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.
I wouldn’t expect anyone to keep working after experiencing something like that. I mean as far as I’m concerned the area would need to be closed off. Ambulance, cops, district manager would have been called. I would have gotten written up for stopping production and making sure my people were ok. That’s why workers don’t respect management, they feel that they are just a number and see how this was handled and they think it could have been them. I’m sure some of the workers have “thick skin” and probably have the mindset of the job must go on. But shut it down, have your group meeting, make sure your workers are ok. They’re not going to be any good if their head is not in the game. Those that can and are willing to continue let them, call in other part time workers to come in early if you need to. But make sure this wasn’t caused by unsafe equipment before putting people into the same environment.