Atlanta's Mail Carriers Hit By Gas Shortage

ATLANTA, Ga. -- Before he can even begin his route, Stanley Whitney feels the bite of the gas shortage nawing at his nerves. He looks at his gas gauge near empty.

"This job is dependent on gas," said Whitney.

"For the most part our delivery vehicles gas up at commercial stations just as everyone else does," said Michael Miles, spokeman for U.S. Postal Service's Atlanta district.

Whitney is one of 4,000 postal carriers within the Atlanta district that covers a vast area from the Tennessee line to north of Macon. Their routes, their stops add up to about 12,000 gallons of gas a day.

"Our concern is that of the general public in that we are going to find ourselves in positions where our letter carriers, our delivery vehicles simply can't find gas," said Miles.

For Whitney, instead of mail stops, it's gas stops. Many stations near Whitney's Dekalb post office are still out of gas. The owners courtesy call when they're in stock. But there are no favorties, no preferential treatment not even for the mailman.

"As a matter of fact, I was in line for about 30 minutes...And somebody tried to cut in front of me. So, so much for the Postal Service!" said Whitney.

Whitney covers a lot of miles, countless neighborhoods, to be exact 404 stops along his mail route.

"Trick of the trade. We always have to keep our eye on the fuel gauge."

There's a Postal Service fuel reserve for USPS big rigs in Gwinnett and Fulton counties, but not for regular carriers like Whitney.

"[That's] where our letter carriers can fill up at those locations. But again those won't accomodate all our letter carriers because of the vast area and they are primarily meant for our big rigs."

But Whitney, a 27-year postal veteran, keeps going stop-by-stop, making sure to deliver the mail despite his gas gauge.

"This is the first time for me. Even when Katrina hit we didn't have a problem finding gas here," said Whitney.