I just got my mail at 830 at night. I was talking to my carrier (briefly!). He said that was going to work until 10 PM after starting at 630 AM. I am so sorry that the craft has been reduced to this. If there are any senior members of the union reading this, shame on you for letting this happen. I did it for 30 years and look at this shit.
I Am So Sorry
- Thread starter eomr
- Start date
PostalServiceEmployeeNewman
Well-known member
I got back to the office at 8 tonight and even brought some mail back. Packages were an all time record and I had left some back at the office. Thanks Bush! Ya screwed us again!
Amazon Delivery Boy
Member
Tommorow & Saturday may be not much better...
Left at 8:25 pm tonight, back at 6 a.m. They want us at 6 a.m. until the first of the year.
PostalServiceEmployeeNewman
Well-known member
Wow
Thank God I dont have to go in til 7:30
PostalServiceEmployeeNewman
Well-known member
It is definitly a sinking ship.
They have no plan in motion ever.
It's like they still think it's the stone age and we dont deliver parcels.
They never advance.
nickiegirl62
Well-known member
We are only getting back at 6pm because the subs are running our parcels for us from 7 am untill 11. My question today was how do they expect the subs to get back Saturday when there will be no one to run their parcels for them and the truck leaves 1 hr earlier on Saturday. Blank deer in the headlights look!
going--gone
Member
Our competitors hire extra help and rent extra vehicles. They adjust and adapt as necessary. UPS and Fedex are both delivering in rentals in my part of the world. Even a mediocre manager should be able to look at the situation and adjust. After the death of a carrier we got the daily reminder to hydrate---for our health and safety. Now carriers are being put in a more dangerous situation. Will it take another death for management to change their mindset?
Sub here. I worked 5.5 hours helping my Reg Thursday, and will do the same today, as he will be over his eval for the week around noon.
Its typically ridiculous that carriers can be scrutinized for every moment they are late, every break they take, etc, but NO ONE is asking about the persons that undertook this horrible deal with Amazon. All of us that actually do the work knew it would be impossible the first week Amazon hit us. It has continued to get worse, and the Christmas blow out has just swirled down into chaos.
Whoever brokered this Amazon thing need to be publicly held to account.
Its typically ridiculous that carriers can be scrutinized for every moment they are late, every break they take, etc, but NO ONE is asking about the persons that undertook this horrible deal with Amazon. All of us that actually do the work knew it would be impossible the first week Amazon hit us. It has continued to get worse, and the Christmas blow out has just swirled down into chaos.
Whoever brokered this Amazon thing need to be publicly held to account.
lbpd16
Well-known member
I'm glad to know its not just my office that is crazy. Apparently this is the norm and not the exception. And apparently the package/parcel situation its getting exponentially worse by the year and during the holidays, by the day.
USPS upper management has no idea what they are doing. They should have been able to look at past numbers and current trends and have a plan for what they should have known would happen.
Most offices, like mine, are severely under staffed. In my situation, 1 RCA quit, 2 regulars are out on FMLA due to death in the family, and 1 regular is out on medical leave. That leaves us with 3 routes that are open every day. Me and the other RCA are running 2 of those 6 days a week. The PM is running the other route EVERY day.
Wednesday really screwed us this week. We only had a handful of people to run packages for the entire office. A few routes got zero packages out. Its was just too much for the people we had. That left yesterday set up for failure. 1.5x the DPS, we curtailed 3rd class, packages were still out of control. Did a run in the morning but when I got back it was like i didn't run a thing, cage was overflowing.
We get "help" from other offices but since they have no idea about the route, me and the other RCA have to stop working on our route and get them ready to run their route, which means casing, and getting packages sorted and marked. After all that and getting our own routes ready its impossible to complete our routes by 6pm when our district requires us to be off the street.
Yesterday, we had a little leeway. After I did my package run and half my route, a helper did the other half, I got back at 4:30 to find one route had not been touched. I took DPS to the street and took packages I knew I could deliver and got out at 5. I probably got half the route done by 6:15 and had to be in at 6:30. It was dark and raining and this town has something against street lights and home owners have something against putting up visible house numbers.
In short, its an impossible situation.
My case is different since i'm retired and just wanted something to keep me busy and can leave the job and not care at all.
But my solution is to privatize the USPS.
First order of business is get rid of the unions. In my opinion, based on what going on in my office, the union is the biggest problem and prevents any common sense in getting things done. If the regulars don't like something they file grievances. If someone has a good idea its against the contract.
Second order of business, fire 75% of upper management. They simply have no clue. "Just get it done" is their motto. They do not care how unless its against their orders or union contract. Not only do they not offer help/solutions, the handcuff us. Several potential hires were not hired because of a background check issue from over 20 years ago. They took a spare LLV that management used to help us finish our routes. They send "help" but as we have come to find out, they are sending people whos own offices don't want anyway, so you can only imagine how good the help is. Either help us or get the hell out of our way.
Third thing, curtail services. There is no reason for 6 day delivery in this day and age when mail volume is going down anyway and many people handle their business online. If people can do without service on sunday, they can do without on saturday as well.
4th thing, make changes to mail size, costs to deliver and mailbox sizes. Mail should conform to the equipment we use. Mail that is too big to fit in the case (letter or periodical) should not be allowed or it should be priced as a parcel. The oversized legal sized ads, oversized envelopes and oversized magazines all included. Also, ads that are too small should also be done away with. These postcard and smaller sized ads typically get stuck/lost and are a pain to keep up with in the regular mail. Items that are too thick should also be done away with or priced as a parcel. These things make bundling my mail a challenge. The small mailbox should also be done away with and no longer sold. Even the smallest parcel barely fits in the small box without jamming it in. As encouragement for current boxholders to make the change I would like to see an "additional postage" charge for items that don't fit.
Its my first day off since last wednesday and these things have been wearing on me lately.
End of rant.
USPS upper management has no idea what they are doing. They should have been able to look at past numbers and current trends and have a plan for what they should have known would happen.
Most offices, like mine, are severely under staffed. In my situation, 1 RCA quit, 2 regulars are out on FMLA due to death in the family, and 1 regular is out on medical leave. That leaves us with 3 routes that are open every day. Me and the other RCA are running 2 of those 6 days a week. The PM is running the other route EVERY day.
Wednesday really screwed us this week. We only had a handful of people to run packages for the entire office. A few routes got zero packages out. Its was just too much for the people we had. That left yesterday set up for failure. 1.5x the DPS, we curtailed 3rd class, packages were still out of control. Did a run in the morning but when I got back it was like i didn't run a thing, cage was overflowing.
We get "help" from other offices but since they have no idea about the route, me and the other RCA have to stop working on our route and get them ready to run their route, which means casing, and getting packages sorted and marked. After all that and getting our own routes ready its impossible to complete our routes by 6pm when our district requires us to be off the street.
Yesterday, we had a little leeway. After I did my package run and half my route, a helper did the other half, I got back at 4:30 to find one route had not been touched. I took DPS to the street and took packages I knew I could deliver and got out at 5. I probably got half the route done by 6:15 and had to be in at 6:30. It was dark and raining and this town has something against street lights and home owners have something against putting up visible house numbers.
In short, its an impossible situation.
My case is different since i'm retired and just wanted something to keep me busy and can leave the job and not care at all.
But my solution is to privatize the USPS.
First order of business is get rid of the unions. In my opinion, based on what going on in my office, the union is the biggest problem and prevents any common sense in getting things done. If the regulars don't like something they file grievances. If someone has a good idea its against the contract.
Second order of business, fire 75% of upper management. They simply have no clue. "Just get it done" is their motto. They do not care how unless its against their orders or union contract. Not only do they not offer help/solutions, the handcuff us. Several potential hires were not hired because of a background check issue from over 20 years ago. They took a spare LLV that management used to help us finish our routes. They send "help" but as we have come to find out, they are sending people whos own offices don't want anyway, so you can only imagine how good the help is. Either help us or get the hell out of our way.
Third thing, curtail services. There is no reason for 6 day delivery in this day and age when mail volume is going down anyway and many people handle their business online. If people can do without service on sunday, they can do without on saturday as well.
4th thing, make changes to mail size, costs to deliver and mailbox sizes. Mail should conform to the equipment we use. Mail that is too big to fit in the case (letter or periodical) should not be allowed or it should be priced as a parcel. The oversized legal sized ads, oversized envelopes and oversized magazines all included. Also, ads that are too small should also be done away with. These postcard and smaller sized ads typically get stuck/lost and are a pain to keep up with in the regular mail. Items that are too thick should also be done away with or priced as a parcel. These things make bundling my mail a challenge. The small mailbox should also be done away with and no longer sold. Even the smallest parcel barely fits in the small box without jamming it in. As encouragement for current boxholders to make the change I would like to see an "additional postage" charge for items that don't fit.
Its my first day off since last wednesday and these things have been wearing on me lately.
End of rant.
Ibpd16 -- "End of rant."
-- More like an essay of why I am leaving the USPS!
-- Amazing that you have stuck it out this long. Bless you! Sure hope manglement and the other RCA appreciate it.
"Third thing, curtail services. There is no reason for 6 day delivery in this day and age when mail volume is going down anyway and many people handle their business online. If people can do without service on sunday, they can do without on saturday as well.
-- Will disagree with that - somewhat. While people may be able to do without Sunday delivery, the USPS probably can't as parcels will eventually stack up. Granted the Day of National Observance was a bump in the road, so to speak, but what was Thursday like for many offices -- most likely overwhelming with manglement scanning awaiting parcels with some bogus code. Sure, letter and flat mail volume is declining but parcels are on the increase and the USPS is betting the farm on the parcel delivery business, although they have not properly planned to accommodate it ( IMHO ).
-- A year or so ago, the USPS came out with a newly designed mail box that would be a better fit for today's mailing - read "parcels", however the dreaded "grandfather" clause would, no doubt, allow customers to keep their small mail boxes. I suppose customers could write their congressmen about the mean old post office forcing them to buy a new and approved mail box, but the USPS doesn't like congressional inquiries.
-- With all the comparisons with the USPS being the TITANIC, could it be the iceberg will turn out to be Amazon?
-- More like an essay of why I am leaving the USPS!
-- Amazing that you have stuck it out this long. Bless you! Sure hope manglement and the other RCA appreciate it.
"Third thing, curtail services. There is no reason for 6 day delivery in this day and age when mail volume is going down anyway and many people handle their business online. If people can do without service on sunday, they can do without on saturday as well.
-- Will disagree with that - somewhat. While people may be able to do without Sunday delivery, the USPS probably can't as parcels will eventually stack up. Granted the Day of National Observance was a bump in the road, so to speak, but what was Thursday like for many offices -- most likely overwhelming with manglement scanning awaiting parcels with some bogus code. Sure, letter and flat mail volume is declining but parcels are on the increase and the USPS is betting the farm on the parcel delivery business, although they have not properly planned to accommodate it ( IMHO ).
-- A year or so ago, the USPS came out with a newly designed mail box that would be a better fit for today's mailing - read "parcels", however the dreaded "grandfather" clause would, no doubt, allow customers to keep their small mail boxes. I suppose customers could write their congressmen about the mean old post office forcing them to buy a new and approved mail box, but the USPS doesn't like congressional inquiries.
-- With all the comparisons with the USPS being the TITANIC, could it be the iceberg will turn out to be Amazon?
lbpd16
Well-known member
I am to the point of going into my own pocket for the few regular small box offenders and just buying a big box for them. It would be worth it to me.
Maybe the USPS can come up with a split of its work force. Have a "mail" component and a "package delivery" component. I always thought this would make more sense. I can deliver all my mail OR all my packages every day with no issues. But both is a huge headache. But I know I will get the same ol argument that the USPS will not pay 2 people to run the same route. To me that is backward thinking. What we are doing now is not working. Its insane to keep doing the same thing and expecting things to get better.
I plan to keep sticking around. Since I joined in May 2 RCA's got promoted to career and 1 RCA quit. 2 other RCA's are doing hold downs. The other RCA ahead of me is probably leaving to an office closer to home. I will be the #1 rotating RCA. They are planning to make PTF's after the holidays so I'm holding on hoping to get that career position. I can do 8 years standing on my head to be able to be vested and collect another retirement check eventually.
Plus RCAs and regular rurals are kinda an "us against them" type situation in our office. They keep screwing us so I am making it a point to screw them every time I get a chance. As mentioned in another post, they are some of the biggest whiny crybabies I've seen.
Maybe the USPS can come up with a split of its work force. Have a "mail" component and a "package delivery" component. I always thought this would make more sense. I can deliver all my mail OR all my packages every day with no issues. But both is a huge headache. But I know I will get the same ol argument that the USPS will not pay 2 people to run the same route. To me that is backward thinking. What we are doing now is not working. Its insane to keep doing the same thing and expecting things to get better.
I plan to keep sticking around. Since I joined in May 2 RCA's got promoted to career and 1 RCA quit. 2 other RCA's are doing hold downs. The other RCA ahead of me is probably leaving to an office closer to home. I will be the #1 rotating RCA. They are planning to make PTF's after the holidays so I'm holding on hoping to get that career position. I can do 8 years standing on my head to be able to be vested and collect another retirement check eventually.
Plus RCAs and regular rurals are kinda an "us against them" type situation in our office. They keep screwing us so I am making it a point to screw them every time I get a chance. As mentioned in another post, they are some of the biggest whiny crybabies I've seen.
Shafted
Well-known member
Gonna take some flak here but I totally agree with you. The recent crop of RCA’s have NO work ethic, they are whiny, lazy, and expect to be regular immediately, and act like they have a big chip on their shoulders because they aren’t. My attitude is sit down and shut up, or leave. We all have been there, done that, and got the t-shirt. There’s the door, don’t let it hit you on the backside.
Ibpd16 -- "But I know I will get the same old argument that the USPS will not pay 2 people to run the same route."
-- To get manglement really mad if they mention 2 people running the same route, you can always come back with "But it is okay to have 2 routes use the same case?"
" I can do 8 years standing on my head to be able to be vested and collect another retirement check eventually."
-- While the PTF position is a career position and you earn annual and sick leave, it won't count towards your retirement.
-- Only time as a regular carrier counts. ( Well, if you could buy back RCA time prior to 01 JAN 1989. Or military service, but if only you are not collecting a retirement check. Or if you are collecting a military retirement, it is possible to waive it to get the time added. Probably would have had won a lottery to do that )
-- Besides standing on your head could make mail delivery challenging.
" They keep screwing us so I am making it a point to screw them every time I get a chance."
-- Leveling the play field sounds so much better. ( IMHO )
"Plus RCAs and regular rurals are kinda an "us against them" type situation in our office."
-- That is postal manglement in action: divide and conquer.
-- Your's and "Shafted" observation of RCA's is unfortunately nothing new. Back in the early 2000's my last post office interviewed 40+ people. 3 made it through the screening process and showed up for training. One quit after his 3rd day, saying he had his wife's permission to do so! The other 2 were gone in a couple of months.
-- Estimates of $10,000 to get someone off the streets and into an LLV or POV seems to be the new norm. ( and the USPS continues to wonder why it is not making money -- that's part of the reason )
-- Seems the more automated the USPS has gotten, the slower the mail is moved.
-- Likewise, it seems the more training new people get, the faster they bail ( probably got a good look behind the curtain of what may be ahead for them ).
-- To get manglement really mad if they mention 2 people running the same route, you can always come back with "But it is okay to have 2 routes use the same case?"
" I can do 8 years standing on my head to be able to be vested and collect another retirement check eventually."
-- While the PTF position is a career position and you earn annual and sick leave, it won't count towards your retirement.
-- Only time as a regular carrier counts. ( Well, if you could buy back RCA time prior to 01 JAN 1989. Or military service, but if only you are not collecting a retirement check. Or if you are collecting a military retirement, it is possible to waive it to get the time added. Probably would have had won a lottery to do that )
-- Besides standing on your head could make mail delivery challenging.
" They keep screwing us so I am making it a point to screw them every time I get a chance."
-- Leveling the play field sounds so much better. ( IMHO )
"Plus RCAs and regular rurals are kinda an "us against them" type situation in our office."
-- That is postal manglement in action: divide and conquer.
-- Your's and "Shafted" observation of RCA's is unfortunately nothing new. Back in the early 2000's my last post office interviewed 40+ people. 3 made it through the screening process and showed up for training. One quit after his 3rd day, saying he had his wife's permission to do so! The other 2 were gone in a couple of months.
-- Estimates of $10,000 to get someone off the streets and into an LLV or POV seems to be the new norm. ( and the USPS continues to wonder why it is not making money -- that's part of the reason )
-- Seems the more automated the USPS has gotten, the slower the mail is moved.
-- Likewise, it seems the more training new people get, the faster they bail ( probably got a good look behind the curtain of what may be ahead for them ).
Last edited:
Morty
Well-known member
Dont forget the stewards that are told to process grievances after work at home. Told by the DR?Work and sleep... who needs time for anything else???
charlie
Well-known member
How's this for an idea.... I retired back in April...Yes...It's all you think it will be.... Actually had a liquid breakfast one morning while watching the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean...
The idea: There are plenty of retired carriers, city and rural, who could be the proverbial "ace in the hole". On those "sh*t hits the fan" days-like, say Christmas time-Management could call and beg for help. We'd be next to useless in casing (old brains you know) but we sure can "follow the mail" and do part of a route, or deliver packages. Have us set up ahead of time in the personnel and financial sections, pay us $20 bucks an hour. We'd be the last resort...This is called prior planning which you hope you never need to do but damn happy when you have it when you need it.
The idea: There are plenty of retired carriers, city and rural, who could be the proverbial "ace in the hole". On those "sh*t hits the fan" days-like, say Christmas time-Management could call and beg for help. We'd be next to useless in casing (old brains you know) but we sure can "follow the mail" and do part of a route, or deliver packages. Have us set up ahead of time in the personnel and financial sections, pay us $20 bucks an hour. We'd be the last resort...This is called prior planning which you hope you never need to do but damn happy when you have it when you need it.
