I work in the direct response marketing field (what the rest of you would call junk mail) and we mail millions of pieces every day for our clients. We got word earlier today from the US Postal Service that the Post Office will not even accept mail for entry into the system that is headed to the seven Zip Codes in and around New Orleans due to severe damage to their own facilities. They are taking First Class mail only - so this means we need to literally pull out all the mail we are producing destined for those Zip Codes. This is unprecedented - even last year when Florida got hit with four hurricanes in succession the P.O. did not have to resort to these measures.
Rain, sleet, snow and dark of night may be no problem but it appears they've met their match in Katrina.
To me the most shocking part of it all is that they can't even begin clean up and rebuilding until they can dry New Orleans out, and that could take a month or more. I know many parts of Florida are still a long way from being rebuilt even a year later - I can't imagine how long this will take.
The looters are bad enough, but I saw some poor guy interviewed on the news telling about the two guys who approached him as he sat on his front porch. They brandished a large machette and demanded this guy's truck or they'd kill him!!
