January 30th, 1968: Assistant Postmaster General Richard Murphy ruled that hippies could continue to work for the United States Postal Service "but they must have neat haircuts and get rid of their beards and sandals" and wear proper attire.
According to Murphy, the largest number of hippies worked at post offices in San Francisco and some had been "walking their routes barefooted with shaggy beards, hair down to their shoulders, and wearing everything from bearskin coats to dungarees."
Hunter Thompson claimed that hippies could make a living in the post office: "The Post Office is a major source of hippy income. Jobs like sorting mail don’t require much thought or effort. A hippy named Admiral Love of the Psychedelic Rangers delivers special-delivery letters at night."
sources:
"News Briefs— National", Chicago Tribune, January 31, 1968, p3 via Wikipedia
Miles, Barry. Hippie. New York: Sterling, 2004.
Thompson, Hunter. "The “Hashbury” Is the Capital of the Hippies," in The Great Shark Hunt (1979).
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