The U.S. Postal Service faces a serious financial shortfall that is accelerating reductions in its workforce and raising the possibility of the first-ever layoffs of career employees.
Reduced mail volume, rising costs, and a newly enacted cap on rate increases all have taken a toll on the Postal Service’s finances. A gradual shift to electronic communications and bill payment is shrinking the number of first-class letters, a mainstay of postal revenues. And the current economic downturn has led to drops in advertising mail volume.
Increasing fuel prices have been a big factor in worsening postal finances, compounded by a legal restriction enacted two years ago against raising the price of most services beyond the rate of inflation. The cap on rate increases was a major victory for the big mailing industry, but combined with rising costs, it has seriously squeezed the postal budget.
Unionized postal workers have not yet experienced layoffs, which have been confined to casual employees, a small percentage of the workforce.
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But Postmaster General John Potter, after reporting losses of $2.3 billion in the fiscal year ending September 30, informed the unions that 16,000 craft employees (out of approximately 600,000) are not protected by contractual, seniority-based no-layoff clauses.
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The Postal Service is offering early retirement which, based on acceptance rates thus far, will have around 7,000 takers. In early 2009, when the number of early retirees will be known and income can be assessed for the traditionally profitable fourth quarter, there’s a chance that the first layoffs of craft employees may occur.
Cost pressures are having other effects. Most of the sorting and processing of mail already occurs between 3 p.m. and 6 a.m. But, without notice to the affected unions, postal plant managers have been told to plan for ending day shift operations. If implemented, this would force thousands of clerks (represented by American Postal Workers Union) and mailhandlers (National Postal Mailhandlers Union) out of the more desirable day-shift assignments.
The elimination of daytime jobs would disrupt the family lives and the physical health of those displaced, mostly high-seniority workers. APWU President Bill Burrus has speculated that this action is partly aimed at pushing them to retire.
One proposal to recoup costs would be to ask Congress for an exception to the rate cap, pointing to the cost of fuel. However, one union president has cautioned that too big an increase might further reduce business and drive the shift to e-communication.
The situation may encourage management, or the U.S. government, to push for more subcontracting or privatization, areas of longstanding battles with the unions. For example, the Postal Service recently asked for bids from private companies to outsource work carried out by its network of bulk mail centers. Unions have responded by pushing for favorable legislation, and by pointing out the disagreements on privatization between major-party candidates in the presidential and congressional elections.
Postal workers have been relatively immune from the concessions that have hit other industries. We now face a set of circumstances, termed “a perfect storm” by Burrus, that will challenge the ability of the unions to protect postal jobs, pay, and working conditions.
David Yao is vice president of the Greater Seattle Area Local APWU.
all the comments I've read above place all the blame on management. What about all the IOD employees who could be contributing to the workforce instead of sitting on their behinds. You know as well as I do that the vast majority of them are able-bodied. There is NOTHING wrong with them, other than the fact that they do not want to work! Get rid of their sorry as**** and you won't have to lay off any employees.
Supervisor----def. a person who supervises work done by others.
Supervise----def. to watch over
Our supervisors do just that...watch. Last I checked, every other institution calls its' supervisors managers.
Manager----def., a person who manages an enterprise or one of its parts
Manage---def., to bring about or SUCCEED in accomplishing.
Let's try a different tactic at the post office and get rid of the problem. Money is lost by merely watching things transpire. I would be willing to call the supervisors managers if they can bring about success AND accomplishments. A few hints to follow to help the post office save money as noticed in my post office.......
1. Put advos (valassis) out on Monday afternoon so that the carriers can take them out as mail volume dictates. In that I mean do not put advos out on late Tuesday afternoon (after all the carriers have gone for the day) or worse yet on Wednesday morning. Late distribution of advos creates later delivery that day and later departures by the mail carriers. Instead of getting out of the PO at 1200 we could leave at 1100. This would allow us to take any and all express mail on our route. The PO would not have to pay RCA's to deliver the express mail and 64 cents a mile. Four RCA's on the green card for and hour each plus 64 cents a mile (100 miles)----- $18/hour x 4 hours + $64 EMA $138.00 each Wednesday. Same analysis could be done for distribution of bypass 6 days a week------6 days x $138.00/day = 828.00/week.....not to mention the overtime that is created when RCA's are overworked fruitlessly, but I will leave this at that.
2. RCA's delivering reworked mail that was worked late or arrived late at the post office (I know it defeats the phrase "every piece every day", but as one can see the money saved is almost incomprehensible, see later). Customers will not receive inferior service here because they have already picked up their mail for the day and why would the post office deliver twice in one day with gas prices the way they are. More often then not the mail would stay in the mailbox overnight available for anybody to claim. RCA's have been asked to do this countless times this past year. Let's throw some numbers out there---- 2 days/week x 5 RCA's/day x $18/hour x 2 hours + 200 miles EMA x 64 cents/mi = $488.00/week (gross underestimate by the way).
828.00 + 488 = $1316.00/week x 52 weeks/year = $68432/year IN ONE POST OFFICE ALONE.
Underestimate I know but let me say there are 20000 post offices that operate this way in the US 20000 x 68432 = 1.368 billion dollars spent....incomprehensible the waste....
Now I don't know how many post offices this kind of practice is occuring, but that is one heck of a bonus for somebody!!!!!!!! or loss recovery whichever is more important and prudent at this juncture.
Now let us run the post office like a business and crunch some numbers NOT jobs. Let us manage the post office and not supervise its' demise.
I have read all comments posted. It is laughable that some people think older employees are the necessary tool to be dismisssed for this organization to become competitve. Some older employees should retire if they cannot do the job. But on the other hand a lot of younger employees cannot do the job either. Some of the anwsers do not come from six day deliveries. Surely that could save money. But listen to yourselves talking about layoffs and attempting to eliminate YOUR job. Are you crazy?
The Postal Service lacks competent management. PERIOD! There is about a 1:16 management to employee ratio. Any bussiness would fail with such numbers. All you hear is craft layoffs... nothing about management layoffs. If 40,000 craft employees would be eliminiated the ratio (managment to employee) would be stagering.
please tell me what does management do when all the carriers are out of the office and the usless reports are finished? Some, if not most of these positions should be "PART TIME"! In our area, our office is managed by the POM who knows nothing about what is going on from day to day on our work floor. So our managers cannot even manage their own offices. Is this crazy - or what? The POM calls in from 'town' and dictates assignments (pivots, mail volume, etc...)
We have the largest fleet of any organization in the USA. Start running these vehicles on natuaral gas. leave those gas hogs to die. We can convert the engines for as little as $300.00 a vehicle. Any time the gas goes up $0.01 it cost us millions in dollars.
Eliminate the bounuses to mgt.. And let us stop rewarding incompentence by giving big pay raises to the top brass if we are in such trouble. Give your pay raise back Potter!
combine some of the small post offices with one postmaster in charge.Keep all the post offices open with a clerk in charge and allow the postmaster to float between the offices. Cut out bonuses for postmasters. They earn enough as it is.
Here here! Some small offices take 3 days (or more) to come up with enough money to even make a deposit. Why are they kept open? Stupid!?
I have read all of your comments and hear your frustration. Someone with the power needs to read this and act. The answers are here!
1. It's so obvious. Stop delivering mail on Saturdays. The tens of millions you save in gas alone should demand this action.
2. Shorten retail hours. Clerks stand around from 5:30 to 6:30 (sometimes 7:30) waiting on no one. Meanwhile we can't cover the main part of the day and people wait 20 minutes to get service. Bad business. People will come the hours we're open.
3. Mandatory Retirement. There is to much dead weight.
4. Management overhaul. Again there is too much dead weight. I have never seen so many people who are called supervisors and managers and have no clue how to manage or supervise.
Major down-sizing has to be made in order to survive.
It was good too see our top leaders got big raises. Has the world gone mad?
I agree about stopping Saturday delivery. I retired from the Postal Service after 18 yrs. From the day I started to work at the PO, I have said that Saturday delivery should be abolished. The Unions are against it, but in order to survive through these tough times I think it is necessary. Management needs to be "downsized" and smaller offices closed. The problem with management is that they love the postition of authority, it doesn't matter if they know how to manage or supeprvise. For the most part, employees know what to do and how to do it. Employees are "overmanaged".
1. In our rural community, many of our elderly rely on the postal service to receive their medications. If we stop delivering on Saturdays, that means that when there is a Monday holiday, some of these folks won't get their medications (not to mention their newspapers and bills) until the following Tuesday. Losing Saturday delivery in our rural area would be catastrophic!
2. As in point 1, a one-size-fits-all fix isn't going to do. Our small town postoffice has a PM, PMR, and 2 rural carriers that serve 4 towns. Our community has been moving from a farming community to a bedroom community as city folk have been fleeing to the country for a quieter, healthier place to live, but still commute to the city daily for work.
Our post office is open from 8-9 a.m. Saturdays. It's not long enough! I get more people pulling on the door after it's locked every week than come in during the hour we are open. Can we say "Lost Revenue?" The city commuters want to sleep in a bit on Saturdays. If we aren't open when they can get into town, we lose the revenue. Packages go off to the workplace where they may be sent UPS or FedEx at their places of business.
I agree that management needs to be streamlined, or at least coordinated. It seems the right hand never knows what the left hand is doing. Any day of the week, we get "revisions" that revise yesterdays revised revisions ...
And please understand that small rural offices with only one person working the office at any given time cannot effeciently operate exactly like the big city offices with clerks.
The recent additions of SPMS and CPMS have made our office run less efficiently, especially on Saturday. I have to have the box section mail all up by 10. My window closes at 9. I am required to stop putting up my box mail so I can change course to pull the indoor drop tub, scan that it has been picked up, put the scanner back on the cradle to send the info immediately, then I can go back to my box up. Hurry, get it done, take the scanner off the cradle (again), scan my badge (again), scan the box up barcode, put the scanner back on the crade (again) and send immediately so I will be able to run the reports they've added to our closeout process (with no added time in which to do all this).
Your suggestions sound very similar to USPS business strategy. USPS has been pushing for online self-service. A business that does not want to work for it's own core business. Don't deliver on saturday. Cut Window service. Lay off employees so less service is provided to the public. Junk mail may pay the bills but it is done at a just break even point. That is the place to start. NOT - Let's stop delivering letters- I bet we can save money that way.
Can i have some of those combined Federal charity donations, that all of us just signed up for??? Also, will this mean no Christmas Party at my BMC this year??.... Why doesn't the Postal Service raise the rates on bulk mailers, who take advantage of the cheap costs to mail their junk advertisements, catalogues, and other special products??
Have any of you ever walked thru the office of a main sectional center , i have and its safe to say theres alot of nothing going on and its quite easy to see money wasted on a regular and daily basis , so if you want to layoff employees start with management and the outrageous unwarranted bonus's given out bi yearly for pretty much doing nothing but sitting on there rear ends
How many highway contract routes across the united states does the post office have?? Getting rid of these contract routes will give us regular postal workers more to work with in preventing layoffs, and yes get rid of these soooo many inspectors and sups,, cut the fat first!
As a letter carrier with over twenty years service I have taken great pride in doing the best job I can. However, now management has started leaving routes vacant, forcing other carriers to split them up and carry along with their regular routes. what management refuses to realize is we are constantly trying to deliver on routes that we do not know streets arre residents, resulting in poor customer service. Forwards, hold mail, consistent deliver times are almost impossible to keep current when there is no regular carrier on route. while local management like to make it look like less carriers are needed to carry more routes what they do not show is the amount of missdeliveries, and delayed mail resulting from these policies. However it seems not reduction in management has occured, if anything it has increased, inspectors always seems to travel in two's, route counts are done only to be disregarded if they do not favor management, and half the time management is out of office on personal business. In bad times good customer service will save a company qucker than anything, I just hope its not to late
I retired in 1992 as a manager at a small (EAS 20) office in NJ. I said it then, and I'll say it again, eliminate Saturday delivery, get rid of the redundant multiple levels of management and concentrate on our mission - delivering the mail, make the routes more realistic (I examined carriers who were DONE on inspection day at 1 PM and no route adjustment was done) I've seen carrier cases with entire shevles deviod of mail because the addresses had been torn down and converted to parking lots and the stops weren't taken off the route. We were directed to do route inspections in PENCIL rather than ink so that management at the Sectional Center could "revise" our work for their own benefit. (Postmaster levels at that time were determined by, among other criteria, the number of deliveries)
Keep on doing what you guys do - we're still the best, most efficient, and cheapest postal system in the world!!
A route done at 1PM? Was this a daily occurence or happened during route check week? The PO would not know an honest route check/adjustment if it bit them in the butt! Checking a route with the lightest possible volumes, holding back mail during that check(yes, we've caught you doing this), not giving time for parcels, etc. etc. etc. does not make for a fairly assessed route or adjustment. My normally 8 hour route was just adjusted to 8:40. 2 routes were just eliminated from my zip at a high volume station. We have been buried in mail since sept. so where is this supposed drop in volume? We literally fight every day with our bosses because it is impossible to get these routes done in 8 hours and they don't want to approve the OT or aux. assistance to get the mail delivered. 10 to 20 tubs cut on the floor is a daily occurence. I guess we have a "take the money and run" attitude when it comes to getting our mailers products delivered, because they're not! Carriers do not even want to come to work anymore because we are treated like crap/slugs because we can't do 9 hours of work in 8. VOE is a joke! And yes you do get bonuses/peformance awards at the end of the year based on the number of routes you've eliminated,the amount of mail that sits on the floor, and how badly you beat up your employees to reach your unattainable goals/budget numbers. With 2 years to go there is at least a light at the end of my tunnel.
this needs a top down solution, Some of the suits need to go, the effective managers need to be better compensated, automated equipment sould be accepted by the USPS by REAL engineers and not some floor manager that is good on her back or under a desk. Better training for MPE operators and thier supervisors, a third of my calls to machines are due to operator induced errors. Shoot the MDO that trys to hide mail. Better retirement packages to get the very senior out and keep a better eye on the bulk mailers to insure that the mail is in fact machineable and charge them dearly when it isn't
#1. Buy up all the DHL Airplanes and start offering freight services to our customers. We will see a greater strategic way of generating more money now. With DHL inoperable in the US we can take advantage rigt now. But the USPS must act quick. I heard DHL is already in negotiations with UPS to take their business and airplanes.
The post office spends so much money on inferior parts for our vehicles. Yes these vehicles are driven hard and the fleet is very old but they have had many parts replaced If they bought a better quality part a lot of money could be saved. we replace so many of the same parts over and over and the PO doesnt see it. Cheap parts dont save on the labor no matter if its a vmf or a contractor, which they are eating the post office alive for what they are is charging us. we need less paperwork to repair vehicles we waste so much time writing down time, that it takes longer than some repairs. mechanics need to know what vehicle, repair or service to be done a work order to write down parts and our time and effort will be on the vehicle not on the paperwork. clock in and out only. there are many mechanics out that will agree many of us have great ideas to repair vehicles better and to service easier to save money. i came into the po vmf from the real world of auto repair. there is not a business that would still be in business if it was run like the post office vmfs. they need people that know how to run a shop. it will save tons of money and be productive! remember the post office is one big wheel except for overmangement practices each job is needed to deliever the mail and that is what we do. yes i am one of the under 6 years employees and i really like my job even though its seems like this place is a circus without a ringmaster. I hope someone with a lot of sense in high places reads all these comments and realizes that a lot of the workers in the post office know how to do there jobs well and to take some ideas so we can save our jobs. By the way postal workers dont deserve to be burned because of the oil barons and the wall st thieves! AJFPJR2
As a retired postal employee I feel that one problem is the delivery goals, that are developed by the Postal Service, create the need for overtime costs to meet on many occasions. Another problem is the delivery of mail on Saturday..Not needed and would save 20% of related delivery costs....So, eliminate "overtime" and Saturday delivery...that combination would solve the financial problems.
The average citizen does not know or care about the tremendous job the Postal Servise does in the collection ,processing and delivery
of the mail. Postal vehicles travel hundreds of thousands of miles each day. Drop a letter in a collection box and feel confident that it will reach it's destination in a timely manner. I have always been very proud of the organization. It performs a very important service to the country and I hope it remains a Federal Agency....
In our office almost daily for the last six months we have at least one to four inspectors who literally do nothing but watch us work. They drink coffee endlessly and make constant trips to dunkin donuts for more snacks while craft emplyees who DO THE JOB AND MAKE THE MONEY are harassed by these lazy useless bloated so called inspectors!!
Why doesnt postal management eliminate there 70,000 per inspector salarys and positions that acomplish nothing but demoralize the real workers!!
Think of the savings nationwide!! I am just in one small office!!
The savings would be signifigant!! Cut the real fat!!! Those that could not cut a real job and instead of being layed off were rewarded to inspector positions. Those who cant do watch!!!
Now thats a real savings. One that would reap instant benefits and savings for the postal service!
Well you are exactly right, they have convinced management at the Postal Service where I have worked for twenty one years as a clerk that I misrepresented work abilities. I was told last Friday to clock out and was put on administrative leave and then told on Saturday I am being proposed for a removal. Plus MDO stated this was not discipline so he did not have to follow the National Agreement. Now rumors are spreading that I falsfied my Work Comp Claim around the plant, which is farthest from the truth. I now feel like the Postal Inspectors have put cameras in my car my home and are listening to me wherever I am. I was heavily involved in the APWU for the last sixteen years and was an officer until this year when I lost the election in the local. I feel like they are going after anyone and everybody to get employees out of the Postal Service. I was off from Doctor's orders but now I am sure they got the doctor to give them my paperwork that he had in my file which was suppose to be covered by the Privacy Act. They do what the want and they injure employees lifes and just do not care. I believe these Postal Inspectors are originating from the DEVIL along with Postal Management.
I completely agree. After 35 years in the post office, I watched a profitable, customer service business become a top heavy,no-service, no regard for the employee business. In my small office of 50 routes, when the carriers and clerks are gone during the day - you have 6 to 8 supervisors sitting around a computer, doing non-productive things. Why not eliminate these jobs, put some real leadership in place (they will only need half of what they have now, if the leadership is skilled and knows what they are doing), and put these useless managers back on the street or working the second shift, sorting mail? And pay them what they are worth, which will save the postal system enough money to restore the economic health of the organization.
The real workers are the craft employees. They know how to do their job - just leave them alone, quit timing them, and telling them by count how long it should take to do the job they know better than any of the supervisors, who are often people that couldn't cut it in the real world. The carriers (not the supervisors) know how to take care of the customers, and this is what they were hired to do. Get rid of the carriers who are not doing their jobs - instead of promoting them to supervisory positions, where the dead weight exists today.
I am so glad to be retired from this system.
We can save a huge amount on fuel cost if we can somehow get an approval of eliminating driving to curbside mailbox deliveries and replacing those curbside mailboxes with central sets of boxes. it will take an initial investment on the new sets of boxes but the instant fuel savings will be worth it.
You just laid off 1/6 of the letter carrier work force with no Saturday delivery. You've also taken away a key selling point of many products and services by taking away Saturday delivery. Now most businesses would be even less likely to use USPS services if they can't depend on that 6 day service. Volume would drop even more and you just sent the USPS to it's demise. Nice thought for those who don't look ahead. So read the fine print with a dose of reality before making such a statement.
Also I've seen way too many managers per worker in the USPS. More sothan any other service to date. 6 mangers 62 workers or less during the day of which at least 50 are on the street. We've lost routes like any other office but I've seen more promotions and an increase in managers because of it. Less routes I guess needs more management.?! With a postmaster to boot! Who does what job you ask? What a mess for both the customer and the worker. Give a direction to some of these over managed areas or cut the fat. You don't need a manager for 1 worker left in the office.
Hmmmmmmmm...didn't the oh so lovely PMG get a 39% pay increase this year? Even though we are in the hole, they keep changing our start times and our schedules, yet managements hours stay the same? They take lowest bids on everything, and dont manage the work that they do CONTRACT out, we still have TE's, half of them have quit because we hired and trained too many that we did not have hours foror need. So that's plenty of wasted funds on training. The claim that flat sorter machines are going to do away with so many jobs etc, is absurd, we don't even have 100% on DPS letters after 14 years! So if you are getting rid of so many employees, via layoffs or early outs, why are supervisor and district positions not being done away with? ...... Oh yeah the snakes cover THIER jobs, that don't actually accomplish anything for the NON PROFIT postal service. Management needs to be completely rehauled , starting with the PMG, all bonuses need to be done away with, and the large salary increases that high level management recieved earlier this year, needs to be revoked. If salary caps are implemented, mangement should be included along with craft employees. It's time for the postal committee to actually listen to the 700,000 craft employees of the post office, not the crooked managers, to keep good non profit logistical services that are affordable for the American people!
Sincerely,
tired of the smoke screen and lies
get rid of these small offices that make about $10 dollars a day. yes that's right. some are. i think they are an E post office. get rid of people at the top. we know how much they are working. get rid of some managers on the work room floor. they simply stand there watching. i've been working here for about 23 years, and surprise, i like my job. ptf at a level 18 office. will NEVER be a regular. that early retirement did not work for me. still have bills to pay.
While the Postal Service talks about laying off "Regulars" with less than 6 years of service, which they can do, the present contract with the Postal Workers Union calls for (I am pretty sure!) offering early retirement with severance pay to senior employees first.
There are many older employees, expensive ones for the PO, who would jump at the idea of retiring if offered a couple more years of seniority or a year or two in pay. They could not take the last deal ast the Thrift Saving, 401K type program is down so much for all of us who have our savings in stock mutual funds.
Theresa Neckameyer
Postal Clerk
Irvine, CA
I agree with Theresa from Irvine ,Ca. If the Postal Service offered senior employees some kind of incentive package to retire then I am sure that I lot of us would take it. This would benefit both the Postal Service and the employees. The Postal Service would be able to hire new employees at half the wages( that is a 2 to 1 ratio ) and pay no benefits.And the employees that were retiring would benefit from the money or if needed the years service. I know that is what I'm waiting for, because as many say why should I retire? No I will work until the Postal Service sees the light and starts running it operation efficiently.
After 25 years as a BMC Mailhandler, I read all of these comments with a grain of salt but I see a commaon thread. My own observations of wasteful expenditures on "automation equipment" lead me to believe that there are more bad bargains (inventions) to be had out there than leaves on the trees and that the geniuses who contract out for this stuff are what P.T. Barnum counted on to make his millions. Scanning has been tried here and tracks nothing to it's destination unless every cog in the pinion works flawlessly. In the meantime, RFID tech and GPS could have been implemented in lieu of Motorola scanners and would have required absolutely NO additional man-hours worked to get impeccable results for customer satisfaction. Instead of leading the industry, we once again, are tagging along behind our competitors, afraid to step into the new world on our own two feet until someone else beats us to it.
Our BMC spent an estimated $80,000 a piece for six, automated, container-Postal-Pac dumpers in South In-Bound to handle destinating parcels. Now, those dumpers are sitting still while 1970's type, manually operated dumpers are doing the same thing at the North end of our facility, handling a higher volume with less maintenance. Mailhandlers spoke loud and clear when these "auto-contraptions" were first installed and tested but no one wanted to hear us. This is systemic of how upper management ignores and sometimes discourages input from Mailhandlers who actually MOVE the U.S. Mail and don't just wave it through on a whim and a wish...
Innovation and new ideas will succeed in our business, but only if positive feedback and suggested improvements from the lower tier of our employee base is heard and recognized. Experienced Mailhandlers have volumes of "un-published data" to lend to those in Management positions who are willing to listen...
JaxJoe
JAX BMC
I'm a letter carrier and anytime upper management wants "improve" our working conditions (DPS, 2 addresses per cell, slower scanners, multiple bundles carried on the side, having a yellow sticker appear with as a forward instead of receiving the actual COA so we don't know someone is moving until after the fact just to name a few) we are told "This is more efficient." It just gets old getting marching orders from people that don't have real world experience in a craft they are managing.
No Sat. delivery is not the answer. Take a look at rate chart, you must be a math professor to understand it. A leter is a letter no matter who mails it. There should be only one rate for a letter. Cut out the pre sort, pre bundled, free add ons,etc. My chart would look something like this:
envelopes 40 cents / card stock = 35 cents / package = by weight
surcharge = overnight / 2nd day / cod / certified delivery
The Post Office needs to get rid of the DEAD WEIGHT at the top that it continues to carry on its back. When you create a job for someone to monitor carriers on the street i.e. driving, delivery etc. instead of the supervisors doing their job with street supervision this seems to be a waste of money. Our management said if everyone could make up $500 the Postal Service ship could be righted. My suggestion give all supervisors, managers, pooms etc a time card. Believe me this would save multiple $500 contributions. Also give them a cost of living raise instead of their bonuses and watch your savings grow. Now their cutting us down to 1 PTF mailhandler when 2 full-time veteran mailhandlers have their hands full. This used to be a 3 man job for 3 zip codes. Eliminate the big cheese jobs instead of the money makers such as clerks, mailhandlers and carriers. We know OUR JOBS we don't need them to MICRO MANAGE US!
I would think that if the postal service offered a financial incentive to employees for retiring early they would get a lot of takers. The people I've heard talking about the current offer won't take it because of a lack of financial incentive. They would if it was offered.
This would lower the labor expense because the people who then moved up to their jobs would do so at a lower rate of pay because of their fewer years on the job.
If Saturday delivery is eliminated then a lot of rural carrier relief workers will be without a job. The only way to a regular carrier position is through being a relief carrier.
Also:
Monday's mail volume is bad enough now just wait until you add all of Saturday's mail onto the pile.
Get rid of Saturday delivery. Its so obvious. You will save in every aspect. Its stupid to waste tons of money on saturday delivery. You can have PTFs work on Saturday to case mail so Mondays will not be as bad.
why don't their daddy uncle sam step in and save them like he did with the banks and possibly the investors? well, they lived high on the hog for many years now, and have a government retirement plan which is outlandish in comparison to the "regular" population.
close all those small post offices-here on Cape Cod there are towns of 10,000 people that have 5( yes 5 post offices with 5 postmasters) and one town (barnstable) with a population of about 40,000 that has 9
(yes nine) independent post offices-each with its own postmaster and a number which also have supervisors
lay off the pencil pushers. - raise the rates on junk mail - we have a monopoly already. just double the rates.No one should get free po box rents.
The APWU contract is good. BUT does it prevail under the 2006 Postal
re-organizational act? I had read somewhere on the APWU site that with a stroke of a pen, congress can over-ride contractual agreements in times such as these. I dont want a false sense of security with the contract which comforted me in many turbulent times with the USPS.
How about now? We need to start reading more of the 2006 reorganizational act as well, since it is quite new and unfamiliar.
I wonder about the possibility of management getting rid of Tour II for management. After all, we minions need their guidance to perform our tasks competently. They should be there with us. What a joke!
The USPS always has been, and always will be:
1. The most anti-family institution in America.
2. A perfect illustration of the Peter Principle.
3. A government cash cow.
4. Accountable for nothing.
The USPS has not always been, and may not soon be:
1. Union
WE, the WORKERS, need ONE UNION - with none of the current talking heads at the helm. It is because of the sheer number of talking heads that this will never occur. Power is a drug, and we have junkies. And a junkie will do and sell (out) anyone or anything to keep the fix on.
I agree 100%. The Postal Service needs only one Union. I retired from the Postal Service several years ago. My husband retired from the trucking industry and was a member of the Teamster Union. They have One union, (different clasifications) dock, road, office, etc. Each has their own representative, but one Union. It could work for the postal workers if there weren't so many power hungry people in the postal unions. Our Unions need to come together as One.
Postal management could save considerable cash if they stopped losing grievances. To do that, they would have to stop continually breaking the contract. I'm going on 25 years, and that's one thing that has never changed: management doesn't have a clue about the actual work, so they try to show their authority by breaking the rules, which they in due course pay for. They also could save money if they knew how to manage, that is coordinate things so that people wouldn't be continually tripping over each other through the night. And so on... At any rate, hopes of improvement are mostly pipe dreams; I'm planning to be gone in two to three years, and good riddance. If I could do it all over again, I'd do something else. The Postal Service is not a happy place, and I don't think it can be.
Cutting out Saturday delivery is the one idea that is most logical. I don't care if I get mail on Saturday or not. If businesses want mail on Saturday they should talk to their post master about a "back door" caller agreement or rent a large box at their Post Office. The amount of money this would save is staggering.
Anyone that has 30yrs plus of service, show them the door. The military has that rule and they are Federal, so why can't the USPS get onboard with this. I see ALOT of 30yrs+folks at my station and to me,they have done their time but have become a safety hazard because of their age. Maybe they don't want to leave because they are living beyond their "means" aka too materialistic!
Not to mention the latest rage of cutting the PTF's hours to 7 per day, but however the "keystone cop" management that we have are giving out relays to the OTDL folks and mandating like there is no tomorrow and they want to say they are saving $$$..give me a break, who is the friggin head donut in this picture????
THERE IS A SMALL LAW CALLED EEO THAT YOU MIGHT WANT TO READ UP ON BEFORE SAYING TO GET RID OF THE OLD PEOPLE...
I have to put in at least 34 years to be eligible for full retirement. Watch what you say about some of the older timers.
When is the postal service gonna cut the garbage starting with management.Useless number crunchers who are overpaid and do nothing to benefit the real needs of the service.Eliminate the fat bonuses they receive and some of the positions they hold.
Mandatory retirement instead voluntary; Downsize management; fire incapable empolyees.
Lay off junior employees(less 6 years service) doesn't make sense. Most juniors are younger and capable. If lay them off and keep seniors(over 62 years old), USPS still need to pay overtime or hire casuals, you know why. Also USPS have to start new hiring soon because seniors can not stay long even they wish to.
Downsize management is common sense for the business. No need to explain it.
USPS have significant number incapable employees. They don't want to work, what they want to do is killing 8 hours time, that's all.
USPS NEED CHANGE!!!
Why not mandatory retirements? One things for sure at some point the economy will rebound and as America grays the postal service will want those younger workers.
There is no reason older workers couldnt retire and then take part time jobs to fill their monetary needs but it is unfair to expect any operation to keep workers eligable for retirement when their skills are diminished by age.
What about people who did not take the VER because nothing was offered? Many people did not take it for that very reason. Do you think the post office will have to offer another VER?
