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News, Views and RRO · United We Scan

• 0:14
  Welcome to the United We Scan Podcast, the podcast by rural
• 0:18
  carriers for rural carriers. The views expressed in this
• 0:22
  podcast are of the presenters and the presenters only and do
• 0:25
  not represent the views, opinions, or strategies of the
• 0:28
  United States Postal Service or the National Rural Letter
• 0:30
  Carriers Association. We ask that you please consult
• 0:33
  your assigned union representative for guidance in
• 0:35
  your local area. Please like this podcast, share
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  with your fellow rural carriers, and subscribe to be notified
• 0:41
  each time a new episode is uploaded.
• 0:44
  Also, please leave a comment or question for us below.
• 0:48
  Thank you. Now here are the hosts of the
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  United We Scan podcast. Welcome back, everybody.
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  Episode 82. So we're kind of going to go
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  over some news, some views, and that pesky rural route
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  optimization that we've all been hearing about.
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  What could really go wrong? You never know.
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  Hey, how was your week, James? Oh it was a normal, pretty
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  normal week, although Tuesday my bell curve for my packages went
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  way down 'cause I only had 37 scans.
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  Rest of the week I was over 100 so I averaged about 70 for the
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  week with that bell curve, but Monday was heavy.
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  Had a political flyer in the DPS which helped a little bit.
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  Tuesday I had the Valpaks in there that helped with
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  organizing that, but the rest of the week it was normal mail
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  volumes of course. Finally got the information on
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  the RRO and then my charging cable for my laptop broke my cat
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  knocked it off my bed and it bent to hell and broke the
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  little tip off the part that sticks in the laptop.
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  So I had to order a new one on Amazon.
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  Got it one day shipping and Amazon delivered it.
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  Of course the box was small enough to fit in the mailbox, so
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  that explains why Amazon delivered it, but otherwise it
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  would have probably been through the Postal Service if it
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  wouldn't have fit in the mailbox.
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  But then got to this weekend, Saturday.
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  I read the entire real Route optimization PowerPoint slides
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  that were on the Union website as well as all the other
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  information on there so that way we could talk about it on on
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  this episode. But then today mowed the lawn
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  about an hour later, had a huge downpour that I had to leave
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  after it rained to go pick up some things and went a half a
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  mile down the road and went from completely soaked pavement to
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  completely dry pavement. It was one of those spotty like
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  Florida showers. So but ready to get this next
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  week started ready to get headed to National Convention.
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  I'm organizing everything for that now.
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  So other than that, how was your week Toasty?
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  That week was pretty good. Couldn't complain.
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  It started to get a little cloudy around here.
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  We got a little bit of rain off of Barrel, Hurricane Barrel, so
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  it helped helped with my lawn a little bit.
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  It kept it under 100 this week thankfully and it allowed for a
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  nice little breeze to help cool off when I was out at my CB US.
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  Other than that, I got my route inspection done on Friday.
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  Went as normal as possible and my vehicle still hasn't been
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  fixed for the backup camera so still waiting on that.
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  My package pick up for my business finally did another
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  drop for their clothing line. So they kind of killed us this
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  week with one day was 350, another day was 250, Friday was
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  450 packages sent out. So dealt with that, got them all
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  their bags back. And then other than that, it's
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  been a smooth week. Not too bad.
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  They shoot moved up our start times on Saturday to 7:30 now
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  instead of eight. So we sat around for about 15,
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  20 minutes on Saturday waiting for the clerks to finish up with
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  all the packages. So smooth week, not too bad.
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  It was nice. Didn't get too too sunburned or
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  anything. How about you, Bill?
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  How was your week? Well, let me start off by
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  saying, James, I'm sorry to hear that cat broke off your tip.
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  It must have been painful and we pray for your speedy recovery.
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  Just the tip. Just the tip and you know,
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  another, another week of recuperation and I'm busy with
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  the mailings that we got going out to all the 8 presidents,
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  Vice presidents, the DRS and the AD RS4 letters of consideration
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  from myself, Justin James Toasty and went out and got all the
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  stamps, the envelopes and printed them all off.
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  So I have a little editing to do on yours there.
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  Toasty. There's a hidden message in
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  Toasty. So don't miss that folks.
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  If you don't catch it, he'll explain it to you later.
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  Because I was so busy reading punctuation, everything, I
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  didn't even see it. But it it's cute, not to say the
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  least, and just got done Friday night into Saturday and Saturday
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  night into Sunday with two different grandsons sleeping
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  over and the good old time and they're just cute little buggers
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  and that makes life all worth it.
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  How about you, Kristen? How was your week was?
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  A week? Yeah.
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  Monday. Well, Monday was Monday.
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  It was really interesting Monday because Amazon pulled in and the
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  guy walked in with one package. We're like, huh, We're like,
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  there's got to be another truck. And yeah, about 8:30, the second
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  truck, which should have been the first truck, rolled in with
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  5-6 diamond pallets for the entire office.
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  And come to find out, I guess the driver was tired, so he
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  radioed back to dispatch and they told him he could pull over
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  and take a nap, hence why our Amazon was late.
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  So they only broke down two of the skids for the main zip code
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  and that was it. So we left and then when we came
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  back they had everything else broken down for those that
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  wanted to take second trips to which I'm really glad I took the
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  biggest. I only took 10 packages but they
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  were the biggest packages because I had 128 scans on
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  Monday total. Tuesday I had 167.
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  That was the Monday is Tuesday after a non holiday I've ever
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  had. In all honesty that's how my
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  week went. If package was a light, mail was
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  heavy. If mail was light, packages were
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  heavy all week. So got through that and got my K
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  day yesterday. So just getting around the
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  house, getting stuff prepared for next weekend, my weekend
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  away from absolutely everything. Woo Hoo.
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  And yeah, go back to work for three days and then I'll be
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  taken off heading down to Ohio for incarceration next weekend.
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  So you guys won't have me on here next week.
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  And I'm going to apologize ahead of time.
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  I have no control over what may happen with the guys.
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  Oh, that, That was my week. Are you saying that I should
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  stay off the air next week? No, no, no, I won't be on air.
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  So you know y'all are on your own.
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  I am. I am apologizing to the
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  listeners now. Right, well, we're going to have
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  fun next week. Hopefully we'll have more
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  interesting topics to talk about like we do this week.
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  Now we have to start off on a sad note.
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  We have information that two supervisors have passed away due
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  to heat related illnesses caused by route inspections in postal
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  vehicles without air conditioning.
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  This is on the heels of carriers dying, on the heels of people
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  dying in this heat that aren't postal employees.
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  Now we have supervisors, we have managers, their own dying in
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  this heat and management still will not do anything to fix the
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  problem. I'm guessing their response to
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  this was we provide heat illness prevention program training.
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  What do you guys think? Do you think they're actually
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  going to do something now that management is starting to pass
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  away from the heat? Well, from what I'm seeing,
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  Osha's getting involved, so it'll be interesting to see what
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  happens. Well, James, I, I have to argue
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  with you because that was the DRT out of VA District One said
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  we spend millions on education. And since management's the one
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  educating the carriers, I don't understand why they weren't
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  paying attention to the, to the conditions and the signs of
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  heat, prostation and each stroke.
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  I, I don't understand. I mean, are they treating their
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  management and they're like cattle now?
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  You know what the saying is, it all rolls downhill.
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  I don't know for any. For me, it was the thing of them
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  being in that truck all day, not being used to it 'cause you can
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  build up some type of tolerance. Usually being in the heat, most
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  of the time, you know what to do, you know where to take your
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  breaks, you know when when you're feeling it.
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  Being a supervisor, you're inside the AC all day.
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  You go into that back of that truck and it's, you know, a it's
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  hotter inside the back of the truck 'cause there's no airflow
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  back there. Yeah, I could even turn the fan
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  to him. It's still just blows hot air
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  from the dash over to them and then going and finishing the
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  inspection. Going inside to air conditioning
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  is a shock to the system. It's you're supposed to take
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  your time to cool back down. You're not supposed to just
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  immediately go from 100 to 60, and that can cause devastate
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  devastation to your body when it comes to your health, when it
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  comes to trying to cool off and reconfigure your body
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  temperature. Just like a lot of us, you know,
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  the, the supervisors probably are not aware of the fact that
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  they're sitting in the back of that Easy Bake oven and all of a
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  sudden they stop sweating. And they say, oh, well, you
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  know, it must not be so hot. That's one of your first signs
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  that you're in trouble when you stop sweating and you, you can
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  put cold packs on your wrists or behind your legs or inside your
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  groin area in the back of your neck to cool down.
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  But you need medical help at that point.
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  And I, you know, yes, I, I'm not a fan of management, but I don't
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  want any of them to die either. No, Nobody deserves to lose
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  their life over something like that.
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  Over the mail. Yeah.
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  And unlike management, we send our condolences to the family of
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  these two supervisors that passed away.
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  Nobody should have to do this. Nobody should have to suffer
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  through this carrier management, nobody.
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  These are two human beings that were probably ordered to do the
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  route inspections on the hottest days of the year, when they can
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  do a route inspection any time of the year.
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  They don't have to do them in the heat of the summer.
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  They could do them in the fall. They can do them in the winter
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  when it's cooler out. We all know these trucks.
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  The Postal Service has had them since the 80s, the late 80s.
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  How is it that even now with all the technology that we have, all
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  the information that we have, all the computer spreadsheets
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  that we have, that management cannot understand how hot it
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  gets inside these trucks? The management cannot understand
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  how these carriers keep dying and how these supervisors keep
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  dying because of the heat? 1987 was when the first LLV
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  rolled off the production line. 1987 and you're telling me that
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  almost 40 years later we still don't understand that it's an
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  easy bake oven at management level?
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  Just baffles me at how stupid these people can be.
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  And since we have such accurate GPS systems incorporated in our
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  vehicles as well as the scanners, what is the need to do
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  this at this time of year? If you're going to do it this
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  time of year, guess what? Get the carrier in the truck
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  first thing in the morning, go out there, let a subcase up the
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  route while the carrier drives the route with the the
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  supervisor in there. I mean, you'll have
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  consideration for your people, folks.
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  Yeah, unfortunately they do not. We all know that.
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  And it shows even more. Yeah.
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  Yeah, beat, beat the heat. Keep it moving.
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  No stationary events. I'm sorry they died.
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  That's why they they were stationary.
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  They tried probably write them up for that too.
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  Oh yeah, they probably. Try to have an investigative
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  interview with them too. Send them in a express mail.
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  Hey, you're having an investigative interview.
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  Wonder if it'll be delivered to the Funeral Home.
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  Yeah, did you put a leave slip in to die on the job?
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  This is an EP. Definitely.
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  I mean, that's how cold hearted they are.
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  They don't give a rat's ass about us and now we know they
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  don't even care about their management team.
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  I've said this from the beginning.
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  These these supervisors and managers will fall on the sword
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  for their tomb and for their regional managers.
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  The tomb will fall on the sword for the regional manager.
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  The regional manager will fall on the sword for the national
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  manager. But when push comes to shove,
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  the person above them is going to throw their ass under the
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  bus. In a heartbeat.
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  Just to protect themselves. It's only going to This
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  episode's only going to get more fun from here.
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  My cat just knocked down my drawer.
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  Have you heard that The next topic?
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  I have we've gotten notification that they are now testing Rex
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  input activity, editing, editing.
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  Some managers are getting permission to change the scans
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  that carriers input, whether it's for the carrier or against
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  the carrier. Could this lead to abuse?
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  Could a POOM instruct the manager, hey, you're getting way
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  too many of this or the other. And how many times are we going
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  to get talks for the benchmarking that they're doing
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  with it now in the paperwork that I received on the stand up
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  talk about it. And this is only in select
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  offices right now, but if it's in select offices, it's
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  eventually going to come to your office.
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  The things that they can edit right now is your start load and
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  end load. They can change the times on
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  them. They can delete them, they can
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  add them. Another one is postage dues.
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  If you do a postage due and you put it in the scanner and they
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  go, well, that's that's above the number that you're supposed
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  to have. So we're going to just delete
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  that one. You did.
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  Even if you had a postage due, management could do that.
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  If you had a postage due and forgot it, they could add it in
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  if that, if that was the case as well.
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  Another one is your rural reach customer.
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  When you do a rural reach that's supposed to be 5 minutes, add it
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  into your evaluation. Average stamp stock sales.
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  If you sell one stamp or you sell 100, could that turn around
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  and be, oh, you sold one stamp? Well, that's not a stamp stock
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  sale. Oh, it's got to be a roll.
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  Oh, you sold A roll? Well, we don't provide you stamp
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  stocks, so you can't have the stamp stock scan.
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  There's a possibility of that being used.
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  And the last one on the list was your blats and letters, WSS or
• 18:27
  box holder inputs. They could delete those.
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  Your guys's thoughts? Oh I I'm not worried.
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  I trust management 100%, especially where it says that,
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  you know, we have to sign off on it.
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  Well, if you're never aware of it, how are you going to sign
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  off on it and find out whether or not that, you know, they put
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  it through with a forged signature from the carrier.
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  Again, you know, no transparency.
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  You're, you're looking at the, the few things that we do have
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  that we can get credit for start and load the postage due
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  shortage. I mean, I haven't seen a postage
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  due short, you know, in so long because the clerks don't even
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  process them in our office. The flats WSS and the letter
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  WSS, you know, they're, they're, you know, keen on those because
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  of the fact that they don't want to give you the credits or the
• 19:23
  box holders for that fact. But the WSS, they, they've been
• 19:27
  Hawking those ever since Rex came into being.
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  But yeah, IIA 100% they the management has my faith in them
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  not to do anything shady. Yeah, yeah, it's going to come.
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  Down If you have good management that I'll actually do it
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  correctly, then you're not going to have too much to worry about.
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  But there's so many managers out there, the ones that are
• 19:55
  harassing, you know, carriers on authorized dismounts and on scam
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  parcels already. This is gonna be even more for
• 20:01
  them to harass. Everyone on needs this.
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  And if I remember correctly at mid states, didn't our current
• 20:09
  Union president state that he didn't want something like this?
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  Supposedly. Supposedly, Yep.
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  But again, this goes into the management will do anything and
• 20:23
  everything they can to lower your evaluations.
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  And this is right here. And like somebody said in the
• 20:31
  chat, managers adding lunches to carrier time when carrier never
• 20:35
  took a lunch. If management is editing fees
• 20:39
  for carriers and the carriers find out about it, you damn well
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  know I'm going to file a grievance for falsification of
• 20:49
  government documents. It doesn't matter what it is,
• 20:56
  whether it's the Rex inputs, your time clocks.
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  I had a carrier reach out to me the other day and tell me that
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  when they were doing their second trip and they went to PM
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  casing, they accidentally hit the Rex activity summary and it
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  said they were already clocked out.
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  Management had clocked them out with their EIN using their
• 21:29
  barcode. They used another scanner to
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  clock them out. They will be filing a grievance
• 21:37
  Monday morning on it. Now imagine if that carrier
• 21:42
  gotten into an accident. They're clocked out on the
• 21:45
  scanner. Management will use that against
• 21:48
  them as well. They were clocked out.
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  Why were they out on the route when they were clocked out
• 21:51
  working off the clock, even though the paper 4240 is still
• 21:56
  the time standard and they hadn't signed out on that yet?
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  They had been clocked out on the electronic 4240 by management
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  because management wanted to go home.
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  So. Well, it's also also the IT.
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  It's gonna be the same managers that you have that are
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  falsifying the mapping, the same managers that are doing the
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  mapping without the carriers and doing it with these offices
• 22:26
  where carriers haven't touched their DPM and LTM in months.
• 22:31
  It's going to be the same management that's going to be
• 22:34
  messing around with their scans. So it's just one more thing that
• 22:39
  we're once it comes down to more spread out that we're going to
• 22:44
  have to be vigilant of, of paying attention to.
• 22:49
  Yeah, and not to mention, don't forget all the offices where
• 22:53
  management's bullying and harassing carriers as well.
• 22:57
  They may do the mapping with the carriers, but they're going to
• 22:59
  bully and harass them to get them out of the office quicker.
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  You know, they won't let them do more than 5 minutes of end of
• 23:07
  shift time, even though that's wrong.
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  Stuff like that. Or you have a manager who won't
• 23:13
  allow talking on the work room floor, won't let you do mapping,
• 23:16
  won't let you do anything that helps build your evaluation up.
• 23:21
  You know, thinking 22 minute load times for city carriers,
• 23:25
  Guess what? Now it's going to be 22 minutes
• 23:27
  of load time for rural carriers when they can edit the start
• 23:30
  load and in load times. And as we saw with that e-mail
• 23:36
  of turning off the AC, management is looking for every
• 23:41
  minute they can steal from carriers.
• 23:47
  My office has been a meat locker the last few days.
• 23:51
  It's actually nice to go load to warm up.
• 23:55
  Well the AC. The AC unit leaves.
• 24:00
  You. Either way, you know the AC
• 24:02
  unit, the AC unit that controls the management office and the
• 24:07
  front lobby is not working and they haven't gotten repaired
• 24:11
  yet. So let's crank up the one in the
• 24:13
  back of the office to help, you know, cool off the front of the
• 24:20
  office. Meanwhile, we'll freeze the
• 24:21
  carriers out. Yeah, well.
• 24:25
  That's 'cause they're using the X wife thermostat.
• 24:28
  Exactly. It's frigid.
• 24:37
  Well, there's there's still more on managerial to wrap parts.
• 24:43
  Let's get the juicy parts. Come on.
• 24:45
  Come on, come on, come on. Yeah, well, I've been hearing
• 24:49
  this from several offices now that they are now attacking
• 24:55
  delivering to the door. They are now getting carriers to
• 25:02
  show them the packages they're going to deliver to the door and
• 25:06
  management's going to decide whether they can be delivered at
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  the mailbox or not. And what happens when the
• 25:13
  mailbox is full? What happens when the parcel
• 25:16
  lockers are all taken and they haven't been checked in three
• 25:19
  days? What happens if you know
• 25:22
  management doesn't know who has the security box on at the curb
• 25:27
  or not? Because that bottle of pills
• 25:30
  cannot fit in there. Not in all of them, no.
• 25:33
  There are some that you can finagle it in, but not all of
• 25:36
  them, no. Yeah, I paid the finagle.
• 25:40
  This is just more managerial harassment, just like stationary
• 25:44
  events standing out there watching you load to see if you
• 25:47
  they can find a way to make you more efficient at loading and
• 25:51
  other money saving options. You know, and this is carrier
• 25:57
  harassment. It's benchmarking because
• 26:00
  they're using the number of door deliveries that you have to
• 26:03
  determine whether you need a talking to about door deliveries
• 26:06
  or not. And I have yet to hear a peep
• 26:13
  out of National about all these things, things they shouldn't be
• 26:17
  doing, but they are. Where are you, Don?
• 26:20
  I know you're listening. Oh, they're busy in the middle
• 26:27
  of contract, so you know they have more important things to
• 26:31
  worry about that they don't have time for. day-to-day issues, OK.
• 26:39
  No, they're the issues we deal with day-to-day.
• 26:42
  And The thing is that it really, it really won't even matter
• 26:45
  because I mean, let's say you take, you know, James, you said
• 26:48
  you average about 100 packages a day, right?
• 26:51
  Yep. OK, let's say you took all 100
• 26:55
  to the door. Sure, it'll boost your
• 26:57
  evaluation because of the park point, the walk distance,
• 27:00
  everything like that. But you're gonna have to
• 27:03
  continually do that through the entire rest of your route career
• 27:09
  in order to keep that evaluation.
• 27:12
  So it sure, it'll boost you right now and it may, you know,
• 27:15
  they may have to cut off of you, but you're gonna have to do that
• 27:17
  every single day. You're gonna have to do that all
• 27:20
  300 and what 5-6 days that are in the delivery averages 3. 103
• 27:25
  hundred and one. 302 Three. 101 and 302 goes off by 5:00, but
• 27:32
  that that's that's the whole point.
• 27:34
  Like the way I see the system is it kind of takes out those that
• 27:39
  were trying to game the system. Before you know it, it's going
• 27:43
  to have these averages. So sure, you can take them all
• 27:46
  to the door. You're going to have to do that
• 27:47
  for the rest of the time that you're on that route.
• 27:50
  But if you do what you're supposed to do, hey, it doesn't
• 27:52
  fit in here, let me go take it to the front door.
• 27:54
  You're going to get the front door credit for that day
• 27:56
  because, you know, they haven't checked their box in 2-3 days
• 27:58
  and they had an A bark box in there that blocked the rest of
• 28:01
  the mailbox. OK.
• 28:03
  You know, that's the once in a, you know, once every few weeks
• 28:06
  that that happens. It's not an everyday occurrence,
• 28:09
  but it it's again going back to no training on RRECS, not only
• 28:15
  for us but for management either.
• 28:17
  They don't understand this. The whole point behind Rex was
• 28:25
  to take out 99% of the human factor in evaluations.
• 28:35
  On one side, it would keep carriers honest, keep them from
• 28:39
  cooking their Reddit books, keep them from doing things they
• 28:43
  shouldn't be doing on the route. On the other side, it kept
• 28:48
  management from stuffing trailers during many mail or
• 28:51
  them during the mail count and holding mail back at the plants
• 28:55
  so that way it wouldn't be delivered to the offices until
• 28:57
  after the mail count to cut evaluations on carriers.
• 29:02
  Plus, it gave us all these scans for these packages that we were
• 29:07
  delivering, which was a benefit to us.
• 29:11
  It's not our fault that Amazon ships stuff that'll fit in the
• 29:15
  mailbox with their carriers and ships all the big stuff with the
• 29:18
  Postal Service. It's not our fault that we get
• 29:22
  dropped tons of packages that barely won't fit in the mailbox.
• 29:28
  But yet now they're punishing us for having a system that
• 29:33
  management cannot fully control. And it looks like they're slowly
• 29:40
  inch by inch, as the union gives them that inch, they're working
• 29:46
  on taking that mile. And that brings us to another
• 29:54
  inch that's going to take a mile.
• 29:58
  That's the rural route optimization program.
• 30:03
  Now, luckily I took the time to read through all of this stuff,
• 30:10
  so I'm going to go through the points that I found in the
• 30:14
  PowerPoint presentation that they give on training for the
• 30:17
  row route optimization. Supposedly it's got a re
• 30:21
  sequencing algorithm, but we don't know what's in the
• 30:26
  algorithm. And I'm guaranteeing you we
• 30:29
  won't see the details either because it'll be just as
• 30:31
  redacted as the Rex engineering report.
• 30:36
  Everything listed. On doing the real route
• 30:40
  optimization is management only up to the finalization of the
• 30:46
  route. There is really no carrier input
• 30:51
  until the end when you do line of travel changes.
• 30:59
  Parent child routes, people with blue box, blue collection boxes,
• 31:05
  and inner unit deliveries will be excluded from row rod
• 31:11
  optimization when they're doing it.
• 31:16
  Supposedly, left turns, U turns, and right turns and road
• 31:23
  segments could be blocked from the program to help mitigate
• 31:29
  issues that could be a safety hazard.
• 31:35
  Supposedly management is to verify that it is a safe and
• 31:40
  drivable route. But as we know, management
• 31:45
  probably won't take the time to figure out whether it's safe.
• 31:49
  Because management's idea, at least from that e-mail, was why
• 31:54
  should we care about a carrier's safety?
• 32:00
  And the other reason why I. Say that this is an issue is I
• 32:04
  have right turns on my route and my electronic 4003 that comes
• 32:08
  with the rural route optimization program which is
• 32:11
  our line of travel manager. All my right turns say turn
• 32:17
  left. So this program.
• 32:20
  Already can't tell the difference between right and
• 32:22
  left, so I don't know how it can actually do a really good
• 32:26
  routing. If it doesn't know the
• 32:28
  difference between right and left, the route will have to be
• 32:33
  remeasured. It does not say in the.
• 32:37
  Training that it has to be a certified odometer, but our
• 32:42
  contract, the M38 and the PO6O3 all say it must be used with a
• 32:51
  vehicle with a certified odometer, not just any vehicle,
• 32:57
  unless that vehicle has passed a calibration measurement which is
• 33:02
  a known distance that matches the odometer reading.
• 33:05
  So that would be mile markers on an Interstate would be a great
• 33:09
  judge of whether your odometer is actually a certified odometer
• 33:13
  or not because they have those mile markers on there.
• 33:19
  Management must drive the route that the re sequencing program
• 33:25
  does, check for traffic control points as well as other hazards
• 33:30
  in the new line of travel. The carrier does have the option
• 33:36
  to ride with management in a non pay status for the remeasurement
• 33:42
  under current remeasurement standards, but they could change
• 33:45
  that. Especially with a new.
• 33:47
  Contract submitting the changes only requires the carrier name
• 33:57
  in electronic form. There is no option.
• 34:01
  For a carrier to protect themselves from management
• 34:05
  falsifying that they did it with the carrier.
• 34:08
  Just like mapping the slide for confirmation in the training
• 34:16
  packet shows that the route that they've they're demonstrating
• 34:24
  got 10 extra left turns in the new mapping that they did.
• 34:30
  Think about that. Left turns are one of the most
• 34:32
  dangerous things a mail carrier can do that.
• 34:36
  Is a normal driving. Procedure.
• 34:40
  And yet their. New route that they show in the
• 34:42
  training procedure has 10 extra left turns.
• 34:47
  After confirming the change, management must map the traffic
• 34:53
  control points again. Carriers must be present for
• 34:57
  this, but will management have them there?
• 35:01
  There's two types of routes. There's the re sequence and non
• 35:08
  optimal, Also known as too expensive.
• 35:12
  Training. Slides show the all the
• 35:16
  optimized routes in their demonstration route cut the
• 35:20
  carrier's mileage by 5 miles. Now under current Rex rules that
• 35:27
  could be up to five to six minutes cut daily, which could
• 35:31
  be 30 to 40 minutes off the weekly evaluation, which could
• 35:37
  drop you an hour on just that training route.
• 35:42
  Page 72 in the slides does show and carrier bolded however, how
• 35:52
  many carriers have done mapping in the last three months with
• 35:55
  their management religiously. Q&A section on re sequencing
• 36:03
  even admits that it cuts your evaluation.
• 36:11
  Routes can be rejected for re sequencing if the user slash
• 36:16
  manager rejects all route re measure re sequencing that the
• 36:22
  computer does contractually. Management has the right to
• 36:28
  alter the route at any time and the carrier should be kept
• 36:31
  informed of any changes. And remember, it's the word
• 36:34
  should which is a possibly word. It's not shall, not will, or a
• 36:43
  definite word. However, when management alters
• 36:47
  the route carrier is required. Remember that's a That's a
• 36:53
  definite work required to be present during the following.
• 36:57
  Completing Rex maintenance before starting re sequencing,
• 37:01
  which is your mapping. You're required to be present
• 37:05
  for that completing the physical RE measurement during RE
• 37:09
  sequencing. If the carrier asked to be
• 37:12
  present during this, you are required to include them in an
• 37:16
  unpaid status per Article 30 of the contract plotting TCPS when
• 37:23
  finalizing the confirmed resequenced route after
• 37:27
  completing resequencing. Now the last.
• 37:31
  Tidbit of information I have is I did find an error in the Q&A
• 37:36
  and it said that Subs get paid on the 4240.
• 37:42
  No Subs don't get. Paid on the 4240 for extra work
• 37:46
  they get paid green card time 1314 a.
• 37:52
  So what are your guys's thoughts?
• 37:53
  On the rural route optimization program, Kristen, we'll start
• 37:59
  with you. Well, I haven't.
• 38:01
  Had a really. I haven't had a chance to
• 38:03
  actually read any of it yet. I've been busy, but I don't
• 38:09
  know. It'll be interesting to see what
• 38:10
  happens. I know I can't see how they
• 38:14
  would, you know, optimize my route in any form, but who knows
• 38:18
  what's going to happen it. You know, and I've been hearing.
• 38:23
  Through the social webs about people whose routes you know
• 38:26
  what it coming back and it's adding U turns and it's adding
• 38:31
  left hand turns and it's taking them down roads they didn't
• 38:35
  travel before or I it it's. Ridiculous.
• 38:40
  I mean, if anybody knows our routes, it's us.
• 38:43
  And if we know there's a safer way to run our route?
• 38:46
  Usually at that. Time.
• 38:48
  Once we figure it out, you know we could go in and make edit
• 38:52
  book adjustments to change that. I know with.
• 38:56
  One of the routes in my office when I first came into this
• 38:59
  office, I, you know, doing, why are we doing 2U turns right
• 39:02
  here? You know, and I actually, when
• 39:05
  the new regular took or the regular who's on it now took it
• 39:08
  over, I made a suggestion to her on how it would make that route
• 39:13
  better in that one little section, that one Rd. instead of
• 39:16
  having 2U turns on that road, just do the one whole Rd. at
• 39:21
  once. And we fixed it.
• 39:23
  We cleaned it up, it made it easier, it made it better, even
• 39:27
  though it was just that addition on that road.
• 39:29
  I've done the same on my old route in my old office, there
• 39:34
  was a section. It was a funky U-turn that we
• 39:38
  had to do and it's like, why can't we just come in on that
• 39:42
  road rather than you turning in the middle of it?
• 39:45
  Because the way it lines up, we could come in that road and
• 39:48
  leave on that road. And eventually was changed.
• 39:51
  Because it made better sense. So again, having a computer try
• 39:59
  to optimize a route for us. I don't it's.
• 40:06
  I don't see any pros. And cons into it at all.
• 40:09
  I just think it's going to be for most part it's not going to
• 40:14
  be a great thing. Toasty, your thoughts?
• 40:18
  Just like the S. NDCSRRECS and every other
• 40:22
  program they try to implement, at first it's going to crash and
• 40:26
  burn because of poor execution. It's not going to be ready.
• 40:30
  They said they, you know, some people are saying this is, you
• 40:33
  know, they're being chosen as the pilot program when it's
• 40:35
  already been piloted before and it was a disaster and they're
• 40:39
  trying to re pilot it again. I, I don't see unless it was
• 40:46
  with carrier input somehow this being a good thing.
• 40:51
  I don't see this like I can understand like wanting to do
• 40:54
  this. I can understand wanting to make
• 40:56
  them safer. You know, if it was like what
• 40:59
  UPS did with, you know, like I think it was 10 years ago,
• 41:03
  trying to figure out, OK, let's design a study, let's see if
• 41:06
  right hand turns will be more fuel efficient.
• 41:09
  This and that. I can understand something like
• 41:12
  that, you know, doing a study first coming out with the
• 41:14
  results and then implementing something.
• 41:17
  But we haven't seen other results.
• 41:20
  I mean, the results that we've seen are from other people
• 41:22
  telling us like, hey, we were part of the pilot and it, you
• 41:25
  know, made me turn left across of an Interstate or it took me
• 41:29
  down alleyways instead of down the street.
• 41:33
  You know it. It's not going to be a good roll
• 41:37
  out because they haven't worked out the kinks.
• 41:39
  They keep trying to implement these things and then work out
• 41:41
  the kinks later as they're trying to force carriers to do
• 41:46
  all these things that are still wrong.
• 41:50
  Mill, let me make this plain and.
• 41:55
  Simple. Even though.
• 41:57
  Contractually, they are allowed to do this.
• 42:01
  This is nothing more than a money grab at a post office
• 42:05
  because they're going up against weak leadership.
• 42:10
  If we had stronger leadership, this would not be an issue.
• 42:14
  That would just be leaned over. The scariest part about this
• 42:19
  whole situation is James pointed out 90% of it is geared towards
• 42:25
  management training. Folks, if we haven't.
• 42:29
  Learned anything from Rex in regards to management,
• 42:32
  management training from the supervisors, the the floor
• 42:36
  Superman manager, the boom postmaster D Rs, the district
• 42:40
  managers post office. They don't train their people.
• 42:45
  So how do you expect this to just be introduced and and just
• 42:51
  soakingly flow it's merry way down there?
• 42:54
  Optimize routes, make everybody happy.
• 42:57
  Everybody is going to be safe. Nobody's going to lose money.
• 43:00
  Oh, this is a money grab. And we're going to be dependent
• 43:04
  on management. We're not trained for Rex and
• 43:09
  won't be trained in Rex. And trust me, if my office is
• 43:14
  indicative of what's what's this country's like, they have no
• 43:17
  idea of how the grasp concept rule, route optimization,
• 43:24
  they're going to do exactly what their district managers tell
• 43:27
  them. Plain and simple, This is a
• 43:29
  money grab. And it's because they know
• 43:32
  they're going up against a weak union in the statement.
• 43:39
  Yeah, I, I. Totally agree with that and you
• 43:43
  have to think also, why is management doing this is exactly
• 43:47
  that it is a money grab. You know when when they first
• 43:51
  brought Rex online, it was 6 scans only just do the six
• 43:55
  scans. Don't worry about anything else.
• 43:57
  Just do the six scans. Why?
• 43:59
  Because they knew the rest of the scans were money for us.
• 44:03
  They didn't want us to know the other other scans.
• 44:06
  They didn't want us to use the other scans.
• 44:09
  Now you have multiple factors here that we've just found this
• 44:14
  week of. Management taking money.
• 44:17
  Away because those carriers, the 66% of carriers started building
• 44:21
  their evaluations back up because they learned what the
• 44:25
  inputs were other than the six scans.
• 44:28
  They learned what they were missing on their evaluations
• 44:33
  because management wasn't trained.
• 44:36
  The regional Rep here at both Mid States 2022 or 2023 and Mid
• 44:44
  States 2024 admitted they don't train their management.
• 44:50
  He admitted it straightforward and bluntly admitted that they
• 44:54
  don't train them. And yet we're supposed to trust
• 44:58
  that management's got our best interests in mind.
• 45:01
  We're supposed to trust that management has our safety in
• 45:04
  mind. We're supposed to trust that
• 45:07
  they know how to do these programs.
• 45:11
  It's unfortunate to us that we have an employer that is so
• 45:17
  incompetent to what they're doing.
• 45:21
  That we have to learn. All this stuff on our own and
• 45:24
  then we have a leadership, supposedly.
• 45:29
  Well, we'll call them elected. Union National Union
• 45:33
  representatives that allow management to make these changes
• 45:42
  without so much as a peep? Well, here's the information for
• 45:45
  you. Well, we'll just we'll just put
• 45:47
  this out there. You can find it on on the
• 45:50
  computer on the website. If you're a if you're a dues
• 45:54
  paying member, you know, to me it just breeds we're supporting
• 46:01
  management. But I guess that goes back to
• 46:04
  the unit, the article in the National magazine, where
• 46:12
  President Don Maston actually said in May of 2024's
• 46:19
  newsletter, the magazine that was sent out, he actually said
• 46:25
  we need to explore creating more PTS, which has some real
• 46:29
  benefits for the Postal Service. He's also.
• 46:35
  Talked about how delivering for America is the best plan for the
• 46:41
  Postal Service. It he never.
• 46:46
  Says benefits for the rural carriers.
• 46:50
  It's always benefits for the Postal Service.
• 46:54
  Well, here's more benefits for the Postal Service.
• 46:58
  Here's the Postal Service harassing, belittling and
• 47:03
  torturing carriers over inputs into a scanner.
• 47:11
  Most often legitimate inputs into the scanner.
• 47:20
  This has to stop now, wouldn't it?
• 47:26
  Benefit the post office. You have on the ground
• 47:34
  employees, rural carriers, city Clare areas, clerks that are
• 47:40
  treated with dignity, fairness and respect and enjoy coming to
• 47:47
  work and therefore are more productive.
• 47:51
  Wouldn't that benefit the post office?
• 47:56
  Don't forget they're not stressed.
• 47:57
  Out all the time, so they're not going to be calling in sick all
• 47:59
  the time either, therefore reducing sick hours and sick
• 48:02
  leave. And and.
• 48:06
  Then and and you know you might able to retain leave
• 48:12
  replacements. So regular.
• 48:15
  Carriers can get their time off that they would like to have off
• 48:20
  without having to put up a fight and leave replacements.
• 48:26
  Will enjoy coming. To work and do a job well done
• 48:32
  and learn in a better environment.
• 48:36
  Again, all this would, wait a minute, benefit the post office.
• 48:44
  Yep, because they're also. Wasting thousands, if not
• 48:48
  millions of dollars on training these Rcas and Ccas and PSCS and
• 48:54
  clerks where they go into the office and they say this is how
• 48:58
  we're treated. Yeah, no, not for 1718.
• 49:01
  Nineteen, $20.00 an hour. I'm not doing this.
• 49:04
  And they leave. So then we have to train another
• 49:06
  one. And the cycle keeps continuing
• 49:08
  in these toxic environments. But if you have a healthy
• 49:11
  environment, one where you tell them how to do the job, they do
• 49:15
  it well, they're rewarded for their good work and doing well,
• 49:20
  you get to keep them. Let's not forget the millions
• 49:24
  they. Waste in training management who
• 49:27
  doesn't pay the attention, doesn't have the ability to
• 49:29
  retain the information, doesn't put that information into
• 49:32
  practice, doesn't follow the contract.
• 49:34
  Ends up with billions of dollars of grievances though.
• 49:38
  I, I'm just, I, I abhorred by Kristen's suggestion that we
• 49:44
  cooperate with management and have a, you know, a benevolently
• 49:49
  ambient atmosphere in the post office where people work
• 49:53
  together for a common goal to get the mail and the parcels out
• 49:57
  the door in a timely fashion. And we look out for each other
• 50:01
  because it's not in the interest of the post office.
• 50:04
  They're there to cut. They're there to cut expenses.
• 50:09
  They don't care who they step on to do that and.
• 50:12
  That's a shame because. I would love to have a a work
• 50:15
  atmosphere where we did work together and you could bend the
• 50:20
  contract here and there to get a situation resolved, whether it's
• 50:24
  for management or whether it's for the carrier or for the
• 50:27
  clerks or whoever. But you, you could have that
• 50:30
  atmosphere say, look, you know, I did a solid for you here.
• 50:33
  You got to do me a solid the next time, OK, OK.
• 50:36
  No, no, I'm not doing too solids for management without getting
• 50:40
  one for me. OK.
• 50:42
  No, we're not doing that because when you go down that path, they
• 50:45
  expect it all the time. Wouldn't it be nice?
• 50:49
  If they actually a were educated and trained properly B2 and
• 50:56
  upheld the contract despite what they're threatened with from
• 50:59
  their superiors above C had the common courtesy to treat you
• 51:05
  better than cattle. Wouldn't that be?
• 51:09
  Amazing you imagine how much work could get done when you're
• 51:14
  not arguing and instead you're working together.
• 51:18
  That's. An amazing.
• 51:19
  Concept. Well, don't you know?
• 51:24
  Everything that they talk about, whether it's Dejoy or national
• 51:30
  officers, it's all about the business of the Postal Service.
• 51:35
  It's all about the business aspect of things.
• 51:39
  It's all about being a profitable business.
• 51:42
  It's a servicer. Get it right?
• 51:48
  James, what you? Fail to understand is that
• 51:51
  they're looking out for the long term success of the service
• 51:55
  business. OK, because without the long
• 51:58
  term health of the United States Postal Service, you won't have a
• 52:02
  job to complain about. So if they don't do their due
• 52:06
  diligence, it won't matter. Well, if.
• 52:10
  If they were doing their due diligence, they would be
• 52:13
  honoring the contracts, honoring the MO US, honoring the stuff
• 52:16
  for and and actually taking care of the people that actually make
• 52:21
  the money for the Postal Service, which are at the end of
• 52:26
  the day, the carriers, the mail handlers, the clerks.
• 52:32
  As you said. Before we can run a post office
• 52:35
  without management, management can't run a post office without
• 52:39
  us. And I'm not saying just.
• 52:42
  Us as the people here in the podcast are the people listening
• 52:45
  to it. I'm talking about the crafts as
• 52:47
  a whole. And we, we have.
• 52:52
  Demonstrated that time and time again in our office and it,
• 52:57
  it's, it, it's plain as the nose and your face.
• 52:59
  I mean, we, we had a situation where we had four down routes.
• 53:06
  And and the. The Subs are the ones that took
• 53:09
  care of the routes, cased them up, segregated them into in the
• 53:13
  portion you know beat them up some.
• 53:16
  Some of the regulars helped out and everything and everything
• 53:19
  was taken care of because supervisor had no clue what to
• 53:23
  do. If the supervisor has no.
• 53:27
  Idea. Trust me, a city postmaster who
• 53:30
  came to our office wouldn't even have an inkling as to how to
• 53:37
  approach that situation with four open routes.
• 53:41
  But the carriers did. And the carriers came together
• 53:44
  and the carriers got the job done.
• 53:47
  And when? We told management what we were
• 53:51
  doing and how we were doing and you know what they said?
• 53:54
  Whatever you need to do to get it out, we don't care long as it
• 54:01
  gets done. They didn't care because they
• 54:04
  were inept to the point of not knowing how to handle situations
• 54:08
  such as that. Did they get on the phone and
• 54:10
  call in Subs that were weren't there?
• 54:12
  Did they call other offices looking for Subs?
• 54:15
  No, they did none of that. They just sat there with their
• 54:18
  thumbs up their asses and to figure out how to get out of
• 54:21
  this predicament. And the Subs are in.
• 54:25
  Our office turn around and handled it like, like the pros
• 54:29
  that they are. Yeah.
• 54:36
  I mean, you know him by name, you know shit rolls.
• 54:42
  Shit rolls downhill when it comes to these times, but in
• 54:46
  order to make it better, it needs to start from the bottom
• 54:48
  and go up. It's not going to get any.
• 54:52
  Better if you don't treat your on the floor employees better
• 54:56
  than. How you're being treated.
• 54:59
  It needs to work from the bottom up to make things better because
• 55:05
  it's only going to get worse from the top down.
• 55:08
  I'm looking at. This, you know, optimization
• 55:11
  program and and like I said, I gleaned over it and and I'm
• 55:15
  looking at the management training and I'm just shaking my
• 55:17
  head going, you kidding me? This is above the.
• 55:21
  Head of every. Supervisor I have in my office.
• 55:25
  This is going to be so confusing.
• 55:28
  That they have to take and. Allocate the time to go through
• 55:31
  all this material. My supervisor.
• 55:36
  Has not even looked at the the R Cam yet.
• 55:40
  I don't even think mine knows. It exists.
• 55:45
  And, and the thing of it is that our new steward brought it to
• 55:47
  her attention. I don't.
• 55:49
  Have I don't have. Hours every night to do this.
• 55:53
  Oh, what are you doing during the day when we're out on the
• 55:55
  routes? I mean, you know, too busy.
• 55:59
  Tell you, I know what they're doing.
• 56:02
  They're too. Busy sending reports to the poem
• 56:05
  every 5 minutes that the poem requests.
• 56:09
  Well, ours is usually getting. Either Chick-fil-A, Popeyes or
• 56:15
  Starbucks. Ours just isn't there.
• 56:20
  Ours. Ours.
• 56:21
  Have the three three most of the deliveries by Uber for those
• 56:25
  three stores. Kristen, yours isn't there.
• 56:29
  Are you talking just mentally or physically or both?
• 56:32
  Both. Nobody else.
• 56:36
  Can get a day off, but you know, postmaster hasn't been there in
• 56:40
  a week. Supervisor.
• 56:41
  Well, you know she takes her time off too.
• 56:46
  Or when she has. To be the covering for the
• 56:50
  postmaster and we have a 2O4B at the desk.
• 56:53
  Then they hide. Whoever's playing postmaster
• 56:56
  hides out in the office. I don't know, my postmaster
• 56:58
  hasn't talked to me in weeks. So even when she is there.
• 57:06
  That's all right, my postmaster. Doesn't want to talk to me.
• 57:13
  That's since I offered for her to take my route out.
• 57:16
  She knows how to do it better than I can.
• 57:24
  Well, that's all I had on. On this week.
• 57:26
  So yeah, this, this, this. Route optimization program.
• 57:30
  It's. For a lack.
• 57:32
  Of a better word. It is a cluster fuck than the
• 57:35
  word go because of the fact that again, it's dependent on
• 57:38
  management. Well, Rex.
• 57:41
  Training was dependent on management.
• 57:43
  We see how well that worked out, right?
• 57:45
  And. Yeah, despite the bell curve.
• 57:48
  66% of the routes went down, whether they went down $1.00 or
• 57:52
  they went down $16,000, they went down and everybody was
• 57:58
  supposed to be trained, James pointed out.
• 58:03
  The six scans is the only thing that they knew that was being
• 58:06
  enforced from district. They didn't care about the other
• 58:09
  scans because they weren't going to be paying for them if you
• 58:12
  didn't do it. We have to educate.
• 58:16
  Ourselves, we have to educate the craft our fellow carriers.
• 58:20
  And make sure they. Know what goes in that scan or
• 58:23
  goes into your wallet? That's how you're going to get
• 58:26
  paid. So if you miss a scan, you know,
• 58:32
  guess what? Don't have a beer tonight
• 58:33
  because you can't afford it? You missed the scan.
• 58:37
  You missed 2 scans. You can't get Starbucks tomorrow
• 58:40
  morning on the way to work. That's how it works, folks.
• 58:44
  If you don't put the work in, you're not getting paid.
• 58:48
  And if if. Your wallet doesn't have any
• 58:53
  lure for you in regards to how you go on vacation, afford a
• 58:57
  car, take care of your family, pay pay for your mortgage.
• 59:00
  I don't understand what would. I can't comprehend I've.
• 59:04
  Been working since I was 12 years old.
• 59:08
  And I've never. Understood.
• 59:10
  People that you know. Just don't grasp the.
• 59:13
  Concept. If you don't do for yourself,
• 59:16
  nobody's going to do it for you. Like I said, I talked to.
• 59:22
  A a young lady last night, 10:00 at night on a Saturday, and you
• 59:27
  know, she was surprised that I called up the bill May called
• 59:31
  her at 10:00 at night. Then I just yeah, it's Bill.
• 59:35
  And the and the fact of the matter is this, this lady fouled
• 59:38
  is one of the few people I've ever heard say this.
• 59:42
  I take my EMA and I put it in a separate account.
• 59:48
  Because that's. My money, that's my money to
• 59:51
  keep this vehicle running. It's for the gasoline, it's for
• 59:54
  the repairs, for the transmission.
• 59:57
  She's actually got enough money saved up that she's going to be
• 59:59
  able to pay her way as a non delegate.
• 1:00:03
  The National Convention in. Reno.
• 1:00:06
  That's what you have to do with. That money, that money is like
• 1:00:09
  your overtime. It's not guaranteed.
• 1:00:12
  Regards to you're. Going to have it all the time
• 1:00:15
  and you can't dip into it because when you need it, it's
• 1:00:19
  not there. Oh well, you know, I can't go to
• 1:00:22
  work and all this. Well, folks, thank it.
• 1:00:27
  Thank that money so that. You have it when you need it.
• 1:00:34
  Yeah, you never know. When something's going to fail
• 1:00:36
  on that vehicle? Yep.
• 1:00:40
  You never know when that. Vehicle's going to just say I've
• 1:00:42
  had enough of this rough rural route and kicks the bucket and
• 1:00:47
  you have to go find a new one and that EMA money will be the
• 1:00:51
  only money you have to get that next vehicle and the next
• 1:00:56
  vehicle is definitely not cheap anymore.
• 1:00:59
  No, it is. Not.
• 1:01:02
  Yeah, the stop and go stop. And go style of mail delivery,
• 1:01:05
  that'll wreck your transmission, it'll wreck your engine, it'll
• 1:01:09
  destroy your brakes. The rough roads that some of us
• 1:01:12
  go down, that'll ruin your tires.
• 1:01:15
  There's so much that goes into it.
• 1:01:18
  Don't. Forget your suspension too.
• 1:01:20
  Yeah, one of the smartest. Things I ever did when I got,
• 1:01:23
  you know, forgot my first mini van put on the route was I got a
• 1:01:27
  extra transmission cooler put on there.
• 1:01:32
  People would say. You know well how many miles you
• 1:01:34
  have, 167,000 Well, what's your transmission like?
• 1:01:38
  It's fine. Extra cord.
• 1:01:41
  Putting on there saved me time, money.
• 1:01:46
  Everything. I mean it.
• 1:01:47
  It was well worth the investment.
• 1:01:50
  I believe I put like $400.00 into it and.
• 1:01:55
  On top of that you if you use that vehicle for other things
• 1:01:59
  like towing it helps with that as well too.
• 1:02:05
  I used to install those. I used to install those coolers
• 1:02:07
  when I worked for U-Haul. For people when they.
• 1:02:11
  Were putting in a a trailer hitch.
• 1:02:15
  When I was, I'm always. Surprised.
• 1:02:17
  Yeah, because of the fact that people got a passenger vehicle
• 1:02:22
  and say, oh, I can use that for mail delivery.
• 1:02:24
  Yes, but it's not designed for the rigors of mail delivery.
• 1:02:29
  It's not designed for 600 stops a day.
• 1:02:32
  You know, the the get stuck in the mud, getting stuck in the
• 1:02:34
  snow or getting chased by rabid dogs like, you know, folks.
• 1:02:39
  I mean, you know, you have to have the vehicle equipped, you
• 1:02:43
  know, to meet the needs of the route.
• 1:02:46
  The same way you know I have I. Have a fit.
• 1:02:47
  Trying to understand how you have a 5 speed matrix for some
• 1:02:51
  of these rule routes out in the middle of Iowa, Kansas,
• 1:02:54
  Oklahoma, and where you don't have potholes, you have ruts and
• 1:03:01
  the ruts are big enough to swallow farm animals.
• 1:03:04
  You're supposed to maintain a drive speed matrix on.
• 1:03:07
  Those are. You kidding me?
• 1:03:11
  I mean in. Michigan, we got potholes that
• 1:03:13
  swallow fire trucks, so. Well.
• 1:03:19
  I, I I. I was once outside of the
• 1:03:21
  Highlands of Texas and that, you know, driving, driving on this
• 1:03:25
  elevated section of highway I'm looking at says and a pothole
• 1:03:29
  has a a yellow filler in there. Well, there's a Volkswagen that
• 1:03:31
  fell in there. It's like, what the hell, you
• 1:03:35
  know, that's a pothole, folks. And that's another thing that.
• 1:03:41
  Northern carriers have to worry about rust.
• 1:03:47
  You know, people down. People down in Texas don't
• 1:03:49
  really have to worry about it unless you're up near the ocean,
• 1:03:53
  really. But.
• 1:03:55
  Up here in Michigan. Maine, you know your northern
• 1:03:59
  states, you're going to get rust because of salt.
• 1:04:04
  And that's another. Issue that you could have with
• 1:04:06
  your POV. Everything else could be
• 1:04:09
  perfectly fine on it, but your frame rusts out and all of a
• 1:04:13
  sudden you're dragging the back end of your car because it just
• 1:04:16
  went plop onto the ground. I'd pay to see that.
• 1:04:29
  I had a friend. The car rusted out and the left
• 1:04:33
  the car. The car rusted out and the left
• 1:04:35
  front tire decided to continue down the road while the car was
• 1:04:40
  dropped down on the left front corner of it and the tire
• 1:04:43
  continued down the road a half a mile most.
• 1:04:48
  Of you aren't old enough to to remember the days of the DJ
• 1:04:51
  fives where you had the holes through your floorboards so
• 1:04:55
  every time you ran through the puddle you got wet.
• 1:05:00
  If your brakes failed, just stuck your foot through the
• 1:05:02
  floor and dragged it on the road till you slow down.
• 1:05:07
  Or you open. Your sliding door and it keeps
• 1:05:09
  going. It's like.
• 1:05:11
  Oh, and. I have a door when I started
• 1:05:13
  today. You mean like the mattresses?
• 1:05:16
  Do oh. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:05:19
  That's just amazing. And there's then there's not
• 1:05:23
  enough room to get the door inside the vehicle.
• 1:05:26
  That's even funnier. Oh, God, I saw that picture.
• 1:05:31
  I'm sitting here going. OK, now here's the ultimate
• 1:05:34
  ultimate Tetris test. How do you fit the door back
• 1:05:38
  into his opening? All right guys, we ready to.
• 1:05:42
  Wind this down tonight? Yep.
• 1:05:46
  All right, you go first. Toasty.
• 1:05:49
  All right, it seems. That the weather's still keeping
• 1:05:53
  up. You know, the Hurricanes, the
• 1:05:55
  Tornadoes, the thunderstorms going on right now that'll wear
• 1:06:01
  away those roads. Beware of those potholes that
• 1:06:03
  we're just talking about. Turn around, don't drown.
• 1:06:08
  It's still pretty. It's still in the middle of
• 1:06:09
  summer, so stay hydrated, make sure you take care of yourself,
• 1:06:15
  take cooling breaks as you need them.
• 1:06:17
  Member safety depends on you and the training that you get if you
• 1:06:22
  get it. Be safe out there.
• 1:06:27
  Gearing up, we're just a little over a month away from National
• 1:06:31
  Convention or you to have a lot of fun and cause a lot of
• 1:06:35
  ruckus. So be safe out there.
• 1:06:37
  Have fun guys. James, you know we talk about.
• 1:06:46
  This all the time, but the managerial mindset is take as
• 1:06:51
  much money as possible from the carriers, make them work longer
• 1:06:54
  hours for less money as much as possible.
• 1:06:58
  And the sad part is our union elected representatives are
• 1:07:05
  saying the same thing. To summarize, rural carriers
• 1:07:10
  have had it too good for too long.
• 1:07:12
  We're gearing up for National Convention.
• 1:07:15
  It's time to tell them they've had it too good for too long by
• 1:07:21
  allowing management to treat rural carriers as if they're
• 1:07:26
  just numbers on a spreadsheet in a bell curve.
• 1:07:32
  I'm looking forward for. National Convention to seeing
• 1:07:34
  everybody there looking forward to working with Bill, Kristen
• 1:07:39
  Toski and everybody else to enjoy the week of doing our
• 1:07:47
  crafts. Union duty of voting on
• 1:07:51
  resolutions electing the new board.
• 1:07:56
  And going on into the. Next year, but we need your help
• 1:08:00
  there too. So get with us.
• 1:08:04
  Help us, let's get this going, let's protect this craft,
• 1:08:09
  because at the end of the day, we're all in this together.
• 1:08:16
  Bill I I'm. Past the point of frustration in
• 1:08:24
  regards to them rolling out program after program after
• 1:08:27
  program and management is is falling down on on their job,
• 1:08:33
  their responsibility to be trained and retain this
• 1:08:38
  information know what they're doing because of the fact that
• 1:08:41
  it affects so many lives. And it's scary to me.
• 1:08:45
  That they continue to do this without letting one program
• 1:08:49
  settle, such as Rex and, and, and be resolved.
• 1:08:53
  And and it's even more frustrating that our union
• 1:08:56
  leadership has not demanded that Rex be refined to the point
• 1:09:02
  where it's acceptable to everybody and before letting the
• 1:09:06
  post office step into another program.
• 1:09:10
  You said this rural. Route optimization program is
• 1:09:13
  nothing but a money grab and it's already yielded results
• 1:09:18
  where people are being put in the situations of danger making
• 1:09:22
  left hand turns or they shouldn't be.
• 1:09:25
  Isn't it funny that when the LL VS came out, they upgraded to
• 1:09:28
  the FF VS because we had the extra window on the left in the
• 1:09:33
  cargo area so that you could make left hand turns safe,
• 1:09:37
  safer, more safely than they have in the past, Yet now
• 1:09:41
  they're going to reintroduce the left hand turns back into
• 1:09:45
  routes? And we don't have the.
• 1:09:49
  Vehicle that is capable of giving us that site.
• 1:09:52
  I I've never driven the mattress so I don't know their line of
• 1:09:55
  sights as well as an FFV, but it just doesn't seem it very
• 1:10:00
  feasible that you're going to be safe either way.
• 1:10:03
  Making the left hand turn. I don't care how many windows
• 1:10:05
  you have because of the fact that, like James said earlier,
• 1:10:09
  UPS came up with the idea of only making right hand turns.
• 1:10:14
  Even though they went greater distances to get to a delivery
• 1:10:17
  destination. It was safer for their drivers.
• 1:10:22
  It was safer for their vehicles and their cargo to do so.
• 1:10:27
  So why would? You get into a situation where
• 1:10:32
  you're now putting us at risk even more.
• 1:10:36
  Worry about the heat that's. Killing people let let's make
• 1:10:39
  you make left turns situation where your ass is going to be
• 1:10:43
  hanging out there and our asses are hanging out there every day
• 1:10:46
  on our routes no matter what, but now they're going to
• 1:10:49
  jeopardize our our health and safety doing this route
• 1:10:53
  optimization program. I I just don't understand your
• 1:10:57
  mindset is. That mind.
• 1:11:01
  Do that. Do the best you can.
• 1:11:04
  If you have to take the package to.
• 1:11:05
  The door let them argue that, but you know, you're entitled
• 1:11:09
  that it's called carrier discretion.
• 1:11:11
  Be safe, be professional, you know, do it.
• 1:11:14
  Efficiency, efficiently hydrate and can't can't stress that
• 1:11:19
  enough with all the deaths we're having now.
• 1:11:22
  And get home to your family because you're the most
• 1:11:24
  important delivery of the day. I mean that with all my.
• 1:11:28
  Heart, I don't don't want to see anybody else show up on Facebook
• 1:11:33
  being injured or killed in the line of duty because this job's
• 1:11:38
  not worth your life. Kristen, thank you.
• 1:11:44
  Guys, it's yeah, it's been a week and.
• 1:11:49
  Yeah, I am I'm. Curious on this route
• 1:11:52
  optimization stuff when it comes to start mapping in my office.
• 1:11:56
  I mean, I already have to make 2U turns on US 23.
• 1:12:01
  One of them is actually 5 lanes. What I do 'cause I have another
• 1:12:05
  side road right right about where I turn around at is I pull
• 1:12:10
  into that side road and come out like I'm sitting at the stop
• 1:12:14
  sign at that side road and make an actual left hand turn to make
• 1:12:18
  sure that it's clear 'cause I at least said I got two lanes N 2
• 1:12:21
  lanes South and a turning lane in the middle.
• 1:12:24
  That's it's a dangerous spot. I I know another carrier in my
• 1:12:28
  office when he was in RCA did end up in an accident on that
• 1:12:32
  right in that spot there. So, yeah, it's, you know, be
• 1:12:36
  aware. And if an optimization does not
• 1:12:40
  look right to you and you know it's not going to be safe,
• 1:12:43
  definitely, you know, talk to management and be like, no,
• 1:12:46
  that's not going to work. Because we as.
• 1:12:50
  Carriers know our routes the best.
• 1:12:53
  And we know what. Areas are safe and what aren't
• 1:12:56
  safe. And on that.
• 1:13:00
  Note guys, you know make sure you stay hydrated.
• 1:13:02
  It is July it's ungod full hot in most in a lot of areas.
• 1:13:08
  Stay hydrated, do what you got to do to stay cool.
• 1:13:11
  Take those breaks as needed and the guys will be back next week.
• 1:13:17
  I will not be and have a safe week everybody and well, I won't
• 1:13:25
  see you next week but everybody else will.
• 1:13:27
  Bye. Yeah, some things had to be.
• 1:13:44
  Edited out. That was for your protection.
• 1:13:49
  It was for everybody. 'S protection, yeah, too, yeah.