Minneapolis Star columnist Barbara Flanagan, herself a pioneer, profiles Helen Poppoff, one of the first women to deliver mail in the Twin Cities since World War II.

Mail Lady Finds Males’ Job Difficult

By BARBARA FLANAGAN
Minneapolis Star Staff Writer

Bad dogs, beware because here comes Helen Poppoff – the first of two women letter carriers in the Minneapolis postal area.

Mrs. Poppoff has been on the job two weeks as a relief carrier working out of the Richfield postal station.

Already she has discovered the hazards – dogs, bees, a loose brick on somebody’s front walk and sore feet.

“It’s pretty hard to fill a man’s shoes,” Mrs Poppoff, a trim, 118-pound, 5-feet-5-inch mother, said. She was walking briskly along in order to cover her four-square-mile route by the 3:30 p.m. quitting time.

“I’m slow and clumsy and the names are still strange to me,” she said, while sorting the mail at the station before starting out.

Mrs. Poppoff has been trained by the male letter carriers. They even checked her out in the three-wheeled “West Coaster,” the new vehicle that serves as a moving storage box.

“I drove around the parking lot a few times to get the feel of it,” she said. On the route, she’ll drive to a corner, walk around four blocks, get back in the cart and drive to another corner.

“I walk fast because I have to,” she said. “And I bought some comfortable shoes right away, but even then my feet hurt for the first two weeks.”

Most people have accepted her without comment. The kids shout, “Hi, Mail Lady,” when she strides by. And one woman on a very hot day offered her a glass of iced tea. “It was certainly welcome,” Mrs. Poppoff said.

Mrs. Poppoff, a post office clerk since 1960, requested the job change so she could work day hours. She has a 12-year-old son at home.

Mrs. Virginia Cheney is working a route in Robbinsdale. The post office policy has been to give women inside jobs, but they do have a choice.

It’s the first time since the war year of 1945 that a woman has carried the mail in Minneapolis. Since 1960, 240 women have become letter carriers in the United Sates. There are 135 female career employes alone in the Minneapolis post office, but most of them are distribution clerks.

Helen Poppoff worked her Richfield route. (Minneapolis Star photo by Jack Gillis)

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 19th, 2006 at 2:19 pm and is filed under Main, People, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.