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USPS suspends Wednesday mail delivery; area mail carriers previously expressed concerns of working frigid weather

Mail delivery is set to continue despite the predicted sub-zero temperatures. Some local carriers are concerned for their safety.
**UPDATE: The USPS has suspended Wednesday’s mail delivery for several Midwest states, including all of Michigan and large swaths of Ohio, because of the arctic cold. Updated story HERE.

TOLEDO (WTOL) - Some services, such as trash pickup, have already been suspended for Wednesday due to the expected sub-zero temperatures.

But others, like mail delivery, will still happen. That has some local carriers concerned for their safety.

"There’s no type of mail in this world or package that is worth our safety,” said Katie Keister, a four year USPS mail carrier in south Toledo.

The USPS unofficial motto goes, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” But as far as Keister is concerned, Wednesday’s forecast is where she draws the line.

"It's not safe,” she said. “You know, a lot of people don't shovel, they don't put salt down. It's very dangerous. With the frostbite you can get within 10 minutes and for us to be out here over six hours, it's dangerous."

Keister said she and some colleagues have voiced their concerns to superiors, but to no avail.

“It’s nothing they can do here in Toledo,” she said. “The only person that can dismiss us from working would be the Postmaster General.”

The Postmaster General is based out of Washington, D.C.

WTOL reached out to the U.S. Postal Service to find out why mail carriers are being required to work and for clarity on the chain-of-command in these instances, but didn’t immediately hear back.

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