ALLEN PARK, Mich. – Postal workers at the Allen Park facility were allegedly instructed to keep working after one of their coworkers was found dead in a machine.
Nicholas John Acker, 36, of Trenton, was found stuck in a machine Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, and had reportedly been dead for hours before firefighters arrived.
One of Acker’s close friends, Matthew Stiffler, who is a postal maintenance mechanic and union representative, told Local 4 that he helped pull Acker’s body from the machine.
Stiffler also said that while Acker’s body was still inside the machine, the plant manager instructed the employees to keep working.
“When this happened, the plant manager wanted us to move to another part of the building and keep processing mail,” Stiffler said.
Many workers took time off to grieve, but the manager threatened discipline.
“People took time off to deal with this, and he’s like threatening discipline and saying that we were AWOL,” said Stiffler.
Read more --> Close friend says he helped pull Allen Park postal worker’s body from machine, slams ‘toxic’ culture
Stiffler noted that employees who went to Acker’s funeral were worried about retribution, calling the plant manager “a problem” and saying the issues had been ongoing.
“He didn’t want the mail to stop at all; the only reason it did is because the maintenance department – we weren’t there,“ said Stiffler. ”We all were taking time off to deal with the grieving.”
Stiffler also said the plant manager hasn’t said anything about Acker’s death or addressed the safety concerns.
“He kicked me out of the plant because I was telling people about their rights,” Stiffler said.
He expressed some fear about speaking out publicly, but insisted that the state “do something” about this.
Stiffler didn’t share specific details to avoid affecting the investigation, but said he is pushing for a thorough investigation and for those responsible to be held accountable.
“Nick was a good man,” Stiffler said. “He deserves something to happen, and his death not to be in vain.”
The mechanic also emphasized that he was speaking on his own behalf, not representing the postal service.
Local 4 reached out to USPS for a statement about Stiffler’s comments and received the following response:
“The Postal Service is deeply saddened by the loss of life suffered recently involving our postal employee. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues at this time. This incident remains under investigation by OSHA, and the Postal Service is fully cooperating. We do not have any further comment at this time.”
USPS Statement
Local 4 has also learned that, fewer than 90 days before 36-year-old Nicholas John Acker was found dead in a mail-sorting machine at the USPS Detroit Network Distribution Center in Allen Park, a formal grievance had been filed warning that the very same machine was unsafe.
Read more --> Grievance filed less than 90 days before Allen Park postal worker’s death warned machine was unsafe