“I’m not usually the type to dress up pets, but as soon as I saw the U.S.P.S. costume, I knew I wanted to get it for Cleo,” Ms. Galeotti said, referring to her dog, whom she plans to take with her to drop off candy at local post offices. (She also bought herself a crop top sold on the same website.)
Meryl Pataky, 37, a sculptor in Oakland, Calif., bought a costume for her 50-pound pit mix, Oscar, even though only one size, extra small, was left. “I bought it anyway,” Ms. Pataky said. “I felt that was a really cute way to show and give my support.”
Taanya Spates, 27, who has worked as a mail carrier in Charlotte, N.C., for almost six years, is not surprised that her uniform is suddenly a hot costume.
Ms. Spates has an Instagram account, Puerto_Rican_Pecan, on which she posts pictures of herself working. She drives a mail truck to a residential neighborhood and then walks five to six miles every day to complete her deliveries. Before the pandemic she would get around 400 likes per picture. Now, she gets 60,000.
“I think a lot of people were at home, and they weren’t doing much, and essential workers got highlighted,” she said.
And Ms. Spates appreciates the coming homage, though she herself will be a butterfly this year.
“I wouldn’t dress up as a mail carrier for Halloween because it’s my career, but it’s super-flattering,” she said. “We work all year, during rain, sleet, snow and now literally pandemics.”