Heat

One of the hardest things that a mail carrier has to deal with is the weather. It isn't a cliche when the mail service says that neither rain nor sleet nor cold will stop the mail from getting through. The Postal Service means it. Yesterday, I got to deal with another weather element: Heat. The temperature was in the high 90's and it may have hit 100. You walked out of the Post Office and you could feel the heat at once. You promptly started sweating. You work as quickly as you can so you can get back to the Post Office and out of the heat. Also, you take plenty of fluids with you. It's easy to get dehydrated while you're delivering the mail. You're out in the heat for a long time. Yesterday, I was out in it for over 3 and 1/2 hours. The postal trucks have fans in them but these do little good in the heat. All they end up doing is blowing hot air into your face which may make the situation worse.

The forecast for the neat 5 days predicts temperatures in the 90's. It promises to be a hard week. Luckily, I'm scheduled to do Express Mail for 3 days. I'm hoping the schedule doesn't change. With Express Mails, you're outside a max of 90 minutes. That's one of the nice things about Express Mails. The bad thing about them is you are very pressed for time. The Post Office means it when they promise to deliver your package by Noon the next day. They won't accept any excuses from the carrier. We'll see how it goes.