The U.S. Postal Service has quietly rolled out a new walking directive that gets surprisingly specific about how carriers should move their feet. Behind the jokes about teaching adults how to walk is a serious push to cut down on slips, trips, and falls that have long dogged letter carriers on every kind of route. The guidance fits into a broader safety playbook that treats the sidewalk as a worksite, not an afterthought.
Postal leaders are betting that changing the way carriers walk can reduce injuries that ripple through staffing, delivery times, and workers’ compensation costs. The advice might sound basic at first glance, but it is built on years of internal safety messaging and a growing list of reminders to both employees and customers that every cracked step and icy driveway has consequences.
What the new walking directive actually tells carriers
The latest directive, framed around the phrase “Watch your step while on the job,” spells out how carriers should move through their routes, from how fast they walk to where they put their attention. Internal guidance urges employees to stay focused on the surface in front of them, keep their eyes off phones or mail bundles while in motion, and adjust their pace when conditions change. It leans on the idea that walking is part of the job, so walking habits are fair game for safety rules, not just common sense. One summary of the memo highlights how USPS tells postal workers how to WALK, with the USPS directive urging carriers to remain “vigilant” about every step.
That focus on vigilance is not new, but the tone is more direct than some earlier campaigns. In a recent employee communication, safety trainers share practical tips to prevent slips, trips, and falls, tying them directly to on-the-job injuries that can sideline a carrier for weeks. The message is blunt: walking is work, and work has rules. In the same spirit, a watch your step reminder to employees explains that carriers should constantly scan for hazards, maintain three points of contact when getting in and out of vehicles, and slow down around curbs, ramps, and uneven sidewalks instead of trying to power through.
From “Slip, Trip, and Fall Prevention” to winter walking, USPS has been building to this
The new directive lands on top of a stack of existing safety guidance that has been circulating inside USPS for years. A detailed bulletin on Slip, Trip, and spells out how hazards such as uneven surfaces or distracted walking can turn a routine route into a medical claim. That bulletin walks through classic problem spots like cracked sidewalks, cluttered entryways, and slick loading docks, and it treats each one as a controllable risk if carriers slow down and keep their eyes ahead. The language is clinical, but the takeaway is simple: if the ground looks questionable, treat it like a hazard, not a shortcut.
Seasonal trouble gets its own emphasis in another section of the same material, which warns carriers to Stay away from wet leaves, slippery surfaces, or icy areas whenever possible. When carriers cannot avoid those spots, the guidance suggests shortening steps and shuffling feet to keep better balance. It even gets down to details like scraping and wiping shoes thoroughly on doormats to remove moisture before walking into buildings. A related passage advises carriers to watch out around entryways and loading, where melted snow and tracked-in water can quietly turn smooth floors into ice rinks. Taken together, these older bulletins read like the foundation for the new walking directive, which essentially turns that checklist into a daily mindset.
Safety is now a shared job for carriers, customers, and even dogs
The Postal Service has been just as vocal with the public, asking customers to treat their property like part of the route. In California, a release titled Postal Service asks urges homeowners to “Inspect the” path their carrier takes and clear obstacles, repair broken steps, and deal with ice and snow. In Maryland, another notice bluntly reminds residents to keep paths cleared for carrier and public safety, warning that carriers are not allowed to attempt door delivery if they cannot safely reach the mailbox. Those messages make the new walking rules feel less like micromanagement and more like one piece of a bigger safety contract between USPS and the communities it serves.
Inside the organization, seasonal campaigns keep reinforcing the same habits. A winter-focused reminder on Tips for working safely outside tells carriers to wear grippers or ice cleats, take short steps, and only finger mail when it is safe to do so, which lines up neatly with the new instruction to slow down and watch every step. Another cold-weather message titled walk carefully pushes proper footwear with good traction, staying away from icy steps, and hanging on to railings. On top of that, USPS has called on communities in Pennsylvania to trim trees and remove debris so carriers are not dodging branches or falling ice, as laid out in a local alert where the Postal Service Asks to Help Keep Letter Carriers Safe in PENNSYLVANIA and warns about the risk of falling debris.
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