Frank’s sister, Lynn Calkins, had warned her to be safe as she prepared for her first day back. “I said, ‘You’re not used to it. Just be careful,’” Calkins recalled.
Frank struggled to keep pace.
Another carrier was sent to meet Frank and help out.
When her colleague reached her, Frank was unconscious in the driver’s seat. Paramedics recorded her death at 3:35 p.m.
The challenges will only grow as global warming breaks more heat records.
And many workers are doing strenuous jobs without the union protections that postal employees have.
“It’s a little Easy-Bake Oven on wheels,” said Richard Salinas, who delivered mail in Texas for 35 years before retiring.
Calkins believes the USPS should not have sent Frank outside on the day she died. “They paid the OSHA fines and, bam, it went back to the way it was.”