I tried counting them once, but ran out of fingers and toes.
I’m a retired letter carrier. After the anthrax attacks in the early 2000’s Nitrile gloves were available to us and we were advised to glove up when emptying collection boxes. That lasted a few weeks.
Also,handling paper all day is very drying to the fingertips and often results in painful splits there. The carrier may have been wearing gloves either to prevent that or to protect their fingertips while they healed.
My regular mailman wears gloves and I live in Canada.
Never saw a USPS postal carrier wearing gloves.
I had a college roommate who worked in a mailroom, and handling all that paper dried his hands out terribly, to the point of the skin cracking and bleeding. This was despite many lotions and potions, used obsessively. He eventually started wearing nitrile gloves and the problem resolved. I used to tease him about it until I spent a whole day stuffing envelopes and my hands ended up dry and irritated too.
I suspect this is correct. I reshelve books in a library and I wear latex gloves for just that reason.
J.
My USPS carrier wears blue latex gloves. After seeing this thread, I asked him why. He said to keep his hands clean.
Or past bad experiences with the Norovirus family on E. Main St.
Maybe half the carriers around here also wear those blue latex gloves, and have been over the last several years. Daytime high temps are still around 90F here, so it’s not a cold-weather thing at all.
Grip, mainly. It can help with dirt, &c but not a cure-all for it.
You were so close. The correct answer is “11.”