50 sense

The incident that unfolded in Goleta, California this week unfortunately reminded us of other events that have taken the lives of innocent postal employees. Years ago when the horrible tragedy in Edmond, Oklahoma occurred, I, as a postal worker did not understand how this job could cause someone to lose it to the point of gunning down coworkers. I really considered the job very "low-stress". Then another incident in Wisconsin occurred and the "going postal" term became a commonplace phrase. In Dallas, 1998, another postal worker gunned down a fellow employee at work. Since then there have been numerous suicides among postal workers in Dallas alone. I am sure the American public looks at us and thinks , "How hard a job can it be? All they do is stick mail in boxes. Why is that so stressful?"

Over the past ten years the atmosphere at my job has drastically changed. The stress level has increased tenfold. Although most of the 700,000 postal employees would never commit such heinous acts, these tragic incidents no longer surprise me. There are many things that have got to be changed at the post office. Postal reform legislation S.662 is a start for improving working conditions and service. You need this and we need this.