Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index

Going postal

Going postal is a US slang term for a form of mass murder or killing spree, generally induced by job stress. The term comes from a series of US Postal Service workers whom in the 1980's (???) had mental breakdowns on the job and returned to the workplace with a gun, severly injuring their coworkers. In 2000 the USPS released a study which it said refuted the belief that postal employees were particularly prone to his behaviour, claiming instead that workplace violence at USPS was around the average for comparable US workplaces.

Usage: "If the boss keeps giving me a hard time, I'm going to go postal."


Going Postal is the title of a book by Don Lasseter, which examines the issue of workplace shootings inside the USPS (ISBN 0786004398).

Postal is the title of a controversial computer game (based on this expression) developed by Running With Scissors Inc


This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by fixing it.