mail carrier would not be able to find her mailbox in the dark & was leaving her porch light on so that he would be able to find it. She thought that the carriers would be out that night. Simply to the point of why delivery is curtailed during major storm events it is safety. Most routes in urban areas are mounted (vehicle) & with storm conditions & parking restrictions mail delayed should not be a cause for concern. It gets there. (now if there are delivery issues in non-weather related times that is another issue.)

The defenition of severe weather has apparently changed drastically given that everyone and their brother is out driving around, fedex and UPS is delivering and yet my mail carrier hides in a bunker until the apocalypse is over.

I live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Lots of snow, so we're used to it. There have been one or two really bad storms when we didn't get mail, but most days our mailman plods through as much as two feet of fresh snow to make his deliveries. I think they have a rule that is the walk is not shoveled,they don't have to deliver, but our guy comes whether I have shoveled or not. We give him a big tip for Xmas.

When I was a kid, in southeast Penna., we had to walk half a block to our mailbox, because the PO would not do home delivery if there was no sidewalk. When the city finally got around to putting in sidewalk, my dad had to put a slot in the door so we could get our mail.

When I was a kid, it seems to me we got mail twice a day. When I was in high school, it was once a day, except around Xmas, when they hired people to male second deliveries. Those days are gone forever.

Don

I've read, though I can't cite a definitive source to prove it's true, that in the affluent neighborhoods of Victorian central London mail was delivered roughly hourly. As many as 12 times a day.

Dennis

My grandfather was a rural mail carrier from 1938 to 1958. His route covered mostly gravel country roads. The patrons on his route would shovel the road out where they new it would drift full of snow so he could get through.

One year it snowed so bad the mail was delayed getting down to our post office from Cincinnati on the Saturday before Christmas. The rural carriers came in in on Sunday and ran the routes so the kids on their routes would have Christmas Monday morning.

Hoosierboy, that is a heartwarming story

In Montreal with climate changes it rain sometime in January and February. I mean pouring rain. The day after often it freeze. The alley and the stairs to the mailbox are ice. It's impossible for the mailman to do is job. He has to deliver to hundreds of doors and he would need boots with spikes. I know the mailman from Canada Post as I sometime get registered mail. Believe me this guy is an athlete. I know there has been longer route for them to save on cost. I have no grief against him. He's my hero! Daniel

I put sand down on ice.

Sand on the stairs and salt in the alley if I take the time leaving for work in the morning. Many don't have sand or salt after a freezing rain. The hospital emergencies are full of people that felt on the ice and broke something. On these days there is no mail delivery. Daniel

I have to commend my local rural delivery guy, he makes the route even if its a foot or more of fresh snow here in South Central Pennsylvania, like a couple of days ago. They do ask that you shovel the area around your mailbox so he can swerve in there to make the drop.