PORTLAND, Maine — If you Google search ‘coldest jobs’ the one to top the list time and time again is ‘mail carrier.’
Jennifer Bailey is someone who understands why.
She has been working for the United States Postal Service for 24 years.
“I’ve always enjoyed this job,” Bailey said.
Darting from door to door in downtown Portland, icy sidewalks, snowy steps and subzero temperatures do not stop her from getting packages and letters to her customers.
“Are you ever really used to it if you aren't an outdoor person? I mean this forces you to be,” she said.
Before she heads out to do her route, she bundles up in several layers—including rubber gloves and hand warmers underneath another set of gloves.
There is no denying she has become a master of the job. Bailey has seen it all.
"I can't say on television the worst I've seen,” she joked.
All kidding aside, the winter weather makes her job all the more challenging.
Bailey and others have fallen on ice several times and gotten injured on the job.
“It does get dangerous,” she said.
Bailey said she often finds herself sanding her customer’s steps to make sure she can make it back down safely after delivering their items.
That is not the only she does to go above and beyond. She knows most of her customers by name, and in some cases, she has watched their children grow up.
She said even when it is freezing outside, interacting with a new person every step of the way is what keeps her going.
"I love my people,” Bailey said.
Bailey is among more than 1,500 mail carriers working across the state.