Word: stafford
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...Stafford makes only $8,030 a year, well below the $11,236 that the Federal Government says a family of four needs to maintain a "moderate" living standard in New York. Stafford's is a family of six. Like many other Post Office men, he moonlights. Sometimes he is a bartender, sometimes a chauffeur. "I can't afford not to strike," the husky Stafford says. "I owe it to my family to provide them with a decent living...
...Staffords do not live in dire poverty, but they have few comforts and no spare cash. Home is in an old building in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx, where Stafford, 43, and his wife Geraldyne, 33, grew up. The Staffords live three flights up in a tiny, four-room apartment. Scatter rugs cover the linoleum floors. There are only two closets, so toys and clothes are piled everywhere. The kitchen is jammed with dishes and drying laundry. In the living room, there is a card table -bought with trading stamps-where the family eats...
Sleeping is jammed: Stafford and his wife have one bedroom, their son and three daughters share the other. Stafford's pay, after deductions, comes to $230 every two weeks. Rent is $110 month, and there are other expenses: his son Peter is being treated for an eye condition at $24.60 a week. Stafford pays $11.50 every four weeks for medical insurance, but it does not cover the boy's condition.There are a few amenities: a washing machine, for which they saved ten years and bought on sale, a color television set won in a church raffle, and Jingles...
...Stafford's day begins at 5 a.m. He must be at the Washington Bridge post office, twelve minutes away by subway, at 6. First he sorts, or "boxes up," the mail for his route. Regulations say that the bag he carries can weigh a maximum of 35 Ibs.; usually it is a little lighter. His 18-block trek takes him to 1,100 mailboxes. He enjoys the job, and knows many of the residents he serves. "I like to talk to people," he says. "It's nice in the summertime." For lunch, he gets 30 minutes. His normal...
Even with overtime, the Staffords always seem to end up owing. "I never can make the money go," said Mrs. Stafford. "We always run out about three days before his next paycheck. I used to swear he was spending it on the side until we sat down and went over all our expenses...