{"id":8950,"date":"2014-11-06T10:31:04","date_gmt":"2014-11-06T15:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=8950"},"modified":"2014-11-06T10:34:25","modified_gmt":"2014-11-06T15:34:25","slug":"saving-the-post-office-from-the-post-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2014\/11\/06\/saving-the-post-office-from-the-post-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving the Post Office From the Post Office"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Belden-Factor-Article-Image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Saving the Post Office From the Post Office – PART 1 & 2
\nby Denny Belden of PEN’s Belden Factor<\/a><\/h3>\n

PART ONE – November 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hello Brothers and Sisters!\u00a0 Well, we have a PM General who is selling off the Post Office slowly but surely and even though we hear about some post offices closing in the news, it alarms me at how historic post offices, in historic buildings, are being sold in the name of saving the Postal Service by our PMG playing whack-a-mole with plant and post office closures.<\/p>\n

Here is just a minor list of closings or sell-offs:<\/p>\n

\u201cHistoric\u00a0 Berkeley\u00a0 Post Office under contract to be sold\u201d\u2026\u201d100 year old building\u2026An email from the city attorney to the city council-leaked to the Berkeley Daily Planet-sets out a process for an eventual lawsuit against the Postal Service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carriers can be disciplined for discussing controversial subjects with customers because Management doesn\u2019t want any carrier possibly upsetting a customer, or placing the Postal Service in a bad light.\u00a0 However, our grand PMG Scrooge can upset the public so much that they are leveling lawsuits against the post office, not only in Berkeley, but around the country.\u00a0 And for what, a few million dollars?\u00a0 Really, what is a few million in the really big picture?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at the big picture for a moment, as I digress a moment here\u2026The 5 Billion dollar PER YEAR, I repeat\u2026PER YEAR, pre-funding the health benefits for carriers, projected 75 years into the future, is the financial killer for the Postal Service.\u00a0 Ask yourself how can any business survive when each fiscal year they START 5 BILLION IN THE HOLE!?\u00a0 \u00a0And they are supposed to pay that before they make the first dollar to run their operation?\u00a0 The Postal Service is mandated to pre-fund the Health Benefits of carriers \u2026(pay attention to this!)\u2026that are NOT EVEN BORN YET!<\/p>\n

Now you see the absurdity of this action leveled upon the USPS by the Legislative Branch of our Government.\u00a0 Now, remember these are the same idiots (no I\u2019m not talking about management now\u2026) that can\u2019t get anything done for the good of the country because they won\u2019t compromise on anything and have the lowest approval rating of any House and Senate in History.\u00a0 Even the Do-Nothing Congress from the past did more than these knuckleheads, that represent us now, and that is both on Republicans and Democrats!<\/p>\n

\u201cHistoric York, PA post office to become event venue\u201d\u2026in July, 2013, the building sold for $350,000 to a developer.\u00a0 The city council was concerned because the developer owed thousands in back property taxes and back sewer and refuse fees. The building is over 100 years old.<\/p>\n

Whoa, guess the PMG is not very discriminating who he\u2019ll sell the Post Office to!\u00a0 And only for $350,000 for an historic building?\u00a0 Why wasn\u2019t it auctioned?\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t that have driven the price up if it had to be sold?<\/p>\n

Speaking of absurdities\u2026(no, not talking about management yet\u2026) how do you make sense of our almost vacant Mid-FL plant?\u00a0 We own that property, at least that is what I have been told by people higher up in the \u201cidiots with ties\u201d ranks (now I am talking about our management!).\u00a0 We own that, yet they decide to make Tampa the District HQs where they are leasing the buildings and property.\u00a0 Now we have the albatross of a mail plant, mostly gathering dust, while we pay for 2 places.\u00a0 Now who is going to buy an old Postal Plant.\u00a0 Gee, I thought Orlando was centrally located, which means is \u201csort of\u201d equidistant from all places, and would have been ideal for District HQs\u2026but NOOOOO!<\/p>\n

It makes better sense to make Tampa the HQ\u2019s of the SunCoast District.\u00a0 It was the Southeast Region, but since it is Tampa, it is the SunCoast\u2026which SunToasts my rear!… on all the jobs taken away from the clerk craft and the downsizing of the whole Postal Organization.\u00a0 I think I will no longer use Service in the Postal Organization\u2019s name.\u00a0 We all know service has been tossed out the window and is the last thing on local management\u2019s mind when you are delivering mail.<\/p>\n

The service we once had, is now replaced by curbline mailboxes, CBUs, and especially the sneaky way they established CBUs \u00a0into the businesses.<\/p>\n

The owner of a number of buildings on my old route had signed to allow the CBUs because it was put to him that he had no choice.\u00a0 Just sign here and we will find the best spot to put the CBUs in.\u00a0 Of course, I was on vacation at the time this happened.\u00a0 Just a mere coincidence?\u00a0 Hmmm\u2026.<\/p>\n

Once the building owner \u00a0talked to me how he didn\u2019t want those CBUs and asked me why the Post Office was making him do this, \u00a0I let him know they were supposed to let him know it was a voluntary action and he did not have to agree.\u00a0 He stated he thought he had no choice and signed the paper, which was the \u201cvoluntary\u201d order (he showed it to me).\u00a0 At no time was it put to him that he had a choice and could take time to decide.\u00a0 He was ticked off, I was ticked off, and all the tenants were ticked off.\u00a0 Not one of them wanted the CBUs!<\/p>\n

The CBUs were put in so quickly he had no time to call and refuse them.\u00a0 They were standing in his parking lot a couple days later. Well, so much for going in and talking about customer connect to businesses, I soon found out I didn\u2019t even know some tenants had moved and others were moving in.\u00a0 The building owner now has little respect for the PO and will throw that manglement representative out on his ear!<\/p>\n

Some of the new carriers may have never even carried park and loop routes before.\u00a0 Those of us that came into the Organization in the 60\u2019s, 70\u2019s, and most of the 80\u2019s know what park and loop routes are all about.<\/p>\n

It was rare to have a curbline route then and most of the carriers then liked the park and loop routes.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t have a choice really\u2026but you got to know your customers and they got to know you.<\/p>\n

Those customers would wait for you with a glass of cold ice tea, or meet you at the door with something baked especially for you at Christmas time!\u00a0\u00a0 Ask the veteran carriers\u2026 you knew everyone back then and had the time to listen to them when there was a problem with their mail delivery , had some type of mail issue, or were concerned because they hadn\u2019t seen you in two days.<\/p>\n

Some would mail their Hold order to the post office with your name on it because they knew you would take extra special care with their mail\u2026 Then came DPS & FSS.. which made it so you couldn\u2019t pull everyone\u2019s mail out because you didn\u2019t know if they had any mail till you hit the street, and the relief carrier just delivered everything he had, thinking you had pulled everything out.<\/p>\n

We had insert cards for the relief carriers to read, but most got lost, or delivered, and in manglement\u2019s great wisdom, said we had to throw all of them out!\u00a0 Ah, what happened to the good ole days!\u00a0 (Hey Canfield, who would ever think we had good old days! Sorry, another ancient carrier (number 1-seniority in Orlando) that came in 4 months before my fossilized time\u2026)<\/p>\n

Service?\u00a0 DPS\u2026learn to read upside down, despite a memorandum that states they are not to put mail in the DPS machines upside down\u2026no suite numbers?\u00a0 put it in front of the building so the carrier by default, is now handling 4 bundles, or sorts the mail out in the back of the LLV before delivery, which I did\u2026carriers will fix it!\u00a0 FSS\u2026no problem let\u2019s now have double the issues and bundles to deal with\u2026along with FSS machine breakdowns\u2026leaving much later and an idiot asking if you can take a piece while you are leaving 2 hrs later!…Break down the red plums on the street, don\u2019t even take them out of the hamper\u2026when a Step 4 decision clearly states they are to be broken into bundles in the office\u2026CCAs\u2026RUN!\u2026RUN!\u2026RUN!\u2026manglement instructions to all new employees\u2026then threaten them with discipline to \u201ckeep them in line!\u201d\u2026CCAs becoming 204bs instructing 20 yr, 30 yr, and 40 yr carriers what to do, when they don\u2019t even know what size postal diaper they wear!….Service?\u00a0 The \u201cidiot in the tie\u201d telling you how much undertime you have while you look at an overflowing hamper of parcels while your average parcels on the sheet says \u201c4\u201d\u2026.Here take a pivot off a route, deliver everything, and be back in 8\u2026WTF?…Service?\u00a0 May their proctologist poke them in the eye while giving them their next prostate exam!<\/p>\n

Saving the Post Office From the Post Office – PART 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

More on the sale of PO\u2019s\u2026.”Save the Berkeley Post Office” has a great article on how the Postal Service has been\u00a0flouting the intention of preservation laws and ignoring the recommendations of the\u00a0Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.<\/p>\n

Max Burman, New York City Lens: The sale of the Bronx General Post Office has split local opinion as gentrification looms. \u00a0South Bronx residents have, it seems, been left feeling like mere bystanders in the process and it is this lack of involvement, and the sense of powerlessness that goes along with it, which seem to have driven local apprehension. Built in 1935 and designated as a city landmark in 1976, the vast four-story mail center stands as the largest of 29 Depression-era post offices in the city, according to the Landmarks Preservation Commission\u2026and occupies an entire block on the Bronx\u2019 main thoroughfare, the Grand Concourse. \u201cThe USPS has disregarded the voices of the Bronx community, elected officials, historic preservationists, and their own employees \u2014 all of whom opposed this process and this sale,\u201d said Congressman Jose Serrano, who represents the district.<\/p>\n

Wow\u2026another public relations winner there PMG Scrooge!\u00a0 Angering everyone seems to be the goal here\u2026must be something in the ELM somewhere about that\u2026. here it is Chapter 6-Conduct:<\/p>\n

667.12 Engaging in Campaigns for Changes in Mail Service Employees in active status must not engage in campaigns for or against changes in mail service. This regulation must not be construed to infringe on the rights to participate in labor organizations.<\/p>\n

\u00a0667.16 Controversies With the Public Employees must not engage in controversies with customers, railway employees, airline employees, or other members of the public while on duty or on federal property.<\/p>\n

I know carriers who have been disciplined for the one or the other section above.\u00a0 Controversy can be anything management claims it is\u2026changes in mode of delivery (that\u2019s the CBU changes I was talking about), plant closings and post office closings (how many had the stand-up that said we weren\u2019t allowed to talk to anyone about post office closure and \u00a0to refer them to the \u201cidiots in the ties\u201d in the station \u2026really, the ones that can\u2019t figure how to make a schedule, are going to be spokesman on plant closings?).<\/p>\n

I can hear it now, \u201cWhat plant, we have no plants here! Just a maintenance guy to mow the lawn\u2026 and what?\u2026doh!\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyway, I don\u2019t level these charges at PMG Scrooge, but to make you think a bit about how some things are twisted to use against you.\u00a0 Now, you might ask\u2026.how do these closings affect me\u2026I\u2019m a carrier?<\/p>\n

The sales of the Post Offices do affect you\u2026clerk reductions\u2026.so how is the parcel pitching going in the mornings?\u00a0 Getting your parcels right away?\u00a0 Do you get your AM accountables prior to pulling down and able to put in on your 3996, like the handbooks tell you to do?\u00a0 No final receipt of mail without the accountables!\u00a0 Always a smiling cheerful clerk to check you in during PM check-in\u2026like the handbooks mandate they do?<\/p>\n

All this employee reduction affects you.\u00a0 Did you know that years ago they had a clerk that sorted the PM mail when you came back to the office?… none of the carriers did this\u2026at all.\u00a0 You just handed it to the PM clerk and he\/she sorted the station mail for the outgoing truck!\u00a0 Ain\u2019t that right Canfield! (Someone wake him up, will you?)\u00a0 So what\u2019s next?<\/p>\n

Now they are trying to move into Wal-Mart.\u00a0 First, they partnered with Staples for doing things like a Post Office with minimum wage employees.\u00a0 \u00a0This effectively eliminates clerks who are properly trained to do that job. \u00a0This is where some high school, or college kid, would be paid minimum wage to do work that a clerk has been trained to do.\u00a0 \u00a0That\u2019s jobs lost, while outsourcing the work\u2026I bet even a CCA would like to do that work inside air conditioning at Staples during the summer months\u2026<\/p>\n

So, you may think that\u2019s not so bad, right?\u00a0 Let me ask you, do you treat your job as a career, and something you will work at, for years, take care of your customers, even going out of your way for them?\u00a0 Do you think a high school or college kid would have the same care as you do?…for minimum wage?\u00a0 It\u2019s a lot easier to ask ,\u201cWant fries with that?\u201d\u2026for the same minimum wage, than to put up with the heat, rain, cold\u2026 putting up with the stoopidvisors that\u00a0 lack any common sense!\u00a0 I\u2019m sure that has to be a pre-requisite to become one, why else would you accept?\u00a0 Limbo Land\u2026Bottom of the hill in supervision, so everything rolls down-hill, on them, and now not a single carrier trusts them, because of the dark clouds that hover above both their faces!\u00a0 But\u2026I digress\u2026.<\/p>\n

These stores are part of the USPS Approved Shippers program, which consists of stores that can also offer FedEx, UPS , DHL, and anything else they want.\u00a0 They make a profit by charging a fee on top of what the Postal Ser\u2026uh, Organization would charge.<\/p>\n

Now they are partnering with Wal-Mart.\u00a0 Another major retailer that will be offering our services at a higher price\u2026and I\u2019m sure somehow we, the carriers, will hear about it and somehow be blamed for it!\u00a0 All the while, our illustrious leader is encouraging customers to do business at places other than at our own Post Offices.\u00a0 Boy, that\u2019s one way to help us stay afloat, eh, Scrooge?\u00a0 Hey I\u2019m sinking\u2026toss me an anchor will you?\u00a0 Thanks\u2026.glub, glub!<\/p>\n

You might ask, why should you care about clerks?\u00a0 It\u2019s simple, if they reduce the clerk craft to bare minimum (if they haven\u2019t already), and can outsource clerk duties to another company willing to pay minimum wage, who do you think they will attack next?\u00a0 Carriers!\u2026and they already are\u2026you know it, and I know it.<\/p>\n

Take for instance\u2026Since when does manglement make your calls for you?\u00a0 Or, at least try to.\u00a0 The National Agreement and Handbooks say you, and only you, makes your calls, not an \u201cidiot in a tie\u201d.\u00a0 You should know your rights and make your own call and stick to your call, that you know is right.\u00a0 If they hand you relief, ask for a 3996 to put down OT, if it will take you into OT.\u00a0 DON\u2019T BE INTIMIDATED!!!!\u2026they are counting that you will be\u2026and they will be the bullies, but only if you allow them to be!\u00a0 Ask to see your Steward and document the time you do so!\u00a0 Remember, though, always know the Iron Rule, \u201cOBEY NOW, GRIEVE LATER!!\u201d\u00a0 Always follow instructions first, then grieve the issue.\u00a0 Now, back to PO sales\u2026.<\/p>\n

Historic Peter Stuyvestant post office to be demolished\u2026Another Houston post office to close and relocate\u2026Historic post office, built in 1937, in Richmond, VA for sale\u2026Historic Somerville post office sold to rock music promoter Don Law\u2026It goes on and on.\u00a0 Sickening isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

Your future now depends on the CCAs.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be shy to show the CCAs ways to make their job easier.\u00a0 And CCAs, don\u2019t be shy on taking advice from us old dudes\u2026like Canfield & Simmons!\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019ve done everything you have done\u2026including working Sundays\u2026delivering special delivery\u2026before many of you were even born.\u00a0 (Remember that Canfield!\u2026Canfield\u2026somebody wake him up!)<\/p>\n

We did routes that were all walking routes and there were no CBUs.\u00a0 We\u2019ve carried satchels on loops that were 35 lbs because they actually weighed them before we went out of the office!\u00a0 (Go ahead, try to get 35 lbs in your satchel\u2026we had to tie on bundles of mail on the end straps to make it 35 lbs!\u00a0 Did you know they still can do that?\u00a0\u00a0 We were dispatched all over the city on a daily basis, just as many of you are doing now, we were never assigned to a station until we made regular\u2026so learn from us\u2026don\u2019t make mistakes that we can save you from.\u00a0 Ask to talk to the senior carrier and the senior carrier should talk to the CCAs.\u00a0 Pass on some helpful hints\u2026<\/p>\n

We are not called a Union just because we wanted to be at the back of the alphabet\u2026When the group that I came in with, went out to the stations to work, the veteran carriers would tell us their shortcuts, what duplicate numbers to watch for, and where the dogs were.\u00a0 They helped us out and we listened.\u00a0 Too many now just don\u2019t want to take time to listen\u2026but the ones that do\u2026know their rights and their job duties.<\/p>\n

I had one carrier tell me the dogs are easy,\u00a0 \u201cit\u2019s the people on the route you gotta watch out for!\u201d \u00a0He told me of one lady who chased him with a 2X4 and beat his jeep because he didn\u2019t have her social security check that day\u2026and the day he was caught in a shootout across the roadway he was delivering\u2026same route.\u00a0 I was nervous the whole day!<\/p>\n

Well, \u2018bout wore out my computer keys on this one, so I will say till next time\u2026Boycott Staples & Wal-Mart (biggest anti-Union retailer there is) and don\u2019t buy anything from anyone named Donahoe!\u00a0 United we Stand, divided we beg.<\/p>\n

Be Strong! Be Informed! Be Union!<\/p>\n

Denny Belden
\nRetired (Finally!)<\/p>\n

Anybody wake-up Canfield yet\u2026?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Saving the Post Office From the Post Office – PART 1 & 2 by Denny Belden of PEN’s Belden Factor PART ONE – November 2014 Hello Brothers and Sisters!\u00a0 Well, we have a PM General who is selling off the Post Office slowly but surely and even though we hear about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8951,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8950"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8954,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8950\/revisions\/8954"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}