Courier, Express, and Postal Observer

Mr. Robinson, Your analysis is lacking some pulp....

2009-12-22T11:26:08.621-05:00

Mr. Robinson,

Your analysis is lacking some pulp. You make no mention of what percentage of each workforce -- Ford and the Postal Service respectively -- opted for the incentive packages. 1,000 vs. 25,000 with no frame of reference, is meaningless. You made no mention of what the comparative burden cost per senior employee is to each respective employer and in the case of the Postal Service, what the burden cost is for a new, less compensated employee. There's a significant savings there that amortizes itself in short order. You made no mention of their comparative salary/benefit packages.

One might deduce from your piece that since the Ford separation package was more lucrative, yet so few opted for it, that the Postal Service has no chance of reducing its workforce with lesser incentives, or a limited amount of offers. Such is not the case. The problem, is the type of incentive offered. Quite simply, more employees would leave the Postal Service right now if service time towards retirement were offered in lieu of cash. Having bi-annual incentive buyouts will only keep senior employees on the rolls longer as they add to their service time, before cashing in on a "guaranteed" separation incentive.

The Postal Service needs a separation package that includes cash to entice those already at, or past eligibility for retirement, and added service time for those employees almost eligible. As a Postal employee who fits the latter -- almost eligible -- added service time will be enough to get me (and many others) out.

Perhaps the Postal Service could offer a one-time option for early retirements:

$25,000 cash, OR added service time

This covers most bases and the unions will surely back this type of initiative and encourage their membership to "strongly consider" acting upon it. Again, the savings start immediately and those opting for service time, will leave cash in Postal Service coffers moving forward.

for one they could stop giving bonuses to postmast...

2009-12-16T20:11:47.205-05:00

for one they could stop giving bonuses to postmasters,supervisors,and executives.people don't like going to the post offices anymore because of long wait in lines.give them the clerks they need.not to mention the wait for carriers due to lack of clerks throwing mail.so they can get out on the street to deliver.there seems to be no concern for customer service anymore.at least not by management.it's all about the money now.

The Postal Service announced the over 3,000 closur...

2009-12-16T05:19:57.673-05:00

The Postal Service announced the over 3,000 closures and the elimination of 1500 supervisors and managers when Potter was on the hot seat with congress. His being paid twice what the President is paid with over $4 million in pension funds now and his "sweetheart" home loan rate and mounting Postal deficits were hanging over his head.
The 1500 supervisors & managers were just reshuffled or back filled with actors to this date.

One has to wonder if in the reform the salary and benefit caps were lifted under the guise of attracting suitable candidates from the private sector, then why is Potter (postal career veteran) still around?

whether a rose is a rose is a rose is not a questi...

2009-12-11T12:27:57.083-05:00

whether a rose is a rose is a rose is not a question of fact? How the people (business and the citizens) are served is the real question. Be it government or a quasi model makes no difference. To be pragmatic, the USPS is in dire need of leadership. Time for vote of no confidence in Board of Governors and especially Potter / Donohoe. Thanks to Burrus and yourself to elevate the discourse.
From the bottom up view the service, or lack thereof, is in shambles. It is driven by the budget. If you believe a private model would change that, I beg to differ.

USPS 'retail strategy' appears (slash is) predicat...

2009-12-07T11:41:58.344-05:00

USPS 'retail strategy' appears (slash is) predicated on budget and it's (negative) effect on public opinion can not be understated. This past Saturday, at my local PO, there were thiry patrons in line and one window clerk. All budget driven decisions. (factual knowledge) To say there was group mumbling about so called service is another understatement. As a forty year observer of USPS operations (worker and union rep) this strategy - or lack thereof - demands a vote of no confidence in USPS management. Heads must fall. It must begin with Potter ASAP.

thanks for the update. I modified the story to re...

2009-12-06T18:41:55.921-05:00

thanks for the update. I modified the story to reflect Amazon's denial of the story. I do not think it change Amazon's interest in reducing the time from order to deliery.

It will be interesting to see how the Sunday Times follows up on its story. What struck me by the story was how many of the sales were picked up in stores.

In addition to the old Sears Catalog stores, I think Western Auto also used that model.

I would like to ask the PRC to visit my office sla...

2009-12-06T17:38:44.190-05:00

I would like to ask the PRC to visit my office slated for closing in South Camden New Jersey. I ask you to please meet the customers who pratically beg me to keep this office open. The bottom line is you will be hurting the city's people by asking them to use public transportation to pay their bills! The other alternative is drive and pay meters to park. Think about it PRC, this is nothing but a DIS-SERVICE to the public. Unfortunately this can be a high crime rate area. Is this fair to the elderly who don't have a computer and rely on us? Stop by before you decide!

Amazon denied the story pretty quickly- http://mas...

2009-12-06T16:02:48.484-05:00

Amazon denied the story pretty quickly- http://mashable.com/2009/12/06/amazon-denies-retail-stores/

The concept reminded me immediately of the old Sears Catalog stores that used to exist in lots of American towns. Almost exactly the same thing when you think about it- the only difference being that the "catalog" is now a web page.

Maybe more to the point, it would have been a way for Amazon to compete more effectively with Wal-Mart, which wants to be the biggest online retailer, and is using its network of stores to support that goal with its "Site to Store" option that offers free shipping if you pick the item up at a local Wal-Mart.

In response to the comment by Unforgiven, I'd like...

2009-11-27T01:03:38.451-05:00

In response to the comment by Unforgiven, I'd like to know what definition of "moving the mail" is used. This is obviously a Letter Carrier that is short-sighted and brainwashed by the NALC into thinking Letter Carriers do it all. How else would they get dummies to pay such exorbitant union dues? Stand by for your round of cuts Unforgiven, and see who sticks up for you when you spend eight hours moving the mail out on the street (at night!)

I know clerks hate to hear it, but there are too m...

2009-11-25T19:47:22.281-05:00

I know clerks hate to hear it, but there are too many of them. There needs to be a reduction in the number of full time clerks and we need to take a long and hard look at how we do that. But there must also be an even larger reduction in managerial and other EAS positions. We are incredibly overburdened with the weight of those who do not move the mail or contribute to the mail being moved. It's time to really remove unnecessary management positions, instead of eliminating one job while creating a new higher level job to promote the effected supervisor into. We also need to rid ourselves of such useless positions as the diversity office and innumerable useless paper pushers and number crunchers of useless numbers.

As a Postal worker I can tell you we have "shirts"...

2009-11-25T17:28:54.243-05:00

As a Postal worker I can tell you we have "shirts" come in our office regularly to check our cases after we leave to be sure we didn't leave one piece of mail there (most first class mail now is DPS and is NOT cased.)

There are too many people in the USPS who do not move the mail but nitpick the carriers. Another example, they drive around to be sure that we "curb" out wheels on a level road!

We need to cut out these do nothings and put them in real jobs.

In every comment that I read everywhere everything...

2009-11-25T15:34:35.079-05:00

In every comment that I read everywhere everything is blamed on management and supervisors, true in some cases there is too much upper management. But how about some of the bum carriers that cant do their jobs? sit out on their routes reading magazines or taking 20, 30 minute breaks and hour lunches or shopping on the job? Do they account for any of the problems we face? It a shame for the good and exceptional carriers who do a fair days work for a fair days pay. I am a carrier and you cant just blame all the problems on management all the time. Its a shame because of the few bad apples in carriers can ruin the whole bunch same as a supervisor.

either congress is sticking there head in a hole a...

2009-11-25T13:26:44.116-05:00

either congress is sticking there head in a hole and refuse to look at management ratio to workers or the salaries management is making is ok to them.universal salaries instead of universal service!

Alan Robisnon wrote "further reductions beyond wha...

2009-11-25T07:09:11.215-05:00

Alan Robisnon wrote "further reductions beyond what attrition produces appears inevitable... Developing methods to make the reductions as painless as possible ... will come up in the current negotiations. "

The USPS has eliminated over 130,000 craft (worker) positions since 2006. In 2009, over 30,000 took early retirement.

There have been no corresponding and equivalent reductions in management and supervisory positions.

In fact, the USPS just announced that rather than eliminating vacant supervisor positions it will begin filling these positions starting December 29th.

The current ratio of employees to supervisor must be in the range of one supervisor for every 10 employees. This is ridiculous!

There must be equal reductions from the ranks of management before the craft employees endure more losses. Heck, we are the ones who actually move the mail!

Maintaining 120,000 ties and stuffed shirts won't help sort a single piece of mail.

I also work for USPS. Our biggest problem is that ...

2009-11-19T21:01:00.666-05:00

I also work for USPS. Our biggest problem is that from Washington DC headquarters down to the the office in your typical 10000 population town too many employees think that there is no way that we can go belly up. The general feeling is 'We are government. GM was kept solvent, certainly we won't be allowed to bite the dust'. I don't agree though.

If the day comes when we (USPS) cannot pay our bills I don't think there will be a bailout for us.

How many times MUST it be said?? Eliminate 30% of ...

2009-11-19T12:27:39.260-05:00

How many times MUST it be said?? Eliminate 30% of management & no one would "MISS A BEAT", except that would NEVER happen!! They're toooooo busy protecting they're phoney-baloney jobs!!!!!

Just how large can the letter carrier routes get? ...

2009-11-19T12:08:32.726-05:00

Just how large can the letter carrier routes get? Who's going to walk 10 miles a day for 30 yrs in all kind of weather and be physically fit to reach retirement, no one!

It would be helpful if you could break out parcels...

2009-11-19T08:50:56.876-05:00

It would be helpful if you could break out parcels in a separate category. The growth of retail on the web & the decline of retail in stores should show a significant increase in parcels, especially with the partnerships USPS has with consolidators like UPS & FedEx

BC

I also work for the Postal service and I like many...

2009-11-16T20:50:19.797-05:00

I also work for the Postal service and I like many others have been harassed to the point of it being criminal..seems the more these managers screw the employees the higher they go in the food chain...our office is overdue for some good old workplace violence..I hope I am off that day cause these assholes got it coming.

As per usual, the AUTHOR does not reflect on nor d...

2009-11-16T10:30:27.604-05:00

As per usual, the AUTHOR does not reflect on nor describe how the RLA
might be AMENDED by a Congress and
Senate that are controlled by a
party that is HOSTILE to anti union
legislation and how a DEMOCRATIC
POTUS would act should this amended
law SOMEHOW get passed.
Okay THINKING AMERICANS...what do
YOU think?

ans: chances are SLIM and NONE.

It is obvious that the author has
been ACCUSTOMED to the FORMER BUSH
ADMINISTRATION, where American Law
was authored,submitted,approved
and passed by the MINIONS OF BIG
CORPORATIONS AND BIG MONEY INTERESTS.

AMERICA,DO YOU HEAR THIS?WHY hasn't there been an ...

2009-11-13T08:51:27.495-05:00

AMERICA,DO YOU HEAR THIS?WHY hasn't there been an investigation on this by someone?ALL of this is so true but alot worse than the general public really knows!Respectfully,Jerry Scott

For one the inspection service is NOT a postal emp...

2009-11-12T00:02:23.704-05:00

For one the inspection service is NOT a postal employee!!!! The are the arm of the postal law....but then they are not really human as well!!!! They only care about rules and law no matter who they attack!!!

Mr. Robinson We who are actually involved in movin...

2009-11-11T19:51:45.275-05:00

Mr. Robinson
We who are actually involved in moving the mail have been watching our numbers drop drastically in recent years. We have been doing more with less. The only real fat left in the USPS is management. One need only look to the recent so-called Reduction In Force attempted by management to see the fraud perpetrated by the PMG on the BOG and Congress. The National Association of Postal Supervisors (NAPS) website was boasting back in July that they had not lost a single filled EAS (supervisor) position. People were shifted around and positions that were already vacant were removed, but no real savings were realized because of the fraud.
The current PMG has tripled the size and scope of management (just look at the PMG organizational chart)to the point where micromanagement is the rule instead of the exception. Every bit of minutia created by the processing of mail is analyzed and studied by layer upon layer of highly paid "consultants" and engineers who have never actually handled mail in their life. They concern themselves with the 1 to 2% of mail that, for whatever reason, may not be processed right the first time, even though there is no actual delay of service.
This isn't brain surgery.
And their only solution is to make the USPS less customer oriented by reducing services, closing plants that are vital to local economies,
and thumbing their noses at the public.

Michael Coughlin wanted to be PMG but was passed o...

2009-11-11T19:19:32.543-05:00

Michael Coughlin wanted to be PMG but was passed over - twice even after dimbulb Tony Franks endorsement!
Coughlin was the 'architect' of the workforce reduction which was biulled as a non-RIF that turned out to be a RIF cuz he didn't bother to read the OPM rules. And USPS ended up with more HQ employees than ever when he was all done.
You can thank Coughlin for the fact USPS contracts out to its competitors (UPS, FedEX) to air lift the same products USPS is competing with them for (First Class Packages, Priority and Express Mail).
In 1991, Coughlin told the chairman of the postal subcommmittee he was throwing in the towel on a multimillion-dollar proposal to operate its own fleet of 50 to 60 red-white-and-blue cargo airplanes.
What a forward thinking move that was! So during the peak season for that product line we get to hear UPS and FedEx say 'sorry postal service , we're already cubed out with our product, no room for yours!'

Coughlin now works for a company that he used to approve contracts for as a USPS DPMG.

Sorry Mike, some of us remember your real performance before you tried to reinvent yourself. Go back to tijknering with the fax business.

Why don't all the employees write to their respect...

2009-11-11T13:10:40.395-05:00

Why don't all the employees write to their respective congressmen/women and demand a committee be formed to look into the wasteful spending at the top?