Blowing in the Wind

A 6-foot-tall, 250-pound letter carrier is campaigning for the right to take off his pants.

Dean Peterson wants the U.S. Postal Service to add kilts as a uniform option for men. Yes. You read that right. He wants to wear a kilt as he delivers mail.

The idea was soundly defeated in July at a convention of his union, the 220,000-member National Letter Carriers’ Association, so Peterson knows convincing management will be an uphill struggle, but at least he’ll be comfortable in his kilt, or Male Unbifurcated Garment, as he likes to call it.

Peterson said it all comes down to one word: “Comfort.”

Now, Peterson isn’t Scottish. Far from it! Peterson, 48, has Finnish and Norwegian ancestry but not Scottish. He began wearing kilts a couple years ago when his wife brought one back from a trip to Scotland. Now he wears them everywhere—to one son’s football games, the other son’s concerts, shopping, and even while gardening.

Before the convention in Boston, Peterson spent his family’s $1,800 economic stimulus tax rebate to mail about 1,000 letters and photographs of him wearing a prototype Postal Service kilt to union branches in every state, Guam and Puerto Rico. [Was that the best use of his stimulus rebate?]

The union’s executive committee recommended disapproval, saying there was not enough demand for kilts to be worth the bother of the resolution, and delegates agreed by a large margin. But Peterson said there are plenty of approved uniform items that very few mail carriers wear, including a cardigan sweater, vest, and (my personal favorite) pith helmet.

So gang, what do you think?

Should your local mail carrier be able to wear a kilt if he or she wants to? Am I being judgmental is I don’t think they should be able to wear one?

Better yet, would you wear one? Or want your husband to wear one?