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Grocery, Post Office Workers In NJ Find Themselves On Front Lines Of Pandemic
By
Karen Yi
Published Apr 6, 2020
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By
Karen Yi
Published Apr 6, 2020
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While most people hunker down at home, grocery store workers and post office employees are making sure shelves are stocked with food and mail still comes to our doors.
They’re the unexpected soldiers we’ve come to rely on—who are suddenly finding themselves on the front lines of the global health pandemic.
Mitch Jevic, 62, works in the frozen food section of a ShopRite in Morris County, New Jersey. He says he’s never received so many thank you’s in his life, or in his 35 years in the industry. It’s surreal.
“The first few days I kept looking around seeing if there was a soldier or something behind me because it doesn’t seem like I’m doing anything very special,” he said. “You feel lucky that you're working, there's so many people that aren't and can't.”
Listen to Karen Yi‘s report on WNYC:
Jevic, who lives in Mercer County, explained the coronavirus outbreak has totally transformed how he interacts with his customers and his co-workers. Small talk has been replaced with a quick and muffled, “How’re you doing?” uttered through his mask.
Other workers say the pandemic is testing how much companies are willing to protect low-wage employees who are putting themselves at risk every day. Different stores across industries deemed essential have implemented a range of measures to keep their workers—and customers—safe. But some workers say it’s not always enough.
A ShopRite employee in more densely-populated Essex County revealed she and her co-workers are scared. The worker, who didn’t want to be named for fear of losing her job, said there’s no protective gear for the personal shoppers scrambling to fill the flood of online orders. And her store is usually crowded, with no limits on the number of customers allowed inside.
“We’re all in the same boat, everybody is scared,” she said. “They don’t want to bring it home to their family.”
ShopRite said Sunday that it was working to ensure all workers had masks following the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation that all Americans wear masks.
A spokeswoman said all stores have installed plexiglass dividers by the cash registers and some do limit the number of customers allowed inside, while others have reserved shopping hours for senior citizens.
“The safety and well-being of our associates and customers is always our highest priority and we are taking the necessary steps to keep our stores a safe place to work and shop,” spokeswoman Karen O'Shea said in an email.
For other essential workers, just getting to their office buildings has become a nightmare.
Tandria Faulkner, 35, works for the U.S. Postal Service and commutes to New York City from Irvington, a community adjacent to Newark. Faulkner said she feels safe at work, where her employer gives her gloves and a mask every day as she sorts through the mail.
Her bus ride to work, however, feels much more dangerous.
Photographs from Tundra Faulkner's NJ Transit bus commute
Courtesy of Tandria Faulkner
“We are not protected back here, it’s people sitting next to each other, people standing over each other,” she said. On Friday, Faulkner said she waited for three buses to pass because there was no room to socially distance inside.
“You don’t feel at ease going in and working but somebody has to because who is going to get the mail?” she said.
Nancy Snyder, a spokeswoman for NJ Transit, said there are no plans to limit the number of riders but emphasized that travel should be for essential purposes only. Service has been reduced overall as ridership has plummeted by almost 90 percent.
Snyder added some buses have been added on busier routes to allow for social distancing but that it was not a widespread issue.
Faulkner said passengers have to board from the back and tape sections off the driver’s compartment. She makes sure to wipe her seat with Lysol wipes and wears a mask on the bus.
“I never thought it would be like this but here we are, here we are,” she said.
Faulkner said her train to New York Penn Station is never packed and there’s enough room to sit a few feet apart from people. Walking through the train station, she says, feels like a movie.
“You barely see people compared to 45 days ago, when you were arm in arm with people rushing to get to work,” she said. “It’s like a culture shock.”
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COVID-19
coronavirus
Karen Yi
Karen Yi covers homelessness and poverty. She joined the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom in 2020. Before that, Karen covered Newark for the Star-Ledger and spent almost a decade working for newspapers in New Jersey and Florida. She grew up in Miami and has a dog named Cashew. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-589-1460.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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