A worker at the Allen Park postal facility, where a man was found dead inside a machine, said production is prioritized over safety.
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.
Matthew Stiffler, a postal maintenance mechanic, was a close friend and coworker of Acker. He’s also the union representative.
He told Local 4 that safety protocols “aren’t followed” and are “not enforced,” and management prioritizes production above everything else.
Stiffler said the overall attitude from management is that the “mail must move at all costs.”
“All of our tasks, they don’t want to shut down the machines for anything,” said Stiffler. “That’s the culture. That’s the message.”
Stiffler said that the message of keeping the mail moving has been “amped up” lately due to new management.
He explained that it feels like “the mail has increased” and the team is “stretched thin,” because they’re dealing with fewer workers due to retirement buyouts.
Stiffler said that while there are protocols, “they’re just not followed and they’re not enforced.”
“I think safety takes a back seat, and it has for quite some time,” Stiffler said.
Read more --> Close friend says he helped pull Allen Park postal worker’s body from machine, slams ‘toxic’ culture
The machines at the facility were built in the 1970s, and because packaging is different now, there can be issues, and it takes time to lock out a machine when something stops working.
Stiffler didn’t share specific details to avoid impacting the investigation, but said that while Acker’s body was still inside the machine, employees were told to keep working.
“People took time off to deal with this, and he’s like threatening discipline and saying that we were AWOL,” Stiffler said about the plant manager.
Stiffler said “nobody trusts anybody there anymore” and that “everybody feels unsafe.”
“I shouldn’t have to be scared to go to work and make a living for my family,” said Stiffler. “Nobody should.”
Stiffler helped firefighters pull Acker’s body from the machine, and said the next morning, the plant was running.
“My understanding is that he hasn’t shut the plant down,” Stiffler said about the plant manager. “He hasn’t even acknowledged the death to any of the staff. He hasn’t talked to us about the safety concerns they have. Nothing’s happened.”
He also said he doesn’t trust the plant manager “at all” and feels management puts their safety behind production.
While Stiffler said he’s a bit worried about sharing these concerns publicly, he said that state officials must “do something.”
“Nick was a good man,” Stiffler said. “He deserves something to happen, and his death not to be in vain.”
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