Where the heck is the NEW CONTRACT?

[TheDude]

We got a standup talk today about how broke the USPS is, and how much $$$ money they're losing... they even equated how many carriers & clerks this loss equaled... I was hoping they would say how many mngt geekazoids they would have to get rid of to make up this amount... but, they didn't... probably afraid we all would have cheered...

This probably had nothing to do with them getting ready to put the screws to us on the contracts... ?

Waste? You want to hear about some waste?
Our office for an angry call from a district head and a POOM a couple days ago because we failed an international express. We are a tiny office so the PM was pretty sure we didn't get one. After about 5 hours of being berated by email on the rules and the phrases "heads will roll" and "totally unacceptable", they schedule a meeting with the POOM, district, my PM and RMPO head at 630am at the P&DC about 100 miles away. My PM decides to look up the tracking number. First, the parcel was mis-shipped with a transposed number in the zip code. It wasn't even supposed to at our office. Secondly, when we got it, it was already 3 days dead on arrival.
My PM relays the info to the district head and POOM. Should be over, right? No word back for about 12 hours and the PM again sends the message with screenshots of the tracking info saying our office did nothing wrong.
Eventually, we get an email back saying we did screw up because we scanned it wrong. It shouldn't have been marked mis-shipped but missent. Everyone is doing it this way they said. My PM has been around quite a long time and called up a bunch of area PMs to ask them what they do and no one has heard of this change.
Anyways, at least they don't have to go to that meeting 100 miles away at 630am and get coverage for an already understaffed office, right?
Wrong. As of 5pm tonight they still want the PM up there to answer for a failed international express that arrived at the wrong office already dead on arrival. This is a prime reason why no matter what efficiency methods or pay cuts they give the carriers the PO will never get ahead.

By the way, the district head making these decisions has a base salary of $155K.

 

[mwellis32]

This is just another point of what's wrong with the PO. Little IQ's drawing big $$$ and beating good people over the head for no reason at all! They are worthless! How did it get this way???

 

[mwellis32]

I think most old timers are riding the beast until it gets near it's last breath, and then they'll jump off...

Maybe staying on the Titanic until the band quits playing...

Pick your own metaphor... ?

I've got my finger on the light switch! Turn out the lights the party (aka CIRCUS ) is over, For me at least. I hope I can jump off this crashing plane the second before it crashes and burns!

 

[mwellis32]

They can hire plenty of big salary$$$ to watch me deliver mail on a computer screen with a system that is far from perfect to find fault with every little move I make so I can explain why I was sitting in the middle of a busy street for 12 mins. for which I have no idea what they are talking about, but I'm guilty and have to prove I'm innocent? This is getting damn scary! Wow a new era of postal harassment!! 45 minites on my 8127 for scanner data bashing!!!

 

[mwellis32]

Management pisses all the money away then blames us for doing our jobs!

 

[mwellis32]

I often think of that... they're now sitting around on their little PacMan computers watching us deliver the mail just as we've done for DECADES... and what, now they're gonna start giving us some pointers about how to do it better??? ?

If they wanna show me how to deliver my route better, I'd be happy to ride in the backseat and take notes while they show me how it's *REALLY* supposed to be done... that'd be hilarious... ?

How can they tell us how to do this job, when they can not do their own? What is their job anyway? Watching me for faults all day?

 

[DB.Cooper]

Waste? You want to hear about some waste?
Our office for an angry call from a district head and a POOM a couple days ago because we failed an international express. We are a tiny office so the PM was pretty sure we didn't get one. After about 5 hours of being berated by email on the rules and the phrases "heads will roll" and "totally unacceptable", they schedule a meeting with the POOM, district, my PM and RMPO head at 630am at the P&DC about 100 miles away. My PM decides to look up the tracking number. First, the parcel was mis-shipped with a transposed number in the zip code. It wasn't even supposed to at our office. Secondly, when we got it, it was already 3 days dead on arrival.
My PM relays the info to the district head and POOM. Should be over, right? No word back for about 12 hours and the PM again sends the message with screenshots of the tracking info saying our office did nothing wrong.
Eventually, we get an email back saying we did screw up because we scanned it wrong. It shouldn't have been marked mis-shipped but missent. Everyone is doing it this way they said. My PM has been around quite a long time and called up a bunch of area PMs to ask them what they do and no one has heard of this change.
Anyways, at least they don't have to go to that meeting 100 miles away at 630am and get coverage for an already understaffed office, right?
Wrong. As of 5pm tonight they still want the PM up there to answer for a failed international express that arrived at the wrong office already dead on arrival. This is a prime reason why no matter what efficiency methods or pay cuts they give the carriers the PO will never get ahead.

By the way, the district head making these decisions has a base salary of $155K.

Everywhere we look we see waste and mis-mngt... and then they want us to act surprised when they tell us the PO is losing $$$ money... ?

 

[Bud Budderly]

Waste? You want to hear about some waste?
Our office for an angry call from a district head and a POOM a couple days ago because we failed an international express. We are a tiny office so the PM was pretty sure we didn't get one. After about 5 hours of being berated by email on the rules and the phrases "heads will roll" and "totally unacceptable", they schedule a meeting with the POOM, district, my PM and RMPO head at 630am at the P&DC about 100 miles away. My PM decides to look up the tracking number. First, the parcel was mis-shipped with a transposed number in the zip code. It wasn't even supposed to at our office. Secondly, when we got it, it was already 3 days dead on arrival.
My PM relays the info to the district head and POOM. Should be over, right? No word back for about 12 hours and the PM again sends the message with screenshots of the tracking info saying our office did nothing wrong.
Eventually, we get an email back saying we did screw up because we scanned it wrong. It shouldn't have been marked mis-shipped but missent. Everyone is doing it this way they said. My PM has been around quite a long time and called up a bunch of area PMs to ask them what they do and no one has heard of this change.
Anyways, at least they don't have to go to that meeting 100 miles away at 630am and get coverage for an already understaffed office, right?
Wrong. As of 5pm tonight they still want the PM up there to answer for a failed international express that arrived at the wrong office already dead on arrival. This is a prime reason why no matter what efficiency methods or pay cuts they give the carriers the PO will never get ahead.

By the way, the district head making these decisions has a base salary of $155K.

Either we work in the same area or this kind of idiocy is widespread. Here PMs are also marched down to district HQ at 6:30 AM to answer for any Express failures and for us district policy is anything delivered after 11:30 AM is an Express failure regardless of the service guarantee. So we have carriers who are none the wiser driving around like headless chickens trying to meet these artificial time mandates when we aren't even supposed be to be required to deviate to deliver Express prior to the noon or 3:00 PM service guarantees. Nobody in management or the union has ever been able to tell me exactly what the service guarantee is on an International Express is by the way. So this International Express has been in the mailstream on a slow boat from China for who knows how long and now you're telling me if it isn't delivered by 11:30 it's late? ? Sorry boss, I won't be able to make that one. ?

 

[Rt2mailman]

Yes those are terrible examples of how the USPS loses money every day. Here's one more, about 5-7 years ago we had a district manager that was a "good" manager although had problems in the "keep your hands off your secretary department ". He wanted to retire, (he had another year or so before he could) when he was turned in for using post office money to pay for his secretary's apartment. Being the "good" manager that he was the usps instead moved him (with USPS re-location money) to an "across the country" district that was in need of a manager. He went, but also allowed postal funds to move his girlfriend secretary, of which there was no allowance. Im not done yet, of course he got a $40,000 raise for "accepting" the move, and again was using postal funds to pay for his girlfriends appartment. No she couldn't live with him, he still had a wife. After all of this was brought to light that manager was of retirement age so he retired with full benefits. By the way he immediately got a high level management job with Amazon. All of this was happening while my managers argued for every extra dime I was due for any extra work I Did.

 

[Surprise!]

So, why does management have to change?
From what I read things are working out pretty well for them.
I don't see any one that has any intention of doing something about it even if they have the opportunity.

Perhaps we can reintroduce slavery for Rural Carriers. Thumb screws and buck busting may not be profitable but I think a great number of people will enjoy inflicting it as an additional perk in their job. The Rural Carriers will scream and cry but this is what makes it fun to do these things to us.

 

[KoiPond]

Waste is paying my PM 100k a year for him to show up for 1 hour a day. Working a full day only 1 day a week. Even then he is only there for an hour in the morning then he goes home and doesn't return until close. This has been going on for years. In fact it's so bad in the past 5 years we have had half a dozen supers come and go.

 

[Shafted]

Gee, why can’t their govt issued phones track their asses like our scanners. The babysitters need more babysitting than us.

 

[hockey94]

Waste is paying my PM 100k a year for him to show up for 1 hour a day. Working a full day only 1 day a week. Even then he is only there for an hour in the morning then he goes home and doesn't return until close. This has been going on for years. In fact it's so bad in the past 5 years we have had half a dozen supers come and go.

Your PO probably runs better without your PM loser anyway.

 

[EthelAnne]

Waste is paying my PM 100k a year for him to show up for 1 hour a day. Working a full day only 1 day a week. Even then he is only there for an hour in the morning then he goes home and doesn't return until close. This has been going on for years. In fact it's so bad in the past 5 years we have had half a dozen supers come and go.

My office just got its fifth new--I guess I'll call them "Installation Head" since some have been PMs, while others have been OICs or 204Bs-- in the past year. Our office is like a revolving door. I just had a Step One meeting with the newest supervisor and I came out and said, "You're sitting in that seat today. We both know in a couple of months, I'll be dealing with someone new." It's ridiculous--they come in, know next to nothing about rural procedures or the rural contract, and then they're gone before they learn anything, and the whole thing starts over again.

 

[mwellis32]

Do any of you have supervisors who can read the contract ? Interpret the contract? Understand the contract? Give a damn about the contract?

 

[Voglio-il mio]

Do any of you have supervisors who can read the contract ? Interpret the contract? Understand the contract? Give a damn about the contract?

Yes I do! Pm, before he became PM was a member of the state board of one of the other crafts. PM in his previous life has negotiated grievance's and understand contract language.

 

[Toolology]

I think it’s obvious the NRLCA has accepted all the things in contract that the Clerk union said hell no too. They know we are going to livid how pathetic a deal they accepted. It’s all about planning the yearly play fest is all our ASSociation cares about.

 

[gerl2]

I think it’s obvious the NRLCA has accepted all the things in contract that the Clerk union said hell no too. They know we are going to livid how pathetic a deal they accepted.

The clerks have far more than we better pay, better benefits, better benefits for their part-timers. paid breaks and they do no hard work for it.

 

[btdtret]

charlie et al -- " It takes a long time to read, pronounce and then look up the meaning of all those big words in the contract. "

-- Don't forget the "small" words to, such as "may". The powers that be on both sides might as well include "may or may not" in the contract instead of just "may".

-- Even "shall", which seems pretty definite, loses its power when ignored.

 

[TheDude]

Waste? You want to hear about some waste?
Our office for an angry call from a district head and a POOM a couple days ago because we failed an international express. We are a tiny office so the PM was pretty sure we didn't get one. After about 5 hours of being berated by email on the rules and the phrases "heads will roll" and "totally unacceptable", they schedule a meeting with the POOM, district, my PM and RMPO head at 630am at the P&DC about 100 miles away. My PM decides to look up the tracking number. First, the parcel was mis-shipped with a transposed number in the zip code. It wasn't even supposed to at our office. Secondly, when we got it, it was already 3 days dead on arrival.
My PM relays the info to the district head and POOM. Should be over, right? No word back for about 12 hours and the PM again sends the message with screenshots of the tracking info saying our office did nothing wrong.
Eventually, we get an email back saying we did screw up because we scanned it wrong. It shouldn't have been marked mis-shipped but missent. Everyone is doing it this way they said. My PM has been around quite a long time and called up a bunch of area PMs to ask them what they do and no one has heard of this change.
Anyways, at least they don't have to go to that meeting 100 miles away at 630am and get coverage for an already understaffed office, right?
Wrong. As of 5pm tonight they still want the PM up there to answer for a failed international express that arrived at the wrong office already dead on arrival. This is a prime reason why no matter what efficiency methods or pay cuts they give the carriers the PO will never get ahead.

By the way, the district head making these decisions has a base salary of $155K.

Follow up, our RMPO was forced to go. A couple other offices had people there. Again, to reiterate, our office did not fail an international express, our office only received an international express that was supposed to be at another office 100 miles away AND it was dead on arrival when we got it.

The District Head, with her $155k base salary, started the 6:30AM meeting with "Well, I hope all of you are as inconvenienced as our customers were."

Absolutely amazing. Sometimes I would be okay with losing my job due to cuts and closures as long as people like that would be out of a job. I can find another job where competence is required; whereas most managers, especially this one, probably can't.