Background

I am a new mail carrier. During orientation, our "trainer" (a man who had no experience for the positions of the new hires in the room) recommended his Rocky shoes and said that they were like walking on air. Later, he let me touch the insole, which seemed soft enough. I have fairly sensitive feet and the arch of one foot almost fell once while I was walking in Singapore, so it was important to me to get really good shoes. In addition, we were told they had to have leather uppers, be non-slip and it was recommended that they be waterproof to avoid problems like trench foot.

Purchase

I tried finding other shoes but, because of the CoViD-19 lockdown that had just happened, most of the shoe stores were closed, and the few that were open either didn't have anything that met the requirements, or they were uncomfortable. The best I found were Rocky and Georgia shoes, both made by the same company (it also makes Durango), but the Rocky shoes weren't comfortable because the leather folded over my toes and hurt them when I walked and were a bit too snug, and the Georgia boots, which actually had a softer insole, were partway up my leg and irritated it. See? Sensitive!

Finally, out of desperation, I went online on Friday to their websites (they have several, including rockyboots.com, georgiaboots.com and lehighoutfitters.com), but their websites don't make it easy to search, and the descriptions don't help much in figuring out which shoes are the best options. I hate ordering shoes online because I know the risk with my fussy feet, so I called their customer support line and spoke to the only customer service person on staff about the 3 post-approved below-the-ankle shoes (which they call athletic oxfords), who was nice and tried to help but admitted that she wasn't very knowledgeable. 😩 She suggested that I either call on Saturday and speak to a specific agent, or wait until Monday to speak to someone else again who would know more specifically about postal shoes. 😣 As a former customer service person, I know how it feels to be new but the fact that there was no one else working with someone who was fairly new on duty just didn't inspire confidence.

Saturday, I called back and, after a VERY long time on hold, spoke to a different nice lady (she was the only one on duty 😩) who did, indeed, know more. We were able to determine which she believed to be the best, based both on the criteria given, including overall comfort and that they had to be below the ankles. She did inform me that the waterproofing, depending on which type it is, only lasts 6-12 months. Of the three (TMC, priority and 911) I ordered the the Rocky TMC postal-approved athletic oxfords on her recommendation, which has the "air-port" insoles, which the lady described as being their best ones, and paid for 3-5 day shipping. With tax, that was about $165!

They arrived 2 days later via FedEx on Monday. I was pretty stoked when I arrived home from 14 miles of walking with wet, sore feet (we have to walk across yards and the dew in the morning found every hole in my shoes) to see that package sitting there, so I tried them on.

Return

They didn't fit. They were size 13, which is the size I usually rely on in these times of inconsistent sizing from one company to another for ANY kind of apparel (you SUCK, apparel industry!). The shoes were too narrow, especially the right one. I have NEVER had a problem before with shoes being too narrow. Too low for extra insoles, rubs against my big toes, squishes the ball of my foot, or rubs my ankle raw, yes, but never too narrow! I figured that my feet were too swollen so I waited a few hours and tried again. Same result. I also noticed that they use the type of laces that do NOT stay tied, even when you double-knot them. You'd need to wax the laces to keep them from sliding loose.

I got a guy in chat and, after discussing the situation with him (it was clear that he was handling multiple customers at the same time - a common practice for companies that value quantity over quality), including being advised that the shoes had to be in mint condition, I was forced to ask him whether he recommended I return them for my money back or a 13-wide pair. He recommended the latter, issued me my RMA, and then I repackaged the shoes and took them to the nearest "FedEx" place to print the label and get the box picked up.

And here I must digress for a minute. The label instructions that he emailed me said: "FedEx Office locations can print label for you by scanning barcode below from your mobile device.", so I clicked the link and looked for the NEAREST drop-off location that could print for me. The closest was a DROP BOX (clearly, there's no printer or human there, on top of which the list/map shows it at the wrong location - I know this because I went there once before this year looking for it), and the second-closest was the nearest Walgreens but, when I called them to confirm, they couldn't print out the label, although they do accept packages for FedEx to pick up! Finally, I settled on Office Depot, whose agent said they could print it out.

Done, right? Nope. Remember how the email that Rocky sent me said that I'd be able to have them scan the barcode
directly from my phone? The Office Depot lady said that wasn't true - they weren't able to do that and I'd have to send the email to them so they'd be able to use the barcode. I don't know if they genuinely couldn't or if this was a security measure to prevent fraudulent use of a barcode (spoofers, phrackers, hackers, crackers and other types of digital thieves are pretty clever, after all!), but I wish they'd told me that on the phone so that I could email it to them - just to save a little bit of time. Well, they printed my label (and charged $.16) and I knew that the package would be on its way in the morning. Hopefully, 2 days back to Rocky, right?

😤Nope. Not 2, not even the 3-5 I'd paid to get those overly narrow shoes in the first place - it took until the FOLLOWING Monday night before Rocky was supposed to receive them. I know this because I called Rocky and they said it was scheduled to arrive that night by FedEx. Why they didn't issue a FedEx label for an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) with the same value as what I'd paid for shipping is probably a matter of...well, I don't know. I certainly would hope that if someone paid top shipping dollar that they wouldn't screw them, too. But, honestly, for shoes with a retail price of $145 (in the store and online), you'd think that they could spare the money to speed up an RMA, right? Especially since ordering online makes it so difficult to make sure you're getting the right shoes. So I asked the customer service lady when I might expect to get my replacements because I really needed them. She informed me that they'd have to reach the warehouse, be inspected to make sure that they were as good as new, and then they'd ship out the replacements. I felt frustrated because my feet were wet and sore every day (although loosening my laces greatly reduced the soreness) because of my old, cheap Crew shoes from Burlington Coat Factory.

Second Chance

Later, I got a notice from Rocky that they shoes had been received and then, on Tuesday, SIX shipping notifications and, on Wednesday, another notice that my replacements were on the way. By Thursday afternoon, I had my shoes, which was pleasing.

What wasn't so pleasing was that, although the shoes were wider, I could still feel them slightly squishing my feet on the sides of the arches. Although the insoles were certainly more comfortable than what is provided by most companies, they weren't as nice as the ones in the Georgia Boots I'd tried.

Test and Comparison

I took them for their first day of walking on Friday, and the second day on Saturday. They weren't as comfortable as I'd hoped, to be honest, and I still went home with sore feet on a route with less walking than I'd endured with my regular shoes. They did keep my feet warm and dry, however.

If I compare them to the $10 Crew shoes from Burlington Coat Factory, here are the results:
Burlington Coat Factory $10 shoes.jpg

The Rocky air-port insoles make the shoes much more comfortable (but they are inferior to the insoles used in Georgia Boots), except that I added insoles to the Shoes for Crews when I bought them, so they are actually just as comfortable. The Rockies don't have much extra space, but I slipped in some really soft inserts under them, which I hope will increase the comfort. I'll update when I have results.
The Rockies required a wide pair, which has never happened before in my life, and they STILL squeeze the sides of my arches a bit, so they are less comfortable in that respect.
The Crews came with laces that don't come untied. The Rockies laces had to be waxed, but still come loose - albeit much more slowly now.
The Rockies are waterproof (6 months, I believe). The Crews aren't.
Both pairs of shoes are non-slip, although I haven't had the chance to test the Rockies with rain, sleet, hail, snow and ice. The photos below shows the soles of both. Both are also oil-slip resistant. The Crews have performed well on multiple types of slippery surfaces. The Rockies do well on wet surfaces that are normally considered to be dangerous when wet and are fairly good on oily surfaces although I could feel the difference.

$10 Burlington Coat Factory shoes VS $149 Rocky TMC athletic oxfords.jpg
The Crews have fake leather uppers and are split (see photo) where there's stitching on the outside side near the balls of feet. I had to add 2 inserts (1 gel and one Dr. Scholl's) to make them very comfortable for normal use.

Conclusion

I have to say that, for the price I paid and the claim I heard from another trainer that the postal-approved shoes (which are supposedly required for workman's compensation claims) don't last much longer than regular shoes, I'm very disappointed. For $149, I had expected to actually feel a great deal of comfort and have a superior pair of shoes in all respects - my comparison demonstrates that this isn't the case.

I will be trying a different brand once these shoes wear out in 6-12 months -either Rockport, New Balance, Reebox or Thorogood, or some other company that has postal-approved shoes.

I'll update this in the future if my experience with these Rocky shoes changes. If you're looking for something with a softer insole, look at their Georgia brand.

Update

6/28/20
I've now been wearing them for over 2 months and here's what I have to add.

Although initially they didn't fit optimally, the leather upper adjusted and no longer folds at unpleasant points.
Their non-slip on wet surfaces really is amazing (my postmaster warned me about multiple surfaces that, when wet, are very slippery but not with these shoes).
The waterproofing is great! I only get wet when the water gets in from above around the ankle.
On oily surfaces, they are fairly good but not as good as on wet surfaces and unfortunately, because the oil sticks to the soles, when you step onto other (wet or dry) surfaces, it feels somewhat slippery.
The lack of sufficiently comfortable insoles was not resolved by adding a thin insole beneath it under the balls of my feet, so I swapped it out for another, similar insole (different brand) and kept the Rocky insole in. That was more comfortable but it led to other problems (see next).
Because their regular shoes are too narrow and their wide shoes are too wide, my feet slopped around inside of them and caused my foot to slip enough that my ankle was bent painfully on multiple occasions. If I tightened them up enough that that couldn't happen, my feet wouldn't get enough blood, resulting in even worse pain than from the inferior Rocky insoles. When I added the extra insole, that double problem only got worse so the only solution was to use socks with non-slip rubber on them.
I replaced my shoelaces because the Rocky shoelaces, frankly, SUCK, and immediately eliminated the problems of my laces loosening, double-knotting, sore feet from poor circulation and destroying my overly-thin nails trying to untie the double knots.
Update 2/15/21:
I have now tried these shoes in snow, sleet and ice. They do fine on snow, but on ice they slip and they're also somewhat slippery on sleet.

Honestly, I expected much better than this. I still do not intend to buy Rocky shoes again.

Slippery Laces Solution

Remember the slippery laces I mentioned before? I had to frequently retie my double-knotted laces. A tip on slippery laces: if they slip, it's easier to wax them, which you can do by running them back and forth over a candle if you're not in possession of a piece of wax - but don't use your mom's favorite candle! As an alternative, or in addition, you can double- or even triple-tie the shoelaces (if they're long enough). Unfortunately, because these laces are synthetic, wax doesn't stick to them for very long.

If you appreciate this article, please 🏅upvote/like👍, 🤩resteem/share and share it to Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn and wherever else you can!

Rocky TMC Athletic Oxfords - Postal-Approved - Review (and a Minor Rant about FedEx)