Hear, hear, Mike! As a letter carrier for 27 years, I've refrained from posting in this thread, other than to offer the technical info above.

Personally, I care most about good service to my customers, even if that has at times run contrary to management's positions and desires (their numbers crunching occasionally does not jive with "service first"). The vast majority of my fellow carriers share this dedication to their customers, though there are always "bad eggs", especially in a work force that numbers into the hundreds of thousands.

The USPS is the highest rated postal service in the world in terms of customer satisfaction, and on time/accurate delivery, over 95% or higher. But, as much as a I try, I still have customers who will always be pissed off about something. It's part of dealing with the public....