As we near six weeks of quarantine and closed businesses due to the coronavirus pandemic, many have been shuttered inside their homes counting on delivery services for their essential needs as well as their entertainment needs. While many of these services have seen an increase in need for their offerings, the grandfather of them all, The United States Postal Service, has worked tirelessly to maintain business as usual, with the proper safety adjustments applied of course.
If you work, live or play on Broad Street, you will probably recognize the face of USPS Mail Man, Jeffrey Bradshaw. His route carries him to all the downtown haunts and other than his trusty nitrile gloves, you wouldn’t notice anything different from his usual appearance.
“We are certainly taking all the necessary precautions,” says Bradshaw. “We have washing stations set up when we enter the mail facility, they are providing us with gloves, masks and hand sanitizer for our routes. Our clerks at the mail facility are now protected by plexiglass shields. We are having regular safety meetings as well to discuss new policies that keep both our people and those that we are delivering to safe.”
From invoice based businesses that depend on mail delivery for payments to patients that receive their medications via the postal service, the mail running on time and efficiently is imperative to their livelihood.
“There has actually been very little disruption to delivery services to this point,” says Bradshaw. “I think there have been maybe 3 or 4 businesses I haven’t been able to deliver to, but everyone else has made arrangements to either pick up their mail or have it delivered to their home if they can’t be at the business to receive it. For the most part it really has been business as usual.”
That one piece of normalcy during these uncertain times is certainly appreciated by those on Mr. Bradshaw’s route.
“People are concerned, but they are glad to see me when I drop off their mail. I’ve received a few gift cards and a few homemade gifts from some of the kids on my route. It means a lot, but really I’m just doing what I’ve always been doing and I’m happy to do it,” Bradshaw smiles.
