Letter carriers rally in Ocala
The gathering was held to bring attention to a need for increased protections and outdated lock technology.
Letter carriers from Ocala and across the state gathered at the Ocala downtown square on Sunday, June 9, to raise awareness about a need for protection and show support for legislation to increase protection and upgrade outdated lock technology known as “arrow keys.”
Letter carriers Pete Degelleke and Rene Aragon, from the Tampa area, drove to Ocala to join the rally and Cassie Cato-Bonilla travelled from Pensacola to show her support.
“This is an important issue. We deliver mail every day and we’ve become targets for stealing packages and mail (to use in) identity theft,” Degelleke said.
Rally participants explained that letter carriers are vulnerable to attacks by thieves seeking to steal packages that might contain prescription medicines and mail that could be used in identity theft.
The rally saw about 20 members of the National Rural Letter Carriers Association and National Letter Carriers unions come together for a roadside demonstration carrying signs with wording such as “enough is enough.” Some participants wore red shirts marked with the words “Protect our letter carriers.”
Three members of the Ocala Police Department and two Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputies were at the gathering to show support.
Dot Kelly, a rural letter carrier in Ocala, member of the Florida RLCA and one of the rally organizers, said there have been about 2,000 incidents involving harassment or attacks on letter carriers nationwide since 2020. She said there have been at least two cases of crimes against local carriers in the last few years and that one was a case of armed robbery as reported by area media.
Kelly said proposed legislation in H.R. 7629/S. 4356, known as the “Protect Our Letter Carriers’ Act,” seeks to update “arrow keys,” or dated style skeleton keys, with electronic fobs that can be electronically cancelled to discourage their theft. Kelly said the arrow keys can be used by U.S. Mail carriers to open “blue mailboxes” and the individual mailboxes in groups such as at apartment complexes.
The proposed legislation also calls for increased investigation and prosecution and stiffer sentencing guidelines in cases of crimes against postal employees.
According to an NRLCA fact sheet distributed at the gathering, the U.S. Postal Service delivers “essential products such as prescription medications, packages, checks, ballots and other important mail to roughly 153 million residences six days a week.”
“(We need to) really get active. We’re not picketing, we’re asking for support,” Kelly told the group during her talk at the gazebo.
Diane Collins, an NRLCA speaker at the rally, said after her address that USPS letter carriers “were there” for the public throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rural letter carrier Provine Cosby, Jr. also drove from Tampa to Ocala for the gathering.
“It’s a big issue,” he said.
Terry Baskin was a rural letter carrier in the Summerfield area for more than 29 years. She said delivering can be a “dangerous job” physically and mentally.
Husband and wife Jennifer and Allen Brush of Marion County came to the rally to voice their concerns. Jennifer is an active rural letter carrier and Allen is retired from years of service.
Laura Klingelsmith, who has been a rural and city letter carrier and clerk with the USPS, stood along Silver Springs Boulevard in the hot sun holding a sign supporting the need to protect letter carriers. Many passing cars honked in support for the sign holders. Retired local letter carrier Tim Legge also showed up for the gathering.
Local letter carrier Fred Hassen, who retired in 2015 after 24 years of service, expressed concern about the outdated arrow keys and called them a “problem” for reasons including they can open the “neighborhood delivery collection boxes” seen in groups at residential areas like apartment complexes.
Several of the letter carriers discussed the issue that a stolen arrow key could be used to open up perhaps 300 individual private mailboxes at local apartment complexes and steal private information and checks and more.
Jimmy Ruotolo, a city carrier here for 28 years, indicated that an attack on one letter carrier is a concern for all letter carriers.