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I had never seen a USPS vehicle until I was a legal adult and moved to college. I grew up in a very rural part of New England, America - on a dirt road. Winter

I had never seen a USPS vehicle until I was a legal adult and moved to college. I grew up in a very rural part of New England, America - on a dirt road. Winter had plenty of snow and plowing wasn't a guarantee at all. Considering the USPS Creed "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" -- Snow is the first one! Our "mail lady"** drove a Jeep Wrangler with the steering on the right instead of the left, and the passenger seat removed to make room for mail. **She was known as "the mail lady" because our town only had 1 mail carrier. I realize that term wouldn't fly today, but this was rural America 30 years ago and I wanted to give context. Same mail carrier for 20+ years. Worked 6 days a week. Her name was Linda - Bless her for her hard work.

thepasswordis 6y ago
Okay I'm genuinely curious why "mail lady" wouldn't fly today. ...why not?
- njharman 6y ago
  Because of cancel culture. Out of millions of voices it only takes is 1 or 2 loud ones to be offended (really, mistakingly, or maliciously) for the bandwagon of ostracism to get rollin.
  - briandear 6y ago
    Not sure why this is downvoted. It’s a fact.
    - njharman 6y ago
      Downvoted because of the fact. That is "the bandwagon of ostracism" is a rollin!
- patrickyeon 6y ago
  Gendered terms are becoming less popular to describe people in situations where their gender doesn't matter. So we might say "mail person" or "mail carrier", the same as we say "firefighter" instead of "fireman". It's not "cancel culture" as the sibling comment suggests; it's rarely people being outraged about imagined attacks. It's just language evolving as society evolves. As an added bonus, sticking with non-gendered terms means you don't accidentally insult someone by assuming something based on their body type or haircut, and it leaves space for non-binary or non-conforming people to not be accidentally made to feel unwelcome.
  - asquabventured 6y ago
    I'd like to unsubscribe from this alternative reality of the world please.
    - anoncake 6y ago
      Why do you have a problem with this "alternative" reality?
      - creato 6y ago
        It's annoying to have to constantly wonder if I'm saying something offensive when I absolutely do not intend that. In this case, I wouldn't have thought anything was wrong with "mail lady" and might have said the same thing if my mail carrier were a woman (which she is). Now I read this thread and realize that some people would think it is a problem. This cultural wave of making seemingly harmless language into problems is one more barrier to speaking anything at all unless I'm talking to people I know well.
        tolbish 6y ago
        It's not that the term "mail lady" offends anyone. It doesn't. The point is that singling out her gender is needless, and kinda seems a bit strange if gender was never really pertinent to the story in the first place. "Cancel culture" would be going through high school recommended reading lists and removing books that focused "wrongly" on gender or something.
- drewzero1 6y ago
  Probably just because of the gendered noun? "Mailman" and "mail lady" having been replaced in general use by the non-gendered "mail carrier" or "postal worker."
  - lordloki 6y ago
    I just call them all Clavins.
- briandear 6y ago
  Because people are so ultra-woke that the term would trigger people. Remember, we are in a time when the term “master branch” is considered offensive.
incanus77 6y ago
Same for me — rural town 30 years ago. A classmate's mom was the mail carrier for the whole town and used a station wagon similarly fitted (RHD, sign on the back).
jccalhoun 6y ago
I grew up in a rural area too and the mail carrier drove their own vehicles. In fact, when I was a kid my parents bought a stick shift from someone and the person said they were selling it because they got a job as a mail carrier and needed an automatic.
Mountain_Skies 6y ago
For what it's worth, that's never been USPS's motto or policy. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/87770/neither-snow-nor-rain-isnt-usps-motto https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/87770/neither-snow-nor-r...
- tanjtanjtanj 6y ago
  I have official USPS "merch" adorned with that motto and the USPS mail trucks in a rural Colorado town I often visit have a portion of it written on the sides. It may not be their official policy or motto (likely for legal reasons) but it is officially associated with the service in some capacity.
RegBarclay 6y ago
This is still how it is in rural areas. We have a mail lady. I've seen multiple vehicles -- some of them Jeeps. We don't get the LLVs out our way. On the USPS Creed, I was a paperboy when I was a teen and always chuckled at that. I never got Sundays off. I don't think I ever had a snow day, but there were days the US mail didn't run due to weather.

thepasswordis 6y ago

Okay I'm genuinely curious why "mail lady" wouldn't fly today. ...why not?

njharman 6y ago
Because of cancel culture. Out of millions of voices it only takes is 1 or 2 loud ones to be offended (really, mistakingly, or maliciously) for the bandwagon of ostracism to get rollin.
- briandear 6y ago
  Not sure why this is downvoted. It’s a fact.
  - njharman 6y ago
    Downvoted because of the fact. That is "the bandwagon of ostracism" is a rollin!
patrickyeon 6y ago
Gendered terms are becoming less popular to describe people in situations where their gender doesn't matter. So we might say "mail person" or "mail carrier", the same as we say "firefighter" instead of "fireman". It's not "cancel culture" as the sibling comment suggests; it's rarely people being outraged about imagined attacks. It's just language evolving as society evolves. As an added bonus, sticking with non-gendered terms means you don't accidentally insult someone by assuming something based on their body type or haircut, and it leaves space for non-binary or non-conforming people to not be accidentally made to feel unwelcome.
- asquabventured 6y ago
  I'd like to unsubscribe from this alternative reality of the world please.
  - anoncake 6y ago
    Why do you have a problem with this "alternative" reality?
    - creato 6y ago
      It's annoying to have to constantly wonder if I'm saying something offensive when I absolutely do not intend that. In this case, I wouldn't have thought anything was wrong with "mail lady" and might have said the same thing if my mail carrier were a woman (which she is). Now I read this thread and realize that some people would think it is a problem. This cultural wave of making seemingly harmless language into problems is one more barrier to speaking anything at all unless I'm talking to people I know well.
      - tolbish 6y ago
        It's not that the term "mail lady" offends anyone. It doesn't. The point is that singling out her gender is needless, and kinda seems a bit strange if gender was never really pertinent to the story in the first place. "Cancel culture" would be going through high school recommended reading lists and removing books that focused "wrongly" on gender or something.
drewzero1 6y ago
Probably just because of the gendered noun? "Mailman" and "mail lady" having been replaced in general use by the non-gendered "mail carrier" or "postal worker."
- lordloki 6y ago
  I just call them all Clavins.
briandear 6y ago
Because people are so ultra-woke that the term would trigger people. Remember, we are in a time when the term “master branch” is considered offensive.

incanus77 6y ago

Same for me — rural town 30 years ago. A classmate's mom was the mail carrier for the whole town and used a station wagon similarly fitted (RHD, sign on the back).

jccalhoun 6y ago

I grew up in a rural area too and the mail carrier drove their own vehicles. In fact, when I was a kid my parents bought a stick shift from someone and the person said they were selling it because they got a job as a mail carrier and needed an automatic.

Mountain_Skies 6y ago

For what it's worth, that's never been USPS's motto or policy. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/87770/neither-snow-nor-rain-isnt-usps-motto https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/87770/neither-snow-nor-r...

tanjtanjtanj 6y ago
I have official USPS "merch" adorned with that motto and the USPS mail trucks in a rural Colorado town I often visit have a portion of it written on the sides. It may not be their official policy or motto (likely for legal reasons) but it is officially associated with the service in some capacity.

RegBarclay 6y ago

This is still how it is in rural areas. We have a mail lady. I've seen multiple vehicles -- some of them Jeeps. We don't get the LLVs out our way. On the USPS Creed, I was a paperboy when I was a teen and always chuckled at that. I never got Sundays off. I don't think I ever had a snow day, but there were days the US mail didn't run due to weather.