“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds” has long been the creed of the United States Postal Service, but this week I became even more aware of the challenges our postal couriers occasionally face.
I have a post office box where I receive all of my blog-related mail, and I check it every couple of weeks or so. Yesterday I went to the post office to get my mail, and when I opened my box, I saw a plastic bag stuffed inside:
I’ve seen these bags before — occasionally, if a piece of mail is damaged during transit, it will arrive in one of these bags. However, I was surprised by what I found inside the bag. I opened it, and I immediately smelled smoke. The mail inside was wet, and indeed, it was charred along the edges too!
How did my bank statement catch on fire? There was a letter from the USPS inside the bag too which shed some light on the wet and charred state of this piece of mail:
I hadn’t heard of a postal truck catching on fire in Chicagoland two weeks ago, but I have a new appreciation for how seriously our Postal Service takes mail delivery. Think about it — postal workers sifted through wet, burned remains of the mail in this truck to make sure that anything that could be delivered would be delivered.
I’m impressed, USPS. It seems we need to add “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor fire” to your creed!
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