Community of retired postal workers shuns all delivery services but USPS in effort to help it

Nalcrest, Fla., is where many former U.S. Postal Service mail carriers go to retire. The small community about 70 miles east of Tampa is the only one in the U.S. that caters specifically to retired postal workers. The 700 residents are now trying to help the struggling USPS by exclusively using it for all mailing and shipping needs, from paying bills to sending packages to grandchildren. "We say ... it's got to come through the U.S. mail or we don't want it here," 67-year-old Matty Rose told Jennifer Levitz of The Wall Street Journal.

The attachment to mail runs deep in Nalcrest, which residents joke stands for "National Association of Letter Carriers at Rest," Levitz reports. It has its own zip code and post office, a mailman statue in the village square and a stamp club. It's also a "no-dog" community: "Carriers who spent years pounding the pavement relax under palm trees in a kind of mail carrier bliss: no ice to tumble on, no snow to slosh through, and best of all, no furry foes," Levitz writes.

"A perceived assault on their beloved profession has Nalcrest in a tizzy," Levitz reports. They fear their benefits might be cut because the USPS proposed pulling out of federal health plans to run its own, less costly plan. They've sent a 600-signature petition to Washington opposing the proposed end of Saturday mail delivery, and raised $350 to send to the Postal Workers Union. Many residents told Levitz they know the agency will have to make changes, and say a major change should be not being required to pay retiree benefits decades ahead. They picketed outside the office of U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, who supports pre-funding retirement benefits. (Read more)