BEN AVON (KDKA) — “Neither snow nor rain nor heat…” Well, “heat” is not the problem these days. But subzero temperatures and wind chill?

Mail carrier Bill Silay is wearing five layers on his upper body, three pairs of pants, and he says, “Couple pairs of socks, coverings on my feet, to keep my feet warmer. Earmuffs, neck, hat, trying to cover everything up.”

He also wears two pairs of gloves. Criss-crossing the yards and porches of Ben Avon, he says the key is not stopping.

The 24-year postal veteran says icy conditions are worse than the cold. And there’s never been a day when the post office kept the carriers home.

Postal Worker Bundles Up For Frigid Mail Deliver Route In Ben Avon

Postal workers brave the elements to deliver mail

For eight years Ruben Martinez has kept faith with the U.S. Postal Service’s official creed: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

Monday was a challenge not on that famous list — extreme cold.

By 3 p.m. the wind chill was 25 degrees below zero and Martinez was trudging through snow drifts as deep as two feet created by 24 mph hour winds whipping across a field from Ray Mellert Park in Medina, all while most of his customers sought refuge inside their homes.

The longest stretch of exposure Martinez suffers through is the effort to fill the community mailboxes of the Birch Hill Apartments across the street, which can take him over an hour to complete.

Mindy Kennell, of Wadsworth, a 13-year-veteran of the U.S. Postal Service, trudges through the snow in subzero temperatures Monday in Medina’s Twin Oaks neighborhood.

via Postal workers brave the elements to deliver mail

Hilly routes, cold weather pose challenges for postal workers

Eric Lepley put on six shirts and four pairs of pants to go to work Tuesday morning.

The speedometer cable of his mail truck was frozen from the cold, but he managed to travel up Country Club Drive into the neighborhoods on Londondale Parkway, Howell Drive and Swansee Road to complete his mail route.

A substitute letter carrier for almost seven years, Lepley knows that bad weather, even subzero temperatures, doesn’t stop the mail from getting delivered.

“People depend on us every single day,” Lepley said. “That’s why we get up in the morning and keep going
Eric Lepley put on six shirts and four pairs of pants to go to work Tuesday morning.

Hilly routes, cold weather pose challenges for postal workers