I send my apologizes to SuperSub for the danger sign above. Temptation got the best of me.

Today has been one the strangest locally on a postal political level. Alan VerValin, the NRLCA Colorado President paid a visit to our small station this morning. He spoke about the the step 4 procedures about the "Great Postal Mail Count of 2008."

The phrase "Great Postal Mail Count of 2008" rolls off my tongue like the "Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906." But he talked with only the rural carriers about what steps are being taken for an obvious violation of the agreement written in the PO-603 and an LMOU in the NRLCA Contract. Although I am steward representing the APWU, I have been around long enough to remember the Eischen Award that unveiled the cheating by management in 2002. History really DOES repeat itself.

If one visitor wasn't enough, our state POOMba also paid us a visit. Greg (the grand POOMba of Colorado) began his speech with the usual "we appreciate your efforts" speech but, like all POOMbas always do, has to end his talk on a negative note.

For some mysterious reason, our station recorded the highest "Delivery Confirmation" percentage in the Colorado/Wyoming district for Oct-Dec. 2007. But now, according to the POOMba, we dropped from 99.1% to 87.6% in just three months. This is an 11.5% decrease!! Instead of researching the problem internally, our grand POOMba suspects that the carriers don't know how to use a scanner.

I recently read Spauldo's last blog concerning Express Mail scans. Part of me suspects that the USPS is spending too much money in the wrong areas and we could possibly be working with faulty equipment. I realize this is a bold statement because the USPS always uses the most state-of-the-art equipment - but I am just guessing.......

We simply have management that lack the knowledge of our current technology and it makes me contemplate about our futures.

I can envision a supervisor poking at his hand and putting it next to his ear.
A clerk will ask the supervisor what he is doing.
"Oh, it's the newest technology -- I have a phone built right into my hand." The supervisor will swear that he hears a dial tone in his hand.
We will witness the supervisor going into the men's room and stay in there for at least an hour. And being concerned, we will go into the bathroom to check it out. and witness our supervisor with his hands on the wall standing with his legs apart and pants down. He will have the end of a roll of paper towels shoved up his butt. In shock, we will ask "What are you doing?!"
Our supervisor will groan and reply, "I'm waiting for a fax."

In the name of technology, we still have a long way to go before catching up with our competition.