Any Weather is Shorts Weather for These Local Mailmen

Ron Wilshire

Ron Wilshire

Published February 22, 2013 6:00 am
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 title=CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow will stop the U.S. Postal Service from delivering the mail.  Short pants won’t even stop two Clarion mailmen from their appointed rounds.

An innocent bet that Mike Campbell and Butch Smith made to wear short pants in the winter when they delivered the mail has now stretched into year six.

The two mailmen are a pretty common sight in Clarion on even the coldest days of winter, but it all started from a passing comment, and the bet continues each year.

“I wear shorts more often than other people, and on a late fall day at the post office, I told Butch that it looked like I would be wearing shorts longer than him,” says Mike.

“That sounds like a bet to me,” adds Smith.

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Butch Smith

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Mike Campbell

Campbell was always looking for bets, and they decided to make it $5.00.  The pot is still growing and is at $30.00 with no end in sight.  “I don’t know what will happen when one of us retires,” says Butch.  “I don’t think you can punish anyone for retiring, but no one wants to quit.”

The first winter was kind of nasty for the letter carriers. and the weather doesn’t really affect them anymore. 

Mike says he has a cold now, but it’s not related to the cold weather, and Butch says he never gets sick.

Six years into the running bet, they still get a lot of people asking them if they are crazy and if they can take a photo of them.

“You get college kids asking if you’re crazy,” says Butch.  “You’re supposed to be setting an example, and I sometimes worry about that.”

Mike reports that once a visiting couple from France stopped him on his rounds for a photo and then posted it on the Internet.  Butch has had the same requests, one from a visiting couple from Hawaii.

While delivering the mail in shorts is second nature to them six years later, the worst part of the weather is when it is wet sloppy snow, and it runs up their legs.  Butch admits that his legs are numb when he first starts out in the morning, and Mike notices it more after lunch when his metabolism is slower.

It may not bother them to wear their shorts in the winter, but their wives may have a different viewpoint.

“Our wives have people sometimes ask something like ‘did you see that crazy mailman out there,’” says Butch.  “They have to tell them that they know the crazy mailman.  They are married to one of us.”

“Postmaster Tim Sager allows us to wear what is basically the summer uniform,” says Mike. “He’s good to work for, and I think he kind of gets a kick out of it.”

People have even offered to pay for pants for Campbell and Smith, and some have tried giving them long underwear.

Although Mike likes to wear shorts when possible, there are some occasions he has to get out the long pants.  He officiates at PIAA sporting events and isn’t allowed to wear shortss and he will put on the long pants so as not to embarrass his wife when they go out.

Odds are that they will continue to wear shorts for many more yearss and Butch says he’ll be wearing shorts after he retires, but the weather will be a lot warmer.

“When people ask me about it, I tell them that I don’t recommend it for everyone, but it’s fine for me,” says Mike.

One of their routes takes them near a pre-schools and on a cold winter day when the children were out for a walk, the teacher was overheard telling her students that yes, the mailman has shorts on, but you have to buckle up.

 

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