Latest / United We Scan / Out with 2024, what's coming 2025!

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Out with 2024, what's coming 2025! · United We Scan

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Welcome to the United We Scan Podcast, the podcast by rural
0:18
carriers for rural carriers. The views expressed in this
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podcast are of the presenters and the presenters only and do
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not represent the views, opinions, or strategies of the
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United States Postal Service or the National Rural Letter
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Carriers Association. We ask that you please consult
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Please leave a comment or question for us below.
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Thank you. Now here are the hosts of the
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United We Scan podcast. Welcome back everybody episode
0:55
one O 4, the last episode of 2024.
1:01
Wow tonight we're kind of going to review how this year is going
1:07
and what our plans are for next year, but I think we'll start
1:13
off after we get through our rambling a little bit with each
1:17
other. I think we'll start off with the
1:19
biggest news that happened today of former President Jimmy Carter
1:22
passing away, and we'll go through what the guidelines are
1:26
for a day of what do they call it, A.
1:31
Day of mourning. A day of mourning, National day
1:34
of Observance, clarifications and regulations.
1:37
We'll definitely cover that because I know there's plenty of
1:39
carriers out there that have not been around for when this has
1:42
happened in the past. And I know with the last former
1:45
president that passed away, I was still in RCA.
1:48
So we'll cover that on what the clarifications mean on when that
1:52
day is announced. And until then, James, how was
1:56
your week? Lots of carrier questions.
2:02
It wasn't too bad of a week, especially with Christmas in
2:05
there and it was pretty heavy Monday, but Tuesday was about
2:12
normal overall. I mean it was like night and day
2:15
between Monday and Tuesday the number of packages we had and
2:18
they like fell off off the table.
2:20
And then Thursday was a little heavy but not too bad and Friday
2:25
of course was super light in my office.
2:28
I know some offices weren't getting too much either, but
2:32
I've also heard some offices have lost their UPS drops
2:37
already. And you know, UPS did say
2:40
they're adding 3 million of the, of the pure post packages back
2:44
into their system for their drivers to deliver like FedEx
2:47
did. So we're going to be dealing
2:51
with that as well. But for like my route, it's
2:53
maybe 10-15 packages at most on my route because I get mostly
2:57
Amazon and, and USPS parcels. So hopefully it's, it's not too
3:02
big of an effect on us and our Rex evaluations.
3:07
And then I got called in on Saturday.
3:10
We ended up getting short handed.
3:12
And because I'm looking at going to all the area conferences,
3:16
I'll take as many X days as I can get right now so I can use
3:21
them for the conferences and, you know, save a little bit of
3:24
money that way. But other than that, got Sunday
3:30
together and oh, had to do a repair to the kitchen sink drain
3:35
today. So it's been a pretty work
3:38
working week and then helping carriers every evening up until
3:43
I go to bed. You know, the usual that I've
3:45
always done and just working every day.
3:49
How about you Bill? How was your not to do?
3:51
List Oh God. Oh it was a wonderful Monday.
3:58
Christmas Eve. Tuesday went to my son and his
4:01
wife's house for dinner. Christmas morning had the
4:05
youngest son, girlfriend and ran baby for breakfast and then for
4:10
dinner had my middle son, his wife and the baby.
4:13
So it was a nice family thing and it all within a 24 hour
4:16
period. Lots of people complaining about
4:20
not getting DPS or Amazon on Thursday.
4:23
A couple of them carried over into Friday as far as the DPS
4:27
was concerned. I have a carrier in my office
4:30
that has a package stuck in Palmetto since December 15th.
4:36
So the problems down there continue.
4:38
And like you said, the the UPS is, you know, reorganizing their
4:43
packaging allocations to the United States Postal Service.
4:49
But then again, Amazon is is up to speed and they're dumping a
4:54
lot of stuff on this at CNC here.
4:57
They, they were been going out with two to three, you know,
5:00
hampers a day or whatever you want to call them pumpkins, But
5:06
you know, it, it, it's been mild around here too, which is
5:09
strange. It was, it was 60° here in
5:11
Pennsylvania. And it's like, OK, that is just
5:15
a little strange for this time of year, But I'll take it.
5:17
You know, it's, it's, it's enjoyable and I won't be here
5:22
next weekend because I'll be in the Dr. Justin, go find your,
5:28
your places where you guys are at.
5:30
But since we're staying at, we're staying at a all adults
5:33
place. I guess I won't find your place,
5:39
but I'm looking forward to that leaving.
5:40
We're leaving out of here Saturday morning and we'll be
5:43
back Thursday night. So really looking forward to
5:47
that. I, you know, I need some island
5:49
time. I need some water time.
5:51
I love the water. So can't wait to get down there.
5:55
Other than that, Kristen, how was your week going?
5:59
You know, Monday was heavy. Tuesday was actually the
6:03
heaviest Christmas Eve I've ever worked.
6:05
Honestly. Christmas went well.
6:09
It was, you know, it was a small little thing.
6:11
I just, you know, Ruby, Little man, Eric and I, and of course,
6:14
little man made out like a bandit because it was his first
6:17
Christmas. And then Thursday, well, no
6:23
Amazon, no Amazon. Drop Thursday.
6:26
Also, four rural routes and one city route in my office did not
6:33
receive their DPS at all on Thursday.
6:37
So Thursday was actually a nice day.
6:38
It was nice to be clocked out by 1:10 and go home and enjoy the
6:41
rest of the day. Friday, Well, two runs of DPS.
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You would think if it didn't leave the plant that they could
6:49
have been nice enough to rerun it all together, but no.
6:54
So I had two runs of DPS on Friday, so packages were meh,
7:01
pretty average. I think I had 99 on Friday, 82
7:04
on Thursday. So and yeah, other than that it
7:12
wasn't too bad. We we'll see what tomorrow
7:18
brings. But and I didn't work yesterday,
7:22
so I had no clue what yesterday was like.
7:25
I kind of relaxed at home. I kind of messed up a little bit
7:29
because, you know, I did my Christmas ham and I was
7:31
thinking, all right, I can make a good ham and bean soup this
7:34
weekend for dinner. So I got up yesterday morning
7:37
and I put it all in the crockpot.
7:39
Get it going. I'm thinking great, it'll be
7:41
done by middle of the afternoon. Perfect timing till I looked at
7:46
it and realized that the crockpot was only on warm for
7:50
five hours and not on high. That's why I don't try to do
7:59
that as soon as I wake up. So I turn it on high.
8:02
And you say we didn't end up with some really good soup by
8:04
about 9:15 last night and finished it off today.
8:08
But, you know, things happen. It was like Christmas dinner.
8:13
I I, you know, my brain's been elsewhere when I go to make my
8:18
scalloped potatoes and forgot to put the milk in them before I
8:23
put the potatoes in the oven. Yeah, it happens.
8:30
I corrected it 45 minutes later. They turned out OK, but other
8:35
than that not too much on the home front with me though so
8:40
it's been pretty quiet for the most part.
8:45
Sounds like that asshole in my house who makes coffee at night
8:48
and sets it up for the next morning.
8:51
My wife turns it on. I come down and there's no
8:53
coffee. You need water, OK.
8:58
Right, right. And boy, do I start cursing.
9:04
It happens, it does. I mean, I I had a Thanksgiving
9:08
where I forgot to put the sugar in the pumpkin pies one here so.
9:12
Oh oh. Why is this not tasting right?
9:17
Yeah. It happens.
9:20
I'll never live that one down in the house though, let me tell
9:23
you. So, yeah.
9:27
So I'm going to, we're going to kind of kick off a little bit
9:31
here with the, the newest update of with the former President
9:36
Carter passing away, because I know that one's going to be on
9:41
what what do we, what's going on?
9:43
How, how does this work? So this was an MOU that was
9:48
signed back in 2000. It literally is just a
9:52
clarification of regulations for the National Day of observance.
9:57
The parties agree that the following procedures will apply
10:00
to affected employees if the Postmaster General or designee
10:05
determines that the Postal Service will participate in a
10:08
National Day of Observance. National or EG, National Day of
10:14
Mourning subsequent to the declaration of a national day of
10:18
observance having been made by Executive Order of the President
10:21
of the United States. Number one, regular rural
10:27
carriers whose basic work week includes the National Day of
10:31
Observance as a scheduled work day but who are not directed to
10:36
report for work will be granted administrative leave for that
10:40
day #2. Regular rule carriers who are
10:45
directed to to work on the national observance will be
10:50
granted a day of administrative leave at a future date #3.
10:57
Regular rule carriers whose basic work week includes the
11:00
National Day of Observance as a relief day will be granted a day
11:05
of administrative leave at a future date #4 Rural carriers in
11:14
the following categories whose basic work week includes the
11:18
National Day of Observance as a scheduled work day but who are
11:22
not directed to report to work, will be granted a day of
11:26
administrative leave for the daily evaluated hours of the
11:30
scheduled route not to exceed 8 hours.
11:34
A part time flexible role carriers designation Code 76.
11:40
B Substitute rural carriers serving a vacant route or in the
11:44
absence of a regular rural carrier in excess of calendar
11:48
days. This is a designation code 72.
11:52
Not sure if we have any of those left around, but just in case we
11:55
do. Letter C Rural carrier
11:59
associates serving a vacant route or serving a route in the
12:03
absence of a regular carrier in excess of 90 calendar days.
12:06
This is the designation 70 fours.
12:10
D is auxiliary rule carriers designation code 77.
12:14
Again, not sure if we have any of those, but just in case.
12:18
And E is your rule carrier associates assigned to an
12:21
auxiliary route in excess of 90 calendar days, Designate
12:25
designation code 79. Those would be the only leave
12:29
replacements that would be paid. Administrative leave for the
12:32
daily evaluated hours of the scheduled route #5 Rural
12:41
carriers in the categories referenced in item 4 above who
12:44
are directed to work on the national day of observance will
12:48
be granted administrative leave equal to the daily evaluated
12:51
hours for the scheduled route not to exceed 8 hours at a
12:55
future date. 6 Substitute rural carriers designation code 73.
13:03
Rural Carrier Reliefs Designation Code 75 and Role
13:07
Carrier Associates Designation Code 78 will only receive pay
13:13
for actual work hours performed on the National Day of
13:16
Observance. They will not receive
13:18
administrative leave. So if you are an RCA who goes in
13:23
to run parcels that day, that's all you're going to get paid
13:27
for. If you are instructed not to
13:30
work or directed not to work, not scheduled to work, then
13:33
you're not going to get anything, unfortunately.
13:37
Seven, if a regular role carrier is on leave or continuation of
13:42
pay, which is OWCP, on the National day of observance, the
13:46
employee will be granted a day of administrative leave on a
13:50
future date. 8 If a role carrier referenced and item 4 above is
13:56
on leave or continuation of pay on the National day of
13:59
observance, the employee will be granted administrative leave for
14:03
the number of hours indicated in item 4 above, which again was
14:10
item 4 will be granted administrative leave for the
14:13
daily evaluated hours of the scheduled route not to exceed 8
14:17
hours #9 a regular rule carrier. A carrier referenced in item 4
14:23
above on OWCP Awall suspension, non pay, non duty status in
14:29
accordance with Article 16 or pending removal on the national
14:33
day of observance will not be granted administrative leave.
14:38
If the carrier on a wall suspension or pending removal is
14:43
returned to duty and made whole for the period of a wall
14:46
suspension or removal, the employee may be eligible for
14:51
administrative leave for the national day of observance.
14:54
If the period of suspension or removal for which the carrier is
14:57
considered to have been made whole includes the national day
15:01
of observance, such determination will be made by
15:04
counting back consecutive days from the last day of the
15:07
suspension or removal to determine if the employee had
15:10
been made whole for the national day of observance.
15:14
That was a lot to read #10 Where provisions in this Memorandum of
15:20
agreement provide for a day of administrative leave to be taken
15:23
at a future date, such leave must be granted and used within
15:27
six months of the national day of observance or by the end of
15:32
the fiscal year, whichever is later.
15:35
However, administrative leave will not be granted to employees
15:40
who are on extended leave for the entire period between the
15:44
day of observance and six months from that date or between the
15:48
day of observance and the end of the fiscal year, whichever is
15:52
later #11 Administrative leave taken at a future date must be
15:57
taken at one time 12. Administrative leave to be taken
16:02
at a future date may at the employees option, be substituted
16:06
for a previously scheduled but not used annual leave.
16:11
And 13 administrative leave to be taken at a future date should
16:15
be applied by using the same procedure which governs the
16:18
request and approval of the annual leave.
16:23
So make sure if you're one of those that falls under the
16:26
category of one for a future date, you have to fill out a
16:30
3971 and put down your administrative leave from
16:34
National Day of Observance. So that was the clarification on
16:40
how all that works. So I just wanted to put this out
16:45
there, the number 9 about being a wall suspension, non pay, non
16:51
duty status, that actually does apply also to carriers who are
16:54
on emergency placement because of the pods.
16:58
It applies to them as well. And as I said at the end, they
17:00
can determine whether you actually earn the National Day
17:04
of Observance at a later date or not, while you were on this
17:07
emergency placement after all things have been settled and put
17:10
away. Yep.
17:14
So make sure if you're one of those and you're working with
17:17
your steward, that your steward when they go to make you whole
17:21
does include the National Day of Observance administrative leave
17:25
in that settlement. But you know, and again, it,
17:29
that's just what we have for clarifications.
17:31
There may be a new updated MOU. We don't know until
17:36
announcements are officially made.
17:38
That is just a guideline that was put out there 24 years ago.
17:45
And depending on when they decide to have the national day
17:48
of observance and maybe before we re record our next episode.
17:52
So we wanted to put it out there before that happened.
17:55
I know because I, I mean, that was the big one this evening
17:58
about National Day observance. So we wanted to make sure we we
18:03
got at least you guys had an idea of how it works prior to
18:10
getting blindsided by it. And how it worked before the
18:13
next MOU comes out. Exactly.
18:17
And yet the PMG has a final word in actually granting it.
18:22
Yes. And of course, we know how MO
18:26
U's work in this current union. It'll be the joy to sign it.
18:36
Yeah, Oh. Boy, oh boy.
18:38
Well, this one was signed. This one was signed by the Vice
18:40
president of Labor relations at the post office.
18:44
So we'll see who actually does sign it.
18:48
Yeah, we'll see what happens. As tight as as tight as the belt
18:51
is at the post office, I wouldn't be surprised if you
18:54
don't get a a day of observance really.
18:59
Yeah. I mean, the last one we had was
19:00
December of 2018. So I mean, it'll be interesting
19:04
to see what happens here. So and I was still in RCA, so I
19:10
was, I didn't get anything out of that one other than a day
19:15
off. All right.
19:20
So we're kind of going to go ahead, James.
19:24
So 2024, it was a wild, wild ride for this podcast, a wild
19:31
ride for all three of us, you know, whirlwind through it all
19:35
really went by fast for us, I think overall.
19:38
It it did. There's definitely been some
19:40
highs, some lows. It's been all over the place
19:44
this year. I mean, I'm kind of going back
19:47
to, you know, Oh yeah, you know, January 1st was when we
19:53
published the first one for 2024.
19:57
And yeah, we kind of went completely.
20:02
I mean by February we did our first Q&A for the three of us
20:07
that ran for National this year and it just.
20:15
You know, we, we've gone through a lot.
20:17
It's been, it's been a, it's been an interesting year, that's
20:20
for sure. Yeah.
20:24
I mean, lots of midweek bonuses we put out too and.
20:31
We we really did. Exciting videos from the NRLCA.
20:37
Lots lots lots of entertainment on those episodes from the
20:41
NRLCA. My pitch counter lost count. 1/3
20:48
action in each video so. I'm, I, I kind of pulled up our
20:55
Spotify Wrapped because that's what we host on.
20:58
So I'm kind of going to go through this a little bit.
21:01
This is you took it to a whole new level this year and we
21:06
gained 40, 1% in streams, followers, we gained 41% in
21:15
streams, we gained 61% in followers this year.
21:20
I mean, that's just crazy guys. The word's been getting out
21:26
there. Yeah.
21:33
You know, while we've been here doing this, you know, growing
21:37
the audience and stuff like that, it's been a natural growth
21:42
overall. I know it really has been.
21:45
You know, we don't do advertising, we don't pay for
21:48
advertising, we don't make any money on it.
21:51
No. What?
21:53
Yeah, I still haven't seen. I still haven't seen my check,
21:55
Kristen. I'm retired.
21:58
I need the extra money. Come on. 59% of our listeners
22:04
discovered us this year. Yeah, yeah.
22:08
So we our our top episode this year was Sunday, Fun Day, Amazon
22:13
and more. It was streamed 154% more than
22:18
our average episode. Oh.
22:23
Yeah, I know. Isn't that crazy?
22:26
Yeah, now that we have video, we can we can start doing some
22:29
thong videos. Please no.
22:34
Please no. Well, you're just trying to get
22:37
the, you know, listenership up, right?
22:41
I think that might turn people off, though.
22:45
I'm Yeah, look, they're still. Going to the bathroom.
22:55
So, so other than our show, the people that also listen to us,
23:00
the other #1 podcasts that our listeners listen to for was The
23:04
Joe Rogan Experience #2 was from ADA Arbitration, our good friend
23:10
Corey Walton #3 Dateline, NBC, Crime junkie #4 or excuse me,
23:18
yeah, that was number 4 #5 was Morbid.
23:20
I'm I'm a Morbid listener, so I can get along with that.
23:26
Wow. Number one, you guys listen to
23:28
Country Out There, followed by pop and rap and I just sorry
23:34
guys, I'm a metal head. A lot of audio book geneers,
23:38
mystery and theatre, religion and spirituality.
23:41
Yes, some of us definitely need that enrollment.
23:45
You do realize that we are rural carriers that work in rural
23:48
areas, so most often rural people listen to country music
23:52
over anything else. Yeah, I know.
23:58
Hey. And they didn't just let 61% of
24:00
our audience watch the video on Spotify this year, which is
24:03
pretty good because we've only been doing this for a few
24:06
episodes. Yeah.
24:08
Once we finally figured out the way to get it done.
24:11
Thank you to our video editor. And we are the top.
24:16
We are in the top 10 show for 1.32000 fans, yeah.
24:27
You know, and considering considering that all of our
24:30
spread is completely organic that is excellent.
24:35
Yes, yes, we are in. We are in the top five for 1100
24:42
of our fans and we are the number one show for 582 fans.
24:53
So. Yeah, it is.
24:55
It's all organic. I mean, I get marketing emails
24:57
all the time about the podcast and why do I I most of the time
25:02
I just delete them, delete them. One I did because it's all about
25:06
oh, make more money and monetize and blah, blah, blah, have a
25:10
bigger reach. And one I finally replied to and
25:13
I said we're not doing that. Thank you.
25:16
Bye. And you have to think about
25:19
this, these marketing people, especially ones that use AI like
25:23
Facebook and stuff like that, that want you to pay for
25:26
advertising, don't even spread you to the people that would
25:29
actually be interested in the topics you're talking about.
25:33
They're going to spread you. To all the people that are on
25:36
their platform and most of them are just going to go not, not
25:40
for me. And you know, you got to think
25:44
about all the rural carriers that are out there.
25:46
You know you, me and y'all, everybody that's involved in all
25:49
of this and just rural carriers are our biggest focus on this
25:55
Yes, we have city carrier listeners yes, we have mail
25:57
handlers listening to us. We even have clerks, managers,
26:01
we. Have managed.
26:02
National Officer and. Management.
26:05
Yeah, Don't forget our national officers are listening to us
26:08
too. So, you know, we want that
26:12
organic, we want that organic spread because we want it to be
26:19
to the rural carriers because those are the people that are
26:22
going to benefit the most from the information that comes off
26:26
of here. There was a lot of information
26:28
over the last year. I know there's a lot of passion
26:32
towards the treatment of rural carriers, but that is an
26:36
everyday occurrence that occurs out here and we like to talk
26:40
about it because it is what we are experiencing out on the
26:44
street, what carriers from all over this country are dealing
26:48
with. I've talked with three different
26:50
carriers this week alone that have been denied leave with
26:57
relief carriers sitting at home. I've talked with carriers that
27:03
are being forced to be out past 12 hours and things like that.
27:08
That is why we get passionate about that stuff.
27:11
That is why this podcast is here is to shed a light on the issues
27:17
that rural carriers are facing on the street.
27:20
Because especially with management, you shine a light in
27:23
the dark room, the cockroaches start scattering.
27:30
Absolutely. You know, it's so funny.
27:35
It's because my local steward, right, you know, get to the
27:38
office and he'll ask me a question on something or, you
27:40
know, they're on social media, but they're not on social media.
27:44
They just flip through and read it and be like, so I seen this
27:48
something about this. Oh yeah, we covered that this
27:50
week on the podcast you did. They don't listen because they
27:53
got crappy service where they're at.
27:55
So it's just very difficult to do.
27:56
But like, Oh yeah, let me, let me tell you a little bit more
28:00
about what that was talking about.
28:02
You know, it's, I do I, I, I get that.
28:05
And, you know, I got another carry in my office.
28:07
Hey, did you see what was posted in your group?
28:09
Yeah, I saw it with what we talked about sending me
28:14
screenshots of postings from our, our, our Facebook group.
28:17
And I'm like, yeah, I'm well aware of it, but thank you.
28:20
Let me explain that a little bit more.
28:25
No, it has definitely been a whirlwind.
28:27
It, it was it, it kind of, I don't know.
28:33
It got pretty interesting and heated there for a little bit.
28:39
Just a mite, yeah. Yeah, a little off the rails.
28:44
So on that note, our plan for 2025 is we are definitely going
28:49
to reel it in quite a bit and bring it back down to the basics
28:56
and restart the educating. And I want because I I love Liz.
29:02
I listen to Abe arbitration every week as well.
29:05
Corey's on. I love the fact that he's got
29:08
that newer CCA that's been around for what, a year, year
29:11
and a half who is starting to do a CCA corner now on on
29:15
Wednesdays and put stuff up a little rough around the edges.
29:17
But I like where he's going with this.
29:20
I wanted to do something for our CAS in the past when I was still
29:23
in RCA when we first started and we kind of had started it a
29:26
little bit, but never really found through.
29:29
So I'm going to put my call out there right now to all the RCA's
29:33
that listen, let's do something RCA focus.
29:38
You don't necessarily have to come on here if you don't want
29:41
to. If you want to come on here and
29:43
remain anonymous, you can. That's fine.
29:45
If you just want to e-mail us at United, we scan
29:49
podcast@gmail.com. Your experiences, your tips,
29:53
What are some things that you wish you had been told when you
29:57
were first training or even further on?
30:00
Or what are the some things that for other Rcas out there,
30:04
especially some of our newer ones that can take away and make
30:09
themselves better. Let let's get let's focus on the
30:14
newer generation coming up within the post office because
30:17
we all know RC as are the two rat bone of the craft.
30:20
I mean, without the RC as we're not getting our leave, we're not
30:24
our routes aren't getting covered when we're sick and not
30:27
just RC as PTFS as well. Excuse me leave replacements in
30:30
general. Sorry about that never worked
30:34
formula office. So you know, but you know, let I
30:39
want to put that call out there, call out to action for our leave
30:42
replacements. Let's get you active.
30:45
I was from the very beginning an RCA that was active, local
30:49
meetings, local board, a local steward, you know, I state
30:55
convention delegates, national delegate, I attended my regional
31:00
conferences as an RCA. It's possible.
31:05
So let's get let's pull in our call of action for our Rcas and
31:12
our PTFS and let's see what we can do to help you guys out.
31:17
You know, it's not going to be something every week, maybe once
31:20
a month if we got some really good stuff that wants to come on
31:23
or somebody wants to speak and just do a one-on-one, I'm more
31:25
than happy to do a midweek with somebody to jump on here and
31:28
let's start talking. And I was an RCA for just under
31:33
nine years, so I can totally relate.
31:36
I've only been a regular for a year, so that RCA stuff is still
31:39
pretty fresh in my mind. But let's, let's start doing
31:43
that. Let's let's start going over
31:46
some of the basics that not a lot of people think about or
31:50
understand by reading or know where to look for that
31:54
information. You know, the PO6O3 or I got to
31:59
do all that in one day. Trust me, that would be a
32:02
series. Same with our our contract too.
32:07
You know, we need people to know the insurance and outs of our
32:12
contract that are pertinent to them.
32:15
The whole contract's pertinent to the royal craft, but the very
32:18
basic stuff out of the contract that you should know to protect
32:22
yourself from management. You know, just like the Elm is
32:27
like 1000 pages long but management loves to beat us over
32:30
the head with it as soon as they take us in for an investigative
32:33
interview or a pre disciplinary interview.
32:38
Yeah, here's 1. You know, all of our jobs should
32:40
be Carrier today's rule or career.
32:42
I think she was trying to say today's rule craft isn't the
32:45
rule craft of pre RX. No, no, it is not.
32:50
I mean, it's not the job that I started at, you know, 10 years
32:53
ago. And so let's, let's make it, you
32:57
know, we're going to be updating a few things to the, you know,
33:00
stuff that we may have covered in our earlier episodes that
33:02
definitely need to be updating. But we are really going to be
33:05
taking this back to the educational side and helping
33:11
everybody out. Because I know a lot of people
33:13
that listen why they're out on the route or they'll listen why
33:16
they're doing their workout or something of that nature
33:21
travelling to or from work, depending on how long their
33:24
commute is. So, you know, that's let's,
33:28
we're taking it back to the roots where it needed, where it
33:31
needs to be to keep going in the future.
33:35
Less political and a lot less hot headedness.
33:38
Of course, if we've got stuff that comes.
33:40
Up. Yeah, you know, Yeah.
33:45
Come on now. I.
33:48
Didn't say we were going to cut the passion now did I?
33:52
I said what was the hot headedness?
33:57
Oh well, then we can just cut. No, no, we'll have to cut.
34:02
Bill out all the way for the hot headedness here.
34:06
There's a difference between the hot headedness and and the
34:09
passion, OK, and the quick reactiveness on some things.
34:16
I think we need to sometimes take that.
34:20
It's not true. I'm not like that.
34:21
OK, just shut the fuck up. I'm sorry.
34:26
I feel a beep coming in the future of that one.
34:29
You better. Edit You got to do it with the
34:32
scanner beep. Oh, I have that recorded.
34:35
I can do that. Oh, you thought that would be
34:38
great. That would be great.
34:41
I just got to take it from my phone to the.
34:43
I actually went through and recorded all the scanner beeps.
34:45
One day ARC downloaded them. I'll have to find them, but no,
34:52
I, I really think we need to get back down to the educational
34:54
part. Just.
34:58
I think we should have that. I think also we're going to have
35:01
to still have the breaking news. We're still going to have to
35:04
have the passion. We're still going to have to
35:06
have a little bit of the political, especially like when
35:09
that MOU came out that people had to start paying back the
35:13
Postal Service for the right to work for them, things like that.
35:17
So we still have to stand up and protect the craft through the
35:22
political aspect of it. And I know I'm running for
35:27
office right now, but I think Bill would agree with me on
35:30
that, that the political aspect is still going to be a part of
35:33
it, because part of being in the union is being political with
35:39
the craft. Yes.
35:41
But I'm just kind of going by what things turned into last
35:45
year and trying to avoid where the issues were.
35:52
Yeah, we did do a lot of campaigning on the podcast last
35:56
year. Yes, I'm not against campaigning
35:59
to a point, OK? But that was also because all
36:04
all three of us were running for positions and all three of us
36:07
wanted to get our platform out there.
36:10
So I, and this year I've decided to mainly separate my platform
36:15
from the podcast by creating my own page and running my platform
36:20
from there. So that way we can keep most of
36:24
it off of this platform. Now, I guarantee you, you guys
36:28
are going to want some of it in here at some point, just like
36:31
all the other podcast groups that are reaching out to me to,
36:34
to come on because I'm running for president.
36:37
So we'll work on that too this coming year.
36:41
But I agree with you, it did get very, very one sided political
36:47
last year with the three of us all running.
36:50
But we still are going to focus on the carriers.
36:54
That is our ultimate focus is the craft because as I do say at
36:59
the end, we are all in this together and it's up to us here
37:03
as the presenters to present that united front of the craft.
37:08
You know, and we will do as time goes on and we get closer to
37:12
National Convention, you know, we will do specific campaign
37:18
only episodes. You know, we'll, we'll throw it,
37:21
we'll, we'll throw some dirt at James or anybody else that wants
37:25
to run and cut, that's running and wants to come on.
37:28
But we'll, we'll do the trial by fire.
37:30
Don't get me wrong, we will, but we're only going to, we're going
37:33
to try and keep those limited to just those episodes while still
37:38
trying to educate everybody else.
37:41
You know, something pops up. We'll still do a midweek when,
37:44
you know, if something big comes up or something's got somebody's
37:47
got a big announcement or, or something like that.
37:51
I mean, I'm not opposed to the midweek's.
37:53
If I, if I get a bunch of leave replacements that all kind of
37:56
want to do something in the middle of a week and come on,
37:59
you know, I'm more than happy to step up, do that if even if
38:02
nobody else is available. So you know, we're going to,
38:05
we're going to do this. We're we're going to like I
38:07
said, and I'll definitely bring it back to the education and
38:12
less of the bitching. And Speaking of education, let
38:18
me put a little personal peeve out there, if I may.
38:23
I really am at my wit's end with people who say why should I know
38:28
the contract? Isn't that what the stewards are
38:30
for? Well, if you don't know the
38:33
contract, how do you know if you're being violated by
38:37
management, by their rules, by working more than 12 hours a
38:42
day? If you're in RCA, if you're
38:44
being, you know, you know, delegated to pick up extra
38:48
pieces when you're a regular and the MO set you says, you know,
38:52
you must volunteer if they can't volunteer you.
38:56
But the thing of it is that you do need to have basic knowledge
39:00
of the contract to know when your rights are being violated.
39:05
So don't put it on the stewards. The stewards can't do anything
39:08
until you initiate the action, and the only way you can
39:11
initiate the action is if you are knowledgeable.
39:15
Knowledgeable carrier is a dangerous carrier.
39:19
Incidents. It's the bane of management.
39:25
Management hates knowledgeable carriers and so when they first
39:28
start filing on them and fighting against them with the
39:32
truth, they start retaliating. But guess what?
39:35
Then you start burying them in more paperwork and eventually
39:39
after a while, management gets sick of having to sit in on all
39:42
these meetings and getting calls from their district manager.
39:45
And why do we have such high gas payouts in this office?
39:49
This office used to not have any gas payments.
39:51
What are you doing wrong? Things like that, they won't
39:54
remove the manager, but they'll just try and figure out a way to
39:58
say, hey, you're going to lose your bonus if you don't stop
40:01
these gas payments. I I had a.
40:06
Laugh at a listener comment in the chat here.
40:10
You know you're being violated by management if they come up
40:13
behind you and put their hands on both your shoulders.
40:17
Yes, that would definitely constitute a hostile.
40:23
That would that in my that in my eyes, would constitute sexual
40:27
harassment if they're touching me in any way, shape or form,
40:31
whether it's even just a pat on the shoulder to try and have a
40:33
discussion with me about something I did wrong.
40:36
You don't. Violated my personal space.
40:41
Physical violation regardless. Yes.
40:46
So, yeah, so 2025, you know, definitely going to start the
40:49
planning now that peak season is over with.
40:52
Thank goodness I was one of those that did not want to get
40:56
up on Wednesday at all. Like, I have no energy.
40:59
I have to cook dinner. I have to do this.
41:02
I did not want to do it. I took a nap in the middle of
41:05
the day. So now we got that set up.
41:08
I can definitely start some time to sit down.
41:11
The computer put a slideshow together for edit books.
41:14
I know that's a big one that we wanted to cover is edit books
41:18
and I would really like to do a slideshow presentation for that
41:22
as much as possible. Yes.
41:26
So we will definitely have plans.
41:29
We'll have things in the works and hopefully we'll we'll know
41:34
what we're doing the following week and let you know at the end
41:36
of the episode. Also, if you are in our Discord,
41:41
we do have a new channel up there for our listeners,
41:45
specifically for you guys that is podcast improvement ideas.
41:50
So if you are in our discord and you have any ideas on how we can
41:55
make this better for you the listener, please don't hesitate
41:59
to put your ideas in there because they are read by all of
42:02
us. We comment on them and we
42:05
definitely are taking note on that.
42:08
So that is that came up with an when did I open up that Channel?
42:13
Two days before Christmas. So actually now it's only been a
42:18
week. So yeah, it's.
42:22
You're already getting suggestions in there right now
42:24
as we speak. And Oh yeah, I'm going to tell
42:27
you this also, it is a place where you can also give us
42:31
episode suggestions. So if you have something you
42:34
think we should talk about, you can put it in there.
42:37
And if you're not on our Discord server, why not come join us,
42:42
come chat with us. And I do know some people have
42:45
technical difficulties with it, but if you're not on it and you
42:50
need help getting on there, we have our podcast group where you
42:55
can actually talk with individuals that are on the
42:58
Discord server and get help. Yep, we have the Facebook group.
43:04
We got the Facebook page. You can message us.
43:06
You can e-mail us. You know all that good stuff.
43:09
I will be updating the merchandise store here shortly.
43:16
I haven't done anything with that.
43:17
We haven't had any orders in a few months anyways.
43:21
Any of the proceeds that go that we literally make very little on
43:25
any of that. I tried to keep the cost down
43:27
and very little money that goes to us.
43:29
Anything that comes in as profit wise.
43:31
And I can tell you guys year to date since I opened that up has
43:34
been less than $200 total that we have made off of all the
43:38
orders. All that goes into production
43:41
costs, whether that's subscriptions to our editing
43:45
stuff or traveling for when we had the campaign shirts up there
43:54
that all went towards their campaign.
43:57
All those lovely buttons that my daughter made, why she was home
44:01
pregnant were all all those proceeds went towards that type
44:06
of stuff. Nothing of that goes in our
44:08
pockets, just so you guys know, but I'll be updating the merch
44:11
store and updating the links on that soon too.
44:13
So if anybody wants AT shirt or a hoodie or something like that,
44:18
definitely if you want a key chain or a button or a magnet,
44:22
e-mail us and I do have those available.
44:26
I won't charge you guys for that other than shipping so.
44:32
Yeah, like somebody said in the chat, entertainment isn't free.
44:36
Information isn't free, involvement isn't free.
44:39
You know, when you're out there perusing the Internet or you're
44:42
on Facebook or you're on even Discord here, you're if you're
44:46
not paying for it, you're not the customer, you're the
44:50
product. And like Facebook, you're the
44:54
product. All those ads you see on
44:55
Facebook, they're the customer. You're the product that's seeing
44:59
those advertisements. They're selling to you.
45:03
You're selling your visit. Visit to Facebook to these
45:06
companies. Yeah.
45:08
And that's why we don't run ads on our on our episodes because
45:14
that monetizes us and I don't want that.
45:16
We're not monetized. We don't do ads.
45:19
We don't run ads. No, none of that.
45:24
And I wouldn't, I wouldn't take a payment for doing this either
45:27
personally, because because I believe that it is just for the
45:33
people. You know, we are here to help.
45:36
We're not here to make money off of people.
45:39
We're not here to collect a paycheck.
45:43
If we wanted to do that, we'd work.
45:46
We have jobs, we work for the post office.
45:48
We make our money delivering the mail and supporting the craft,
45:53
and fighting for the craft is our passion.
45:56
Only reason we're here. So yeah, we have no plans to
46:00
monetize, no plans to put ads on.
46:03
And when I update the merchandise store, that's just
46:06
for people that wants, you know, like AT shirt or hoodie or
46:09
something like that. I keep it as low as I possibly
46:13
can go. I mean literally like two or
46:15
three bucks gets sent to us out of the price that you pay that
46:20
literally and then it sits in the PayPal account until a
46:23
subscription is due to operate, you know, for production wise.
46:28
That's it. I know people in the past have
46:30
asked about my if we were monetized and I'm just going to
46:34
iterate that no, we are not monetized.
46:36
No plans to be monetized. So you can enjoy listening to us
46:40
ad free unless the platform is automatically putting those in
46:45
that we're unaware of. So.
46:47
YouTube. Yeah, usually.
46:51
Usually you get 2 ads at the beginning, 2 ads in the middle
46:54
and two ads at the end. Yeah, so and that's not us,
46:58
that's like I said, the platform them.
47:00
Google making money. Google making money off of you
47:03
as the product. Yeah, pretty much so.
47:06
Unless you have YouTube premium. Yeah, and I'm not paying for
47:10
updating our YouTube stuff to. No, not doing it.
47:14
No. I try not to put out is.
47:18
Little no YouTube premium YouTube premium is for the
47:20
people listening to us and if they pay for YouTube premium so
47:23
they can listen to YouTube Music without leaving their phone
47:26
unlocked and open, then they don't have commercials and they
47:31
can lock their phone and still listen to their music.
47:33
But so coming up 2025, you guys expecting this to be a great
47:42
year? Well, I think the still the
47:45
biggest question on all of the rural carriers minds are if we
47:51
are going to have ATA this next year and we don't know, we have
47:58
no answer for that. Or remember, the rumor going
48:02
around at National this year was that it was 99% complete.
48:06
AKA my standings on Tommy Turner.
48:10
So from the horse's mouth to God's ears, 99% means it's
48:18
almost done. So what's that 1% holding it up?
48:23
The city carrier contract. Oh, I'm sorry, I thought it had
48:27
something to do with us. And for those that don't know,
48:31
city carrier TA ballots are supposed to be on by January
48:35
13th, so I imagine by some time of middle February we may find
48:42
out whether or not they voted theirs in or not and what the
48:47
following steps will be. So I imagine we probably won't
48:50
hear anything until I don't know when.
48:56
No answers guys, we don't know. And gathering different
49:02
platforms out there, there is a huge rate of rejection for this
49:07
tentative agreement. At least according to social
49:10
media. Now, you got to remember there
49:12
are a lot of city carriers that are not on social media and
49:15
there are a lot of carriers out there that have gone to their
49:19
local meetings where their local board has turned around and said
49:22
you need to vote yes on this. Look at the size of the back
49:26
paycheck you're going to get for this.
49:28
Like no, I'll just wait six months and start a new contract
49:30
negotiation while still running on the old one, get the new one
49:35
and have the back pay for the new contract on top of the old
49:37
one. And if you've noticed, any of
49:40
the support for this tentative agreement have been coming from
49:44
the old heads. People who aren't affected by
49:49
it. Correct.
49:52
But there are some younger carriers out there who don't
49:55
know any better who are saying they're going to vote for it
49:57
just because they're desperate for the money.
50:00
There are people that are living out of their cars as mail
50:04
carriers because they can't afford housing anymore because
50:08
they aren't making enough money. And those are the ones that I
50:12
feel the worst for. They don't have a have a house
50:15
to live in. They don't have enough money for
50:19
food by the end of the second week, they don't have enough
50:22
money for basic necessities. And yet they're touting a great
50:28
contract with this 1.3%. The interesting thing is, is I
50:33
went back and I looked at our previous contract negotiations
50:36
and the raises that we got in them, and one of the biggest
50:41
raises we got since the 1970s was 2.6% and the lowest one was
50:48
1.1%. So the only way that we can
50:54
actually survive as an organization here is if we had 3
51:02
1/2 to 4% increases each year on this contract.
51:08
That's the minimum. Not a total for the entire term
51:11
of the contract, but. Every year, yes, every year
51:18
because yes. And the minimal contract
51:21
increase should cover the rate of inflation that we've had in
51:27
society. Yes, cost of living adjustments
51:30
supposed to cover that. But these raise increases should
51:33
be covering the cost of living that we've had over the last
51:37
contract that the cost of living adjustments did not make up for.
51:47
And just remember that if you are Table 2, colas are prorated.
51:57
And cost of living should not be prorated because because the
52:01
cost of living doesn't change whether you're a table one step
52:05
one or table one step 12 or Table 2 step one.
52:09
The cost of living for you is exactly the same whether you're
52:12
one or the other. It doesn't matter.
52:15
So they should all be 100% across the board.
52:18
This prorated BS is for the birds.
52:23
It just increases the gap between old heads and new
52:29
carriers. And on top of that, if you
52:31
recall, I looked up the definition of a scab, and one of
52:34
the definitions of a scab is a person working the same job for
52:39
less pay. So I think Madison should put
52:43
that in his repertoire that, you know, when he calls somebody a
52:46
scab, he needs to think about that table.
52:48
Two people are considered scabs according to one of the multiple
52:52
definitions of the term scab. And there's a reason why.
52:58
We're all in this together, remember?
52:59
He said that. No.
53:02
And you got to realize that's a reason why anytime this MOU is
53:06
renewed for regular carriers to volunteer to assist or Sundays,
53:15
and you always get the, well, the ones that we've talked to,
53:17
the ones that have called the office, they want this.
53:19
They want this. Well, yeah, they want it because
53:22
they need it to afford to live. I mean that that's exactly what
53:30
that is. And it's not necessarily that
53:35
they want it, it's because they need it and that's the issue.
53:41
Well, somebody's got to remind them not everybody's making
53:43
$190,000 a year, Don. Yeah.
53:47
And, and I want to know, I want to know who these carriers are
53:51
that are getting through to him on the phone.
53:53
Because every time I've called national, the only thing I get
53:56
is voicemail. Unless I send a text message to
53:59
somebody when I call the actual national office, I cannot get
54:03
through to anybody. And that's even when they are in
54:07
the office, not like when they're taking the two days
54:10
before Christmas all the way through, just after till the
54:13
second week of January, after New Year's.
54:17
Yeah. Off.
54:20
Yeah, they'll be all over the phones tomorrow.
54:23
Well, I do. I do get into the secretary at
54:28
the main line, but then they forward me off to each person at
54:32
the apartment and absolutely nobody answers the phone.
54:35
Yeah, you get to leave a voicemail for your assistance.
54:39
Yeah, and I'm still waiting on my call back from Tommy Turner.
54:44
Hence the reason I brought that up.
54:49
E-mail them with a red receipt. So yeah, 2025 can be an
54:57
interesting year. We'll wait and see what happens.
54:59
I mean, who knows how many midweek bonuses we may end up
55:04
with? We don't know.
55:06
Those tend to be kind of fun. We'll, we'll keep the heated,
55:09
heated debate for those midweek bonuses.
55:12
How's that, James? That's, I mean, you're going to
55:17
have a midweek Sunday, you know, it doesn't matter, you know,
55:21
because you do know that the national office usually releases
55:24
important things at 4:00 PM on a Friday night.
55:28
So that way they're out of the office before anybody can call
55:30
them about it. I mean, you haven't noticed
55:34
that, have you? I don't think I've paid that
55:40
much more attention, you know? There are some things that they
55:44
released in the middle of the week or the beginning of the
55:46
week, but those things are controversial.
55:49
But if you go back and you look, you know, you look at when.
55:53
Yes, yes. But I know what you're talking
55:56
about. I'm expecting we're going to get
55:58
a January update from our president on the contract
56:04
negotiations and how they're still negotiating.
56:08
And they'll be giving us an update as soon as they figure
56:10
out exactly what they're negotiating.
56:13
You know, February, we'll get the same video of they're
56:16
negotiating and they'll let us know exactly what they're
56:18
negotiating. And as soon as they have
56:20
information on what they're negotiating, after the city
56:24
carriers decide to reject their their national agreement March,
56:30
we'll get, we're still negotiating and we'll let you
56:33
know what we're negotiating when we can let you know what we're
56:36
negotiating. And then city carriers will have
56:39
to decide. They'll have to decide whether
56:43
they're going to negotiate for two weeks or if they're just
56:46
going to go straight to arbitration.
56:47
And then we have to wait two or three months for the arbitration
56:50
to be resolved with the city carriers before finally they'll
56:54
be bringing us a tentative agreement.
56:56
Hopefully that will mirror the arbitration that the city craft
57:00
wins. You know, it scares me.
57:03
I understood that. Yeah, we're, we're looking,
57:06
we're looking at coming together on a lot of issues.
57:10
I am working on a PowerPoint for resolutions for National
57:14
Convention. I've almost got that completed.
57:17
I have to have it ready for my local meeting in January.
57:23
So I'll have that put together and we can do a video on that as
57:28
well. Kristen, if you want.
57:30
You know, we we've got a big year ahead of us and the biggest
57:35
thing that we want to focus on is you.
57:39
So this this episode is going to be on our podcast group page.
57:44
So if you have suggestions, comment below it.
57:48
Let us know on there as well because that's another Ave.
57:51
To let us know what what you want to hear from us.
57:55
Because just as much as it's our presentation and us three
57:59
friends getting together to discuss this stuff, it's also
58:03
about you and your participation in it.
58:06
Absolutely. All right, we can't do this
58:08
without without you guys. Your your input is a very
58:14
important tool. So on that note, guys, we want
58:16
to wind it down for tonight. Sure.
58:21
Yes, I want to celebrate the Eagles victory over the Cowboys.
58:25
Oh please, that wasn't a victory.
58:28
Oh let me tell you, the 1st 10 minutes of that game was scary.
58:33
How you were playing, how you were playing the Cowboys.
58:37
Yeah, but they marched right down the field.
58:39
If it wasn't for an interception return, you know we wouldn't
58:42
have had any points in the first quarter.
58:45
Oh, Fender Bender boy. Wash your mouth out.
58:49
Jesus. Oh God.
58:52
I mean, you were, you were playing the Cowboys.
58:55
I guess you guys just we're a little bit too celebratory the
58:59
night before or something when you were playing the Cowboys
59:01
because there is no way you guys could have lost that game
59:04
against the Cowboys. No, unless the plane crashed and
59:08
we and we was at home though we had to crash the whole damn.
59:11
Stadium. All right, You.
59:16
You. You got to realize we ended up
59:18
playing our third string quarterback and he even.
59:22
Scored two. Dutch 10 against the Cowboys.
59:25
So. So they were letting him get
59:26
some practice in. Yes and yes.
59:29
The Cowboys will be back next year, and they'll still suck.
59:33
And I'm actually surprised they didn't put the fourth string
59:36
quarterback in for a little bit of practice.
59:39
They would have, but he was. He was the mascot.
59:41
So you. Know he.
59:46
He was the. Beer still in the 4th aisle
59:48
there. Colbert here.
59:52
That's kind of like the emergency goalie in hockey.
59:55
I've done that all. Right.
59:59
Well, football clock there, because you know, it's not an
1:00:02
episode without the football this time of year.
1:00:08
Oh, let's talk about the Lions. Yeah, go Lions.
1:00:13
See, there we go. There we go.
1:00:14
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm at the Vikings.
1:00:18
The Vikings are tied with them right now.
1:00:20
I mean, they're they're a game ahead because the Lions don't
1:00:23
play until tomorrow night, which after this episode is aired,
1:00:27
it'll be the day of or have passed.
1:00:30
But if the Lions win tomorrow, they will be tied going into the
1:00:35
game against them. So whoever wins that will be the
1:00:41
NFC champion, the NFC North champion.
1:00:45
So it's going to be interesting to see we're not putting that on
1:00:50
the air, but. I can't.
1:00:53
I wanted, I wanted to. I wanted to read it.
1:00:57
I can't. I'm reading it.
1:00:58
If the Lions and Eagles meet in the playoffs, James and Bill
1:01:02
should have a gentleman's bet involving pink thongs.
1:01:06
I'll do it. I, I, I, I would.
1:01:11
Then I I would design A pink thong with the lions logo and
1:01:15
one for the eagles logo for for for both of the gentlemen.
1:01:23
Poor Gina is new to new to our discussions here.
1:01:27
Doesn't know anything about the ping pong.
1:01:29
We'll tell you about it in the In the Post show.
1:01:32
So if you're not on our Discord, you you can't be part of the
1:01:35
post show conversation. So now this is your hint that
1:01:39
hey, there may be something interesting in our pre and post
1:01:41
show that you should join our Discord server #shameless Blood.
1:01:46
And and and where's my where's my my picture with me and my big
1:01:49
tongue? I'm on table too.
1:01:51
I can't afford them. Shut up.
1:01:53
You just spent $700.00 on a new system, OK.
1:01:56
That was so I could present here with you guys.
1:01:59
Oh OK, I mean you know, I I get my thong for $1.39.
1:02:05
Is that I don't, I don't. I don't chop Timo or Timo or
1:02:10
whatever it's pronounced. Did you purchase the hot pink
1:02:12
yarn and have somebody knit it for you?
1:02:15
Is that what you're doing for $1.39?
1:02:19
No, I, I just go to the and go diving, that's all.
1:02:22
Oh. Lord, oh, they're not $1.39 at
1:02:25
Goodwill anymore because because of all the people of Facebook
1:02:28
Marketplace, they've raised the price.
1:02:30
Now it's $25. Oh Dang.
1:02:35
Hey, I'll be wearing this Saturday right there.
1:02:39
There. There we go.
1:02:40
Now that's too much material. Sorry, sorry.
1:02:44
FC. Is that?
1:02:46
OK guys, all right, let let's find this out and we can start
1:02:49
the post show. This should have all.
1:02:52
Been post show. You got a This has all been post
1:02:55
show. This is the post show preview,
1:02:59
so you guys want to really jump in?
1:03:02
Yeah, yeah, you'll have to come to the Discord.
1:03:05
So anyways, all right, all right, your final words for this
1:03:14
evening, James. Wow, wow.
1:03:21
So 2025's coming up. The most important aspect of
1:03:27
2025 is going to be how this craft responds to being abused,
1:03:36
not just by management but by the MO use that have come out,
1:03:40
by the treatment of management using those MO use, losing money
1:03:45
left and right. It is time for us as a craft to
1:03:49
stand up together now. I started my page, James Brennan
1:03:54
for NRLCA President, with the goal of spreading my message,
1:03:59
but the goal of that is to get everybody together.
1:04:05
It's time for this union to become one voice, one set of
1:04:11
people with one mission, and that is for the betterment of
1:04:16
the rural carrier craft so that not only the regular carriers
1:04:20
can reach retirement, but the new RCA and the RCA that are
1:04:25
hired after them. Because without a strong union,
1:04:31
without strong representation, this craft won't last long.
1:04:40
We need to stand up and show management.
1:04:44
We're all in this together. Bill.
1:04:47
James is right. We have to unify craft and
1:04:51
that's RCA, that's carriers. The difficult part of it is that
1:04:56
there's so many people out there looking out for themselves and,
1:04:59
and not for the, the general welfare of the craft.
1:05:05
I've seen situations where people have turned on each
1:05:08
other. I have seen situations that, you
1:05:10
know, especially my office where we stand up for each other.
1:05:14
And there's, there's times in my office where we've had carrier
1:05:18
on carrier hate and somebody like myself steps out and says,
1:05:22
Hey, let's, let's knock, knock that down a notch or two.
1:05:26
You don't have something nice to say, you know, don't say it at
1:05:29
all because of the fact that, you know, you don't need the
1:05:33
tension on the floor. We have enough tension being in
1:05:36
an SDC with, with, you know, micromanagers coming around
1:05:41
every day, you know, giving you different sets of instructions.
1:05:45
Got to bring the craft together. I and, and just like being a
1:05:48
steward, you may not like the person, but you have the
1:05:50
responsibility to represent them and represent them equally as
1:05:56
you would a friend. So in that light, please treat
1:06:02
each other respectfully, Help each other if you can help,
1:06:05
help. The RCA's, they're the ones that
1:06:08
are struggling the most because of the fact that they're being
1:06:10
treated like slave labor, for lack of a better word.
1:06:15
And, you know, they're often, a lot of them, you know, are in
1:06:18
their 90 days. They're afraid to say something.
1:06:21
That's one of the hardest stigmas to ever overcome.
1:06:23
It's well, I'm in my 90 days. They can fire me.
1:06:25
They can fire me. They're so afraid of losing
1:06:27
their jobs that they'll do whatever they're told, and
1:06:31
that's wrong. It's life.
1:06:33
That's the way it is in the post office.
1:06:35
Earn the contract, learn six O 3, learn the M38, learn Rex,
1:06:39
learn RCAM, earn the you know, keep learning.
1:06:45
The more you know, the more dangerous you are to management,
1:06:50
the more people on the floor will come to respect you.
1:06:53
I had plenty of people my office didn't like me, and it's versus
1:06:58
I didn't like them, but they respected my knowledge and the
1:07:02
authority that I asserted over management and they stepped out
1:07:06
of bounds. So, you know, try to build
1:07:10
people up instead of tearing them down.
1:07:13
Yeah, this, this life's too short to be going through life
1:07:16
like that all the time. Angry at someone or something,
1:07:20
My little kindness. Try a little understanding.
1:07:22
Try looking from another person's perspective because you
1:07:25
don't know what's going on in their personal life.
1:07:28
You don't know what they're being burdened with as far as a
1:07:31
sick relative, you know, spouse, child.
1:07:36
So I have a little empathy. But most of all, stand up for
1:07:40
each other. And when you're out there, here
1:07:43
we are in the winter months, it's dark, it's stormy.
1:07:47
Be careful. Do your job diligently,
1:07:50
professionally, best of your ability, get your ass homes safe
1:07:55
and sound because you are the most important delivery of the
1:07:59
day and you cannot be replaced at home at at the job.
1:08:04
Yes, at home you're irreplaceable.
1:08:07
God bless you all. Good night, Kristen.
1:08:11
Thank you, guys. Yeah, definitely.
1:08:13
You know, as we're looking on to a new year fast approaching us
1:08:16
this week, and I am, I'm looking forward to bringing things back
1:08:22
down to the basics and getting back on the education train.
1:08:27
So definitely looking for that input from from you, the
1:08:30
listener, whether it's e-mail, Facebook group, discord, however
1:08:35
you feel, private message, whatever works for you guys.
1:08:40
You guys got it. You got input, You have ideas,
1:08:43
Please reach out to any one of us.
1:08:46
Or like I said, you could e-mail us.
1:08:49
You can message the Facebook page, message us individually.
1:08:54
However, wish it works for you the best.
1:08:57
Excuse me there a minute. But yeah, definitely.
1:09:00
I'm looking forward to this new year and to see where things go,
1:09:05
you know, be there for your coworkers, educate yourself.
1:09:09
I mean, I, we can't stress that enough.
1:09:11
I mean, we've been doing that from the very beginning and
1:09:14
stressing on educating yourself. You don't know if you're
1:09:17
aggrieved if you don't know your own contract or your own rights
1:09:22
and responsibilities. I mean, if you don't know those
1:09:24
and educate yourself on those, you're you don't know when
1:09:28
you're being aggrieved and you're just becoming a yes man
1:09:30
to management. Don't you know?
1:09:33
It's same with the Rex. I mean, we're we're in what, two
1:09:37
years under this now? A year ago Yeah, going on two
1:09:41
years into this being active and there's still a lot of people
1:09:44
that don't understand it. Our our management failed in
1:09:48
training we're not going to rehash that one again, but you
1:09:52
know, that will definitely be another thing that we we try to
1:09:54
cover hopefully early on into this year is RX and the scans
1:09:59
and what things mean and how. I mean there's a 99 page
1:10:05
comprehensive guide on the NRLC website.
1:10:09
I highly suggest you get in there and download it.
1:10:12
It, it is a lot of technical terms, but there is important
1:10:16
information in there. And yeah, I see a lot of these
1:10:19
carriers whose routes, you know, this is literally where your
1:10:24
route evaluation is on you. I mean it, a lot of it is and
1:10:30
not necessarily, you know, there are some things that we have no
1:10:33
control over, but 7590 to 90% of it is on the carrier themselves.
1:10:40
And those scans that they input in daily, whether it's a trip to
1:10:44
a door or an authorized dismount, an unscanned parcel
1:10:48
and a lot of those things that management tries to benchmark
1:10:50
which they can't. The same with end of shift
1:10:52
duties and mapping. I mean offices I know that still
1:10:56
haven't mapped in going on a year and grievances filed and
1:11:01
grievances filed and grievances filed and they still can't get
1:11:04
it taken care of. I mean, this is the stuff that
1:11:08
needs to be tackled and the only people that can tackle it is you
1:11:11
guys, the carriers on the floor and standing up for yourselves
1:11:14
and standing up for each other and helping educate other
1:11:18
carriers. And I get it.
1:11:19
You have carriers that have been around for a long time that are
1:11:24
set in their ways or set in the old school ways and they don't
1:11:28
handle change well. Or we have our CAS who just
1:11:32
think, whatever, I'm just the sub.
1:11:34
I'm running this route and this route and part of this route
1:11:37
today and I just don't have, I don't care.
1:11:40
We need to get it in their heads on these leave replacements that
1:11:44
that's their paycheck too. You know, you have some of these
1:11:48
offices where RC's are not working 40 hours.
1:11:51
That's their paycheck when they're being paid by
1:11:53
evaluation. What's that?
1:11:55
That's something that they need to know if you know they're
1:11:57
looking at going to being a regular carrier and maintaining
1:12:00
a route and keeping that route where it should be evaluated
1:12:05
somewhat fairly is knowing how to do these things properly.
1:12:09
It's not just because you're you're a leave replacement.
1:12:11
It's because you know eventually you are going to be a regular
1:12:14
and what's going to happen if you get put on a route that is
1:12:18
way under evaluated because the old carrier just didn't care
1:12:24
because they knew they were retiring.
1:12:26
This is where you know, knowing the knowledge and knowing how to
1:12:31
apply it in the in, in those right, right times to apply it
1:12:36
and training those new ones as they're coming in and how to do
1:12:39
things properly and what they're doing.
1:12:41
I mean, that's what we need to do.
1:12:43
That's part of the message that we have here.
1:12:46
But it's really each and every single one of you in the offices
1:12:50
putting that work into with each other, not just yourself, but
1:12:54
helping your coworkers as much as you can.
1:12:58
I know there's resistance out there, but it's not being you're
1:13:04
going to get it. I mean, it's like that old scene
1:13:06
leave. You know, you can lead a horse
1:13:07
to water but can't always make it drink.
1:13:10
We know that. I mean, I've got people in my
1:13:11
office like that too. I understand it is hard, but you
1:13:15
just have to remember we're all in this together.
1:13:17
We all need to stand up together.
1:13:19
We need to stand up for ourselves.
1:13:21
We need to stand up for our case mate, for our Rcas, for our
1:13:24
PTFS, for that person that's on the verge of retiring you.
1:13:30
It's just something being active, being involved, whether
1:13:33
it's just going to your local meetings, whether it's just
1:13:35
sending in your ballot for a national delegate or it's a
1:13:41
contract ratification ballot. Some of those simplest things
1:13:44
could have big influences and big changes.
1:13:49
I mean, when you only have 12 to 20% actually returning a ballot,
1:13:54
I mean, that's my new numbers that are making decisions for
1:13:58
the entire craft. So that's where you need to step
1:14:01
up. Hey guys, ratification ballots
1:14:03
coming. Hey guys, you know, national
1:14:05
delegate ballots coming. I'm on that list.
1:14:07
Please vote for me. Even if you're the even if I'm
1:14:10
the only name that you, you'd fill in the circle for and send
1:14:13
it back. At least that's something doing
1:14:17
even from that perspective or you know, people, I don't know
1:14:20
any of these people. And if you happen to know some
1:14:22
of those people in the office and say, OK, yes, I know who
1:14:25
this person is and this was this with that, you know, it's I'm
1:14:29
rambling. I'm sorry.
1:14:30
So anyways, guys, 2025, I'm hoping to be a quite a bit more
1:14:34
positive year for us and we definitely can't do that without
1:14:38
you, the listeners. I want everybody to stay safe
1:14:41
this year. Stay safe this week.
1:14:43
You know, weather, mine's been all over the place.
1:14:45
It got warm into the 40s rain. It's supposed to get cold again
1:14:49
tomorrow night. Be safe out there on the ice,
1:14:53
the snow, the rain. I've seen an LLV or an FFV,
1:14:57
whatever it was that got flipped by a tornado in Texas on the
1:15:00
social webs this week. I mean, definitely stay safe.
1:15:03
Watch out for one another out there.
1:15:05
And it most importantly, everybody have a very safe New
1:15:09
Year's Eve. I can't, I don't want to stress
1:15:11
enough. I don't want to hear about
1:15:13
people going out and unfortunately we losing them New
1:15:16
Year's Eve because they didn't call for a ride share or a lot
1:15:22
of areas offer free transportation.
1:15:25
If you're going out for New Year's, definitely look into
1:15:27
that. Take it as a native driver, you
1:15:29
know, stay safe at home, whatever it takes.
1:15:33
But we will definitely see you back into the new year.
1:15:36
We won't have Bill with us next Sunday is he'll be down in the
1:15:38
Dominican Republic. I am jealous because I haven't
1:15:42
been there in three years and I really love the Dominican
1:15:45
Republic. But Bill, enjoy.
1:15:47
We will miss you next week. If anybody wants to hop up and
1:15:50
join us next week as a special guest, let us know you can do
1:15:53
that too. We will definitely weed it out
1:15:56
beforehand and vet you in. But on that note, I'm going to
1:16:00
stop rambling now and we will be back next week.
1:16:05
Happy New Year's, everybody, we look forward to a prosperous
1:16:09
2025. I'm sorry, would you like?
1:16:24
Me to lick my lips a few times for you, Bill.
1:16:29
Don't tease me, James.