USPS Worker Cooks A Steak Inside His Truck To Showcase How Dangerously Hot His Work Conditions Are

The summers in Arizona are hard to bear. In fact, it gets so hot there that even things that aren't supposed to melt are melting like ice cream. In July, the city of Phoenix reached the highest temperatures of the year and it looks like the heatwave is not going away soon. While people are trying their best to fend against the excessive heat, some employers forget their responsibility of taking care of employees and instead are busy collecting their well-earned jerk-boss of the year titles. This time the offender is US Postal Service.

More info: azleg.gov

As it turns out, the USPS postmen must deliver mail in trucks with no climate control in a heat that cooks a raw steak to medium doneness in just a couple of hours.

Recently, Arizona lawmaker Rep. Shawnna Bolick brought to everyone's attention how horrendous the work environment is for USPS drivers. She wrote a letter to the American Postal Workers Union leadership and Postal Service executives in which she states: "It has come to my attention that quite a few USPS employees over the past few weeks in the Phoenix area have been sent to the emergency room to deal with heatstroke and heat exhaustion".

The lawmaker said that she was shocked to find out that that the employees have no air conditioning in their trucks as the temperature soars up to 128 degrees (53 °C) inside of them.

As it appears, US Postal Service is familiar with the consequences brought by these hazardous working conditions. Earlier this year, they received a $150,000 fine for the heat-related death of a 63-year-old Los Angeles area mail carrier.

It seems that it may be hard for some USPS executives to imagine what it's like to work under these conditions, so one of the employees found a way to help them out.

After measuring the temperature in his truck over the course of a couple of weeks, he found out that temperatures have averaged about 128 degrees Fahrenheit inside of the vehicle. It prompted him to conduct an experiment to see if it's hot enough to cook a steak on his car's dashboard.

After placing the raw steak on his dashboard and leaving it there from 10 am to 12:30 pm, the steak had an internal temperature of medium-rare steak (142 degrees).

Bolick demanded to know what USPS is doing to improve employees' working conditions and take the necessary steps to remedy the situation.