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Political Season, Reports, and upcoming things · 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.
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Episode 96, political season reports and upcoming things, I
1:02
guess, is what we got going on tonight.
1:05
James, how was your week? It was hell on wheels. 5 speed
1:13
of political mail approximately on Monday and DPS being late
1:19
pretty much every day this week because they're holding it at
1:22
the plant to get all the political mail out of the plant.
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And I didn't get done Monday until almost 8:00 while I walked
1:29
out the door at 8:00. But Tuesday late back again late
1:35
mail, Wednesday late mail late back.
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Thursday late mail late back. Friday late mail late back.
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It's just political season needs to end soon because being a
1:49
swing state and all our other swing state carriers will agree
1:52
with us on this is murder on our hands, on our spirits and on our
1:58
our work life because we don't get time to go home with it.
2:02
And we know right after it's done, we start going into
2:06
package season. So another week of that and I
2:09
guarantee you we'll have Flyers all the way through Friday that
2:12
we're still delivering even after all the voting is done and
2:15
tabulated. Somebody can see somebody wins
2:18
and it doesn't matter because in the end it's it's just a pain in
2:23
the butt. For me.
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The weekend was nice. I spent time with my family, did
2:28
some yard work around the house and cleaned up a little bit and
2:32
fall cleaning with the extra hour I got today to help out.
2:37
Now we're here on the podcast. So how was your week Bill of not
2:41
doing anything? I have 4 pages of things not to
2:46
do but I haven't done. I went out and bought a new car
2:51
on Thursday and got me a Kia Celtos so I have something a
2:54
little bigger to put the grandchildren in in the back
2:57
seat. A handled maybe about 30-40
3:01
calls from my office in regards to political mail.
3:06
They actually actually I, I I. I'm not making this up, folks.
3:11
Your two routes down and they wanted to send another sub to
3:14
another office and I'm just sitting there going, are you
3:16
kidding me? Now the picture that, you know,
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you all got of that political mail that like I said, that
3:22
represented almost 2200 pieces and other guys, you know, 4300
3:26
pieces of political mail. And I'm asking, is the radar
3:31
report up? Are you getting credit for this?
3:33
You know, is this WSSWSH? And you know, ladies and
3:39
gentlemen, I feel sorry for you, but if you don't pay attention
3:44
in regards to the, you know, the radar report and what
3:47
qualifications WSS or WSH is, you're getting screwed.
3:52
Because in the swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan,
3:55
Virginia, Georgia, I believe Wisconsin too, you're getting
3:59
hammered. And, and these are numbers that
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you should be getting credit for as flats, as raw flats, if not
4:08
WSS. So please, you know, pay
4:11
attention and check the numbers because if somebody sits you and
4:14
says, well, that's why you have a 19% buffer in there, 19%
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doesn't make up, you know, for 2300 pieces of political mail or
4:25
4300. It's, it's just off the charts.
4:30
You know, I, I, I like somebody said a million death by a
4:34
million paper cuts. And it's true.
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I mean, there's nothing more demoralizing than coming in and
4:40
seeing a 14 inch stack of political Flyers and on your
4:43
case Monday morning and then turning around and finding your
4:47
four more bundles in your damn hamper.
4:50
They threw it in the bullpen. You know, God bless you all.
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You know, right now, I think I'd, I'd be gone powerful.
4:57
And you know, that's one of the reasons, you know, with, with
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the current management in my office that, you know, it was
5:03
better for me to get out of there before I, I went to a
5:06
penitentiary because, you know, I, I can't, just can't tolerate
5:10
this crap anymore. The way we're shit on.
5:12
And, you know, after seeing the NAL CS contract come out, I'm
5:17
only expecting the worst for us. So God bless you all.
5:20
Be safe. And, you know, especially
5:23
everybody who's in the life saving time zone.
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Oh my God, it's dark at 4:50 right now.
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So come do you guys have the daylight savings time there in
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Michigan? See you.
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So you know, James, you're going to be working 3-3 hours out in
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the dark tomorrow. Yeah, God help you.
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God bless you. Be safe and and know where the
5:47
bad dogs are. How about you, Kristen?
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How's your week out? Well, Monday was 11 1/2 hour
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day. Gotta love the political we, I
5:59
think Monday we, we've had more, we had more mail Monday and what
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we've had on a Tuesday after a Monday holiday lately, it was
6:07
just ridiculous. It took me over 4 hours to get
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out of the office. I mean 11:00 AM is usually my
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that's, that's my point of no return.
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And it was noon when I got out of the office on Monday.
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That's and got back at 7:00. Tuesday was almost just as
6:26
heavy. Not quite, but the DPS wise has
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just been horrible. Then Wednesday I trudged through
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it. And then Wednesday night I was
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starting. My taste was diminishing, I
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hadn't been feeling good all week anyways, and I was just
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feeling eh sinuses. So I took a couple Benadryl.
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Those don't usually knock me out.
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Didn't do nothing. Took a couple Aleve PM those,
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usually one knocks me right out. Yet now, 2-3 hours later, I'm
6:53
still staring at the ceiling. Got up, went to the bathroom,
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took a COVID test. Guess what was positive?
7:01
So I called in sick for Thursday and Friday.
7:05
So I go back tomorrow. I'm feeling a whole lot better
7:08
than I was. But other than that, yeah, I'm
7:11
waiting to see what kind of mess I have to clean up tomorrow.
7:14
That should be fun. Whether or not the the RCA paid
7:18
attention to the three seasonals that go on Friday that went on
7:22
Friday, the whole that started Saturday.
7:25
Yeah, I have a lot going on this weekend for me to be sick, but
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but. You feel you're feeling better.
7:32
You feeling better now? I am feeling a lot better now.
7:34
Yes, it's a lot better. It was rough last week, so and
7:41
then Tuesday Ruby got her off her e-mail and background check
7:46
e-mail, and Friday she got her e-mail to go do her
7:50
fingerprints, so she ran up and did those.
7:53
Or she has my condolences. Right now I have to find the
8:01
money to find her APOV. That's the fun part.
8:06
She got to work out of your office.
8:07
Yes, she is. All the.
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People in your office? Not only do they have to deal
8:18
with you, Kristen, they're going to have to deal with the one you
8:21
trained from birth. Right, here's The thing is is
8:27
I've got a copy of the new Academy book.
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I mean, I can get her started. Oh, just let her listen to all
8:35
the podcasts, she'll be started enough.
8:37
Right, right. Plus she's been to every union
8:42
function with me this year except for National.
8:46
Yeah, that. Would have been.
8:48
I don't think she would have made that trip with a brand new
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newborn, no. No, excuse me as much.
8:54
That would have been very difficult.
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Yeah, that would have been very difficult for her.
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So we I understand at least. I don't know if Bill does, but I
9:02
do. No, I don't.
9:06
No, no, I'm the one that said no, you're not going.
9:09
You know, back in Vietnam, they'd give Burton rice Patty
9:12
and go back to work. I didn't want to deal with her
9:15
in a newborn on a three day car trip.
9:17
Oh. Being two days postpartum, no, I
9:21
did not want to deal with that. I know.
9:23
All your shit in my car, I didn't have room for him
9:25
anyways. Yeah, that's right.
9:29
Your time on the hood. It's a hood ornament, you know,
9:31
like I remember. Back in the day, we.
9:39
Used to ride on the back window laying down.
9:42
Oh, no, no, no, no, we no, this is a true story.
9:45
Our family is me, my family, my father's sister, my aunt used to
9:50
go down the Wildwood every year for a month because, you know,
9:52
we had a house down there. And on the way back, my, my
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dad's car broke down. So we, we put back the Uncle
10:01
Joe's station wagon as much as possible.
10:04
And the three boys, me, Joe and Michael didn't have any place to
10:07
sit. So we got up on the top of the
10:09
roof and they put a tarp over us and we held onto the roof rack
10:14
bars on his, his Chevy Impala wagon.
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We drove about 56 miles back home that way under a tarp.
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That's why I don't hear anything.
10:28
Yeah, I know. You know, getting hit in the
10:29
head a couple times didn't help, but you know.
10:32
But dear. Lord, OK, before we go further
10:38
off the rails all. Right see that he see how he
10:43
played that off the rails get it get it go ahead James we're.
10:47
Trying to get We're trying to get back on track here.
10:50
You know the train needs to keep rolling.
10:52
At the station, Well, you have a really good question down in the
10:55
chat. I don't know if you want to
10:57
start off with it or. We, I, I think we'll end with
11:04
that. That's actually a really good
11:07
one and it's probably going to take a length of time to talk
11:09
about. So I'm going to put it in my
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little topics chat window that I have.
11:14
We can do it. All right.
11:15
So as we talked about. In the intros it daylight
11:19
savings time happened early this morning.
11:22
We gained an extra hour supposedly, though I still can't
11:25
figure out how cutting off the end of the blanket and sewing it
11:28
on the top makes it a longer blanket.
11:30
But you know, carriers are going to be out in the dark more more
11:36
often. So I wanted to kind of talk
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about the things that we as carriers can do to help protect
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us at night, things you carry with you for night time, stuff
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like that. Do you think that'd be a good
11:52
idea for the start of this? Because it's very important that
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we protect her at night. Absolutely.
11:59
Kristen, why don't you just start us off with how you get
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yourself ready for night time operations, how you set yourself
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up and what you use to work at night?
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I well, first why I keep it in the truck year round, though, I
12:13
have a small rechargeable flashlight that's got several
12:18
different settings on it. You strobe where I think I keep
12:20
that the truck year round, but I have that hanging up by my
12:24
visor. And then I have the little
12:28
finger gloves with the lights on them.
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I prefer those over a headlamp. Even when I'm driving I just aim
12:34
my fingers down so it's not reflecting off the windshield.
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And then I've I prefer those much more.
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And I mean worse comes to worse if the battery dies or I forgot
12:45
to charge them or something. I have two pairs now.
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I just got to dig out the other pair.
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But cargo light, I prefer that instead of the overhead light
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just because for me, I don't like all that bright reflective
13:00
stuff off the windshield. So cargo lights, my last resort.
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But yeah, I prefer my fingerless gloves.
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They say with driving, I just point my fingers down.
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James. I was going to go.
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To Bill next, you know, he worked at night too, just like
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we did, especially in Pennsylvania there.
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You know, I want to know what he used while he was out on the
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route, especially being that we're an LOV and he wasn't an
13:21
FFB. So there might be a small
13:23
difference between the two. Well, to me there wasn't really
13:26
that much difference because of the angle of the windshield
13:30
reflecting that light. What I would do and and this is
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it takes a little ingenuity, is you get a piece of cardboard and
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you cut a three quarter ammeter circle and then notch it on the
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inside to fit around interior light, not the cargo light, but
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you know the actual overhead light.
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And what that does is prevents that light from hitting that
13:55
windshield and directs all the light down onto the mail area.
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And that works nominally, like I said it, it takes a little, you
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know, work to do it and you know, and you had to measure the
14:06
circumference of the light and all that crap.
14:08
But it it works great. And, you know, as long as I was
14:12
working, I left it in there. I left it in once for a sub and
14:16
they pulled it out and I said OK after that and, you know, no
14:19
more leaving it for the sub. The other thing if it is that at
14:23
night time, unless you know the route, specifically at your
14:27
route and you know where the dogs are that are not friendly,
14:32
have a tactical flashlight that does a very high frequency pitch
14:39
with a very fast strobe light, which drives them nuts just in
14:43
case they come up on you unexpectedly.
14:46
And it just stops them in their tracks because they have no idea
14:49
what to do. They're the, the light blinds
14:52
them, you know, off and on like that.
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And the, and the frequency is just high enough to, you know,
14:57
really get in their eardrums and bother them.
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I can't hear it because it's for a dog, but it works.
15:04
It's worked without the flashlight.
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It's worked with in conjunction with the flashlight.
15:09
But I, I always had a headlight, you know, on me, you know,
15:13
headlamp on me because of the fact that I want to watch where
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I'm walking too. I mean, you, you, you don't know
15:20
where every little nook and cranny in the lawn is.
15:22
And, you know, if it's anything like my lawn, there's, there's a
15:25
couple little bumps there that they'll turn your ankle in a
15:28
heartbeat. So, you know, watch where your
15:31
footing is, watch where you're going, you know, and watch for
15:34
the dogs. That cardboard trick is, is
15:36
magical in regards to keeping the light off the the windshield
15:40
so you can drive without that flash.
15:43
As far as the lights concerned, you know, turning off and on you
15:47
just drove me nuts. So that's what I came up with,
15:50
Beans. So like Kristen, I use usually
15:53
use the cargo light in the back if I can because my light over
15:59
the top of my me in the driver's compartment.
16:03
Shines off the. Mail right on the windshield and
16:05
I can't see and so I do that. I also do either flip flop or
16:10
case on my mail in the winter time because I don't want to
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have to finger through it while I'm to have the light on and
16:17
stuff I can just grab and talk. Then I also bought one of those
16:22
headlamps that has the wrap around flexible LED strip for
16:26
walking the doors and stuff so I can see on the sides of me and
16:30
stuff to prevent dogs from sneaking up on me, things like
16:35
that. Always carry your dog spray on
16:38
you because worst case scenario that's one thing you can do.
16:43
As Kristen says, she has the finger gloves.
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I personally, I don't like anything on my hand when I'm out
16:48
there, but it does work great for a lot of people.
16:53
Several people in my office have those.
16:55
Some people have book lights that they clip on to their
17:00
praise to deliver within my office so they can actually have
17:04
it right over their mail so they can see the mail, but it's not
17:07
as bright as the Dome lights in the truck.
17:10
So there are all kinds of different tricks you can do and
17:14
things like that, but just setting yourself up for the day
17:17
at the beginning is I think the biggest contributor to success,
17:22
especially at night. You know, even organizing your
17:25
packages and delivery order before you go out for the route
17:29
is especially a great way to ensure that you're not missing
17:32
any parcels in the dark. But if anybody in our chat has
17:36
any suggestions too, we'll be more than happy to put them up
17:39
later on in the in the episode of what they suggested.
17:42
So being that it is coming to an end on Tuesday, supposedly
17:49
political mail, I wanted to go. Back over a few important
17:53
things. That have still been going on
17:56
around the country and the very first one is telling people to
18:02
stop at every mailbox to check for ballots.
18:05
Kristen, you posted about this this week, so I figured you,
18:10
yeah, you you were talking, you posted the NRLCA letter that was
18:15
put out about it. Yeah.
18:17
I mean, we're mounted routes. If the flag's up, obviously
18:21
you're going to stop. I mean, it's not.
18:23
They're not going to pay, you know, they're not paying us to
18:25
stop at even vacant boxes, which I've heard postmasters say you
18:28
got to stop at vacant boxes. No.
18:32
If that box is vacant, why the hell is it going to have a
18:34
ballot in it? So yeah, I mean, if the flag is
18:39
up, check it. Obviously if they're them, put
18:42
their flag up, that's on them. Basically what it comes down to,
18:45
yeah. You know, and if if you're
18:49
getting an instruction from management that you have to stop
18:52
at every single mailbox, make sure you clarify.
18:56
Do I have to untake the zip ties off the mailboxes that are zip
19:00
tied, closed, vacant? Do I have to check every single
19:04
box? If so, do I get a WSS entry
19:07
because I'm doing 100% coverage on my route?
19:11
How am I getting paid for these extra stops that you're going to
19:13
make me do? Because if they're not willing
19:15
to pay you for it, then they need to show you in the PO6O3
19:19
where it says you have to stop at every single box.
19:22
Now one of our listeners posted in additional mandatory
19:27
instructions for delivery carriers will check every
19:31
delivery point for outgoing mail regardless of whether they have
19:33
incoming or destinating mail. These checks shall entail on a
19:37
mounted routes visually checking mail receptacle that has the
19:41
flag up for outgoing mail while servicing CB us visually
19:46
checking the outgoing slot on Parkin loops or dismounts.
19:50
Visually checking the mail receptacle box to determine if
19:52
outgoing mail is displayed outside for pickup.
19:56
So and nopes said I would suggest checking boxes with a
20:00
broken flag. Bill, what's your take?
20:02
Well. Considering the fact that my
20:05
office for office has just been alerted that they can come in
20:09
early Tuesday, they start an hour and a half earlier at 7:00
20:14
AM, and they will be required to stop at every meal back box,
20:18
whether the flag is up or not to check for ballots.
20:22
I've only got one word to say. Bullshit.
20:26
You want to, you know, say the broken flag one.
20:28
OK, you know that that's on you if you want to make that
20:31
determination. But if there's not a flag up,
20:36
I'm not stopping for it because you're not paying me for it.
20:38
Like James said, if you want me to stop every box that I want
20:42
AWSS credit for it and I want AWS flat credit, not a letter
20:46
credit. You know, I, I want to get paid
20:48
for doing this extraneous work that's not required by the six O
20:52
3. And if you're going to make me
20:54
stay out there, you know Monday's going to be hell.
20:56
Tuesday's going to be hell and I'll guarantee you, you know
21:00
that offices and other formed carriers will follow this, but
21:05
offices will put out these statements that, you know, you
21:07
have to stop at every box. Show me in writing, folks.
21:11
Don't show me something from district.
21:12
Don't show me something from local management.
21:15
Show me in writing in any related, you know, manual, the
21:19
six O 3D Elm, the M38, our contract that says we are
21:23
required to stop at every box. You're not getting credit for
21:27
that when we're delivering mail the other 300 days of the year.
21:32
How are you paying me for the 301st day of delivery?
21:36
Where's my credit? So I will say bullshit.
21:39
And you know, if you have a local steward in your office or
21:43
an area Seward, contact them immediately in regards to this,
21:46
you know, postings and file a grievance against it.
21:49
I I agree completely, file agreements if they're forcing
21:52
you to stop at every box because you want to get paid for all
21:55
that time and extra work that you're doing because everything
21:59
comes down to fair wages for Fair Work.
22:03
That's the biggest reason you need to be doing this stuff.
22:07
You need to be pushing management to show you in
22:09
writing where it says that we are supposed to do that in other
22:13
tools they have available like the PO6O3, like our contract,
22:18
things like that. It has to show it that we have
22:20
to stop at every single box. Otherwise we're doing work for
22:24
free. And I don't like working for
22:27
free. I don't think anybody does.
22:29
And if they do, I've got some oceanfront property in Kansas
22:32
form. One of our chat listeners put in
22:35
there saying the percentage is so small.
22:37
Well, yes, it is. But when you add up all the
22:40
small things that they don't give you credit for, that they
22:43
you don't get paid for, it adds up.
22:46
We ran into the we, we said we ran into the situation in the SD
22:50
and C about retrieving hampers, empty hampers.
22:54
And they thought about that. And one girl said, well, it's
22:57
not a big deal. Well, yeah, you're only 20 feet
22:59
away. The rest of us are 5060 feet
23:02
away. But when you start adding up all
23:04
these little items, that's up to time, it adds up to 15 minutes,
23:08
which can push you to the next step or in 1/2 hour or whatever,
23:12
it doesn't matter. You're supposed to get paid for
23:14
what you do. This is the summary of Rex.
23:18
You're getting paid for what you do.
23:20
Well, now you're not getting paid paid for your pars labels
23:23
anymore unless it's during the mini mail survey, right?
23:27
You're not getting you're not getting paid for unscanned
23:29
parcels. Yeah, exactly.
23:32
But the thing of it is I got paid for my unscammed parcel and
23:35
if I had 14 that day, I put 14. If I put 6 in there, I guess 6.
23:40
And you know, I'll be damned if I'm going to give you anything.
23:43
We've given up enough. I mean, if you think about it,
23:47
without the carriers, I mean, doesn't get the job, doesn't get
23:50
done. You can have a couple missing
23:52
clerks, you can have a couple missing sewer.
23:54
You can miss all your supervisors.
23:56
The postmaster can even take off without the carriers that the
24:00
job doesn't get done. You know, we have been beat down
24:06
with Rex. People have lost a ton of money
24:10
with Rex and giving them more free work, just like the people
24:15
who go in and start working off the clock early.
24:18
They're not helping us. They're not helping the royal
24:21
craft to ensure that royal carriers are paid for all the
24:25
work that they do because they don't look at the hours that
24:29
they spend working off the clock and stopping at every single box
24:34
without getting credit or payment for it is just the same
24:38
as working off the clock. It's just as detrimental to the
24:42
world craft. People arguing against that are
24:46
hurting our own craft and we need to be united together as
24:51
one whole unit. We need to fight anything that's
24:56
going to take money out of our pockets, and this is one of the
24:59
things that take money out of our pockets.
25:02
I'm straight Skippy. All right.
25:04
The next thing I have is ballot delivery.
25:07
You know, in my office, of course, one of our routes
25:11
actually has the Township offices and they're the ones who
25:15
are there. That route is responsible for
25:18
delivering the ballots to the Township office.
25:22
Now one of the things they've been doing in my office is
25:26
actually holding the ballots at our office round dating them at
25:31
our office and delivering them the next day to the route to be
25:35
delivered to the Township office.
25:40
So the route is not getting credit for delivering those
25:46
ballots to the office because they're not going through
25:49
automation. If they're doing it properly,
25:52
they're manually entering it into postal one.
25:55
That is what they are supposed to be doing is manually entering
25:58
those into postal one. Supposedly you got to remember
26:03
everything management does is to the detriment of carriers on
26:07
that and if they aren't entering it on postal one, that carrier
26:10
is not getting credit for it. So if you are the carrier that
26:15
is supposed to be delivering the ballots into it and they're not
26:21
and they're not checking to make sure it's happening, then there
26:25
needs to be some kind of check in that.
26:27
And like somebody said in our thing, if they don't process
26:30
ballots and political mail correctly, it can open up a
26:33
whole can of worms. And some of these ballots are
26:37
actually tracked. They may not think it, but
26:40
they're tracked with that little barcode.
26:42
Just like when you get the SPM scan, there's a barcode on each
26:45
one of those ballots tracking it everywhere it goes.
26:49
And the fact they're not going through automation prevents it
26:51
from making that step to show that in the mail stream could go
26:55
to the Township office or go to wherever it's supposed to go.
26:58
Now the rest of them are going into an express bag to leave our
27:01
office. They're actually separated.
27:03
They're banded together. They're given a ballot stick
27:06
tag, thrown in on it and thrown in the Express mail to get
27:10
sorted at the plant and set Express.
27:13
So it's funny that again, something that first class mail
27:16
is now going by plane because Express has to go by plane to
27:20
wherever it needs to go. But I appreciate that because
27:22
that means the ballots get there quicker, unlike my Express that
27:25
took four days to get to Virginia.
27:27
But just remember make sure when you are handling the ballast you
27:32
do it in a proper fashion to deliver it on time to the office
27:37
to where it needs to go. Amen.
27:40
Yeah James I have Township office on my route and it
27:44
thoughts of the voting whole location.
27:46
So Tuesday will be fun. Yes, it will be.
27:50
And I know that they're going to have ballast coming in that day
27:54
in the mail and have to be delivered to that office.
27:56
Have you talked about maybe being the one to deliver it so
27:59
you get the credit for it? Yeah, well, the the last time
28:02
during the primaries, we had a couple ballots left when I got
28:05
back, so I did them under a second trip.
28:07
So that was what I was asking, yeah, because I know that right
28:11
now if if we're late back to the truck, the postmaster or the
28:16
2O4B are actually running everything to the plant.
28:19
So. No, ours aren't, but I haven't.
28:23
I didn't make truck all week. I know there's offices that
28:26
don't. I don't have a truck in the
28:28
afternoon. It makes me wonder what what
28:31
they're going to do with all the ballots. 4:15 I don't know.
28:36
Yeah, 415's our dispatch truck. And I wonder what they're going
28:40
to do with all the ballots that come in off the routes on that
28:42
Tuesday, because they're supposed to be delivered to
28:45
their respective offices, their respective location that night.
28:50
Yes, the supervisor will collect them and if either she'll drop
28:54
them off or the carriers when they come back or an RCA would
28:57
take them out. I did the same thing when I
28:59
worked in my old office as an RCA.
29:02
Get back off the route or I was running all over the state.
29:06
I was up in the UP dropping off a ballot.
29:08
I'd come back into town. Had to drop off to two more
29:12
Township offices. Oh yeah, I've done it.
29:16
Yeah. But at a certain point, we have
29:18
to realize, you know, people have to be realize that, you
29:22
know, with the mail being delayed as far as processing is
29:25
concerned, you can't hold on to these ballots to the last
29:28
minute. I mean, you know, if you don't
29:30
realize how slow the mail has become over the course of the
29:33
last couple of years, because you know, this has been going on
29:37
for a while, ladies and gentlemen, you know, you can't
29:39
wait to the last minute when they expect it to be there.
29:42
I mean, I, I really, I've, I've had people hand me the ballot
29:47
the day after the election, say, you know, all I need to get this
29:50
in. I'm like, OK, you know, the
29:53
election was yesterday, you know, but, you know, thank,
29:59
thank God, Westchester at that time was collecting ballots
30:02
until Friday, every day a polling official was at our
30:06
office to collect them. All right.
30:09
And the last thing that I have under political mail is how to
30:15
get paid if asked to deviate from your route, whether it is
30:20
to take mail back to the office or to go back to get your DPS
30:25
because the plant held it too long and you had already gone
30:29
out to your route or came late, late, late in the day.
30:33
And everybody was told to go deliver and they'll call them
30:35
back. Bill, we'll start with you on
30:37
that one. You might have to edit this,
30:39
Kristen. Fuck you.
30:41
Fuck you. I'm not doing it.
30:43
Yeah, if you, if you haven't gone to the polling place in the
30:48
morning, if you haven't mailed your ballot in already, and if
30:50
you're going to go to the polling station after work,
30:53
you're not going to use that mail.
30:56
You're not be able to utilize it in making your decision.
30:58
And if you haven't made your decision up on Election Day,
31:02
there's something wrong with you.
31:04
Bill, you're awesome. You're off topic.
31:08
We're talking about DP going back to the office for DPS or
31:11
getting told to go back so that you're you're outgoing, Mr.
31:14
Trump. Well, I, I even more than even
31:21
more than the political. This is for year round even too.
31:24
It's for year round even too. No, I, I, I'm so politically
31:29
focused right now that you know, no, there ain't no way I'm going
31:33
to do that. You know, as far as the
31:35
political mail is concerned. And that, and that's happened in
31:37
my office where they sent them scanner messages out to come
31:40
back and get political mail the clerks through late as far as
31:45
the DPS, you know, I'm, I'm kind of torn about that in regards to
31:50
making second trips. To me, that doesn't constitute
31:54
the second trip. Therefore that that should be
31:57
paid at time and 1/2 up, up and above no 8127 time.
32:04
It's time and a half. And, you know, I've never had to
32:07
argue a grievance on that basis because of the fact that we've,
32:11
you know, basically established that it's not a second trip.
32:15
Therefore the DPS can be held off the next day.
32:17
And I'm sorry to the carriers coming in or the OR the sub
32:20
that's going to get squashed. But no, to me, that's one of
32:25
those things where you screwed up.
32:27
Don't expect me to the the reconcile or save your ass in
32:32
regards to we going out the political mail.
32:34
Still bullshit. And any other time of the year
32:38
it's the same thing if your DPS is late or they want you to
32:42
bring the stuff back. No #1 the scanners are supposed
32:46
to be used for emergencies only and your lack of preparation
32:51
does not constitute my emergency.
32:53
And it's the same with getting the mail back to make the truck.
32:59
If you want the truck the mail to make the truck, you send an
33:02
RCA out paying them on green card.
33:04
Time to come get the mail off of me.
33:07
You don't tell me I need to come back and bring it back.
33:10
I'm not answering my phone while I'm on the route because my
33:13
state has a no cell phone policy at all.
33:17
While the vehicle is engaged and sitting on the side of the road
33:22
and park is still considered engaged.
33:24
And please don't, don't put on the, the scanner that the PTF is
33:30
unavailable. I saw that message come across
33:32
one day in my office and I'm sitting there going, excuse me.
33:37
And, and the, and the supervisor the next day said, well, why
33:40
were you upset about the message?
33:42
I said, what's APTF and that aren't they a relief carrier?
33:46
Well, they're a PTF. What does APTF do?
33:49
They're a relief carrier for the, you know, the string that
33:52
they're assigned. They're paid hourly, then
33:55
they're having back out. If the if the Rcas are out there
33:58
and they've got their route and they're splitting another route,
34:00
why should the PTF be going home at 3:45?
34:03
Oh, I know, I didn't know that. Now This is why we need to
34:08
educate the craft because management is not.
34:11
What do we say about an educated craft, James?
34:14
An educated craft is the bane of management.
34:16
Amen. Preach it.
34:18
Kristen, your thoughts? Well, given that I've heard
34:22
we're going to have a second run for tomorrow.
34:25
Oh my God. Yeah, yeah, supposedly they were
34:32
supposed to drop some off today, and the Puma on the mandate, the
34:37
two RCA's to go in and case it up.
34:40
And our argument is how the hell we're supposed to case up
34:43
millions of flats we're going to get when the DPS has already
34:46
filled up the case. So I guess we're all supposed to
34:49
report in an hour early tomorrow.
34:53
You need another shipment of four walls.
34:56
I might oh this to get. I'm sure I can scrounge up some
35:04
padded ones for you. Oh my word.
35:07
Not the same type, James. Not the same type.
35:11
No, No. I yeah.
35:15
So honestly, if you're going to make me go back out, if you're
35:19
going to bring me the DPS and let me continue from where I'm
35:25
at and then bring the rest of it back to case for the next night
35:29
or next morning. Excuse me, That's you know, OK,
35:34
if you're going to insist we come back, well, from that
35:37
moment I leave that box, come back to the office load I'm on
35:43
I'm and 1/2 until I get back to that box that I left off, plain
35:48
and simple. And then see how well they like
35:50
that one. James, come on, pick it up.
35:53
Hang on a second, I lost my Bluetooth.
35:57
It's next to the Insider. There we go.
36:02
Yeah, it's crazy to think that management's going to try and
36:06
get us to do things that we aren't paid for over and over
36:11
again. And the carriers that give in to
36:14
these demands make it much harder for the craft as a whole
36:20
to protect itself from being abused by management.
36:24
Now, changing gears a little bit, but still a little bit of
36:27
political involved in that, the reports that carriers need to be
36:33
looking at every single day include things like your radar
36:38
report, because you need to make sure that your political mail is
36:43
being listed on those reports. The extra amount of DPS
36:48
political Flyers you're getting, the extra amount of flat
36:52
political Flyers you're getting needs to be listed on those
36:55
reports and you need to be checking them every day.
36:58
What other reports do we need, Kristen?
37:02
I was totally engulfed in something else there, sorry.
37:07
APREPR. Yes, you need your.
37:15
Your package tracking report, Your end of run report, Your
37:20
radar report, package tracking report.
37:22
What else? Your RIMS report.
37:25
Oh yeah, that one. The radar report and of course
37:30
your monthly mapping report, your LTM report at the end that
37:36
shows how many boxes you went up or down, how many miles with
37:40
change on your route, etcetera. You need that report every month
37:44
as well because this is all your money and management.
37:48
Not posting your radar report, your RIMS report and things like
37:52
that. Something that should be green
37:56
immediately because those reports are your only way of
38:01
ensuring that the numbers they're printing on your 4240
38:04
ones are accurate. Because management will go in
38:08
and change those numbers if they want to.
38:10
We don't know what what they have access to to change at this
38:13
point. They won't even tell the union
38:15
what they have access to change. This brings up a real problem
38:20
and because much complicity is the national board in with the
38:25
the Postal Service in regards to not providing transparency.
38:29
I mean, since the inception of Rex, we've actually been told
38:34
and spoon fed the transparency aspect of Rex, yet we haven't
38:41
had it. Now we're into what we're we're
38:44
just past our 4th mini male survey.
38:47
We're two years into this and still don't have transparency.
38:51
People still have not mapped their routes on a monthly basis.
38:57
People still don't have the radar reports, the rinds report,
39:00
the PTR. I don't understand that.
39:03
You know how you know, we we can basically address thousands of
39:08
people through the course of the week through this, through this
39:10
podcast, and yet they still have the same complaints every week.
39:17
You need to stand up for yourselves for for your fellow
39:20
carriers who lack the the backbone to stand up the
39:24
management and demand they do their jobs.
39:27
They demand we do our jobs every day.
39:29
Guess what folks? That's A2 face card.
39:33
It goes both ways to do your job.
39:35
We'll do our jobs, and we can't do our jobs unless you do yours.
39:40
All right. So couple things that are coming
39:43
up is open season for the insurances and now we have
39:49
instead of being on the federal health benefit plan, we are now
39:52
in the Postal Service health benefit plan.
39:54
That's a change. Open season is coming up,
39:58
believe it's November 11th. It opens if I'm not mistaken.
40:01
Yes, November 11th. And and you only have a limited
40:06
amount of time now. Most of the plans that we had
40:10
before switched over to the Postal Service Health benefit
40:13
plan should roll over into the Postal Service Health benefit
40:18
system. But you need to check and make
40:21
sure because also with the changeover rates are going up
40:26
across the board. You need to check them out.
40:29
You need to compare them. You need to find the one that's
40:31
right for you. Take the time to go through them
40:36
now before we get into heavy package season and you don't
40:41
have time to actually go through them and look, so now is the
40:44
time to actually start looking at them.
40:46
And you better look at them because some of the rate
40:49
increases are off the charts. Yes, I saw.
40:52
I saw a gentleman, you know, looking at his first family and
40:57
it was almost $700.00 a month. And with us not having a
41:03
contract with pay increases that actually match that or higher,
41:07
you're going to have to make a decision on what's best for your
41:10
family for coverage and for cost.
41:13
And the other thing is, you know, be very careful because if
41:17
you select help yourself and one is sometimes more expensive than
41:24
self and family, do not, do not try to explain that to me.
41:29
It's just the way it is, OK. Yep, and that's initially when I
41:34
was like, I knew that selecting my insurance.
41:36
So I was like, you know, I got to have Ruby on here.
41:39
I might as well throw my other daughter on because I'm already
41:41
under the family. That way she's duly insured
41:44
between her father and I know it was might as well do it.
41:49
Thank goodness I did with Ruby and her blessed baby.
41:54
Yeah, you you need, you need to check in with the Postal Service
41:59
Health Benefit plan to make sure yours is rolling over.
42:03
Make sure you check in because if not it, it may cause issues
42:07
and may not roll over. So be sure to check in on that.
42:11
And you know what? What James, let me explain.
42:14
I once, you know, missed. I thought I had processed all
42:17
the information one time and and apparently didn't submit it
42:20
correctly. And in January, you know, the
42:23
wife took the one of our boys to the doctors and, you know, we
42:26
got a bill for it. And they called the insurance
42:29
company up and they said, you know, well, what's going on?
42:31
You know, I, I submitted, I said, I don't understand.
42:35
It never got rolled over. You know, I didn't submit it,
42:38
you know, fully through the system.
42:40
So when I did call up the program coordinator, they said,
42:45
well, why didn't you you do that?
42:47
And I said, well, I was just stupid.
42:49
And the guy says, well, I'm going to put that in the
42:52
comments section and we're going to start covering you as of
42:54
today. So when you made a mistake, they
42:57
actually will be understanding. Especially if you're nice to
43:02
them about it. Yes, because we were laughing
43:04
our asses off of, you know, he said most, most people would
43:08
blame their spouse. And I said oh hell no, it it
43:10
might get back to her. Speaking, Speaking of money,
43:19
Speaking of money, we have a money thing coming up, the
43:25
Christmas guarantee period. You guys want to talk about that
43:29
a little bit and talk about what it is, what it means to regulars
43:33
and RCA's alike, especially in prison being worded RCA and our
43:39
regular. Oh, I was wanting to do an
43:41
episode on that the closer it got so it.
43:45
Was. A little bit more in depth.
43:47
We'll do that episode, but did you want to touch on it a little
43:50
bit and just give a small briefer on it?
43:53
Yeah. Or do you just want to put it on
43:55
that episode? Yeah, I've already prepared
43:57
because I've got these awesome handouts.
43:59
Well, this one this year. This year it actually covers
44:02
through Christmas, doesn't it? The 27th.
44:05
Yes, December the 7th. That's the date. 27th, yeah.
44:11
Yeah, December 7th through the 27th are the dates.
44:15
But we do get a little bit of relief after Christmas this year
44:20
in terms of pay on that. But you got to remember just
44:25
before Thanksgiving to December 7th, we always get hammered
44:29
especially with the pre Thanksgiving sales and then the
44:34
pre Thanksgiving Day sales, the Thanksgiving Day sales, the day
44:38
after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, etcetera,
44:43
before we even get into December.
44:46
And then in December you get all the all the parcels and stuff
44:50
from that. Then January you start getting
44:54
all the wish packages of people that ordered on Black Friday or
44:59
Timu or or Sheen or whichever Chinese company it is by that
45:03
point. And then by the start of
45:06
February is when it starts winding down again.
45:09
God, I'm going to miss that. No, you won't.
45:18
You're you're going to miss that like you miss Crown.
45:22
Well, that's just, that's what I mean.
45:23
I mean at Christmas time I I, I get enough crown I don't have to
45:26
buy any for the year. I guess, Kristen, you're going
45:32
to have to order some for Bill and have it delivered to him.
45:34
I have a broke bitch, I don't know what you're talking about.
45:40
Well, I guess our fans could order him some and ship it to
45:42
his house. Oh yeah, and I get my first step
45:47
increase in 15 days. Congratulations, I get mine now.
45:53
I feel ya. All right, that's pretty much
45:57
all I had. So here's the question that was
45:59
asked in our chat. We just turned into an SNDC.
46:06
Merged 2 offices together, one who was always in the building
46:10
and one office from the town over.
46:12
They want to redo the formula. From what I read in the
46:15
contract, they can only redo formula if they go off the
46:18
formula for six months. They say they have permission
46:22
from headquarters that they can do it though.
46:24
Anything we can use to argue against it?
46:27
My first question is, it's, it looks like, you know, it sounds
46:30
like you know that they're trying to get three offices to
46:33
come under 1 formula. And that's going to be hard to
46:37
do since 3 offices would represent three different zip
46:40
codes, wouldn't it? And wouldn't you have autonomy
46:43
to your own zip code for the formula?
46:46
Not in NSNDC. So when when officers are moved
46:50
into NSNDC, all the Subs get merged into one matrix.
46:56
Well. Yeah, OK.
46:58
That, that goes against what what they've said in Wayne,
47:02
because when we were down 3 routes, they weren't allowed the
47:06
the district manager would not allow Phoenixville, Berwyn or
47:10
Paoli to let us have any of their Subs.
47:13
I guess that's a. District.
47:14
Thing, isn't it? That would have been a grievance
47:16
because the stubs, it's all one office doing.
47:20
The FNDC is emerged, it's considered one office and so all
47:25
of them are in one office now, just as the matrix is for each
47:30
office. So when it comes to the FNDC,
47:33
the first thing that needs to happen once they move those
47:36
offices in there, they have to try hiring for the six month
47:40
period before they can do the formula in that office.
47:45
Now I understand they have a formula with the office that was
47:48
in there already, but that doesn't apply to the non formula
47:51
office that got moved in there. Well, that that opens up another
47:55
can of worms. Yeah, it does.
47:57
It's a big mess and I think that this is something that National
48:01
needs to address. But once the new, so in a
48:05
formula office, if the number of relief carriers changes, then
48:09
they have to recalculate the formula based on the number of
48:13
routes that are in that office. And that would be the case here
48:15
with the SNDC. However, because they merged an
48:18
office in there that probably was not formula, they would have
48:23
to, they were both formula before then.
48:25
Yeah, they would have to redo the formula with everybody under
48:28
the roof with the number of relief carriers that they have
48:31
under the formulation guidelines that were set out.
48:35
And it shouldn't, shouldn't have a six month waiting period on
48:37
there, but wherever they came into that.
48:39
And then once they recalculate the formula, whatever number of
48:43
Saturdays they come up with, the most senior carriers that do not
48:47
have Saturday would be moved back to Saturday's days off.
48:51
Or if they don't have enough pubs to cover the Saturday's,
48:54
then that number of carriers would be moved to a non Saturday
48:58
release date, as long as the non Saturday release days are equal
49:02
to or less than the number of Saturday relief dates.
49:05
But when they're merging, yeah, go.
49:08
Ahead, go ahead. So either way, they still have
49:12
to recalculate the formula because the number of relief
49:14
carriers has changed in that offer and that is one of the
49:17
requirements to recalculate the formula.
49:20
This is the number of relief available relief carriers is
49:23
changed. You're going to say ready to say
49:25
that I I got to drop a hang grenade in my office then
49:28
because there is no reformulation with the other
49:31
offices. So.
49:34
And. So I can blow it up.
49:36
They are. They're trying to remove
49:38
everyone from their days off and redoing every day from the top.
49:41
No, so they have to do it by way of the formula and only with the
49:49
routes that are there. They can't turn around and
49:53
completely redo the formula because both officers were
49:56
formula. Now if they were moving a non
49:58
formula office and there would be a different story I believe.
50:01
But being both were formula they both have non Saturday relief
50:06
days. It should just be a
50:07
recalculation and just a change in the number of Saturday
50:10
release days and then removing senior carriers to Saturday if
50:16
they had a non Saturday relief and then moving junior carriers
50:20
to non Saturday release date that they don't have enough for
50:23
Saturday and that and they can't take a non relief Saturday
50:28
relief from somebody, they have to take an open available non
50:33
Saturday relief day. And yes, everybody in that
50:36
office changes seniority based on their seniority date.
50:43
It's no longer just the seniority in their office.
50:45
All seniority are combined. So if you had 15 years and you
50:50
were the senior senior regular in your office, but this other
50:53
office had a 16 year single senior regular, then that 16
51:00
year senior regular would be above the 15 year thing thing.
51:05
God, I can't say senior today, senior regular and it's the same
51:09
with and the. Fighting begins.
51:12
Yeah. But it's not.
51:15
Like it's not like moving changing offices like you would
51:19
under a mutual transfer or something like that.
51:21
Or if you were to take a district bid, you keep your
51:24
seniority moving into the SNDC, but just you combine the two
51:29
lists based on the seniority date.
51:31
But according according to math, then it gives you more
51:35
opportunities to move up, it gives you more opportunities to
51:38
become regular, and everybody moves faster through the chain,
51:42
supposedly inversely. Yeah, diversely.
51:47
Though if people can move up, that means other people will
51:51
have to be moved down. Other people have to retire
51:54
because for them. No you, no you, you could have,
51:59
you know, a a senior sub say and they would be moved down if you
52:05
had the other officers had more senior Subs.
52:08
Yes. Combining the seniority.
52:12
Like I said, then the fighting starts and yes, yeah, it it
52:18
could create more PTF positions, yeah.
52:21
Yeah, it depends on the number of available Subs.
52:24
If if the other office coming in had a whole complement of Subs
52:29
coming into the SNDC and carriers were willing to take
52:35
Saturdays and Mondays moving into that office to diversify
52:39
the amount of Subs and cover those two days, then that would
52:43
actually alleviate the formulation.
52:45
If they're in the PTF could take a Monday, Saturday, today until
52:49
they become a regular carrier and remove the PTF from the
52:52
position and cause the office to revert to a non formula status.
52:57
Well, James, I have to contradict you on there in
52:59
regards to a office actually having a full complement of
53:03
Subs. That's a Unicorn I haven't seen
53:08
yet. We have, we are almost there are
53:12
offices that are almost at full capacity of Subs.
53:16
There are unicorns out there and those unicorns usually have the
53:22
best management in them that's in terms of treatment of their
53:26
Subs and their regulars. So the possibility is out there
53:30
and I guarantee you if we got a contract that gave us a 20 to
53:37
25% increase in pay on top of a 2 1/2 percent wage increase year
53:46
over the course of the account, 2 1/2 to 3% each raise increase
53:52
plus cost of living adjustment. I guarantee you we could
53:55
actually hire on more Subs and some of them would hire on for
53:59
that pay and put up with the management BS just for the pay
54:03
if somebody were to negotiate a good contract like that.
54:06
Yeah. That's when you wish upon a
54:10
storm I'd. Like to know what cloud you're
54:13
on because I I want to hop over there to yours.
54:18
Well, I'm saying I want to because I know that when when
54:24
the city carriers vote down their contract and they take it
54:27
to arbitration and it's put in front of the arbitrator.
54:31
And they see the 65% for the longshoremen, and they see the
54:36
45% so far that Boeing machinists are asking for, as
54:41
well as the 25% that several other unions have negotiated.
54:45
I think 20% is actually pretty fair for the Postal Service, you
54:50
know, arguing that the Postal Service is in the red.
54:53
Well, 90% of that redness is management overweight.
54:58
We are a top heavy organization. We have too many managers and if
55:01
I guarantee you if we cut half the managers out of the Postal
55:04
Service we'd actually be a profitable company.
55:07
But don't get me started because I'll go on a long ass rant and
55:10
we don't need that tonight. Well, and I want to I'm going to
55:14
correct you about being PC because overweight and
55:18
management also pertains to the size of the individuals.
55:25
Well, I mean when. When you're paid as much as they
55:27
are as when you're they're paid as much as they are, they can
55:30
afford to actually buy food. I'm out.
55:37
OK, guys, on that note. But we're going to wind it down
55:40
for tonight and I have to go to early tomorrow.
55:47
I'm not looking forward to that. Go ahead, Bill, your final
55:51
comments. Oh, my final comments.
55:53
You know, I, I feel for you. I've been through the pain of
55:58
this for 26 years. The political season, to be
56:04
honest with you, the political season actually forced, forced
56:07
me to, to make my decision because of the fact that I know
56:12
how this FD and C operates, how the district manager is.
56:15
And I knew that I wouldn't be able to tolerate the bullshit
56:19
anymore because after 26 years, you know, I, I really was ready
56:23
to go off and it's better to exit quietly with my dignity
56:28
intact. But you know, my prayers are
56:32
with you. You know, with the daylight
56:33
savings time got two more days of the political bullshit and
56:37
then somebody will come up to you on on Wednesday and tell you
56:40
all political mail has to be delivered and you just look at
56:43
them like you got to be the dumbest shit in the world, you
56:47
know, but that's what they're going to tell you.
56:50
So, you know, just follow the orders, follow the directions.
56:53
Everybody be safe. You know, your job
56:56
professionally, efficiently friendly, you know, enjoy your
56:59
time outdoors with your customers and the kids and the
57:02
dogs and all, but make sure that you know, you get home safely.
57:07
You are the most important delivery and and I say this and
57:09
I mean it. I hate seeing any time when we
57:13
have have a carrier injured or lost, you know, in, in our
57:17
craft, in any craft. It's you know, it's intolerable
57:21
that you have to give your life a job.
57:25
If you want to do that, join the military, you know, be safe, get
57:30
home to your loved ones. Then you know, God bless you
57:33
all, James. Bill right it's.
57:37
Going to be a pain. Political seasons coming to an
57:40
end, but we're still going to have political Flyers even after
57:44
the election just to deliver them diligently and safely.
57:48
You know, it's still severe weather season.
57:52
It's the fall version of it as as the jet stream starts
57:56
dripping S, you know we're going to still get severe weather
57:59
Tornadoes and even hurricanes are still possible all the way
58:03
up through December, even into January sometimes.
58:06
But be safe out there, and especially with it getting dark
58:10
earlier in those severe weather areas, watch out for downed
58:13
trees blocking the road at night.
58:15
They're very hard to see. You know, be careful out there,
58:18
be safe, be strong. You know management doesn't care
58:22
as long as the mail gets delivered, the packages get
58:25
scanned, They don't care if you make it home at night or not.
58:29
They don't care if you're doing your job safely.
58:32
They don't care if you're following the rules of the PO6O3
58:36
unless it comes back to bite them and then they give you an
58:38
investigative interview. It is our job as a world craft
58:43
to stand strong, stand up and show them we're all in this
58:48
together, Kristen. Thank you guys.
58:52
Yes, let's remain diligent out there, especially as it's
58:56
getting dark. Stay safe.
58:58
A few more days left of political thank goodness and
59:04
then on to Christmas. We'll go way more in depth on
59:08
Christmas overtime probably in the next week or two.
59:11
All night guys, stay safe this week and we'll be back next
59:15
week. I I think the beast comes in a
59:30
little under 8 1/2 tons. Or 1X.