The real reason postmen always wear shorts

Have you ever stopped and thought about why posties always wear shorts no matter the weather? Us neither – but thanks to Reddit, we've finally got to the bottom of it.

A throwback thread gave us all of the answers from the postmen and women themselves.

When one user asked whether it was a strange unwritten rule to avoid wrapping up in winter, fellow Redditors flooded the question with their takes.

One person suggested: "Legs dry quicker than trousers is my main reason, also, I've been skateboarding for 34 years now so my lower legs are immune to things like cold and pain...and the occasional dog. Winter, I'll be wearing several layers on top, thermal socks and...shorts, wife thinks I'm mental...This is the way."

While one underwhelming response explained: "It really is just because it gets hot doing the job."

They continued: "One round I cover I wear trousers just because of the wind (made the mistake once and had windburn all up my legs) but it’s that particular village happens to be the highest point of the town and is a massive wind tunnel. All other rounds I'm in shorts pretty much all year."

iStock

Meanwhile, another user hilariously let people into a "little secret".

They wrote: "When you are accepted for a delivery round, part of the RM initiation service is to have half of your blood replaced with antifreeze. This comes directly after dropping the rubber band of brotherhood, but before being ceremoniously bitten on the arse by the dog of destiny."

Another theorised: "I once heard that the posties play a game, who’s the last one to take off their shorts so they try and wear them all year round to see who’s the hardest postie really."

Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.