I don't think that I stink in the aroma sense. I do shower daily and use enough Axe deodorant to get through the day. I mean, I stink in blog writing as of late. I looked down at the last blog I wrote about the Postal Service and I now realize it sounded a bit harsh. I know I had too many negative thoughts in my head that day. That morning, our new station manager "Morgan Mindy" had a stand-up talk that could be summed up in a sentence - "You people suck and you could be the next to get laid-off." She is completely unprofessional and that was why I had the lay-off premise in my head. Then of course, the constant negative news about the economy and the stock market.......
I will not bring my negative thoughts to the blogs. Today, while I was watching the Cramer report on the CNBC channel that I realized that the news media's coverage of the tribulations of Wall Street can be so darned confusing. If you read the business section of your local paper they speak in all kinds of confusing terms - Short selling, P/E ratios, dog food futures. What the hell are they talking about?
I decided to channel my energies in a positive way by coming up with a handy reference guide to interpret what goes on in our stock market. I have decided to use those ever-present pictures of the stock traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
We begin with the standard wide angle view of stock traders in motion. Pictures like these mean that things are going along just fine in the stock market. Watch as these professionals in action as they yell - "Buy!" "Sell!" Bygawd, it's American capitalism at its finest!
Uh-oh, there is trouble afoot. Suddenly no one is moving. The once confident men look up to God for a sign. It's going to be ok, right?
The number of men in the picture diminishes as the situation worsens. The increasingly isolated man feels an irresistible urge to touch part of his head.
As the situation becomes more bleak, the hand moves from the scalp or forehead to the chin.
When the hand is covering the mouth, the market is in total panic mode. Things are getting crazy!! The hand over the mouth can take the standard "I can't believe this is happening" form...
...or the "I think I'm going to lose my Waffle House breakfast" form.
Finally, the head droops downward and the hand covers the eyes, as Joe Trader enters the final stage of a market meltdown: total despair.
Ok, postal people, this is your signal to BUY!!! I recommend starting with multiple adult beverages and taking long deep breaths - it's going to be a long year.........
As I was preparing to close my window and to do the 1412 work of finalizing my co-worker's receipts and money, I heard a customer in the lobby area banging on the APC machine. I walked towards the customer to ask her what was the problem.
"Those brilliant minds within your management who decided to get rid of the stamp machines are a bunch of idiots!! All I want to purchase is a first class stamp for a letter."
What seems to be the problem, I asked.
"First of all, I have to put my bank card in this machine before I get a total for my purchase. It's like signing a blank check to a complete stranger. I want the total first before I give you people permission to take the money out of my account."
Actually, this customer brought up a valid point.
"Anyways, I put my card in this machine and touch the screen where it says "first class domestic letter" and look at the price I am given - forty two dollars and ninety eight cents."
She cancelled the transaction and began again. The same total appeared on the APC - forty two dollars and ninety eight cents. I told her that I would use my 1412 terminal and sell her a single stamp.
"Never mind, young man," she said, "I noticed that your machine works if I purchase a book of stamps. I will pay the $8.40 instead. I think your post office is in cahoots with the Bush Administration in taking all of our hard earned money to bailout those crooks on Wall Street!!"
Yes, this really happened at work today. The REAL problem was that our APC machine wasn't working properly and it was shut down after this transaction. And no, the Postal Service is not in "cahoots with Bush Administration" although I could empathize with the customer's frustration.
For some reason, there are those that believe that everything in life is surrounded by a deep dark conspiracy. There seems to be a large dose of this going on amongst the internet message boards and blogs. I was reading Tom's blog concerning a message from "Tsunami" who wrote a message on the letter carrier's message board. Tsunami writes that this came from an "area meeting." What area? Who knows? Coincidentally, he writes about the same "talking points" that were discussed at last summer's APWU Convention in Las Vegas. Perhaps, Tsunami truly believed he was doing the right thing in informing us about some undisclosed plans of the USPS. I thank Tom for including a follow up blog from a PostalMag reader who is knowledgable about Article 6 concerning layoffs within the craft.
When any of us write blogs or messages on the internet we have the responsibilty to include the source of information where we obtained the words we write. Some people believe that anything written on the internet is the gospel truth unless it has the letters "LOL" written after it. I have read far too much SPECULATION about the USPS' future with no documentation to back up their words.
Agreed, the USPS is arguably in the worst financial mess in its 232 year history. The national economy is facing a recession and the USPS is no longer the main messengers of communication - it is now MSN or AOL or whatever internet server you are using to read my blog.
As workers, the best we can do is to stay focused on our jobs, do our best in times of trouble and wait to see what the PO and our unions can do to get out of this financial mess. If you believe that your union is so far in bed with management that you can't tell whose ass is sticking up higher - than run against him/her in the next election. I became the local APWU president here after only 2 years in the P.O. It isn't that difficult to do. It's a job most people don't want to do so there is very little competition.
Upper management are busy using scare tactics again and this is nothing new. It is a pattern of their behavior to shake the trees of the craft to see what kind of fruits and nuts fall out. With some folks in mangement - intimidation supercedes intelligence. All of this talk of mass layoffs is something that I don't believe will happen. Anthony Vegliante released a statement on LiteBlue today that if any layoffs occur it will start within National Headquarters.
If you are of like mind and believe that management wants their PFP bonuses you will realize that if mass layoffs occur - the mail will be delayed. Overtime will be incurred on the craft and the PFP bonuses will dry up for management.
There are far too many safeguards within our respective National Agreements for mass layoffs to occur. True, there will be jobs abolished and employees excessed to other offices that may need the complement. Currently, the worst case scenario will be the abolishment of Tour 2 employees in preparation for the start-up of the FSS implementation.
But mass layoffs? If anyone on here has written documentation and NOT heresay about this kind of action, please let your union know about this. From my vantage point as an acting local APWU president, I have not seen ANY real documentation about this kind of action.
True, there will be changes AFTER 2010, and unlike what some presidential candidates will tell you - change is NOT always good. But, all of this undocumented SPECULATION does not do any good to anyone - whether you are in craft or management.
Speaking of conspiracies - what happened to Spauldo? Her profile just disappeared!! She dropped of my friend's list and I cannot find her!! Was it the government? Was it management? Was it aliens? OMG!!!
The news spread throughout Colorado about large veins of silver being discovered in the area of what is now known as St. Elmo. On October 31, 1889 - the town of St. Elmo was incorporated. This was the beginning of what was to be known as the Honeymoon Period. All of the houses were brand new and the saloons were filled with happy miners and barroom girls. Silver dollars were flying everywhere.
In 1898, an outsider named Horace Runyon came into town with phony platte maps and bogus deed titles and began jumping claims all over St. Elmo. One year later, in 1899, the Silver Depression hit Colorado and silver plummetted to under $2 an ounce. Eventually, all of the miners left town except Horace Runyon. He got his wish as he remained the sole resident of St. Elmo. No one knows the exact date of his death as his skeleton was discovered amongst his rotting possessions in that old white house at the end of the dirt road. The Honeymoon Period was over.
In the early 1920s, gold and uranium veins were discovered near St. Elmo. Once again, the good news spread throughout Colorado and people began moving back to St. Elmo. The town had a new saloon, a grocery store/post office and a movie house. All of the buildings were filled light and laughter with the feeling of joy and merriment. Mountain jays were dancing jigs and apples on a stick were covered with caramel.
This was the beginning of the Dazzling Period which lasted from the 1920s until the late 1970s. The two unions in town (the miner's and postal workers) worked in unison with the management of that day. However, as is custom with all legends and fairy tales, the Dazzling Period had to share its existence with a far more sinister future.
As the gold and uranium ore dried up, folks began to leave St. Elmo again including the town's postmaster. The future was looking dim for the town.
This is when the Dark Period began. There was no more laughter in the buildings or on the street. There were no shiny happy people hands.
♫♪☼Shiny Happy people hoooolding haaands! ♫♪☼
According to those who lived to tell the tale, the Dark Period truly began with the arrival of the new postmaster. Some claimed that she was possessed. Her demonic posession brought forth upon St. Elmo a wrathful being who haunted and grunted and scorned and burped.
She raged, she flounced, she stomped and she SWORE!! The vilest of words that echoed throughout the post office and down the nearly empty streets of town. Their vulgarity was enough to scorch the paint off of the walls and nearby vacant buildings in St. Elmo. That is why they have that eerie look today, almost as if they were crying from the sheer torture of having to endure the distorted insults of the postmaster.
The murderous inflection put upon the words, "You need EIGHT hours to sort and deliver mail!!!" would make the windows rattle with a might only to be mirrored by gale force winds of a hurricane.
The postmaster's hauntings only lasted a few more years. Eventually, the next to last person to leave St. Elmo was a brown-nosing clerk named Gary. Gary asked the postmaster if there was anything he could do for her. The postmaster confessed to Gary, "All I wanted to do was to fulfill my grandfather Horace's wishes. I wanted to take total control of St. Elmo. I, Eleanor Runyon, have been a very bad woman. I deserve a good spanking. But before you spank me Gary, would you pull my hair as hard as you can?"
Legend has it, that after Gary left; Eleanor boarded up that old post office and slowly walked away to the old white house at the end of the dirt road. To this day, howls and shrieks can be heard down those empty streets and abandoned mines. No one knows what became of Eleanor.
But you can still see the old post office and visit that old white house at the end of the dirt road. It has no electricity and it is very dark. When you are inside you might run face-first into a cobweb. Or is it a cobweb? It could be the ghost of postmaster Eleanor. And when you hear the house settling, those might be the footsteps of Eleanor lurking closely behind you.
The regret of not treating employees with dignity and respect....the greed for bonus money.....the warm feeling that is missed when one doesn't think about anyone but themselves........those are the real haunting ghosts of the past and present.
And from all accounts, the ghosts of postal management are still haunting us from the voices of the day to the shadows of the night.
I have not been online much in the last two weeks because I have taken a lot of my union steward work home with me. This is not the way I would like to work on grievances. At work, I would prefer to work on my bid job instead of working on grievances. Two weeks ago, our station acquired a new acting station manager named Morgan. If I refer to someone named "Morgan Mindy" in upcoming blogs - you will know who I am talking about.
I watching MSNBC before I went to work this morning and they showed a program called "Inside America's Prisons" hosted by Joe Scarborough. Joe was visiting a prison in Canon City, Colorado. He spoke with different inmates about how they ended up on the wrong path in life. Most of the inmates were sleeved with tattooes and spoke in true street slang. There was one man that stood out on the show, a guy named Bob.
Bob looks like your next door neighbor. Joe asked Bob how he wound up in a penitentiary. Bob told Joe that he held a lot of jobs before going the wrong way. Apparently, he had earned a Master's degree in Engineering and had worked for Rockwell for 3 years before he was laid-off. Later, he worked for Boeing Aircraft and Lockheed-Martin and was laid-off from those jobs and had now turned 45 years old. It was becoming harder to find work. Bob had actually worked for the Postal Service for 4 years and quit to become an OTR truck driver. His loads included the normal cargo but he also shipped large amounts of narcotics in those loads as well. He said his pay was $15,000 a month. Eventually, Bob was caught.
Joe then asks Bob, "You have held a lot of responsible jobs. How hard is it for you to cope with prison life?" Bob was nicer than I would be - he just said, "I take it one day at a time."
If I were Bob I would have told Joe about my years with the Postal Service and the similarities it has towards prison life:
PRISON POSTAL SERVICE
1.) Big concrete building...................................1.) Big concrete building
2.) Fenced in...................................................2.) Fenced in
5.) Controlled time schedule...............5.) Controlled lunches and breaks
6.) Harassment about illness.................................6.) AWOL
7.) Very low morale...............................................7.) Very low morale
8.) Very harsh discipline................................8.) Very harsh discipline
But enough about the negativity at the P.O. - at least we have jobs unlike Bob and more than likely we WON'T be laid off. Oh yeah, I have read the stories about the USPS "considering" layoffs but that's another story for another blog.
I noticed that we have a new member to our site who is also from Colorado. Her name is "Our Lady of Guacamole." Hmmmm.....interesting name choice. I found an avocodo recipe she might like. The idea of the recipe sounds good but these small town papers in Colorado need better writers:
Personally, I think this would be a tasty snack no matter how big your breasts are.
There are those that tune into their particular favorite news channel and watch the Dow and the S&P 500 plunge towards 1990's numbers and view it as just the "rich becoming poorer." To bring this event in our time and history back home - if you have a Thrift Savings Plan with the Postal Service - take a look at your current balance. You will get a sick feeling in your stomach. Before going to work, I visited www.tsp.gov and noticed that my account has lost nearly $6,000 in a month.
If you invested your TSP solely in the G Fund - you are the current winner and you are smarter than the rest of us. There was a time, if the stock market was in a bull session - the C Fund was your best bet. When it was a bear market, you could switch your earnings towards the F Fund and accrue significant gains. The G Fund has always been steady but, normally, a slow gainer profit-wise.
Perhaps, it is part of my nature - but I had always assumed that the path to high gains was high risk. Financially, you have to assume risk in investments to receive a higher return on your monetary bounty. At work, I became a steward to risk my reputation and other intangibles to reward my co-workers with an improved workplace bounty. I have now temporarily put my all of TSP in the G Fund but I waited too long before I made that move.
I was watching the video on PostalTexan's blog concerning the $440,000 party that AIG had at the St. Regis resort in California using the $85 billion dollar bailout that will be funded by us, the taxpayer. Yesterday, AIG received another $38.5 billion dollars in taxpayer-backed bailout money.
This matter seemed closer to home while I was talking to a co-worker who is a rural carrier. Along with his wife who works as an RN at Craig Hospital in Englewood, have been putting away money for over 15 years into their children's college funds. They have a son and a daughter. Their daughter is a high school senior and will be graduating in May and plans to attend college in September. While reviewing their children's college funds online, they were shocked to find out that these accounts have lost over $10,000 in the last three months. There is no way on Earth that will be able to recoop that kind of money before September. They have acted responsibly and have been putting away their hard earned dollars for years and are now being punished by the corporate greed of companies like AIG.
Woo hoo! Party on, AIG!
This $700 billion dollar (now $855 billion) bailout plan is NOT the solution. It will eventually free up credit within the market but, from my limited understanding of economics, the credit market is NOT the main culprit. This crisis stemmed from the housing market. There are people who responsibly purchased a home for their family WITHOUT utilizing the sub-prime scam. Hypothetically, if a responsible person purchased a home 3 years ago with a $150,000 mortgage they will be shocked to find out that their home is now worth $120,000. It is no wonder that foreclosures are so high with too many homes that have negative equity. These people will never see ONE PENNY of the bailout money. Responsible people could lose their homes while Martin J. Sullivan of AIG will receive a $5 million PFP bonus.
Have a Long Island Ice Tea for me AIG!
It is the law of the universe that what goes down will eventually go up. YEARS from now, there will be a positive outcome - but it will come too late for many people - and this includes our co-workers who invested in college funds to give their children a better life or those that planned on retiring in the next 2-3 years.
If you listened to Henry Paulson's latest plan - there is a proposal to remove $2 trillion dollars from the reserves that we have stashed in global bank vaults. There have been times when global markets have swapped currency on the idea that the funds would be paid back, but this withdrawal, would be an open-ended withdrawal involving no payback to the global market. Worldwide, the European markets would be taking a major gamble based on our reputation. The component that would affect us is that the T-Bill could be devalued and the last safe haven in our TSP - the G Fund - would be at risk.
As I am writing this blog, the Dow just dipped below 9,000 points. The confidence in our financial managing entities is at a new low. I could have saved AIG over $25,000 on their spa massages that they received at the St. Regis Resort.
I personally know many people who would love to get the hands on those greedy AIG executives along with the other corporate moneygrubbers steeped in greed . They would also be willing to repay those Freddie Mac execs - right in the Fannie.
