Mail carrier faulted for not cutting across lawn

[Liberal_in_LA]

Updated: 02/12/09 08:17 AM

Mail carrier faulted for not cutting across lawn
No exception made for snow, union says

By Dan Herbeck

A postal carrier in Depew has been threatened with suspension because he failed to walk across snow-covered lawns while delivering mail one day last month, his union said.

The carrier, whom the union did not name, was issued a “warning letter” Tuesday, telling him he could be suspended from duty if he continues using sidewalks rather than walking across lawns.

Many local carriers have had disputes this winter with supervisors who insist they walk across lawns, even on days when snowdrifts are deep, according to officials of the National Association of Letter Carriers.

“This has been a growing issue all this winter, but this is the first time one of our carriers has been disciplined in writing for it,” said Robert J. McLennan, president of the Buffalo branch of the union.

“This carrier is threatened with suspension because he used the sidewalks instead of walking across lawns that had big snowbanks on them.”

-------------------------

According to McLennan, the Depew carrier was disciplined because a supervisor followed and observed him Jan. 21 as he delivered mail on Barnabas Drive.

“ failed to take obvious shortcuts by not crossing the lawns on 54, 70, 74, 66, 58, 50, 42 and 38 Barnabas,” the supervisor wrote in the warning letter. “You were previously instructed to take all obvious shortcuts.”

Link added: http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/577124.html

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. a) What if home-owners don't want him walking through their yards a b) since when is

floundering through deep snow a short cut?

[Hoopla Phil]

2. STAY OFF MY LAWN!!!

[Xenotime]

23. Reminds me of my fav Fensler Film - Wankers get off my Lawn

[kiva]

3. Idiot supervisors.

Where is this, do you have a link?

[Liberal_in_LA]

17. sorry. Here is link

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/577124.html

[kiva]

27. Thanks, now I know who to call an idiot. n/t

[Christa]

4. Oh FFS

small minds and all that jazz

I am just too grateful for the mail carriers who deliver my mail in snow and wind, rain and sunshine.

[ejpoeta]

5. that is just ridiculous! it's one thing if the guy should have the option to walk across lawns

but then again, do the owners of those lawns have the right to tell the carrier to stay off the lawn? and if there are big snowbanks, why should the carrier be forced to go through snowbanks to cut across the lawn? that makes no sense to me. and is this in depew NY?? wtf!

[Tangerine LaBamba]

6. Stupid beyond belief

What happens if a carrier slips and falls on someone's lawn? What do you think the homeowner's insurance company is going to say?

Talk about idiots. This one has to win some kind of award. Beyond Darwin.

What's beyond Darwin?

[Greyhound]

7. Potter came with Idiot Frat Boy. Hopefully Obama's choice will be better.

It would be nice to have a PMG that wants to improve the Post Office rather than destroying it.

[alfredo]

8. there are people, monoculturalist, who do not want you walking on

their lawns even if snow covered. If they see your tracks in their snow, they go ballistic. They call the postmaster and whine and stamp their feet.

If you have to carry mail in 2-3' of snow and have to throw your satchel over snow drifts then crawl over them, after ten miles, you opt for the sidewalk or streets. Generally you are not allowed to "checkerboard." If you have to deliver to 700 customers, walk ten miles, and be back in six hours, slogging through snow will make that impossible.

In heavy snow I worked in my own hiking boots with gaiters, not the rubber overshoes they demand. The overshoes don't grip and slow you down.

[dysfunctional press]

12. in a very polish neighborhood of chicago, i had a guy yell at me for walking on HIS parkway...

the parkway is the grassy area between the sidewalk and the street. homeowners are responsible for it's upkeep, but it actually 'belongs' to the city.

[alfredo]

19. di you then move to the other side of the walk?

I had a home owner yell "Stop walking on my yard." So I stopped and stood there until he turned and went back inside. I caught hell from the postmaster over my literal interpretation.

[zagging]

20. You should have started hopping.

That would have been great.

[alfredo]

21. No, I had a satchel full of mail.

[zagging]

22. How about fake skating?

That would have been less humorous, but still pretty good.

[alfredo]

25. How about driving my postal jeep across his yard.

[zagging]

26. Sounds like you were pissed.

I had a postal worker walk through my newly seeded lawn three days in a row. I had been sprinkling it and it was basically a muddy slick with seeds and straw. He walked through it every day until I saw him doing it and asked him in a less than friendly manner to go around. I had no idea there might be a supervisor in the shrubbery taking notes.

[alfredo]

28. He should have used some common sense. He should have walked around.

[One_Life_To_Give]

9. Overtime?

The lawn is but a tree. The forest is the added expense of it taking longer for this carrier to complete an established route. And this article doesn't give us details about how much longer this is taking or how the time difference compares to other carriers. But you can be certain that the bottom line for management here is what it costs to deliver the mail.

[dysfunctional press]

10. it sounds like the supervisor just has it in for this carrier, probably for other reasons...

and is trying to fire him.

btw- one of the reasons they give every winter for shoveling the sidewalks is so that the mailcarriers can use them.

if i were this carrier, i'd think about getting a lawyer- if the union hasn't already taken care of doing so.

[Javaman]

11. Any wonder why they go postal? nt

[Stevenmarc]

13. .

[rvablue]

14. This defies logic.....

because one would think that it would actually take longer to slog through snow drifts, than to quickly walk down a shoveled walkway and up another.

Am I wrong?

[grannie4peace]

15. postal management sucks , they don't care about carriers

or fairness. they SUCK!

[Sequoia]

16. Just wait until summer: Do Not Walk on Grass

[intaglio]

18. Idiocy! How do the supervisors or carriers know

What is under the virgin snow?

A rake left out?

Toboggan with a rope?

Ice topped pond?

Hole dug just before the bad weather set in?

2x4 with nails in it?

So the carrier treads on the rake or trips on the toboggan, falls in the pond or hole or gets a nail through the sole of his/her boot. I bet the supervisor would then be quick enough to blame the carrier for the accident and it's results.

[Politicalboi]

24. So it's better for the mail carriers

To have wet clothing and shoes while plowing through the snow instead of walking on the shoveled walkway. I used to live in Pa and know for a fact that walking on a shoveled walkway is a lot faster than wading in waist deep snow.

[TrogL]

29. Most snow cities (like mine) have a bylaw saying you have to keep your sidewalk shovelled

...so mail carriers and trades people can get through.

We also have to sand and salt (or equivalent) them. When we shovel, this all ends up in the snowdrift, which presumably the post office now wants people walking through.

Anybody walking across the lawn in spring is going to damage it.

[earth mom]

30. Postal management thinks it saves time. It's no wonder some of the workers go postal.

The USPS management is nothing but a bunch of assholes.