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Regular? What is that? · United We Scan

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Thank you. Now here are the hosts of the
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United We Scan podcast. Welcome back, everybody.
1:06
Episode 48 regular. What's that?
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I think we're going to cut cover.
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Excuse me, I'm a little under the weather.
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As you guys can tell, we're going to be covering.
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We're going regular. Now what?
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So I'm going to pass this off to James and you could tell us, how
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was your week? Oh, it was the usual.
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I did get my Friday off, which was surprising considering I'm
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the lowest seniority person that was off that day.
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So I was very happy that they didn't bother to call me in for
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that or anything. And then the weekend was pretty
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much normal. They finally had the first
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opening session for the Model Railroad Museum.
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So Sunday I was today, I was there for it and everything ran
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pretty smoothly other than the typical usual issues we have
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with the largest O scale 2 railway out in the world.
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You know, dirty track, problems with electricity, things like
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that and things of course wearing out.
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But I figure since you're going regular next weekend and before
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the next episode Records, we would talk about all the
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different things it takes to become regular.
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But first, Bill, how was your week?
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Oh, baby, I love this time of year.
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The catalogs start piling up. You know, 14 feet of bundle
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flats, 12 tubs of loose flats. The last 114 COVID kits I
2:37
ordered for my customers came in I'm I'm kidding about the 114 it
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was. We're like 139.
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But I lost count after 114. So yeah, it's just a typical.
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And that's why we love you, Bill, because you take care of
2:50
everybody. But I do.
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Hey look, I I have a carrier that owes me $973.18.
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They needed a new alternator on their car and a new belt and
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it's one of the trans mounted engines.
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And of course you have to drop the engine to get to the
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alternator and they didn't have the money.
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So I footed the bill and you know, they turned around and
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gave me half of it on Friday and they'll pay off the other half
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the next pay period because. When people need help, I step
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up. Yes, yes, you do.
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My week wasn't too bad. It was.
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I don't know, I'm not going to say it was light.
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It wasn't really heavy. It's kind of at average Thursday
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I started not feeling so hot and then Friday was a 10 1/2 hour
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day for me, 'cause I really wasn't feeling good.
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And I've spent the last of the two days in bed.
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I did get myself out to do this today, but.
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Yeah, I'm going to be that person and unfortunately I am
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forced to call in tomorrow because there's just no way in
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hell I can do this tomorrow. Well, it's been proven she has
4:03
COVID 184. That's the new variant we have.
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Is that what that is? I don't know.
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I you know, I've never tested positive, so that would require
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taking a test. I mean there, there's so many
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variants. I'm up to 184 on the variants.
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And you know, the the hell with it.
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They after the last, you know, COVID-19 crap.
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If I get it, it'll be because I didn't drink Crown that night.
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You know, I think maybe I wasn't drinking enough crown.
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That might be it. No, I think she got the COVID
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variant USPS regular. She's now acting like a regular
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get taken the day after a holiday off.
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But no, it does sound but but I'm not a fish.
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No, yeah, I am. I'm actually pushed to talk
4:55
tonight in case I go to a coughing fit.
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So y'all, don't have to hear that or try and edit it out.
5:04
Oh, a 20 minute Heat training video.
5:09
Yeah, that's that falsification of hip training that the City
5:12
side had. We're not going to touch on that
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today just because number one, we want to try and be quick for
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Kristen, and two, we want to go over everything for regulars
5:25
right now, but we will be touching on that eventually.
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Well, but the big thing we want to talk about is going regular,
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what are the steps that go into that?
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How do we go through all the paperwork that we receive in the
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mail from it And what do we do as we become a regular and
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responsible for the route we're put on?
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So, Kristen, you just received what in the mail?
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What did you receive in the mail?
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I got my book from shared services and that has all the
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forms for your fag leaf, which is your federal employee.
6:12
Government life insurance, I think group life insurance, I
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don't have it right in front of me.
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I'm sorry, that is correct. And it has that, and it has your
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beneficiary paperwork and all that fun stuff.
6:28
And your healthcare information. Yeah, if you guys give me just a
6:32
second, I'll let you talk and I'll run and get my book.
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And and for those who just became regular or about to
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become regular. Begley is the one time now that
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you get to sign up for more than basic They rarely have an open
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season on Fegley, so if you need extra insurance for whatever
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reason, get it now. And life insurance is a very,
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very, very important thing because if for instance, you're
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out on the route and get taken out by a semi truck in ALLV,
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that's going to help cover expenses that you have related
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to that. If you were to be fatally
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wounded and things like that, it wouldn't be fully responsible on
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the rest of your family to take care of that.
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This, this is a worst case scenario.
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I'm not saying that it's going to happen or anything like that,
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but you should be prepared for anything that could come up.
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You never know. You could get COVID and to put
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you in the hospital and and you end up having some complication
7:41
with it or go to a hospital. It's terrible at taking care of
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people. You never know.
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So, yeah. And the fegley rates are still
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cheaper than the standard rates out on the open market too.
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So yeah. OK, I'm back.
7:58
Yes. Yeah.
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And the federal's always cheaper than than anything else you can
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come up with. Say I have life insurance
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through several different agencies myself, and they're all
8:12
more expensive than Fagli is. Now you have to actually to find
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out how much your your your share comes out for the fagli
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you have to go to theopm.gov site and they have a calculator.
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Now you have three options. You can decline it.
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And you have to send the paperwork in or you can get
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option A which is the standard, option B which is additional
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coverage up to five times your pay or option C which then would
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cover children under 22 in a spouse.
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But it's only like 5000 and 2500.
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I have gone on and looked and just to see what I want to do
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option wise. Of course, my wife made me take
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option B with five times. I was looking at doing 2 times,
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mine going double would I think if I remember right it was like
9:15
$7.20 a paycheck and that's for life insurance.
9:24
That's, yes, almost $15.00 a month.
9:28
There is no life insurance policy out there that is cheaper
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than that for what that is for, yeah.
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And that's double your rate that that you earning.
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So it's not $20,000, it's twice your rate that you're on the
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route that you're assigned to. Yeah, it came out.
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It was actually a pretty good, decent amount when I went in.
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I don't have the numbers right off the top of my head, but.
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And then after you do that, there's the forms for
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designation of beneficiaries that you have to fill out.
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That way, if something does happen to you, you know that's
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who the money is going to go or who can claim the money, I
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should say. And then there's the furs and.
10:18
Well, we don't really have any more civil service retirement
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systems. I mean, there's a few people
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still out there, but everything everybody else is under furs,
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which is the Federal Employees Retirement System.
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Now, what's the other important piece of paperwork in there?
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Thrift savings. There you go.
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That's my girl. That's a very important one as
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well. Thrift savings plans are very,
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very, very important for you. And and how much is the minimum
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you should put in there, James? Minimum 5%.
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Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding. We have a winner.
11:02
And many and and and many will and many will recommend 5 to
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10%. And then each time that you
11:09
receive a wage increase you up at another percentage and the
11:14
five, the 5%. The reason why you do the 5%
11:18
minimum is because that is the matching portion that the United
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States Postal Service puts into it.
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So you'd get the 5% yourself and then a matching 5% for the
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Postal Service. Anything above that 5%, you're
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only going to get matched 5% from the Postal Service, but put
11:38
into the retirement of the retirement.
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Do as best you can with that, because when you retire, you're
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going to rely on that TSP and the standard federal retirement
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that you get. So the more money you put into
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the TSP, the better off you're going to be.
12:01
Which I kind of had to go over with my son when he joined the
12:04
military. So that was kind of, I'm not
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unfamiliar with it at all. I'm having to help him along the
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way. And then you also have to think
12:15
about your health insurance plan that you want to go with.
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If you want to get a health insurance plan through the one
12:23
of the insurance companies, or if you want to go with the real
12:26
carrier benefit plan, check them all out.
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Figure out which one works the best for you.
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Those you can check out on Light Blue And tomorrow also starts
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open season for healthcare benefit.
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Yeah. Let me let me add a footnote on
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the TSP program. OK, folks, whatever you do, do
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not try to add additional monies to your TSP, because any money
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that you take out of your checking account, savings
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account, wherever you're taking it from, has already been taxed.
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And you will be taxed again when you start withdrawing from your
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TSP. So you're paying twice on the
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same money. Don't try to do any type of.
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Additional contributions to TSP, Period.
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I've had people advise me to do that, you know, so I can catch
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up. I'm like, well, hold it.
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I've been putting 15% away for years.
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What? What am I going?
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To catch up on don't pay twice on the same money.
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Yeah, and then the health insurance.
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And then also separate from your health insurance is the vision
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and the dental. They're two also separate from
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each other. Yeah, you can get dental without
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vision. You can get vision without
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dental. You can get vision and dental
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however you want to do it. But go through all the programs,
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all the plans, figure out what's the best ones for you.
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And this is all before you actually get placed on your
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route. This is all the stuff you get
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after you've won the bid on to the route, all this paperwork
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comes through and then you start working towards getting on your
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route like Kristen is on the 18th and yes the.
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The the RC AS can participate in the rule carrier health benefit.
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Yes, RC AS can actually participate in it and so can
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other crafts people as long as they pay in the dues to the
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rural craft, they can get the rural carrier benefit plan.
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I know of a couple clerks that have rural carrier benefit
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plans. There's some city carriers that
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have rural carrier benefit plans.
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It's actually not a bad healthcare plan and some people
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actually like it better than the plans that their craft has,
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obviously, Yes. Yeah, or they wouldn't be
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getting it. And and the nice thing about our
15:10
our program is that you can go online and compare different
15:15
plans side by side, which is a nice feature so that you can see
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what your out of pocket expenses are, your your total family, you
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know, out of pocket expenses which have all radically
15:27
accelerated over the years. But it gives you a good idea of
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what you're going to be paying out of pocket over the course of
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a calendar year. Yep.
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My computer froze up. I'm back now.
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Well, it's OK, We have technical difficulties all the time.
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I'm the biggest technical difficulty in this program, but
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that's OK. So then after you've picked
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through everything like that and signed up for the things that
16:05
you want and the things went through and made sure you didn't
16:07
get the things you don't want, then you're going to have to
16:11
start dealing with management, right, Bill?
16:16
Well, what I was going to say was that the, the the next thing
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you have to worry about is that you're going to lose money.
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Well, because, yeah. You become regular.
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You you lose money and people. Anyone feel like that?
16:35
Yeah, any RCA that is working more than 32 hours a week at the
16:40
post office is making more money than step one on table two.
16:48
Yes. And that's take home pay.
16:54
And the reason why I say that is all these benefits we were just
16:57
talking about are going to be taking out of your paycheck and
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even though you're going to be, what is it, I think it's like
17:08
$46,000 at 40 hours if I'm not mistaken, something like that.
17:15
I don't have the breakdown of the tables right now in front of
17:19
me, but when I started as a regular myself and got through
17:26
all the pickings and things that I wanted to do, I was actually
17:30
making five grand less a year than I was as an RCA.
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And I only had 3 1/2 years in as an RCA.
17:37
There's still a question on the RCA is taking the Royal Care
17:40
Benefit plan. You can take it, but you're
17:43
going to have to pay the full premium.
17:45
The employer only matches under what?
17:48
Is it the Blue Cross thing they have now?
17:51
Yes, and but you're going to. You're going to be making take
17:59
home a little bit less money, but the benefits that you're
18:02
paying into are worth a lot more than what you're taking home.
18:07
And as we all know, Rcas are feast or famine, and so you're
18:12
actually going to have a more of a regular paycheck than you
18:14
would as an RCA. So that'll basically even itself
18:18
out budget wise. Yeah, you'll be able to budget
18:21
better than, you know, an RCA, not knowing where they're going
18:25
to work, when they're going to work.
18:28
And on top of that, like when we had the payroll issue and over
18:33
45,000 carriers did not get paid, the regulars that worked
18:38
their normal routes did not do the extra days, the release day
18:43
work list or anything like that, or worked extra routes, things
18:47
like that. They all got paid because their
18:51
paycheck is the same every week, every pay period.
18:56
So that was easier for them to calculate out their paychecks
18:59
and get them paid than it was to calculate out an RCA or a
19:04
regular who was help volunteering to help on other
19:08
routes or working their relief day.
19:15
Plus, at least you can plan ahead kind of, I mean, Rex kind
19:18
of screws that up, but you can kind of plan ahead of what your
19:21
paycheck's going to be every two weeks, so you can plan your
19:24
bills out a little bit better. And did you guys cover the fact
19:28
that you when you get your benefit plan and you have all
19:32
your selections, you have to do you only have 60 days from your
19:37
effective regular date to have all that stuff in?
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No, we did not yet. No, we did.
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I wasn't sure when my computer hung up if you guys had talked
19:49
about that or not, but yeah, Nope, you covered it perfectly.
19:58
Yeah, you have 60 days from your effective date because you can't
20:01
go into light blue and under postalize and select the stuff
20:04
until you're actually effective. So yeah, 60 days from your
20:08
effective date to turn in all your.
20:11
All your good stuff in that fabulous, tabulous book I'm
20:15
trying to figure out. And there's a couple days of
20:20
reading there. Your effective date is the date
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you are placed on the route your first day as a regular.
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So it's like Kristen, she's being placed on her route on the
20:33
18th. Now that's her scheduled day off
20:37
for the route. And if she wasn't working that
20:41
day, that would still be her effective date.
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When I got posted on mine, my route has Saturday's off.
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My effective date was a Saturday, but I didn't start
20:51
working the route until Monday. I will be working my K day.
20:58
Yes. So that would be her effective
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date, would be the date that you are posted on that route, the
21:06
date you start that route. There's a question.
21:10
About how do you actually find out that you filled out the
21:13
insurance? And that that answer is, once
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you go on to the light blue program after you've sent the
21:20
paperwork in, give it a week, then all that ought to be coming
21:24
up on your Form 50 for your deductions for your
21:28
hospitalization and everything else in there.
21:31
Yep, should be on your form 50, but then again you'd have to
21:34
access your form 50 from a postal computer.
21:38
It will know how to let you look to it, look at it on your home
21:41
computer. Unfortunately they still have
21:44
not opened the EOPF on personal computers, which really sucks.
21:53
Yes, because they they are hiding important information
21:55
about you from yourself. Yes, but your management should
22:02
not turn you down when you request to be able to access
22:05
EOPF on in in our office computer.
22:08
Yes, and if they are, contact your designated union
22:12
representative. Now you don't use employees
22:16
computers at the post office. You get a supervisor to sign on
22:20
for you. Yes.
22:23
Was it with your? Postmaster, Yeah, you get your
22:26
postmaster or. Your supervisor or your OIC to
22:33
log on for you. We don't have logins and as as
22:41
mapping facilitators they wanted us to have log ONS for that, but
22:45
that is a higher level function. Being able to log on those
22:50
computers is technically a higher level function for the
22:53
world craft, so we should not have logins to do that.
22:57
Hold on, hold on. You just went down a rabbit hole
23:01
there. Are you saying that people in
23:04
the union that facilitate the mapping on the routes are in
23:09
higher level assignments? I did not.
23:13
I said that mapping is not a higher level function, but in
23:19
facilitating mapping for carriers is not a higher level
23:23
function. In fact, it's a safety net.
23:27
For rural, the rural craft to have somebody who is a rural
23:31
carrier be the mapping facilitator to ensure things are
23:34
done correctly instead of allowing management to harass
23:38
and bully carriers, to not put in traffic control points that
23:42
actually do exist. Now, I could get down a rabbit
23:46
hole with that one if I really wanted to, but we're talking
23:50
about becoming regular here, and that is actually a great segue.
23:54
As a regular carrier, as soon as you get placed on a route that
23:57
you may not have done anything to, you're definitely going to
24:03
want to sit down and go through the mapping, the entire mapping,
24:09
Make sure everything is the way you want it on that route, yes,
24:15
Check going back these. Your your traffic control
24:17
points. If you if you drop packages off
24:22
at a different spot than the former carrier, did you know you
24:25
can change those? I have been slowly fixing this
24:28
route since I started carrying it two days after Labor Day.
24:32
And yeah, I mean, edit books are another thing.
24:36
If if you weren't a designated 79 or a 74 and you're going
24:41
straight from a 78 into a 71, a regular carrier, you may not be
24:45
familiar with an edit book. Yeah, luckily I am.
24:52
Yeah. And that's, that's one of my
24:54
things that I have a problem with is that they no longer have
24:57
that, oh, you're becoming a regular carrier.
25:00
Here's training for you on being a regular carrier.
25:05
They used to do that. They used to train regular
25:08
carriers when they were moving up, and now they don't.
25:13
They don't teach you about all this stuff that we're talking
25:15
about. Well, that's because they don't
25:17
know how to do it. Well, you, you laugh, but I'm
25:23
being serious. I mean, you know, most people in
25:26
the supervisory level right now have no idea what to do with the
25:31
royal craft because they all came from either city or or
25:34
clerk craft. I'm laughing because I know
25:37
you're right. That's that's the thing.
25:40
Hold it. Hold it.
25:40
Say that again. I'm laughing because I know
25:43
you're right. I know it's hard for me to admit
25:45
you're right, but. But no, it's true.
25:51
Most most supervisors are coming from the clerk and the city
25:55
craft because the rural craft, number one, they don't like us
25:59
being supervisors because most rural carriers are actually
26:03
honest people and honest with their craft members, honest with
26:08
other carriers, other crafts about what's going on.
26:12
So they don't want them to be supervisors because they won't
26:14
just blindly follow what the district manager says.
26:20
Hang on, rabbit hole. That was more like a crater.
26:26
True. True.
26:27
Yeah, that was a meteor strike. Oh my God.
26:33
The biggest things that we can we can tell you is you want to
26:37
make sure your edit book is right.
26:41
The edit book should supposedly. Have a guide in the back of it
26:48
that tells you how to properly edit the book.
26:53
Now you want to use a red pen or pencil to write out their
26:58
changes on the edit book, but everything is listed in the back
27:02
of what needs to be listed where, how to do the edits,
27:06
things like that, and if it's not there.
27:09
Let your manager, supervisor, postmaster know that hey, my
27:14
edit book doesn't have the rest of the paperwork that's supposed
27:18
to be with it. And while you're checking to
27:20
make sure your edit book's there, make sure your route has
27:23
a copy of the PO6O3 edit. It's required to be at every
27:27
single rural case in the office. And a footnote for people like
27:36
me being anal compulsive. I make changes in my red book
27:40
for names and I use one of those little tab markers on the on the
27:45
page so that when the edit book goes up, AMS doesn't have a
27:50
problem finding any changes that I've made in my book.
27:53
I like that. I'm going to steal that now.
27:56
Thanks. No problem.
27:58
No, no problem I. Wasn't doing that that way.
28:00
I wasn't notifying them that, hey, I've got changes on this
28:03
page here, so that makes it a great idea.
28:07
I'm going to steal that one. I'll tell you what they can't
28:10
say they didn't see it, you know.
28:13
Now, we did have a comment. I made a post about this episode
28:19
in my group about the becoming a regular and what happens, and
28:24
one of the biggest comments that I've been getting is about the
28:29
Form 4015 D, the Form 4015 D, which is the World Carrier
28:37
agreement. To terminate guarantee and it
28:43
and it reads as follows. Pursuant to the provisions of
28:46
Article 9, Section 2A1 O of the National agreement between the
28:52
Postal Service and and the NRLCAI, name of carrier agree as
28:57
follows, I desire to be appointed as a regular rural
29:01
letter carrier during the course of the guarantee period set
29:04
forth in Article 9, Section 2AH. I desire to be compensated on
29:09
the evaluated schedule pursuant to the Guarantee Agreement and
29:13
therefore I agree to terminate that said agreement on the last
29:16
day of the year blank guarantee period.
29:19
I understand that my agreement as set forth in this document is
29:22
irrevocable, so this article specifically is based on Article
29:32
92A1O. Which basically says an employee
29:40
appointed as a regular world carrier during the guarantee
29:43
period as set forth in paragraph H, except on routes of less than
29:48
35 evaluated hours, shall be compensated on the evaluated
29:52
schedule of the Fair Labor Standards Act provided the
29:58
carrier agrees in writing at the time of appointment to terminate
30:01
the guarantee agreement on the last day of the pay period.
30:05
As defined, an Article 92A1H such agreement by any rural
30:11
carrier is irrevocable. Such an employee shall be
30:14
compensated in accordance with FLSA section 7B2, beginning the
30:19
first day of the next 52 consecutive week guarantee
30:23
period, a carrier who does not agree to terminate the guarantee
30:29
as described above. Shall be compensated at the rate
30:33
in accordance with Article 8.3 in the attained step and
30:37
overtime for work performed only after 8 hours on duty in anyone
30:44
service day or 40 hours in anyone service week pursuant to
30:49
section 7A of the Fair Labor Standards Act until the
30:53
beginning of the next guarantee period, at which time the
30:56
carrier shall be compensated under.
31:00
The regular format I I edited the last part what this what?
31:07
This is specifically the same, yeah.
31:12
And I'm going to break it down into simple English from
31:16
legalese here is that if you sign this sheet and you do have
31:24
to sign this sheet. It's when you are going to get
31:31
paid evaluation versus hourly. If you do not agree to be paid
31:41
by the evaluated system, they have to pay you hourly.
31:46
And each day you work, you work 8 hours, and anything over 8
31:51
hours is overtime, and anything over 40 is overtime.
31:57
And they have to pay you that until the next guarantee period.
32:04
And when is the guarantee period.
32:05
End Bill. Oh, October, October.
32:10
Something. The end of October?
32:14
No, it's actually the end of September.
32:16
Beginning October usually starts with the first full pay.
32:19
The new guarantee year always starts the first full pay period
32:22
of October. October, yes, yes.
32:25
First full pay period of October.
32:27
Starts the new guarantee. So this this past evaluation
32:35
period when we got our evaluations and started our new
32:39
evaluations was the beginning of the new pay period was which was
32:43
October 7th. So if you decide you want to go
32:49
hourly as a regular carrier, you got to think about how you're
32:56
going to do the route. If you can do the route under
33:00
evaluation in the summertime and you know you can take the
33:07
evaluation if you're not going to be able to do it.
33:12
Say for instance, the route is overburdened.
33:16
You got a 65K route, you got a route that's under evaluated.
33:25
So you got a route that's a 40H, but it's really evaluated.
33:30
It's really supposed to be a 40K.
33:35
Take hourly because you'll probably make more money if
33:39
you're always working over evaluation, and I recommend I
33:45
since I was since it was closer to the beginning of the
33:49
guarantee period. Obviously I took the evaluation
33:51
because I have been running this route off and on for the last
33:55
few years anyway. So I am comfortable with this
33:57
route. I know this route if you're one
33:59
of those that you're going regular on a route that you're
34:03
unfamiliar with, I'm going to say, which is kind of rare these
34:06
day and ages with short staffing.
34:07
But and it's towards, I'm going to say mid to towards the end of
34:12
a guarantee period and this is a route that you're not all that
34:16
comfortable with. I would suggest the hourly to
34:20
get comfortable with it and see where you're at.
34:23
But like with me, like I said, I've already knew that route
34:26
quite well and I'd already been holding it down for a month
34:29
prior to going regular month and a half, almost two months
34:32
actually. By the time I go effective
34:34
Saturday, it will be just over two months.
34:36
So yeah, evaluation for me. So but yeah, that's the options
34:40
when it comes to going hourly or evaluated when you're taking
34:43
over a new route as a new regular.
34:47
Now anybody that does use the hourly route.
34:51
I've always recommended that you know anything that you do over
34:54
and above your 40 hours, you put that extra money away.
34:58
Because come summertime, if the mail volume and the parcels
35:01
aren't there, you're going to need that extra cash to get
35:04
through. Also prepared to be harassed by
35:10
management for your hours because that that's a linchpin
35:14
in their side that they really don't want to have people on an
35:19
hourly basis. Knowing that some people would
35:22
milk it, some people aren't going to milk it, but it's just
35:27
a fact of nature. You have an overburdened route
35:29
and it's not fairly, you know, compensated in the 1st place.
35:33
But be very careful about choosing the hourly selection
35:38
and just in case, because you're going to take a couple months
35:40
until you become familiar with the route and then once you do,
35:44
you know summer's going to be a lean season for you.
35:51
Yeah, and you know, they're going to micromanage.
35:54
They're going to be out there trying to figure out, well,
35:58
they're going to be sitting in the office watching the computer
36:00
the whole time, yelling at you about stationary events.
36:04
You got to remember the message, beat the heat.
36:07
No stationary events and things like that.
36:11
Oh wait, yeah, that's what killed a carrier in Texas.
36:14
I forgot about that. In California, yeah, we've we've
36:19
had a few of those. But as long as you are doing the
36:25
job in an efficient, safe and reasonable manner that's
36:30
comfortable for you to keep you safe, then there's nothing
36:35
management can do. But taking the hourly or
36:39
evaluation is 100% carrier discretion.
36:45
It's not management. Management's going to try and
36:47
force you to sign it. And that's their big bug up
36:54
their butt. They want everybody on the
36:55
evaluated system, because if you're working over evaluation,
36:59
you're saving the post office money.
37:04
And you got to remember their spreadsheets got to look good.
37:07
Take for example my route. I'm I'm rated as 62 hours so I'm
37:12
a 48K. Well, you know.
37:15
There, there's five hours, you know, a week that I'm not
37:17
getting paid for. I'm keeping it under evaluation.
37:22
But you know, like tomorrow, tomorrow I'll be over
37:25
evaluation. Rest of the week I'll be under.
37:28
Doesn't matter in my case because I'm only getting paid
37:31
for a 48. So you know, look at the route
37:35
you're bidding on, make the decision based on that and God
37:39
knows when they're ever going to be able to make route cuts and
37:41
adjustments, so. You know, it's it's a
37:45
complicated decision you have to make.
37:47
But choose wisely. Yeah, absolutely.
37:52
Choose wisely. I know.
37:54
Like I said, I went, obviously that was the first thing that
37:58
Saturday morning after the bidding closed.
38:00
The very next day, she's like, congratulations, She hands me
38:03
that form. I'm like, Oh yeah, this form.
38:05
OK. And it is, it is confusing
38:09
reading it because you're like, what the hell is this talking
38:12
about? But yeah, I luckily, you know,
38:15
being educated within the craft, I was familiar with the form.
38:20
So I I knew what I was signing my life away for that day.
38:25
Like we said, the PO6O3 is supposed to be at every rural
38:28
case. If it's not there, deal with
38:32
management to get it there. If management's not willing to
38:34
get one, contact your designated union Rep because there's
38:37
supposed to be one at every case.
38:39
You need to learn the PO6O3. You should already know it as
38:45
Arca, but if you don't, you should learn it because that
38:48
tells you everything you need to know about being a real carrier,
38:52
and then you also have to learn the contract.
38:56
And both of those are very dry reads.
38:59
Most of it's written in legalese and it's hard to understand, but
39:03
management will tell you a bunch of garbage and see if you go for
39:07
it because. An uninformed carrier is loved
39:13
by management because they can tell you to do anything and
39:16
you'll go, oh, is that my job? Yeah, it's your job, do it.
39:20
But if you go, hey, that's against the contract.
39:23
Or it's this is how it says it in the PO6O3.
39:27
Management hates that. Yes, they do.
39:30
That's my favorite thing. You know, we've had carriers
39:33
say, well, I was looking at possibly, you know, instead of
39:37
just putting in a 3971 for a day, they they they would ask
39:42
and they'd be like, oh, well, we're not going to prove anybody
39:45
just in case so and so wants it off.
39:48
No, it don't work that way. And you know, I have a
39:53
supervisor. It's like, well, I want them or
39:55
I'm like, well, you guys have a copy of the contract.
39:57
Well, it's not here. I said it's because I got tossed
39:59
up by the scanners. So I'm one of these days and I
40:04
keep telling her she's like, well, I think it should still be
40:06
there. It's still there.
40:07
That's where it was when I left the office Friday.
40:10
And I'm going to take a little tabs.
40:11
It'll be like, so you want to educate yourself here, Start
40:14
with Article 5. Oh yeah, Article 10 is a big one
40:18
in this office. And Article 30.
40:21
And here, here, educate yourself.
40:23
And we put little tabs on them. Read me, Read me, Read me.
40:28
And I keep a copy of the M38 and the L in the bathroom.
40:33
I have them on my phone, but yeah, yeah, yeah.
40:39
Sometimes you run, you run out of toilet paper.
40:41
I get it. No, it's just a shitty read.
40:46
That's all that too. And extremely out of date.
40:53
Here's a very good comment for you to remember, Kristen.
40:56
And for all of us that are regulars too.
41:00
Don't forget what it's like to be a sub.
41:03
Keep your labels clean. And change them at least twice a
41:06
year, if not three times. Keep boxes clearly marked.
41:10
I asked them what else I can do to make my route easier for them
41:16
actually, and I've been doing that I this past week.
41:20
I took a couple days to do it, but as I was waiting on clerks,
41:24
I started it. Because I was waiting on the
41:25
clerks to sort packages, I got the yellow carrier alert cards
41:30
and they've we put the little label holder on there.
41:34
So I was writing all my seasonals in on those and when
41:38
they come back and so I went and of course I put them that with
41:41
the name up on them. But then I went in and all my
41:44
seasonal forwards as I was delivering, I was putting the
41:47
carrier alert card in the mailboxes that way because then
41:50
I was pulling mail out that should have been forwarded at
41:54
the same time since my route was split a couple days while I was
41:58
training. So that's just another way for
42:01
somebody who either is not familiar with the route or
42:03
you're training to do somebody your route that you know, they
42:07
they open that box. Oh, carrier alert.
42:08
If they look at the back of the card, they'll see, oh these
42:11
people are for, they're seasonal, OK And they can
42:14
continue on. I have red Carrier alert cards
42:17
that I put in the case, like we talked about this before with
42:20
Bill and his popsicle stick things, tongue depressors for
42:24
holds. That way, if it's not held out
42:26
of the DPS or, you know, they're not paying attention to to the
42:31
markings or to the dots on the case for the holds and the
42:33
forwards when they get out there, Oh yeah, it's on hold.
42:36
And bring the mail back with them.
42:38
You know, I'm cleaning up that case because there are several
42:42
addresses on that case that don't have a mailbox or house
42:46
burnt down years ago and I'm in the process of cleaning up and
42:51
waiting on my new labels so I can redo the labels on that
42:53
case. So all that stuff that it
42:55
doesn't currently get delivered, I can always go back and add it
42:58
in later if needed. Is not on that case, confusing
43:02
people because even I was, you know, taking over that route, I
43:05
was getting confused. You know, I had a package for a
43:06
house. I could I get to that address.
43:08
Wait, wait a minute. They don't even have a mailbox.
43:10
OK. They probably have APO box.
43:12
I get back. There's actually a listing on my
43:14
case of everybody that has PO boxes on that route.
43:16
And I'm like, oh, yeah, there it is.
43:18
Or just, you know, no mail receptacle it.
43:21
But yeah, it's is coming in and holding this route down as an
43:26
RCA and knowing that I will be handing in my 120 day letter
43:29
Saturday when I go in and having other RCA borrowed RC as running
43:36
my route that yeah, I try. I wanted to make it as as easy
43:43
as possible because it's it. That route can it.
43:46
It's a bear of a route at times. I'll put it that way, yeah.
43:52
And if you're actually. If you're bringing that parcel
43:55
back because there's no mail receptacle, scan it.
43:58
Yes, absolutely. It's it's under the.
44:03
I believe it's under the forwards.
44:06
It says no mail receptacle if I'm not mistaken, under the
44:11
forward forward section #3. When you scan, scan the package,
44:17
press enter. It's #3.
44:20
Yeah, I know that, but I don't don't remember seeing a no mail
44:23
receptacle. I've ever seen a vacant or a.
44:26
Either under that one, either under that one or under other
44:29
one of the two. I know my PO boxes get scanned
44:33
as a 321 back to the office for verification, then we just toss
44:37
it in for the PO Box section. But.
44:41
Yeah, and if you're interested, the ruralinfo.net.
44:47
It does have a real carrier edit book guide, so if you guys want
44:52
to actually look at a PowerPoint of how an edit book is done,
44:57
it's a great resource right there.
45:01
And as a new regular, like instead of touching back to the
45:04
mapping, Definitely don't let them rush you out the door with
45:08
your mapping you. They have to let you go through
45:12
that whole thing. Because even I'm noticing, I'm
45:16
noticing that the former regular mismarked quite a few things.
45:21
Because for you know, for one reason or another, the houses
45:26
were put in wrong places on their pinpoints, wrong
45:30
addresses. So yeah, I'm still cleaning that
45:33
up too. And if they're trying to rush
45:36
you out the door and trying to kick you off and saying you
45:39
don't need to go through all that, contact your designated
45:42
union representative. Because according to the
45:45
National Rail Letter Carriers Association, in their What's
45:48
new? Section mapping is the most
45:50
important thing to do for a carrier.
45:58
Excuse me? Well, I mean, if you want the,
46:01
if you want the proper credit for delivering A parcel to the
46:04
door, you're going to map your park points and your delivery
46:08
points correctly. Because that gives you out of
46:12
route miles and out of route feet for your deliveries.
46:16
And every foot adds up. Yes, it does.
46:22
And if you're one of those that has long driveways like I do my
46:28
Lakeshore side of stuff, you know that that does matter.
46:31
That adds up. Only if they're straight
46:36
driveways though, yeah. Unfortunately mine aren't all
46:40
that straight, but yes. That that still irks the living
46:44
shit out of me, because I've got several that, you know, wind
46:49
back and forth and it's a half a mile up to the damn house.
46:53
Yeah, the, yeah, 800 feet of credit.
46:57
They over the river and through the woods, Driveways, yes.
46:59
Yeah, Yep. But that's that's a lot of the
47:04
things that I have. Well, let let me reiterate what
47:08
Kristen said about remember when you were a sub, OK, that that
47:13
that point is lost on so many people.
47:16
Case in point, carrier next to me is a new regular carrier and
47:21
he was abused as a sub and everything.
47:23
And I I I came in on a Saturday on my drop day and they had two
47:27
open routes. And I said to him, I said are
47:30
you going to help? And I said, you know both those
47:31
routes And he said, well, well, no, why should I'm a regular
47:34
now? He says why don't you help?
47:36
I said I am helping. I'm here and by contract I'm not
47:41
allowed to help on other routes on my drop day because there's
47:44
no formula to pay me. But yet this guy, you know, I'm
47:48
a regular now. I don't have to help anymore.
47:52
Folks, you know that This is why we can't keep Subs.
47:57
Everybody's got to pitch in once in a while.
48:00
Yeah, I agree. And you know.
48:04
As they say, if management wasn't in the office, rural
48:10
carriers would get everything done.
48:12
Yep. Oh my God.
48:13
Yes, it it happens in my office from time to time, even with the
48:20
management there, I'm I I'm delegating and I'm covering it
48:24
and I have a supervisor saying I'm so glad you're here to know
48:27
what's going on. Oh, my word.
48:30
I had a clerk come up and tell me one day this week.
48:33
She's like, you know, she goes, You'd make a really great
48:35
postmaster, just 'cause you are so knowledgeable on everything,
48:39
I said. There's no way in hell you'll
48:40
ever see me go into management. Well, I'll give you my
48:46
supervisor who walks over and goes.
48:48
We have an open route today that needs coverage and then walks
48:53
away. What, what?
48:59
That's not managing. That's that's dodging
49:02
responsibility. Yeah.
49:07
Well, anything else? We got here for new RCA or new
49:10
regulars. I think we covered everything, I
49:15
think. Remember the job.
49:18
Real biggest thing you have to remember is the job doesn't
49:21
change when you go from RCA to regular.
49:24
Just the amount of work that you have to do changes.
49:29
You take the time to be an RCA. And some people have taken a
49:34
long time as an RCA, like Kristen over 8 years.
49:38
I know a guy who did 17, a couple that did 25 years as an
49:42
RCA. But I, you know, and and we know
49:46
of some of those that went regular after just a year, 13
49:50
months, two years, three years. I mean I I see these posts
49:53
lately of Oh my gosh, after three years I'm finally a
49:56
regular and I'm thinking congratulations.
50:01
And then others, you know, like after eight years we're like,
50:03
yeah, I was 12/14/17, you know, I'm kind of in that middle range
50:08
anymore. You know, there's there, you got
50:11
the ones from before that took 10/15/20 years and now you've
50:17
got the ones that are going regular in a year, two, 3-4
50:21
years. And here I am kind of in that
50:23
middle at nearly nine years, because I'll have nine years in
50:26
with the post office, December, middle of December.
50:30
And then you have some that are going in after just after their
50:33
90 days because they're are going are going PTF.
50:39
Yeah, because there's just not enough people, and too many
50:42
people have decided that it's not worth it to do this job
50:47
anymore. And we'll admit, this job's not
50:50
for everybody. And I do, I, I and I do kind of
50:54
want to add this on though too. And I was thinking about it
50:56
earlier. When when you go PTF, you get
51:00
all the career benefits, you're still a sub, you're still a
51:04
leave replacement. But that career benefits book,
51:07
that's that's you too, that that's for the PT FS as well
51:11
because you are at a career status at that point.
51:14
So let's not forget them. It's not just going as a regular
51:17
carrier, but you're going as a career as APTF.
51:19
Even though you're a leave replacement, you're still get
51:21
used and abused, just like an RCA.
51:24
Being a regular being career. Is a hard thing to do.
51:31
This job was never meant to be easy for anybody, and we're
51:35
hoping that we're trying to at least make it easier to
51:38
understand what's going on. Because at the end of the day,
51:43
we're all in this here, we're all doing this together.
51:47
It's all the same job, just different in some aspects.
51:55
The routes are all different, each person's different, but at
52:00
the end of the day our job is to deliver the mail and parcels to
52:05
our customers. It's funny that 26 years ago I
52:12
ran a wholesale lawn and garden supply operation for some
52:17
absentee owners, and when I left there to come back to
52:21
Pennsylvania, I I got the job. As a an RCA and I said Oh my
52:27
God, this is the easiest job I've ever had in my life and and
52:30
to a certain extent it still is. But management has much made it
52:38
much more tenable for people to just walk out the door, retire
52:41
early because of the fact that we have such piss poor
52:45
management you're talking about. This is not an easy job, and
52:48
it's doubly hard if you have a POV route.
52:53
Because when I had a POV route, I don't care what the EMA is, it
52:57
never covered your expenses. No, it doesn't.
53:01
And having been, you know, having delivered out of a POV
53:05
for the majority of my RCA career, I can definitely agree
53:11
with that one. I started at a POV and, you
53:15
know, just recently finally sold it.
53:17
After the second one, I don't know.
53:19
I can't tell you how many. I've had Six, 5-6 different PO
53:23
VS in eight years. So yeah it's it definitely does
53:28
not cover all the expenses and that's that was one of the
53:33
reasons why our POV route she kept asking him are you going to
53:36
switch over because he's only a 41K you know and oh it's a 45K.
53:40
She kept asking if he was going to bid on it.
53:42
He's like, you know, he's like, I've got a loan on this Jeep
53:45
because this EMA just covers my loan and a few extra things.
53:50
He goes, why the hell would I want to take it out of my
53:51
paycheck for an extra $125.00 a week?
53:54
He goes It's not worth it to me. I remember first time my my POV
53:59
broke down and I called in and the supervisor says, well,
54:03
where's your backup vehicle? You know, by the time I was done
54:07
laughing, I think the supervisor hung up on me.
54:12
Hey Josh, nice of you to join us.
54:16
Well, you know. In regards to what you're saying
54:20
a bit ago, with certain parcels, you scan them as incomplete
54:25
address and then address verification.
54:31
That does not kill the clock, It does in the office, but when.
54:37
But when they deliver it at the PO Box, it kills it completely.
54:42
OK, I would do it as a forward. If it's going to your PO Box, I
54:48
would scan it forward. No it's it's back for
54:53
verification only for the sure fact that it goes to the PO Box
54:57
and then once the PO Box scans it in as delivered then it stops
55:02
the clock. It stops the clock on my route,
55:04
but it doesn't stop the clock for the actual package to be
55:07
delivered right? And it's probably the
55:11
penultimate thing you can do as a real carrier.
55:14
It means your career. It means you're earning towards
55:18
retirement. It means you're moving towards
55:22
the goal of becoming a retired rural letter carrier.
55:27
It's on us as retired rural carriers, regular rural
55:32
carriers, to help teach the next generation Rcas and PTFS what it
55:40
means to be a regular and what it means to become a retired
55:43
rural carrier. And our job does not end to
55:49
teach these people. Because an educated carrier is
55:54
the bane of management, absolutely.
55:58
And educated Rcas are even a bigger thorn in their side.
56:02
So kudos for all you well educated Rcas out there.
56:08
They don't like that. I know from experience.
56:13
Ain't that the truth? Yep.
56:17
Oh, by the way, congratulations on becoming a regular because
56:21
when they ask you to help on another route, you can say no, I
56:27
can't, I'm sorry. My my route is extremely heavy.
56:34
I mean, like I said, Friday was 10 1/2 hours.
56:36
Granny or not, I was sick. But, you know, if I'm looking at
56:42
it, you know, if I'm not getting out of the office till 1111
56:45
o'clock, there's no way in heck I'm going to be back in time to
56:48
help. None whatsoever.
56:51
So, you know, there may be those days if I have a light day and
56:54
they were like, hey, we need somebody to run the AUX, they'll
56:56
be like, yeah, you know, I'll go ahead and take it.
56:58
Yeah, I'll take that extra hour and a half of overtime.
57:01
But as of right now, I'm going to be working every K day I
57:05
have. So I don't have a sub, we just
57:10
we had our rehire. I did go out with him twice on
57:13
Tuesday and Wednesday. Friday was a shit show because
57:20
he had to work and Rattlesnake assisted as well as the
57:25
postmaster, but it was still a complete shit show and one of
57:30
the other regulars ended up running the OX route.
57:33
I had one that was in Academy last week so we're trying to
57:36
figure out when to schedule him for OJT and then we have.
57:41
Our other one is orientation on Tuesday and I believe doing the
57:46
shadow day on Wednesday. Not my route, even though
57:49
technically it should be, but they went to the other route so
57:55
I like I said, when I walk in Saturday I will have that 120
57:59
day letter in my hand. Sign it round, date it, copy it.
58:06
There's yours. All right.
58:08
So how about if we wind this one down tonight, guys?
58:14
I think, I think we touched on the most important aspects of
58:17
becoming a regular. Absolutely, absolutely.
58:21
And if and if we if we haven't, feel free to comment on our post
58:27
when we post this podcast in the group and comment on it on what
58:30
we missed. And you may hear your comment on
58:33
the next week's episode. And when we're back next week,
58:37
I'll be a regular. Oh my.
58:42
I'm going to send you a bottle of Metamucil.
58:46
No, no, please don't. All right, now you're sending me
58:52
to a coughing fit. Thank you.
58:55
And just a reminder for those that missed it last week, we did
58:59
say that we might have a special.
59:02
Midweek live recording with a special guest and unfortunately
59:09
it did not work out this past week, but it might work out this
59:13
week, so stay tuned. Join our Discord Server
59:18
#shameless plug. Yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna
59:24
try again, that's for sure. We're not giving up.
59:27
Because if if we do that, you can actually listen to us live
59:31
while like the audience that we have in this one right now.
59:35
So if you're not part of our Discord server, you might want
59:38
to join that. The link will be in our group,
59:42
the United We Scan Podcast group on Facebook.
59:46
So you can actually join through there and there may be a special
59:49
guest that you can listen to. And before I go back to bed
59:53
tonight, I will update the link on the page too for Discord.
59:58
Is it Kim Kardashian? They'll just have to tune in to
1:00:05
find out, won't they? Damn.
1:00:11
All right, guys. I'm going to give my final
1:00:15
comments here real quick and then turn it over to the guys.
1:00:19
I say, you know, stay safe out there.
1:00:21
Tomorrow's going to be hellacious the Monday after
1:00:23
Saturday holiday. I honestly do feel bad for
1:00:27
calling in for tomorrow but as you all hear me, it's just no
1:00:31
way I physically can work tomorrow.
1:00:33
I did everything I could to get up and out of bed to be here
1:00:36
tonight. So everybody stay safe and
1:00:41
remember 1 box at a time tomorrow and get home to your
1:00:44
loved ones and. I'm going to turn it over to
1:00:48
James and Bill now. Well, Kristen, we hope you start
1:00:54
feeling better. And we're actually surprised you
1:00:56
even made it to this episode to record.
1:01:00
We were, we were talking earlier, before the show and and
1:01:03
I'm just amazed that you were able to last this whole episode
1:01:07
with us. I thought you might get into a
1:01:09
coughing fit and go Yep, I'm done talking.
1:01:12
I've had, I've had a few of them and the sweats are coming back
1:01:16
and this fever is killing me. So I'm going to go back to bed
1:01:19
here in a few. So get you some light, yeah, get
1:01:24
yourself some Nyquil and go to bed and we'll we'll talk to you
1:01:27
on on the Discord server or in the groups, so.
1:01:32
Feel better, John, you want to give us some final thoughts that
1:01:37
you listened into some of this well?
1:01:42
Before I give final thoughts, is this going to say couple of the
1:01:47
key points that that we brought up today is they covered some of
1:01:53
the changes with the insurance plans and the Medicare
1:02:01
requirements as of January 20, 2025.
1:02:07
We did not cover that because I think that would be getting a
1:02:09
little bit too deep into. What?
1:02:11
I'm saying this is what they covered at the booster.
1:02:15
Oh, OK. The person that did the SAC
1:02:22
update is the newly elected SAC board member, so he really
1:02:32
didn't have much information that he could put out.
1:02:36
Except for it will be in Atlanta this year or next year, because
1:02:39
next year is the credit union's 100th anniversary.
1:02:46
And then it will start rotating after that through all the
1:02:50
states in SAC, whoever the sitting president is.
1:02:54
So we'll be in North Carolina in 2026 and then go through the
1:03:01
rotation of the rest of the states after that was.
1:03:04
Good information type. You know, from what I was able
1:03:07
to hear, I didn't catch the beginning part you guys.
1:03:12
It sounded like pretty much covered everything, especially
1:03:16
the new people. Don't get overwhelmed.
1:03:20
If you do take a step back, take a deep breath and get and step
1:03:25
back in. Especially tomorrow, it's going
1:03:29
to be rough for everyone who is working.
1:03:34
They said day after a holiday and it's a Monday.
1:03:38
Have a good week. Talk to you next time.
1:03:41
Enjoy the three day weekend. I'm not looking forward to
1:03:44
tomorrow with daylight savings time.
1:03:46
I I really, I really hope people take the heart the fact that,
1:03:50
you know, we do this of our own volition on our own time without
1:03:54
any compensation, despite what James thinks.
1:03:58
And all we're trying to do is help you.
1:04:02
You know knowledge base. You know for the contract for
1:04:05
your benefits as a newly crowned rule carrier your career
1:04:09
employee. Our whole goal is to to help you
1:04:14
in your time of need or your time of questions in regards to
1:04:17
what's going on and and you can't find other credible
1:04:21
sources or you don't know where to look and we can we can point
1:04:24
you in that direction that that's all we're here to do is
1:04:27
to serve and you know I I take. Great pride in that, in regards
1:04:32
to the fact that we do this for free because we care.
1:04:37
And I I truly mean it. And I believe my hosts truly
1:04:40
believe that also because otherwise, what's the point of,
1:04:44
you know, even being here, tomorrow's going to be tough.
1:04:48
Everybody you know, like, like Josh says, you know, take a deep
1:04:53
breath, step back, you know, and gather your wits.
1:04:55
And then step back in. Because it's going to be
1:04:58
hellacious tomorrow and you know, with daylight savings time
1:05:02
and the darkness coming early, everybody please be safe.
1:05:06
Be aware when you're delivering in addresses with dogs or small
1:05:09
children in the dark. You know, I I, I don't worry
1:05:13
about my own personal safety, but I do look out for my
1:05:16
customers, the kids and the dogs.
1:05:18
Just, you know get home safe to your family.
1:05:20
You know you're the most important delivery of the day
1:05:23
and and make sure you complete your job and that job is getting
1:05:26
home to your loved ones. Everybody, have a good week.
1:05:30
Thank you guys and I agree with everything you guys have said.
1:05:36
You know with this earlier darkness that we're coming upon,
1:05:41
if you feel it's unsafe to deliver, if you can't see, and
1:05:46
they don't provide you with the tools to be able to safely
1:05:51
deliver the mail, then you have the right to tell them it's
1:05:57
unsafe. You're obligated to tell them
1:06:01
it's unsafe because that's what the PS4 M 1767 is for.
1:06:09
Is unsafe work condition. Your designated union steward
1:06:14
should back you up on that, should supposedly.
1:06:20
But the most important aspect of any of this is that when you go
1:06:26
out there, you do the job to the best of your ability, because at
1:06:31
the end of the day, we're all one craft and we're all in this
1:06:38
together. Thank you guys for listening and
1:06:42
we'll see you next week. And Kristen's left us and she's
1:06:58
back, I think.