Monday, August 30, 2010

Real Rural Roads

The following photos were taken after a wet stretch in Rich Hill, Missouri.

According to Postmaster Larry Hacker, the pictures show what challenges carriers face to deliver "every piece every day." 

What's the worst road you've ever had to drive to deliver mail? Got a bad experience you want to share? Email me here or post your comment here.





5 comments:

Francis said...

These roads are safer than those paved roads in Hurt Locker. Just gives a picture of how much we care for those who serve us with their lives at stake.

Anonymous said...

I had someone complain once when they didn't get their mail during a blizzard - and it was the carrier's sister-in-law! I politely asked if she really wanted her sister to be a widow and her nieces and nephews to be without a father. Some of the roads that carrier drove on were dirt paths forged through pastures, so when the weather was bad they sometimes became impossible to drive on.

Anonymous said...

Looks to me like they earn every penny of their EMA.

Anonymous said...

I delivered mail on a Highway Contract route that was 230 miles round trip in rural Eastern Oregon. When it was icy I would slip down to the mailbox and barely be able to pull away after delivering the mail. Several times I had to wait for someone to come along and pull me back up on the road. On some roads my tracks would be the only ones. By the end of the 9 hour day my hands would be cramped from gripping the steering wheel so tightly. Even though I love my PM job I do miss that route.

Anonymous said...

I had a carrier driving through 3 miles of an adjacent pasture (which were blown clear of snow during the blizzard) for two weeks while we waited patiently for the county to clear all the roads. It took them nearly 3 weeks to get all the roads cleared because we were hit with 5 different storms during that time. One road had a 9 foot drift over it!