I'm wondering if a "postagedue" scan wouldn't be warranted. I mean, we have to handle the parcel(s) on the street and the clerk(s) have to figure out the postage rate(s) and then we charge the offending carrier(s) the appropriate rate(s) as postage due. Hmmmmmmmmm.............
UPS SurePost volume shifts away from US Postal Service, Teamsters say
- Thread starter Ruralinfo
- Start date
The reason the post office has been in no hurry to adjust overburdened routes is because they only get paid 48K even if they evaluated at 60 hours or more.
A number of hours you get to work for free.... UPS DOESN'T HAVE THAT!!!
POV ROUTES.... UPS DOESN'T HAVE THAT EITHER!!
And when you are figuring out your hourly wage as a POV Route, you have to add all the hours you spend running to or from your service station. Or for those that do all or some of their own maintenance, don't forget to include that time when figuring your REAL HOURLY WAGE.
IF YOU ARE FORTUNATE ENOUGH NOT TO FIND YOURSELF IN EITHER OF THESE S**T SHOWS, IT DOESN'T MEEN NOONE ELSE IS. AS A MATTER OF FACT MANY ARE IN THIS SITUATION. AND I'M SURE MANY WISH THEY HAD A REAL UNION FIGHTING FOR JOBS AND PAY OF THEIR MEMBERS LIKE THE TEAMSTERS DOES FOR THEIR MEMBERS. "I HAVE A DREAM"
jsthere723
Well-known member
I don’t know how it affected nationwide . But as for my route , there was big loss of volume in 2nd week of December . But since than package volume is 5 to 10% higher compared to last year
jsthere723
Well-known member
And I forgot to mention how RCA's get screwed royally on overburdened routes.
Scenario - RCA works day after holiday plus the Regulars normal relief day. Works 12 hours both days.
What does the RCA get paid 9.6 hours x 2 =19.2 hours paid for 24 hours work. UPS DOESN'T HAVE THAST!!
Scenario - RCA works 3 days of a week on an overburdened route, works 12 hours each day.
What does the RCA get paid 9.6 hours x 3 = 28.8 hours for 36 hours work. UPS DOESN'T HAVE THAT.
Wonder why we don't have RCA'S. Could it be people view a job as a place to earn money, not donate time?
jsthere723
Well-known member
I always advocated for subs working hourly . No evaluation . But the strange part is most of the subs don’t want it . Because most of them working actually like 35 hrs but getting paid 48hrs for most of the week if the year . Can’t win both way I guess . Have to choose your way
I don't think that either of us can speak for "MOST SUBS".
Certainly the shortage of subs and the 50 mile mandate have made many subs essentially fulltime workers or indentured servants, but I don't think that is universal, nor is the wishes of some an excuse for the union continuing to allow subs to be forced to volunteer time working overburdened routes. It is shameful this is not addressed. Didn't the union at one time set up a working committee or some such nonsense to address RCA retention? Do they (The Union) even know this occurs?
Haygrrl
Well-known member
Goid idea! Thanks
Haygrrl
Well-known member
Wait, i tried that, and there's no barcode. How do I scan a pickup with no barcode , it doesn't allow for pickup unscannable parcel credit. ?
U caught my attention
Well-known member
So in negotiations doesn't our inflated fake hourly wage hurt us? Will they use our wage in city carriers arbitration as a comparable? The overburdened routes are lessening the nation wide per hour rate because of the cap. Why would the PO allow the fake hourly wage to be lessened this way during negotiations?
BluesClues
Well-known member
Some do scan, if the others don't, use the postage due scan as someone else mentioned.Wait, i tried that, and there's no barcode. How do I scan a pickup with no barcode , it doesn't allow for pickup unscannable parcel credit. ?
jsthere723
Well-known member
Off course PO uses that against us in bargaining. Why wouldn’t they ?
Rogtar
Well-known member
I am a sub, with 20 fellow RCAs and 6 PTFs in my office. We do have it both ways, but no one knows anything about it. Trainers, regs, and subs especially; it's too complicated for the newer ones before they quit. The thought to work 35 and get paid 48 is fantastic. But the ability is hardly there. Brand new, we are hourly for 6 months unless we work a route consecutive days and below eval. Also if I work 40.001 than that 48 eval changes to 40.001 hourly, with OT threshold starting at 40 for us.
Two examples: Worked my 43k primary 4 days and a secondary my 5th day. Worked under eval on all enough they sent me back out under green card to assist other RCAs. I got the evals and an additional 9 hours of normal pay because i tracked my time to 39.8 hpurs that week. Stressful as hell.
I took over a hold down and regularly work over 40, so evaluation (42k) does not affect me. They stopped asking me first for additional routes because i was taking so long on this route, though it comes up some days. I work past 40 it all pays the same, no eval to keep up with and juggle to stretch below 40.
Tackling most subs is hard, but i think i have a larger group than most to compare with. Despite the contingent i listed, i have seen an additional 60 attrited out through the 1 year i have been here. The overall i get from everyone, quitters included:
1. The majority simply did not understand what the job is or asks. Load our own trucks, dismount like Fedex, organize mail? No skills are translatable and the overwhelmed leave. There is no training foR the job, Academy was Union and they showed nothing i needed except ubbm and the daily scan inputs. 4 of 5 days wasted. My OJT was with a PTF, so he educated on process, not the route. That has helped me more than everything else. The limited run we had of PTFs training worked better then regs training comparing all the ones who i have seen retain troubles when going from route to route.
We've swung both ways.
2. Pay is not enough to compensate a single workday a week. So we cross-crafts regularly, they get grievances, and our Union ADR responds with "You're getting hours, why you complaining?" On-call pay so that they stay ready to come in would be a decent answer, but despite our Union ADR nodding along to us being on-call we are not paid as such. Thus the inverse occurs:
3. Work is too much for 80 hours a week. Getting a reliable balance is impossible if we cant get a schedule made that accounts for 5-10 regs calling out. So we split multiple routes daily and stay out for 12 hours or more if the closer forgets us and we forget the time. We are not educated on a 12-hour limit because it never happens to a reg, so they never inform us.
4. Pay (again) is not leading in our area for the labor we do. Mcdonald's pays the same as an RCA, just lose out of benefits. But those benefits are taking money away from a check that already does not cover our $500 grocery, $1600 rent, $450 car payment, and so on. $817 a week during this inflationary crisis for anyone not retiring INTO this job is silly, not to mention the above "if 40" problem again. Before anyone says to "get another job", many of that 60 that quit have assuredly done so, but the objective is getting people to stay, no?
5. Treatment of management is a problem for many as well. I know I am favored or feared by them so I don't personally see actions against me I don't take advantage of, but them going around and picking up someone to dump things on is terrible. We can't take everything coming down, it's not our fault everytime something goes wrong and something doesn't scan or get mis-delivered. And your KPIs are not my problem, they are district's or someone's for not giving you the means to reach it. Track your own problems before they occur and pro-actively fix them!
6. Lastly the quality of people walking in are terrible. I know 2 RCAs i would not miss if they disappeared. The regs hate their RCAs district-wide according to our Union ADR. I go assist a particular RCA, i need to take 70% of their route so we can finish at the same time and on time. The good rise to the top of names and we all get to know each other by virtue of "ive seen you at the office but I've never driven out to help you" and the bad are single word curses we utter to each other as warnings to mentally prepare. We get people to stick around only to realize they are less than half a person, forces us to work that little extra right at the moment we thought the day was over and start to relax. This spirals to that 80 overwork period for people who are competent and decide to leave anyways.
Excuse the rant, and Union has said they wanted something for new hires but there are no details and i have no trust or faith in their process. Least with management you can track them and their reasons even if they fail it.
U caught my attention
Well-known member
The craft decided this when undertime became the goal. Shortsighted in my opinion, but what can we do? Nothing.
The majority chooses every day the fake inflated hourly wage instead of a real respectable one that is part of the rural schedule and on our form 50.
jsthere723
Well-known member
I hear you
Just want to say thank you for doing the job you do. It wasn’t to long ago I was sub with a very similar disturbing similar story as yours. Just know while your office may not be the best. The rest of us whole heartedly appreciate everything you do. I will never fault any sub for walking out the door and never returning.
As others have said, Thank You For Sticking It out.
I continue to go back to the point of this Post. A real Union fought for, not only better pay for it's members, but also for bringing back work that was farmed out away from it's members,
If tomorrow PMG Dejoy decided to put 10 - 25% of the Rural routes up for bid as Contract Routes,
How hard would our Union fight to keep those Routes?
Is anyone confident the Union would ultimately fight "UNTIL" they win a recission of those Contract Bid Postings?
For far to long the position has been to fight for what's best for MOST of the craft, not ALL the craft.
If you question that statement just think about the whole RECS process.
We were told/promised by the Engineers that 80% of carriers would be able to meet the new evaluation standards.
That alone would have made a real union ditch the evaluated system because the best case promise was 20% of the craft would be screwed by the new system. As is usually the case I believe it is worse than the promise of 20% who can't make the evaluation.
How about POV Routes. The post office I believe has admitted EMA is insufficient to cover costs, but they can't afford more. So POV Routes are still the Red Headed Step Child of the post office subsidizing the cost of delivery.
And of course there is the 2080/2240 fiasco where carriers are forced to work their relief day for No Pay At All when they exceed 2240 before the end of the guarantee year.
What percentage does this happen too?
Until it is most carriers in this situation little or nothing will likely be done, if ever.
And I've already mentioned those on overburdened routes working far more than they are getting paid, both regulars and RCA's. The Regulars on overburdened Routes with no RCA to give them relief will almost surely find themselves in the 2080/2240 situation I mentioned in the last paragraph.
Also those Regular Carriers working their Relief Day Often or on Overburdened Routes working the actual evaluation have a reduced overtime rate during the Christmas Overtime Period.
Again until this affects MOST Regular Carriers little or nothing will likely be done about it, if ever.
Perhaps the unions position is - It's fair because MOST carriers are screwed by one or another of these flaws in the system that they don't address. That's only my hypothesis based on a pure guess because as far as I can remember the union has said or done little to address any of these issues
Wouldn't it be cool to see the NRLCA represent it's members like the Teamsters represents UPS employees?
U caught my attention
Well-known member
@hunchback . My route has perks to it just by having dynamics that benefit from rrecs. I actually feel guilty about this because I know some are struggling to prosper under this system. I wish there was a better solution.
jsthere723
Well-known member
UPS stock is down about 15% today . They are not doing too good apparently
Do you know why they went down today?
They decided to cut by 50% the amount of Amazon packages they will accept.
That along with ending SurePost is a cost saving venture projected to save them 1 Billion dollars.
Short term revenue goes down but losses go down or profits go up...
BY WHAT?????
By cutting dependence on Amazon.
Apparently UPS figured out, "Where Going There Anyway" as a rational to make sweetheart deals with Amazon is a stupid policy that costs them money.
And apparently, they expect to be more profitable by reducing reliance on Amazon.
Ancient Chinese Proverb "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"
This is why UPS is always (at least) one step ahead of the post office, they are willing to change and take a step in the right direction
