Weather and dogs are the Postal Service’s main enemies, says Postman Ken Haley, Shawnee, who delivers mail to 532 city homes daily through blizzards, ice storms, downpours, windstorms, blazing heat and those welcome days when Oklahoma weather is sunny and perfect.
“I approach each day as an adventure,” Haley said.
He knows most of the dogs on his northeast Shawnee route “and fears none. More or less, they know me, too, I guess. You’re not supposed to show fear; that’s the bait,” Haley said.
While the dogs on his route allow him to do his job, not all Shawnee mail carriers have been as fortunate.
Weatherwise, “rain is the worst enemy,” said Haley, who’s in his 30th year as a mail carrier.
“I’d rather be snowed on than have to work in the rain. Rain is just burdensome.”
Haley, who walks from four to eight miles per day, delivered mail on Christmas Eve, 2009.
That was the day frigid winds started blowing heavy blinding snow horizontally about 3 p.m. “It started getting really bad about 3 to 3:30 p.m.,” Haley recalled.
He finished his route about 4 p.m. that day. “By 5 p.m., they called everybody in.”
The Saturday after Christmas, when Shawnee was still buried under 7 to 9 inches of snow “was worse,” he said.
“You just don’t fret over the weather because it doesn’t help. Just get out and fight it like a new adventure every day,” Haley said.
That was probably the worse blizzard Haley has worked through, he said. “This one had ice with it.”
He left his car at the Post Office for a week. A son who has a four-wheel drive pickup, provided his transportation.
“The next storm was just as bad because it filled the yards. Trudging through the snow wears you out.
“I wouldn’t say this was the worst winter. It was a bad winter but there was a winter in the mid to late ‘80s when it was so bad they wouldn’t let us go out because it was so icy.”
That’s the only time Haley can recall that happening since he’s been delivering mail.
Haley well remembers a flood about summer before last when some low-lying streets were under water and he had to deliver other routes until the water “kind of ran out.”
“When you’re driving, you can survive the rain but walking in the rain: it’s burdensome,” he said.
Regardless of what weather conditions are, Haley says he “makes a point not to fret it. You deal with it. You take your hat and coat and hope you make it.”
Regarding outerwear, “you work so hard you don’t want to overkill in what you wear. Jacket and sweater; really bad days you have a parka.”
He did wear that several days this winter. “Bitter cold is bad, but we didn’t have the 0-degree weather very much.
“You’re working and constantly moving. You’re not ever really, really cold. You probably get colder driving around with those windows down.”
In icy conditions they’re issued “Sure-Steppers,” cleats that aid in traction. “They keep you from slipping and do a really good job.”
In the rain, which to Haley “personally, is the worst,” postmen have overshoes. In rain, “anything that works” is what they’re looking for.
Tornadic weather generally is in the late afternoon and “theoretically, everybody should have their mail by 5 p.m. so I can’t recall a time when it was a concern.”
In hot weather, he wears shorts and drinks lots of liquids. “It’s easier getting around,” Haley said, recalling the summer central Oklahoma had “so many days over 100.”
Haley’s been working all kinds of weather since joining the Postal Service in Shawnee in 1981.
He stresses that “18 or 19 other guys do the same thing I do,” referring to the other mail carriers who work out of the Shawnee Post Office.
Haley, 53 this year, was born in Shawnee, grew up in Tecumseh and graduated from Tecumseh High School in 1975. He attended Oklahoma Baptist University two years, and in 1978 or ’79, noticed a Postal Service ad announcing a postal examination to be offered on a certain date. “I decided to apply, took the test and waited for them to call.”
Haley was hired in January 1981. He was employed by the City of Shawnee before going into the Postal Service.
“It was bitter cold when I started out on the first day,” Haley remembers.
His present route is north of Independence from Center east, including Northridge north to MacArthur. He usually works from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and “generally” works overtime — a portion of an additional route.
He walks about 30 percent of his own route, four miles “up hill and down hill most all of the way,” and drives 70 percent of it. When overtime is involved, Haley walks four to eight miles daily.
He walked 14 miles per day everyday for 22 years — until he got a riding route.
Haley’s been on the present route seven years, covered Larkins Meadow for 10 years and the downtown area for almost nine years before that. He was a substitute carrier three years, delivering routes all over town.
Haley and his wife, Betty, married since 1977, have three sons: Jared, 26, Edmond; Cliff, who lives in Bartlesville with his wife, Bethany; and Eric, a student at Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
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Weather and dogs are the Postal Service’s main enemies, says Postman Ken Haley, Shawnee, who delivers mail to 532 city homes daily through blizzards, ice storms, downpours, windstorms, blazing heat and those welcome days when Oklahoma weather is sunny and perfect.
“I approach each day as an adventure,” Haley said.
He knows most of the dogs on his northeast Shawnee route “and fears none. More or less, they know me, too, I guess. You’re not supposed to show fear; that’s the bait,” Haley said.
While the dogs on his route allow him to do his job, not all Shawnee mail carriers have been as fortunate.
Weatherwise, “rain is the worst enemy,” said Haley, who’s in his 30th year as a mail carrier.
“I’d rather be snowed on than have to work in the rain. Rain is just burdensome.”
Haley, who walks from four to eight miles per day, delivered mail on Christmas Eve, 2009.
That was the day frigid winds started blowing heavy blinding snow horizontally about 3 p.m. “It started getting really bad about 3 to 3:30 p.m.,” Haley recalled.
He finished his route about 4 p.m. that day. “By 5 p.m., they called everybody in.”
The Saturday after Christmas, when Shawnee was still buried under 7 to 9 inches of snow “was worse,” he said.
“You just don’t fret over the weather because it doesn’t help. Just get out and fight it like a new adventure every day,” Haley said.
That was probably the worse blizzard Haley has worked through, he said. “This one had ice with it.”
He left his car at the Post Office for a week. A son who has a four-wheel drive pickup, provided his transportation.
“The next storm was just as bad because it filled the yards. Trudging through the snow wears you out.
“I wouldn’t say this was the worst winter. It was a bad winter but there was a winter in the mid to late ‘80s when it was so bad they wouldn’t let us go out because it was so icy.”
That’s the only time Haley can recall that happening since he’s been delivering mail.
Haley well remembers a flood about summer before last when some low-lying streets were under water and he had to deliver other routes until the water “kind of ran out.”
“When you’re driving, you can survive the rain but walking in the rain: it’s burdensome,” he said.
Regardless of what weather conditions are, Haley says he “makes a point not to fret it. You deal with it. You take your hat and coat and hope you make it.”
Regarding outerwear, “you work so hard you don’t want to overkill in what you wear. Jacket and sweater; really bad days you have a parka.”
He did wear that several days this winter. “Bitter cold is bad, but we didn’t have the 0-degree weather very much.
“You’re working and constantly moving. You’re not ever really, really cold. You probably get colder driving around with those windows down.”
In icy conditions they’re issued “Sure-Steppers,” cleats that aid in traction. “They keep you from slipping and do a really good job.”
In the rain, which to Haley “personally, is the worst,” postmen have overshoes. In rain, “anything that works” is what they’re looking for.
Tornadic weather generally is in the late afternoon and “theoretically, everybody should have their mail by 5 p.m. so I can’t recall a time when it was a concern.”
In hot weather, he wears shorts and drinks lots of liquids. “It’s easier getting around,” Haley said, recalling the summer central Oklahoma had “so many days over 100.”
Haley’s been working all kinds of weather since joining the Postal Service in Shawnee in 1981.
He stresses that “18 or 19 other guys do the same thing I do,” referring to the other mail carriers who work out of the Shawnee Post Office.
Haley, 53 this year, was born in Shawnee, grew up in Tecumseh and graduated from Tecumseh High School in 1975. He attended Oklahoma Baptist University two years, and in 1978 or ’79, noticed a Postal Service ad announcing a postal examination to be offered on a certain date. “I decided to apply, took the test and waited for them to call.”
Haley was hired in January 1981. He was employed by the City of Shawnee before going into the Postal Service.
“It was bitter cold when I started out on the first day,” Haley remembers.
His present route is north of Independence from Center east, including Northridge north to MacArthur. He usually works from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and “generally” works overtime — a portion of an additional route.
He walks about 30 percent of his own route, four miles “up hill and down hill most all of the way,” and drives 70 percent of it. When overtime is involved, Haley walks four to eight miles daily.
He walked 14 miles per day everyday for 22 years — until he got a riding route.
Haley’s been on the present route seven years, covered Larkins Meadow for 10 years and the downtown area for almost nine years before that. He was a substitute carrier three years, delivering routes all over town.
Haley and his wife, Betty, married since 1977, have three sons: Jared, 26, Edmond; Cliff, who lives in Bartlesville with his wife, Bethany; and Eric, a student at Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
