Did postal rules kill carrier?
By Darla McFarland
The Examiner
(updated 12/9/02)
The night before mail carrier James Fussell was struck by a car and killed delivering mail after dark, he returned to his station and reported that it was too dark to continue, but he was sent back out to complete his route.
At a memorial service for Fussell Sunday, Raytown station manager Steve Morrison confirmed that a supervisor directed Fussell and another carrier to complete the route despite the dark.
"Non-delivery is not an option. We're told from above, not locally but nationally, that our routes have to be covered," Morrison said.
Fussell was struck by a car and killed Tuesday as he walked his delivery route in the 6500 block of Laurel Avenue in Raytown.
The accident occurred about 5:40 p.m., well after dark. The driver of the car told police she never saw Fussell and only knew she hit something from the feeling of the impact. No charges were filed against the driver.
News accounts of his death quickly spread to the Internet, prompting dozens of angry letter carriers across the country to write The Examiner and post messages on various Web sites, including www.postalnews.com.
Fussell, 54, was a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Postal Service and looking forward to his retirement this summer, friends said.
Terry Penland, a spokesperson for the Postal Service local district headquarters in Kansas City, said each station manager uses personal discretion about sending carriers out in the dark.
"We don't have a policy about working in the dark. We do have a policy about getting the mail delivered," she said.
Penland said the Postal Service stressed employee safety on a daily basis. She said the Postal Service does not "force carriers into any situation where they feel unsafe" and any worker forced to do so could file a grievance. Fussell's death is under investigation by a Postal Service safety review committee.
Nonetheless, the circumstances which put Fussell on the street in the dark appear to be a combination of Postal Service policies and practices that have evolved in the past few years. Carriers are starting their work day later in the morning than they used to.
Routes are being consolidated, creating longer routes for some, and management is taking a harder line about completing all deliveries each day.
"This is something that didn't used to happen," said postal carrier Jim Hall, a 30-year veteran who worked next to Fussell at the Raytown station. "When I started, and when James (Fussell) started, when it got dark you came back in with whatever mail you had left. Now, headquarters says you have to stay out until it's done."
Getting it done is also taking longer than it used to for many carriers. The Postal Service has been consolidating routes over the past few years, eliminating some routes and distributing territory among those that are left.
The Raytown station underwent a route review this spring and lost one route this summer, going from 40 routes to 39. Fussell picked up about 60 additional homes on his route, according to his mother, Mary Lou Fussell.
"He talked to me about it sometimes, about trying to work after dark," she said. "He said he could hardly see the addresses on the mail. He had to tell some of his customers to leave their porch lights on."
After-dark delivery is a perennial issue in the Postal Service, when daylight savings time rolls in and days get shorter, said Phil Vaughn, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, local Branch 30.
"We feel that when daylight savings starts, carriers should come in one hour earlier so they have more daylight to work in," Vaughn said. He plans to propose the plan to district officials with the U.S. Postal Service this week.
"Our members are very heavy-hearted and hurt. They feel Jim's death was unnecessary," Vaughn said. "Hopefully, they (management) will be willing to listen to our point of view but it is the employers prerogative to set work hours."
Over the past few years, carriers' starting time has been moved about an hour from an average time of about 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. Postal Service officials said that new automated mail sorting equipment makes it unnecessary for carriers to come in early because they no longer have to sort the mail before leaving for their route.
"They are getting out on the street about the same time because the mail is mostly sorted when they arrive," said Penland, the Postal Service spokesperson.
One carrier, who gave his name only as Jay, disagreed with Penland's statement.
"We are not getting out of the station any earlier, really, because a lot of times we wait on a second dispatch from downtown," he said. "They always want to push the carriers' schedules around, but they never seem to make adjustments at the plant."
Carrier Jim Hall also said the start times are a problem.
"We come in so late that it's impossible to get our routes done before dark."
The union contract with the Postal Service does not contain any policy about after-dark delivery. Carriers are allowed to make individual decisions about taking over-time, Vaughn said, but they cannot be forced to work if they feel unsafe.
"What a carrier can do, if they feel unsafe for any reason not just the dark is to return to the station and report the condition," Vaughn said. Supervisors can direct carriers to continue, which the carrier is obligated to attempt. However, if they still feel unsafe, carriers can return again and file a Form 1767 explaining the hazard and then leave.
"Senior carriers, like Jim (Fussell), have a lot of dedication to the people they serve and they want to do all they can to get that last piece of mail out," Vaughn said.
Mary Lou Fussell said that was likely the case with her son on the day he died.
"It was Dec. 3 which means he was carrying a lot of third of the month (government) checks. He was a very caring person. He was very conscientious about his job."
Some carriers said refusal to deliver after dark was a "gray area" between carriers and supervisors. Management puts on the pressure to deliver, they said, and carriers feel obligated to comply.
The debate over after-dark delivery is one Mary Lou Fussell said she can hardly understand in light of her son's death.
"There is no piece of mail on this earth that is worth a human life," she said. "No body has to tell you that it's unsafe to be walking on the street at night, sometimes on streets with no sidewalks where there are holes to fall in and cars going by. You know it's unsafe."
At the very least, Mary Lou Fussell said she wants the Postal Service to improve the reflective material on carriers' uniforms.
The mandated dark blue uniforms have only one half-inch strip of off-white reflective material placed across the back and on each breast pocket. There is no reflective material on the sleeves or pant legs, making them difficult to see from the side. According to Brookfield Uniforms, a local supplier of Postal Service apparel, there are no items available with additional reflective material.
"That has been a big concern for carriers for some time but from some reason management just won't do anything about it," said Patrick Flora, a representative with the Missouri Association of Letter Carriers in Liberty, Mo.
Flora said carriers are given about $300 a year to purchase apparel from authorized dealers. They are not supposed to wear anything other than, or in addition to, those uniforms.
Penland confirmed that the available uniforms were the only apparel approved for postal carriers. She said local management is looking into the possibility of changing or adding to the reflective material.
The day after Fussell's death, Raytown station management bought reflective tape for carriers to put on their sleeves. The idea came from one of the carriers, said Steve Morrison, the station manager.
But, for the Fussell family, any changes will come too late. Fussell leaves behind his parents, Doug and Mary Lou, two daughters, a sister, a brother and three grandchildren. Fussell was a veteran of the U.S. Army who earned two purple hearts and a bronze star in Vietnam. His parents said he called twice a day and was always there for them.
"He was a very loving boy and a caring person who loved his grandchildren deeply," Mary Lou said. "He was a mainstay for Doug and me and took care of us. We'll never have that again. They took that from us by putting him out on the street in the dark."