Post Office Rolls Over to Union - Again
Posted on August 9, 2007 at 5:11 pm by Chuck Muth
By Charles Guy of the Lexington Institute
The U.S. Postal Service and one of its largest unions, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), just reached a tentative agreement on a new five-year contract. Union head William Young called the agreement a “win-win deal for the Postal Service and the nation’s city letter carriers.”
A “one-sided victory” would be more accurate. The terms of the contract mark a big win for the union, and an equally big loss for the Postal Service.
Apparently, the Postal Service would prefer to cave in to union demands rather than confront the long-term challenges of its burgeoning labor costs. USPS also capitulated earlier this year in its negotiations with the American Postal Workers Union, its largest union.
By all accounts, the NALC achieved a major coup for its members. The tentative contract provides for guaranteed raises of almost 9 percent for all union members over five years, irrespective of job performance. Letter carriers will enjoy yearly raises at a clip far exceeding that achieved by their counterparts in the APWU earlier in the year.
Beyond these raises, the contract also includes cost-of-living adjustments, estimated to be around $3,000 per worker each year. It even provides for a 2.5 percent yearly increase in the uniform allowance, to $371 by 2011.
Meanwhile, the Postal Service has reportedly proposed in its negotiations with the National Rural Letter Carriers Association (NRLCA), to establish a locality-based pay system, under which carrier pay would vary based on their geographic location. Having settled with its two largest workforces before seeking this important cost savings tool suggests that Postal Service management lacks a focused wage policy for its workforce.
Certainly, union leadership deserves credit for advancing the financial interests of its members so effectively. And most letter carriers deserve to be compensated appropriately for their hard work.
The Postal Service’s management, however, got virtually nothing in return, such as increased labor flexibility, for its generosity. Ultimately, First Class stamp buyers — who are captive to the USPS monopoly on letter delivery — will pay the price for this failure to negotiate significant cost-controlling measures.
On two important issues — the contracting of routes to private carriers and the ability to hire temporary employees — USPS simply capitulated to union demands. In fact, the NALC contract prohibits the subcontracting of existing work, institutes a moratorium on future contracting, and forbids the hiring of truly temporary employees.
Labor costs account for about 80 percent of the Postal Service’s expenditures, and contract workers, who tend to cost about half as much as unionized workers, represent an effective method of reining in the runaway costs responsible for ever-increasing postage rates.
Union leaders often raise concerns about the safety and sanctity of the mail if private contractors deliver it. But these fears ignore the fact that USPS already engages in significant worksharing agreements with private firms to transport, sort, and even deliver mail throughout the country. If private contractors go through routine security checks, safety should not be a concern.
And as the rise of online banking illustrates, an ever-increasing number of Americans are willing to trust private firms with sensitive financial information.
Further, there should be no fear of job losses, as Postmaster General John Potter has already pledged that contract workers would not replace unionized employees under any circumstances.
Such union intransigence on contracting is detrimental to the Postal Service’s fiscal health. And USPS leadership seems all too willing to yield.
The proposal to the rural carriers’ union to enact locality based pay, common in the private sector, makes a great deal of sense. Costs of living vary across the country, and a geographically based payment system would ensure that Postal Service resources were used most efficiently.
If USPS management were serious about its commitment to control labor costs, it would be pushing for similar provisions with all its unions.
Instead, it’s making deals that are only a “win-win” for the leadership of the big unions. For everyone else, they come at all too high a price.
August 10th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
The more the rates go up, the more people find other ways to correspond.
Example; Email
August 10th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Charles please report the truth and try not putting a spin on it.
1) Even the largest COLA’s ever, have never amounted to 3000 in one year; no where close in fact
2)Raises come to approx 6.62 APWU and 7 for NALC over 5 YEARS; how many private sector companies give out 3.5-5.5 average per yr, equating to 27.5% over 5 yrs.
3)The uniform allowances do not cover all clothing need to have ample supply for the year, the rest comes out of the employees pocket. Whereas some private sector companies that require uniforms pay for a full complement and also pay for the cleaning of the uniforms
4)Labor in any American (you may want to contract to third world) company will always be the largest cash expendeture. On the same token costs soar even more due to incompetant managers and supervisors violating the contract on “silly” issues just to show for a second that they are the boss. There are no real requirements to become managemement in the PO, there are two mottos though “you mess up you move up” and “you kiss up you move up”.
August 10th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Labor performs 100% of the work. If you truly want to cut costs start with the overabundance of management personnel…people who DO NOT TOUCH THE MAIL. Look at management’s structure. First HQ in Washington. How many managers and just what functions do they perform? Next you have a Area VP. Again what function does this position perform? Next you have District. Next is Post Office Operations Manager. Next is Postmaster. Next you have managers. Finally, supervisors who have no authority to run their sections. In NYC during the 80’s on the night tour we had ONE clerk run the entire floor. When he retired he was replaced by a Tour Superindent Postal Operations, 2 General Foremen and 8 supervisors…all to cover ONE clerk. See what I’m talking about. You can not terminate a manger. See the Merit Systems Protection case files. Start at top and work your way down, cut the fat that does not touch the mail. I find it interesting the writre “overlooked” the bloated bureacracy and zero in on the people who actually touch the mail and perform the job.
August 10th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
1 and 1/2 Increase per year isn’t the tei muhal. Cost of living would have to be7% a year to get $3,ooo a year? Come follow me on my route tomorrw, Heat index of 100+ And come back in January when the windchill could be 60 Below, I take care of my 88 customers no matter what you do wsending thes trash out, Take Care
August 10th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
The reason the Postal Service will NOT got to Arbitration with the Unions over wages and benefits is because their financial problems are ALL LIES!
They keep crying poor mouth but REFUSE to present evidence to prove it. We go through this EVERY contract cycle.
For all the years prior to the expiration of the contracts they proudly claim solid profits and revenue gains. Then the year contracts expire ALL OF A SUDDEN they claim they’re broke and are crippled by the cost of labor, and need concessions from the unions. I’ve witnessed this for 20 years.
The state of their finances reported IS based on what issues are on their agenda at the time. They “cook the books” to suit whatever argument they make.
Did you ever hear this! The repeal, by Congress, of the requirement for the Postal Service to fund the MILITARY penions of Postal Employees gave them NINE BILLION DOLLARS in addtional revenue, which was used to pay off all their debt and put them in the BLACK for the first time is 20 years!
Yes it’s true. It came from Postmaster General Jack Potter’s own mouth in an interview earlier this year!
But they kept it quiet because they want to continue their claims of financial ruin as a way of justifying the Union Busting Contracting Out (Backdoor Privatization) of delivery services.
The utimate goal of the Postal Service it to CONTRACT OUT all operations. They’ve already posted listings for contracting out entire postal processing facilities on Craig’s List.
All the employees would then be Non-Postal, Non-Union, low wage, low benefit, contract employees. The Postal Service would then have NO RESPONSILITY to provide pensions, health care, or overtime to anybody anymore!
Now after they achieve this and get a HUGE WINDFALL OF CASH SAVINGS, IS THE PRICE OF POSTAGE GOING TO GO DOWN? HELL NO!
But they sure as hell with give themselves big bonuses and slap themselves on the back for a job well done of, AND CONTINUE TO CRY POORMOUTH AND RAISE POSTAGE RATES.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY, STUPID!
Gilbert Albright
20 Year Postal Letter Carrier
Horsham, Pa. 19044
August 10th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Sir, I do not know where you get the figures you quote! No one will get a 3000 dollar a year cost of living raise! Also management has the flexbilty now. Most workers work every weekend, nights, holidays when most Americans are home with family. Most writers who compare usps workers pay with others never take that into consideration. Nor do they compare their wages to ups (a private company) that pays their workers more for the same type work as usps! Also please check into the history of contracting in the usps and you will find in most cases it cost more than union workers but unlike contracting there is no chance for postal management and their friends and relatives to make big bucks through this overpriced contracts. This has already happened with the newest contract routes. One postal manager’s son was given a contract that paid about 80 dollars a day to deliver about 30 letters in 15 minutes each morning. When confronted the usps said his pay was based on the size of the route projected for the year 2010! I am sure you would like a job that starts paying today but the work will begin in 3 years!!
August 11th, 2007 at 1:42 am
Do you really think that the letter carriers got “OVER”if we did an evulated route standard most of us would not last even 20 years.All management want is more form us and they do virtually nothing.One yo-yo named Palma used to be a member spent all his time in the bosses office watching DVD and his reward,the “acting” manage of collections for zip 11351.All he does is continue to browbeat his employees especially the one who disagree with him,and this is the standard mentality of management in general and you say that USPS management”caved”in I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn…
August 11th, 2007 at 2:21 am
Charles, you simply do not have your facts straight. I am a letter carrier and I have never ever recieved COLAs equaling $3000 a year and I won’t see it in this contract. That is a failure on your part to read the purposal and do the math. Letter carrier wages are in line with our counterparts of FEDEX and UPS and frankly we do the most work at USPS. Harder work, higher pay. We are surveyed constantly on our performance throughout our routes ramdomly and I have yet to see any numbers saying that we aren’t doing an excellent job. Maybe we should expect fat cat CEO’s to do more than wreck employees retirement plans for the millions they make-or I guess as long as you made some money off their stock before the company flat-lined, its just fine and dandy. As far as contracting out our jobs, you get what you pay for, and my almost 700 customers seem to think they want a professional that does a good job in their neighborhoods and businesses going beyond WALMART service. Taking good jobs away from hard working Americans will keep sending us down the abyss economically until we all are on welfare. By the way, Congress agrees and that is why the postal service dealt with us on contractig out. I guess you feel like low paying jobs with absolutely no benefits is a good thing, I just wonder who pays your healthcare?
August 11th, 2007 at 2:33 am
It does appear management creates jobs for other managers. With layer upon layer of so-called managers its a wonder the mail is delivered. But I guess the obvious is invisible to people such as Mr. Guy
August 11th, 2007 at 2:37 am
As a postal worker, I am abhored at your half truths and outright lies. The Unions all gave up 1percent per year on health benefits, which at the rate they are increasing will effectively negate the cost of living increases. You do not speak of how management gave up millions in revenue by having a “forever” stamp. You do not speak of how the contract the Postal Service had with Emery went bust due to STEALING and Theft! You do not mention how the USPS is closing facilities and having employees move hundreds of miles away to keep their jobs. When you publish such misinformation you do a disservice to the public, the postal service and the employees of the postal service.
August 11th, 2007 at 2:48 am
Lets see…How about eliminating pay for performance…that surely would be a significant COST SAVINGS!!
August 11th, 2007 at 5:24 am
Fortunately, the invention of the internet by “Al Gore” has given the American people an alternative not only to the post office, network television and hardcopy newspapers. You can pay for next day delivery at the U.S. Postal service, but what happens if your package doesn’t get there? You can stand in line, attempt to track it, and file a claim for your postal fees being refunded. Forget for a moment that the reason you paid extra to have it sent priority or overnight. The reason you likely paid that extra fee was extra service. Your recipient, as was mine didn’t receive it because your letter carrier was on jury duty so now what. You are essentially a party to a contract that is likely entitled to your actual damages and then some. You are already at a loss in that you have spent a substantial amount of time to find out why your contract was breached. Network televison, newspapers, the post office is plagued by declining revenue because Americans are tired of being ripped off. Why would you spend a half hour reading a paper you paid to have delivered in front of your house only to find out that at 11:00 a.m the publisher has put new news on their free website accessible by anyone? Why would you ever risk paying a bill through the U.S. Post Office when banks will pay you to open a checking account and give free access to their own line banking and offer to pay any interest and penalties if your payment is late. I forgot you also save .41 cents per transaction, you don’t have to write the check ,address the envelope, hope and pray that it doesn’t get lost. Although I believe it’s too late for the Postal Service to become competitive, continuation of rate increases will drive even more customers to better alternatives. Federal Express, while disadvantaged by Federal regulations as to rate fixing, United Parcel Post are much better alternatives even if your government protects the post office by making their competitors charge slightly more. One late charge of $39.00 or $49.00 dollars pays a lot of a nickel more per envelope to get it their on time without worrying about your carrier being on “jury duty” like mine was while waiting for a priority delivery of medicine for a sick puppy which I paid a premium for next day delivery. My time is worth more than the time it takes to complain so I don’t. It is more expedient to use a service where I get what I pay for even if it costs a few cents more. As U.S Postal Service competitors create a larger customer base, the Unions and the U.S. Postal service can and will continue to raise prices. Their problem will be that their remaining business will support its existence. So, capitalism works very well. Even with Federal Statutes protecting the U.S. Postal service rates by forcing their competitors to charge more for the same services, the private companies will continue to prosper because their customers are getting what they pay for. On Line Banking is the perfect example. I would never think of writing a check, addressing an envelope, putting a .41 stamp on it and risk it being late when I can log in to my bank account, type in the amount, create the date and amount of payment and click “Confirm”. The bank insures prompt payment and if they mail it they take your risk with an insurance policy to protect the consumer. Any community college offers classes to help you avoid late fees, delays, costs by learning to use a computer. Take advantage of it if you need to.
August 11th, 2007 at 10:18 am
please get your facts straight “the contract also includes cost-of-living adjustments, estimated to be around $3,000 per worker each year.” This is false, it is estimated to increase the pay of each worker about $600 per year. It is completely dependent on inflation in the American economy and allows the real wages of hard working Americans to have close to the same buying power over the life of the contract. Postal workers are not getting rich and 9% over five years is not a substantial increase. “the rise of online banking illustrates, an ever-increasing number of Americans are willing to trust private firms.” The rise in lost or stolen electronic records should give pause to trusting Americans.
August 11th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
As a rural letter carrier on Long Island (a very expensive place to live), I was intrigued by the Postal Service’s plan to pay a locality wage. It really doesn’t amount to much, since it gives a wage increase to those in higher cost of living areas as opposed to lump sums to everyone else. Over time, however, the base pay will increase for expensive areas while it remains stagnant everywhere else. I’m sure that most rural letter carriers (who by definition live in rural, cheaper areas) will be opposed to this, but I probably would be in favor of it. After all, many postal workers in cheaper parts of the country are living much better than I am.
As for contracting out home delivery services, I really feel this is a mistake. While it is true that many contractors are being used to move large amounts of mail, the danger would be to entrust contractors with home delivery, where access to individual resident’s entire mailstream becomes a sensitive matter. Recognizing which letters contain account numbers, social security numbers, drivers licenses, etc. puts entire families at risk for identity theft. While contractors may be subject to security checks themselves, the subcontractors who work for them may not be. Also, who will ascertain that proper insurance and social security is being paid on the wages of these contractors? And what insurance coverage is provided on the vehicles of these contractors? If a contractor runs over a child, is the Postal Service responsible, or do the parents have to deal with the contractor’s auto insurance? And how do you punish a contractor? If a contractor does something wrong, or makes numerous errors, do you suspend him like the Postal Service does now? Who delivers the mail then? And if the Postal Service wishes to terminate a contractor, do they fire him? Instead of dealing with a union, the Postal Service not has to deal with a contractor in a court…is that easier to deal with than a union?
Thank you for letting me express some of my thoughts on the subject. While I may be seen as a “union man” who is only out to serve my self-interest, I think there are many questions that need to be addressed before the Postal Service jumps on the Contractor bandwagon.
August 11th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
Where do you get this misinformation about COLA. It is not $3000 per worker per year. it is per contract. Our $686 lump sum for 2007 and $112 for the 2nd COLA don’t add up to $800 much less $3000. Charles Guy needs to learn how to read.
August 12th, 2007 at 5:20 am
Charles Guy, you talk BIG, but you don’t know what you’re talking about! Tell the “truth” about the contract and what “IT” doesn’t have.
If it passes we’ll be paying 5% more to our health benifits. We’ll get 8.85% over the next 5 years. We also “DON”T” get 3K a year for cost of living. Get real, get a life. If you think it’s so easy.. you come out and do it!
August 12th, 2007 at 8:23 am
Mr. Guy.
Why do you hate working men and women. We are what made this country. We want a decent living and a future for our children. Is that so bad. I am a custodian at the Post Office and a veteran. I make $50k a year. I would like to see you try to live on that and raise a family. When you say we are paid higher than the comparable jobs in the private sector, that doesn’t mean we are over paid. The private sector is ruled by greed and not decency. Lord have mercy on your soul.
August 12th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
you failed to mention that us as union members will pay 5% more for our health insurance. so that 9% raise amounts to only 4% over 5 years.so go fuck yourself asshole.
August 12th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
mr young of the nalc doesn’t want area wage,because he pulls most of his votes from the south and southwest.if there was an area wage the table would be leveled and he and his ilk wouldn’t get reelected.
August 12th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
If I am not mistaken, the management of the postal service are all former union members. Is that right?
August 12th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Dear Chuck,
How many hours do you work? How much time do you spend outdoors performing your job duties? How much do you make per year? What kind of perks do you get? Have you ever had to deal with violent customers, assault, vicious dogs, frostbite, and heat exhaustion? Do you walk eight or ten miles a day or do you sit at a keyboard in air conditioning judging the performance of letter carriers?
Do all of us a favor and attempt to honestly answer these questions; not for us who are carrying mail, but for yourself so you may become self aware and see how good YOU may have it.
Dan Shannon
August 12th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
I disagree that the USPS rolled over to the NALC. The agreement does outline a significant increase in pay. However, the moratorium on contract routes is only for the life of the contract (5 years). Instead of settling a number of disputes on third bundle, CORE, DOIS, contract routes and others, it establishes committees to study the subjects. Nothing has been settled except the financial package. Furthermore, the NALC has given back 5% in health care benefits. President Young said before the negotiations that we would be talking about level 8 or 9. In his remarks after the signing he said we are halfway to level 7, sounds like the NALC rolled to me. We did get the bereavement leave though.
August 13th, 2007 at 12:17 am
The postal workers of the USA are the very legs that management stands upon daily. Management’s GROSS compensation is a sin. For anyone to make six figures and no college degree is required is a disgrace. In this day and age of communication, it is a crime to have to have postmasters or installation heads. They are the true dinosaurs of the postal service. It would have been appropriate for you to point that out in your article. It is interesting that the Postmaster’s union spends a great deal of time negotiating with the government to procure large compensation packages but you only mention the NALC and the APWU. I would like to see your editorial regarding the National Association of Supervisors (NAPS) and the National Association of Postmasters of the United States (NAPUS).If you think that craft employees are over compensated, you should see the compensation packages offered to management………..and most management positions are no longer needed at all. Everything is communicated by computers and the postal service needs only one supervisor per tour of duty to handle an emergency or personnel problems. THIS IS THE BIG SECRET THAT MANAGEMENT DOES NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW…THEY DO NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT THEIR JOBS ARE SUPERFLUOUS AND THEY DO NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT THEY ARE UNION MEMBERS AND THEY DO NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW THEIR PAY SCALE BECAUSE THEIR PAY IS LUDICROUS! The caps are for effect only…should not be interpreted as shouting…:)It would be well deserved to hear a jounalist mention all postal unions and not just craft unions. I understand that an editorial is an opinion but it would be nice to see an editorial that addresses more than one side of the issue.
August 13th, 2007 at 9:19 am
All this talk about locality based pay is a joke according to NRLCA officials. Check out the high and low rated localities, some of the more expensive areas are the lowest paid. Another example of the postal service manipulation of the facts….Maybe they should have abilty based pay for managers, instead of reassigning and promoting the incompetent and dishonest!
August 16th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
I keep hearing about how the PO people have to deal with angry customers and work weekends and holidays. I was in the Air Force for 20 years. My largest cost of living increase was 2.4%, once. My average annual pay increse was 2.34%. When I retired, I was making 11% LESS than I was when I first joined. As far as angry customers, an AK-47 assualt weapon makes a very distinct sound when fired at you!
August 17th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
My experience with letter carriers has been generally good. After all, they’re the ones who have to deal directly and most frequently with the public they serve. PO counter workers are a mixed bag, especially the ones who work in federal buildings like courthouses, where they seem to adopt some of the arrogance that affects the federal judiciary overall.
But it’s the PO’s mail backroom handlers, investigative and “customer service” - NOT! - workers who fall completely down on the job. TWICE within the past six months has the PO lost parcel post deliveries to and from my family members, all of which were clearly marked both coming and going. In one instance, the PO substituted someone else’s package not just for my own but actually put it INTO my own, which it then misdelivered a month late. I dutifully reported and returned the misdelivered goods to the PO, but my own delivery remains undelivered. There’s a complete lack of initiative among the PO’s customer service staff which is reason enough for me to use UPS for ALL my essential deliveries from now on.
August 25th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Mr. Guy you are a complete scumbag. For everyone else reading this, I can almost guarantee this asshole was put up to this post by a high ranking supervisor in Post office management. And just to let you know Herb Spencer, some carriers and clerks suck, but most actually care about doing a good job. Also, UPS blows. The USPS delivers about 50% of their domestic parcels. So keep relying on them, because we do half their work, asshole.
October 2nd, 2007 at 2:09 am
I’d like to know what constitutes the amount of any ones income? A CEO of a hospital, company, or business. Is he/she worth the millions they make? Is a dentist worth what he/she makes. How about the roofer or your police officers or the boy or girl at Burger King? That teacher with 5 months of the year in off duty status? The nurse or doctor, a lawyer, or Sheriff. A judge or day care employee. How about the drug rep that carries a brief case in the morning and golf clubs in the afternoon and then an evening with doctors and insurance people at the local crab buffet on one of the islands in Hawaii. The phone line man, a NFL quarter back, or a professional tennis player? Why does a mailman make so much money? Why are they so wealthy? All they do is punch a time clock every morning to show they actually work 8 hours or more, they only have to be in mother natures grasp for 6 of the 8. It’s not so bad walking around on concrete for 6 hours in 100 plus or 20 below temps. Whats so difficult to walk 9 miles up and down steps in a fresh 15 inch snow fall. And it can’t be all that bad working in 95 degree heat with a 90 percent humidity index. After all, you have a fan on your dash, use it! Heck you probably have shade trees where you can sit down and relax all day. Because lord knows it dosn’t take that long to put some paper in 786 mailboxes. Hey Mr. Guy…..do you care to come with me on my route for one day? You pick the day, any day in December January February July August and September. You see Mr. Guy you don’t have heat and you don’t have air condition and we will only have so long to get the route done cold or hot. So get off your office recliner and take off your loafers or sandals and come with me. Then I want you to write another article, one about the day you went out with a mailman and what you feel he/she should be paid. Is 50K enough or too much….you make the call.
HAVE A NICER DAY THAN ME SIR
Steve Kiser
Altoona PA.
November 9th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Here is a clue for the clueless that think that working at the post office is an easy job not deserving better pay.
The pay is good, but no mailman is rich. To earn that pay, we have to put on a uniform,the allowance doesn’t come wihin several hundred dollars a year of what we actually use, the rest is out of pocket and we have no options but to buy them stuff we have to wear. Yes we get an increase, but the vendors that we are allowed to buy from also increase the cost to meet our increase.
We work hard, really hard. I walk 10 miles a day. It is over 100 in the summer and -25 in the winter. It rains, snows, lighnting, hail wind, every bad thing you can imagine, but we never stop. Our trucks are made of aluminum with no air conditioning and poor heat.
The air temp on a hot summer day in our truck is as much as 140 degrees, it is an aluminum shed.
We work 5 out of six Saturdays, if we don’t end up working on the one Saturday every six weeks that we should have off because the post office doesn’t have enough help to do the job.
Our performace is micro managed. We are scrutinized for steps per minute that we walk, for letters per minute that we sort, we scan points on our route all day long and and if we are more than a minute off, we are called on the carpet for it. Snow is not considered anexcuse for taking longer to walk 10 miles. People from outside of the office come in and stand behind us and analyze our movements with a clipboard and stopwatch trying to get 30 seconds more out of our day.
There are no mailmen with more than a few years of service on a walking route that don’t have damage to their bodies. Most have had knee or foot surgery due to wear and tear, some have back surgeries for the same reason. Almost every mailman you see is working with pain every day, enough pain that most average people wouldn’t be working at all.
Despite all of the scrutiny, all management can come up with is maybe we can improve 1%, but we will have an angry supervisor ream us in a meeting to get that next 1% on a regualr basis.
Why do we stay? Almost no mailman quits.
The pay helps, the benefits are ok, the retirement is not bad, but we stay because we love our work. We care about our customers, we know them by name, we weatch their kids grow up, we grive when they die, we care when they are sick or hurt. It is more than just a job, it is woven into our entire life.
So when we get a meager raise and it is less than the average raise in private industry in the US, why don’t you just quit complaining about how good we have it and take the postal exam and come join us ?
March 5th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
I agree. I am a subcontractor with USPS, have been for 4+ years and now the union wants my contract back and is kicking me out - only to pay a union working 3x what I was making to do the same job or subpar job…ugh….I am not even talking about pay though…USPS is just SO wrapped up in the union and out to get the little guy. I am a 22 year old college student, putting myself through college to get my bachelor’s in criminal justice running my own business to pay bills - which happens to be cleaning a post office - and they are putting me out on my ass because they “have a right to terminate with 30 days notice” because they want a union guy in there…come on now - have a heart.
March 14th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Dont worry the injured carrier are being put to the railroad ties now and be send out of town soon