The Briefing Room
Exclusive Content => Editorials => Topic started by: Hondo69 on February 07, 2017, 07:50:04 am
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I understand Donald Trump has bigger fish to fry right now but I hope he gets around to the Post Office someday soon.
As long as I can remember the Post Office has been the butt of jokes and rightfully so. As a quasi-governmental organization they are the poster child of inefficiency and ineptness. Yet they are also a symbol that represents one tiny portion of all things that make up the fabric of our society. Imagine if the Post Office was well run and efficient.
In the grand scheme of things it would be a small victory but I think it would be an important one too. If you can fix the Post Office you can fix anything. That can-do spirit is contagious which is why I think it is important.
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If you back up a bunch of decades and examine the Post Office closely you'll understand why they are such a mess. It's one of Washington's dirty little secrets. The Post Office is a mess because that's the way Congress wants them to be.
Every attempt to overhaul the Post Office has been scuttled by Congress. The same pattern repeats over and over again. A new Postmaster General comes in and is asked for plan to clean the mess up by Congress. The hard work is done and a new plan is prepared, then it is promptly dumped into the trash can by Congress. Don't take my word for this, look it up. Sad but true.
So beyond the obvious public benefit of cleaning up the Post Office and instilling the can-do spirit in a national institution, a secondary benefit would come into play as well. One big slap in the face to Congress. The party is over, no more personal slush fund at the Post Office for you.
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I don't beat up on the post office. I'm not thrilled with the way its run as an organization and feel that many of its problems have come from congress. Our postal system is still among the cheapest in the world.
Living in a tiny town like I do I actually enjoy going to the post office every morning. Its an experience in American tradition. Its where I went from being "The guy who lives in Ingram's old place" to being a neighbor with a name. Its where all the local news/gossip is distributed.
(http://i.imgur.com/5R3ivFF.jpg)
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One of the big problems with the Post Office is that it has become irrelevant in many of the areas where it used to be preeminent. Back in the days when there was no email, no texting, no social media, and when a single long-distance phone call (ie, a call to another area code) could easily cost a substantial sum of money, the US mail was about the only way to easily and cheaply communicate with friends and family who lived, for example, in a different state. Then came cell phones with national coverage plans, first with voice and then with SMS (early texting), followed by inexpensive internet connections and widespread email, followed by much more sophisticated smartphones and social media. Now, if I want to communicate with friends and family, I can do so immediately and for a cost that, per instance, is cheaper than a single stamp.
The same goes for paying bills. When I first moved out on my own I had to pay all my utilities and rent by check sent in the mail. When I bought my first car I paid the monthly installments by check sent through the mail. Now, the only check I write on a regular basis is for my rent, and since my landlord lives in the same town, I usually drop it off in person. That effectively means that what used to cost me five stamps from the US mail now costs me no postage at all.
So what's left for the Post Office? Obnoxious junk mail, the few bills that haven't gone paperless, holiday cards, certified and priority mail that competes with FedEx and UPS, and letters from older relatives who will cannot make the shift to email.
And meanwhile, the postal unions are a massive financial drag on the Post Office as civil service unions are generally on government. Like all other civil service unions, members get platinum-plated benefits they don't pay for, unlike almost everyone in the value-creating private sector.
IMHO, the Post Office should be pared back to core functions: primarily RFD, and treated like what it essentially is: a welfare type benefit.
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The problem is not with the post office,or even with the majority of the clerks or carriers. The problem IS with congress,and as a result of things like Affirmative Action,with Postal Management. They give preference it stupidity and laziness as long as it is wrapped in a brown shell,and ESPECIALLY if it is wrapped in a FEMALE or HOMOSEXUAL brown shell. Double bonus points for a homosexual female in a brown shell.
I am retired from the post office as a letter carrier,and I have personally seen female and non-whites hired right off the street and be put in management positions within 6 months. NOT talking about college graduates with business or management degrees,either. Talking about home bois and home gurls from de hood that have a hard time reading the weekly safety briefing. I have personally seen two women letter carriers suddenly declare themselves to be a lesbian couple and get promoted into side by side postmaster positions in a rural area. I've seen a black woman that gave birth to her 5th child taken off her letter carrier route and given a job sitting in the break room all day answering the telephone "because of her delicate physical condition". Meanwhile,they hired a series of temporary white workers to deliver mail on her route for her while she continued to draw her full paycheck as a letter carrier and got her regular raises.
And it starts sooner than being hired. When I went to take my test in a major city,there were foreigners there from Asia that didn't speak or read a word of English,and they were actually allowed to have translators there to read the questions to them in their native language,and then write the answers or check the blocks for them. These translators were earning some pretty big bucks and since they took the tests every day for someone,they knew all the right answers. They did the same for illiterate black Americans. I sometimes wonder why they even asked the people applying for the job to show up to be tested when someone else is answering all the questions for them,anyway.
And guess what happens when these people are hired. That's right,the post office has to hire other people to do their jobs for them in most cases. In other cases where the new hire is actually willing to work,they run the new letter carrier employees through a course to help them recognize and memorize addresses,and they are only required to deliver mail on ONE route because they still can't read English. They have memorized the route and the way the names and addresses look on that one route. Every white new employee spends months or even years working different routes every day to cover the regular carriers being out on sick leave,vacation,or to handle the route after the regular carrier retired and the route is up for bid as a permanent route for the other letter carriers,based on seniority.
I have personally seen a white female hired after me that was fast-tracked into management because she was a female,hot,and was humping someone in management. She had worked for the telephone company before getting the post office job,and won a lawsuit against the telephone company that gave her early medical retirement from the telephone company because there were several telephone operators working out of the same building where she was working that had been raped after leaving work at night,and she claimed to have had a nervous breakdown due to worrying about getting raped that prevented her from coming to work. I know this because she told me about it.
She got her job in management,and within a year she was suing the post office for sexual harassment based on the guy she was humping that got her into the management job "Sexually intimidating me into performing sexually in order to keep my job." Keep in mind this was a woman who went to a carrier union party while still a carrier,and got drunk and was humping people by the side of the swimming pool in broad daylight. Once again,she won cash damages and early retirement with less than two years invested in the job. She even retired at the supervisory level she was working when "the stress got to be too much for me to handle,and I had to start staying home because I couldn't bear the thought of going to work at that job again."
ALL of which decreases efficiency and increases costs,and ALL because Congress mandates they do these things. With every new administration in DC,the US Post Office gets a new Postmaster General,and it is ALWAYS a political appointee pay-off job to someone owed favors.
BTW,for those interested,Affirmative Action beats veteran privilege every time.
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And meanwhile, the postal unions are a massive financial drag on the Post Office as civil service unions are generally on government. Like all other civil service unions, members get platinum-plated benefits they don't pay for, unlike almost everyone in the value-creating private sector.
Not so much anymore because the retirement system is now funded partially through SS. The Post Office no longer even pays the majority of a retired postal employee's retirement check. It's been this way for at least 20 years.
You can bet the post office unions of today are totally controlled by radical leftists,though. Firing the lame,the lazy,and the incompetent is impossible.
IMHO, the Post Office should be pared back to core functions: primarily RFD, and treated like what it essentially is: a welfare type benefit.
A welfare benefit? You don't think those people in rural and small post offices don't work? Seriously?
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Not so much anymore because the retirement system is now funded partially through SS. The Post Office no longer even pays the majority of a retired postal employee's retirement check. It's been this way for at least 20 years.
You can bet the post office unions of today are totally controlled by radical leftists,though. Firing the lame,the lazy,and the incompetent is impossible.
A welfare benefit? You don't think those people in rural and small post offices don't work? Seriously?
You make good points.
I've never had a huge problem with the post office, other than maybe inexplicable (in this day and age) slowness.
I rarely use it anymore. My guess is for others my age and younger that's true as well. Not much reason to send letters via mail.
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I rarely use it anymore. My guess is for others my age and younger that's true as well. Not much reason to send letters via mail.
@Weird Tolkienish Figure
I use it all the time. Some bills I pay online,but others have to either be paid in person or by check,so it's a lot easier and cheaper to just mail it in that it is to drive them and pay in person. I live in a rural area where driving somewhere isn't a major headache,but I can't imagine it being worth the while for anyone who lives in a big city to deal with the traffic and loss of time to drive across town to pay in person.
Also,because of the distances to drive to buy stuff,I buy most of my stuff from amazon or some other online source,and I MUCH prefer to have it delivered to the local post office for me to pick up than to have it left on my doorstep where it can be rained on,stolen,chewed on by animals,etc,etc,etc.
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Post office? Who still uses that?
It's become an irrelevancy for me.
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Post office? Who still uses that?
It's become an irrelevancy for me.
I pity the mail carrier out there sliding around which chains on that little van with donut sized tires working her tail off in the snow to bring me the latest credit card offers and bills I paid electronically last week. Then again they do bring me the occasional Amazon order, but the fact remains they could deliver once a week and it wouldn't change me life too much.
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With now Walmart getting heavily on the online shopping business, there's no excuse for the Post Office to not be able to get in on all the shipping of goods from online shopping and make some money. It's not like UPS and FedEx are cheap.
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With now Walmart getting heavily on the online shopping business, there's no excuse for the Post Office to not be able to get in on all the shipping of goods from online shopping and make some money. It's not like UPS and FedEx are cheap.
They do some shipping for Amazon, but they're very slow and glitchy.
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With now Walmart getting heavily on the online shopping business, there's no excuse for the Post Office to not be able to get in on all the shipping of goods from online shopping and make some money. It's not like UPS and FedEx are cheap.
They have. My niece orders everything online, Amazon, and the post office delivers a lot of the packages.
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I pity the mail carrier out there sliding around which chains on that little van with donut sized tires working her tail off in the snow to bring me the latest credit card offers and bills I paid electronically last week. Then again they do bring me the occasional Amazon order, but the fact remains they could deliver once a week and it wouldn't change me life too much.
All I get is junk, medical bills, and nasty grams from various companies. Meh.
I do love it when I see an amazon box sitting on my porch though.
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They have. My niece orders everything online, Amazon, and the post office delivers a lot of the packages.
Around here UPS and FedEx deliver to the post office if they're early enough in the day. (our PO closes at 11 AM now)
My usual UPS driver is a 30 year route driver and he says that if UPS were to take over for the postal service that we would still have a post office but it would be more expensive and rural delivery would be a pay service. I do like his idea of eliminating the post office above the local level. Let UPS handle all the distribution from the international and national levels right down to the local post office who would then handle the rural routes and door to door deliveries.
In my grandparents day little towns like mine didn't always have a stand alone post office. If you recall from The Waltons, Ike Godsey was the postmaster and people went to Godsey's general store to get their mail. Its where the locals all went to pick up packages they had ordered.
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I understand Donald Trump has bigger fish to fry right now but I hope he gets around to the Post Office someday soon.
As long as I can remember the Post Office has been the butt of jokes and rightfully so. As a quasi-governmental organization they are the poster child of inefficiency and ineptness. Yet they are also a symbol that represents one tiny portion of all things that make up the fabric of our society. Imagine if the Post Office was well run and efficient.
In the grand scheme of things it would be a small victory but I think it would be an important one too. If you can fix the Post Office you can fix anything. That can-do spirit is contagious which is why I think it is important.
------
If you back up a bunch of decades and examine the Post Office closely you'll understand why they are such a mess. It's one of Washington's dirty little secrets. The Post Office is a mess because that's the way Congress wants them to be.
Every attempt to overhaul the Post Office has been scuttled by Congress. The same pattern repeats over and over again. A new Postmaster General comes in and is asked for plan to clean the mess up by Congress. The hard work is done and a new plan is prepared, then it is promptly dumped into the trash can by Congress. Don't take my word for this, look it up. Sad but true.
So beyond the obvious public benefit of cleaning up the Post Office and instilling the can-do spirit in a national institution, a secondary benefit would come into play as well. One big slap in the face to Congress. The party is over, no more personal slush fund at the Post Office for you.
The Post Office could use some modern thinking.
Too bad we don't have a Benjamin Franklin. Much of the crap posted here would be gone by day end.
Al
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I don't beat up on the post office. I'm not thrilled with the way its run as an organization and feel that many of its problems have come from congress. Our postal system is still among the cheapest in the world.
Living in a tiny town like I do I actually enjoy going to the post office every morning. Its an experience in American tradition. Its where I went from being "The guy who lives in Ingram's old place" to being a neighbor with a name. Its where all the local news/gossip is distributed.
Reading all the posts here I realized that I've forgotten what it's like to live in a small town. My bad, I should know better. If there is a good solution to the mess that is the Post Office it seems to me that small towns might just hold the key.
Which has me thinking again, always a dicey proposition. If the Post Office were to be privatized and sold off to the highest bidder, each individual Post Office would be viewed as a profit center by the corporate office. Many small town profit centers would not meet their quota and eventually be shut down. So to keep them from being a drag on corporate profits there must be a solution floating around out there somewhere.
I'll have to put my thinking cap on again. My hunch that is a solution that would work for small towns might just solve a lot of problems on a large scale as well.
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If I ran the Post Office I would run the Post Office. As it is today, the Post Office runs the Post Office and that ain't gonna change any time soon.
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Reading all the posts here I realized that I've forgotten what it's like to live in a small town. My bad, I should know better. If there is a good solution to the mess that is the Post Office it seems to me that small towns might just hold the key.
Which has me thinking again, always a dicey proposition. If the Post Office were to be privatized and sold off to the highest bidder, each individual Post Office would be viewed as a profit center by the corporate office. Many small town profit centers would not meet their quota and eventually be shut down. So to keep them from being a drag on corporate profits there must be a solution floating around out there somewhere.
I'll have to put my thinking cap on again. My hunch that is a solution that would work for small towns might just solve a lot of problems on a large scale as well.
Things get done a certain way in small towns.
I'll go to the post office and one elderly neighbor will inform me that another elderly neighbor needs someone to come down and change a burned out light bulb on her porch.
When the weather gets bad and my elderly neighbors are snowed in, they call the post office and ask them to give me their mail so I can get it to them.
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Things get done a certain way in small towns.
I'll go to the post office and one elderly neighbor will inform me that another elderly neighbor needs someone to come down and change a burned out light bulb on her porch.
When the weather gets bad and my elderly neighbors are snowed in, they call the post office and ask them to give me their mail so I can get it to them.
:beer:
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Yes, the Post Office is inefficient and yes it loses money.
It is an agency that at least brings in some money to cover a part of its overhead. Last year, that revenue was $71 billion.
A lot of the money being spent is due to the forced reduction of over 200,000 employees and associated early retirements.
An federal agency that actually makes some money and provide us some service are few and far between.
Others need to be attacked that have no value or contribute zilch save adding to our budget expenditures and consequential increased debt.
We can get to the post office later.
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They do some shipping for Amazon, but they're very slow and glitchy.
@Sanguine
USPS does NO shipping on amazon. Or anyone else.
The sellers sometimes ship by FedEx,USPS,DHL,UPS,or Old Weird Harold,depending on how they feel that day. I usually specify post office because I don't like my packages being left out in the yard,but most sellers sent it however they want to send it.
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Yes, the Post Office is inefficient and yes it loses money.
It is an agency that at least brings in some money to cover a part of its overhead. Last year, that revenue was $71 billion.
A lot of the money being spent is due to the forced reduction of over 200,000 employees and associated early retirements.
An federal agency that actually makes some money and provide us some service are few and far between.
Others need to be attacked that have no value or contribute zilch save adding to our budget expenditures and consequential increased debt.
We can get to the post office later.
:beer: It may sound corny,but I was proud to work for the post office,and I did the absolute best job I could do every day I went to work. I know many others that felt and did the same. It's the AA hires that kills it.
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:beer: It may sound corny,but I was proud to work for the post office,and I did the absolute best job I could do every day I went to work. I know many others that felt and did the same. It's the AA hires that kills it.
In the 1970s a co-worker, a white guy, left that private company after more than twenty years because he was going to have to start showing up for his Postal job. USPS had the better pension plan.
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I absolutely, positively HATE my local post office, and that feels like a complete understatement. I order household items quite a lot through Amazon and Amazon uses the USPS to deliver here. The mail carrier that is the regular on our route is great. I have no problem with him. Anytime we are supposed to get a delivery on Saturday though, you can count on a ticket being left in our box saying that we have to go to pick it up because they could not access our house. The regular guy just drops the package over our 4' high gate across the driveway. The Saturday person won't even attempt to make a delivery. This includes a couple weekends ago when I was standing in the driveway and waved to them! That one was the last straw for me. I contacted Amazon and told them I wanted to cancel my Prime membership, have them refund my membership cost and cancel my monthly subscriptions for the household items.
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In my grandparents day little towns like mine didn't always have a stand alone post office. If you recall from The Waltons, Ike Godsey was the postmaster and people went to Godsey's general store to get their mail. Its where the locals all went to pick up packages they had ordered.
Way before that when a person was going to travel somewhere, the whole town would find out and some would give him letters and a couple pennies to deliver.
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@Sanguine
USPS does NO shipping on amazon. Or anyone else.
The sellers sometimes ship by FedEx,USPS,DHL,UPS,or Old Weird Harold,depending on how they feel that day. I usually specify post office because I don't like my packages being left out in the yard,but most sellers sent it however they want to send it.
I always assumed their computer knows the fastest-cheapest service at the time the boxes go out.
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@Sanguine
USPS does NO shipping on amazon. Or anyone else.
The sellers sometimes ship by FedEx,USPS,DHL,UPS,or Old Weird Harold,depending on how they feel that day. I usually specify post office because I don't like my packages being left out in the yard,but most sellers sent it however they want to send it.
That is not a true statement.
I got an item shipped just this week in fact by Fedex and it showed up in my USPS mail with a reminder on line by Fedex that said "shipped by USPS".
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The problem is not with the post office,or even with the majority of the clerks or carriers. The problem IS with congress,and as a result of things like Affirmative Action,with Postal Management. They give preference it stupidity and laziness as long as it is wrapped in a brown shell,and ESPECIALLY if it is wrapped in a FEMALE or HOMOSEXUAL brown shell. Double bonus points for a homosexual female in a brown shell.
I am retired from the post office as a letter carrier,and I have personally seen female and non-whites hired right off the street and be put in management positions within 6 months. NOT talking about college graduates with business or management degrees,either. Talking about home bois and home gurls from de hood that have a hard time reading the weekly safety briefing. I have personally seen two women letter carriers suddenly declare themselves to be a lesbian couple and get promoted into side by side postmaster positions in a rural area. I've seen a black woman that gave birth to her 5th child taken off her letter carrier route and given a job sitting in the break room all day answering the telephone "because of her delicate physical condition". Meanwhile,they hired a series of temporary white workers to deliver mail on her route for her while she continued to draw her full paycheck as a letter carrier and got her regular raises.
And it starts sooner than being hired. When I went to take my test in a major city,there were foreigners there from Asia that didn't speak or read a word of English,and they were actually allowed to have translators there to read the questions to them in their native language,and then write the answers or check the blocks for them. These translators were earning some pretty big bucks and since they took the tests every day for someone,they knew all the right answers. They did the same for illiterate black Americans. I sometimes wonder why they even asked the people applying for the job to show up to be tested when someone else is answering all the questions for them,anyway.
And guess what happens when these people are hired. That's right,the post office has to hire other people to do their jobs for them in most cases. In other cases where the new hire is actually willing to work,they run the new letter carrier employees through a course to help them recognize and memorize addresses,and they are only required to deliver mail on ONE route because they still can't read English. They have memorized the route and the way the names and addresses look on that one route. Every white new employee spends months or even years working different routes every day to cover the regular carriers being out on sick leave,vacation,or to handle the route after the regular carrier retired and the route is up for bid as a permanent route for the other letter carriers,based on seniority.
I have personally seen a white female hired after me that was fast-tracked into management because she was a female,hot,and was humping someone in management. She had worked for the telephone company before getting the post office job,and won a lawsuit against the telephone company that gave her early medical retirement from the telephone company because there were several telephone operators working out of the same building where she was working that had been raped after leaving work at night,and she claimed to have had a nervous breakdown due to worrying about getting raped that prevented her from coming to work. I know this because she told me about it.
She got her job in management,and within a year she was suing the post office for sexual harassment based on the guy she was humping that got her into the management job "Sexually intimidating me into performing sexually in order to keep my job." Keep in mind this was a woman who went to a carrier union party while still a carrier,and got drunk and was humping people by the side of the swimming pool in broad daylight. Once again,she won cash damages and early retirement with less than two years invested in the job. She even retired at the supervisory level she was working when "the stress got to be too much for me to handle,and I had to start staying home because I couldn't bear the thought of going to work at that job again."
ALL of which decreases efficiency and increases costs,and ALL because Congress mandates they do these things. With every new administration in DC,the US Post Office gets a new Postmaster General,and it is ALWAYS a political appointee pay-off job to someone owed favors.
BTW,for those interested,Affirmative Action beats veteran privilege every time.
Newman???? Is that you??? :smokin:
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That is not a true statement.
I got an item shipped just this week in fact by Fedex and it showed up in my USPS mail with a reminder on line by Fedex that said "shipped by USPS".
FYI:
UPS SurePost and FedEx SmartPost are consolidated delivery services, which utilize the extensive logistics of UPS and FedEx, while relying on the U.S. Postal Service to provide final delivery to the customer.
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I always assumed their computer knows the fastest-cheapest service at the time the boxes go out.
@geronl
The computer knows nothing other than what it is told to do. LOTS of times sellers will ship something using UPS,FedEx,or DHL,and they will deliver it to your local post office. This confuses the hell out of me and makes me mad because it seems like at least once every 3 or 4 purchases I am tracking a UPS shipment to my house,and then get a email from UPS saying the package is undeliverable and is being returned because UPS has a list of USPS street addresses,and I don't live on a street on that list. Which is why I have a PO Box. That's the result of the so-called Smart Mail nonsense,and it is the UPS computer doing this. The UPS driver and the postmaster both know me and know where I live,so the UPS driver drops it off at the post office,and they just put a notice in my box that I have a package.
I do this because if I give the vendor my P.O.Box address,many of them will refuse to ship to a P.O.Box address. They insist on a street address..
I am the only house on this island,and my house is 700 feet from the paved road. Because of the 700 feet distance and me being the only house here,the post office won't come to my house. They want me to put up a box 700 feet away from my house along the mail road,and deliver mail to that. I think we all know how often I would be replacing mail boxes and getting my mail stolen if I did that.
BTW,all the other delivery services base their deliveries on the post office list of addresses. I sometimes have to tell sellers over the phone of by email to ignore the fact that my address doesn't exist in the UPS database because it DOES exist in the county tax office. All the delivery service guys know I am here because I have been here since 1980,and nobody in the county had a street address until about 10 years ago unless they lived right off the main road going through the county.
I actually got turned down for a building supply credit card years ago because they wouldn't accept my P.O.Box mailing address as an address,and they didn't believe I didn't have a street address. A local in the local building supply would have known it right away,but the credit card people were in Nebraska.
One more item on the LOOOOOONG list of things that make my head hurt.
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@Sanguine
USPS does NO shipping on amazon. Or anyone else.
The sellers sometimes ship by FedEx,USPS,DHL,UPS,or Old Weird Harold,depending on how they feel that day. I usually specify post office because I don't like my packages being left out in the yard,but most sellers sent it however they want to send it.
MY post above.
@IsailedawayfromFR
That is not a true statement.
Really? You think USPS owns amazon and controls how and when they ship? Is is the SELLERS that determine which shipper handles each package,NOT the post office.
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MY post above.
@IsailedawayfromFR
Really? You think USPS owns amazon and controls how and when they ship? Is is the SELLERS that determine which shipper handles each package,NOT the post office.
What I interpreted from your post was that USPS will not ship packages from Fedex. They do.
It sounded like you said USPS will not ship Fedex.
If that is not what you inferred, I apologize.
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What I interpreted from your post was that USPS will not ship packages from Fedex. They do.
It sounded like you said USPS will not ship Fedex.
If that is not what you inferred, I apologize.
@IsailedawayfromFR
I think at this point we are just confusing each other,and need to drop it.
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The computer knows nothing other than what it is told to do. LOTS of times sellers will ship something using UPS,FedEx,or DHL,and they will deliver it to your local post office.
I've hit some weird situations too, I guess we all have.
For example I was having a check sent to me from a real estate agent and someone needed to be there to sign for the package. So I told him to send it to my office since a person would be there to sign. I told him do not send it to my house, no one will be home to sign for it. We work for a living.
This apparently set off a whole chain reaction of events because his computer was trying to verify my personal address. Since there was a mismatch between my home and office addresses the check could not be sent. Lovely.
Which was bad enough by itself. The killer was the three separate phone calls I had with the same customer service lady where I told her each time, "some people work and are not home all day". She still couldn't get over the hump. So I finally asked her if she was at home right this very minute. She said, "no, I'm at work".
Well then, you could hardly sign for a package at your house when you are at work. And here comes the tricky part, hang with me on this, you can't be in two places at the same time.
You could almost hear the wheels spinning as she mulled that one over for awhile. In her mind the computer screen was real, I was not.
Maybe if I talk louder . . .
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Okay, my husband is a rural carrier for the USPS. There are some misconceptions here.
First of all, we live in a small rural village that, unfortunately, is getting bigger as more people flock into the area. All of the employees are conservative Republicans, and they all work their behinds off---my husband even more than the others, because his is by far the largest of the three routes. And he doesn't complain. He was raised to work. On a normal day, he leaves the house at seven and is home by five thirty. Starting in October and going through the first of the year, he might get home by seven. But all of the routes are getting bigger, and there are few normal days anymore. I pack him a lunch, and he has to wolf it down on the go...he has no time to stop anywhere and eat. Thankfully his sister's farm is on his route, and she leaves the barn door unlocked for him so he can make restroom stops.
Rural carriers have to provide and maintain their own right hand drive vehicles. Husband has two---a Jeep Cherokee and a Jeep Wrangler. The Wrangler is the better one, but his loads have become so large that he usually has to take the Cherokee, because the stuff won't fit in the Wrangler and allow him to see out the back.
The post office has contracts with both UPS and Fed Ex to deliver packages, which is why @Cripplecreek sees them dropping off boxes there. Our carriers deliver CRAPLOADS of packages every day. There have been times when husband has no choice but to make two runs, if time allows---take half of them, then run back and grab more. But usually there's no time for that, since his route is seventy miles long. I say this to illustrate the fact that, no, the PO does not just deliver Christmas cards and junk mail, and they're not competing with UPS and Fed Ex, but working with them. Online ordering has skyrocketed to the point that it's necessary. Btw, Amazon does use USPS for shipping---Priority Mail.
@RoosGirl, I saw you post about your carriers not bringing packages to your house. I asked my hubs about that. He said they're not allowed to do so if there's a closed gate---they can't just open it and go through---or if the driveway is more than half a mile long. That might be due to time constraints, I don't know. Oh, and also if there are aggressive dogs. A carrier at our PO has been bitten twice by dogs who didn't even act aggressively, and both times the owners laughed.
My husband does well with dogs, so he hasn't had a problem....but then his customers love him, too, because he's a stickler for getting his deliveries right. /bragging off :laugh:
I do think someone should have notified you of why they aren't coming to your house with packages.
I don't doubt the stories about USPS employees goofing off and being incompetent in big cities. But around here, that isn't the way. From the time our carriers clock in, they don't have the chance to do any goofing off. They spend the entire day providing a service that's needed around here in a time frame that barely allows them to do so.
Also, regarding the comment about cutting deliveries to, I think, once a week....in some communities that might be viable. But around here, it would be out of the realm of possibility. My husband's Jeep is filled with packages every day, and when he gets back in the evenings, tomorrow's load is already accumulating. By the time he gets to work the next morning, there will be much more.
It's a hard job, and he does it well, and I'm not ashamed to be married to a mail carrier. I'll say, too, for those who think it's easy, try keeping six hundred addresses constantly juggled in your head, knowing who has moved, who wants their mail held, who's on vacation, etc. Our PO once hired a retired engineer for a sub slot. He thought it would be a part time job he could coast on. He gave it a try for a few days but he didn't last beyond that. The day he quit, he called the postmaster in tears and said he just couldn't do it. My husband had to drop what he was doing and go out and get the guy's mail. Husband found him sitting on the side of the road, crying.
@sneakypete
@Sanguine
@IsailedawayfromFR
@Idaho_Cowboy
@Free Vulcan
@geronl
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Thanks for the encouraging post @CatherineofAragon I get tired of hearing how much the world, everything "now-a-days", etc sucks. This was a nice change from all of that.
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Okay, my husband is a rural carrier for the USPS. There are some misconceptions here.
First of all, we live in a small rural village that, unfortunately, is getting bigger as more people flock into the area. All of the employees are conservative Republicans, and they all work their behinds off---my husband even more than the others, because his is by far the largest of the three routes. And he doesn't complain. He was raised to work. On a normal day, he leaves the house at seven and is home by five thirty. Starting in October and going through the first of the year, he might get home by seven. But all of the routes are getting bigger, and there are few normal days anymore. I pack him a lunch, and he has to wolf it down on the go...he has no time to stop anywhere and eat. Thankfully his sister's farm is on his route, and she leaves the barn door unlocked for him so he can make restroom stops.
Rural carriers have to provide and maintain their own right hand drive vehicles. Husband has two---a Jeep Cherokee and a Jeep Wrangler. The Wrangler is the better one, but his loads have become so large that he usually has to take the Cherokee, because the stuff won't fit in the Wrangler and allow him to see out the back.
The post office has contracts with both UPS and Fed Ex to deliver packages, which is why @Cripplecreek sees them dropping off boxes there. Our carriers deliver CRAPLOADS of packages every day. There have been times when husband has no choice but to make two runs, if time allows---take half of them, then run back and grab more. But usually there's no time for that, since his route is seventy miles long. I say this to illustrate the fact that, no, the PO does not just deliver Christmas cards and junk mail, and they're not competing with UPS and Fed Ex, but working with them. Online ordering has skyrocketed to the point that it's necessary. Btw, Amazon does use USPS for shipping---Priority Mail.
@RoosGirl, I saw you post about your carriers not bringing packages to your house. I asked my hubs about that. He said they're not allowed to do so if there's a closed gate---they can't just open it and go through---or if the driveway is more than half a mile long. That might be due to time constraints, I don't know. Oh, and also if there are aggressive dogs. A carrier at our PO has been bitten twice by dogs who didn't even act aggressively, and both times the owners laughed.
My husband does well with dogs, so he hasn't had a problem....but then his customers love him, too, because he's a stickler for getting his deliveries right. /bragging off :laugh:
I do think someone should have notified you of why they aren't coming to your house with packages.
I don't doubt the stories about USPS employees goofing off and being incompetent in big cities. But around here, that isn't the way. From the time our carriers clock in, they don't have the chance to do any goofing off. They spend the entire day providing a service that's needed around here in a time frame that barely allows them to do so.
Also, regarding the comment about cutting deliveries to, I think, once a week....in some communities that might be viable. But around here, it would be out of the realm of possibility. My husband's Jeep is filled with packages every day, and when he gets back in the evenings, tomorrow's load is already accumulating. By the time he gets to work the next morning, there will be much more.
It's a hard job, and he does it well, and I'm not ashamed to be married to a mail carrier. I'll say, too, for those who think it's easy, try keeping six hundred addresses constantly juggled in your head, knowing who has moved, who wants their mail held, who's on vacation, etc. Our PO once hired a retired engineer for a sub slot. He thought it would be a part time job he could coast on. He gave it a try for a few days but he didn't last beyond that. The day he quit, he called the postmaster in tears and said he just couldn't do it. My husband had to drop what he was doing and go out and get the guy's mail. Husband found him sitting on the side of the road, crying.
@sneakypete
@Sanguine
@IsailedawayfromFR
@Idaho_Cowboy
@Free Vulcan
@geronl
I've heard similar things from a lady I know who is postal carrier. She said it's amazing how many packages they deliver now. She said her work has increased dramatically.
My next door neighbor is a retired postal carrier. He had walking routes. I think he said he walked 7 miles a day...could have been more. His knees are shot now.
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@RoosGirl, I saw you post about your carriers not bringing packages to your house. I asked my hubs about that. He said they're not allowed to do so if there's a closed gate---they can't just open it and go through---or if the driveway is more than half a mile long. That might be due to time constraints, I don't know. Oh, and also if there are aggressive dogs. A carrier at our PO has been bitten twice by dogs who didn't even act aggressively, and both times the owners laughed.
Our driveway is maybe 150' feet long, so we're not that far off the road. I totally get that they have rules they have to follow. Our dogs are never in the front fenced area, so that's not an issue. The regular mail carrier during the week will leave packages just inside our gate, it's only about 4.5' high so it's very easy for him to reach over and drop them. When I have packages I need to be picked up I make a note that they can ring the intercom that we have out there and I will bring the package to them, and there never seems to be any problem with that. It's whoever delivers on the weekend that is the problem. They won't leave the package and they won't ring the intercom. Like I said, the other weekend I was standing out in the driveway and saw them at the mailbox as they were leaving a note in it that they couldn't deliver a package. That was pretty crappy. And, I never have any issue with weekday delivery or UPS or FedEx delivery. It's just Saturday USPS. I don't doubt that the job takes some effort, but pretty much every job does. And, there's always that person on any job that just doesn't want to be there. I suspect that's what's happening on our Saturday route.
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Our driveway is maybe 150' feet long, so we're not that far off the road. I totally get that they have rules they have to follow. Our dogs are never in the front fenced area, so that's not an issue. The regular mail carrier during the week will leave packages just inside our gate, it's only about 4.5' high so it's very easy for him to reach over and drop them. When I have packages I need to be picked up I make a note that they can ring the intercom that we have out there and I will bring the package to them, and there never seems to be any problem with that. It's whoever delivers on the weekend that is the problem. They won't leave the package and they won't ring the intercom. Like I said, the other weekend I was standing out in the driveway and saw them at the mailbox as they were leaving a note in it that they couldn't deliver a package. That was pretty crappy. And, I never have any issue with weekday delivery or UPS or FedEx delivery. It's just Saturday USPS. I don't doubt that the job takes some effort, but pretty much every job does. And, there's always that person on any job that just doesn't want to be there. I suspect that's what's happening on our Saturday route.
Betcha a milkshake the package wasn't even on the truck. :whistle:
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I've heard similar things from a lady I know who is postal carrier. She said it's amazing how many packages they deliver now. She said her work has increased dramatically.
My next door neighbor is a retired postal carrier. He had walking routes. I think he said he walked 7 miles a day...could have been more. His knees are shot now.
@mrpotatohead
When I was a carrier and part-time employee without my own route,I always ASKED for the walking routes. Most people thought I was crazy,but I enjoyed walking,and after having been in the airborne infantry for over 6 years,walking with a mail bag was a joke.
The advantage to walking routes is it's a lot easier to keep to a schedule because no matter who you are,it takes "x minutes" to walk from one mailbox or house to the other,so the supervisors can't bust your chops for going into overtime on the trash pickup days when all the mail boxes are blocked by garbage cans,and you have to park the damn jeep,put the ebrake on,shut off the ignition,then get out and walk around the trashcans to put the mail in the boxes.
Plus,they couldn't/wouldn't load you down with packages. If you had big packages,they would send somebody with a jeep to deliver them.
The last couple of years I worked as a T-6,and had 5 routes instead of one because I filled in for people on their day off.
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Betcha a milkshake the package wasn't even on the truck. :whistle:
LOL. Well, we've had that problem (on the weekend) too. Last weekend my husband was out front, the person actually pulled up to the gate and handed him a couple of packages. My husband knew there were supposed to be 3, but the guy said he only had two, only showed 2 on his list, rechecked his list, nope, only 2 packages. Took off. About 15 minutes later he pulled back in and handed hubby the third package. At least this time the guy made an effort! Wasn't our "normal" Saturday person. Probably some of the issue is with how the trucks are (or aren't) getting loaded.
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Thanks for the encouraging post @CatherineofAragon I get tired of hearing how much the world, everything "now-a-days", etc sucks. This was a nice change from all of that.
@Idaho_Cowboy
So was your post. Thank you, friend. :beer:
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I've heard similar things from a lady I know who is postal carrier. She said it's amazing how many packages they deliver now. She said her work has increased dramatically.
My next door neighbor is a retired postal carrier. He had walking routes. I think he said he walked 7 miles a day...could have been more. His knees are shot now.
@mrpotatohead
Come to think if it, you're right....you never see a walking mail carrier now. The city carriers all drive now.
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Our driveway is maybe 150' feet long, so we're not that far off the road. I totally get that they have rules they have to follow. Our dogs are never in the front fenced area, so that's not an issue. The regular mail carrier during the week will leave packages just inside our gate, it's only about 4.5' high so it's very easy for him to reach over and drop them. When I have packages I need to be picked up I make a note that they can ring the intercom that we have out there and I will bring the package to them, and there never seems to be any problem with that. It's whoever delivers on the weekend that is the problem. They won't leave the package and they won't ring the intercom. Like I said, the other weekend I was standing out in the driveway and saw them at the mailbox as they were leaving a note in it that they couldn't deliver a package. That was pretty crappy. And, I never have any issue with weekday delivery or UPS or FedEx delivery. It's just Saturday USPS. I don't doubt that the job takes some effort, but pretty much every job does. And, there's always that person on any job that just doesn't want to be there. I suspect that's what's happening on our Saturday route.
@RoosGirl
If your Saturday deliverer isn't willing to put in the effort required, maybe he should look elsewhere. I would definitely give the post office a call. They'd probably like to know about the situation.
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I'm In a town of 10,000 and I love my mailman. I have two. They always wave to me when I was a shut in, rang my doorbell to get any mail. They would collect money to bring stamps the next day -and they knew I collected stamps as a girl, so they would bring pretty stamps.
Now that I can move around I go in to my post office and they at some of the nicest men and women I've ever met.
I bought the new JFK stamp for my mom today, she needed stamps and she loved JFK. I bought bird stamps for me, I like birds,
Every Christmas I tip my mailman $10 and bring in a huge box of Duncan donuts for the rest of em.
They are good people. If you are nice to people, they are nice to you.
Btw, most of the times I've been in there the other customers treat the poor clerks at the window like fecal matter, if you catch my drift,
@CatherineofAragon bless your hubby,
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I had in incident where we were fixing up a flip house and the neighbor across the street backed into my brick mail box and destroyed it. I took the mail box and set it on top of the pile of brick rubble..lol. I was standing there when the mail carrier came by....they looked at the mail box on the pile and said the mail box was too far from the street (maybe 2-3 ft) and they weren't allowed to get out of their trucks to deliver it. So they drove away without giving me my friggen mail. This is in town...not some rural route.
Haha, another one of those "I'm doing the bare minimum to get by" kind of people. You find em everywhere. ;)
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@RoosGirl
If your Saturday deliverer isn't willing to put in the effort required, maybe he should look elsewhere. I would definitely give the post office a call. They'd probably like to know about the situation.
I have called the PO in the past. The person I talked with said "Yeah, I know who that is." when I told him what was happening, like he had heard the complaint about this person before.
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I was weeding the front flower beds and my Yellow Lab Toby was walking around in the front yard. I noticed the mail lady delivering mail next door. As she was coming toward my yard, I gave Toby a Down command and She saw Toby obey. She refused to enter my yard and deliver my mail. I told her that she was in the wrong occupation as she had no sense of animals. She left in a huff and it wasn't long before I had a new Mailman. They probably promoted her.
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The bottom line is, nothing will be changed in the post office. The dissonance here is an illustration why.
There are ALL SORTS of constituencies that the post office must cater to - few of which have anything to do with delivering mail. Unions, community groups, those who want higher service without rate changes. Politicians, who resist consolidating zip code areas. And on and on...even to vehicle and supply vendors.
It's low priority, given our current high-level crises; and the obvious solutions will be ignored. Such as, cutting staffing, through attrition - by eliminating daily mail delivery. It's simple: Every OTHER day delivery, with areas staggered. Fewer than two-thirds the carrier staff could handle what they do now, by simply switching to M-W-F versus T-Th-S delivery. The same carrier covers twice the area, by not duplicating daily.
Daily delivery was the thing when phone calls were expensive and First Class mail was delivered less than 24 hours from posting. Now, First Class takes five days; and nearly everyone has some form of email. Phones are cheap and almost all of them are portable.
...there. I just solved half the problems the Postal Service has; their fuel costs; their mileage; their carrier staff.
No one will want to hear it.
As this illustrates, the problem is insolvable. Solutions do not meet the POLITICAL needs of pressure groups. 22222frying pan
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The bottom line is, nothing will be changed in the post office. The dissonance here is an illustration why.
There are ALL SORTS of constituencies that the post office must cater to - few of which have anything to do with delivering mail. Unions, community groups, those who want higher service without rate changes. Politicians, who resist consolidating zip code areas. And on and on...even to vehicle and supply vendors.
It's low priority, given our current high-level crises; and the obvious solutions will be ignored. Such as, cutting staffing, through attrition - by eliminating daily mail delivery. It's simple: Every OTHER day delivery, with areas staggered. Fewer than two-thirds the carrier staff could handle what they do now, by simply switching to M-W-F versus T-Th-S delivery. The same carrier covers twice the area, by not duplicating daily.
Daily delivery was the thing when phone calls were expensive and First Class mail was delivered less than 24 hours from posting. Now, First Class takes five days; and nearly everyone has some form of email. Phones are cheap and almost all of them are portable.
...there. I just solved half the problems the Postal Service has; their fuel costs; their mileage; their carrier staff.
No one will want to hear it.
As this illustrates, the problem is insolvable. Solutions do not meet the POLITICAL needs of pressure groups. 22222frying pan
@JustPassinThru
Well,no one wants to hear it because you are wrong.
The two big things wrong with the post off is the postmaster general and his assistants are all political hires that know and care nothing about the post office,and AA hiring and promotions. No matter how bad you think this problem is,it is worse.
For example,when I,as a disabled veteran went to take the exam,there were Filipinos and Vietnamese in there taking the test that couldn't read or write English,and they were allowed to have translators read the questions and answers to them,and then they would answer the questions. No kidding.
Want to rise rapidly in the post office? Apply as a minority and then once you are hired tell them you are a homosexual. I know of 3 women that went this route and went from being part time letter carriers to station managers within 3 years. At least one of them was retired within 4 years. Her claim was related to the stress she felt as a lesbian working in basically a all-mail environment.
I personally know of one black male that was hired that couldn't read or write,and he was born in America. He did have a HS diploma,so they hired him and then sent him to a special school while he was on the payroll to teach him to recognize names and addresses,and he was restricted to only carrying mail on one route. Because of this he got a small route that was in an established neighborhood with no apartments and almost all nobody moved away. Seniority didn't even come into play.
And for every one of these slacers and dummies they are forced to hire,they are then forced to hire at least two other people to do their work for them.
One black woman just put on restricted duty after giving birth to her 6th child because of her "delicate female condition". She remained in the break room all day playing cards,listening to music,socializing with any of the clerks that came in for breaks,and answering the telephone. Meanwhile,Part Time Flexible employees had to cover her route every day.
One Filipino shop steward that married an American woman that was in the Navy in the Philippines got caught stealing SS checks. They weren't on his route. They were on the route of a hot blonde new employee that refused to join the union. He was stealing checks from her case while she was on break so that it would be her suspected of the thefts. Postal Inspectors caught him. It took a couple of months to even get him off of his route and out of the station while awaiting trial. While he was suspended awaiting trial,the freaking union paid all his expenses to go to the Letter Carriers Union Convention to represent that area. No kidding.
Among that group of slackers,thieves,and hustlers,you have maybe 60 percent of the work force doing all the actual work. Almost all of whom are white males because they are the only ones that can be fired.
It ain't the post office at fault. It is the political creatures appointed to run it,and the corrupt politicians that make the rules.
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@JustPassinThru
Well,no one wants to hear it because you are wrong.
Okay, I'm convinced. It wouldn't save anything.
It would COST money. ANY change the unionized Post Office workers don't want, would "cost money."
Such an overwhelming refutation of my silly hypothesis, that making half the trips to each mailbox a week might save time, manpower needs, fuel, and money.
Thank you for illustrating - that the problem of the post office WILL NOT BE SOLVED.
And, by inference, why the Trump people are not investing any time in it. There's other problems, both more pressing and more open to solutions.
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Okay, I'm convinced. It wouldn't save anything.
It would COST money. ANY change the unionized Post Office workers don't want, would "cost money."
@JustPassinThru
The union in this case has almost nothing to do with it. They are treading water as fast as they can,just trying to stay alive. I am no fan of unions myself and refused to join the PO union when I worked there,but this is one of the rare cases where they have almost no influence.
Once again,the problem is it is controlled by political appointees and the politicians that appointed them.
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I have called the PO in the past. The person I talked with said "Yeah, I know who that is." when I told him what was happening, like he had heard the complaint about this person before.
@RoosGirl
I don't know how far you want to go with it, but the postmaster would bet he one to talk with.
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The bottom line is, nothing will be changed in the post office. The dissonance here is an illustration why.
There are ALL SORTS of constituencies that the post office must cater to - few of which have anything to do with delivering mail. Unions, community groups, those who want higher service without rate changes. Politicians, who resist consolidating zip code areas. And on and on...even to vehicle and supply vendors.
It's low priority, given our current high-level crises; and the obvious solutions will be ignored. Such as, cutting staffing, through attrition - by eliminating daily mail delivery. It's simple: Every OTHER day delivery, with areas staggered. Fewer than two-thirds the carrier staff could handle what they do now, by simply switching to M-W-F versus T-Th-S delivery. The same carrier covers twice the area, by not duplicating daily.
Daily delivery was the thing when phone calls were expensive and First Class mail was delivered less than 24 hours from posting. Now, First Class takes five days; and nearly everyone has some form of email. Phones are cheap and almost all of them are portable.
...there. I just solved half the problems the Postal Service has; their fuel costs; their mileage; their carrier staff.
No one will want to hear it.
As this illustrates, the problem is insolvable. Solutions do not meet the POLITICAL needs of pressure groups. 22222frying pan
@JustPassinThru
Guess you didn't read my post. In my area, three day delivery would be absolutely out of the question, as I suspect it would be in many others, because they DO deliver mail, among other things. Loads of it.
Back to the drawing board, I suppose.
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It would COST money. ANY change the unionized Post Office workers don't want, would "cost money."
The postal union doesn't do anything for the employees.
But, I know, people who've never worked a day there know so much better than those who do.
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I'm In a town of 10,000 and I love my mailman. I have two. They always wave to me when I was a shut in, rang my doorbell to get any mail. They would collect money to bring stamps the next day -and they knew I collected stamps as a girl, so they would bring pretty stamps.
Now that I can move around I go in to my post office and they at some of the nicest men and women I've ever met.
I bought the new JFK stamp for my mom today, she needed stamps and she loved JFK. I bought bird stamps for me, I like birds,
Every Christmas I tip my mailman $10 and bring in a huge box of Duncan donuts for the rest of em.
They are good people. If you are nice to people, they are nice to you.
Btw, most of the times I've been in there the other customers treat the poor clerks at the window like fecal matter, if you catch my drift,
@CatherineofAragon bless your hubby,
@Freya
You're a sweetheart. Thank you.
I'll bet they love those donuts!
0052
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@Freya
You're a sweetheart. Thank you.
I'll bet they love those donuts!
0052
Everyone loves donuts!!!!
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@JustPassinThru
The union in this case has almost nothing to do with it. They are treading water as fast as they can,just trying to stay alive. I am no fan of unions myself and refused to join the PO union when I worked there,but this is one of the rare cases where they have almost no influence.
Once again,the problem is it is controlled by political appointees and the politicians that appointed them.
I know fully-well how useless are most unions. I was a BLE-Teamsters member for eighteen years.
I ALSO know how much the useless politicized union leadership cultivates fear and resistance to any sort of change. I understand resisting hourly cuts, or new organizations that would eliminate positions - but just the mindless, reflexive knee-jerk resistance to any sort of working-smarter.
In railroading, they fought the elimination of five-man crews...for fifty years, successfully. Until it was SO obviously featherbedding, that the union was finally overwhelmed; and what could have been gradual, adaptive change, became sudden life-changing change, with men on the street.
I don't need to be under a mail sack to know that three delivery stops a week is less expensive than six. I also don't need to be under a mail sack to know that the daily mail haul will then be heavier. And I also know that routes can be redrawn to accommodate the greater every-other-day volume. Unless, of course, the union sabotages it.
But, you see? All kinds of knee-jerking...what we need are BLUE RIBBON COMMISSIONS, MORE politics, special investigators, more pay, more perks, Safe Spaces with puppies and coloring books...THAT'S how we reform the Post Office!
As I said above: The open-minded reader can see now, why the Trump people aren't wasting time on this insolvable mess. It will have to collapse before changes happen - as the American railroad system was driven to financial collapse, with the bankruptcy of several major lines and near-insolvency of others.
So...let this cuckoo structure collapse. Out of it, we can maybe privatize mail delivery. The Postal Service can be an oversight and governing agency.
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Everyone loves donuts!!!!
@Freya
Dunkin makes the best, IMO.
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Recent review found that the post office has one administrator overseeing every six mail carriers. So if the Post Office has one million mail carriers they pay 167,000 bosses to supervise them at an average minimum cost per - manager of $75-85 K per year. THAT is one reason why things have to change.
There is no delivery business in the private sector with that many managers per production level employee. None.
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Recent review found that the post office has one administrator overseeing every six mail carriers. So if the Post Office has one million mail carriers they pay 167,000 bosses to supervise them at an average minimum cost per - manager of $75-85 K per year. THAT is one reason why things have to change.
There is no delivery business in the private sector with that many managers per production level employee. None.
True.
But, from what I've seen over my life, NO outfit NEEDS supervision like the Post Office. For DECADES, in the park across the street from my home, mail trucks would park in shaded grassy turnouts. For about three hours every afternoon, especially in summer. Winter, I expect, they were at a donut shop somewhere.
A THREE-HOUR DAILY COOP. Now, as a kid, I thought nothing of it - it was just part of the scenery. And it stopped only when those grassy unauthorized parking spots between pine groves, were fenced off. Now I know they're under the gun...NOW. How long will that last? No private business has such an institutional LACK of a work ethic.
The whole system is rotten as a week-old fish. But, the dug-in responses here show why it's fools' entertainment to try and fix it.
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@JustPassinThru
I don't need to be under a mail sack to know that three delivery stops a week is less expensive than six. I also don't need to be under a mail sack to know that the daily mail haul will then be heavier.
You need to be "under a mail sack" to understand that you don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about. Forget listening to people who know better when you want to pontificate about your grand "solutions."
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Recent review found that the post office has one administrator overseeing every six mail carriers. So if the Post Office has one million mail carriers they pay 167,000 bosses to supervise them at an average minimum cost per - manager of $75-85 K per year. THAT is one reason why things have to change.
There is no delivery business in the private sector with that many managers per production level employee. None.
@LateForLunch
You're right. Many of them tend to be people who've never been out of an office in their lives, let alone carried a route. Cluelessness is epidemic.
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@LateForLunch
You're right. Many of them tend to be people who've never been out of an office in their lives, let alone carried a route. Cluelessness is epidemic.
Out here in the wilderness our post office has 1 employee who works till 11 AM and we share a rural route carrier with 3 other post offices.
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Out here in the wilderness our post office has 1 employee who works till 11 AM and we share a rural route carrier with 3 other post offices.
@Cripplecreek
We have a postmaster, one clerk, and three carriers/routes. There's a tiny little PO about ten miles down the road that has only one route. If someone's vehicle is out of whack, everyone in both offices knows that they can borrow a jeep from someone.
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True.
But, from what I've seen over my life, NO outfit NEEDS supervision like the Post Office. For DECADES, in the park across the street from my home, mail trucks would park in shaded grassy turnouts. For about three hours every afternoon, especially in summer. Winter, I expect, they were at a donut shop somewhere.
A THREE-HOUR DAILY COOP. Now, as a kid, I thought nothing of it - it was just part of the scenery. And it stopped only when those grassy unauthorized parking spots between pine groves, were fenced off. Now I know they're under the gun...NOW. How long will that last? No private business has such an institutional LACK of a work ethic.
The whole system is rotten as a week-old fish. But, the dug-in responses here show why it's fools' entertainment to try and fix it.
@JustPassinThru
Flat out,I think you are either lying or delusional. Lots of letter carriers have to cut their lunches short or skip them altogether to make their schedule. The mail you carry each day is measured by the linear foot,and you have so many hours alloted to deliver x-amount of feet of mail. Some gets delivered quickly because some routes have cluster boxes,where you just stand right there and deliver to a couple of hundred people. Others have wide yards and houses built in the 50's and 60's that are set way back from the street,and you can NOT drive up their driveways without permission,and you can NOT cut across from one yard to another without their permission.
It's not much better if you have a mobile route because lots of people with multiple cars like to park in front of their mailboxes,and on "trash pick-up day" practically EVERY mailbox is blocked so you can't drive up to it. Same thing on Saturdays. Most of the mail boxes will have a car parked in front of them.
In cases like this the post office demands you pull ahead far enough to park along a curb, put the jeep in park,put the emergency brake on,remove your shoulder harness,and walk to the mail box to pick up outgoing mail and deposit the mail you are delivering that day. AND......,they expect you to do it in the same amount of time as a weekday when the boxes aren't blocked.
And some customers are unbelievable assholes. I once had a woman complain about me using her outside spigot to splash cold water on me and get a drink on a day when the air temp was over 100F with no breeze and I was walking a foot route. She demanded the post office pay her water bill that month because I had "stolen" some of her water.
Then again,there was another woman on the same route that would keep a pitcher of ice tea ready and invite you into the shade of her garage to drink it.
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Thanks, to all the knee-jerk defenders, for illustrating so well why nobody in the Trump or other future administrations, are going to do anything with this mess.
Every suggestion, every illustration of waste, fraud, abuse, inefficiency, rigidity...gets met with ad hominem attacks.
Good luck with your campaign to make the gravy train more comfy.
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Thanks, to all the knee-jerk defenders, for illustrating so well why nobody in the Trump or other future administrations, are going to do anything with this mess.
Every suggestion, every illustration of waste, fraud, abuse, inefficiency, rigidity...gets met with ad hominem attacks.
Good luck with your campaign to make the gravy train more comfy.
@JustPassinThru
Yeah,everybody's wrong but you,huh?
I bet your mother used to tell you that you are a smart little boy,and that if anyone ever tells you that you are wrong it is because they are jealous of you,right?
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Thanks, to all the knee-jerk defenders, for illustrating so well why nobody in the Trump or other future administrations, are going to do anything with this mess.
Every suggestion, every illustration of waste, fraud, abuse, inefficiency, rigidity...gets met with ad hominem attacks.
Good luck with your campaign to make the gravy train more comfy.
@JustPassinThru
Sorry, Skippy, but the crux of the matter is this: you're enthralled by what you think is your intellect and your laser-like ability to solve the problem. And you think everyone else is just as impressed. Look at the way you insist on totally ignoring input from those who actually know what they're talking about. You're too intent on your "Look at me! Look at me! I know everything!" act. It really matters to you a lot, I guess.
But I'm going to offer you some advice. There are few things as embarrassing as a gasbag who thinks he's demonstrating his authority when all he's doing is parading his ignorance.
If you haven't learned that lesson, then learn it now, so you can stop making a fool of yourself.
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@JustPassinThru
Sorry, Skippy, but the crux of the matter is this: you're enthralled by what you think is your intellect and your laser-like ability to solve the problem. And you think everyone else is just as impressed. Look at the way you insist on totally ignoring input from those who actually know what they're talking about. You're too intent on your "Look at me! Look at me! I know everything!" act. It really matters to you a lot, I guess.
But I'm going to offer you some advice. There are few things as embarrassing as a gasbag who thinks he's demonstrating his authority when all he's doing is parading his ignorance.
If you haven't learned that lesson, then learn it now, so you can stop making a fool of yourself.
888high58888
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888high58888
@sneakypete
:beer:
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Facts do not depend on high-fives.
We just demonstrated why nothing will change.
And why, eventually, the Postal Service will be privatized.
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@JustPassinThru
Sorry, Skippy, but the crux of the matter is this: you're enthralled by what you think is your intellect and your laser-like ability to solve the problem. And you think everyone else is just as impressed. Look at the way you insist on totally ignoring input from those who actually know what they're talking about. You're too intent on your "Look at me! Look at me! I know everything!" act. It really matters to you a lot, I guess.
But I'm going to offer you some advice. There are few things as embarrassing as a gasbag who thinks he's demonstrating his authority when all he's doing is parading his ignorance.
If you haven't learned that lesson, then learn it now, so you can stop making a fool of yourself.
My experience is, fewer people are more clueless than the beneficiaries of an unsustainable, subsidized or protected industry.
They don't see the need for change because they don't WANT change.
All this abuse, and no one here refutes my basic assertion. And this was JUST ONE suggestion.
Now, how many years did it take for the postal people to finally take prices off stamps, and just sell First Class stamps that were good as full postage?...the "Forever" stamp. What an imbecilic name.
I was hitting my congressman about this thirty years ago. Just sell me a stamp marked FIRST CLASS. Then the PO doesn't need to print up three-cent stamps, and put vending machines everywhere, whenever they get their political sponsors to raise postage, usually to some odd amount.
They could have saved a LOT of money doing this years earlier...but government is never interested in saving money.
And government workers, the smarmy and superior and fast to mock, are never ready to consider anyone's ideas other than their own.
There's a name for that:
NOT INVENTED HERE.
Government offices, departments, quasi-private services businesses...are where good ideas go to die.
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@JustPassinThru
Sorry, Skippy,
And I'm not "Skippy" either.
Address me properly or not at all.
And that is NOT a request.
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Facts do not depend on high-fives.
We just demonstrated why nothing will change.
And why, eventually, the Postal Service will be privatized.
I have to admit, I don't understand the push-back. We know the PO is overly costly and inefficient. It's being supported by working people's salaries. We need to reform it. I'm sure there are many very nice, ethical people working there, my postlady is one of them. But - it needs some serious fixing.
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I have to admit, I don't understand the push-back. We know the PO is overly costly and inefficient. It's being supported by working people's salaries. We need to reform it. I'm sure there are many very nice, ethical people working there, my postlady is one of them. But - it needs some serious fixing.
Logistics is a real problem.
The truck that brings our mail to our post office from Lansing comes to the area post offices 5 times per day at 40+ miles 1 way in a near empty 25 foot straight truck.
I asked the driver 1 morning about why he did it and he claimed it was because of the way the mail is sorted in Lansing. After he left our postmistress pointed out that he's a contract driver getting paid by the mile.
Personally I would eliminate all the national postal service infrastructure and contract with UPS and FedEx for deliveries down to the local post offices like mine.
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And I'm not "Skippy" either.
Address me properly or not at all.
And that is NOT a request.
@JustPassinThru
I'll do what I damn well please, Skippy. Got that?
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@JustPassinThru
I'll do what I damn well please, Skippy. Got that?
Damn skippy. :silly:
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I have to admit, I don't understand the push-back. We know the PO is overly costly and inefficient. It's being supported by working people's salaries. We need to reform it. I'm sure there are many very nice, ethical people working there, my postlady is one of them. But - it needs some serious fixing.
@Sanguine
I agree with that, and I don't think I implied that the nice folks working at our PO, including my husband, change that fact. What bugs me is clueless know-it-alls who refuse to listen to input from people who are actually involved with the situation.
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Damn skippy. :silly:
@Cripplecreek
Lmao!
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Logistics is a real problem.
The truck that brings our mail to our post office from Lansing comes to the area post offices 5 times per day at 40+ miles 1 way in a near empty 25 foot straight truck.
I asked the driver 1 morning about why he did it and he claimed it was because of the way the mail is sorted in Lansing. After he left our postmistress pointed out that he's a contract driver getting paid by the mile.
Personally I would eliminate all the national postal service infrastructure and contract with UPS and FedEx for deliveries down to the local post offices like mine.
@Cripplecreek
Here's an example of the stupidity of the PO bureaucracy. If I have something I want to drop in the mail slot for a local person---say a thank you note----it should reach the person next day at the latest. If dropped in the box early enough, before the carriers get out on their routes, it should reach them the same day. But no....that piece of mail for a local person is picked up, sent to NC, and then sent back here.
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@Sanguine
I agree with that, and I don't think I implied that the nice folks working at our PO, including my husband, change that fact. What bugs me is clueless know-it-alls who refuse to listen to input from people who are actually involved with the situation.
Welcome to the wonderful world of armchair generals.
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@Cripplecreek
Here's an example of the stupidity of the PO bureaucracy. If I have something I want to drop in the mail slot for a local person---say a thank you note----it should reach the person next day at the latest. If dropped in the box early enough, before the carriers get out on their routes, it should reach them the same day. But no....that piece of mail for a local person is picked up, sent to NC, and then sent back here.
Exactly. Like paying my mother's taxes. The office was technically closed on the deadline and couldn't take them from my hand so I had to walk across the street and put them in the mail so they would get a postmark but arrive 4 days after the deadline.
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Welcome to the wonderful world of armchair generals.
@EC
**nononono*
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Exactly. Like paying my mother's taxes. The office was technically closed on the deadline and couldn't take them from my hand so I had to walk across the street and put them in the mail so they would get a postmark but arrive 4 days after the deadline.
@Cripplecreek
And those fools want to be trusted with our health care.
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@EC
**nononono*
Meh, you learn to laugh at them after a decade or so. ^-^
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@JustPassinThru
I'll do what I damn well please, Skippy. Got that?
Maybe you should have called him Slick, Sport or Scooter?
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@Cripplecreek
And those fools want to be trusted with our health care.
There was a time when places not served by a post office did have a place for people to collect their mail. Here in my little town the mail was delivered to the train depot in the early days. The Waltons got their mail at Godsey's general store.
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Maybe you should have called him Slick, Sport or Scooter?
@Cyber Liberty
Or Sparky? All of those work for me, lol.
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There was a time when places not served by a post office did have a place for people to collect their mail. Here in my little town the mail was delivered to the train depot in the early days. The Waltons got their mail at Godsey's general store.
I remember that. I'd be willing to bet there was some kind of collection point here, too. My husband and his parents grew up down here...I'll have to ask.
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Maybe you should have called him Slick, Sport or Scooter?
I'm kinda partial to Turd Blossom.
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I'm kinda partial to Turd Blossom.
It does flow rather trippingly from the tongue.
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I'm kinda partial to Turd Blossom.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5Ci7ZKXAAEQcdi.jpg)
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5Ci7ZKXAAEQcdi.jpg)
When I think Turd Burglar, I think more along the lines of Milo
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Exactly. Like paying my mother's taxes. The office was technically closed on the deadline and couldn't take them from my hand so I had to walk across the street and put them in the mail so they would get a postmark but arrive 4 days after the deadline.
@Cripplecreek
Regulations are to a bureaucracy as water is to fish.
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@CatherineofAragon
Since your husband is a mail carrier, that means you have pull and power. I want you to tell all mail carriers who deliver mail to my house to get out and come ring the door bell because my Yorkie, Prissy, is having a fit behind the door barking because he is out there. She wants to kiss him and go with him. Handle this for me, okay? :beer:
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@CatherineofAragon
Since your husband is a mail carrier, that means you have pull and power.
I love you, Vic, so you have to let me savor that...your Goggies are so CUTE!
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@JustPassinThru
I'll do what I damn well please, Skippy. Got that?
Comment deleted. Totally unacceptable. Don't do it again.
- Mod 2
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And I'm not "Skippy" either.
Address me properly or not at all.
And that is NOT a request.
(http://img.pandawhale.com/159217-stripes-lighten-up-francis-gif-9Gpt.gif)
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Comment deleted. Totally unacceptable. Don't do it again.
- Mod 2
And the $¢hitt I was fed here, was?...
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And the $¢hitt I was fed here, was?...
I understand Skippy peanut butter sorta looks like baby doo, but what was so terrible? Surely you're been called worse things in your life?
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I understand Skippy peanut butter sorta looks like baby doo, but what was so terrible? Surely you're been called worse things in your life?
@JustPassinThru @Cyber Liberty
Absolutely! I had some people on another board claiming I am a Dim-o-Crat,and SOME claiming I was a RINO like McLunatic and Lady Lindsey,various Bush retards and criminals,etc,etc,etc.
Yet,I somehow survived it. If I can survive that,you can survive what you were called.