'Going Postal' is a Myth
September 1, 2000 10:51 am EST


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. mail carriers and handlers are no more 
prone to violence and "going postal" than other workers, a comprehensive report
prepared for the U.S. Postmaster found.

The 249-page, two-year study by an independent U.S. Postal Service
commission found postal workers were no more likely to physically 
assault, sexually harass or verbally abuse their co-workers than other employees 
in the U.S. workforce.

The phrase "going postal" became shorthand for employee violence 
several years ago after a spate of homicides by U.S. postal workers.

But that notion turned out to be a myth, said Joseph Califano, chairman 
of the U.S. Postal Service Commission on a Safe and Secure Workplace, and
president of the National Center on Addition and Substance Abuse at 
Columbia University.

"'Going postal' is a myth, a bad rap causing unnecessary apprehension 
and fear among 900,000 postal workers," Califano said in a statement 
Thursday accompanying the report.

"This report should shatter the myth that postal workers are more 
violent than other workers and discourage the pejorative use of that expression."

The report found that postal workers were only a third as likely as 
others in the national workforce to be victims of homicide at work in the 
period from 1992 through 1998.