Post office workers are well thought of here on the whole. It is always considered a good job to have whether you are at the actual post office or delivering the mail.
The only problem can be if you get a bad apple that gives the others a bad name we had one a few years back that nicked a lot of the mail.
On the whole though the neighbourhood postman or postie as a term of of endearment is a sort of cult figure in Britian.
There is even a TV cartoon based on him and the post office use this as publicity and pictures of it are seen at the post office and sorting offices.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/characterpages/postmanpat/
I am so glad to hear that the postal workers are more respected there.
Of course my husband has complaints because it is almost impossible for them to fire any worker who is really doing a bad job...or whatever...because of the unions.
But, most of them work very long hours and are nice people...one should really get to know their mail delivery person..because that person knows the neighborhood..and can watch for strangers better than most.
There are some fun things to make on that site if you have children or grandchildren including a post office and puppets