I keep hearing almost unbelievable stories about what is happening in the Dallas District in regards to understaffing. (As for my PO, we had about 13 routes down out of 34 on Christmas Eve because of a directive prohibiting the working of off-day overtime.) The latest almost unbelievable story comes out of Garland, Texas, home of King of the Hill. A person at the PO told me they had something like 35 routes down out of 125 (something like that) on Christmas Eve and that many carriers worked until about 9:30. This person said there was a lot of ill feelings, as many of these carriers wanted to get home at least a little earlier on this night. 

I have yet to hear what is behind this. Stupidity comes to mind. Perhaps postal finances are in such poor shape the USPS is resorting to such drastic tactics. I surmise it has something to do with bonuses. I'll bet if there were a bonus given for having the least amount of carriers returning after 5:00 PM then every available carrier on the rolls would be working to make sure everyone was back by 5:00. This used to be the case, and it caused a fair amount of consternation as even the no-overtime people were being mandated to work to ensure the 5:00 PM window.

Well, the 5:00 PM window is obviously not a managerial bonus factor at this time. I'm willing to bet it's workhours, or overtime hours. Now, no one comes in on their day off, not even the OT people. Forget about an OT list, everyone who's working on any given day is working ten or twelve hours or more.

Kinda forgotten in this mess is the postal customer. But when the financials come out, and the USPS is touting big reductions in OT hours, I'll be here to say that MANY CUSTOMERS ARE RECEIVING THEIR MAIL LATE AT NIGHT... and many carriers are practically being worked under forced labor conditions. Now, I've said it before. We should all be thankful for our jobs, and we should all be thankful for the work, but these conditions are bordering on the ridiculous. It's the making of another chapter in the latest business book with an anecdote about how not to run a business.