HUFFINGTON
07.22.12
GOINGPOSTAL
veys by the American Consumer
Satisfaction Index.
In other words, a lot of people
who approve of postal workers’
performance resent the wages and
benefits that underwrite and help
ensure that performance. Tonya
Detrick, a letter carrier from Hagerstown, Md., hears the gripes
often, even from relatives.
“The public perception is that
we’re overpaid and the taxpayers are paying us,” says Detrick.
“People in my family, who I’ve
known my whole adult life, still
think taxpayers [pay our salaries].
No, you don’t pay my check. The
stamp you put on this letter pays
my check. But the taxes you pay
the federal government do not.”
“I think that our wages are
commensurate with where middle-class wages should be,” Detrick adds. “We need a middle
class in this country.”
The postal service was certainly
the gateway to the middle class
for Detrick, a 24-year veteran. She
came to the agency looking for a
job as soon as she got out of high
school. She and her two siblings
were being raised by her mother,
who worked long hours for low pay
as a retail clerk. They were poor,
living together in public housing.
“THERE’S A SANCTITY
OF THE MAIL THAT’S
IMPORTANT TO A
LOT OF PEOPLE IN
THIS COUNTRY. ”
Detrick started out at a salary
more than double the minimum
wage at the time, she recalled. She
had good health insurance and a
retirement fund she could count
on. She also loved the job.
“I liked meeting people, being
outside, feeling like I do a service
for the public,” Detrick says. “I’m
a people person and it’s a lovable
job when you’re a people person...
I’m very satisfied with the life
that it’s given me.”
Detrick now earns a salary in
the mid-five figures after two decades with the postal service.
She’s managed to raise three kids
mostly on her own, with one son
in college and another headed in
the fall. Her well-paying job at
the postal service, she says, has
made it all possible.
To further complicate the labor issue, postal jobs aren’t just
middle-class jobs — they’re middle-class jobs that have gone disproportionately to veterans and