Study Calls 'Go Postal' Stereotype Mere Myth
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bob Dart, Cox Washington Bureau
September 01, 2000
Washington --- Postal Service employees are no more likely to ''go postal'' than are other American workers, according to a national workplace study released Thursday.
''Going postal is a myth, a bad rap,'' said Joseph Califano, chairman of the U.S. Postal Service's Commission on a Safe and Secure Workplace.
''Postal workers are no more likely to physically assault, sexually harass or verbally abuse their co-workers than (are) employees in the national work force,'' said Califano. ''Postal employees are only a third as likely as workers in the national work force to be victims of homicide at work.''
Califano said these findings are the result of ''the most comprehensive survey ever'' of job site violence. The two-year, $4 million, independent study was commissioned by the Postal Service after several highly publicized shootings by disturbed postal workers.
The incidents --- such as a 1986 massacre in the Edmond, Okla., post office when letter carrier Patrick Henry Sherrill killed 14 co-workers before shooting himself --- made ''going postal'' a slang term for getting irrationally angry or violent.
''If 'going postal' is meant to suggest that postal employees are more violent than the national workforce, it is simply untrue,'' the report concluded.
However, if the study debunked the notion of postal workers as teetering on the brink of insane violence, it lent some credence to the TV stereotypes of malcontent letter carriers Newman on ''Seinfeld'' and Cliff on ''Cheers.'' Postal workers have more negative attitudes about work than those in the overall job force, the report found.
Postal employees were twice as likely as other workers to say they would change jobs for the same pay and benefits. They were more likely to file grievances and less confident in management's fairness and honesty.
And many postal workers seem to have bought into the ''going postal'' perception. Postal workers are almost six times likelier than those in the national work force to believe that they are at risk from workplace violence from co-workers.
In fact, a post office ''is one of the safest places in America'' to work or visit, said Califano, who was secretary of health, education and welfare under President Carter.
The researchers found that the homicide rates at postal facilities were considerably lower than in other workplaces. In major industries, the highest rate of 2.1 homicides per 100,000 workers was in retail trade --- which includes convenience stores, frequent targets of armed robbers.
The next highest rate of l.66 was in public administration, which includes police officers. The homicide rate for postal workers was .26 per 100,000.
The most dangerous occupation was taxi drivers and chauffeurs, with a homicide rate of 31.54 per 100,000 workers.
The Postal Service is the nation's second-largest civilian employer, behind only Wal-Mart, said Califano, who is president of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.
> ON THE WEB: More about the Postal Service: www.usps.com
Copyright 2000 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This news story is not produced by the American Psychological Association and does not necessarily represent the opinions of the association.