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Different Learning · United We Scan

• 0:17
  Welcome to the United We Scan Podcast, the podcast by rural
• 0:21
  carriers. For rural carriers, the views
• 0:25
  expressed in this podcast do not reflect the views or opinions of
• 0:29
  the United States Postal Service or the National Rural Letter
• 0:32
  Carriers Association. We ask that you please consult
• 0:35
  your assigned union representative for guidance in
• 0:38
  your local area. Make sure you like this podcast,
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  leave a comment or question for us below.
• 0:56
  Thank you. Now here are the hosts of the
• 1:00
  United We Scan podcast. Welcome back, everybody.
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  Episode 46. We're almost to that 50th
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  episode Mark, and we're just shy.
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  I've got a few more weeks till our one year anniversary.
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  So this week's episode is going to be.
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  We're going to be talking about the different ways that people
• 1:23
  learn. Be a little interesting.
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  So let's get the. The, the, the chatter out of the
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  way, How was your week, Josh? My week wasn't too bad.
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  I actually have a vehicle that I've been able to use all week.
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  Still not mine, but it was a consistent vehicle all week, so
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  that's a plus. Awesome.
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  Nothing too exciting. It sounds like normal week.
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  Nope. Pissed off the two O 4B, but
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  that's not an unusual thing. James, how was your week?
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  Just the usual rigmarole of of working.
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  I did take my one next day. I had earned off on Thursday
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  just to give my RCA something different to do because we're
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  short clerks in my office. So he's been clerking a lot,
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  throwing parcels and mail and stuff for us to get us out the
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  door. I really felt really bad for him
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  on Monday when he not only had to clerk, but as soon as he got
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  done and at about 9:30 an hour and a half late, he then had to
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  do a full route on top of that. Other than that, he hasn't been
• 2:30
  really running routes all week. So I threw him a bone, took my
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  ex day and let him work and of course worked my Friday, which
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  was normal and everything seemed to be just fine with my normal
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  week that I normally do. And you know, trying to work my
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  one group, the real Mail carriers, United Group, trying
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  to get more people involved in the union and the craft as a
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  whole. So that's about all I've been
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  doing. I hear ya.
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  I hear ya. Bill, how was your week?
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  Oh, like we like to say in Westchester.
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  Same shit, same assholes, different day.
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  Yeah. I mean, yeah.
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  Scheduling open routes and then having people call out on top of
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  it and you know, being down to Subs, it makes it interesting
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  when the supervisor comes around and says, oh, can you help out.
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  And I look at him and say no, I just, you know, no, I don't back
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  talk or anything. I turn around, go back to work.
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  It it was strange this week, though Amazon was particularly
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  heavy this week. 248-270-2261. You know, my my load day was
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  218. You know, parcels.
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  We got hit pretty good for an off week per SE mail volume.
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  You know, one day I get 9 trays, 4 trays, the next day, 7 trays,
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  the third day. It's like, you know, it doesn't
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  make any rhyme or reason. Of course, you know, Mondays are
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  always bad because the plants are dumping on you.
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  But hey, you know, typical week in the post office.
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  I hear you, I hear you. My week was pretty fairly
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  uneventful for the most part. I think my heaviest day Monday
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  was like 166 and I averaged between 118 to 144 for the rest
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  of the week. Tuesday I decided to take the
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  leap and not mark any parcels whatsoever.
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  No load truck, no, no package. Look ahead, just put them in the
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  truck in order. And actually I found I was
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  quicker on the street that way. And getting out of the office,
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  besides waiting on the clerks. But and then I did help out the
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  couple bar guys, you know, casing up raw mail on the routes
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  that they were running. And I did have to go out a
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  couple times and help the newer guys out on the route when I was
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  done with mine. Not a big deal.
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  It was nice to have a little change of scenery and bidding
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  for my route. Did close on Friday.
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  Saturday morning, supervisor comes up.
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  Congratulations, you're the winner of Route 3.
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  You need to sign this because I have to have it back, emailed
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  back by noon. So I signed my life away
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  Saturday morning and I'm just waiting for my placement date.
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  No lease. That was my week.
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  Yeah, that's awesome. Congratulations.
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  Thank you, thank you. It's still kind of surreal at
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  the moment for me. It's going to be surreal for
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  your postmaster. Yes, yes, because then I mean we
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  do have three new RC as in the pipeline, one is shadowing this
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  coming Wednesday. That's all I know.
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  So yeah, it was a definitely not a bad week this past week.
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  So we'll see how this next week holds out for us.
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  I think this is the calm before the storm in my office when it
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  comes to the Christmas peak season loads, so I'll take it.
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  Though. I was done.
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  I was done every day this week with my routes, 3:30 at the
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  latest, 2:30 on Saturday. So I really can't complain for a
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  nine hour route. I'm.
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  I'm not complaining one bit. The only day I was.
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  At or just over evaluation was Monday of course 'cause it's a
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  heavier day, but everything else I was 6 1/2 to 8 hours all week.
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  I'd love a part time job like that.
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  Right. Yeah, I'd love an ox route like
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  that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  I didn't even get to run my ox route this past week at all.
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  I was supposed to, and then that changed.
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  So. That way they had one of the
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  other regulars in the office take it that way.
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  I could still go out and help the the borrowed RC as running
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  routes that they weren't familiar with or you know,
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  needed help on. So that worked out in that.
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  In that aspect, there's no problems going out and helping
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  them out. I have AI have an RCA for you.
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  They took out half a route and they brought back more than they
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  took out. How does that work?
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  Well, we're still trying to figure that out.
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  I I mean I did have to clean out a few mailboxes as we, as I know
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  many carriers are going through with the Fars labels not coming
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  through in a timely manner. And yeah, yeah, you know, having
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  ran this route the last couple Christmases and see, you know,
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  off and on. I, you know, familiar with who
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  leaves and thinking, wow, they're mail stacking up in
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  their box. Did they leave?
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  And I haven't gotten a notice. And yeah, I had a couple of
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  them. I had to clean out them boxes
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  and bring it back and put them on hold and wait for their
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  change of address to come in. So other than that wasn't too
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  bad. So James, go ahead, Bill.
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  This one mixed up the trays in in order, took the DPS out to
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  the street when you know had the parcels all marked for them and
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  everything. And by the time they got to the
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  end of like First Street, they were out of order already.
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  So. Yeah, this is going to tie into
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  what we're going to be talking about.
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  Go ahead and take it away, James.
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  All right, so we went back to basics on our last episode, but
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  what we didn't do is talk about the why.
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  People have to have different ways to learn things, and
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  everybody learns in a different way.
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  You know, we, the post office in the union, all talk about
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  wanting to package training to be exactly identical for every
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  single carrier, but that doesn't work for every single carrier.
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  Just like none of our routes are identical, our training has to
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  match how the people learn. And so having people who
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  understand these different types of learning really benefits the
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  craft to help educate more carriers.
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  So not only do did the union coming out with the Zoom steward
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  enhancement training schedule for the next two years peak
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  this, we also had a silent contributor tell us it is about
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  a situation that they were dealing with about learning as
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  well. So we thought that this week
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  would be a great time to talk about different learning methods
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  and why we do what we do with this podcast and the Facebook
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  groups. And so the very first type of
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  learner I want to talk about is the one that the union relies
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  on. This is how the union and the
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  post office teach a lot of people all the different things
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  that are going on. And that is your visual
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  learners. That's someone with a preference
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  for visual learning is partial to seeing and observing things,
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  including pictures, diagrams, wit and directions, and more
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  visual things that they see. You know they understand
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  information better when they can look at it, is what I'm saying.
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  Now we have Kristen, who's an Oji, which is a great person to
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  talk to about this stuff. But I know that Bill and Josh
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  have also helped teach carriers how to do stuff, so I want to
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  get input. Kristen, we'll start with you.
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  Have you dealt with someone who learns by looking at things?
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  I am a visual person. You know.
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  A lot of things that I await for into shift duties I I look at so
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  I know it pars. Labels for instance, hold cards,
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  You know, I do have my case set up to I have markers in place
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  that get pulled down with the mail.
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  So you know that if something isn't pulled out of DPS.
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  And S999S999, yes, that you know, you know to take that mail
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  back to the office with you when you come back.
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  I am a visual person. I have trained most, I think
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  most of the people I have trained are visual to some
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  extent or another. Not everybody is though.
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  Yeah. So definitely somebody who you
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  know can to see it and then they know it's.
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  A lot of a lot of times you don't notice it right away when
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  you are training someone if they are on the end of being a visual
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  learner because they have so much information thrown at them
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  at once. But then you kind of notice it
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  as you show them and they visually see what they have to
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  do and then they grasp it. So yes, I would say probably
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  most people in a way are a visual learner, but not
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  everybody is. I've had a bunch of the people
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  I've taught over the last few years are more of the visual.
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  The most recent one I've been working with is a combination
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  visual hands on, but it has to be broken down.
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  Yeah, we'll get into that one. That makes sense.
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  We'll get into that. That's actually another one.
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  Right. All right.
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  So I've probably, I can honestly say I probably hit all, you
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  know, have dealt with all four ways that you that you were
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  mentioning or going to mention I should say, yeah, how about how
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  about you, Bill? Strictly visual, like you write
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  something down, they read it and they understand it completely
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  and that's all they need is just the written word or a picture
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  diagram of how it works. Have you dealt with that?
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  No, I don't. I I don't.
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  I don't write things down. I don't do diagrams except for
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  my second mailbox, because when I tell people that you have to
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  make a left hand turn on a curve for a second mailbox, they look
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  at me kind of weird. So that's the only thing I
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  diagram for. After that everything is.
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  You know, visual on how I do what I do and you know and the
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  reasons why I do them precisely, you know, depending on the mail
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  volume. I myself am more of a visual
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  learner and this comes down to when I first started under my
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  first regular she always had composition notebooks we had at
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  the at the desk. That way if they're you know she
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  was gone for any amount of time or you know, I was only working
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  her relief day that week. We would write down the
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  important details. You know when seasonal started
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  going out so and so's gone out or so and so's a a permanent
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  forward now and not a seasonal or or or stuff like that.
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  You know just a a notes to pass on back and forth to each other.
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  We could open it up with their place marker and read what we
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  missed throughout the week and then we had it and and then we
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  would know. So yeah, I would say I am quite
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  a bit a visual learner. OK.
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  The next type of learning that we have are the people that
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  listen to this podcast, people that actually learn more by
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  listening to things. People that actually understand
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  when a manager is talking in a stand up talk better than if
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  they had it written down in front of them.
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  You know, auditory learners tend to learn better when the subject
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  matter is reinforced by sound. They must much rather listen to
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  a lecture than read written notes and often use their own
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  voices to reinforce new concepts and ideas.
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  Basically, like audibly reading a book, you actually talk the
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  words that you're reading in the book so you understand it
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  better. And and I've dealt with somebody
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  like this and I learned very quickly that if I'm teaching
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  them this stuff, I need to be talking about or need to be
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  walking through with my words what I'm doing so they
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  understand what's going on. Which correlated very well into
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  presenting on this podcast. We don't have the visual on this
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  podcast. We don't do a visual recording
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  on this, even though we have a YouTube channel.
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  Go and subscribe if you aren't. We have a YouTube channel.
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  But teaching people with voice is a very good way to help a lot
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  of people that only learn through auditory senses.
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  I appreciate that our union's putting on a zoom steward
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  training now so that the stewards that learn auditorily
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  can learn the information they need to know through an auditory
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  process. Go back to Kristen as the Oji.
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  Do you have somebody where you noticed that you had been more
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  talk through things with them more than write things down
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  with? Them.
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  Yes, absolutely, absolutely. I've had a few of those to
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  where, you know, you try to show them, you give them the visual
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  aspect, they're still kind of lost.
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  But then when you just kind of stop and you talk them through
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  it, then they get it. Yes, absolutely, Josh.
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  I'm gonna. Say I know when I first get
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  someone the at least the first day.
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  I've walked them through everything.
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  I tell as I'm doing it. I tell them what I'm doing, why
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  I'm doing it. You know the reason behind it.
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  I tell them, OK, we're going to go to the hot case.
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  That's where they keep. That's where the clerk works.
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  The letters that couldn't get didn't get processed in the DPS
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  tray. I tell them we're going to get
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  the parcels. This is where we keep the parcel
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  hampers. You know, these two hampers are
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  for our route. You know, and bring them back
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  and I tell them, explain how I mark my, mark my parcels, why I
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  mark them the way I do so. And I've, you know, like I said,
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  I've noticed I have had someone that worked better with me
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  telling them step by step rather than them doing, you know,
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  watching me do it or reading about it.
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  And As for going back with the visual.
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  When I first got the route, after I got proficient at the
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  route, I came home. You know, I made notes and typed
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  out and laminated. It's like 3 or 4 sheets in large
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  bold print cheats, a CHEAT SHEET.
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  You know of what you need to know about the route.
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  There's a couple of things that have changed, or no longer
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  could. Just because, you know, business
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  here or there, moved or whatever, but it's the basics of
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  what you need for that visual learner to be able to read it
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  and say, OK, now I know this, you know this address.
• 18:27
  I make sure I don't mix up these two addresses because these two
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  neighbors don't like each other at all.
• 18:39
  Yeah. Then you were talking about that
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  and you said you started auditorily and then you switched
• 18:44
  over and you're writing notes to the visual learners as well.
• 18:47
  So you're doing both right there in that aspect as well.
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  Auditory learn or, yeah, auditory learners are the ones
• 18:57
  that do well with a PowerPoint where the person is literally
• 19:01
  reading straight from the PowerPoint.
• 19:04
  So Bill, have you dealt with the people like that?
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  OK in in training 23 people over the years 10 which made it
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  through 13 which didn't make it through.
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  I have a unique case route. Everybody does you know unto
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  themselves and I have visual reminders on the case where
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  streets and where CB us and but they continue on the same St.
• 19:35
  you know you know just. Individual dividers that are on
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  the case labeling and I think the only two notes I really have
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  that I write down are red dots mean no marriage mail and green
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  dots means first class mail only.
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  Other than that, everything, everything else is marked on the
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  case in regards to, you know, dogs and and stuff like that.
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  I train from the point of, OK, this is what we're going to do.
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  And then I demonstrate it, OK. You're going to clock in on the
• 20:06
  scanner, you're going to sign in on the 4240.
• 20:08
  You're going to go due to your PTI.
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  While you're you do your PTI you can scoot across the parking lot
• 20:14
  to the the back dock, come in there pick up your flats, pick
• 20:17
  up your your clerk letters you know show them the two locations
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  for both of those bringing back the case and depending on the
• 20:24
  mail volume. This is how we're going to case
• 20:26
  today because we have a lot of flats and on days when we don't
• 20:29
  have a lot of flats that's how we're going to case.
• 20:33
  I use I generally use the Taco method when we have a lot of
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  flats and I I use the up down method when we don't have a lot.
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  I and I explain them everything that I'm doing as I'm doing it.
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  Reinforcing it when I case mail especially like clerk mail since
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  I know my route so well. I read the name like Gilpin.
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  So I know Gilpin is 881 Twickensham Court.
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  My, you know, as soon as I see the name I'm turning and I'm.
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  I'm explaining to him, you know, bang, it's right there.
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  The name's printed on the on the case.
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  You can't miss it and there's no misunderstanding.
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  It's the only place it goes. And I said this is called muscle
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  memory. This is how you develop it.
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  The next one we have. These are your tactile learners.
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  These are the people that learn by doing so.
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  Not only do you include the auditory and visual.
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  But they also have to do it to learn it.
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  So you can sit there and tell them all day long that this is
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  how it works, this is how it works, this is how it works.
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  But it takes that tactile feeling of actually doing the
• 21:39
  job in order for them to correlate everything that you're
• 21:42
  telling them and showing them. Now I know that in my experience
• 21:47
  of training that I've gone through with different types of
• 21:50
  people in different ways, they learn.
• 21:52
  I've had people tell me, hey, write it down so I can read it
• 21:55
  later and understand it better. Can you show me, can you diagram
• 21:58
  it for me? Things like that.
• 22:00
  And then these people, these are the ones that are probably the
• 22:05
  easiest to teach our job because you're sitting there and you're
• 22:10
  giving, telling them what to do. You're showing them what to do.
• 22:13
  But when they step into that case and they start doing it,
• 22:15
  they just start banging it out. As soon as they get the feel for
• 22:19
  it, as soon as they get into their groove, it just clicks.
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  These are the rare ones to get because those are the ones that
• 22:28
  it doesn't take six months for them to get it to click.
• 22:31
  They take two weeks, 3 weeks for it to actually click for them.
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  Have you dealt with that, Kristen?
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  Yes, I have. I've had a a few that were very
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  the hands on tactical. You know, once you you, you
• 22:47
  know, you, you can explain it to them and talk to them and
• 22:50
  they're like, huh, You can show them, you know, the words and
• 22:54
  they're still like, huh, But as soon as you know, you show them
• 22:57
  what to do, you hand it to them. Then they start doing it
• 23:00
  themselves and they're like, Oh yeah, I got this, OK, now I know
• 23:04
  what I'm doing. Yes, I have dealt with that.
• 23:10
  I think those sometimes are the easier ones to train, but not
• 23:15
  always. Yeah, I agree with that, Josh.
• 23:19
  You too. Yeah, I I've had some that were
• 23:23
  like that. They got the concept from me
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  telling them and showing them, but it wasn't until they
• 23:28
  actually stepped into the case and I stepped away for a moment
• 23:32
  to let them do their, you know, that they were actually catching
• 23:36
  on to what the job entailed. You know, was able to do it from
• 23:43
  there. Yeah, those are the ones that I
• 23:46
  don't like to hover over, I should say.
• 23:49
  Where I see, you know, they're they're doing it themselves and
• 23:52
  they're kind of they're they're catching on to it.
• 23:54
  So I tried to take a step back and let them do it so they get
• 23:58
  the feel. And then once you know if they
• 24:00
  get stuck, then I'll stop in and be like, all right, what do we
• 24:03
  got going on here? Yeah, I usually just set a stool
• 24:08
  at the end of the case and I if I see that they're doing that,
• 24:11
  I'll sit down and go. When you have a question, let me
• 24:13
  know. I'll just keep watching them.
• 24:15
  Letting them do their thing. If I see a mistake, correct it.
• 24:18
  But other than that, I just let them do their thing.
• 24:20
  How about you Bill? To tell you the truth, I kind of
• 24:28
  work with them OK? And and once I demonstrate what
• 24:32
  I do, how I do, I set them up with Adps and and let them start
• 24:37
  throwing DPS while I work the clerk mail you know, in the case
• 24:41
  with them. And that way I'm right there on
• 24:43
  top of them in case they have a question.
• 24:45
  And you know generally I'll say if you have a question about it,
• 24:49
  save it to the end, you know put the mail off to the side.
• 24:51
  We'll clarify it later. I have a unique case in regards
• 24:54
  to everybody's names on the case except for like 3 addresses
• 24:58
  which have 14 families in it and I'm not kidding.
• 25:02
  I know what you're talking about.
• 25:04
  Yes. But generally I'm I'm right
• 25:07
  there right alongside them, you know encouraging them you know
• 25:11
  what to do. One of the things that I've
• 25:14
  always taught every sub was when you pick up a handful of DPS,
• 25:18
  yet you look at let's say 821 Sharon circle.
• 25:23
  OK we located on the case you look down and the names is
• 25:27
  McGovern. OK You flip through the DPS you
• 25:30
  throw it in there. Anything that doesn't say
• 25:32
  McGovern put off to the side, we'll take care of it.
• 25:34
  Like next, when you put the mail in for 8/21, the next address is
• 25:38
  820 McNamara. OK, So now you know, you look at
• 25:42
  the name and the address, you know the name and address you're
• 25:45
  looking for in the DPS. You go through it, whatever
• 25:48
  doesn't fit. You throw off to the side, you
• 25:50
  put the mail in, then you look at 8:18, so on and so forth.
• 25:53
  Be familiar with the names and the addresses.
• 25:56
  When I throw my raw mail, I talk to myself because of the fact
• 26:02
  that A I'm partially psychotic, B I'm the only one that'll talk
• 26:06
  to me, and C it reinforces my muscle memory.
• 26:10
  Because as soon as I say the name, my body's turning my arms
• 26:13
  going up or down, left or right, and you know it.
• 26:17
  It's just one of those things that, you know, creates my flow
• 26:20
  for myself. And I explain that to them too.
• 26:23
  You know, once you learn the case, no matter what you do out
• 26:27
  in the route, the most important aspect of the of male is
• 26:31
  learning the case. When you learn the case, you
• 26:34
  actually learn the route even without driving it, because
• 26:38
  you're looking for the next street, you have to drive it.
• 26:42
  But if you learn the case driving it will be much easier
• 26:48
  my experience. Yeah, and kinetic.
• 26:54
  Kinesthetic is what they call it.
• 26:56
  But it's your tactile learners really.
• 26:59
  It's hands on getting down and dirty into the system in order
• 27:03
  for them to learn how the whole process works.
• 27:07
  Now the last one on the list, and this is not an
• 27:11
  all-encompassing list, but these are the primary ones, and
• 27:14
  usually any type of learning incorporates any or all of these
• 27:19
  in them. Are your reading writing
• 27:23
  learners? These are the people that read
• 27:26
  it and then have to write it to understand it.
• 27:30
  It's kind of like the tactile. But these are the ones that are
• 27:34
  constantly writing everything down.
• 27:37
  Even if it's not a PowerPoint or something that can be printed,
• 27:40
  they're writing it down because that's the way they learn.
• 27:43
  You'll see it a lot in trainings that you go to.
• 27:46
  You'll see people that are literally scribing word for word
• 27:49
  with on the PowerPoint and things like that because that's
• 27:52
  how they learn. And these people, a lot of times
• 27:57
  they'll be like, can I have a pad of paper to write with?
• 27:59
  Can I get something to write with something to?
• 28:02
  Put notes on things like that because they're literally going
• 28:04
  to write everything out that they need to know because that's
• 28:07
  the only way their brain processes it from 1 lobe to the
• 28:10
  other. Now these ones are harder to
• 28:15
  find than the other three in terms of postal workers, but
• 28:22
  they're usually actually the best at taking tests.
• 28:26
  But but because our entire education system.
• 28:31
  From kindergarten all the way up through college is based on this
• 28:36
  system. Read it.
• 28:38
  Write it. Homework it.
• 28:41
  Have you actually dealt with somebody who sits there and
• 28:44
  literally writes out everything you're telling them, Kristen?
• 28:47
  No, that I personally have not had an experience with.
• 28:53
  OK. How about you, Josh?
• 28:56
  Actually the one that I'm working with now that.
• 29:01
  Was reassigned to me. Has to write everything down so
• 29:08
  she can go back that so she can go back and reread it, get it to
• 29:15
  click that. This is the one that I was
• 29:17
  saying that uses, you know that not only do I have to, you know,
• 29:22
  I tell her, I show her, I let her do it, but sometimes I have
• 29:28
  to break it down to smaller chunks.
• 29:32
  One, you know, like one step at a time and she writes it down.
• 29:37
  Doesn't necessarily mean she's getting it right away, but
• 29:41
  that's how she what she needs to do to learn it, to be able to do
• 29:48
  it. Like when she shadowed me, she
• 29:52
  I'm like sitting there looking and I can see she's stopping and
• 29:58
  then pulling up, catching up, stopping.
• 30:01
  Catching up. She was stopping to break down
• 30:05
  the line of travel as we were going.
• 30:10
  Go to Yorkmont to price, you know, to the farmer's market.
• 30:17
  Turn you, you turn before the gate.
• 30:21
  Turn back onto Yorkmont, turn on the price lane, turn on the
• 30:26
  green market. OK, we get it.
• 30:31
  That makes for a long day. But yeah, I've known people like
• 30:34
  that in in my lifetime. But as far as training at RCAI
• 30:41
  have yet to work with someone like that yet.
• 30:45
  I'm going to say yeah, because I know that they're that it'll
• 30:47
  eventually come. The key to this is is there are
• 30:51
  many different types of ways people learn and as stated,
• 30:56
  we've seen. All different types of learning
• 30:59
  abilities from people when we've been teaching them, whether it's
• 31:02
  ourselves or somebody else that's presenting on this on
• 31:05
  this podcast. So the reason why we're talking
• 31:10
  about this is one of our very esteemed silent contributors
• 31:16
  told us about a situation that they came across.
• 31:20
  And Kristen, if you want to tell us about that situation, you
• 31:23
  know what we need to do for it. But we keep.
• 31:27
  Privacy for the people that deserve the privacy.
• 31:31
  So if you want to tell us that situation that came up and and
• 31:34
  why it's so important for us to talk about this.
• 31:37
  Did a carrier reach out to me this past week?
• 31:41
  It became kind of obvious after conversations with others that
• 31:46
  they were having explaining how our pay system and the new Rex
• 31:51
  works out. And it coincided with.
• 31:56
  How many routes have lost evaluation where they may be now
• 32:05
  very under evaluated and these particular carriers may learn in
• 32:11
  a different way to where obviously management is going to
• 32:19
  use that in management's favor? And not in the carrier's favour
• 32:25
  when it comes to learning the RX system.
• 32:30
  And we all know how a lot of managers out there, we're only
• 32:37
  saying well here, you know, there was no formal training of
• 32:40
  Rex and they got the the scan guide sheet and said just worry
• 32:46
  about the six scans and now you have carriers losing
• 32:51
  evaluations. And now you have carriers that
• 32:54
  may learn differently than other carriers in their office.
• 32:58
  They may learn at a slower rate, possibly, or they may be the
• 33:06
  audible type or the hands on type, not necessarily the
• 33:14
  reading type. And therefore, management's
• 33:19
  going to eat it up, especially if there isn't somebody in their
• 33:22
  office looking out for them and their route continues to go
• 33:27
  down. Now you have somebody that has a
• 33:30
  different way of learning. I'm not going to say a
• 33:32
  disability, but they may or may not have one who is now getting
• 33:36
  paid less because of the way that they comprehend new
• 33:43
  information. Yeah, And and as people who
• 33:50
  teach people things, especially our Academy instructors are, OJ
• 33:55
  is, you know, the people that are involved in teaching these
• 34:00
  carriers how to do this job. It's up to them to understand
• 34:05
  that some people don't learn the same as others and.
• 34:10
  In order to get more people to succeed in this craft, we have
• 34:13
  to understand how we can get better information and a better
• 34:17
  way to these people. Otherwise, we're just going to
• 34:23
  continue the revolving door of people coming into the post
• 34:27
  office not learning a damn thing and going right back out the
• 34:30
  door because they didn't understand it in the way that
• 34:34
  clicked in their brain. For routes that are still
• 34:38
  continuing to drop an evaluation when they shouldn't be because
• 34:43
  this person may not be a reading person may not completely
• 34:47
  understand how the numbers coincide between the 4241 AS and
• 34:53
  Ms. and just be like OK, but not know where or how or how to
• 35:01
  comprehend any of that. And the management's going to
• 35:06
  use that to their advantage. And they're not going to stand
• 35:10
  up for something that is incorrect because they may not
• 35:15
  realize it because they can't. That, you know, they may not be
• 35:18
  that person that learns by reading or they may be that
• 35:22
  person that's slower at comprehension, comprehension of
• 35:25
  things. It got to be a very passionate
• 35:29
  conversation, let's put it that way, because it wasn't something
• 35:31
  that I was even thinking about either.
• 35:34
  Until they brought it to my attention and and then I went
• 35:38
  and thought back with people that I have worked with over in
• 35:40
  the past and going, you know what, yeah, I can totally see
• 35:43
  this now that you know this this rec system and you know the 140
• 35:51
  some now standards you're looking at and all the scans
• 35:56
  that you got to do to keep your route up properly, the proper
• 36:00
  scans at the proper times. To have your proper evaluation,
• 36:06
  they, you know, if they weren't trained in a way that they learn
• 36:10
  or comprehend these, then and nobody's and nobody in their
• 36:15
  office is looking out for a management's going to use that
• 36:17
  to their advantage. When you have something to
• 36:20
  dispute, they may not know exactly where to get that
• 36:24
  information, or how to get the information, or how to find
• 36:27
  something that they need to dispute.
• 36:29
  And then you had all those disputes that came back this
• 36:30
  last time saying, well, the information's on the NRLCA
• 36:34
  website, yeah, it's on there. But if you're not a person that
• 36:39
  can read, that learns, you know, visually reading it and then
• 36:45
  going, oh, OK, that's what I got to do, then it's not going to
• 36:50
  help them. And if you don't have a person
• 36:54
  in that office that's looking out for them?
• 36:56
  Whether it's a case mate or a local steward or, you know, just
• 37:01
  anybody else in the office that you know could explain it to
• 37:05
  them or show them in a way that they learn it or their learning
• 37:09
  capabilities are then like I said, management's going to use
• 37:14
  that to their advantage and let those routes continue to drop.
• 37:19
  And the shameless plug? And if they aren't listening to
• 37:21
  the United We Scam podcast explaining this stuff for the
• 37:25
  auditory learners. Then they're also behind because
• 37:28
  they're not getting the information in that terms of
• 37:31
  learning. Or if you have somebody that has
• 37:36
  to be shown and then do it, you know, you should be having your
• 37:41
  union representatives stepping up in these offices, going to
• 37:45
  these offices and teaching these people these things.
• 37:48
  You need to have offices that have.
• 37:53
  Officers from the union, whether it's a district officer or a
• 37:57
  state officer or a national officer.
• 37:59
  Local officer, you know it's. They should be stepping up and
• 38:04
  teaching this stuff because they are a representative of the
• 38:08
  Union. We should be getting everybody
• 38:11
  involved in this. There is a lot of carriers out
• 38:14
  there that do use the text to speech and listen to stuff while
• 38:19
  they're on the route, so because that's how they learn best.
• 38:23
  Is having that text to speech because it's easier for them to
• 38:28
  listen to it and then oh Oh yeah, and then it clicks and
• 38:33
  you've got carriers that do a better hands on.
• 38:36
  And if you didn't have hands on training with a scanner to go in
• 38:40
  and hit the rule activities button right in front of your
• 38:43
  face and do it along with who's who's showing or training.
• 38:47
  I did that in my office. We pull, I pulled all the
• 38:50
  carriers twice back into the break room scanners in hand
• 38:54
  along with the the, the printouts from the website and
• 39:00
  we went through them step by step.
• 39:03
  You know I talked, they showed it, they had it in their hands.
• 39:06
  So there was the audible there was the hands on and there was
• 39:11
  the reading element there. So you know it's, it's and if
• 39:16
  you don't have. People within that office
• 39:19
  willing to help those that struggle learning one way or
• 39:23
  another. You know what's what's going to
• 39:29
  happen in the future. You know what's going to happen
• 39:32
  when they if they are a regular carrier and they retire and you
• 39:35
  got a new new person coming in on that route.
• 39:38
  And that route before the 1st mini Mail survey was a 45K.
• 39:44
  And it went down to a 40 J and now you're taking it over as a
• 39:48
  high you know as like a 38H knowing that it's super under
• 39:53
  evaluated. You know I've I've got a case in
• 39:58
  point in my office I have a an older Hispanic gentleman in the
• 40:03
  first mini mail survey he lost eight hours and he was upset and
• 40:09
  I I went over and talked to him about it and I says.
• 40:13
  You know, are you doing all your scans?
• 40:14
  He says yes, I'm doing the six scans.
• 40:17
  And I said no. Are you doing all the other
• 40:19
  scans? Oh, I I, I, I don't read too
• 40:22
  well. So I don't understand them.
• 40:24
  And I said here's my number, give me a call, we'll go by and
• 40:28
  and I I gave him the sheets and I said we'll go over these line
• 40:31
  by line. He says the only scan I get in
• 40:34
  trouble for is the the ADVO scan.
• 40:36
  I I keep forgetting to do that every week.
• 40:38
  So I do, I do 7 scans and I'm like, but This is why you're
• 40:42
  losing money. You know, when when he was doing
• 40:46
  deliveries to the door, he was not scanning them at the door.
• 40:52
  He was scanning them at the truck and then would place the
• 40:56
  scanner down and walk it up to the door.
• 40:59
  You know, when when he had box holders, he didn't put them in
• 41:03
  with the Advos, which we have a separate scan for, you know, the
• 41:06
  Advo printer themselves to confirm we're taking out for
• 41:10
  delivery. He was never putting it into WSS
• 41:14
  and it took me a little less than three weeks.
• 41:18
  Get him up to speed on all the scans.
• 41:22
  This, this past one past mini mail survey, he went back up 4
• 41:27
  hours. Yep, just because of the scam.
• 41:32
  Yeah, and that comes to, you know, a language barrier.
• 41:34
  If English is your second language, you know that that
• 41:38
  also is is a. You know, a learning issue at
• 41:43
  times with certain things and with everything and all the
• 41:47
  many, many, many, many components that there are with
• 41:50
  with this whole rec stuff, not everybody's going to grasp it as
• 41:54
  quickly as some do. And those that have that that
• 42:00
  harder time learning those new things are the ones that
• 42:05
  management's going to take advantage of.
• 42:07
  Oh yes, because management never told them about the Advil scan
• 42:12
  for WSS. All they were worried about was
• 42:15
  customer scan. Yeah, and they're not worried
• 42:20
  about all those extra scans. They're just worried about those
• 42:23
  six ones. You know, you, you, you get that
• 42:25
  message when you're out, you're missing an end load or you you
• 42:29
  you're, you're missing a start load or something retarded.
• 42:32
  And it's like, really, we we we like the one sub that was
• 42:38
  hitting dismount every time they took a package to the door and
• 42:43
  got called into the office for 178 dismounts in one day.
• 42:49
  He goes, well, it's a dismount. I'm getting out of the truck.
• 42:53
  No, no, no, That's not how it works.
• 42:57
  Yeah, it it's, you know, like I said, this, this did turn into a
• 43:02
  very passionate conversation. And it definitely was something
• 43:07
  that needs to be brought up. I mean, not everybody learns the
• 43:10
  same way. We all here probably learn in
• 43:14
  different ways. You know, I am a very visual
• 43:18
  person. I I am not the audio type
• 43:23
  person. Trust me, if I'm sitting in for
• 43:26
  long speeches, I'm the one dozing off.
• 43:29
  You know, it's I I don't regain. With that info, I do take some
• 43:36
  notes here and there on pertinent information, but I am
• 43:39
  definitely more of a visual person.
• 43:42
  If it's something that I can take a picture of and go back
• 43:44
  and look at it again later, I'm good.
• 43:47
  I am good. I you know, and I'm I'm a bit
• 43:51
  more on the hands on too when it comes to you know like the
• 43:54
  muscle memory and with casing and and stuff like that.
• 43:59
  You know, I've got the one route in my office that I've been
• 44:01
  helping. When the regular carrier was out
• 44:03
  for the week, took some time off.
• 44:05
  Borrowed RC as recovering it, I had to go in and toss up the,
• 44:08
  you know, I went in and helped him out tossing up the raw and I
• 44:12
  I would look at the number and be like I'd be completely lost.
• 44:15
  But as soon as I looked at that name, I knew it and silly where
• 44:17
  it went. So yeah, it's everybody learns
• 44:22
  in their own ways, and unfortunately not everybody has
• 44:26
  the assistance they need in all the offices to learn Rex the
• 44:30
  proper way. That it should be done.
• 44:36
  Yeah, I'm going to say like I learn.
• 44:39
  The best way I learn is visual and hands on.
• 44:43
  You know, someone has to show me it and then I have to try, you
• 44:49
  know, do it myself before it'll click in my head.
• 44:53
  And you know, like I know with the the one.
• 44:59
  If I've been recently training, I'll be explaining something to
• 45:02
  her, or I'll be showing her and I can just look over and she has
• 45:06
  that, that blank, that glazed look.
• 45:10
  So now I know I need to go back. I need to step back.
• 45:13
  I need to figure out how to get her to understand it.
• 45:22
  What, you know, what's going to work in that situation?
• 45:24
  Because I think with different things she's learning, you know,
• 45:27
  she's absorbing it different ways for different things.
• 45:32
  So she's not set one set way. She's a little bit of
• 45:36
  everything. So I you know, I got to reword.
• 45:41
  You know, either reword the way I explained it, I have to
• 45:45
  explain it to her while she has the piece of mail in her hand.
• 45:51
  And she actually is doing it while I'm telling her what to do
• 45:55
  and why she should do it that way, Why it makes sense to do it
• 46:00
  that way. Yeah.
• 46:03
  And I think as an OJI and with three newer Rcas coming in in
• 46:09
  the near future, I think I, you know, after having this
• 46:13
  conversation, I think I'm going to take a step back with them.
• 46:17
  Each individually and be like all right, how do you learn the
• 46:21
  best? What works for you when it comes
• 46:23
  to learning something? Are you a hands on?
• 46:25
  Are you a visual? Are you?
• 46:28
  Are you know? Do you learn better if I talk
• 46:30
  you through it That way we can all be on the same page and I
• 46:36
  can train them in a way that's going to succeed.
• 46:42
  Better for them, I should say, and better for me because then
• 46:46
  I'll hub a sub. But us?
• 46:49
  Yeah, the whole goal. The whole goal of of learning
• 46:51
  how people learn is to help equip them to succeed better at
• 46:56
  what we're doing. Because this isn't an easy job.
• 47:00
  The general public thinks we have an easy job.
• 47:03
  All we do is sit in the truck and stick mail in a mailbox all
• 47:05
  day long. But.
• 47:07
  I wish. I wish everybody that ever said
• 47:09
  that could shadow US one day. I agree.
• 47:13
  But the preparation before you get to that point is the most
• 47:16
  stressful part of this job. And I'm not talking about just
• 47:20
  case in the mail. I'm talking about management.
• 47:22
  That's beside the point, yeah. That's another reason why I
• 47:27
  decided not to mark parcels anymore.
• 47:29
  I just take the wheel, the hamper out, throw them in the
• 47:31
  truck in order, and I have my system of loading and, you know,
• 47:38
  and yeah, I want to get out of that office.
• 47:42
  Yeah, nobody wants to spend time in the office.
• 47:45
  They want to be out on the street and.
• 47:47
  But James? We know you enjoy the fights in
• 47:51
  in your office. Bill.
• 47:54
  Don't Don't get stressed. Get closet.
• 47:57
  Yes, yes, yes. My my wife has figured out and
• 48:02
  she rewrote the whole job description.
• 48:06
  Uh huh. Organized things and put them in
• 48:08
  their place. That's definitely the Cliff
• 48:15
  Notes version. Am I dating myself by saying
• 48:21
  Cliff Notes? I don't even know if those exist
• 48:23
  anymore. Yes, they do.
• 48:24
  I, I I hear you, they still are in the market.
• 48:28
  OK. All right.
• 48:30
  I think the latest one was Cliff Notes for TikTok.
• 48:33
  But yeah. Oh God.
• 48:36
  I don't even, I don't even touch Tiktok.
• 48:38
  I just, yeah, no. No, Yeah.
• 48:42
  No, no, but. But yeah, I am.
• 48:46
  I'm very much the visual learner reading, You know, if it's
• 48:50
  something I don't understand, I will go back and reread again
• 48:55
  and be like, oh, OK, and then I'll read as I'm walking myself
• 48:57
  through it. You know, once I have it down, I
• 49:00
  can. Talk it out with somebody if
• 49:02
  they are the, the, the type that need to hear it.
• 49:07
  It's really a touchy subject in ways.
• 49:09
  Honestly, it is. Because I mean, this doesn't
• 49:12
  just affect new Rcas coming in. This effects carriers that are
• 49:17
  established in their routines that works best for them and
• 49:23
  they're learning, capable in their learning and comprehensive
• 49:26
  capabilities and now. We have this whole brand new
• 49:29
  system and now we are finding out hard ways of what happens if
• 49:34
  people aren't learning it in the way that they learn the best I
• 49:39
  should say. It's also learning to adapt your
• 49:43
  teaching. Yes.
• 49:46
  To whom you're training. Yes, absolutely.
• 49:53
  Absolutely. And especially for people who
• 49:56
  haven't touched the route in over a decade.
• 50:00
  And this goes for Academy instructors as well.
• 50:03
  When you're teaching an Academy and then passes on down to the
• 50:07
  OJ is for all the new ones. But when you already have
• 50:11
  established carriers in the office and now they're having to
• 50:17
  learn something brand new. They're not getting the proper
• 50:21
  training for their comprehensive ways, then yeah, that.
• 50:26
  That's it's a train wreck Now I I want to go down a rabbit hole
• 50:32
  in regards to training. OK.
• 50:35
  Some carriers should not be trainer.
• 50:38
  In our office, we have one that purposely kind of discouraged
• 50:43
  the people from staying because they're on the overtime desired
• 50:47
  list. They don't want a sub of record,
• 50:50
  they want the money back back. That the bat, you know we have
• 50:52
  another one, is an angry person and has no patience whatsoever.
• 50:59
  The, the problem of the situation is that if they're
• 51:03
  being assigned to those routes and those carriers are basically
• 51:08
  chasing Subs away, how do you circumvent that situation?
• 51:13
  And the only way we found in in our office is that when the
• 51:18
  regular has their drop day, you have the sub who's on there
• 51:24
  train the new sub. Yeah.
• 51:28
  And you know, it's worked marginally because you're only
• 51:32
  getting one day, usually out of a week.
• 51:35
  But folks, you know these people that you're training and and
• 51:41
  like I explained to my Subs, OK, and everybody have train.
• 51:44
  The better I train you, the better the carrier you're going
• 51:47
  to be. The more opportunity that you'll
• 51:49
  learn other routes, the more money you can make.
• 51:53
  And I want you to be the best carrier because I don't want to
• 51:57
  come back to my route on Monday and find a mess.
• 52:01
  You don't want to come to my route on Saturday and find a
• 52:04
  mess, which I don't do. I treat them as I would treat my
• 52:08
  own children. The better you train the sub,
• 52:11
  the better sub you will have. And like I said with these two
• 52:16
  particular carriers in our office, it it's a conundrum
• 52:19
  because of the fact that you know they've chased more Subs
• 52:22
  out of there than you know Carter has liver pills that date
• 52:27
  that dates me as far as Carter and liver pills, you know.
• 52:33
  Does anybody have any idea how to get around that one though?
• 52:39
  Really, there isn't, unless there's an Oji they can work
• 52:43
  with, but they're still going to work with the regular for
• 52:46
  learning the actual route itself.
• 52:49
  Like the casework. Like we have a regular in my
• 52:55
  office that he's been to a different station now, but he
• 52:59
  was a 48K and he's notoriously getting done between 2:00 and
• 53:05
  3:00 every day. And when he was, you know
• 53:09
  briefly training in RCA, he was getting back at 3:30.
• 53:14
  How much time is he really given that sub training wise?
• 53:23
  If it's only extending his day by maybe 30 minutes, throw it.
• 53:31
  Which is funny because I'm a 62 hour KK 48 and Mondays I'm
• 53:38
  getting done at 6:00 and 7:00 at night and the rest of the week
• 53:41
  I'm getting done at at 4:30 to 5:30 because it's a true 62 hour
• 53:48
  route. So I I really, I don't
• 53:50
  understand how you know people are getting done 48 KS in six
• 53:55
  and a half seven hours. I I.
• 53:58
  You know. He runs.
• 53:59
  He runs through the route, yeah. Yeah, well, trying to.
• 54:03
  Figure out how a carrier gets A45K done in four and a half
• 54:08
  five hours. Yeah.
• 54:10
  Yeah, if I'm done with my 40 with MY45K in 6 1/2 hours, I'm
• 54:15
  I'm thrilled. Normally it takes me probably
• 54:18
  closer to 7 to 8 hours, 7 1/2 to 8 hours.
• 54:23
  Not on a Monday. On a Monday it's it's the full 9
• 54:26
  hours a day. After a holiday, it's probably
• 54:29
  closer to 10 or 11. But you know, it's, yeah, no, we
• 54:35
  got a we have a 46 K that averages 6 1/2 hours a day, and
• 54:41
  every three weeks Volma has to put new brakes on his truck.
• 54:45
  Yes, yes, that that would be the same with this 45K.
• 54:50
  That's that's why they're getting through the route faster
• 54:53
  is because they're slamming the accelerator and slamming the
• 54:56
  brake. Well, they just toss.
• 55:00
  Of mail. Yeah, they just pulling in mail
• 55:03
  as fast as they can. I I had I had a day when I came
• 55:08
  up to the intersection of Forest and Lenape and this truck, Mail
• 55:12
  truck comes flying up from the right and is proceeding on
• 55:17
  Lenape back to the post office. And I sat there for an extra 5
• 55:21
  seconds waiting for the state trooper to catch up to him and
• 55:26
  and it's the guy that does the his K route and five and a half,
• 55:29
  six hours a day. Yeah, it's like that video that
• 55:34
  that video started going around with that metris that took out
• 55:37
  that buck. Yeah.
• 55:39
  Yeah, they they was cruising. They was cruising and that was a
• 55:42
  good sized buck. Totaled that mattress.
• 55:47
  Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
• 55:48
  Totally. Yeah, that was a very good sized
• 55:52
  buck. Oh yeah, thank God it haven't.
• 55:54
  Seen that one yet? It's posted in our group as long
• 56:00
  as well as probably every other postal group out there.
• 56:03
  I've seen it probably. Half a dozen different places
• 56:06
  today alone so. He wasn't in Facebook looking
• 56:12
  around today. You know, the last couple days.
• 56:13
  So you know what that man said after he hit that deer?
• 56:19
  I don't want to know the book. The buck stops here.
• 56:25
  Well, that buck slid for a while before it finally stopped.
• 56:28
  Yeah, that buck. That buck got tossed.
• 56:31
  Yeah, that was that was a big buck.
• 56:34
  So. So where do these carriers that
• 56:37
  are already established that learn in different ways that
• 56:41
  routes are going down because of the way that they learn doesn't
• 56:46
  coincide with their lack of training?
• 56:50
  I mean where where do we go with these guys?
• 56:52
  I mean what what's there, what can people do to help these guys
• 56:57
  out? Is there anything that you know
• 57:03
  if there's nobody in the office willing to to to help them out
• 57:08
  and management is taking advantage of the situation?
• 57:13
  Because I'll be honored with you.
• 57:15
  I'll be honest with you. There is one way that we can
• 57:17
  make this happen. There's one way we could
• 57:20
  actually get this accomplished, but it requires almost an act of
• 57:25
  Congress to get this to happen, I guess.
• 57:28
  But that would be for our steward system to step up.
• 57:33
  Our union knows what routes are going down.
• 57:36
  Our union knows who's in trouble with with the scans, who's not
• 57:41
  getting enough scans, who's not doing enough scans.
• 57:43
  They have this information. The steward system, the national
• 57:49
  steward system needs to step up and step into these offices and
• 57:54
  take the time to sit down with these carriers and learn the way
• 57:57
  they learn and help them learn the way they learn.
• 58:01
  It's on our stewards, It's on our district reps, It's on our
• 58:06
  assistant district reps, It's on our area stewards.
• 58:09
  It's on our local stewards. It's on our state leaders.
• 58:13
  Our. Local leaders, our regional
• 58:16
  leaders, whichever you have to find out what's going on in
• 58:20
  these offices, that's the only way that this gets solved
• 58:24
  because we can't expect our listeners to be the ones to step
• 58:29
  up to do that. Our listeners have been and I I
• 58:31
  really do appreciate them stepping up to help up their
• 58:34
  fellow Craft members, but it should be our union stepping up
• 58:39
  to do this and. It should be our national.
• 58:43
  Stepping up and going to postal management headquarters going
• 58:46
  all right, we have these routes that have zeros.
• 58:52
  What it why are they having zeros?
• 58:56
  What is not being taught the proper way to these carriers?
• 59:02
  The management's just going to just going to turn around and
• 59:04
  say we don't know it's either, they're just having zeros
• 59:06
  because management would rather climb a tree to lie than stand
• 59:09
  on the ground to tell the truth. Exactly.
• 59:12
  So our our union leaders will. Say, but the union has it on the
• 59:17
  website. Yeah, but on your website.
• 59:22
  But if you're you're not a visual learner or you're not a
• 59:26
  union member. Or you're not a union member or
• 59:29
  a visual learner. I mean, I I like I said I
• 59:33
  printed out everything for everybody in my office.
• 59:36
  What they did with it after that was up to them that you know.
• 59:41
  I don't know how everybody each individual person in my office
• 59:44
  learns. I know of those that are
• 59:45
  actually not. I am coming to find out that
• 59:48
  there were some that are not visual people as I am fixing the
• 59:53
  mapping for the route I'm about to take over with that's not you
• 59:58
  know it's yeah I it it really it is such a touchy subject so I'm
• 1:00:08
  trying to to to. Watch my words, but I really
• 1:00:11
  think that there needs it it it it needed to be brought to
• 1:00:17
  light. Plain plain in.
• 1:00:18
  Some, like you said before, Kristen, where there's people
• 1:00:23
  that'll download the document and then click for it to be
• 1:00:29
  audibly read back to them, whether it be on, you know,
• 1:00:33
  through their word or Google Drive.
• 1:00:39
  While they're on the route or at home in the evening and just let
• 1:00:43
  it you know let the the system read back to the but but if
• 1:00:50
  they're but if they're a tactical learner and they're not
• 1:00:54
  getting that training with the scanner in hand of what these
• 1:00:59
  are to do then that's that's an issue as well.
• 1:01:04
  Because I know for a fact not every office did what I did
• 1:01:07
  where I, you know we pulled everybody in scanner in hand.
• 1:01:10
  Bring your scanner with you and we're going to go step by step
• 1:01:15
  through these scans so you can have it in your hand.
• 1:01:19
  Well, and I I hate to do this, but that may be the case where
• 1:01:25
  that carrier needs to go to someone and say, hey, I can't
• 1:01:30
  figure this out, will you help me?
• 1:01:34
  Will you help me? You know, show me where these
• 1:01:38
  are, what these scans are, where you know how to get them in the
• 1:01:45
  scanner, How to you know when do I use it?
• 1:01:50
  Each scan. You know we can it's but but you
• 1:01:57
  have. And I hate to use the adage.
• 1:02:00
  I hate to use the adage of it's. Kind of the same as an addict,
• 1:02:07
  they're not going to get help until they want it themselves.
• 1:02:14
  Well, now that they may be you know there may be carriers out
• 1:02:18
  there people out there that are. I'm not going to, I don't want
• 1:02:22
  to say the word ashamed, but don't want everybody to know and
• 1:02:29
  maybe not don't want everybody to know of of their learning
• 1:02:35
  capabilities or incapabilities, right.
• 1:02:39
  You know, there's, there's. Plenty of people out there that
• 1:02:42
  function just fine that that have have those type of learning
• 1:02:47
  disabilities that you would never know until something like
• 1:02:51
  this may occur. Right.
• 1:02:54
  Yeah. But I know in office.
• 1:02:55
  But there's this major asshole who goes around to everybody and
• 1:03:00
  and you know, asks them if they need help and everything.
• 1:03:03
  Especially after the mini mail surveys came out the second time
• 1:03:07
  and word gets around the office. Who went up, who went down and
• 1:03:12
  and this asshole turns around and goes to the people in
• 1:03:14
  particular, trouble talks to them, hands them a card.
• 1:03:19
  Here's my phone number. Here's my e-mail just so they
• 1:03:23
  can do it on on the quiet you know if you have any.
• 1:03:27
  If you're having any trouble. If you're if you need any
• 1:03:29
  guidance, any assistance, I'm here for you and and but not
• 1:03:34
  every office has that though and that's.
• 1:03:37
  There are some officers that have have people that haven't
• 1:03:41
  ran their route in decades that don't get any help from anybody
• 1:03:45
  in the union for this. They don't have somebody that
• 1:03:48
  steps up and does that for them. There are offices out there that
• 1:03:54
  have the dictator of a postmaster.
• 1:03:58
  Who? If they try to reach out to help
• 1:04:00
  with the union, they get retaliated against by these
• 1:04:04
  postmasters, even if it's something as simple as something
• 1:04:08
  they have to ask about their job or something like that, and they
• 1:04:10
  ask for union time, and this postmaster starts retaliating at
• 1:04:14
  them for it. Things like that.
• 1:04:16
  There's so many nuances to this whole thing that a lot of people
• 1:04:20
  don't account for in this whole thing, and our union has a
• 1:04:25
  national steward system. That could be used to do this,
• 1:04:31
  and I wish they would step up and do that.
• 1:04:32
  We need leadership here now. We need somebody to step up and
• 1:04:37
  say, hey, this is what we need and this is what you need to do.
• 1:04:41
  How can I help you to do that? Our stewards are the backbone
• 1:04:47
  for these craft to help carriers out.
• 1:04:51
  And if they're not stepping them up exactly, and I also think in
• 1:04:58
  some circumstances and not every, not every circumstance,
• 1:05:02
  but in a handful of circumstances, there may be some
• 1:05:06
  ADA compliancy issues with that as well.
• 1:05:11
  Why do you keep spelling things and confuse me?
• 1:05:14
  American Disabilities Act. I'm familiar with section Five O
• 1:05:21
  4, but yeah, it really is it. It is a rabbit hole subject, but
• 1:05:29
  at the same time it is one that needs to be put out there and.
• 1:05:33
  It needs to be brought the light.
• 1:05:35
  It needs to be brought the light.
• 1:05:36
  We need to know that this is out there.
• 1:05:38
  We need to know is there anything we can do to help
• 1:05:43
  people with these situations. And yes, there is reach out.
• 1:05:47
  Unfortunately, our national office is not interested in
• 1:05:51
  helping everybody. No, they only want to help dues
• 1:05:55
  paying members. You got to remember that the
• 1:05:58
  dues paying members pay their pay their salary, so they focus
• 1:06:01
  on the dues paying members. We're non rabbit hole yeah that
• 1:06:07
  could be we're non. Discriminatory.
• 1:06:09
  We're non discriminatory. Whether you're dues paying or
• 1:06:11
  non dues paying, you are a craft member to us and you deserve
• 1:06:15
  this information because it affects everybody's pay.
• 1:06:18
  I was. Talking about the salaries,
• 1:06:20
  that's the rabbit hole. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that, that.
• 1:06:28
  That's a sinkhole. I'm talking about taking care of
• 1:06:31
  the craft as a whole. We step up and we take care of
• 1:06:34
  the craft as as a whole, no matter the cost to us, yeah.
• 1:06:41
  We don't get paid to do this. Nope.
• 1:06:44
  We do this on our own time, of our own volition.
• 1:06:47
  It is our own opinion. It does not reflect the views,
• 1:06:50
  opinions or strategies of the United States Postal Service or
• 1:06:53
  the National Rural Letter Carriers Association.
• 1:06:57
  And we will do this for our craft because we care about our
• 1:07:02
  carrier craft and we care about each and every one of you that
• 1:07:06
  listens to us because we all do the same job.
• 1:07:10
  We all are performing the same service.
• 1:07:18
  So if you need help with this, if you need help with this,
• 1:07:21
  reach out. We can find people in your area
• 1:07:27
  to help. Oh, yes, not just our help.
• 1:07:31
  We have people in all 50 States and territories that are willing
• 1:07:37
  to step up and help. And if you're listening to this
• 1:07:40
  and you know of a carry in your office that struggles in ways
• 1:07:44
  you know, you can send them to us if they're not comfortable
• 1:07:49
  with having somebody help them right in their office, which I
• 1:07:52
  guess there are some people that are like that that are well
• 1:07:56
  aware of of their personal disabilities.
• 1:08:02
  I am going to use that word that don't want everybody in their
• 1:08:06
  office to know. And they're they, you know, and
• 1:08:08
  I'm sure they're, they may have somebody out there they can
• 1:08:11
  reach out to. If you're one of those that
• 1:08:13
  listens that has one of those issues and you don't want
• 1:08:16
  everybody in your office to know about it, but you want, Oh yeah,
• 1:08:20
  you know, feel free to reach out to us.
• 1:08:22
  You know, we don't share. I mean, we share emails and
• 1:08:26
  messages with each other, the four of us, but that's it.
• 1:08:29
  We don't put it out there. If somebody says, please don't
• 1:08:31
  share this. We don't share it with
• 1:08:33
  everybody, you know. But if somebody says, hey, we
• 1:08:36
  need this brought to light, hey, we're more than happy to bring
• 1:08:38
  it to light like we just did tonight.
• 1:08:43
  That and like with this instance, we don't say who it
• 1:08:47
  is, where they were, where they're from, any identifying
• 1:08:52
  information. We just this is an issue that's
• 1:08:55
  going on that needs to be discussed exactly.
• 1:09:01
  The only people we call out are the people that deserve to be
• 1:09:04
  called. Out.
• 1:09:05
  Yep. The entire national board.
• 1:09:11
  Rabbit hole. More, more like a crater
• 1:09:18
  sinkhole? Yeah, it's.
• 1:09:24
  In all honesty, we're just we're we're concerned for our craft.
• 1:09:29
  We are. Our craft is.
• 1:09:31
  The most important part because without the craft there is no
• 1:09:34
  rural carrier, correct. You know man, we can do our job
• 1:09:42
  without management standing over us, but management couldn't do
• 1:09:46
  our job without us. Think about it.
• 1:09:49
  It it if if there were no carriers, and I meant going
• 1:09:52
  carriers across the board, whether you're rural craft or
• 1:09:55
  city craft, if there were no carriers, the service would.
• 1:10:00
  Be no management exactly. But if there was no management,
• 1:10:05
  if there was no management in that office, we would still get
• 1:10:08
  our mail put up. Even if we had to sort that
• 1:10:11
  stuff ourselves, we would still get it out there.
• 1:10:13
  We'd still get our packages out and our customers would still
• 1:10:16
  get what they were supposed to get that day.
• 1:10:19
  And our customers would still trust the Postal Service.
• 1:10:24
  We are the front line. We are the ones that the
• 1:10:26
  customers see every single day. I remember a Christmas where all
• 1:10:33
  the clerks called out. All the supervisors except for
• 1:10:37
  12O4B called out the carrier city and rule stepped up, sorted
• 1:10:44
  the parcels, burst these the DPS and got the clerk mail all
• 1:10:50
  spread around and we were out in record time and the the next day
• 1:10:58
  supervisor's sitting there going why do you have an hour and a
• 1:11:01
  half here at 8127 time I said well I was doing clerk work.
• 1:11:06
  Well, you're not allowed to. Well, you weren't here, so I
• 1:11:10
  took it upon myself to do your job.
• 1:11:12
  So how about if I give you you give me your salary and I'll
• 1:11:17
  I'll take the 8127 time back. You know, I've had times where I
• 1:11:21
  was running my aux in my primary and because it's under, you
• 1:11:26
  know, 3 zip codes in my office and the aux in the primary are 1
• 1:11:31
  zip code and normal. And plus there's the lock pouch
• 1:11:34
  PO Box. So normally, you know the
• 1:11:38
  helicopter flats, the clerks would sort them out.
• 1:11:41
  Well when you have a newer clerk that you know the other the
• 1:11:45
  other one route zip code that has the lock pouch, those don't
• 1:11:51
  get separated because she does. There's no aux rod off.
• 1:11:54
  That's just one route in the PO Box.
• 1:11:55
  So she gets all the helicopter flights go to her and she just
• 1:11:58
  sorts them out as she's casing up the mail, tossing the the PO
• 1:12:01
  Box stuff in their tub. So I'm over on the other zip
• 1:12:05
  code and you know it was no big deal to have that tub of flats
• 1:12:09
  and just case up the ones that the route I'm end set the other
• 1:12:12
  ones to the side and toss the PO Box in the tub next to me.
• 1:12:16
  Actually, I think it went easier that way.
• 1:12:18
  But yeah, I mean, we would do what we have to do to get our
• 1:12:24
  customers, make sure that the service was to every one of our
• 1:12:27
  customers that day. We don't need management
• 1:12:30
  breathing down our necks. That's because we're willing to
• 1:12:33
  step up exactly. That's because we care about our
• 1:12:37
  customers. Yep.
• 1:12:40
  It's not about getting the mail out, it's not about getting the
• 1:12:42
  packages out. It's about taking care of our
• 1:12:45
  customers and I know in, I know in my office.
• 1:12:50
  There are at any given day, there are at least five or six
• 1:12:53
  people that would step up to help if needed.
• 1:12:56
  In fact, there was one day we had one clerk on a Monday and
• 1:13:00
  four of us, four of us, stepped up.
• 1:13:03
  One of us stepped up and helped throw packages with the clerk.
• 1:13:07
  Two of them were throwing flats and one person was throwing
• 1:13:10
  letters to get us all out of there.
• 1:13:13
  Yeah. You know and that's what we do.
• 1:13:17
  We got to the point where I mean it was coming to a point where
• 1:13:21
  it was getting like that, but our clerks looked at us and
• 1:13:26
  said, you know we appreciate the help, but please don't help us
• 1:13:28
  because management needs to see that we're short handed and this
• 1:13:32
  is what's going to happen. So you know, per the clerk's
• 1:13:35
  request, we step back and. We've had that in ours too.
• 1:13:42
  We've when we were actually staffed enough.
• 1:13:46
  They did say that, you know, I said, hey, you guys need some
• 1:13:49
  help. And they're like, no, we got
• 1:13:50
  this, OK? And that's what we do.
• 1:13:53
  We know we support our fellow craft members and we support the
• 1:13:57
  fellow crafts. We support the city craft, we
• 1:13:59
  support the clerk craft, we support the janitorial craft,
• 1:14:04
  the mail handlers craft VMF, everybody, because we're all
• 1:14:09
  doing the same thing and that is getting mail to the customers.
• 1:14:13
  Yeah, 'cause we need that that that vehicle running properly in
• 1:14:16
  order to drive it down the road to deliver.
• 1:14:19
  Yeah. And we need, we need the mail
• 1:14:21
  from the plant to our office to be able to deliver it.
• 1:14:24
  We need the the janitors to keep the place safe for us to walk
• 1:14:27
  around in. We need the clerks to sort the
• 1:14:30
  mail for us so we can deliver it and take care of the customers
• 1:14:32
  on the window so we don't all have to pick up stuff on our
• 1:14:35
  routes all day long. All that stuff, you know,
• 1:14:39
  there's there's so many different avenues you can take
• 1:14:42
  that we need the city carriers to be walking the routes.
• 1:14:44
  Because I know a lot of lot of row carriers don't want to be
• 1:14:47
  walking up the doors every day. No, even though.
• 1:14:50
  Some of us do, even though some of us do.
• 1:14:53
  I do have 4 hardship dismounts, yes, but you know, I I have no
• 1:14:57
  problems. I have you know, they all have
• 1:14:59
  their boxes at the doors. A lot of times they meet me
• 1:15:02
  right at the door to get, you know, to hand them their mail
• 1:15:04
  rather than putting it in a box. And I am more than happy to you
• 1:15:08
  know how. Hey, hi.
• 1:15:09
  Thank you. You know have a great day.
• 1:15:11
  See you tomorrow. You know that you you get to
• 1:15:14
  know your customers that way too, and they appreciate it.
• 1:15:23
  So all right guys, we want to try and wrap this up tonight.
• 1:15:27
  That's all I had. All right, I I'm going to cut
• 1:15:33
  Bill off from going down a rabbit hole.
• 1:15:35
  I know he wants to go down, though.
• 1:15:37
  We'll we'll save that for another episode.
• 1:15:39
  Yeah. Oh, I lay in.
• 1:15:49
  Wow. I think he's calling his Bush.
• 1:15:56
  No. I was supposed.
• 1:15:57
  To remind. I was reminding James of several
• 1:16:00
  nights in Grand Rapids. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:16:04
  He he's he he's calling for us to go back to Topcap.
• 1:16:12
  Well, if you come to mid states in Muskegon, it's only a 30
• 1:16:15
  minute drive over to Hopcap, we can do that.
• 1:16:18
  OK, I could imagine that waitresses look on her face if
• 1:16:23
  we walk through that door again. Oh God.
• 1:16:26
  She would. She would probably be fighting
• 1:16:28
  the other wait staff to have us at her table.
• 1:16:31
  They're going to my table. Hey, hey, Bill, how's your ear?
• 1:16:40
  All right, all right. So we're going to wind this one
• 1:16:43
  down tonight so we're not trampling through those rabbit
• 1:16:45
  holes and turning them into large craters and sinkholes and
• 1:16:50
  whatnot. So thank you for the.
• 1:16:53
  Post show so I can go down a rabbit hole?
• 1:16:56
  Absolutely. So if you're listening on the
• 1:16:59
  live stage, that rabbit hole will be coming up.
• 1:17:02
  But on that note, Josh, your final commentary for this
• 1:17:06
  evening. I know this week, this past
• 1:17:09
  week, packages have been picking up for me, so I'm sure everyone
• 1:17:12
  else is seeing that. Don't get yourself overwhelmed.
• 1:17:17
  Take a step back, take a deep breath, step back in, try and
• 1:17:22
  have a good week and I'll see you next time, James.
• 1:17:28
  My final thought is no matter how you learn, there is somebody
• 1:17:33
  that can help you learn in the way that you do understand
• 1:17:36
  things. And it's up to anybody who's
• 1:17:40
  instructing people on these things to understand all these
• 1:17:43
  different levels of understanding that people have.
• 1:17:48
  And adapting the way they train to meet those expectations and
• 1:17:52
  exceed them. We have a lot of fun on this
• 1:17:56
  podcast, but the ultimate goal of it is to help you understand
• 1:18:01
  where things are and how things work.
• 1:18:05
  And we don't do this to overstep our bounds.
• 1:18:09
  We ask that you talk with your designated union representative
• 1:18:12
  about these things, and it's up to that designated union
• 1:18:16
  representative. To understand how you learn, so
• 1:18:20
  be safe out there guys. It's going to be an interesting
• 1:18:24
  winter so far than what I've seen and I hear some areas are
• 1:18:28
  already getting that dreaded 4 letter swear word.
• 1:18:31
  So be careful out there. And just remember, no matter
• 1:18:35
  what, we're all in this together, Bill.
• 1:18:41
  Following up on the topic of discussion of this evening about
• 1:18:44
  training. The one nuance I had was with a
• 1:18:48
  left-handed person and you have no idea how hard it was for this
• 1:18:54
  person to acclimate to the way the case flows left to right.
• 1:19:00
  So in in the pull down method I taught him to teach, I taught
• 1:19:04
  him how to pull down from the back end of the route forward,
• 1:19:07
  which made it easier for him in the pull down area and.
• 1:19:14
  But like you said, each person has their nuances, so you have
• 1:19:17
  to figure out what they are. You have to talk to the people.
• 1:19:20
  You have to engage them. You have to draw them out to
• 1:19:24
  find out what they're getting, how they're getting it, if
• 1:19:27
  they're not getting it. Repetitiveness is the key to it
• 1:19:31
  because of the fact that they don't get it the first time, the
• 1:19:33
  second time, the third time. You you, you keep pounding it
• 1:19:36
  just like you. You know you do with your
• 1:19:37
  children when you're teaching them how to walk or eat with the
• 1:19:40
  utensil, you have to. The repetitiveness is is.
• 1:19:44
  Critical for these people to catch on and then one day it
• 1:19:48
  just clicks and then you see the change in them.
• 1:19:52
  So don't give up on people who don't get it right away.
• 1:19:56
  We're coming up on the shorter days, it's getting darker
• 1:19:59
  earlier. I want people to be careful out
• 1:20:02
  there, especially when you're out in the in the evening hours,
• 1:20:06
  you don't see the dogs coming from around the house or you
• 1:20:09
  know, from behind you or anything like that.
• 1:20:11
  You know people aren't paying attention because they're on
• 1:20:13
  their phones and they're they're driving at twilight.
• 1:20:17
  Be safe out there. Like I always say you're the
• 1:20:20
  most important delivery of the day.
• 1:20:22
  Get home safely because your family's is the most important
• 1:20:26
  thing in in my regards the jobs. You know you can always find
• 1:20:31
  another job. Your family can't find another
• 1:20:35
  you. So be safe out there.
• 1:20:37
  Take care of each other, look out for each other and have a
• 1:20:41
  good week. Thank you, guys.
• 1:20:45
  That's going to wrap us up for this week.
• 1:20:48
  You know, definitely take care, stay vigilant, make sure you're
• 1:20:52
  getting home safe to your family and stay tuned and I'll have
• 1:20:58
  what day I get placed on my route next week.
• 1:21:02
  On that note, guys, we'll be back next week.
• 1:21:04
  Take care everybody. Have a safe good week.