{ "id": "eps4hk8jja", "slug": "going-postal-eps4hk8jja", "title": "Going postal", "updated": "2026-10-25", "topic_path": [ { "id": "society", "label": "Society and history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society" }, { "id": "society.people", "label": "Social life and human behavior", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.people" }, { "id": "society.people.psychology", "label": "Psychology and behavior", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.people.psychology" }, { "id": "society.people.psychology.motivation-emotion", "label": "Motivation, emotion, stress, and coping", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.people.psychology.motivation-emotion" }, { "id": "society.people.psychology.motivation-emotion.emotions-and-moods", "label": "Emotions and moods", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.people.psychology.motivation-emotion.emotions-and-moods" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1946.society.people.psychology.motivation-emotion", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Motivation, emotion, stress, and coping", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.society.people.psychology.motivation-emotion", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.society", "label": "Society and history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.society" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.society.people", "label": "Social life and human behavior", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.society.people" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.society.people.psychology", "label": "Psychology and behavior", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.society.people.psychology" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.society.people.psychology.motivation-emotion", "label": "Motivation, emotion, stress, and coping", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.society.people.psychology.motivation-emotion" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Going postal: American slang for extreme, often violent workplace rage, from a series of USPS shootings beginning with Patrick Sherrill's 1986 Edmond, Oklahoma massacre that killed 14.", "snippet": "Going postal: American slang for extreme, often violent workplace rage, from a series of USPS shootings beginning with Patrick Sherrill's 1986 Edmond, Oklahoma massacre that killed 14.", "node": "society.people.psychology.motivation-emotion.emotions-and-moods", "markdown": "# Going postal\n\n**Going postal** is an [American English](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-english) slang phrase meaning to become extremely and uncontrollably angry, often to the point of violence, and usually in a workplace environment.[1](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/go-postal) • [2](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/go-postal) It arose from a series of shootings at [United States Postal Service](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-states-postal-service) (USPS) facilities beginning in the 1980s, the deadliest of which was committed by Patrick Henry Sherrill in [Edmond, Oklahoma](https://www.edgepedia.org/edmond-oklahoma), on August 20, 1986.[3](https://legalclarity.org/patrick-sherrill-the-shooting-that-coined-going-postal/) The phrase entered widespread use in the early 1990s and was chosen as the American Dialect Society's word of the year for 1995.[4](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-P-PURL-LPS12068/pdf/GOVPUB-P-PURL-LPS12068.pdf)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Meaning | To become very angry and do something violent; to lose control or go berserk, especially from workplace stress[1](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/go-postal) • [2](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/go-postal) |\n| Origin event | August 20, 1986, Edmond, Oklahoma: part-time letter carrier Patrick Sherrill killed 14 coworkers, wounded six, and killed himself[3](https://legalclarity.org/patrick-sherrill-the-shooting-that-coined-going-postal/) |\n| First recorded use | 1993, by a reporter for the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times; the noun \"postal\" for violent anger is attested by 1997[5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/05/18/explaining-going-postal-to-an-aussie/09b54881-d302-4c53-bdda-27915a984626/) • [6](https://www.etymonline.com/word/postal) |\n| Recognition | American Dialect Society word of the year for 1995[4](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-P-PURL-LPS12068/pdf/GOVPUB-P-PURL-LPS12068.pdf) |\n| Scale of incidents | 12 USPS employee shootings since 1986 with 35 deaths by 2000; more than 40 employees murdered by colleagues or dead by suicide in 10 incidents by 2006[5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/05/18/explaining-going-postal-to-an-aussie/09b54881-d302-4c53-bdda-27915a984626/) • [7](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/08/27/20-years-ago-first-to-go-postal-span-classbankheadkillings-gave-usps-its-violent-rapspan/ee1bafbe-89b3-49b0-8e10-a2aae750964b/) |\n| Statistical context | A 1998 USPS commission found 0.26 workplace homicides per 100,000 postal workers (1992–1998), below retail (2.10), public administration (1.66), transportation (1.32), and private delivery services (0.50)[7](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/08/27/20-years-ago-first-to-go-postal-span-classbankheadkillings-gave-usps-its-violent-rapspan/ee1bafbe-89b3-49b0-8e10-a2aae750964b/) |\n\n## The Edmond shooting\n\nOn the morning of August 20, 1986, Patrick Henry Sherrill, a 44-year-old part-time letter carrier with a history of discipline problems on the job, walked into the Edmond Post Office, about 12 miles north of [Oklahoma City](https://www.edgepedia.org/oklahoma-city), and began systematically shooting his fellow employees.[3](https://legalclarity.org/patrick-sherrill-the-shooting-that-coined-going-postal/) • [8](https://www.realclearhistory.com/2017/08/19/where_did_039going_postal039_come_from_3188.html) He killed 14 people and wounded six before shooting himself.[3](https://legalclarity.org/patrick-sherrill-the-shooting-that-coined-going-postal/) Accounts differ on the weapons: the Associated Press report published in The Washington Post states that he tucked two .45-caliber pistols into his postal satchel and locked the doors,[7](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/08/27/20-years-ago-first-to-go-postal-span-classbankheadkillings-gave-usps-its-violent-rapspan/ee1bafbe-89b3-49b0-8e10-a2aae750964b/) while an Oklahoma account describes him carrying three handguns, two .45s and a .22.[8](https://www.realclearhistory.com/2017/08/19/where_did_039going_postal039_come_from_3188.html)\n\nThe massacre was the deadliest workplace shooting in the United States at the time.[3](https://legalclarity.org/patrick-sherrill-the-shooting-that-coined-going-postal/) Former letter carrier Michael Bigler, one of the six wounded, recalled that management had been trying to fire Sherrill for poor work performance before the shootings.[7](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/08/27/20-years-ago-first-to-go-postal-span-classbankheadkillings-gave-usps-its-violent-rapspan/ee1bafbe-89b3-49b0-8e10-a2aae750964b/) Sherrill was a native of Watonga, Oklahoma, and had served in the Marine Corps from January 1964 to December 1966, leaving with an honorable discharge and no disciplinary record.[3](https://legalclarity.org/patrick-sherrill-the-shooting-that-coined-going-postal/)\n\n## Later incidents and the spread of the phrase\n\nThe Edmond shooting was followed by other attacks at postal facilities through the late 1980s and 1990s, and the association between postal workers and workplace violence hardened in public consciousness.[9](https://explain-meaning.com/going-postal-meaning/) By 2000, The Washington Post counted 12 shootings by USPS employees since 1986, usually after some sort of dispute, with 35 deaths.[5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/05/18/explaining-going-postal-to-an-aussie/09b54881-d302-4c53-bdda-27915a984626/) By the twentieth anniversary in 2006, more than 40 postal employees had been murdered by colleagues or had committed suicide in 10 separate incidents across the country, including a January 2006 attack in which a former postal worker shot six workers at a mail-processing center in [Santa Barbara, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/santa-barbara-california), and killed herself.[7](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/08/27/20-years-ago-first-to-go-postal-span-classbankheadkillings-gave-usps-its-violent-rapspan/ee1bafbe-89b3-49b0-8e10-a2aae750964b/) A 1991 attack by a former postal worker was among the high-profile incidents that added the phrase to the American lexicon.[10](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/october-10/a-former-postal-worker-commits-mass-murder)\n\nThe phrase itself dates from the early 1990s. A Washington Post columnist traced its first use to 1993, by a reporter for the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times.[5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/05/18/explaining-going-postal-to-an-aussie/09b54881-d302-4c53-bdda-27915a984626/) Etymonline records the noun \"postal,\" meaning a state of irrational and violent anger, as attested by 1997, and notes that the \"disgruntled postal worker\" cliche goes back at least to 1994.[6](https://www.etymonline.com/word/postal) [Dictionary.com](https://www.edgepedia.org/dictionary-com) dates the slang sense of \"postal\" to 1990–95, in reference to incidents of violence among postal workers in the early 1990s.[11](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/postal) The American Dialect Society selected \"going postal\" as a word of the year for 1995, and journalists and comedians made liberal use of the phrase thereafter.[4](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-P-PURL-LPS12068/pdf/GOVPUB-P-PURL-LPS12068.pdf)\n\n## Was the stereotype fair?\n\n**The statistics did not support the reputation.** In 1998 the Postal Service created an independent commission to assess workplace violence, and it found that postal workers were no more likely to resort to workplace violence than workers in other jobs: 0.26 workplace homicides per 100,000 postal workers from 1992 to 1998, compared with 2.10 per 100,000 for retail workers, 1.66 in public administration, 1.32 in transportation, and 0.50 for private delivery services.[7](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/08/27/20-years-ago-first-to-go-postal-span-classbankheadkillings-gave-usps-its-violent-rapspan/ee1bafbe-89b3-49b0-8e10-a2aae750964b/) A 1998 General Accounting Office report suggested labor strife as one contributing factor: formal workplace grievances rose from 65,000 in fiscal year 1994 to 90,000 in fiscal year 1996.[5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/05/18/explaining-going-postal-to-an-aussie/09b54881-d302-4c53-bdda-27915a984626/)\n\nThe commission found that USPS had undertaken comprehensive programs aimed at reducing workplace violence, including every major activity typically recommended by experts, and noted that employee selection was a critical element because of the documented link between past and future violence.[4](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-P-PURL-LPS12068/pdf/GOVPUB-P-PURL-LPS12068.pdf) Over the two decades after Edmond, the Postal Service implemented work environment committees in which management and labor worked out problems, beefed up applicant screening, and trained supervisors to look for changes in behavior and mood.[7](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/08/27/20-years-ago-first-to-go-postal-span-classbankheadkillings-gave-usps-its-violent-rapspan/ee1bafbe-89b3-49b0-8e10-a2aae750964b/) The federal murder law, 18 U.S.C. § 1114, was broadened by the [Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996](https://www.edgepedia.org/antiterrorism-and-effective-death-penalty-act-of-1996) so that its protections reached every federal worker, not just certain classes of them.[3](https://legalclarity.org/patrick-sherrill-the-shooting-that-coined-going-postal/)\n\nPostal employees themselves pushed back against the label. Larry Flener, manager of consumer affairs for the Postal Service in Oklahoma, said the term had \"taken on a life that is totally unfair,\" and offered a different meaning: \"delivering mail to 144 million mailboxes, 212 billion pieces of mail a year, 260,000 delivery vehicles on the road every day, 704,000 postal employees nationwide. That's going postal.\"[7](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/08/27/20-years-ago-first-to-go-postal-span-classbankheadkillings-gave-usps-its-violent-rapspan/ee1bafbe-89b3-49b0-8e10-a2aae750964b/)\n\n## Cultural footprint and current standing\n\nThe phrase spread well beyond its original reference. It is typically used in a wry, black-humor way for everyday frustration,[5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/05/18/explaining-going-postal-to-an-aussie/09b54881-d302-4c53-bdda-27915a984626/) and by the late 1990s it had become pejorative shorthand for employee violence generally; a 1999 Washington Post headline on private-sector workplace violence read \"'Going Postal' Hits the Private Sector.\"[4](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-P-PURL-LPS12068/pdf/GOVPUB-P-PURL-LPS12068.pdf) The 1993 film *Falling Down*, in which [Michael Douglas](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-douglas) played a middle manager losing control, drew on the same tradition of sudden workplace violence.[12](https://time.com/4145733/syed-farook-san-bernardino-islam/) A 1997 video game titled *Postal* cast the player as shooting at anything that moves while a woman screams \"He's going postal!\" in the background,[5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/05/18/explaining-going-postal-to-an-aussie/09b54881-d302-4c53-bdda-27915a984626/) and the phrase even appeared in USPS's own publicity when, after [Lance Armstrong](https://www.edgepedia.org/lance-armstrong) won the 1999 [Tour de France](https://www.edgepedia.org/tour-de-france) for the USPS-sponsored team, a vice president said the company was \"giving the phrase 'going postal' a whole new meaning.\"[5](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/05/18/explaining-going-postal-to-an-aussie/09b54881-d302-4c53-bdda-27915a984626/)\n\nUsage has drawn criticism. Because the expression casts stigma on both the postal profession and mental illness, advocacy groups for postal workers and mental health experts have urged people not to use it, and applying it casually to minor outbursts also lessens the seriousness of the incidents that gave rise to it.[9](https://explain-meaning.com/going-postal-meaning/) The phrase remains common in informal American speech, defined in major dictionaries as becoming very angry and doing something violent.[1](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/go-postal) • [2](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/go-postal)\n\n## References\n\n1. [\"go postal,\" Cambridge English Dictionary](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/go-postal)\n2. [\"go postal,\" Collins English Dictionary](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/go-postal)\n3. [Patrick Sherrill: The Shooting That Coined \"Going Postal,\" LegalClarity](https://legalclarity.org/patrick-sherrill-the-shooting-that-coined-going-postal/)\n4. [Report of the USPS Commission on a Safe and Secure Workplace (1998), govinfo.gov](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-P-PURL-LPS12068/pdf/GOVPUB-P-PURL-LPS12068.pdf)\n5. [Bob Levey, \"Explaining 'Going Postal' to an Aussie,\" The Washington Post, May 18, 2000](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/05/18/explaining-going-postal-to-an-aussie/09b54881-d302-4c53-bdda-27915a984626/)\n6. [\"postal,\" Online Etymology Dictionary](https://www.etymonline.com/word/postal)\n7. [Tim Talley (AP), \"20 Years Ago, First to 'Go Postal',\" The Washington Post, August 26, 2006](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/08/27/20-years-ago-first-to-go-postal-span-classbankheadkillings-gave-usps-its-violent-rapspan/ee1bafbe-89b3-49b0-8e10-a2aae750964b/)\n8. [Jeff Mullin, \"Where Did 'Going Postal' Come From?\" via RealClearHistory](https://www.realclearhistory.com/2017/08/19/where_did_039going_postal039_come_from_3188.html)\n9. [\"Going Postal Meaning — Definition, Origin & Examples,\" Explain Meaning](https://explain-meaning.com/going-postal-meaning/)\n10. [\"A former postal worker commits mass murder, October 10, 1991,\" History.com](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/october-10/a-former-postal-worker-commits-mass-murder)\n11. [\"postal,\" Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/postal)\n12. [\"Don't Give In to Fear on the San Bernardino Shootings,\" Time, December 2015](https://time.com/4145733/syed-farook-san-bernardino-islam/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Social life and human behavior › Psychology and behavior › Motivation, emotion, stress, and coping › Emotions and moods*\n\n*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/going-postal-eps4hk8jja", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/going-postal-eps4hk8jja.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Going postal\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/going-postal-eps4hk8jja. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Going postal](https://www.edgepedia.org/going-postal-eps4hk8jja)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/going-postal-eps4hk8jja](https://www.edgepedia.org/going-postal-eps4hk8jja). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Going postal\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/going-postal-eps4hk8jja. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Going postal: American slang for extreme, often violent workplace rage, from a series of USPS shootings beginning with Patrick Sherrill's 1986 Edmond, Oklahoma massacre that killed 14." }