After carrying my route today, I got back to the post office about 3:40 PM. That's about twenty minutes early, since my end time is 4:00 PM. The station manager, a person I don't think has ever carried mail, asked me why I was back so early. I was puzzled, since I'm thinking the goal is to get back as soon as possible. I told her that I could leave and come back later. She thought for a second and declined my offer. But she explained to me about the current policy that all carriers should clock in with no more than five minutes left before the end tour. I explained to her that this is nothing new for me, that I got in trouble with the last supervisor for coming back early. I told her I get in more trouble coming back a few minutes early than people who come back several hours late. The problem (if you call it that) is that I don't want the overtime, and I finish my route in a timely manner so I can go home. But the dumba$$ postal management doesn't know what to do with someone who comes back early, as the rest come back late. I'm often the only one who doesn't use any overtime.

I told my plight to a fellow carrier, one whom I consider one of the best carriers I have ever known in my life. He told me that he was actually given a Pre-D (pre-disciplinary interview) for coming back early. It was his day off, he finished his route, and he came back a little early to make sure he didn't go into penalty time. The dumba$$ supervisor actually gave this stellar carrier a Pre-D!!!!! How's that for stupidity?

So this afternoon the station manager calls me into the office. She says she remembers someone telling me I'm good at something, but can't remember what it is. I'm looking around her office, and it looked like a hurricane had hit it. I'm assuming she wants some help, so I answer the question by telling her I used to be a 204B. She says no, that's not what she heard. I tell her I'm pretty good with the Internet. No, that's not it either, she says. I tell her I'm also good with the computer. Nope, that's not it either. Then she remembers. She tells me that she heard I was good at hanging things. Well, that's a new one for me. Eventually she told me she heard I was good at hanging bulletins on the bulletin board, and she had a lot of them, judging by the mess in her office. Bizarro is the word.

We recently got a new "enforcer" supervisor. He's a 204B, I believe light-duty, and from what I've heard he can't get promoted to full-time supervisor because he can't even pass the initial, qualifying ASP supervisor test. I also heard he was one of the worst carriers at his station. In fact, one of our carriers who's not known for being that great, said they used to send HIM to help the 204B! The 204B started off on his first morning by telling carriers they can't report to the clock area to clock in until five minutes before the start time. He's new, but he's telling carriers that have worked at my post office for 20 or 30 years or more they can't be on their own workroom floor. It's not like carriers are reporting too early - maybe 15 minutes early so to give a little leeway as to not be late in case of traffic etc. For decades, we've stood around the clock waiting to clock in. Can't anymore. Now we have to wait in the parking lot or the small break room.

The unsatisfactory supervisor has continued his antics, including giving Pre-Ds and Letters of Warnings for one missed scan and for going over DOIS time one time. He's been there a week and already he's got several EEOs in the process of going against him. Plus, he's blatantly violating the contract by giving discipline based on DOIS alone. I think he should get a Letter of Warning for failure to follow instructions.

Anyway, all the carriers at my post office are raw from the abusive managers that are paraded through our station. And we're not going to take it anymore. We're going to file our EEOs and grievances until this unsatisfactory supervisor is gone and we get someone who is somewhere close to being professional. I cannot tell you how disappointed I am with the Dallas management team. There are still a few good ones left, but most are not qualified, are unprofessional and just plain mean people. Back when I started in 1990 there were many good supervisors. They had been hand-picked once they proved themselves as carriers and showed some leadership qualities. Today, the ASP system picks people based on demographics, not proven managerial abilities. Now, we have a bunch of unqualifed people supervising in Dallas, and the work environment has never been worse to my knowledge. The sorry supervisors band together and watch each other's backs, forming an impromptu coalition against competent managers and upper management. Bizarro is the word, and the Postal Service in Dallas should be ashamed of the way they are treating people. This is the 21st century, yet they're using late 19th century intimidation and coercion management techniques. Until the USPS resolves this problem, the workplace in Dallas, and I'm sure in other cities, will continue to be marked by inefficiencies, incompetence, and confrontation.

Mike Morgan, the creator of the comic strip Postage Due, thought we'd get a kick out of his Ballad of Sarah Palin. It's at:

http://www.postalmag.com/images/balladofsarahpalin.jpg

Recently, a spokesperson for the USPS came to our post office to talk about Customer Connect. Customer Connect is a USPS program that encourages postal carriers to identify businesses on their routes that could benefit by using USPS products. There was only one question after the presentation: "When do we get our grievance pay?"

You see, for the last year or two we've had a management team from hell that took every opportunity to harass and intimidate postal employees. They did it with malice, and also with their stupidity. This resulted in numerous grievances for blatant management violations of the contract, which of course the carriers won almost every time. I don't know the count, but there have been dozens and dozens of grievances, if not hundreds - counting all the grievances about violations of the OTDL list. This alone has cost the USPS many thousands of dollars just at my post office.

Getting back to Customer Connect. Do you think carriers will want to help management after being treated this way? Heck no. I say this because even though management may think they are getting ahead by harassing and intimidating carriers, in the end they lose a thousand different ways. Hopefully, one day, management will realize they may lose a little by treating employees with respect, but will gain much more in the end.

As for our management team, our station manager is no longer with us and is working as a delivery supervisor now (in effect a demotion). And her minion has been reassigned as well. Hopefully the new manager and a new supervisor will show a little more respect. If so, they may get a little respect and cooperation in return.

Ever wonder how many miles a letter carrier walks each day?

Albuquerque The Magazine recently celebrated National Postal Worker Day by printing how far some Duke City, NM letter carriers walk on their routes during one day, reports the Postal Service's Southwest Area Update newsletter.

Three carriers were armed with pedometers, and here are the results:

Amy Munoz
Letter Carrier, Five Points Station
28,067 steps, or 5.5 miles

Phillip Carabajal
Letter Carrier, airport Mail Facility
13,780 steps, or 6.5 miles

Jerry King
Letter Carrier, Steve Schiff Station
18,697 or close to 9 miles

This morning our supervisor announced with "great sadness" that today would be our last day to deliver the weekly Dallas Morning News circulars. (For those not in the Dallas area, the DMN circulars are like ADVOS, but bigger and bulkier. They go out to every address that does not get home delivery of the Dallas Morning News, Dallas' only daily newspaper. As such, many routes have almost 100% full coverage ever Wednesday. See this blog for more information.) The supervisor tried to sound really sad when making the announcement. She noted that this was just another example about how the Internet is killing mail volume and that this was a major loss of revenue.

Were the carriers sad, you ask?

It's not that carriers want to see the USPS lose revenue, but most of the carriers were very pleased with the announcement for the following reasons.

1. The biggest reason is that carriers had to fight tooth and nail with management each week to get approved overtime to deliver the bulky, full-coverage mailings. Management would insist the circulars didn't take any extra time at all to deliver. In reality, it would take up to two extra hours per route to deliver the circulars. On straight park and loop residential routes, it could take as little as 15 minutes extra. But on apartment routes and routes in the ghetto that were designed for normally low volume, it could take from 30 minutes to 2 hours to deliver. Management wouldn't usually approve this full coverage time, and if they did it was after much arguing back and forth. As a result, when informed of the loss of the weekly circulars, the carriers stated: "Hey, management didn't count it anyway since it was a third bundle, so if it's not counted it's not a loss." Now, carriers are glad they'll have one less headache a week with the supervisors.

2. Some carriers bluntly stated that it was junk and the customers didn't want it anyway.

3. One carrier said the move would save a lot of trees.

4. Some carriers said this was an opportunity for management to cut overtime hours.

I write these reasons to make a couple of points. With volume falling, everyone at the USPS needs to be on the same page to craft solutions to falling volumes. As it is now, there is much hostility between craft and management that prevents different groups from having common goals and common concerns.

Another point is that in my experience there was about one person on my entire route of more than 600 stops that actually liked the DMN mailing. For many others, the circular incited hostility, many customers called the circulars junk. At the apartments, most went in the trash immediately after people checked their boxes. I say this because the USPS needs to transform and become more relevant. It won't be relevant if all people get are credit card solicitations and circulars that only piss people off. I don't see the loss of the DMN as a negative, but a chance to make the mail more relevant. I believe there is great opportunity for the USPS to facilitate important transactions through the mail, including fulfilling orders and other dealings from the Interent. The USPS has a complete nationwide infrastructure with a monopoly that gives it many advantages over the UPS, FedEx and others. If we can't take advantage of that, by offering competitive pricing and fast service for delivering important documents and bills, Internet orders, prescriptions, NetFlix, etc. then we don't deserve to survive. But to survive, we need to become nimble, not burdened by bulk mailings that get in the way of delivering relevant materials.

Here's a few thoughts about how the USPS can become more nimble and survive in the Internet Age:

1. 5-day, Monday-Friday mail delivery.
2. All-electric delivery vehicle fleet.
3. Once all-electric, convert remaining walking routes to mounted. It's the 21st century and walking door-to-door just won't cut it.
4. Consolidate sorting to only two bundles - DPS and FSS. USPS mandates that all mailings, including ValPaks and ADVOs, be machinable by either DPS or FSS.
5. With burdensome "junk" mailings out of the way, the USPS can maintain standard delivery times. (No working after dark two-days-a-week to deliver burdensome full-coverage third bundle circulars.) With standard delivery times, the USPS can win back business mailings, including Internet order fulfillment and documents now transported by UPS and FedEx. The USPS needs package and document delivery since paper costs will one day go the way of gasoline (world population expands while tree populations decline each year).