columbus day
why does the mailman get the day off but the rest
its not even a holiday here anymore
lifelong feud with postal workers
If California Doesn't Observe Columbus Day, Why Doesn't Our Mail Run Today?
By StacyB
@Srbageldog (7716)
United States
October 9, 2017 6:39am CST
@JolietJake wrote a post about Columbus Day, which apparently is a federal holiday that only 26 states here in the U.S. currently observe. He shared a link to a list that named what states do and do not observe the holiday. I was surprised to see my state (California) listed among the states that do not observe the day. 
This confused me, as we have always observed Columbus Day here. So I googled it and apparently Arnold Schwarzenegger did away with it being observed as a state holiday back in 2009. I vaguely remember hearing something about that way back when, but the mail and banks and other government businesses still close every year on that day, so apparently it slipped my mind that he did that.
I am still confused. If it's not observed as a holiday here, why the hell doesn't the mail run on Columbus Day? I have hated the day ever since I was a kid simply based on the fact that the mailman got the day off but I never did. Now it's trendy to hate the day for other reasons, but I'm still hung up on the mailman (and other government employees) getting a holiday while kids still have to go to school and everyone else still have to work. If it's no longer a holiday in my state, why are we still observing it? Why isn't the mailman delivering my mail?? 
Edited to add: Okay, it's been established that the USPS is federally run, not state run. (I'm tired and my meds are making me loopy, and it slipped my mind that the state doesn't control the mail.) I was confused because an article I read about it made it like the state of California doesn't observe the day at all, but we do, at least here in my town anyway. The DMV, city hall, and other state government offices are closed, and there are advertisements for Columbus Day Sales, not Indigenous Peoples' Day Sales. Los Angeles and San Francisco might have renamed the day that, but those cities are not the entire state. I have never heard or seen Columbus Day referred to as Indigenous Peoples' Day up here in northern California.
This confused me, as we have always observed Columbus Day here. So I googled it and apparently Arnold Schwarzenegger did away with it being observed as a state holiday back in 2009. I vaguely remember hearing something about that way back when, but the mail and banks and other government businesses still close every year on that day, so apparently it slipped my mind that he did that.
I am still confused. If it's not observed as a holiday here, why the hell doesn't the mail run on Columbus Day? I have hated the day ever since I was a kid simply based on the fact that the mailman got the day off but I never did. Now it's trendy to hate the day for other reasons, but I'm still hung up on the mailman (and other government employees) getting a holiday while kids still have to go to school and everyone else still have to work. If it's no longer a holiday in my state, why are we still observing it? Why isn't the mailman delivering my mail??
Edited to add: Okay, it's been established that the USPS is federally run, not state run. (I'm tired and my meds are making me loopy, and it slipped my mind that the state doesn't control the mail.) I was confused because an article I read about it made it like the state of California doesn't observe the day at all, but we do, at least here in my town anyway. The DMV, city hall, and other state government offices are closed, and there are advertisements for Columbus Day Sales, not Indigenous Peoples' Day Sales. Los Angeles and San Francisco might have renamed the day that, but those cities are not the entire state. I have never heard or seen Columbus Day referred to as Indigenous Peoples' Day up here in northern California.6 people like this
9 responses
@ElusiveButterfly (45941)
• United States
9 Oct 17
Oh the benefits of being a government employee. The State offices here are all closed. The banks and of course post office as well. But, yes, we all are expected to go about our lives without it being a day off for us. I would be working today if I hadn't taken the day off. The daycare provider took the day off. Makes me whine.
1 person likes this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
9 Oct 17
The state offices here are closed too, even though apparently our state doesn't observe the holiday. I had a derp moment and didn't connect that the USPS is federally run, but that still doesn't explain why all the state offices are closed. I have always hated this day because it was a holiday that wasn't really a holiday...it was only a holiday for a selected few.
1 person likes this
@ElusiveButterfly (45941)
• United States
9 Oct 17
@Srbageldog I know and feel it is ridiculous as well. The normal ormals still have to work.
1 person likes this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
9 Oct 17
@ElusiveButterfly It's really not fair. But then, most people with normal jobs have to work on all the holidays now: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter...which is really disheartening. Nothing is sacred anymore. (I don't celebrate Christmas or Easter as religious holidays, but they were always "family days" when I was growing up, and I still view them that way. I don't think people should have to work on those days. I can understand some professions requiring people to work on those days -- healthcare, law enforcement, emergency workers, etc., but there's no reason why retail workers and the like should have to work on major holidays.)
1 person likes this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
10 Oct 17
@ourlot Maybe! I just know it's inconvenient on days like today when the buses don't run but most businesses (including doctors offices) are still open. It would make sense to have the whole state on board on whether it's a holiday or not, and what the day is called and honoring. But nothing in California ever makes any sense. 
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
9 Oct 17
Okay, so I understand that now. But what about state government employees who get the day off? That still confuses me. City hall and other local government offices are all closed.
And I have never heard about the state of California changing the name of the holiday. I read that they changed the name in Los Angeles, but one city is not the entire state.
@ourlot (982)
•
9 Oct 17
@Srbageldog Yes, I know that from LA too, but assumed it was a Californian thing. Don't know why city hall or such stuff are closed. Maybe it's a federal and local holiday, but not a state one?
1 person likes this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
9 Oct 17
It didn't even cross my mind that USPS is operated by the federal government. Well that explains that.
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109841)
• Los Angeles, California
9 Oct 17
@Srbageldog Yes, the incompetence of the USPS.
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109841)
• Los Angeles, California
9 Oct 17
Because the US Mail is federal and Columbus Day is a federal holiday. That is separate from the states.
1 person likes this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
9 Oct 17
The article I read about it made it like Arnold Schwarzenegger had done away with any kind of observation of the day in the state, which is what confused me. But I'm still confused why local government offices all are closed today. City hall, welfare office, DMV, etc. Those are state run.
1 person likes this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
10 Oct 17
@JohnRoberts Haha, you're right about that. So I guess they just use the "holiday" as an excuse to take a day off.
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109841)
• Los Angeles, California
9 Oct 17
@Srbageldog Government workers would take Groundhog Day off if they could get away with it.
1 person likes this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
10 Oct 17
It's become a controversial holiday here in the U.S.
1 person likes this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
10 Oct 17
Mine too nowadays, but as a kid I resented the mailman for getting a holiday when I didn't. Back then I lived for checking the mail after school, and I didn't like that our mailman wasn't doing his job on Columbus Day.
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
10 Oct 17
I assumed our state recognized it too, since all the state government employees take a holiday today. Could have fooled me that California doesn't recognize it!
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86778)
• United States
9 Oct 17
For the same reason that you have to work on Veterans Day but the mail doesn't run: because something is a federal holiday for workers doesn't mean that everyone takes it. Most people don't take Presidents Day or MLK Birthday, either.
1 person likes this
@Srbageldog (7716)
• United States
10 Oct 17
The thing that confused me was that California doesn't recognize the day as a holiday, yet the buses don't run, the banks are closed, local government offices are closed. Seems like they actually do recognize it as a holiday!
It's really inconvenient when the rest of us don't get the day off, but the buses don't run on any of these days. I've had to miss doctors appointments because I forgot it was a holiday and waited for a bus that never came! I guess if I were a government employee, I'd use any excuse to take a holiday, too.
1 person likes this
