More than 3,000 new postal workers have been hired in the D.C. area recently, NBC4 reported last week, as the post office works to reduce the number of late mail deliveries -- two years after a mail carrier was murdered working after dark. "A lot of carriers were apprehensive about being out in the dark, about their safety," said Alton Branson, a 38-year carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, and former president of NALC Branch 142. photo: screengrab from NBC4 report