Are postal workers model citizens?

Despite the financial woes of the United States Postal Service (USPS), the government agency is responsible for promoting a less talked about public benefit.

Consider that of the more than 500,000 workers USPS employs, slightly more than 300,000 of those employees qualify as "mail carriers", i.e. the people you see out for delivery on streets, sidewalks and assorted roadways.* Carriers are the real troopers --the men and women charged with braving the elements to ensure timely delivery of the public's mail.

As part of their work environment, USPS mail carriers (similar to their private-sector FedEx and UPS brethren) should be physically capable of performing simple yet demanding tasks like climbing stairs, lifting and carrying packages, and traversing short to medium-scale distances with the occasional sprint from hostile pets.

Boiled down to a granular level, USPS mail carriers, at least in most urban and some suburban areas, on a weekly basis demonstrate a positively healthy behavior --walking. Anytime you see a carrier park his/her vehicle to get out and walk their route is what is referred to as the "park and loop".*

While estimates for a carrier's average mileage covered by walking don't exist, we might reasonably assume that even 15 minutes of walking (while carrying a load) has a direct impact on that worker's health. Public health experts acknowledge that even short bouts of walking spread throughout a person's day produces long-term benefits.*

At the same time, mail carriers are constantly out of doors. Recent research suggests that even the scent of flora like pine trees can have a demonstrable effect on one's mental health while reducing levels of stress.* By being both physically active and outdoors, these workers exhibit healthy and replicable behaviors all within the public's eye. Perhaps in this respect more than any other, USPS mail carriers serve as model citizens.