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Hurricane Updates, Route Issues and more! · United We Scan

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Welcome to the United We Scan Podcast, the podcast by rural
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carriers for rural carriers. The views expressed in this
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podcast are of the presenters and the presenters only and do
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not represent the views, opinions, or strategies of the
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United States Postal Service or the National Rural Letter
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Carriers Association. We ask that you please consult
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your assigned union representative for guidance in
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your local area. Please like this podcast, share
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each time a new episode is uploaded.
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Also, please leave a comment or question for us below.
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Thank you. Now here are the hosts of the
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United We Scan podcast. Welcome back, everybody know
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Kristen today, which we she gets to have a day off every once in
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a while. However, she did take leave
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without pay on this one. So it's just Bill and me today,
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but we're going to get into some hurricane updates, of course,
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route issues and breaking news as well as a couple reminders
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for you guys. But before we get into that, how
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was your retired week, Bill? It's, you know, it's such a
1:23
dilemma deciding what not to do every day really is.
1:32
And the thing of it is that I bet you I still spend the third
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of my day responding to people on, you know, the several
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different social media platforms on phone calls and everything.
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So it's like, you know, not working, but the only difference
1:48
is I don't have to go to work. And it's, it's still, it's still
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a bit strange for me. Like I said, I miss my
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customers. I I really do miss some of my
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coworkers. And I found out today that the
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sub that put in for the hold down on my route keeps
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complaining to the supervisor that he needs help every day.
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And supervisor reminds her, well, Bill retired and did it by
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himself every day. Never asked for help.
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I can't do this. They said.
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Well then, you know, you release the hold down on there just walk
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away from it. Well, I know I want the hours.
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Make up your mind. You want the hours you want the
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work. What?
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Shut the hell up. But yeah, it's it's the same old
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bullshit, you know, as when I left and the one of the biggest
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things that they've actually gotten all but one of our routes
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covered with vehicles on a daily basis, which is good.
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And the only person that's not getting doesn't have a vehicle
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personally, she could burn in hell, but other than that, she's
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a nice person. So look, look, here's
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retirement, OK, Get up in the morning, maybe before the wife
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goes to work, maybe after I come down, I have, you know, coffee.
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I come out in the back deck. I scroll through all this
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bullshit. I go upstairs in my shower, I
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make the bed, you know, any dishes, you know, I just because
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I have a whole little, you know, itinerary to go through in, in
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the day. Then, you know, it's 9:30 and
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I'm sitting there going, OK, what's next?
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And then I decide what not to do for the rest of the day.
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Yeah, it's, it's, it's a, it's a dilemma.
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Let me tell you all, all my, all my handguns have been cleaned
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and thoroughly polished and axed and everything else and all the
3:58
fresh ammo in and everything. I'm researching fishing trips
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right now. I'm looking at a nice one for
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Canada sometime in the early spring.
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And that's it, checking up on the family, making sure you
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know, if they need anything. And you know, making sure when
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my wife comes home, she's got nothing to worry about.
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Someone gets her glass of wine. I ran out the other day with a
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glass of wine and met her at the car and she goes, I could get
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used to this. I said, not in the winter time.
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So I'm telling you it it's, it's a good, it's a good deal right
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now, but I'm afraid I'll I'll be bored in it within the next 2-3
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weeks. Wow, Yeah, well, if you want
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fishing trips, I'm sure I can find some good fishing around in
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Michigan for you too. If you want to travel this way,
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go to Kristen and so. Well, I might have a place to
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stay, won't I? Exactly so.
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But yeah, my week was the usual. Yeah, the usual.
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It was heavy Monday, and then Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
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started seeing some extra packaging coming through.
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You know, Amazon had their fake Prime sale, you know, where they
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mark everything up for a few weeks before and then say
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there's a discount on it for Prime wheat when you're paying
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the exact same price or even more for the item before.
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Our new postmaster is starting to settle into the role,
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temporary for now until 1 gets actually assigned to the office,
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you know, But other than that, it's pretty much been a normal
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week. I've been trying to keep
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everything flowing and moving with online, things like that,
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getting back into the swing of things with helping people
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because I took a little bit of time off from that, taking a
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little time away from that, but still answering questions that
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come through on the page and stuff like that.
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But then get to the weekend. Saw the Northern Lights during
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the week as well. Apparently they could see them
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all the way down in Cuba. So, but just a normal week
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overall. But let's get into what we have
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this week. So the first couple of things I
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have are a couple of announcements.
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The dispute forms have to be turned in by Friday for the mini
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mail survey this Friday the 18th that they have to be in by.
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So make sure is it Friday? I know it's the 18th.
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Yeah, Friday. So make sure you get your
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dispute forms filled out and everything like that.
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We went over what's in the dispute forms and what you can
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dispute in a previous episode. So you can go back, back and
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take a listen to that to make sure you you get the right items
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disputed. The next one I have is the
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Postal Service health benefits program.
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Enrollment is November 11th to December 9th.
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Now is the time to start looking at the plan.
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Now is the time to research them because the prices are going up
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for everybody because now we're separate from the federal
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system. Prices were going to go up
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anyway, but you just need to make sure you understand what's
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going into it, how it's changing and things like that.
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So make sure you go into that. Now for breaking news, we have
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gotten a message from one of our listeners to tell everybody and
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let them know that one of our loyal listeners is having some
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health issues. So we here at the podcast would
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wish them a speedy recovery and they're in our thoughts and
8:12
prayers. So the next breaking news breaks
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our hearts. It has been reported in St.
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Paul, MN that there has been a shooting at a post office and
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there was an employee who was hurt and the suspect fled in a
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Postal Service vest. We have talked about these
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situations at nauseam and this possibly could stem again from
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managerial harassment. We do not have proof of that
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yet. We are not going to jump to
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conclusions of that. The evidence needs to come
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completely clear on that before we can make any assumptions.
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So, but as it stands, we we are praying for our brothers and
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sisters in St. Paul, MN over this incident.
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Your thoughts, Bill? This this leads me back to
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incident that happened years ago in our office where we had a a
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gentleman stuck to themselves. You know what wasn't a loner per
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SE, but, you know, didn't really get involved in the floor
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conversations that people had. And one day he snapped and you
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know, it was just a verbal snap. The thing of it was that you
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don't know what the person next to you is going through in their
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personal lives. You don't know, may or may not
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know what what they're going through in their professional
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lives. Depending on the type of
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harassment or, you know, atmosphere, that's it present in
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your office, whether there are a regular or an RCA, you know,
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whatever clerk, you don't know all the situations.
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And it's like somebody said in an SDC, you've got 200 plus
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employees, you have no idea what's going on across the
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floor. So be aware of, you know, your
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comments, especially hurtful comments.
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I, I never was a hurtful individual unless it's a
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private, you know, conversation between me and that individual.
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But I never made it a policy of floor discussion because, well,
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whatever was between me and that individual, what was a, a
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private and personal, you know, situation that I intend to
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resolve in the fashion that I'm accustomed to, which means I
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usually got my way. But the fact of the matter is
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you don't know what everybody's going through in their lives.
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So consider it, you know, be thoughtful and and you know, if
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anything else, be supportive of of the people around you in
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their times of need and stress, whether it's the themselves,
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it's a loved one at home. You know, a relative in the
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military across the world don't know what you're running into
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when you open your mouth. And when I tell you that, you
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know, make sure that you make the most important delivery of
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the day. It's you home to your loved
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ones. That means getting out of that
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building home road rage. You know, the people on the on
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the damn freeways are out there. A third of them aren't even
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paying attention. Be aware.
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I mean, as the school officer, that was my primary concern of
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paying attention to what happens all the time, everywhere,
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listening, observing. Most people aren't they've,
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they've got their, their earbuds in there listening to music.
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They're yakking to somebody on the phone this day and age, with
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the toxic atmosphere, with the post office, with everything
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they're trying to do to the rule craft.
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Please be aware of your surroundings.
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Do not stress that enough. Yes, you know, and, and we talk
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about this all the time, and management will be protected in
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this situation. If it is that case.
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We've seen it before. We'll see it again.
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Management will defend itself almost to the end.
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So you need to do what? Yeah, you need to do what you
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need to do to protect yourself. Yeah.
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We don't know the facts. We don't know the involvement of
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the individuals or anything like that.
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And, you know, we can only report on what we know and
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speculate on the rest. But the speculation is like
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gossip. And so, so let, let's let it
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play out and, you know, find out, you know what the report
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says. And then, you know, we can go
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from there. But you know, you aware, you
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aware of your strength is it's, it's like my son went to college
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up in Philadelphia at Temple University, one block off of N
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Broad St. You're in a, in a danger zone.
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And, you know, I, I taught him how to take care of himself up
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there. The fact of the matter is you
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have to beware or you have to be conscious of your surroundings.
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It it's, I hate to say that we live in this type of society,
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but we do, we really do. And I don't want to hear about
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another rule carrier in injured, killed because of somebody
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else's, you know, negligence, you know, because of you know,
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what's going on their lives or a vehicle.
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I saw the one comment where an individual that on disability
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because the the maintenance guy said the vehicle was fine, went
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out there in the control arm, came off the vehicle and they
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ended up in a rollover. Here they are in disability.
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Never know what's going to happen when it's going to
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happen. But if you're not prepared for
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it, you know it's going to catch you and smack upside the head
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like a brick. And you're going to sit there
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and say, you know, Bill told us about that.
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But wherever your surroundings, be aware of the people around
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you. And be aware that management,
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while they say they have your best interests in mind, only
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have two interests in mind and that is getting the mail
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delivered and staying off their bosses Red List.
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Because when you are on the list from your district office, you
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are guaranteed to be yelled at in a teleconference, you are
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guaranteed to get emails on that, etcetera, and even visits
15:27
from people to inspect what you're doing on your job.
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They don't care if you're following the contract or if
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you're following the rules of of any manuals we have.
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They want you to do what they're saying whether it violates the
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contract or not. And also, they want to get that
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mail out of that building, all those packages scanned,
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etcetera, even putting carriers at risk, like the carriers that
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got injured during the hurricane.
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Management from National should have shut that down.
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Management at the district level should have shut that down and
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management at the local level should have shut that down.
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But we've heard reports even of companies doing the wrong thing,
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losing employees because of it. So it's a management problem,
16:30
and it's not just in the Postal Service either.
16:34
It's this ideology that you are just a number that is just there
16:39
to do the job they tell you to do and go home at the end of the
16:41
day after you've worked over the hours you were paid for.
16:47
But since we're talking about the hurricane, I have a few
16:52
updates about the hurricane. There were two injured carriers
16:58
in Helene and there is a GoFundMe for one of them that
17:01
will be paralyzed for the rest of their life possibly.
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It's on our our pages and groups.
17:09
So if you want to help them help the family out, you're more than
17:12
welcome to go there and do so. According to national office and
17:18
a source inside there, the all the rural carriers affected by
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Hurricane Helene have been accounted for.
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I have heard this through an anonymous source at National as
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well, that those carriers whose offices are closed and they are
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not being provided other work opportunities, say other offices
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or even attempting to take care of the mail for their office
17:51
should be receiving admin pay. Because they're not choosing to
17:55
not go to work. They are being forced not to
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work because there is no work. So if they are turning around
18:04
and making you use annual leave, discuss it with them and then
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get with your designated junior representative to do what Bill?
18:14
I'll file, file and smile. Exactly.
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Mailbox Angels, which we talked about last week, they've raised
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over just under $3000 in their GoFundMe to help deliver
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mailboxes to the devastated areas and they've even included
18:35
the Florida areas that have been hit now.
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So if you want to help them, they're also listed on the
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pages. And the Postal Relief Fund is
18:43
available for donations as well As for assistance.
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You have to apply on the website Postal Relief and make sure that
18:52
you apply online if you need help.
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We can't stress it enough if you need help, apply online and
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current reports are at least 26 offices remain affected by the
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Hurricanes. Now here's a.
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Here's a sidebar on this whole situation.
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OK, during this entire shutdown, the national board should push
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all these days that they're not getting Rex data inputted should
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be washed, period. There should be.
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No. Adjustments because you know the
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situation you're talking about major roads that won't be in the
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20252026 maybe. So no, there's no reason in hell
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that these people should have to suffer Rex program during this
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time frame because of Mother Nature and and I haven't seen
19:55
nothing on the national board. Is it stating the fact that you
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know all data input would be suspended until they're up and
20:02
running? Yeah.
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And this doesn't just affect those areas.
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It affects everybody else whose mail goes through those
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processing facilities too that are affected.
20:13
It goes through those regions, their mail is affected, their
20:17
parcels are affected. Even Amazon parcels through that
20:21
area are affected. So it's a major ripple effect
20:26
when one of these things happen. So even people like us in
20:30
Pennsylvania, Michigan, even North and South Dakota are going
20:35
to have some delay in things that were coming from that
20:39
region even for a year or more because of them trying to
20:43
rebuild the whole network as if we aren't delayed enough on.
20:48
Mail as it is? Well, unless it's political.
20:53
Yeah, true. So our national Board, our
21:03
President put out a written statement on the on the website
21:07
and our Vice President did an update video.
21:14
Now, I had a chance to review both of them, and I did read the
21:19
letter in the voice of President Mastin and I watched the video
21:26
and listened to the video by our Vice president, Patrick Pitts.
21:30
Were you able to review that stuff, Bill?
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That was all my list not to do. I will.
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I will say this about it. The letter and the video are two
21:46
different statements, but they are identical in the the
21:52
response that they give. So the president's statement, of
21:58
course, is his standard response to most anything.
22:02
You know, talk about it, bring up the issues, but don't really
22:07
offer full solutions to the problem.
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And Mr. Pitts doing his turned around and did a great job on
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the video. He was very well spoken.
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He had very good cadence and inflection in his voice, even
22:27
though he was reading from a teleprompter.
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So I, I will give him a lot of credit for that.
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And it was a lot easier to listen to than previous videos
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that we've had. Now, granted, President Mastin
22:46
does have to do the videos because he does speak on behalf
22:50
of the national office. He is the only one authorized
22:52
to, unless he authorizes somebody else to speak on his
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behalf. So we have to give him credit
23:01
for allowing Mr. Pitts to do the video.
23:05
But overall I did appreciate that they did put something out
23:09
on it. Now you were talking earlier
23:19
about the road damages that were going on.
23:22
So we're going to get into a little bit of Rex education here
23:28
on this, talking about detours on your routes.
23:35
We all know bridges, roads and stuff got taken out with a lot
23:39
of routes, but this holds true for even routes where they have
23:43
a year long road construction project or replacing the bridge,
23:48
things like that. So what's supposed to happen
23:52
supposedly is after 30 days, you are to get the change in mileage
24:02
and an updated EMA 30 days from the point you started the detour
24:06
and it's supposed to back pay back to the start of the detour,
24:13
right Bill? So just like anything, you know,
24:21
they have to verify that it's going to be the detour for an
24:25
extended period of time. And the 30 daytime limit was
24:28
what was negotiated between management and national a long
24:32
time ago and it still holds true today.
24:36
Now for Rex, the difference is it takes 30 to 45 days for it to
24:44
show up in your mapping, but it will show up.
24:53
Well, I, I'm sorry, James, I, I hate to question you, but if
24:58
they basically refresh the bread crumbs every two weeks, why
25:01
would it take 45 days show up? Because your mapping is done
25:11
what is supposed to be done once a month, and it's supposed to be
25:15
done between the 20th and the end of the month.
25:20
And if you started the detour within 15 days of doing the
25:25
mapping, it won't show up because like you said, it takes
25:31
at least two weeks for the bread crumbs to to adjust and
25:36
sometimes a little longer if you don't have good GPS signal in
25:41
that area. So that is why it can take up to
25:46
45 days but don't. Forget to go in and make sure
25:52
you change your line of travel to match that too.
25:55
Yes. And you change your line of
25:57
travel to match that as well. And once that's done and the
26:04
mapping is done, you should get an interim adjustment supposedly
26:12
and we talked about the interim adjustments previously.
26:15
And and meow's correct, you have to wait to the after the 30 days
26:19
before you do this. But I have heard of offices
26:28
where they're not paying the additional emai, have heard of
26:31
offices where they're not doing the mapping with the change in
26:36
in the drive line. If they are, contact your
26:41
designated union representative. They should be fighting for you
26:46
just. Just for your information, I
26:51
received my form 50 the other day and because of, you know,
26:56
the mini mail survey and I'm still overburdened, you know,
27:02
48. But the fact of the matter is
27:05
they reverted back to our old mileage from Westchester.
27:09
So now everybody has to submit A every day to get reimbursement
27:16
for the extra mileage to the SD and C Yes, I, I mean, you can't
27:24
make this up. Ladies and gentlemen, the the
27:28
brunt of conversations I have with people are over the Rex
27:33
program in regards to the dismounts, the CB US, the
27:38
unscanable parcels. Yeah, now you know, here we are
27:42
in in my office. They were going through the same
27:44
shit again with the mileage. Hold it, it.
27:47
It was already settled since August.
27:50
Why after the mini mail survey did it go back again?
27:54
Don't tell me they're not going in and changing things.
27:56
Don't tell me that we go. We shouldn't have an IT rensic
28:01
examiner checking all these changes because of the fact that
28:05
it's happening every day. Everybody's checking their
28:07
reports. They're showing I have 6
28:10
dismounts. Well, OK, but I have 8:00.
28:15
It's only showing six. Well, it's not counting, you
28:18
know, your extra dismounts, you know, for ACBU now I have 8
28:23
standard dismounts. Why are 6 showing up?
28:28
Yeah, this, this is the horseshit is just really riling
28:32
up carriers and and like I said, you know, you had this shooting
28:37
and, you know, we don't know why.
28:38
But if you can't feel the tension in these offices, I
28:42
don't know where you can because of the fact that that's one of
28:45
the reasons where I said, you know, it's time for me to get
28:48
out because this is getting on my nerves bad.
28:52
Besides the fact that, you know, I had the time and everything,
28:54
but that's beside the point. But you know, how long are
29:00
people going to tolerate this? You know, how long before you go
29:05
supervisor comes in, pushes your button one day about, you know,
29:09
your third box holder that needs to go out on top of all the
29:13
political mail. And you know, you're, you're
29:15
it's a Tuesday after Columbus Day.
29:18
It's, it's, it's coming to a head and, and hope I'm wrong,
29:23
but I, I don't think so. There's too much frustration out
29:28
there and management has no idea what they're doing and how far
29:33
you're pushing people. I mean, how much does it take
29:37
for somebody who's been a manager for a long time or an
29:41
executive for a long time to realize the fact that we don't
29:47
have enough coverage for offices?
29:51
Is the fact that they're pushing us too far?
29:55
And people are choosing to go work at a hot, supposedly higher
30:00
stress job for maybe a dollar less an hour and actually
30:06
happier there than they are at the post office?
30:12
The fact that people are quitting on mass should be the
30:16
biggest indicator that there's a problem.
30:20
But no, let's just cut people's evaluations, throw most of it
30:24
onto their routes and they can be overburdened 48 K's for a
30:28
while running 60 plus hours a week.
30:32
And then we'll do a do a route cut when we have somebody we can
30:35
put in that spot full time, but they'll have to work all all
30:38
their scheduled days off because we don't have enough coverage.
30:42
We'll just keep forcing more and more work on the employees until
30:45
they keel over in the in the LLV because they're overstressed and
30:49
have a heart attack. Yeah, it's funny how you say how
30:56
management treats US. One day I had inadvertently
31:00
walked into my postmaster during one of his telecoms, and he had
31:04
himself muted while the boom was reaming another postmaster out.
31:09
And I mean, he was handing this lady her ass in a handbasket, a
31:13
wheelbarrow, front end loader. I mean, he was just ripping this
31:18
lady apart. And there's, there's 40 plus
31:21
supervised postmasters listening in on this.
31:24
This guy's handing down, you know, the, the 9th and 10th
31:27
amendment on this woman. And, and my postmaster just
31:31
laughing. And I said, what's so funny is
31:33
it's not me. So I don't give a shit.
31:36
This is the type of shit that they're getting from above.
31:38
And, and they're, they're just taking the same attitude, the
31:42
same, the same toxic work environment that they're exposed
31:47
to and passing it down. And, and they don't realize, you
31:51
know, how, how that the trickle down theory per SE, it, it gets
31:57
to us, it gets to the clerks, it gets to the city carriers and
31:59
the rural carriers. It, it really does build up.
32:04
And you know, like I said, God's sakes, folks, pay attention
32:09
because the reason I never took a management job, like I said, I
32:14
don't kiss ants. I, I wouldn't break the contract
32:16
with, I wouldn't enforce rules that I know were contractually
32:20
contradictory to what was the letter of the law.
32:24
The fact of the matter is these people are being treated like
32:27
shit. And guess what?
32:29
They're treated like shit. They, they just hand it down,
32:31
down the ladder. And guess who's at the bottom of
32:33
the ladder, folks? We are.
32:35
Yeah, You know, they tried to get me into management at one
32:40
point, but I knew their game plan.
32:42
So I told him I'd give him my answer after I came back from
32:46
vacation because they wanted my answer before I went on
32:48
vacation. And I knew exactly what they
32:50
were going to do. And that was to have me be the
32:52
manager during my vacation while they went on theirs.
32:56
And then they put me back on my route after they got done with
32:58
their vacation. So I wasn't playing that game.
33:02
And I don't play games at all with that stuff.
33:05
And if I was a manager, my steward would be there with me
33:11
with any decisions that my supervisor gave me and be like,
33:15
hey, is this legit? Is this something I can actually
33:19
enforce? Or is it something you guys
33:20
would grieve? Because honestly, I wouldn't
33:22
want the paperwork of grieving. I would rather have the answer
33:26
from the union official than anybody in management labor or
33:30
in my boss's section either. Because like we say, management
33:34
would rather climb a tree to light and stand on the ground to
33:36
tell the truth. And at least if I asked the
33:38
union person, they'd probably tell me the truth.
33:42
But that's why I'm a union person, because I'd rather tell
33:45
the truth, tell management where to stick it with paperwork, and
33:50
be on my merry way. That's coming in the chat.
33:58
You know, we have too many levels of management when
34:00
people, the people higher than the PM, can do these Zoom
34:02
meetings. Yeah, and I agree.
34:04
I heard one myself in my office when I was a mapping facilitator
34:08
every single day when I was spending the days actually
34:11
mapping with carriers and the postmaster, like bills puts it
34:16
on speakerphone. And unfortunately, even with the
34:19
insulation in the wall, I could still hear every single word
34:24
that that district manager was was saying.
34:27
And it wasn't good and it wasn't kind.
34:30
And I felt bad for those managers.
34:32
And my postmaster said it's like this every single day.
34:39
And Speaking of union people, James, with the upcoming
34:44
deadline in regards to your MMS mini mail survey disputes, let
34:51
let me make sure that you understand this.
34:54
You need to fill out a dispute each item and I put multiple
34:59
disputes on on a sheet. Each dispute has to be on its
35:03
own separate piece of paper. It has to be documented.
35:07
It has to you have to have details.
35:09
You have to have facts behind you.
35:12
More detailed, the better off that you are that you could
35:14
possibly win this. Now, saying that, do not rest on
35:22
your laurels for doing your homework.
35:25
You have to push your designated union representative, whether
35:29
it's an ADRDR, whoever's handling these disputes in
35:32
regards to getting these resolved.
35:35
And if they come back saying no action required and you have to
35:39
have them held accountable. Because if you provided solid
35:44
documentation in regards to your dispute, then you should be
35:49
getting paid for the item of the dispute.
35:52
Too many people I've turned around and, you know, commented
35:56
to me in regards to, oh, no actions required.
36:01
What do you mean no actions required?
36:02
You you're showing an extra 386 feet of dismount distance every
36:08
day. Well, that's what the Dr. said,
36:11
or this is what this person said.
36:14
It's like, you know, hold on. Did you document it?
36:16
Yes. Did you have it the rolling deal
36:19
with you measuring out the distance?
36:21
Yes. Did the supervisor, you know,
36:23
observe this? Yes.
36:26
And how can you, you know, just sit there and say this is not
36:29
enough documentation in regards to saying that you're you're
36:32
entitled to this payment. That's the problem.
36:35
And you know, yes, we have to collectively work together with
36:38
the disputes. Once the disputes are out of
36:40
your hand, you have to push those people above you to show
36:45
why there's no action required. It's, it's the most fast acrid
36:55
system ever. You know, it's based, it's
37:00
supposed to be like a grievance and the favour should be on the
37:08
carrier disputing the items and management has all these numbers
37:15
available to them, but they're going to say, Oh no, we don't
37:19
have access to that. We don't have this, we don't
37:21
have that. I'm sorry.
37:23
If your management's not giving you access to that stuff, then
37:26
your manager's a piece of crap because these managers should be
37:32
able to pull up all the numbers for our routes and look and say,
37:35
hey, you know, he's actually right.
37:38
Our district managers, our district representative should
37:42
be stepping in and say, hey, our carriers are right on this.
37:47
Yeah, it's guilty until proven innocent instead of innocent
37:51
until proven guilty here. They, they made it difficult on
37:56
purpose because it saves the post office money when you are
38:02
losing money and have to dispute it anyway.
38:09
We've been, we've been at nauseam on that as well too.
38:13
The last thing I have on my list here is I have a source at
38:19
National that has said, and this is not author authorized
38:26
statement from National. This is nothing on their side.
38:29
And I'm not speaking on behalf of the NRLCA or the USPS when I
38:33
say this, but they have said that routes that were recently
38:36
cut supposedly won't get cut for too many mail surveys at this
38:43
time because they have so many overburdened routes out there
38:47
anyway, it's going to take them a a while to get through all
38:51
these route cuts. So supposedly they're not
38:56
supposed to touch a route that's been recently cut for too many
38:59
mail surveys. Whether that's actually true or
39:01
not, we'll find out when somebody who's been cut turns
39:04
around and tells them, hey, they're cutting me again.
39:08
Well, they don't have to cut you.
39:09
They can do the rule route optimization and screw you over
39:13
again. That's true or the next thing
39:17
they're going to it wasn't an adjustment that.
39:19
Was a rule route optimization. And then there's another one
39:23
they're going to be doing, which is the squaring up of routes.
39:26
Oh. God.
39:28
Yep, giving you the same amount of same amount of hours, just
39:34
different customers you know I talked with.
39:41
Unless you're in a city OK where the blocks are square OK and go
39:48
up and down a couple main drags, they're going to square off rule
39:52
routes. I mean, you know, God.
39:55
Help. Yeah, I know my my post.
39:58
The current new postmaster doesn't know our office at all,
40:03
and I got into a discussion with them about the.
40:07
Squaring up of routes and we were talking about the routes in
40:12
our office and he's like why do you have 3 or 4 trucks going
40:15
down this one Rd. when they could be going in all these
40:18
different roads. And I turned around and I said
40:20
those are the high speed roads. Those are the roads we can do
40:24
above the minimum speed for the average speed of the speed
40:31
matrix of the REC system. They're all roads that are above
40:37
40 miles an hour to get to our routes.
40:42
Then from there we go into all the neighborhoods in areas and
40:45
stuff like that. And yes, I do drive routes that
40:48
are being delivered by other carriers, but that's how it's
40:52
laid out here. And by turning routes, moving
40:57
just pieces here and there from 1 route to another supposedly is
41:02
going to make it more efficient. I don't believe it, but hey,
41:10
they can believe whatever they want to believe, right?
41:12
Well. The question that first comes
41:15
line is OK, if you have multiple routes along this road which is
41:20
above the drive speed matrix and everybody going down that road
41:25
is at the same speed. Therefore what's the difference
41:32
whether they're cutting off to the right here or cutting off to
41:35
the left 1/2 mile down or driving 2 more miles past that
41:40
and starting a route? You're still the, the, the road
41:43
itself doesn't change anything regards to this drive speed.
41:50
And you can't possibly, can't possibly actually send the
41:55
carrier out and not go past another carrier's route.
42:00
It's just physically impossible. You're going to pass some of
42:04
these routes. I mean, you know, it's called
42:07
physics, folks. We can't get to A from A to B,
42:12
you know, and then go from B to D without passing C And OK, like
42:19
in my office. How are you going to square off
42:21
routes where you have several city routes that actually
42:26
intertwine with rural routes? Give the city route to the rural
42:33
Ralph, Yeah. Well could be in for for a fight
42:39
on that one. Oh yeah, that's definitely a
42:41
fight. I I would give give some back
42:43
from rural to city and the city could give some city to rural.
42:47
You know, it's trade off. You could even and fair.
42:51
And not where I live, which which brings up another thing,
42:57
James, here's another point for, you know, pondering
43:00
consideration. I am sick and tired of hearing
43:05
offices that are locked out or blocked don't have Internet
43:10
access so that people can do their damn mapping.
43:16
I've heard it one time. I've heard it 1000 times.
43:20
We have no Internet. Well then you know, how did you
43:22
get the e-mail this morning that you read for our safety report?
43:26
You know, we had a stand up talk this morning.
43:29
How did you get this report missing scan, you know, 20
43:33
minutes ago and he brought it to the carrier next to me.
43:37
That Internet bullshit that that just, you know, just being
43:41
blocked or locked out. It is just it's the most absurd
43:46
thing that I've ever heard because I have yet to see the
43:50
facilitators for our office around and get blocked and
43:53
locked out when doing the LTM, yet management's blocked or
43:58
locked out. I, I can tell you when I was a
44:03
facilitator, when I was a facilitator, we did get locked
44:07
out once, but they were doing a major update to the system to
44:11
fix a lot of, quite a few bugs that were in the system.
44:14
That was the only time I was locked out and I've done mapping
44:19
religiously for the most part ever since.
44:22
There's been a few times where I didn't do it one month or next
44:25
because I didn't have major changes to make to it and that
44:28
was my choice not to do it. But since then I've been doing
44:34
it every month because it needs to be done and I can't trust
44:38
management to do it the right way because they don't drive my
44:41
route every day. And you know, the case in point
44:46
is, you know, the people saying they're missing this or they're
44:49
missing that. I had eight traffic control
44:52
points disappear on my route one day and I'm sitting there going,
44:56
well, hold it. I said, you know what happened
44:58
to these? Well, yes, they were temporary.
45:01
They're fricking lights. They're traffic's lights.
45:03
They're not stop signs. They're not yields.
45:06
They're traffic lights. I think they just removed them
45:09
in the middle of the fricking Rd.
45:11
Everybody can just drive Willy nilly.
45:14
Well, I, I don't know what happened.
45:17
This is why I said you, we need a forensic IT person to look
45:21
into this stuff because the fact that they are full of shit.
45:27
Somebody's in there making changes.
45:30
I mean, they, they had the test program for two different areas,
45:33
you know, for, you know, checking data that they can
45:35
change with the carrier, you know, agreeing to it.
45:39
But what says they can't do it? And why do we have David Heather
45:44
on a retainer and he's supposed to be a rec specialist?
45:48
Yeah, I want a rec specialist. I want an IT forensic
45:52
investigator. That's what I want, yeah.
45:56
Exactly. It's it's, it's amazing to
45:58
think. And while I had said that
46:02
management would have access to edit everybody's scans on
46:06
September 21st, the uproar that was caused by that announcement
46:12
being broadcast not only at National Convention but on this
46:15
podcast as well, I have heard many managers still do not have
46:22
access to that system. Now, whether that is true or
46:25
not, I am unaware, unable to verify, but supposedly they do
46:30
not currently have access across the country to do it.
46:34
They may in some areas, may in some regions.
46:36
I am not totally verified on that, but I wanted to put it out
46:40
there that they have to have special access still to get
46:46
there and and do it. And according to somebody in our
46:51
chat, the offices that did have it had it shut off after the
46:55
test period was over. So it isn't nationwide yet, but
47:01
remember, it is still in management's back pocket.
47:07
It is a feature that has been available the whole time that
47:12
just requires flipping a proverbial switch on the system.
47:19
And the the only reason to do this is to cut our pay.
47:24
They're not. They're not looking to institute
47:26
a new system unless they're saving money on our assets.
47:32
Same reason for, you know, the, the the R Cam.
47:35
I thought, my God, yeah. That's supposed to make it
47:37
easier to solve differences without them going through the
47:40
grievance process after. Damn, supervisors don't even
47:45
know what an R Cam is. Then they're going to go for
47:48
rule route optimization. They're going to go for squaring
47:50
off. Everything they do is to take
47:52
money out of your pocket. Yep.
47:58
And I will, I will, I will tell you that management now is
48:04
tracking box holder inputs. Districts are tracking box
48:10
holder inputs. They have not only a paper form,
48:15
but a digital form to track the box holders in the office.
48:21
Now your manager could be supposedly verifying the box
48:27
holders before you get in the office.
48:30
They're supposed to be there before you get to work.
48:34
That is in the M38. Management is supposed to arrive
48:37
prior to the carrier start time and not leave until the last
48:42
carrier is back. And if they aren't, it is a
48:48
grievable thing you should get with your designated union Rep
48:50
about. But if they're turning around
48:54
and saying that you have to show them the box holders, when you
48:58
get a box holder, ask them how you're going to get compensated
49:05
for that time. It is not in our work rules that
49:09
we have to go and show management what we have for
49:13
mail, what we have for unscanned parcels, what we have for box
49:17
holders. They need to compensate you.
49:20
What do they compensate us with, Bill?
49:24
Money, 8127. And I.
49:30
Want my money, I want my money. And if they're willing to
49:33
compensate you, you ask them for a specific place to stand and
49:39
wait for verification on 8127 time, and the timer starts when
49:44
you leave your case until you return to your case.
49:51
I'm not going to go searching for a manager, especially in an
49:55
SMDC unless I'm on 8127 time. I mean all.
50:05
You gotta do is look up in one of the secret catwalks and say,
50:09
hey, is anybody up there? Come down here and check this
50:11
for me. That'll get a couple chuckles.
50:16
Yeah, you know, but don't let them push you around.
50:21
And if they're saying that you have to verify that, get with
50:24
your designated union Rep again to talk with your designated
50:29
union Rep, so. That reminds me when we're done,
50:36
I I have a story about my designated union Rep, but I
50:39
don't want to put it on air, OK? OK, see This is why people
50:45
should be in our Discord server so they can hear these stories
50:49
when we're not actually recording the show.
50:52
And there's a link available on our Facebook page as well as in
50:56
our group sometimes where you can join our Discord server and
51:00
actually hear us recording live at 7:00 PM Eastern Time on
51:03
Sunday. And we also announced when we're
51:05
doing special midweek bonus episodes as well through the
51:09
Discord server. So if you want to come and hear
51:13
the fun stuff before and after the show, come join us on the
51:16
Discord server where we actually record it live in front of the
51:19
live studio audience, although there is no canned laughter.
51:27
All right, Bill, you have anything else you want to bring
51:30
up? Yeah, I, I, I miss my customers.
51:37
I really do. It's really bittersweet for me
51:42
because of the fact that I knew I had to get out of there with
51:46
what was coming, coming down the Pike And I, I've, you know,
51:51
decided, you know, I've got a couple years before the wife,
51:54
you know, is going to take her retirement.
51:56
So let me plan on doing some things on my own, you know,
52:01
while she's working. But the, the fact of the matter
52:05
is I, I really, I miss kids, the dogs, the customers.
52:09
You know, I, I have 9 or 10 that I still keep in close contact
52:15
with and, and a couple, you know, 5 or 6 at least that, that
52:18
I'll visit. And almost like we call them
52:22
welfare checks on them, make sure, you know, they're doing
52:24
OK. But I, I don't miss the
52:28
bullshit. I mean, it's such a relief not
52:32
to get up in the morning and dread going into work.
52:36
And then, you know, I, I, I'm jealous of people who have those
52:41
Unicorn postmasters and Unicorn offices where everything is
52:45
hunky Dory every day and people work together and they don't,
52:48
you know, stab each other in the back or anything like that.
52:51
I'd love to find that. I mean, you know, maybe when I
52:54
die and go to heaven, hopefully I'll find that post office.
53:00
But, you know, in this day and age of the United States Postal
53:04
Service, that's a rarity. And God bless you who have it.
53:10
The rest of us, you know, just embarrassed, you know, until you
53:15
either find something better or, you know, you just turn around
53:20
and say that's enough and, and walk away your sanity, your
53:24
mental health and your physical health just from the stress.
53:27
It's not worth it. You guys are in my prayers every
53:32
day and, and I hope I don't hear any more stories about shootings
53:36
or accidents or anything like that, people losing their lives.
53:42
I always say, you know, you're the most important delivery of
53:44
the day and I mean it. You know, there, there's nobody
53:47
there to replace you, you know, So get home safely to your
53:51
family every day. Thank you, Bill, Well spoken.
53:57
You know, this is we're still going to push for things to be
54:02
corrected here. We're still going to push for
54:05
correct information to be out and when we get things wrong, we
54:10
have to correct them on another episode.
54:13
We're not going to go back and edit the episode, edit it out.
54:17
We want to show we are human. We make mistakes, but we correct
54:22
them because that's the right thing to do.
54:24
And when management makes mistakes, it's our job to hold
54:28
them accountable to them. With the grievance process
54:31
through our designated union representatives, there are going
54:36
to be delays in a lot of areas. There's going to be a long
54:42
recovery Rd. but the resources are available for postal
54:46
employees in those areas. And if you are somebody in those
54:50
areas that can help deliver things, can help collect things
54:57
to be delivered, reach out to those organizations, reach out
55:02
to our national office and say, hey, I'm down here.
55:04
If you guys want to send resources, I can deliver them.
55:08
That's the best thing you can do to help because our fellow
55:12
brothers and sisters out there need our help right now.
55:16
And you never know, one day you may be in that same position.
55:21
And I would hope that our fellow brothers and sisters would help
55:23
you as well. But at the end of the day, we're
55:30
all in this together and I mean that we are all in this
55:34
together. We'll see you guys next week
55:38
after our state booster. Hopefully Kristen will be back
55:41
next week with us. So until then, we'll see you
55:45
next time. Who do we got me, You and.
56:03
Just you and me. Just you.
56:05
And me, You and me. Oh my God, the Bash brothers.
56:10
Record is on now. Bill, say you're funny pieces
56:13
now.