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Neither rain, nor sleet, nor virus stops El Paso letter carriers from delivering mail

EL PASO, Texas -- Letter carriers for the United States Postal Service have continued their service nationwide through rain, sleet and snow, since its inception. And now, postal workers can throw deadly pandemics in their bags.

"We don't know who has the disease," carrier Frank Colon said. "So we are
protecting ourselves as much as possible. It is in the back of your mind as much as possible."

Colon wakes up every morning at 4:30. He gets to the Coronado Mail Station in west El Paso, makes sure his truck is operational, grabs his mail, loads up the truck and then hits the road.

"It's a lot more than putting a letter in a box," Colon said. "We have to
come (and) get a lot of parcels, which is a lot of heavy lifting."

When asked about Covid-19, Colon responded saying, "I think about this
pandemic a lot. We use hand sanitizer a lot and we wash our (hands) a lot. We don't know who has this disease."

Undoubtedly thinking of the USPS history and reputation of reliable delivery, he continue: "You have a job to do, so you do your job but it can be stressful thinking about who has it and who doesn't."

It's a taxing job, which has added stress from Covid-19, however he is
fueled by a few things as he hits the road for his 718 customers on his
route.

"My family keeps me going, my faith and the fact that I am very professional guy in doing my job and I know that people rely on me," Colon
said with pride.

When ABC-7 tailed his truck, we did notice a lack of interaction even with more than 700 customers. It appeared as though it's always been that way for Colon – at least before the pandemic.

"This has always been a thankless job for me,” he said almost stoic. “We don't get 'thank yous' from the customers a lot. Lately, we have been hearing a lot of that and we appreciate it."

Colon says that pandemic or not, the service USPS provides is always going to be here.

"’Thank you’ goes a long way for us carriers,” he said. “That's what I learned during this time. People are thanking us a lot more and to hear it more often would be great."

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