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Updates, National, and Negotiations · United We Scan

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Thank you. Now here are the host of the
1:00
United We Scan podcast. Welcome back, everybody.
1:04
Episode 56. We have some updates.
1:08
National Convention negotiations, all that fun
1:12
stuff. But first, I'm going to start
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off on a little bit of a somber note, and I know everyone here
1:19
at the podcast sends our condolences and thoughts and
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prayers out to the state of Kansas, who just recently lost
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their former state president, David Troutman, unfortunately
1:36
passed away on his route. I am not going to go into the
1:41
details or whatnot, but unfortunately this is a great
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loss to the NRLCA in general. He was a very active member.
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He was just an all around wonderful guy.
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So I just wanted to put that you know all our thoughts and
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prayers are out to his family, friends and the state of Kansas
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as we're losing definitely a prominent figure within our
2:07
union. Also want to send out some
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thoughts and prayers to everybody that has been involved
2:12
in accidents in the last few days.
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I've seen some on social webs. There was a brand new RCA first
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day out on his route that was in an accident and had to be
2:22
airlifted. I, we don't have the information
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state, whatnot. I'm just kind of going off the
2:27
top of my head here. Also several numerous accidents
2:30
with the weather and stuff. Again, our thoughts and prayers
2:32
are out to all that have been affected by that.
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And on that note, we're going to kick off the rest of this
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episode we have. Nick is back with us this week
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and we have another special guest joining us tonight, Kat.
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So we'll go ahead and start off with Kat, you go ahead and give
2:53
us a little introduction dear. Hello everybody, I've been a
3:00
carrier for about 10 years. I had a relatively short amount
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of time as an RCA and APTF, and I've been on the same route
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since I became a regular. That is awesome and we love to
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have you joining us tonight. Nick, how was your week?
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Hey was pretty good except for the impending doom of cold
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course. Monday was busy as always.
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Rest of the week was pretty easy until the you know, the weather
3:32
came in and got slapped with two box holders on Saturday.
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So that was awesome to have and frigid temperatures layered up
3:40
and got the job done as we always do.
3:44
Go ahead, Josh. My week was not too bad.
3:48
Last Friday submitted some leave, one of which is for an
3:52
event in late March and Monday afternoon I got back off the
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route and it was denied due to being out of 60 days.
4:03
So filed on that. We'll see how that goes.
4:09
The immediate supervisor's like you know you just have to
4:11
resubmit it when we get to the six, you know when you get to
4:15
the 60 day mark. I'm like, the point is with the
4:18
documentation that I have tickets for something that's
4:22
part of the exception. Marriage mail was delivered to
4:28
the building Friday afternoon thinking, great, I'll be able to
4:34
take it out yesterday so I don't have to deal with it this week.
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Yeah, no. By the time I left Saturday, it
4:41
still hadn't been dispersed. So Tuesday's going to be really
4:46
fun, James. I had a pretty good week.
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It was nice and easy for most of it, and then we got killed on
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Friday with packages and mail, and about halfway through the
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route it started snowing and blowing and snowing and blowing
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and ended up driving back to the post office at about 20 miles an
5:05
hour to get back to the office with the LLV.
5:09
But now it's going to be extremely cold.
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So it's going to be an interesting next week with the
5:15
Arctic temps coming through here with Monday having Monday off.
5:19
You know, that kind of helps the coldest day of the week.
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But we'll see what happens the rest of the week and how many
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layers I have to put on the to survive out there.
5:29
I hear you. Yeah, it was.
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I got done Friday about two hours before it actually started
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up here for me. OK.
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It started in about 4:45. I was done by three and Needless
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to say Saturday we did get our Amazon truck.
5:45
We got our normal truck but we had no DPS and only pre sorted
5:50
standard bundles of flats and then our APCS of packages.
5:56
So Needless to say, all the flats are back in the case and I
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got maybe 20 packages out of 96 delivered on Saturday and
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clocked out at noon to go home so Tuesday with a high.
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Oh, so yesterday was the 2nd Saturday in a row that we've had
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torrential downpours with high winds.
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Luckily yesterday I finished my last of CB US and was on my
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mounted deliveries when it actually started rolling in.
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Yeah, we so Tuesday's supposed to be high at 12°.
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Not looking forward to the long frigid day, but it is what it
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is. I did have my shadow day on
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Wednesday and easy come, easy go, go are the Rcas.
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He on Thursday actually got an offer for the PTF clerk position
6:57
in our office that he had also applied for and decided to
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accept that over the RCA position.
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So I'm waiting on the next one to come in and we'll start it
7:08
all over again. But other than that, other week
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itself wasn't too bad for me and Bill is back with us tonight.
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I wasn't sure if we were going to have him or not, but there he
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is. How's it going, dear?
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Hey Howdy crew you know just got back from Tennessee burying my
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mother-in-law and I'd like to thank everybody with their
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condolences and the like 280 DMS that I got.
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I guess some people some people don't want to go on Facebook and
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say yeah I know Bill I you know so they DM me.
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But I appreciate all the support sympathies from everybody around
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the country and then LED of that it's a shame we lost a great man
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from Kansas there David Troutman.
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I mean just too young and I'll Bill who you Chris, you know,
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but I've just wound up from driving.
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So I I have no, no energy or no desire to sleep right now.
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I just need to participate one way or the other.
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Well, we're happy to have you back.
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Thank you. And that and that you made, you
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know, your your two different trips to Tennessee this past
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week back and travel safely. I know it's been rough fun.
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Yeah. So we appreciate you got hopping
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in with us tonight. I I just love 28 hours of
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driving, you know, in in one week, you know, all in 36 hours.
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Sorry, it's nine hours each way. So it was fun.
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But you know, my mother in And you know, I talked to you
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earlier, Kristen, for for people who don't know, I witnessed
8:59
something amazing at her funeral.
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We were driving to the cemetery and in Tennessee they have these
9:07
two lane divided roads. There's two lanes each way and
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there's like 20 foot of medial grass with crossovers and all
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people going the other way pulled off onto the shoulder and
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put their flashes on, waiting for the funeral procession to go
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by. I've never seen that type of
9:25
respect ever. And that touched me.
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I mean that I I just, I was bummed out, dumbfounded.
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I I couldn't believe that they, they would do this for for
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complete strangers. And I'm talking about, you know,
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almost every car, very few cars went by without pulling over.
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So hats off to Tennessee. Yeah, it's like I told you when
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you called me earlier and told me about it.
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I mean, that just renews the faith in humanity right there.
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That. That are.
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People that still have that respect on a divided highway to
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still pull over and low and respect the procession going
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through that, definitely that gets you in the feels.
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It really does. All right, James, what were some
10:15
updates you wanted to talk about tonight?
10:18
All right. So the first update is my union
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contact got back with me on my dispute and what's going on with
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it pointed me in the right direction of where to find the
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answers etcetera. And then I did talk about the
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NDI report which uses the bread crumbs and it says in plenty of
10:38
places that the NDI report is not to be used for row carriers
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etcetera, etcetera. I was just using it as an
10:44
example of the bread crumbs of what I was doing on my route,
10:48
and unfortunately that cannot be used for anything.
10:53
And as it stands, from the information that I have
10:58
gathered, the only things that count for your route fact
11:04
coverage factor is D, PS:, WSS, and anything that they actually
11:12
record electronically like your box holders, etcetera.
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So if it doesn't show up on those any of those reports, it
11:18
does not go into your coverage factor at all.
11:21
Bread crumbs do not go in your coverage factor obviously.
11:26
So I wanted to update everybody on that to start with because I
11:33
talked about it last week. Another update we have to
11:37
correct. I was informed this week that we
11:42
were incorrect. We were quoting incorrectly our
11:45
speed matrix value. The highest value is actually
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39.45 mph, not 48 like we've been saying.
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However, we've been saying it for quite a while, so I wanted
11:57
to update it that it is 39.45 mph is the average speed for
12:03
anything over 5030 feet. So you guys have anything you
12:08
want to say on that? Oh, thank you very much for that
12:12
correction. Well, I I guess we don't get
12:14
paid for everything we do since clerk mail and miss sorts and
12:18
everything else that are handed off to you aren't, you know,
12:21
considered in your box factor, I mean your coverage factor.
12:25
I mean, you know. It's a.
12:27
It's a possibility that it does. It does not count.
12:30
However, if it had gone through automation, it should count.
12:34
For your stuff it should count. If it went through automation.
12:38
Those non machinables, they don't count.
12:43
And therefore you you don't get credit.
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And that's where they they take, that's the whole purpose of the
12:49
Money Mail survey, is it taking average over those two weeks to
12:56
incorporate that in, OK. You got it now.
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So you're still not. Getting paid for everything you
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do. No.
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And you you never will get paid for everything that you do, even
13:07
with this, this new system until every single piece of mail is
13:11
accounted for by automation or by some system that they have to
13:16
track how it how it's going. So that's part of it.
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And until we can actually see the actual formulas that they're
13:23
putting in, the numbers they're putting in and have some
13:26
physical way to verify the numbers, it's not going to
13:29
happen. And with the the amount of mail
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we have still going through the Postal Service, even though
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apparently according to a lot of people, mail volume is down,
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there's still a crap ton of mail that carriers handle every
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single day, and being sitting there and counting every single
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piece of it would just take way too long, and we're not paid to
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do that. And and this lies in the face of
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some of the management telling people to stop at mailboxes even
13:56
if they don't get mail so they can get their credit.
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If. If it's not if it's not counted,
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you're not getting credit, so you're just wasting time
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stopping at mailboxes that are getting nothing delivered that
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day. And also on on that, on that
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note too, I wanted to add this as well, what Bill just said not
14:16
stopping for mail that you got from the clerk's box is failure
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to deliver the mail still stop and deliver it.
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Always. I have an all CDU root, so if
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they're doing coverage factor by just strictly the DPS, then why
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is the system still flagging some of my addresses and as
14:40
inactive when they do get DPS? But they're situated in such a
14:45
way that I would never physically approach the house
14:47
unless I had parcels for them. And yet the system is still
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consistently flagging them as inactive.
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Are is the address written on there exactly the same as the
14:58
address in your edit book? Yeah, the address is the same,
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the edit book is the same, it's mapped the same, nothing changes
15:07
at all. But whenever I check it, they'll
15:09
get mailed very sparingly. Maybe once every two weeks,
15:12
maybe once every three weeks, but it's always marked as
15:15
inactive. Is it first class or third
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class? It's first class.
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OK, first class should should still be marking them as active.
15:26
They try to mark ones that only get third classes inactive from
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what I've seen but I can't explain, they're still having so
15:35
many issues with CB, us and and blue boxes too.
15:39
Blue boxes being on routes they're having problems with as
15:42
well. And they're still getting
15:45
parcels. So, you know, it makes you
15:47
wonder, if I'm not getting any credit for that address, am I
15:50
getting that parcel credit either?
15:53
And the problem with the CB US which is varying in wide,
15:57
wide-ranging in regards to the credit that you get for it.
16:00
Like James says, if you're getting you know, difference
16:02
between 1st and 3rd class, if third class is going through the
16:06
DPS, you should be getting the credit.
16:08
Class of mail should not make any difference whatsoever for
16:12
the credit for that CBU. Yeah, there's there's been
16:16
instances where people don't get any mail for the first box in
16:21
the CBU and they end up with nothing For the entire CBU.
16:26
There's ones that, you know, they're getting less than 50%
16:29
and they're getting no credit. It it it's it's one of those
16:32
black holes that I don't think anybody can reasonably explain.
16:37
Bill, supposedly they fixed that issue with the first box,
16:43
supposedly. Yes, supposedly.
16:46
Supposedly. Which makes me wonder because I
16:49
have a few CBU units where my first box is inactive, my first
16:57
address, and that CBU is inactive.
17:01
So yeah, it it until we know for sure.
17:04
I mean, I yeah. I I think when they separated
17:10
the coverage factor for Curbside to CBU, part of that was the was
17:18
resolving the first box. Being inactive affects the whole
17:24
unit. And in what world does that make
17:31
any sense? Yeah.
17:34
I don't know. See.
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There are so many questions. We asked 4241 my coverage factor
17:41
was the same for both CBU and Curbside.
17:45
It's all designed to keep us guessing and keep us confused.
17:48
That is the name of the game right now.
17:51
Until there is complete transparency and we can see
17:56
everything that they're putting into it and know what's going
18:00
into it. Because we as mail carriers kind
18:03
of know how much volume we have in our routes, kind of know the
18:06
volume coverage that we have in our routes, we know the volume
18:09
factor of our routes and we know the numbers are wrong.
18:12
We can't physically prove it, just like me, just like people
18:16
doing math in their heads. They can't prove the equation
18:19
that they used to get there, but they got the right answer.
18:24
But they want documented proof. Well, we want documented proof
18:28
of how they got those numbers. They won't give it to us, but we
18:34
want the transparency and and until that time that we have
18:37
leadership that will give us that transparency, we're going
18:41
to be in the dark. We're going to be clueless on
18:43
this. We're only going to have the
18:46
answers we can find by digging through every document we can
18:49
find and asking questions. And by the time you do research
18:59
that they go every document up, they'll turn around and change
19:02
it on it again. You're not highlight.
19:07
Rex was written in stone until they decided that they had a a
19:10
chisel and they wanted to change some things.
19:14
We've had what 4 up, We've had I just on the comprehensive guide
19:18
alone, we since they initially released it, we've had three new
19:22
updates, but we don't know what those updates are unless we're
19:25
comparing it side by side. I think some of it is language
19:28
in general, but yeah. Well, let's see.
19:32
I can give you a few of them. One of them was changing cars
19:36
labels from being counted for the entire year to the Mini Mail
19:39
survey. One of them was changing over
19:43
that carrier pickup should only be used on parcels that are over
19:46
2 lbs. And apparently we're supposed to
19:49
all have sales in our priority now unless it's priority.
19:53
And I mean there's there's quite a few different little changes
19:57
that cost us money. Every single change they have
20:01
made has not been to the benefit of the carrier.
20:08
I want you to think about that. Every change our leadership has
20:12
negotiated with management has not benefited the craft.
20:18
When it comes to pickups, I just look at the postage.
20:21
If it says that they paid for £5 or or under, I'm going to count
20:25
it as being worth 2 lbs. Hey, nobody got time for that.
20:32
That's one of my favorite pet peeves.
20:35
If you go to the door and you pick up a 40 LB package that
20:38
they've, you know, put out a label and postage on there but
20:42
they sent in bulk mail or media rate, OK, what difference does
20:47
it make whether it's Express next day, Express, whether it's
20:50
over 2 lbs or not? I mean folks, if you have to go
20:54
to the door, you're going to the same motions of picking up a
20:58
parcel. Why is there a difference in the
21:01
credit? For the same reason that the
21:08
clerks think a spur is a spur, and we don't think it's a spur,
21:11
and vice versa. Like they'll they'll sort our
21:14
small parcels for us and then management won't come and tell
21:17
us that that's not a small parcel, it's a flat.
21:22
Yeah, it's, it's. And that's the other side of it
21:26
is we have so many different areas that are doing things
21:28
differently as well. And there's no guidance from
21:32
leadership telling us where things need to be and how things
21:35
need to be other than AQ and A that's been updated six times
21:40
since they brought it out. And even in that the the answers
21:43
to questions differ for different questions that have
21:46
been asked of the same topic. The problem is, is we need open
21:54
transparency on this for the carriers to understand what
21:57
they're supposed to be doing across this nation.
21:59
Because we're all being evaluated the exact same.
22:02
We should all be doing it the exact same way and there should
22:07
be no dispute about that. Management should not be saying,
22:10
oh, that's a flat, oh, that's a pat parcel, It should be carrier
22:13
discretion, whether it's a flat or a parcel.
22:16
And granted. One thing that everybody can't
22:19
agree on though, if it has a scannable barcode, it is a
22:22
parcel under the wrecks. Yep, and if it has a barcode.
22:28
If it has a barcode, it should be a carrier pickup or it should
22:31
be a prepaid acceptance. There should be no oh you got to
22:35
have 2 lbs or you got to have that.
22:37
If we have to scan it at the final and get a credit of it as
22:40
a parcel, then we should be able to scan it as a parcel when we
22:43
pick it up. Correct.
22:47
I have customer on my route. Every day I go up to his door to
22:51
pick up. No carrier pickup assigned to
22:55
it. I go up to his door, I swap out
22:56
a flat tub. He is a major eBay, eBay seller
23:00
of sports memorabilia, cards, Pokémon cards, etcetera.
23:05
Every day he has 15 to 20 scans, all under £2.00 because they're
23:11
cards and they're in a protective bubble wrapper.
23:13
I used to get credit for that. Now I won't.
23:15
I'm still scanning them as carrier pickup and then.
23:20
Hope you get. Some credit for it, but
23:22
according to this new verbiage, we won't.
23:26
Well, not, you know, to kind of play devil's advocate on this,
23:32
If you go back to the old count guide, when you bring back mail,
23:36
it's the same verbiage for when you brought back a parcel in the
23:42
past. It had to meet those same
23:44
criteria that they're using the language now as then when you
23:49
brought it back. Yeah, that.
23:52
Is correct. The next topic I want to talk
23:56
about is what's occurring across a lot of the country right now,
24:02
and that is cold snow and ice and what carriers can do about
24:10
it because a lot of people are going to be forced into work in
24:16
these cold, brutal temperatures and icy conditions.
24:21
The first thing I want to talk about with you guys is what is a
24:24
carrier supposed to do when it is so cold your skin will freeze
24:27
in less than 5 minutes? Bundle up.
24:33
Oh oh, I'm sorry. It was a trick question.
24:37
I was going to say pray. I would say you're calling.
24:45
Sleeping all over my body. First thing you do is call the
24:48
emergency line to see if operations are actually open.
24:57
That's the first step, calling the emergency line.
24:59
It's on on the back of your ID. Well, I and I just posted it and
25:05
in the live chat here, Kristen, if you want to grab that and
25:08
post it to all the socials, Yep. We can do that.
25:13
And that's 888-363-7462. And it will ask you to enter the
25:22
1st 3 digits of your zip code and it'll be prerecorded message
25:29
pretty much saying operations as normal report to work.
25:34
On that rare occasion, it'll say that they are delayed or
25:39
postponed and then you just have to call back the next morning to
25:43
see if you're going back to work the next.
25:45
Day. Yeah, we're we're looking at
25:47
that because you know, we, you know a high of 12° and that
25:52
doesn't incorporate the wind chill that I could potentially
25:56
will have coming off of Lake here on Tuesday.
25:59
It's going to be cold, not as cold as it is in some of the
26:05
areas I've seen out there with negative 20s and whatnot and.
26:13
Negative 60s in Montana and North Dakota.
26:20
Yeah, I saw the Montana at -52 and I said that's brisk.
26:26
Oh. Lord.
26:27
All right. Can I just put it in the
26:29
listener chat too? So.
26:31
Yeah, I mean it's not going to be my first time working out in
26:34
that bare cold. I just in the in in the past
26:37
I've been a POV driver in these wretched cold conditions, so my
26:43
heat was a little better. So now I'm getting brought back
26:48
up to speed on what it's like to do it in an LLV.
26:54
Quick quick trick there is to put cardboard in front of the
26:56
radiator covered up the radiator don't cover over the the small
27:02
little cooling unit that's for your transmission, but cover up
27:05
the radiator with piece of cardboard.
27:07
That'll give you a little extra heat.
27:10
I will, and we do have spare cardboard in the back from the
27:14
Amazon boxes that they send the small stuff in, so I may just do
27:19
that Tuesday morning when I go in.
27:21
The grill. The grill on the LOV is wide
27:23
enough. You can kind of weave it back
27:25
and forth between between the openings to do that.
27:28
But also be careful because you also could overheat it, so only
27:34
use it in extremely cold temperatures.
27:37
Yep, exactly. It's.
27:39
I haven't done that yet, so. People from from Alaska know
27:43
exactly what I'm talking about. I do it until it hits Stephanie.
27:52
And those in the warmer climates have no clue what we're talking
27:55
about. That too.
27:57
Absolutely not. Yeah.
28:01
When you talk about bundling up for 40 for the 40s and we're
28:04
talking about breaking out shorts and flip flops in the 40s
28:07
and 50s, yeah, totally different.
28:10
We are definitely, definitely made totally different when it
28:14
comes to that. Yep.
28:18
It's OK. I get my do in the summer.
28:22
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, when?
28:24
When she's when she's in the temperatures of EZ Bake oven on
28:28
wheels. For us in the summer, when the
28:30
temperature outside is the temperature we usually have
28:32
inside the LLV, yeah. I've had some hot summers in an
28:37
LLVI will say that. Not that warm though.
28:40
But yeah, when it starts getting up into the 90s and you got
28:43
humidity on top of it, it it's not fun.
28:47
That's when everybody gets to see 95% of my tattoos because
28:51
I'm wearing tank top and shorts. And and how do I get paid if
28:57
they tell me not to come in, James?
28:59
So if you are a regular carrier and they tell you not to report,
29:05
you will get an administrative day.
29:07
You will be paid for that day. PT, FS, Rcas and Arcs will not
29:14
unless you use leave. And if it's your relief day like
29:18
yesterday would have been mine if we had been called to say not
29:21
come in, well, I just would have been Sol anyways, so.
29:25
That too, yes. However, I did put 4 hours in,
29:29
so no we I will get paid for for yesterday.
29:33
But yeah, I was talking to my Co workers, both of us.
29:36
All right, was our relief days like, well, in the off chance we
29:40
get called in not to go in, I said it's just AK Day for us.
29:45
He goes, Yeah, I know. And there's there's actually
29:50
another side, just what you said right there, you did 4 hours for
29:54
regular carriers, RCASPTS, anybody who shows up to run a
30:01
route and then the post office turns around and calls the day,
30:07
for instance, the truck doesn't show up with anything.
30:09
You have nothing to deliver and they send you home.
30:13
You will be paid the route evaluation that day that you
30:16
were on. And if you are APOV, you will be
30:20
included. Your EMA is also included if you
30:23
go into the office. Yeah, we have had that in the
30:27
past. So yes, I am familiar with that
30:29
one. And.
30:31
If you are side of that, if the truck doesn't come and they tell
30:35
you to wait, they can hold you for up to your evaluation for
30:41
regulars. Yes.
30:43
Yes, and also here a sub on a green card time that day.
30:50
You have a minimum of two hours, but you will get paid your green
30:53
card time for whatever time you are at that office.
30:56
Yes, if you are assigned to run a full route, you will get the
31:00
evaluation of that route. Yes.
31:05
Here's a question regarding, you know, holiday time and
31:09
volunteering for regulars. If you were mandated or
31:13
volunteered to work your holiday to Saturday and they asked you
31:17
to carry part of another route as a regular, would that fall
31:20
under regular rules or would that fall into the You can't
31:23
work because it's your K day rule.
31:27
If the day is not your designated holiday, it is your
31:31
scheduled day off. You are not allowed to volunteer
31:35
on other routes. If you are, it is your
31:38
designated holiday. It would fall under the same
31:42
time and a half on that volunteering on the route.
31:46
Because under normal circumstances that would be a
31:49
normal scheduled work day. Yes, but carriers on their
31:53
scheduled day off cannot volunteer to work other routes
31:58
because they're already technically being paid time and
32:00
a half, even if they're DAC a three.
32:02
Yeah, so if your relief day for instance is tomorrow and you had
32:07
to work your and tomorrow being the holiday, work your
32:12
designated holiday on Saturday and you they asked and you
32:17
volunteered, it would still fall under that Mou stipulations.
32:21
There's nothing in the Mou saying different.
32:25
And just as a reminder that Mou is set to expire here February
32:30
unless it's renewed again. March 8th, oh, March.
32:33
Correct. I'm sorry, it was.
32:35
It was February 4th last year. Yeah, March 8th this year.
32:39
And do we want to take bets on it being extended again?
32:44
I'm not going to. I'm not going to make any bets
32:47
on what our national leaders are going to do because so far they
32:49
have not impressed me in the choices that they've made.
32:56
I was hoping they would. I was hoping that with new
33:00
leaders at the top and new leaders in different positions
33:03
at the top, that things would change a little bit.
33:07
Not impressed yet? Our next topic Stay on the
33:12
winter theme. Here is mailboxes.
33:19
If you hit one, tip it over a little, knock it down, run it
33:24
completely over. Dukes of Hazzard it.
33:26
Any of that stuff? What is the process for a rural
33:30
carrier? Well, number one, you're going
33:34
to you're going to attempt to contact the customer and let
33:37
them know what you just did. That should always be the number
33:42
one. Number two, you are going to let
33:47
your supervisor know what happened and it should be an
33:53
incident report filed on it just to cover your behind.
34:01
Do not let management say that you are financially responsible
34:05
to replace this box or fix this box.
34:10
That is not correct. Most management do not want to
34:14
do the paperwork. That's why they tell you that it
34:17
is actually covered under the Tort Claims Act.
34:21
And if they want to force and say that you are financially
34:29
responsible for that mailbox, you can file a grievance on that
34:33
A. Management would.
34:35
Lie to us? Oh, never.
34:39
Oh, Corey Walton. Corey Walton says it best time
34:42
from 8 Arbitration. Management would rather climb a
34:45
tree to lie than stand on the ground to tell the truth.
34:49
And in that situation where you do happen to dig a mailbox, it's
34:54
not automatic that you're going to lose your driving privileges.
34:57
If they do suspend your driving privileges, I would question
35:01
that. Absolutely, and even agree.
35:04
That file Hey Bill, what do we do when management does
35:08
something we don't agree with? File, file, file and then file
35:14
again. Can I hear that one more time
35:18
for the people in the back? File, file, file and then file
35:23
again. 187 grievance, 3 withdrawn, 3 settled for
35:31
language. The rest were all monetary wins.
35:34
I know what I do. My people, my people got paid.
35:40
So yes, if you're mad, if you, given with the road conditions,
35:46
you hit a mailbox, you knock it sideways, you knock it down, you
35:49
run it over, Yeah, affect it negatively in one way or
35:54
another, and management's going to come to you and say you're
35:57
responsible for that mailbox, your next step is getting a hold
36:02
of your assigned union Rep, whether that's a local steward,
36:07
ADRDR. Whoever's assigned to you, where
36:10
you're at. And file on that because that
36:13
actually is covered under the TORT Act and you are not
36:17
financially responsible for that.
36:20
A good example as well is if let's just say you slide on ice
36:26
and you slide into the mailbox, but you do not damage it.
36:29
So, so you just slide right next to it, but now you're on ice and
36:32
if you try to get unstuck, you're going to damage the
36:34
mailbox? And.
36:37
And now you got to call management and request a tow
36:40
truck or I'm going to damage this mailbox attempting to get
36:42
out. Just as a reminder to regulars
36:44
out there of what O time is because many of them do not know
36:47
what that is, is the long as you have to wait there for a tow
36:52
truck to come free you from a ditch or free you stuck next to
36:56
a mailbox that you need to put that down as O time.
37:01
Yeah, so that's for government vehicles only.
37:03
If you're apov, well, you're on your own.
37:06
I'm sorry, but you are. I have been there in both
37:09
circumstances. I've been there as apov driver.
37:12
I slid. I hated that mailbox every
37:15
winter before and every winter after I it.
37:20
It caught me as I was trying to leave the box and I went down
37:24
towards the ditch we ended up by the time I could get out of it.
37:30
I had a buddy of mine that was worked about 10 miles up the
37:33
road came on his lunch break to pull me out.
37:36
We nicely removed the mailbox off the post before yanking my
37:40
car out because there was no way to get the car out without
37:44
taking out the mailbox completely.
37:46
So the homeowner was aware of what was going on.
37:49
And we did remove the box from the post, yanked my car out in
37:54
the process. When the post hit my side view
37:57
mirror, took my mirror out, that happens.
38:00
And you know, we put the mail, You know, the homeowners were
38:04
more than happy to find with that, they put the mailbox up.
38:06
They had no problems with that. I didn't take out the post at
38:09
all. So yeah, if you're on APOV,
38:11
well, you're on your own. You don't get out of time.
38:14
Government vehicles, yes. Anytime that you are broken
38:17
down, waiting on a tow truck, any of that type of stuff, it is
38:21
owe time. And whatever you do, whatever
38:26
you do, don't leave the scene without notifying the homeowner.
38:31
Exactly. If the homeowner is not home,
38:34
not answering the door, please leave them on out.
38:38
You know, I there's the stickies on the 3840 Nines.
38:41
I've written notes on them and stuck them to the door saying,
38:44
hey, this is what happened. I tried to, you know, do
38:47
something of trying to get a hold of the homeowner.
38:50
Like I said, if they're not home, leave them a note.
38:52
That way they know when they return what happened.
38:56
And they're not just calling the office going well and completely
39:00
going off. You know, just try to make
39:03
contact even. I mean right down to, you know,
39:06
if you slide, if you're going up to deliver a package and you
39:09
normally that's an easy area to turn around and you slide and
39:12
you back into their garage or you slide into something else of
39:16
theirs. You know, you let them know
39:17
right away that you know that you did something.
39:21
You know, they they usually are a lot more understanding when
39:24
you're contacting them, when it happened right then and there,
39:27
rather than trying to figure it out after the fact and then
39:30
everybody gets in trouble. And just just remember, more and
39:36
more people are getting ring doorbells and cameras on their
39:40
houses because of package thefts, so they're going to
39:43
catch that action. So if you actually walk up and
39:46
leave them a note or something like that, letting them know
39:49
what happened, they're going to look more favorably on you than
39:52
if you just drive away leaving it on the ground.
39:56
Exactly. Yeah, and failing to report it
39:59
to management is a removable fence.
40:04
Failing to report an accident. Yeah, and follow up on the O
40:08
time. Put the O time down on your 4240
40:12
and then keep track of it on your phone.
40:14
When you accumulate 8 hours, you get a free paid day and they
40:18
doesn't expire. That time never expires, but if
40:22
you don't keep track of it, you will never get it.
40:26
I will. I actually have a DACA tracker
40:33
at my case. I will on if I have a spare 2
40:38
seconds on Tuesday or Wednesday I will remember to make a copy
40:44
of it and have it posted so people can can print it.
40:52
You know can print a copy of it out and keep it at their case
40:57
and it you it's real simple. You put you know how much your
41:01
balance starting, how much you used how much you've you know
41:06
you you're adding to it and you just keep going.
41:09
And then when I get my 8 hours and I actually take the day, I
41:13
say used O day on whatever the date was and subtract 8 hours
41:18
out from whatever my total is. It's actually keep track of the
41:23
O time log like they should, so definitely keep track of it
41:27
yourself. Yeah, like they said, it does.
41:31
It doesn't expire. So if it takes you 234 years to
41:35
build up 8 hours, it still counts.
41:38
And some management will say, oh, it resets every year.
41:41
Don't believe that. And if they try to tell you,
41:43
well, it reset, Grieve it. What do we do, Bill?
41:47
File file file. And I just want to add a note
41:51
under that if you are a leave replacement and this happens to
41:56
you, that wait time, that O time that regulars accrue is green
42:01
card time for the leave replacements.
42:06
So keep track of that and put that time on a green card.
42:11
When you get back, I'm. Going to say unless you go over
42:15
40 hours for the week, then you're getting compensated for
42:18
it anyway. Yes.
42:21
And some, some management will try and say, well, you were
42:25
under evaluation, so I don't have to pay it.
42:28
What do we do, Bill? Smile and file.
42:33
That that that's over and above the actual what your your route
42:39
duties and valuation. So yes, that it either way it's
42:43
going to be recorded for leave replacements as green card time.
42:47
I, I just, I want to, I want to ask everybody here, can the
42:51
national Board be that numb to what's going on in the Postal
42:56
Service across the country to to our fellow carriers.
43:00
I mean there there's not a, we know they monitored us OK, but
43:05
aren't they monitoring the other websites and saying Gee why is
43:09
this going on? Why are carriers being harassed?
43:12
Why are they being exposed to you know threats in the toxic
43:15
environment? Where is the national board in
43:19
all this? Well, actually I just did a
43:22
breakdown of Don Masten's latest article that he put in the
43:27
magazine where he talks about a few of these things.
43:31
So I'm just going to segue into that because I talked.
43:34
So we're going to talk about National.
43:36
I did a breakdown of it and the things I got out of it were
43:42
finger wagging at management about the short staffedness, the
43:48
carriers being out late and the harassment from management.
43:54
So he did actually address the harassment of them and talked
43:59
about RC as being out that the the customer doesn't recognize
44:05
who is not wearing a uniform, so on and so forth.
44:09
And then the discussion even turned into some of the things
44:14
that they're looking to do in our next contract.
44:19
So if you're able to and you're on Facebook, check out the Royal
44:24
Mail Carriers United Group where I did a breakdown and I do
44:27
breakdowns like this on this stuff.
44:30
Because we need to look not only at what the words are saying,
44:34
but the meaning behind them. Because there is a lot more into
44:40
what is said than just what is written on the page and what it
44:44
means to every single carrier out there.
44:47
You got to post that up there in the chat there for everybody to
44:51
look at that Facebook page. I'm going to post it in the
44:54
listener chat and I'm going to. Also Kristen's going to share
44:59
the group to our Facebook page as well so that way people can
45:03
access it that way. A couple of the things that I
45:07
noticed that he stated about changing for this next peak
45:12
season is he wants to eliminate a lot of the RCA positions in
45:20
lieu of PTFS. He does talk about removing the
45:24
tables, so we don't know what that means yet.
45:28
They still are talking about hiring more people, but I'm
45:31
believing that the way that they're talking that they're
45:33
going to eliminate the requirement for an RCA for every
45:37
route. And I understand that right now
45:39
it doesn't seem like we're ever going to get enough RCAS to
45:42
cover every single route. The PTS were a stopgap measure
45:47
because of the shortage OF RCAS. Now it sounds like they're going
45:51
to make them permanent. And also if that's the case, we
45:55
were talking about that MOU. I think that MOU might end up in
45:58
our next contract as well, where regular carriers are now forced
46:03
to carry other routes just like the city carriers do.
46:07
Which which, Yeah that Article 30 protection, which is also
46:12
it's kind of funny is because I know listening through the City
46:17
side that was one of the things that they want to negotiate was
46:21
that route protection like we have they were wanting to go to
46:26
something like that to where a regular city carrier just just
46:30
responsible for their route and not having mandated to then take
46:34
pivots off of other routes as well.
46:38
It, you know, I just I don't want to see that we get mandated
46:44
to do that because again that's this MOU was supposed to be a
46:48
Band-Aid. It started during COVID and has
46:51
been extended for how many years now It went away for a little
46:54
bit and then came back and then extended and extended.
46:57
I mean, that's the one thing that you look forward to as a
47:01
regular when you go regular is only having to worry about your
47:04
1 route. Yep.
47:07
I mean that really. And and and if that gets taken
47:10
away from us, there's going to be a lot of upset carriers.
47:14
I mean, it's totally different. Yes, as a regular, in the two
47:17
months that I've been a regular, yeah, I have volunteered and
47:20
gone out and helped a brand new RCA on a different route.
47:25
You know that. That to me is completely
47:27
different. I had no problems.
47:28
I've only done that a couple times though.
47:29
I like the fact that I just worry about my route and then I
47:33
can go home. And there are times where she's
47:35
asked if I wanted the OT to go help so and so and I look at her
47:39
and be like, Nope, I'm going home Bye, you know, I if we
47:44
lose. That we haven't.
47:47
Yeah, you know it. And if we lose that, that is I I
47:52
can definitely see if that is one thing that gets lost when it
47:56
comes to ratification. I could see that.
47:59
A big one getting a no vote. Yep.
48:03
If that comes up to if that's how it goes, I mean that not
48:08
saying it is or it isn't, 'cause we don't know.
48:10
We won't know for a while. But if we lose that protection,
48:13
yeah, I'm not vote that. That's a no vote right off
48:17
instantly for me. I don't care about anything
48:19
else. Or, or even even worse, they get
48:25
rid of that Article 30 protection and then regular
48:27
carriers are forced to work Amazon Sunday too.
48:31
Exactly. There's enough there, There's
48:35
more than enough carriers out there right now that are just
48:38
run ragged because they got, you got offices that don't have any
48:42
leave replacements whatsoever and they are Amazon offices.
48:46
And you do have those few regulars that'll volunteer to
48:49
come in and run some packages on Sundays, but you know they're
48:53
getting wore out. You get you got you know the
48:56
offices that are carriers work at six days a week every week.
49:00
If you don't have an Amazon Sunday and I'm going to raise my
49:04
hand say I'm one of them. I am.
49:06
I'm tired. I always like dawned on me I'm
49:10
like, oh wait Monday's a holiday.
49:11
Oh my gosh another two day weekend.
49:13
I I really, yeah. I don't want to see that issue
49:20
go away. I really, we want, we need to
49:23
keep that protection of our route, our route only and I
49:27
don't want to see that MOU get renewed again.
49:31
And see, I'm I'm kind of happy to hear that the Rcas are
49:34
lessened and the PTFS are are kind of being pushed because
49:38
that's more incentive for the Rcas.
49:41
The PTFS at least get, you know, pay steps.
49:43
They do, they do get in advances.
49:45
They do get career benefits. Being in a high cost of living
49:49
state. The current RCA position is just
49:52
not at all, you know, appealing to the average person.
49:56
At least with the PTFS, there is enough there that it's worth it
50:00
to go through the whole process. Well, I and I have to.
50:05
I have to agree with that though too.
50:07
And I I I've had that. I had a since now retired.
50:12
Linda will know. I talk about, she's listening.
50:14
Her husband used to say you know why not have a sub for every two
50:18
routes That way they're getting ours.
50:20
Back then this was when our office was fully staffed for the
50:23
most part, you know and then Rcas were sitting around because
50:27
they weren't working all but one day a week.
50:29
And you know and you know at that time and nowadays you know
50:33
that whole feast or famine thing there are, there are offices out
50:37
there that are exception where you still have the famine going
50:40
on and those are far and few in between.
50:42
I only know of a handful of them but it's you know the RCARCAS
50:46
are getting burned out. So yeah, no, I I definitely, I
50:51
see the what a positive would be on having the career leave
50:56
replacements definitely that is more incentive for them.
51:00
How many variations of resolutions were there to make
51:06
RC as career after a certain amount of time?
51:10
Several James, Huh? Yeah.
51:12
Six of them, including one that was mine and mine.
51:16
Mine was to make them career after 2080 hours or two years
51:21
whichever came first. So that way we have protections
51:24
for the RC as that were working their butts off at offices that
51:30
are short staffed and we have protection for RC as and offices
51:33
that are feast are famined and they only work one or two days a
51:39
week and. And I and I do know that out of
51:43
Wisconsin there was a resolution that passed for PTF strings to
51:49
be reduced from 2:00 to 1 route. Why would they want to reduce
51:54
from from the entitlement of two to the entitlement of one?
51:58
How does that benefit the position or the people in those
52:01
positions? Well the thought process was it
52:08
allows for RCA conversion to career status, which essentially
52:14
is the PTF position without losing the one sub per route.
52:22
That doesn't necessarily mean you'll only have one route, but
52:28
the thought process was without taking away that one sub per
52:33
route, you can still allow Rcas to be converted to career after
52:42
a certain time frame. All right, let me be devil's
52:47
advocate here as somebody who is second in seniority in his
52:52
office for junior seniority and somebody who has a Saturday off,
53:00
if my office were to convert to PTFI would lose my Saturday off.
53:06
I would lose my 2 day weekend. I wouldn't get Saturday or
53:09
Monday. I would get Tuesday, Wednesday
53:12
or Thursday or Friday. And I understand there are
53:15
offices that have that, that have been forced into that,
53:18
especially with our current contract reducing the
53:22
requirements for management to turn in office PTF.
53:27
But if an office can manage to have PTFS that cover every route
53:36
where they could have Saturdays and Mondays only, that would be
53:39
a complete benefit to the craft. And I understand that some
53:43
people don't want to have Mondays off, some people want to
53:47
have Saturdays only and won't take a Monday, so on and so
53:50
forth. But as somebody who came up as
53:55
an RCA who works Saturdays and Mondays every week, it was a
54:00
great thing to have. So if anything, I would go for
54:07
requiring RCAS to have two routes that they run.
54:10
That'd be fine with me and guaranteed 2 routes.
54:14
But then you have Rex which has turned a lot of K routes into
54:18
J&H routes, which screwed a lot of Rcas over in the 1st place,
54:22
and a lot of them quit because of it.
54:25
There are so many flaws right now in the system that if we
54:28
were to turn around and make every single office that was
54:31
short Subs PTFS, we'd be screwing over a lot of carriers,
54:35
and we have even more people quitting.
54:39
We'd have regulars quitting. We'd have Subs quitting because
54:43
they weren't getting as many hours.
54:44
So it's there's it's a. Under there under what you just
54:49
said RC as cover, one RCA for two routes.
54:55
You would still lose your Saturday.
54:58
No, because in my office we have Saturday and Monday SD OS
55:02
without formula. Touch on that too because in in
55:08
my office now as a smaller office it it it's more feasible
55:13
because of our four our 4K routes two of us have Saturdays
55:18
the other two have Mondays and then we have our J and our H and
55:23
so yes I mean as an RCA at the time when I was in RCAI had and
55:29
and at that time we had two JS and 1234 the 4K's my my primary
55:42
at the time has switched to a Monday and then the two J routes
55:47
had opposite relief days their weekends.
55:52
So on the matrix wise, I had my primary on Monday and then my
55:56
secondary's and yes I said secondary's plural were the two
56:01
J routes. So I was working every Monday
56:03
and Saturday. I was just rotating between the
56:05
two two JS on Saturdays. So in a smaller office, yes,
56:10
that works. But when you're talking bigger
56:12
offices with a lot more routes, that may not always be feasible
56:15
with the Saturday Mondays. Yeah, I I understand that.
56:20
And especially if they're in areas that a lot of people don't
56:22
want to work for the post office or don't want to have just two
56:26
days a week of work, I understand that completely.
56:29
But for smaller offices like yours and mine and a lot of
56:34
other offices out there, it's going to be painful for those
56:38
carriers to change like that. I mean the the wrecks already
56:42
ruined a lot of carriers happiness as it was.
56:46
And then you throw that on the PTF in there and now oh you
56:50
you're going to switch to a Wednesday off or a Tuesday off
56:54
or a mid mid week day off. They're going to be upset about
56:58
that too, just like, well, everybody is as it is and.
57:02
I'll tell you what, when I had Wednesday as my relief day, I
57:07
didn't like it when it first happened.
57:10
But it was great because you had two days of work.
57:13
You had a day off. You had three days of work, You
57:15
had a day off. And being Wednesday, you could
57:18
make all of your appointments and doing all your running
57:22
around that you can only, you know, stuff you can only get
57:26
done during the week. Thing to use leave to have that
57:32
off which I which I totally can see that too you know given what
57:37
my circumstances are. And you have that benefit of if
57:43
you go. If you get overburdened, they
57:45
can only cut you down to AI. Forget what the exact standard
57:50
hours are, but it's very, very high, 44 but forty, you know, 45
57:57
K it's like right there at the cost.
58:01
Well, it's like it. It's actually 44, but the
58:03
standard hours are like at the very, very top of a 44.
58:07
So they just say 45? I think the language says 45K.
58:16
It's actually the standard hours.
58:19
Yeah, but I think all the language I've read is said 45 K
58:22
But yeah, it, you know, we don't know what's going to happen with
58:25
negotiations until they tell us. And as we all know in the past,
58:31
we normally don't find out until ratification meetings, so.
58:40
It's it's fun with James dissemination of Don's article
58:44
that two of those items that Don apparently is pushing for his
58:49
opponent ran on them last year. Yes.
58:52
Isn't that a funny? Thing coincidence.
58:57
And you know, it's going to be even more complicated because
59:00
with the push to move everybody into SDCS, the smaller offices
59:05
are theoretically going to be eliminated and we're going to
59:09
have more situations where you have a very large office with
59:12
not enough people to cover. Even less people to cover if if
59:17
the Rcas are ones that are willing to travel.
59:19
And the way Rex has been ruining grouts going to these SD and CS,
59:23
they're not going to get much higher in your evaluation from
59:26
them either. So especially with that 39.45
59:31
mph that you have to maintain on 25 and 35 mile an hour roads out
59:36
of the SDS&D CS. And that doesn't include traffic
59:40
control points and rush hours and anything else of that
59:44
nature. And and then if if it's if it's
59:48
a POV route on top of that, you know they're going to have all
59:52
that even though they're going to get EMA for that.
59:54
They're going to have the travel time from their home, which is
59:58
near the post office they're at now all the way to that SNDC
1:00:02
that they're not being paid for in that POV any.
1:00:05
Additional wear and tear. Yeah.
1:00:08
Yeah, it'll be like I said, you know, negotiations we definitely
1:00:14
wants to watch to see if they are going to give us any
1:00:17
information ahead of time. I like I said, as the past has
1:00:21
gone, we don't know until we have a ratification meeting or
1:00:26
you know, they send out the tentative agreement to
1:00:28
everybody. And so definitely, you know,
1:00:31
definitely keep your eyes peeled.
1:00:33
I mean negotiations have yet to officially start from what I
1:00:37
understand, but who knows? Again, everybody's left in the
1:00:41
dark, so. Now is the time to start paying
1:00:45
attention to everything that's going on.
1:00:47
Every word that said, every word that's written by your national
1:00:51
leadership. Because every single one of them
1:00:53
is going to give you a clue on their position, what they're
1:00:57
willing to sacrifice of your money to get a ratification
1:01:03
through. They've already proved that your
1:01:07
money is worthless to them other than the dues you pay into the
1:01:10
union by telling us that they want, they just want to cut back
1:01:16
on the rec stuff every time management says this isn't
1:01:19
working for us. We need to cut this back.
1:01:22
And they cut back the 52 weeks of Powers labels, the 2 lbs per
1:01:28
package, cutting back WSH off of the WSS button, things like
1:01:35
that. Trips the door.
1:01:38
I have yet to see anything the meant that the union has
1:01:43
negotiated with management on wrecks actually benefit the
1:01:46
carriers. And if they're not willing to
1:01:49
negotiate to benefit the carriers with wrecks, are they
1:01:52
going to negotiate to benefit the carriers with our new
1:01:54
contract? And you still see offices and
1:01:57
districts that are trying to benchmark stuff, whether it's
1:02:00
end of shift duties or your trips to the door scans.
1:02:05
I mean, I had to tell my supervisor one day last week.
1:02:08
I said, so if I get flagged because I had five trips to the
1:02:13
door at one delivery, I said it's because they had three twin
1:02:16
mattresses and four other extremely large boxes.
1:02:21
I'm not superwoman now as they peer through their curtain at
1:02:26
their door to watch me and my third trip up and then they see
1:02:29
me and quickly close it. Yeah, yeah.
1:02:33
I said yeah, I had five trips to the door on that one stop.
1:02:36
So if they want to say something about it, that's why.
1:02:39
That's funny. You were Superwoman when you
1:02:41
were in RCA? You were a super carrier back
1:02:45
then. Yeah, yeah.
1:02:46
See how things change. Went went went from super sub to
1:02:52
lazy regular. Look at that.
1:02:54
No, I am not lazy. I am not lazy.
1:03:00
Hey, I don't have a cat picture yet, Josh.
1:03:03
But. Oh, I put one this morning in
1:03:07
one of the groups. It doesn't.
1:03:09
Count but like like they said. I have not been inside, I've
1:03:13
been out in the garage all night so.
1:03:18
Anything else you want to touch on tonight, Guest Snoopy.
1:03:23
Like you just said, like you just said Kristen, the
1:03:27
benchmarking we just I just saw that people were saying their
1:03:30
management's telling them they have 5 minutes on end of shift
1:03:32
duty. No, it takes as long as it
1:03:35
takes. It is not only the guides on the
1:03:39
union website tell you all the stuff, but in the PO6O3 it tells
1:03:43
you all the end of shift duties that a row carrier is required
1:03:46
to do. And you can sit there and check
1:03:49
mark each item as you do them at the end of shift and until that
1:03:57
list is done you are on return to DU time.
1:04:01
And that is. Also includes LTM and DPM
1:04:06
mapping of your route every month because it will change on
1:04:13
you as our guest cat said her CB us are getting marked vacant
1:04:23
even though they're not vacant, so be on the lookout for that.
1:04:30
My office is trying to benchmark our pickups.
1:04:33
They told one carrier he was not allowed to scanned them as
1:04:37
prepaid because doing it in the Rex menu already gave him credit
1:04:41
and he was basically double dipping by doing prepaid.
1:04:44
But if you don't do them as prepaid, the carrier doesn't, or
1:04:47
the the customer doesn't get the acceptance scan and then you get
1:04:51
complaints about why isn't my package being scanned as
1:04:54
accepted. It's on the bell curve, OK.
1:04:58
You know, and I look at that, you know if you got give me 5
1:05:01
minutes of into shift duties, well heck, by the time I park my
1:05:05
truck and shut her off and hit my return to DU, it's going to
1:05:10
take me 5 minutes to get everything gathered around and
1:05:12
back in the office. Half the time, you know and
1:05:16
that's it. That's not feasible.
1:05:18
And then like I said, you've got edit books if you're changing
1:05:22
out your case labels, which I have labels ordered again and
1:05:29
all that DPM and LTMI know this next time.
1:05:32
But I have to sit down and do my DPM and LTM.
1:05:35
My LTM is going to take quite a long time because I have to
1:05:38
update my line of travel because it is completely wrong.
1:05:42
In the LTMI actually found an old copy of the 4003, the most
1:05:47
updated one prior to switching over and I have to go and redo
1:05:52
my line of travel. Why?
1:05:53
Well, I've got new RC as coming in.
1:05:56
You know, I we're going to be training one of our newer guys
1:06:00
on my route here eventually too. I mean, what's going to go out
1:06:05
there when it tells them that they need to turn left on the
1:06:07
1st Rd. when you're supposed to turn right.
1:06:09
There is no left for that road. You know, make sure what you do
1:06:13
on that. You can edit your LTM, your line
1:06:16
of travels as well. The wording that's what I'm
1:06:19
doing this next time around and that's going to take some time.
1:06:23
Benchmarking is is a no no. If your office is trying to
1:06:27
benchmark, get a hold of your of your assigned union Rep, your
1:06:32
stewards. Let's see if that's the best
1:06:35
advice I can give you on that one.
1:06:37
Does anybody else have anything to add?
1:06:39
Cat. Neck.
1:06:40
Anybody. Yeah, I have.
1:06:41
I have one thing, Kristen. Go ahead.
1:06:44
To all the Rcas and PTFS out there, I I know that you're
1:06:48
getting overworked, many of you working six or seven days a week
1:06:53
for umpteen weeks straight. Something I wanted to touch on
1:06:57
was make sure that you're doing what you're supposed to be doing
1:07:00
when it comes to the RX scans. I know that you're tired, and I
1:07:05
know you're working long days. Just make sure that you're doing
1:07:08
what you're supposed to be doing on the scanner.
1:07:11
Make sure you're making all your scans to properly credit the
1:07:13
route, whether you're a hold down or you just filling in on
1:07:17
that route for that day. Make sure you're doing all your
1:07:19
scans because it may not matter to you right now and maybe
1:07:22
you'll get done just a hair faster if you don't do the
1:07:25
scans. But it will affect the route in
1:07:28
the long run and which you may end up going regular on that
1:07:33
route, so. You could be the.
1:07:35
Cause and effect of your own route going down if you're not
1:07:38
doing the scans properly on that route.
1:07:41
So just do what you're supposed to do on there, as frustrating
1:07:44
as it can be sometimes. And conversely, make sure the
1:07:48
regulars do the job too, because that affects their Subs.
1:07:52
As far as their pace concerned, yes, do it.
1:07:55
Do it for the route. Yep, absolutely.
1:08:01
My advice is just don't be afraid to ask questions.
1:08:04
You know, a lot of people who are confused or they don't
1:08:08
understand how something is done or if they think they have a
1:08:11
grievance, they say, well, I'm, I'm just not going to follow
1:08:14
through with it because they're not positive.
1:08:16
They're not sure. You know, there's nothing wrong
1:08:18
with asking people if there is a problem or, you know, this is
1:08:23
WSH. Do I scan this or not?
1:08:25
This, says box Holder. But is it for all my addresses
1:08:28
or is it only for my businesses or only for my my residents?
1:08:32
Because it asks you, all deliveries are only residential.
1:08:35
Like don't be afraid to ask a regular carrier or a steward or
1:08:39
even management. Ask for clarification.
1:08:42
That way you you know what you're doing.
1:08:46
Absolutely. And don't be that regular that
1:08:49
blows off an RCA or PTF. When they have a question, take
1:08:52
the time to answer the question for them.
1:08:54
This is this is someone under you that doesn't have that much
1:08:57
experience. You know, teach the craft so
1:09:00
that way they can be better. Well, and that RCA is going to
1:09:05
run your route. All these Subs, all all these
1:09:08
people here that are coming in after you, You have to be able
1:09:11
to trust them and trust that they're educated enough to do
1:09:15
your route and then do their own route, because otherwise they're
1:09:18
going to get frustrated. They're going to say that the
1:09:19
job isn't worth it. All of the evaluations are
1:09:22
falling. Nobody's getting paid what they
1:09:23
feel that they're due like. It is up to regulars to help
1:09:28
foster a better environment for those Subs.
1:09:31
Because when they come to you and say, hey, I've worked 6-7
1:09:34
days this week, I'm frustrated, I'm tired, I don't, you know, I
1:09:37
don't think I want to do this job anymore.
1:09:39
We should encourage them to not quit, not because we want our
1:09:42
vacation time or our K days, but because we want them to
1:09:46
legitimately succeed with us. Absolutely, and we don't succeed
1:09:53
if they don't. This is true.
1:09:57
Just remember, the RCAU train may be the regular on your route
1:10:01
later on. You know, they may be or yeah,
1:10:06
or they may be. You know, they're something, God
1:10:09
forbid happens and you have to take six months off or longer
1:10:14
and they're going to be handling that route every single
1:10:18
insurance and outs. I mean, I to this day thank
1:10:21
Linda for showing me how to do an edit book when I started
1:10:25
under her and as a test study office, she was one of the very
1:10:29
first mapping facilitators for round one and and traveled and
1:10:34
she sat down and showed me how to do an edit book because she
1:10:37
knew she'd be gone if she had never showed me.
1:10:40
I I got regulars in my office that are clueless on how to do
1:10:43
an edit book. I went in and had to change
1:10:46
where my rows start on mine the other day just because of how
1:10:51
much mine has shifted around and changed.
1:10:53
So, you know, don't be afraid. As you know, as a regular, and
1:10:59
I'm speaking as a new regular, you know, I'm only two months
1:11:02
into this and you have an RCA and they're doing good and
1:11:06
they're getting it. You know, don't be afraid to
1:11:08
show them some additional things that are included in the route
1:11:13
upkeep because you never know what's going to happen in the
1:11:17
future and they're going to have to be the ones to do it.
1:11:22
And on the other side of that, if you are a sub or an RCA or
1:11:26
even a regular, and somebody comes to you and says, hey, I
1:11:28
think you're doing that wrong. I think you're supposed to do it
1:11:30
this way. Or here let me show you an
1:11:33
easier way to case those. This will help you go faster.
1:11:35
You know, this is an easier way for you to load your vehicle.
1:11:39
Like, don't take it as an attack.
1:11:41
If someone's trying to give you advice or help, they're they're
1:11:45
trying to help you do better. It's not always, you know,
1:11:51
something that they're nitpicking about.
1:11:52
It's not always a negative thing.
1:11:55
And I think a lot of the newer people tend to take a lot of
1:11:59
what you would think is advice as criticism and it it creates a
1:12:03
lot of, you know, dissidents. Absolutely.
1:12:12
Anything else? Anybody or we'll go ahead and
1:12:14
wind this down for tonight. Well, I haven't urged You know,
1:12:18
Nuke ran Admiral Thrawn since he's a bad guy.
1:12:22
I. I think somebody owes us and you
1:12:28
know, an audio version or something.
1:12:34
Hinting at something there. I'm just saying you'd reach a
1:12:38
much wider audience. We can always throw it up as a
1:12:42
midweek bonus. All right, I have nothing else.
1:12:50
All right. So we're going to wind this down
1:12:52
for this week, guys. Again, I want to thank Kat for
1:12:56
joining us this week and Nick for coming back and welcome
1:13:00
back, Bill. Yay.
1:13:04
Thank you for having. Me on.
1:13:06
Not a problem. Anytime you want to hop on,
1:13:08
you're more than welcome. And Josh, your final commentary
1:13:13
for tonight. Like we've all said earlier,
1:13:18
it's weather is not great. It's still it's cold, it's
1:13:24
windy, it's wet. It's icy, it's snowy.
1:13:28
It's rainy. Be safe out there.
1:13:30
Be diligent. Be careful.
1:13:34
Don't get overwhelmed. If you do, take a step back,
1:13:38
take a deep breath and step back in.
1:13:41
Have a good week. We'll see you next time.
1:13:44
With all this talk of winter weather and stuff like this,
1:13:47
just remember layers do help. They will help protect you if if
1:13:54
you're in the wind chill area, cover exposed skin.
1:13:58
Take care of yourself because the only person responsible for
1:14:02
your safety is yourself. Not management, not your
1:14:07
customers, not even the other people out on the roads out
1:14:11
there. It is your responsibility, 100%.
1:14:15
And no matter what, we're going to get through this winter and
1:14:19
we're going to move on to the summer contract negotiations and
1:14:23
we'll get through this because we're all in this together.
1:14:30
Well, it's nice to be back in the swing of things.
1:14:34
I always preach safety and I'd like everybody to keep David
1:14:38
Troutman's family in their prayers.
1:14:41
When you lose someone, it's harder on the ones that are left
1:14:44
behind. I know that first hand from the
1:14:46
past week, and as I always say, you are the most important
1:14:51
delivery of the day. Get home to your loved ones.
1:14:55
That's the most important thing that you can do at the end of
1:14:58
the day, you know, do your job efficiently, do it
1:15:01
professionally, Be courteous to others, Be considerate of
1:15:04
others, but get your ass home to your loved ones.
1:15:09
They're the ones that count. God bless y'all.
1:15:13
Thank you guys again. Yes, if you're in the cold
1:15:16
weather areas, definitely take precautions dressed in layers,
1:15:24
protect any exposed skin and if it gets to be too much for you,
1:15:30
there's that good old 1767 safety form that is just too
1:15:34
much for you. And on that note, we will be
1:15:38
back next week. Again, thank you for Nick and
1:15:41
Kat joining us and we'll see you next time.
1:15:58
File, file, file can. I hear that one more time for
1:16:02
the people in the back. File, file, file and then file
1:16:06
again.