USPS Fires Slow Walker

THE DAILY FED

USPS Fires Slow Walker

Former letter carrier Martha Cherry is having trouble taking her termination in stride.

After 18 years of service, U.S. Postal Service officials in White Plains, N.Y. dismissed Cherry because they said she walked too slowly.

"I'm devastated," Cherry, 49, told Gannett Suburban Newspapers of White Plains. "I've walked that route for 16 years. I know the people, their kids, even their dogs. I tried to provide good service for them, and now I'm out of a job."

Postal Service officials followed Cherry on her route to determine that she moved at a rate of 66 paces per minute with a stride of less than a foot. "At each step, the heel of your leading foot did not pass the toe of the trailing foot by more than one inch," Cherry's termination notice said. "As a result, you required 13 minutes longer than your demonstrated ability to deliver mail to this section on your route."

The termination letter also noted that since November 1995, Cherry had been suspended twice and given a letter of warning due to unsatisfactory performance.

"She was put on notice and given several oppportunities to improve," Postal Service spokesman Roy Betts said.

Still, Cherry contends that she can't help her small stride. "I'm a woman. I'm 5-foot-5," she told the Associated Press.

Robert Morton, a spokesman for the National Association of Letter Carriers, said the Postal Service was guilty of micromanagement in Cherry's case. "Martha probably has gotten slower over the years, just like we all do," said Morton.