USPS: Cutting 40,000 jobs

[Moonbeam]

The Founding Fathers established the Post Office as a Socialist Government Monopoly on the delivery of mail. That monopoly has steadily been eroded by Republicans trying to squeeze in on the business. Were it not for their laws preventing the PO from competing full out the PO would have buried FedEx and UPS. Except for hard copy and goods, the Internet is replacing their business. In the downturn it's junk mail that is being eliminated. Fewer are buying anything from catalogs or junk mail.

 

[jonks]

FedEx: Hi, how can I help you?
USPS: the fuck you want?

not surprising

 

[Fern]

40K out of 800K doesn't sound like much.

Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if they are anticipating a reduction in junk mail/advertising given the economy. Less demand = fewer employees.

Fern

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: jonks
FedEx: Hi, how can I help you?
USPS: the fuck you want?

not surprising

Apparently USPS knows you on sight.

 

[GroundedSailor]

Originally posted by: jonks
FedEx: Hi, how can I help you?
USPS: the fuck you want?

not surprising

I've always had very polite service at the few post office I use, near home & the office.

 

[Pastore]

I haven't used USPS in 6 months. It's only going to go down from here. I already do 100% of my bill paying via the internet, and I imagine most of you have a high % as well. As soon as the baby boomers die off, we will have no need for daily mail delivery, and it will go to on-demand shipping the likes of UPS and FedEx...

 

[StageLeft]

I wonder how much is because of better tech. I can ship packages with a computer, I can use the machine they have in their office.

I have a piece of advice for everybody: The day a machine starts working beside you doing what you do, go to school, STAT. This applies to people manning the counter at USPS filling in packaging specs all day and it applies to Walmart employees working next to an auto-teller. Honest to God, if that's not writing on the wall, you cannot read!

Still, this is a lot of layoffs and it's never fun to be laid off.

I love how you can cut 40,000 jobs at a government service agency and not see any change in service.

haha, this!

I was thinking something similar, just do a M-F schedule for the bulk of the mail. I don't need my addds and bills delivered on Saturday.

Agreed. In Canada it's 5 days/week. When I got to the US I immediately fell in love with the awesomeness of Saturday delivery, but it's ice on the cake, not really necessary.

FedEx: Hi, how can I help you?
USPS: the fuck you want?

not surprising

Heh, honestly though the only gov workers I've ever found to be total crap are those who work at the social security office. Border, USPS, I've never found them to be a problem.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Farang
I love how you can cut 40,000 jobs at a government service agency and not see any change in service.

Even longer lines at the counter.

You should ask your local postmaster to get an automated shipping kiosk. After all we are getting close to the 21st century... no reason why you can't buy a stamp from one of those new fangled machines.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Farang
I love how you can cut 40,000 jobs at a government service agency and not see any change in service.

Even longer lines at the counter.

You should ask your local postmaster to get an automated shipping kiosk. After all we are getting close to the 21st century... no reason why you can't buy a stamp from one of those new fangled machines.

That would require a high speed Internets connection which Republicans do not believe in.

Have to get new administration in first that believes in the high speed future.

 

[bob4432]

they are getting rid of the disabled (many of which were hurt on the job and the usps is no longer accommodating any of those people) and people less than 6yrs - the union affiliation won't mean shit. and the number is less than 800,00 probably 675,000 or so.

the retirement package they offered was more just a "do you want to retire?" w/ no incentive, so of course people didn't take it.

they need to remove the fat from upper management - those people make six figures and do nothing and many times duplicate work for the employees.

the actual inner workings of the usps is incredibly efficient, just ruled many times in a horrible manner. hell, they pick their supervisor's based off of ass kissing and attendance only, not how well one does the job, any type of education or knowledge of the job at hand, and it goes this way all the way up.

 

[Thump553]

I'm looking at the armload of junk mail I brought in today from the mailbox. At least one of the junk envelopes is marked eight cents postage. I think I have a fairly good idea why they are losing money.

 

[nageov3t]

there's got to be a shitton of waste at the USPS.

my town is 0.8 square miles and has a population of ~4,000... why the hell do we need our own post office? sell the land, merge a few neighboring towns into one new post office, and lay off any redundancy that's no longer needed.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: rudder

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Farang
I love how you can cut 40,000 jobs at a government service agency and not see any change in service.

Even longer lines at the counter.

You should ask your local postmaster to get an automated shipping kiosk. After all we are getting close to the 21st century... no reason why you can't buy a stamp from one of those new fangled machines.

That would require a high speed Internets connection which Republicans do not believe in.

Have to get new administration in first that believes in the high speed future.

mmmmkay. Note to self. Do not quote dmcowen674. He is truly an idiot.

 

[Chaotic42]

I'm glad to see spending being cut, but my heart goes out to anyone who loses their job.

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I'm glad to see spending being cut, but my heart goes out to anyone who loses their job.

Good, but you realize, I hope, that the PO is not run by tax dollars so you will pick up the unemployment checks and get no benefit.

 

[bozack]

Good luck to Obama with this

personally I like the USPS, always do right by me with my shipping...

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I'm glad to see spending being cut, but my heart goes out to anyone who loses their job.

Good, but you realize, I hope, that the PO is not run by tax dollars so you will pick up the unemployment checks and get no benefit.

Well, it would, theoretically, delay postal rate increases. It could also prevent a bailout of the USPS if they stay afloat.

 

[Triumph]

I love the Post Office. 6 day delivery right to my doorstop, and cheap rates. Since they're self sustaining, they must be doing something right.

 

[Drift3r]

Originally posted by: Evan
FedEx, DHL, UPS, etc. have been out-dueling them for years. Not surprised at all.

Their not much better. I've had my horror stories with UPS and FedEX. Nothing like drivers not bothering to deliver packages because it was the end of their route or having expensive computer parts left on the door step without any notice and having them stolen by some dushbag walking by on foot on more then one occasion.

 

[tk149]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: tk149
Hopefully, they'll trim the most inefficient (ie. lazy/stupid) workers.

A number of years ago, I worked at a company that was highly dependent on timely mail. We had several conversations with the local Postmaster because we weren't getting our own mail on time. At one point, he stated that he could NOT fire two workers (or take any real measures against) who were known drug addicts who didn't do any work.

There was also somebody at the counter who literally moved very slowly. We could see nothing physically wrong with her, she just moved slow, and we figured it was just because she was darn lazy. We'd show up at the post office, ask for our mail, and it would take her 5-10 minutes just to get it. Other counter employees could get our mail in one minute. She always took a long time.

Unfortunately, even the bad union workers will be protected.

Of course the truth is that is not true at all. people in the Fed. Gov get fired all the time. And we, MGT/HR, win 80%+ of appeals. The problem is some MGT is lazy and/or does not know what to do so they just let it happen.

How many USPS cases have you managed?

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: Moonbeam

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I'm glad to see spending being cut, but my heart goes out to anyone who loses their job.

Good, but you realize, I hope, that the PO is not run by tax dollars so you will pick up the unemployment checks and get no benefit.

Well, it would, theoretically, delay postal rate increases. It could also prevent a bailout of the USPS if they stay afloat.

not going to happen. much of when the po made a profit, it was taken by other govt agencies, the po couldn't have a "bank acct", it was a year to year setup, not like they could get out of debt since their surpluses were gone

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: loki8481
there's got to be a shitton of waste at the USPS.

my town is 0.8 square miles and has a population of ~4,000... why the hell do we need our own post office? sell the land, merge a few neighboring towns into one new post office, and lay off any redundancy that's no longer needed.

very few redundancy in a small situation like the one you describe. what would happen is the next town would have to hire more carriers, so at most they could sell the building and get rid of a postmaster and a couple people inside....but like i said, the smaller po run very lean and by bringing in others at another po doesn't fix what you are describing

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: tk149
Hopefully, they'll trim the most inefficient (ie. lazy/stupid) workers.

A number of years ago, I worked at a company that was highly dependent on timely mail. We had several conversations with the local Postmaster because we weren't getting our own mail on time. At one point, he stated that he could NOT fire two workers (or take any real measures against) who were known drug addicts who didn't do any work.

There was also somebody at the counter who literally moved very slowly. We could see nothing physically wrong with her, she just moved slow, and we figured it was just because she was darn lazy. We'd show up at the post office, ask for our mail, and it would take her 5-10 minutes just to get it. Other counter employees could get our mail in one minute. She always took a long time.

Unfortunately, even the bad union workers will be protected.

Of course the truth is that is not true at all. people in the Fed. Gov get fired all the time. And we, MGT/HR, win 80%+ of appeals. The problem is some MGT is lazy and/or does not know what to do so they just let it happen.

afraid your numbers are highly skewed unless you are talking about mail theft, that is about it. most of the time if a person did get fired for any other reason besides theft, they would get re-hired through the grievance/appeals system and be reinstated w/ full backpay including overtime, so i knew many people that would get fired for some b.s. reason and then a few years later get their job back w/ a nice couple hundred grand check as a bonus. like i said, the mgt is the problem in the po

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: tk149

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: tk149
Hopefully, they'll trim the most inefficient (ie. lazy/stupid) workers.

A number of years ago, I worked at a company that was highly dependent on timely mail. We had several conversations with the local Postmaster because we weren't getting our own mail on time. At one point, he stated that he could NOT fire two workers (or take any real measures against) who were known drug addicts who didn't do any work.

There was also somebody at the counter who literally moved very slowly. We could see nothing physically wrong with her, she just moved slow, and we figured it was just because she was darn lazy. We'd show up at the post office, ask for our mail, and it would take her 5-10 minutes just to get it. Other counter employees could get our mail in one minute. She always took a long time.

Unfortunately, even the bad union workers will be protected.

Of course the truth is that is not true at all. people in the Fed. Gov get fired all the time. And we, MGT/HR, win 80%+ of appeals. The problem is some MGT is lazy and/or does not know what to do so they just let it happen.

How many USPS cases have you managed?

I work for State, and postal workers appeal to the same MSPB as all other federal workers. And as I stated we win over 80% of our cases for removal. Every person my office has fired this year has not come back.


But here ya go, you can read some cases if you like...
http://www.mspb.gov/sites/mspb.../MSPB%20Decisions.aspx

 

[Strk]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: tk149

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: tk149
Hopefully, they'll trim the most inefficient (ie. lazy/stupid) workers.

A number of years ago, I worked at a company that was highly dependent on timely mail. We had several conversations with the local Postmaster because we weren't getting our own mail on time. At one point, he stated that he could NOT fire two workers (or take any real measures against) who were known drug addicts who didn't do any work.

There was also somebody at the counter who literally moved very slowly. We could see nothing physically wrong with her, she just moved slow, and we figured it was just because she was darn lazy. We'd show up at the post office, ask for our mail, and it would take her 5-10 minutes just to get it. Other counter employees could get our mail in one minute. She always took a long time.

Unfortunately, even the bad union workers will be protected.

Of course the truth is that is not true at all. people in the Fed. Gov get fired all the time. And we, MGT/HR, win 80%+ of appeals. The problem is some MGT is lazy and/or does not know what to do so they just let it happen.

How many USPS cases have you managed?

I work for State, and postal workers appeal to the same MSPB as all other federal workers. And as I stated we win over 80% of our cases for removal. Every person my office has fired this year has not come back.


But here ya go, you can read some cases if you like...
http://www.mspb.gov/sites/mspb.../MSPB%20Decisions.aspx

It's funny how people assume it's near impossible to get fired from certain types of jobs (fed/union etc), yet it happens all the time. One thing that usually keeps people protected is the failure of management to document the workers.