Million mile postal carriers awarded

Paul Eudy, right, receives his Million Mile Club plaque and letter of recognition from U.S. Postal Service District Manager David C. Fields Sr. Photo by Mark Wineka, Salisbury Post

Salisbury mail carrier Janet Shuffler's plaque, showing her as a member of the National Safety Council's Million Mile Club for safe driving. Photo by Mark Wineka, Salisbury Post

Salisbury mail carrier Janet Shuffler, center, receives her Million Mile Club award for safe driving from U.S. Post Office District Manager David C. Fields Sr. Photo by Mark Wineka, Salisbury Post

Salisbury Postmaster Dean Fields presents Carlene Davis with the 2009 Safe Driver of the Year Award from the National Safety Council. Photo by Mark Wineka, Salisbury Post

By Mark Wineka

mwineka@salisburypost.com

As Salisbury postal carriers gathered to watch fellow mailman Paul Eudy receive his Million Mile Club award for safe driving, one employee shouted out that Eudy deserved an even bigger award because of the route he's on.

"He deserves two of them," agreed Janet Shuffler, the other recipient Tuesday morning of a Million Mile Club plaque from the National Safety Council.

Eudy, 57, delivers mail mostly on U.S. 70, which has been one big construction zone over the past five years or more.

The Million Mile award doesn't mean Eudy hasn't been in any accidents. His mail car has been rear-ended on U.S. 70 four times and has had a run-in with a motor grader, for example.

But those accidents weren't Eudy's fault, and he and Shuffler were recognized for achieving their million miles of driving without having a preventable accident.

A million miles is equal, the U.S. Postal Service says, to 42 trips around the earth.

Asked what it means to receive an award for a million miles of safe driving, Eudy was blunt.

"It means I haven't run over anyone," including the "idiots with cell phones."

Eudy rides a motorcycle when he's not delivering mail in his Scion xB, so that contributes a lot to his defensive driving skills.

Shuffler, 56, said the grace of God and being careful has kept her safe over her 30 years of delivering mail in Rowan County.

"And I drive very slow," she added.

Both Eudy and Shuffler said mail carriers should never get in a hurry.

Shuffler's current route covers a section of eastern Rowan County and extends over to Old Union Church Road and down by the river. She used to deliver mail along Stokes Ferry Road, which was much more dangerous, she said.

Eudy and Shuffler have daily routes between 55 and 57 miles. Eudy, who has worked out of the Salisbury office for 33 years, delivers to about 580 boxes; Shuffler, 530.

Shuffler acknowledges her Oldsmobile station wagon isn't great on mileage but its roomy and has a working air-conditioner, important on weeks such as this one.

Mid-Carolinas District Manager David C. Fields Sr. presented the Million Mile Club awards to Eudy and Shuffler. The U.S. Postal Service District takes in 400-plus offices, roughly from Wilmington to Asheville, and Fields said more than 5,000 carriers are on the roads each day.

Shuffler and Eudy are the ninth and 10th mail carriers in the expansive district to receive the Million Mile Club award in 2010.

They are now eligible to compete for Joseph M. Kaplan National Safe Driver of the Year Award, to be presented by the National Safety Council later this year.

Salisbury Postmaster Dean Fields, no relation to the district manager, presented Salisbury mail carrier Carlene Davis with the 2009 Safe Driver of the Year Award for the office. Davis, a 34-year veteran, also is a member of the Million Mile Club.

"It's a big deal, a great honor," Fields said of the Driver of the Year recognition.

The Salisbury Post Office also has been recognized by OSHA as one of the agency's three safety "stars" in the district for its recertification through the Voluntary Protection Program. A "star'' rating is the highest OSHA gives.