Heroic Mailman!

[3113]

Now this is what I call a truly heroic mailman!

Sick of junk mail? Pay homage, then, to overstressed, overworked mailman Steven Padgett, who has confessed to a cardinal sin among the letter carriers tribe: He failed to deliver.

"Mailman Steve" -- a pudgy, kindly 58-year-old who toiled along a route in a rapidly growing neighborhood here -- was given probation in federal court this week for squirreling away at least seven years' worth of undelivered junk mail, which he had stacked in his garage and buried in his yard. According to his attorney, Padgett felt overwhelmed by the torrents of "direct advertising mail" he was obligated to deliver as he contended with heart problems and diabetes.

It should come as no surprise that the U.S. Postal Service did not receive a single complaint from Padgett's customers about missing mail during the years he withheld pizza circulars, oil change discount notices and Chinese menus. But when someone noticed bins of mail stacking up, the authorities were alerted, and Mailman Steve was charged with delaying and destroying U.S. mail. The Postal Service notified hundreds of residents, but only one responded. That customer, Kenna Reinhardt, wrote not to condemn Padgett but to honor him.

"Mr. Padgett did not mean harm to any person, rather he overcompensated by doing his job better than anyone," Reinhardt said in the letter, which was entered into the record by U.S. Atty. Josh Howard. Readers who followed Padgett's travails in the pages of the Raleigh News & Observer responded on behalf of a grateful citizenry. They thanked him for delivering his customers from unwanted mail.

"That 'Mailman Steve' should get a commendation," Doug Kopp, one of hundreds of people who contacted local news media to praise Padgett, said in a call to the paper. "Steve Padgett for President!" another reader wrote. Others offered to help cover Padgett's legal fees, to nominate him for awards and to ask that he deliver mail in their neighborhoods, the paper reported.

U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III could have sent Padgett to prison for five years and fined him up to $250,000. Instead, the judge gave him three years' probation, fined him $3,000 and ordered 500 hours of community service.

"Today, you'll get credit for a life well lived," the judge told the mailman.

Rest of the story here.

 

[rgraham666]

I think he should get a medal.

 

[TE999]

Every city, town, village and hamlet in the US should have a commemorative 'Mailman Steve' bonfire to honor him...and throw all their junk mail in it.

 

[JackLuis]

Every city, town, village and hamlet in the US should have a commemorative 'Mailman Steve' bonfire to honor him...and throw all their junk mail in it.

Hear Hear!

 

[tickledkitty]

What about all those companies that paid thousands of dollars to have all that stuff printed and delivered? He's not a hero. He's a criminal.

 

[TE999]

He's not a hero. He's a criminal.

So was Robin Hood, and most folks liked him.

 

[tickledkitty]

So was Robin Hood, and most folks liked him.

Yeah, in the movies. This is a real issue.

I don't especially like junk mail either, but I sure as hell don't want my mailman deciding what I should and should not receive.

 

[Weird Harold]

What about all those companies that paid thousands of dollars to have all that stuff printed and delivered? He's not a hero. He's a criminal.

If they want to advertise to me, then they can spend the extra buck or two to address their junk to me.

My name is not 'resident' or 'current occupant' and I'd really like the ability to tell the post office that those people don't live here and I don't want their mail. I don't need a pound of dead trees stuffed in my mailbox every week.