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News, views, and Management · United We Scan

0:14
Welcome to the United We Scan Podcast, the podcast by rural
0:18
carriers for rural carriers. The views expressed in this
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Thank you. Now here are the hosts of the
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United We Scan podcast. Welcome back, everybody.
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Episode 127 news, views and management.
1:01
We're going to get right into this.
1:02
Start right off. Josh, how was your week?
1:05
Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot and hot. Any more questions?
1:17
I guess the the term hot as shit applies.
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Tuesday I walk out to my vehicle and I barely can breathe and I'm
1:28
thinking Oh my God and I've still got a route to deliver.
1:32
Yesterday I walked outside to load my vehicle and no joke I
1:39
was pouring sweat. I had to wring out my shirt and
1:42
I'm thinking, holy crap. I haven't even started the route
1:45
yet. I've just loaded the van.
1:50
Y'all please, like I keep saying, make sure you're
1:55
hydrating. Start now while you're listening
1:58
to this podcast, while we're recording, go grab you a drink.
2:03
Not caffeinated. Make sure you get.
2:05
Alcohol. Well, that's impossible for you,
2:08
Bill. Wait your turn.
2:10
OK. But in all seriousness, make
2:14
sure you're hydrating. This weather kills people.
2:21
I saw a thing on Sunday morning this morning on CBS.
2:27
Aside from floods like the one in Texas this past week, and I'd
2:31
like to send my thoughts and prayers to everybody involved
2:35
down there. Aside from floods, heat is the
2:38
second cause of death this time of year.
2:42
That's horrible. I mean, it's bad enough that
2:45
we're in easy bake ovens, but when you see pictures of
2:51
carriers with the infrared thermometers 100 and 36147, I'm
2:56
thinking if you put your foot where that exhaust is running,
3:00
never mind you're in a vehicle, what happens if the rubber on
3:03
your shoes starts getting tacky? I mean, y'all be careful, but my
3:11
week was good. Amazon was just, well, Amazon.
3:17
And it's probably going to continue throughout the week
3:20
next week. But yeah, I mean, normal week at
3:25
the post office. I actually found out from
3:30
management that several RC AS and PTFS are going to be getting
3:34
what I call Duck truck training and hopefully I can get some
3:40
training too. I'm actually looking to train on
3:43
the pro master and the two ton because I have a post office
3:46
pick up on my route now and like tomorrow I'm pretty sure I'll
3:50
have to have assistance because last Monday I had 7 or 8 carts
3:55
and an RCAM. Management were gracious enough
3:58
to help me by getting five of them otherwise I would have
4:01
never gotten done and made the truck.
4:04
So normal week at the post office for me.
4:06
It's just it's hot. Y'all Bill, how was your week?
4:13
Oh God, another, you know, stressful retired week with the
4:18
grandson. This is my first first week solo
4:21
with my grandson on Wednesday and we both survived.
4:26
We we got thoroughly wet between the hose and the showers that we
4:31
had here playing out in the back deck hot.
4:37
You're right and and you know it's bad when you go outside and
4:40
you take a breath of air and you feel the humidity going into
4:45
your lungs. That is oppressive.
4:48
I've always enjoyed the winter time because the Christmas keeps
4:51
you awake and vibrant. Being cold never phased me.
4:55
But he is is one of those things where oh, thank you.
4:58
But then you know, if God wanted you to work in this weather, he
5:02
wouldn't invented air conditioning.
5:04
Of course, most of us, you know, have never known air conditioned
5:07
vehicles in our lives. The the main part of my week in
5:13
in regards to replying to people was basically in regards to what
5:18
our topics will be tonight. And we'll, we'll get into them
5:22
because it, it seems that management's just cracking down
5:26
on in your yeah, rule carriers. And it's, it's just, you know,
5:34
heartbreaking to see this. God, I wish I was in there to
5:37
fight this stuff because I'd, I'd have a field day with these
5:41
people. They're so stupid.
5:42
But yeah, what are you going to do?
5:45
It's it's what you have to deal with in regards to management.
5:50
And you just go out, do your job, be professional, be
5:54
efficient, be safe and get back, you know, and hopefully, you
5:59
know, you every day. Yeah, when you get through
6:02
there, there'll be less the stress.
6:04
But God bless you people. I, I, I know what you're going
6:07
through. And I, I, I pray for y'all.
6:13
It's just sad. So except for raining every day
6:18
during the week and this upcoming week, doing fine.
6:21
Pennsylvania's out of the drought.
6:23
The situation has been in for two years.
6:26
And I'm sick and tired of damn rain.
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I don't have to bag up no damn boxes of dog food or anything
6:33
like that. James, how about yourself?
6:38
Well, just like everybody else, I've been in and out of heat and
6:44
rain and heat and rain and heat and rain.
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And it's been, you know, about normal.
6:53
No, parcels weren't too bad, especially with the week that
6:56
we've had. But you brought up the heat.
7:01
We've been bringing up the heat this entire time.
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I wanted to talk about something.
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I found out through a bunch of other people telling me what's
7:11
happening around this country, their Mercedes mattress vans,
7:19
air conditioning is going out. It's breaking and management's
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response is we don't have to fix it because you can still deliver
7:31
with the vehicle. They're not going to fix the AC
7:35
when it's broken. So even if we get these duck
7:38
trucks with the AC in them, if it breaks, is management going
7:42
to fix it or are they going to leave it alone?
7:44
Because we could still deliver just like we do in the LLV and
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that's putting people at risk. Hold on, I'm not done yet.
7:55
But that's the problem with using automotive AC in these in
8:01
these vehicles too, is they're not designed for stop and go
8:05
cooling. They're designed for traveling
8:09
highway speeds, traveling around, you know, you even in
8:13
your local driving where you're doing 2530 miles an hour in
8:17
between traffic lights, that's still enough for the AC to work
8:20
properly. But when you're sitting and
8:23
idling and then going and then idling and then going and
8:25
idling, it's not having enough time for that compressor to work
8:30
properly. It needs enough RPMS to actually
8:33
compress the AC refrigerant properly.
8:39
And that's why they're failing. We have to figure something out
8:46
because we can't keep going on with no AC anymore.
8:50
Temperatures are higher than they have been in a lot of
8:53
times. They cycle.
8:56
You can take from that inference whatever you wish, but we got to
9:02
do something to protect our people from this heat.
9:05
As others I said, hydrating is one of the best ways to do it.
9:08
Keep yourself full of fluid so you can sweat them out.
9:13
But when it when you have it so humid out there that you're
9:16
literally stopping wet just from the air, not even from your
9:20
sweat, but from the air itself, it becomes a major problem.
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And that's where air conditioning comes in because it
9:28
can cool the air, remove the moisture from the air so that
9:33
way you can actually properly cool off.
9:37
Go ahead, Josh. I am in receipt of some
9:41
information about the duck trucks, specifically the E VS
9:45
when the AC goes on the EV ones. The whole truck is dead because
9:52
it can't. It can't cool the battery.
9:58
Well now that just makes me want to have an electric one more
10:02
than anything else. No, tell me you're lying.
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According to Facebook asterisk. Big asterisk, but that's what I
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saw. Oh my God, oh Lord.
10:29
You can't make this shit up. No, no you can't.
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We don't have to. It writes itself.
10:36
Exactly. You know, when I when I bought a
10:40
Grand Caravan that uses the POV, the first thing I did was get an
10:44
extra air conditioning, extra radiator unit for my air
10:49
conditioning and my transmission cost me about $1100.
10:55
Have both installed and somebody said, well, yeah, that's $1100
10:59
you wasted a month later, a month later when their
11:03
transmission went and they and the, you know, the mechanic told
11:07
him what happened, He says, Oh no.
11:08
He says, you know, the, the way you guys drive, you have to have
11:11
an extra cooler on there. Yeah, well, you know, $3800
11:16
later he wished he'd spent $1100.
11:20
I mean, you know, if if you don't keep them vehicles, you
11:22
know, in optimum condition and, and give them all the extra, you
11:26
know, care they need, you know, like the extra cooling systems
11:29
on there, they're going to let you down.
11:35
That's an expensive lesson to learn, especially with the stop
11:39
and go that, you know, if you're in a suburb, suburban rural
11:43
area, you know, where you have a lot more stop and go or some of
11:46
the truly rural areas, at least you get some speed up in between
11:50
boxes. But yeah, the, the stop and go
11:54
is killing you, killing you. And the other thing about the
11:57
the duck trucks is the braking system that engages when you get
12:03
too near something like a mailbox or a trash can next to
12:07
the mailbox. I'm, I'm hearing, you know, some
12:11
of the carriers are having real problems, you know, getting used
12:14
to that as you approach a mailbox or a trash can near the
12:19
mailbox, the truck is breaking itself.
12:26
But Bill, I want you to be safe. Yeah, but you know with that
12:31
auto braking in there, that's going to add time onto your your
12:36
5 speed matrix. Oh yeah.
12:45
Their frequency my blood pressure and cholesterol
12:49
medicine are both, you know, heat heat related too.
12:55
Yep. So Speaking of on the road, on
13:00
the road, it's been, it's been coming to our attention that
13:06
management is now disciplining carriers for hitting already
13:12
past address on the SPM scan. This has came to us from
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multiple different states, multiple different offices that
13:22
carriers are being PDI and then disciplined for hitting already
13:28
past address. Now I do know a little insider
13:34
information on this and the reason management is upset in a
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lot of ways is because a new directive came down to
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management that if a carrier is hitting already past address,
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they have to 1st investigate the GPS location of when the SPM
13:54
initiated on the scanner, where's the carrier clicked
14:00
already passed address. And if the GPS is accurate to
14:05
that location to the point they have to drive out there and do
14:10
Agps audit at the location. And we all know management's
14:14
lazy as I'll get out and doesn't want to go out there and do
14:18
that. So the lazy ones are turning
14:20
around and just doing discipline instead for carriers clicking
14:24
already passed address even if they're being accurate on the
14:28
SPM. Discuss guys.
14:33
This is always been one of my favorites because of the fact
14:38
that why are we doing SPMS on stuff that's been run through an
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automated DPS sorting machine? And since you have informed
14:48
delivery, couldn't you see what was going there?
14:52
But they're they're confirming that we're actually delivering
14:54
it. Now I'm taking the mail home
14:56
with me like that supervisor that had the drugs in the mail.
15:02
This is a problem because of the fact that a lot of times people
15:07
will will skip them because they want to go somewhere.
15:10
They want to be somewhere. It's your duty to do the SPMS
15:14
when you're at the mailbox. It is not your duty to remove
15:19
the mail from the mailbox because you went half an inch
15:22
forward and the SPM went off. Once you throw that mail, that
15:26
mail is considered delivered and you're done with that box.
15:30
Any good steward local area ADR will be able to fight that for
15:37
you. The fact of the matter is that 9
15:40
times out of 10, if your SPM goes off, you already have your
15:43
foot off the brake, your foot on the gas and you're pulling away
15:47
when it goes off. The the most horrendous
15:50
situation I've heard this week was a supervisor requiring a
15:55
carrier to go back out to the route after they return to the
15:59
office. Do an SPM as we earlier had
16:03
discussed. James, what if the customer
16:06
already got the mail out of the mailbox?
16:08
OK, so you just wasted the trip. Are you getting paid the three
16:12
minutes a a mile for it? Because it's been, you know,
16:14
authorized by the post, the supervisor or the postmaster to
16:18
go back and do due diligence on something that really isn't
16:23
going to change the world. The name asinity of management
16:32
to sit there and accuse you of avoiding doing it.
16:35
Like James said, without doing their due diligence of going out
16:39
and checking the GPS Geo, what they call it Geo dots and where
16:43
the mailbox is, that's on them. You know, if, if I got an SPM, I
16:49
would, I'd do my SPM. Why?
16:51
Because you know, I'm paid to do the SPMS.
16:55
But if you do the S, if you get an SPM alert once you pass the
16:59
mailbox, once you put the mail in the mailbox that that
17:03
delivery is complete. I don't give a rat's ass where
17:07
the SPM goes off. It's it's just another function
17:12
of them harassing us. And I don't know what
17:16
everybody's opinion is, but they've seemed to have stepped
17:19
up to harassment in the last couple years, even more so in
17:24
the last year in, in, in regards to disciplining.
17:27
It's like they, the, we used to laugh how the police used to
17:30
have a, a quota for speeding tickets or traffic stops, you
17:34
know, and at the end of the month, the cops were more
17:36
aggressive. It's almost like management has
17:39
a quota to reach on discipline for the carriers, not to assist
17:45
the carriers, but to punish them.
17:48
And I, and I don't understand the mentality.
17:50
And we all know where it's coming from.
17:55
I would say that instead of having to scan or just beep
18:00
randomly made you think about it from a new person's perspective
18:04
and you hear that scanner beep. What's your instinct?
18:07
Your instinct is to pick it up. What do you incur then?
18:11
You incur distracted driving what it needs to do, and I know
18:15
they can do this. It says, should say something
18:19
along the lines of alert, you have an upcoming sampling
18:22
request at this address. There you go.
18:27
Nice and simple. Nobody needs to be picking up
18:31
the scanner and driving distracted.
18:33
It's simple, but do they do it? No.
18:37
We were told in our office that we were to stop and go back and
18:44
get them out-of-the-box. And I, I'm thinking, hold on.
18:48
No, once I put that in there, that delivery is complete.
18:55
No, I'm sorry, I'm not doing that because then to expand upon
19:00
what you said, Bill, if they want us to get out, no, the
19:04
customer we already collected, they may be right at their
19:06
mailbox when you deliver also. That's putting me in an unsafe
19:10
situation because I took park my vehicle per postal policy and I
19:15
have to exit the vehicle. Never mind that it could be on a
19:18
busy highway or a Backcountry Rd. where nobody's coming, but
19:21
still you're outside of that vehicle and that puts you in the
19:24
possibility of getting hit. It's like someone said, the
19:31
certifies in the return receipts.
19:33
They're in there. Those sampling should show up.
19:36
It's not that hard to do if they could do it for stuff run on the
19:38
machine like a certified or return receipt.
19:41
What's the rest of our mail run on?
19:42
Oh yeah, I forgot it's run on automated equipment.
19:47
Everything is run on automated equipment it seems nowadays,
19:50
except for clerk sorted mail, which even then that's probably
19:53
been run. But the only thing that really
19:55
isn't run is the bundled flats. And somehow I don't know if this
20:00
is true for y'all. My informed delivery knows when
20:03
I'm getting certain magazines and marketing mail.
20:13
Yeah, it could be easy. It could be this could be easily
20:17
solved. Yes, city carrier, city carriers
20:20
know every SPM they're going to have at the beginning of the
20:23
day. Why can't rural carriers have
20:26
something like the certified mails that we have now, where it
20:30
lists what certified we have in our DPS, which proves they know
20:34
what's in the DPS come into our office.
20:38
Why can't they put so many SPMS and list the addresses that
20:42
they're at? We can't skip to them.
20:45
We can't fill them out before we get there, but at least we know,
20:48
hey, pause for a second at this address, you have an SPM there.
20:54
That would give us time to actually do the SPM, complete
20:58
the SPM. We know it's coming and it makes
21:01
it so much easier. And if, if you guys really want
21:05
to think about it, you can look at them during loading time in
21:10
the morning. So that way you're getting
21:13
credit for it in Rex that you've, you're looking at your
21:16
SPM. So that way you know what's
21:19
coming down the route. If management would actually get
21:23
their head out of their backside and think of what would make
21:26
this job easier for these carriers, it it's easily
21:31
solvable. Well, James, not even easier.
21:35
How about better informed? How about my my office where I
21:40
have your carriers calling up? I'm getting an I and I because I
21:43
didn't hold the customers mail. Did you get the hold notice?
21:46
No OK, you know I'm getting an I and I for, you know, not
21:50
forwarding mail. Did you get the cola label?
21:53
No, and then you know they go back to management and ask them
21:56
and print them off and 14 print offer for their damn route.
22:01
It's like are are like you said, get off your damn ass and do
22:05
your job. I mean, most carriers that
22:09
haven't established a route know their people well enough.
22:13
And if they don't, they ought to start.
22:15
I would say if you're going away, put a copy your, your
22:19
forward notice or your whole notice in the mailbox.
22:21
For me, I said, I can't trust, you know, management to give it
22:25
to me in a timely fashion. And they would.
22:29
And then, you know, there's phone numbers on there and I
22:31
would make sure you're you're coming back tomorrow so I can
22:33
drop off the mail. OK.
22:35
I, I'm doing that on my own time, but that's part of my
22:38
customer service. That's the way I always handled
22:42
my customers because we're here to serve them.
22:46
And yet management does nothing to assist us in providing that
22:50
service. Well, I'm going to say this
22:53
about the SPM allegedly. Allegedly, when we're delivering
22:58
parcels to that mailbox, we should be collecting a map spot,
23:03
right? I mean, assuming you're
23:07
delivering that parcel correctly, when you hit the
23:09
mailbox, not literally hit, but figuratively hit that mailbox to
23:13
place that parcel in there and you scan it and it makes that
23:16
beep. I've been led to believe that
23:19
the GPS coordinates are collected.
23:21
So if you're doing that, why in the world is it showing
23:24
mailboxes AS4600 feet off when you're sitting there and it most
23:29
its arm's length away? Come on now.
23:36
Hey, we, we had that problem years ago when they first
23:39
started doing this. And I have a certified says I'm
23:43
385 feet away from the residence.
23:46
I'm staying at the front door. Yeah, what?
23:53
I mean, they, they've gotten a little better, but you know,
23:56
even still you, you still have malfunctions and it, it may be,
24:00
you know, your in your DPM, you know, it may be that your, your
24:04
dismounts and all are not correct or they're missing even
24:10
that. So, you know, make sure you go
24:13
in and do your monthly DPM and LTM.
24:18
Remember, get that on, you know, and the shift duty too, but.
24:28
Even if you don't do your DPM and LTM religiously, if that
24:32
scanner is to be believed, if it's so accurate, in all honesty
24:38
you shouldn't have to do your DPM and LTM except maybe a few
24:42
times a year because if it's collecting map spots.
24:47
I mean I've seen the lost the package that was delivered to
24:51
the wrong address and I had to go look for it.
24:53
It was right on the money. It was within 2 feet.
24:59
At least the carrier scanned it where he so they delivered it.
25:04
Yeah. Speaking of end of shift duties,
25:11
as we Segway again, management is bringing back a bane to city
25:20
carrier and rural carriers. They're bringing back the red
25:24
line policy of you cannot pass this red line until we inspect
25:29
everything you've brought back. Bill, you, you brought this up
25:34
to me when we discussed prior to the episode.
25:37
So you take the lead on this one.
25:40
This is one of my favorite policies because it has nothing
25:44
to do with rural carriers. It's it's a city carrier and
25:48
they're trying to roll it over into the rule craft.
25:53
The, the first problem we we had at RSD and C is that there's not
25:58
enough people on duty at the end of the day to enforce it.
26:03
The second of all, favoritism plays into the regards of how
26:08
it's actually the justices dispensed in enforcing the red
26:12
line policy. This red line policy, Yeah.
26:18
And, and to me, this, this is just more micromanaging than
26:24
anything else is a bane because of the fact that all it's doing
26:29
is adding time onto carriers for rule carriers, like I said, it
26:35
doesn't pertain to us. So you just fight it.
26:36
You, you go to your newly elected union representative and
26:40
fight it. OK, But for the city carriers,
26:44
when you're in ASDNC and you have two supervisors on duty
26:49
handling the the city carrier craft, they've got lines backed
26:55
up like you were at Costco trying to get through that
26:59
process. At the end of the day, how much
27:02
money is that costing you? How how hard is it for you to
27:07
examine their hamper that they're pushing your cars in
27:10
with their empty equipment and everything to, to see what they
27:13
have and you know, yay or nay or whatever.
27:16
I've never watched their actual process.
27:19
But the fact of the matter is you're costing the company
27:22
money. Again, anybody in the rule craft
27:29
that gets directed at a red line policy should immediately ask
27:36
for it in black and white. If they don't provide it, then
27:39
you ask for them to give you a handwritten signed statement at
27:46
this policy is inclusive of the rule craft.
27:51
Then you proceed to obey their instructions and then you go
27:55
home and you call your local union representative.
27:59
But it ended this crap before it starts.
28:04
It's we are entrusted with people's checks or Social
28:08
Security checks, Medicare, medicine, vital medicines.
28:13
For a lot of people there, there are goods that they buy from
28:17
Amazon, from Walmart, from Target.
28:20
We're entrusted with some of the most pertinent and personal
28:23
information they have, and yet we're treated like raised school
28:28
children when it comes to the end of the day to see what we're
28:32
bringing back. Are there people who abuse the
28:35
system? Yes, and you should know who
28:37
they are if you're a good supervisor or manager.
28:41
But 99% of the craft are honest, legitimate employees who care
28:48
about doing their jobs the right way every day.
28:53
So you want me to cross a red line?
28:56
I would. And I would cross it to come
28:58
right at you because I wouldn't tolerate this shit.
29:02
And I know it's easy for me to say I'm retired, but that's the
29:05
way I'd handle it. When they first tried to instill
29:07
it at the Westchester and I crossed the line and surprised
29:11
like no, you have to wait there. And I said no, I don't.
29:14
I'm giving you an order. I says I don't care.
29:17
That's a city rule. It's not a rule.
29:18
Craft rule. Well, I'm going to write you up.
29:22
Threw him a pen. I start writing, went to my
29:25
case, took care of my stuff, signed out and went home.
29:28
You know what happened? Not a damn thing.
29:32
Not because, you know, I'm Bill May and I know the rules better
29:35
than they did, but because they actually looked into it and
29:39
said, oh, Oh yeah, this isn't for rural crap.
29:42
It's for city carriers. And you're the same rule.
29:45
That rule's better than them. Yes, it is.
29:50
It's the same way when they mandated regulars to work on a
29:53
Sunday, came by with with printed sheets with our names on
29:56
there mandating us to work Sundays.
30:00
This was a Friday afternoon. I turned around, went to the
30:03
postmaster and said, yo, here you go.
30:05
I got a copy and I said, you know, we'd be getting the
30:07
grievance on Monday for this. He goes, well if you're not
30:11
here, you're going to be written up.
30:12
I said have fun. By Saturday afternoon we all had
30:17
notes on our case and saying, oh, this was a, a sample thing
30:21
that we printed out for the city carriers.
30:22
It wasn't meant for rule carriers.
30:24
Well, I, I had already made two phone calls that day and got
30:27
that, you know, shit got down. If you, if you act quickly
30:31
enough, you can get things resolved.
30:34
Sometimes it doesn't have to go to griefs.
30:36
My problem is the fact that you started this whole situation by
30:40
not knowing your own damn rules and contracts.
30:47
Interim. The easiest question you can ask
30:50
management over that is can you show me where the red line
30:53
policy is in the PO6O3 return to office duties for rural
30:57
carriers? It's not listed anywhere there.
31:00
In fact, everything that's listed in there says we go back
31:03
to our case and do all the stuff you want to do with the red line
31:07
policy, Josh. Ask for it in writing.
31:18
I got nothing. You got nothing.
31:22
I got nothing. I got I got one more item for us
31:30
the the the ran on James. Well, let's let's Josh, do you
31:34
have anything you want to ran on 1st because I know what Bill
31:36
wants to ran on all. Right, I'm going to ran.
31:41
All right, here's the deal. It's very simple.
31:45
It's not your vehicle. I get it.
31:48
These vehicles can't be shitty. I get it.
31:53
Please drive a postal vehicle like you would want your vehicle
31:58
driven. We're not doing 100 plus mph as
32:03
like that one carrier did in the mattress, which I'm surprised
32:06
that Mercedes held together, but I digress.
32:12
I am sick and tired of coming back for my day off or when I
32:18
have to take care of business outside of the post office and
32:21
seeing new dents on my vehicle or other vehicles.
32:26
My vehicle, the left sliding door, my mattress looks like
32:30
someone I don't know what the hell they hit.
32:34
And they're saying that if we damage our vehicles, if we
32:38
reckon you, you will recall two weeks ago or one week ago, I
32:43
forget, I'm getting old. We had Arca that was in a wreck,
32:49
totaled our mattress. They're saying that, well, that
32:54
you may have to start using your own vehicles.
32:57
OK y'all, here's the here's the deal.
33:03
Don't drive it like you stole it.
33:05
Show some respect to these vehicles.
33:07
Yes, we rag on management all the time, but we're lucky enough
33:11
some of us to have vehicles provided by the post office.
33:14
Thank God. Because if you've looked at the
33:16
price of new vehicles or old vehicles lately, they're
33:22
expensive and they can't hold near as what these mattresses
33:27
can. I know a Jeep Wrangler can't
33:29
hold damn 1/3 of what a mattress can.
33:36
Drive them safe and sane. Be aware that yes, the doors do
33:42
open. These mattresses while they
33:45
turn, well, they're big. I'll tell you this, if I get a
33:50
duck truck put on my route, I may just have to make everyone
33:54
aware. Look, this is a brand new
33:56
vehicle. Yes, we make fun of it as goofy
33:58
looking ha ha. Looks like it's made by Pixar,
34:01
but what does that reflect on us when we're driving a vehicle
34:05
down the road that looks like it has been ratted out, trashed
34:09
out. It's got paint from hitting
34:13
parking bollards and God knows what else.
34:16
There scratches all down it, and then the scratches go down to
34:19
the paint. Then it starts to rust.
34:21
What does that make us look like?
34:24
I understand we're rural carriers and we get dirty and
34:27
all that, but come on, folks, let's be professional.
34:31
It's it's not that hard. So if you're one of those that
34:35
drives a mattress like a maniac, stop it.
34:41
If you're somebody who struggles to maintain control of a vehicle
34:45
because, well, you're driving skills aren't 100%, you need to
34:50
learn to drive. I'm sorry, it's I don't want to
34:54
have the possibility of me providing a vehicle because
34:58
somebody wrecked my mattress and they can't get a new one.
35:02
And they say, well, Josh, you may have to provide a vehicle.
35:04
And I'm going to start laughing and they'll say what's what's
35:06
wrong? I said, wait a minute, you put a
35:09
post office pickup on my route. Yes, we did.
35:12
OK. The only thing I can buy to
35:15
service that pickup on any regular day is like a Ford
35:20
Transit extended wheelbase or something big like a promaster.
35:25
But they don't come in right hand drive so I can't deliver
35:28
mail out of that. So again, if you're driving like
35:34
an idiot, stop. This goes for fueling a vehicle
35:41
Sunday. Yes I get it.
35:43
I saw my carrier today, she had over 100 stops in her truck.
35:49
But take the time to fill it up. End of rant, Bill James go.
35:57
Well, let me go on that for you. Yeah, I'll tag on to that.
36:01
You know my LV, it's a 1990. LOVI know the year of it.
36:08
Yes. One day I came back and the
36:13
little corner that sticks out in the wheel well from in front of
36:17
the door there was bent in. I immediately told management,
36:22
hey, this wasn't like that. When I left, it turned out that
36:25
the RCA, who no longer works for the Postal Service had taken the
36:33
off road path to go to a house and hit a giant rock in the road
36:41
and vent it in. And you know, I took take pride
36:47
in my truck. Yes, I have a, I have over half
36:50
my section is dirt roads and my truck is dirty from dirt roads.
36:57
But I try to take care of it because guess what, there aren't
37:01
a lot of vehicles available and the ones that they bring to
37:05
replace them while they're working on trucks are in worse
37:08
condition than the other vehicles that we have.
37:11
So we pride ourselves in my office of taking care of our
37:15
trucks and keeping our trucks running because you're going to
37:19
get something that doesn't work right just from the VMS.
37:26
And as somebody else pointed out in our chat, I'm going to bring
37:29
this up. I had this discussion with John
37:31
Adams myself. When a route is assigned, a
37:37
government vehicle management is required to provide a vehicle to
37:45
that route. You can volunteer to use your
37:50
personal vehicle to deliver, but you are not required to and
37:55
should management fail to provide a government vehicle to
38:00
the assigned carrier of the day, that means either the regular or
38:08
the RCA. Then that regular or RCA is paid
38:16
the route evaluation and management has to find an RCA
38:22
with a vehicle to deliver that route.
38:25
You are not required to provide it if you are the assigned
38:29
carrier of that route. So management threatening, oh
38:36
you're going to have to have APOV on that route.
38:39
That's not going to work either because once the government
38:42
vehicle is assigned they are required to use APOV or use a
38:49
government vehicle and unless there's not one available and
38:55
they're not willing to pay O time then they have to pay you
38:57
the evaluation. Don't let them fool you.
39:02
Unless the route is unencumbered, it means nobody's
39:06
assigned to that route. They cannot take away the
39:12
government vehicle from that route without mutual agreement
39:19
with the carrier assigned to the route.
39:24
Don't let them fool you, Bill. Your turn.
39:31
On on this or on on the next rant?
39:37
You know you're right. It's one of those situations
39:42
where a supervisor will come over to a sub and take their
39:48
vehicle off of them to give them to a regular.
39:53
And I would sit back and say, I'm sorry, the vehicle's
39:55
assigned to the route, not to, you know, the office per SE,
40:00
even though the route's in the office.
40:02
Well, we, we don't want the, the regular to have to wait.
40:05
Well, you know. Financially, yes, you do,
40:08
because the regulars are getting paid evaluated and if they're
40:10
under, you know, 56 hours per week, you're you're in the
40:13
clear. In the meantime, you're going to
40:15
be paying the sub overtime. Well, it's our decision.
40:19
OK, go ahead. You know, and I, and I would
40:22
turn around if the sub was over 90 days, I would, you know,
40:26
explain to them how to file a grievance for that.
40:29
And they, you know, would look at me and I'd say, well, you
40:32
know, it's, it's not that you're just getting paid for the time
40:34
you're waiting, but we're going to get a financial penalty on
40:37
top of that. They're like, well, how much?
40:39
I said, how much you want to go for?
40:41
The old guy said to me, $500. I said, fine, we'll go for $500.
40:45
We settled for 2:50. And he, he just about shit
40:50
himself saying, well, how can you do that?
40:52
I said, they violated the contract.
40:55
And if you don't give them permission, you know, he said,
40:59
well, I thought I had to because I'm not a regular.
41:02
It has nothing to do with it. It's called the contract.
41:05
You have to follow the contract. Everybody does.
41:10
Yeah. If you want to go turn around
41:12
and do that, good luck collecting your EMA because
41:15
payroll has enough problems paying your regular paycheck.
41:19
You're overtime helping on other routes let alone paying you EM
41:24
EE MA on a government route. Government vehicle route.
41:29
So don't surrender the vehicle and they can't take it off of
41:34
you if they want to and and force you to.
41:37
Then you file a second grievance and this is for harassment.
41:43
I would say that because of the fact that they are threatening
41:46
you with the removal of your vehicle against your will,
41:51
that's harassment. I'd file one for your find one
41:57
for them being ugly too, just just to piss them off.
42:01
And and James, don't let that don't laugh.
42:04
I inadvertently put a fake grievance in like that and
42:06
forgot to pull it and the postmaster almost pissed himself
42:10
reading it. Yeah, but we're also missing
42:15
another another factor in these grievances and using a POV in
42:22
the route, you're not getting proper credit for the route even
42:27
if they pay you the EMA because there's a different credit for
42:31
DPS on APOV route. It's it's slightly higher for
42:38
APOV route than it is for a government route.
42:40
So they're still short changing the carrier James that went away
42:45
with Rex. It's the same standards whether
42:48
it's POV or government vehicle for DPS now.
42:53
OK you can edit that out then. I I thought it was.
43:00
Did you? Yeah, Did you?
43:02
Was that God? Yeah, it was God, but you know,
43:10
PO VS you know, those, those guys, you're right, cars are
43:15
expensive. I mean even looking for a
43:16
vehicle that is for your own personal use these days is even
43:23
more expensive now than it was ever before.
43:26
So trying to find one that you could even convert to right hand
43:30
Dr. Granted we got a great credit in our contract
43:36
supposedly, but that doesn't cover the inflation of vehicle
43:42
prices. You know back in the 1990s you
43:45
could find a car for 100 bucks that you could fix up in your
43:49
backyard and run the route with. Now you can't find one for 10
43:54
grand that you can fix up and run your route, let alone get a
43:59
credit for it through the contract.
44:05
What? What's that?
44:05
1500 now for a used vehicle. Yes.
44:10
At at least yeah. Oh yeah, the credit 1500.
44:15
Yes, and it's 3000 for a new vehicle.
44:21
Yep, yeah. And and this is what hurts, you
44:24
know, in the POV aspect of the business because of the price of
44:29
new vehicles being so high anymore.
44:32
That's driven up the price of used cars because there's such a
44:35
demand for people to be able to buy affordable transportation.
44:40
And as we get further along in the next 10 plus years,
44:46
repairing APOV is going to be more costly because of all the
44:49
added safeties on these vehicles, you know, your
44:53
collision alerts and everything else.
44:55
And if you hit something with your POV that has these systems
45:00
in there, it can cost you thousands extra to have them
45:04
repaired if you're at fault. So, you know, I, I guess that's
45:10
the, the line of reasoning for holding on to 35 year old LL VS
45:15
Yeah, because you, you can hit and get without having to repair
45:18
anything except for the smudge on the bumper.
45:21
But it's going to get to the point where you know it's going
45:24
to get too costly to main up POV on routes.
45:30
And also what we're delivering so many packages.
45:32
I mean, like I said, how much can you fit in a four door Jeep
45:37
Wrangler nowadays? Not much.
45:39
You get two or three big boxes of dog food, that's it.
45:44
And. There's some.
45:47
Go ahead. Go ahead.
45:48
You go ahead. There's some, there's some
45:49
places where you need an out and out four wheel drive.
45:54
I mean, like, I don't know, West Virginia, the Rocky Mountains,
45:59
out in Montana, Wyoming, you name it.
46:02
And then there's when I have my right hand drive Jeep, I kind of
46:06
felt sorry for it because yes, it was right hand drive.
46:09
It was 4 wheel drive. I put that thing in 4 wheel
46:11
drive maybe four times in the five years that I owned it.
46:17
I mean, it was very few and far between, but there's some routes
46:23
where that's the only thing that will work is something that is a
46:28
4 wheel drive, but you can't put as much in it.
46:33
I'd love for them to put an in GDV on those routes.
46:37
Well, with with the latest row route optimization system,
46:40
you're going to have to be fording rivers and going through
46:43
people's backyards. You're going to need 4 wheel
46:44
drive. Might as well.
46:47
Might as well put a a a a cow catcher on the front.
46:55
Yeah, it it's funny, you see these pictures where people have
46:58
got people racks on their roofs filled with parcels and yeah,
47:02
they're using the spider bungee cords to hold them on there.
47:05
Or the, the one guy in the Facebook post, he had stuff
47:10
hanging out of the trunk, the trunk lid bungee corded down on
47:14
the parcel to hold it in place and then more parcels on top of
47:18
the trunk lid against his back windshield.
47:21
And those were bungee corded in place.
47:23
I'm like, son, you need to get a bigger vehicle.
47:29
It it's like a. Ridiculous Cadillac.
47:32
Yes, I love that from a Funeral Home.
47:37
There was one in Wisconsin. I shit you not, y'all, the
47:41
license plate said. Dead letter.
47:44
Yep, that was made its way around Facebook multiple times.
47:51
I thought that dead letters went to Atlanta.
47:55
Ha ha ha. That's where all male goes to
47:57
die. Atlanta Palmetto.
48:04
And. Same neighborhood.
48:06
Yeah, same neighborhood. Did you see that picture of down
48:10
there where they were sorting the parcels?
48:14
All these spurs were all over the floor.
48:16
Yep. I'm sitting there going, Nah,
48:19
that's not a safety hazard. Yeah, that's not another black
48:22
eye for the Postal Service. Oh, hold on.
48:26
A black eye. Hold on.
48:29
I, yeah, I know you all see the different platforms on Facebook.
48:33
Well, what's the OIG doing about these fake stamps?
48:36
They're up for sale on on Facebook.
48:38
OK, I've reported those about five times and they keep
48:41
Facebook keeps saying that they're legit.
48:45
Facebook don't know. Yeah, no shit.
48:51
I mean, you know, I actually reported to the OIG 3 years ago
48:55
and heard nothing back and here they are.
48:58
The price of stamps are going up.
48:59
So now they're going out and having sales.
49:01
Now I'm just, you know, folks, you know, that's our income and
49:08
they're close, but they don't have all the attributes of our
49:11
stamps. I know that our stamps have a
49:20
fluorescent or phosphorescent or whatever essent dye that if you
49:25
hold them under a lamp, they'll illuminate.
49:27
That's how those machines pick them up.
49:30
These I guarantee don't and well, I mean you can't make this
49:38
shit up y'all? No, you're Nope.
49:44
Speaking of, you can't make stuff up, Bill, go ahead.
49:47
All right, I, I have struck again in regards to a post that
49:54
I put up and it's in relation to our latest magazine where our
50:00
president of the NRLCA, Don Matson is celebrating,
50:04
celebrating a ratified contract, fighting for hard earned
50:09
benefits. Thank God I was on the toilet
50:14
because you know, I, I was laughing my ass off and Lisa
50:17
toilet caught it. Don Matson says, you know, we
50:21
have this celebrating a contract ratification with significant
50:25
achievements. This is in the magazine word for
50:28
word meaningful wage increases. I put not reduces 30 weeks off
50:34
of Table 2. City carriers got steps, not
50:37
weeks removed. Significant gains for Rcas and
50:41
Arcs, but not according to the latest cost of living data, let
50:45
alone inflation. And supposedly only six out of
50:50
the hundreds of recommended voted on resolutions were
50:55
presented for contract consideration.
50:58
If we worked our asses off to get them passed at our state
51:01
board levels and pushed up the national.
51:04
These are representatives that you voted for last year.
51:07
And, and everybody listening and everybody that will listen to
51:11
the, to the podcast when it's posted, talk to your delegates
51:16
and ask them, why are we paying these people $190,000 a year?
51:20
Plus they live in $800,000 homes.
51:24
And if some gentleman retorted to me, well, it's an investment
51:28
because then they've gone up in value.
51:31
So does your own home, OK, it goes up in value.
51:34
But the fact that we're providing these homes free with
51:37
no utility car charges, no Internet, no gas, no trash
51:42
pickup, no sewer and water, they're getting everything paid
51:46
for on top of their salary. These are the people you voted
51:50
for last year. They don't care about you.
51:54
There's not a sniff of two year career status as the APW has
51:58
just passed. We did not eliminate Table 2 as
52:01
Don stated last year in the magazine when he promised
52:05
significant wage increases. And let me tell you something,
52:09
I'm sick and tired of seeing Don Madison at these rallies.
52:14
It's nice to get your face out there, get your ass back in the
52:18
office and start working for the craft.
52:22
Better yet, go out in the field and see the craft.
52:26
Talk to the craft, Become engaged with the craft, the
52:30
people who are paying. You don't want to see your smug
52:33
face on another damn magazine at a rally touting our unity.
52:40
The only thing in unifying our unions is 1.31.41.5.
52:47
And the NALC and APW came out ahead of us again.
52:53
So kiss my Lily white Irish ass. Rant done over mic drop.
53:04
Yeah, your thoughts, I don't. Know it's an even 3 for three. 3
53:16
for 3W. ALC 1.31.41.5 now is the time I
53:33
I'm I think I'm going to become known as the election slash
53:36
membership guy here. Now is the time to motivate,
53:44
educate and recruit people to join the union.
53:48
It's always the time, but now's the time.
53:53
Get your people to vote. Get people engaged.
53:59
Invite the person in your office that's never been to a district
54:03
meeting to come to a district meeting.
54:07
Invite people to show up to the state convention as a guest to
54:15
see how it goes. I've, I've heard for too long I
54:20
was warned about this union or what does the union do for me?
54:25
Well, what Bill said, our leadership's not putting a good
54:32
face forward. We need to change that.
54:36
The national board is only as powerful as we want them to be.
54:39
We have the authority to change it.
54:42
I would ask a question of the potential president of the
54:45
NRLCA. May I address you, Mr. Brennan?
54:49
Go ahead. All right, as president, what is
54:52
your what is your strategy for recruiting new members to the
54:58
NRLCA? In person, face to face, getting
55:05
people out there talking to these people in these offices
55:09
because it's high time that these carriers have interactions
55:14
with people in this union that can make a difference in their
55:19
life, that can make a difference in their career.
55:25
We need people talking to people face to face.
55:29
You can put whatever you want on a website, you can put whatever
55:32
you want on Facebook. You can put whatever you want
55:36
through text message. But that face to face
55:39
interaction between two people where they can actually look you
55:43
in the eye and see what your intentions are, That is how we
55:50
get more people involved. We can talk about it till the
55:54
cows come home on this podcast, but something has to give
56:00
because we had 6000 less people vote on this contract, 6000
56:07
less. Now, you can blame some of that
56:11
on mail getting stuck in Palmetto or Indianapolis or one
56:14
of the other SNDC plants that, you know, they can't get things
56:20
working right. But that's a significant amount
56:24
of people, especially considering the last three
56:27
contracts we had 19/20/21 thousand people voting. 6000
56:33
people is a big number, and it sits squarely on our current
56:38
president's shoulders. Yeah, I made a post about it as
56:45
well. And I said celebration isn't
56:48
leadership. You know, a page full of thank
56:52
yous and photo OPS isn't leadership.
56:54
It's messaging. And messaging doesn't deliver
56:57
relief. You know, it's it's not about
57:01
preserving the comfort at the top.
57:04
It's about disrupting it when necessary.
57:06
It's about facing hard truth, telling members what's really
57:09
happening and building solutions that do not come wrapped in a
57:12
ribbon. You know if you think real
57:17
carriers have had it too good for too long, that you have not
57:20
stood out on a route in the heat carrying the weight of the
57:24
system on your back. No one who walks a mile in our
57:27
shoes today would ever say we have had it too good.
57:32
They would have said we kept the mail moving through broken
57:35
systems, broken promises and broken vehicles.
57:40
And that's what leadership believes we deserve.
57:43
Then it's time for us to raise the standard.
57:47
We deserve more than a contract that just ticks the box.
57:51
We deserve more than empty price.
57:54
We deserve respect, safety and schedules our families can count
58:00
on. This contract does not deliver
58:04
anything to help these carriers, and pretending otherwise will
58:08
not make it through. It passed, That's a fact, but it
58:13
passed in silence from too many who have lost faith.
58:18
We should be asking why that is, not patting ourselves on the
58:22
back. This isn't the end of the road,
58:25
it's a wake up call. What?
58:33
He said. I'm with him.
58:35
I'm with that guy. I I want to, I want to read, let
58:41
me, let me go here. I want to read what me out says
58:45
in regards to us having a contract which protects us more
58:51
from privatization. That was the fear mongering that
58:55
they were putting out. Privatization is a minimum of
59:01
five to 10 year process in regards to switching us over.
59:06
Even if they were to convert US under the Chamber of Commerce,
59:11
privatization still would take that 5 to 10 year window.
59:16
They fear monger us into accepting this contract and our
59:21
national board put the same story out there.
59:26
Oh, we don't have to worry because now we're protected by a
59:28
contract. You know what?
59:30
If they privatize, your contract goes away, plain and simple.
59:37
And that means over 600,000 people will be back on the
59:43
market fighting for the jobs they used to have at higher pay
59:46
and benefits. This is where you reach out to
59:49
your. A lot lower, and this is where
59:52
you have to get a hold of your legislative people to fight for
59:55
this the the same way they turned around and tried to put
59:58
that program in there for the furs.
1:00:03
Contributions, all they did was delay it to the the 2028.
1:00:08
It's still on the table, but they're not telling you that,
1:00:12
oh, we want it. We got it off there.
1:00:14
Well, no, you didn't. You got it delayed.
1:00:18
This is just, this is like the Postal Reform Act when you
1:00:22
turned around and said, oh, we have to prepay 75 years into the
1:00:27
future for retirement and healthcare benefits. 75 years in
1:00:32
the future means you're paying retirement and health benefits
1:00:35
for people not born yet. But in the meantime, Congress
1:00:42
was able to go in and raid us, raid us for the extra money.
1:00:47
Did we get any of that money back that we prepaid?
1:00:51
No, we didn't. And you'll never see that money
1:00:55
again. It's the same way when Jimmy
1:00:58
Carter voted for Social Security be given to immigrants.
1:01:03
Hold it. You're paying for people who've
1:01:05
never paid into the system. Right off the bat.
1:01:08
You're giving them money. And somebody said, well, you
1:01:10
know, oh, the immigrants now, some of them pay taxes this and
1:01:13
that. It doesn't offset the cost of
1:01:16
the medical, the school and the housing that we're providing
1:01:20
illegal immigrants. That's another subject.
1:01:23
I'll stop right there. But the fact of the matter is
1:01:26
they basically we're fear mongering you into saying go for
1:01:30
this contract because you know it'll protect us.
1:01:34
Bullshit. And they bought it.
1:01:39
Let me go on that bill. Let me go on that fear mongering
1:01:45
privatization. New postmaster, new this, new
1:01:49
that. This thing, that thing, the
1:01:51
other thing, it's always going to happen.
1:01:53
The post office always being in a deficit, I can tell you right
1:01:57
now if the post office wanted to, it could be in the positive.
1:02:05
It can do that now. The problem is you have these
1:02:10
people who choose to push these narratives and then like Mr.
1:02:16
Renfro over at the NALC, push that narrative hard enough that
1:02:22
he got an expedited arbitration that he turned into a mediation,
1:02:28
got the arbitrator to sign off on that mediation, and shoved
1:02:32
the TA that the city carriers voted down, down their throats
1:02:37
with that fear mongering. Then our president comes out and
1:02:42
fear mongers us. Oh, we're going to get a new
1:02:44
postmaster general, so we got to have a contract before he gets
1:02:47
in there. We got to have this done so we
1:02:49
don't have privatization come down our throats.
1:02:53
The fact is, they turn around and try to get you to do things
1:02:59
you don't want to do under the fear that if you don't do it,
1:03:04
something bad is going to happen.
1:03:07
Now, I don't know about you, but that sounds definitely a lot
1:03:09
like a narcissistic relationship if you ask me.
1:03:12
Because when you are shoving things down people's throats,
1:03:15
trying to tell them that you've got to do this or else you're
1:03:19
going to lose everything, guess what?
1:03:22
People are going to buy that. How many times does management
1:03:26
use that against us? And you're sitting there acting
1:03:30
like management doing that. Why do we have, why do we have
1:03:37
leaders who are acting like management who think carrier
1:03:42
questions are bullshit? Those aren't leaders.
1:03:48
Those are managers. Go ahead, though.
1:03:51
This, this reminds me a lot about the, the whole COVID
1:03:54
situation and you know, yes, it, it was a pandemic of sorts.
1:04:02
Yes, it killed I, I don't know how many because I, I can't
1:04:06
believe any of the numbers. I mean, I, I remember the guy
1:04:09
getting run over by a tractor trailer on a motorcycle and they
1:04:12
tested him for COVID. So they qualified for, you know,
1:04:14
extra COVID money from the government.
1:04:17
But this reminds me of COVID when, you know, they, they put
1:04:21
the fear of God in everybody and they stayed home.
1:04:24
And, you know, businesses collapse, you know, industries
1:04:28
restaurant and, you know, went bankrupt in three months.
1:04:32
And yet we went to work every day and I don't remember ever
1:04:38
catching COVID. You know, I, I didn't feel good
1:04:41
on a couple days here or there, you know, but since I never got
1:04:45
the COVID test and nobody in my family got the COVID test and
1:04:47
ever, you know, had the symptoms, it was the fear
1:04:51
mongering that kept everybody in place.
1:04:54
It created this national frenzy that you got to do all these
1:04:58
things. You got to wear gloves, you have
1:05:00
to use hand sanitizer, you have to wear the mask.
1:05:03
And half the people would wear the mask beneath their nose.
1:05:07
Well, OK, what's the transmission phase for COVID?
1:05:11
Inhaling it through your nostrils.
1:05:14
OK, I can't figure this out, but it's the same messaging that got
1:05:19
out there and created this type of hysteria or fear in people.
1:05:27
And you know, you can't trust the mass media, you can't trust
1:05:31
the government, can't trust Facebook.
1:05:35
But you know, guess what? I trusted my own common sense,
1:05:37
took care of my myself and my family with my our precautions
1:05:42
and we never had a problem. Vaccinations.
1:05:46
No, thank you. You're not putting stuff into me
1:05:49
that hasn't been approved. And you've given the
1:05:51
pharmaceutical companies a pass on any liability.
1:05:58
No, I, I, I, I'm not that much of A sheep.
1:06:02
I'm glad that, you know, some people have gone through it and,
1:06:05
and, and got their vaccinations. They're fine and everything.
1:06:08
No, I'm not a sheep. I'm not following it just
1:06:11
because you say, you know, there's a major contagion out
1:06:15
there that's going to kill you. Driving a postal vehicle can
1:06:20
kill you. Working in this heat can kill
1:06:23
you. Road rage can kill you.
1:06:29
But guess what? Covid's going to sneak up and
1:06:32
get you. No, thank you.
1:06:37
We're not talking about privatization and COVID the same
1:06:39
breath. We're talking about the fear
1:06:41
mongering aspect of their messaging.
1:06:45
They're trying to, you know, get you to react to the message
1:06:50
they're putting out there. And and Don reacted.
1:06:54
He, you know, he put an agreement out there that
1:06:57
basically the USPS wanted to 9000 people bought it.
1:07:07
Bill, I I will say this, as much as I disagree with how those
1:07:11
9000 people voted, I give them props for voting.
1:07:19
Oh, I'm not getting not giving them props for voting.
1:07:22
I give props 4000. I give props to the 14,014
1:07:27
thousand. I give props and for actually
1:07:29
voting. Whether they agreed to it, got
1:07:32
fear mongered into it. Whatever they voted, you got to
1:07:39
give credit that they actually paid the postage and filled out
1:07:44
the form to vote, Especially in areas that don't get visited by
1:07:50
their union representation. But you've got to remember, when
1:07:58
a craft isn't educated on everything that's going on,
1:08:03
they're going to vote blind on this stuff.
1:08:06
I remember a carrier actually making the statement.
1:08:09
I voted yes because I want them to go to arbitration.
1:08:15
What? Yes, somebody actually said
1:08:19
that. No, I don't know if it was
1:08:22
sarcasm or truth, but it was a statement made on social media
1:08:29
that they voted yes so it would go to arbitration.
1:08:33
I think they might have been playing for emotional.
1:08:36
Wow, that's kind of backfired, right?
1:08:42
Yeah. Yep, you know, so all right, And
1:08:50
and. And I want, I want to, I want to
1:08:53
meow that, you know, I've known people who died from COVID too,
1:08:57
and most of them had underlying conditions.
1:09:01
Not all, but most of them did and most of them were elderly.
1:09:08
You know, the the fact of the matter is that you have to take
1:09:10
your own personal health in perspective and act accordingly.
1:09:15
But you know, for the mass immunization, I mean, we worked
1:09:21
in the post office, we worked 6 to 8 feet away from each other.
1:09:25
We interact with each other for the years through COVID and yet
1:09:30
nobody in our office died of COVID.
1:09:34
We interacted with customers. I have no one on my route that
1:09:39
died from COVID. I've had neighbors pass away
1:09:45
from COVID. Everybody has to take
1:09:48
responsibility for your own personal health and welfare.
1:09:53
That wasn't my message. My message is that you're
1:09:56
following along with the mass media.
1:09:59
I never took any precautions above and beyond a mask and
1:10:04
washing my hands all the time, which I do normally because the
1:10:08
mail is dirty, you know, you don't know who used your truck
1:10:12
laughs. They're filthy.
1:10:14
But the fact of the matter is I just practice, you know, normal
1:10:17
hygiene, and I was fine. Hey, James.
1:10:24
I like, I like to joke up before James.
1:10:26
May I just say, I like to joke that during COVID I'm like,
1:10:30
yeah, this is, this is serious. This is a legitimate health
1:10:33
concern for some people. But the fact is, I've been here
1:10:36
for 9 years, deal with nasty male and I ain't died yet.
1:10:41
I mean, when, when you think about it, someone licking an
1:10:45
envelope, it's just it's, it'll kind of give you the ick if you
1:10:49
think about it. If there's one of those things,
1:10:52
like if you listen to the lyrics of songs that you used to like
1:10:55
as a kid, you're like, Oh my God, I listened to this shit and
1:10:57
I thought it was good. If you think about stuff like
1:11:00
that or licking an envelope, it's like, hold on a minute.
1:11:05
Let me tell you, when you lick an envelope and you cut your
1:11:09
tongue, that's no joke. Done it, done it, done it.
1:11:16
We all know what that feels like.
1:11:19
That's like a that's like a paper cut underneath the
1:11:21
fingernail. That's right up.
1:11:23
There. OK, I'm mad.
1:11:26
No, let's wind this down for the night.
1:11:29
It's like. Bamboo.
1:11:31
It's like bamboo shoots being shoved underneath your finger.
1:11:33
Oh, no. That's what I used to do.
1:11:35
I'm sorry. Go ahead.
1:11:37
Josh, your final thought for the evening.
1:11:42
Like I said, it's hot, hot hot. Hydrate hydrate hydrate Safety
1:11:47
safety safety. Am I going to talk in triples?
1:11:49
Maybe, maybe, maybe. Yeah, I'm a poet and I didn't
1:11:54
know it. OK in all seriousness, y'all do
1:11:59
your job, do it safely, do it with pride.
1:12:07
We're we're being watched by management, by customers and by
1:12:11
our own Co workers, if you catch my drift.
1:12:14
I'm watching. I'm watching when people don't
1:12:16
do their vehicle inspections and I get back to the office, but
1:12:21
their tires are bald in the front and I bring a manager out
1:12:25
there. I said, look at this shit.
1:12:27
OK. We need to make sure that we're
1:12:30
safe. If that means you stay in office
1:12:33
like James did and turn his mail, fine.
1:12:38
He got back in eight hours. As you so eloquently put.
1:12:42
James, at this time of year, if you need to case your DPS so
1:12:47
that you're working out of less bundles because it's hotter than
1:12:50
ever loving shit outside, I'd say do it.
1:12:53
Because we are technically allowed to case our DPS.
1:12:57
We are in command of our own safety out there.
1:13:01
Not our Co workers, not management, us.
1:13:05
It is incumbent upon us to do all that we can to be safe.
1:13:10
As they so eloquently say, we are the most important delivery
1:13:14
of the end of the day. Get your ass home to your family
1:13:18
and if you don't have family you might have a pet or something or
1:13:23
someone that is waiting on you to get home.
1:13:26
OK, I do not want to hear one more report of a carrier getting
1:13:32
sick or God forbid dying to this heat.
1:13:39
Our job is dangerous enough. We we do our job and the all I
1:13:47
ask is that we do it safely. God bless y'all.
1:13:51
And it's going to be hot again next week.
1:13:55
There's going to be rain probably everywhere.
1:14:00
Be safe. We saw with Texas flooding can
1:14:03
come out of nowhere so always be aware.
1:14:08
If you don't feel safe, bring it back, let management know.
1:14:13
Fill out a 1767. Turn around.
1:14:16
Don't drown. OK, James, I'm done.
1:14:21
Bill, your final thoughts? Well, let me address Mr. Johnson
1:14:25
who wanted to know about bringing up resolutions and
1:14:27
changes only in the spring. We do them all year long.
1:14:31
We start working on them as soon as the, the last section in our
1:14:35
first meeting. So you don't have to wait till
1:14:37
the spring to do it. We do it all year long.
1:14:39
And you know, you should too. I like the fact that we can get
1:14:44
on this format and, and disagree and, and agree and argue in
1:14:49
regards to, you know, our beliefs and everything else.
1:14:52
And you know, and we're doing it in, in a respectful manner.
1:14:55
We're, we're not calling each other names and poo pooping
1:15:00
everybody else's opinions. Everybody's opinion is valuable.
1:15:05
The fact of the matter is that when I express my feelings,
1:15:08
these are what I feel based on my upbringing, the, the, the
1:15:12
experiences of I have had by, you know, being in the post
1:15:17
office for 26 years, being a union representative, being a
1:15:21
local officer for over 20 years and, you know, being retired for
1:15:25
less than a year. And I'm still active every day
1:15:28
of the week in regards to answering people's questions
1:15:32
and, and queries in regards to tractual language or
1:15:37
disciplinary actions. A gentleman on Facebook said,
1:15:42
you know, well, you're retired now.
1:15:43
Thank you for your service and all that.
1:15:45
Well, the fact of the matter is I still have more input than
1:15:50
most carriers who are in the union or aren't even in the
1:15:53
union. But in regards to, you know,
1:15:56
getting things resolved for carriers, and I've said it
1:16:00
before and I'll say it again, 26 years in the post office, the,
1:16:05
you know, they're my family and I don't abandoned my family just
1:16:09
because I changed my designation as a active carrier to a retired
1:16:15
carrier. They're still my family.
1:16:18
And I've got customers who are family to me too.
1:16:22
So I I appreciate everybody who comes in and has a difference of
1:16:25
opinion, is willing to discuss them and is respectful in
1:16:29
regards to how we discuss them. This is the foundation of
1:16:33
united. We scan that, you know, we can,
1:16:35
you know, inform each other, discuss, argue and debate.
1:16:40
But we're here all for one thing, and that that's for the
1:16:43
fact that we are here for you. We're we're not doing this, you
1:16:50
know, and getting paid for it. We're taking our time and effort
1:16:53
energy out of out in doing this. Kristen's made the investments
1:16:58
in regards to the recording equipment.
1:17:02
This is a a family affair to me. But the thing to me that it's
1:17:07
most important is that we stick together on the issues that are
1:17:13
really important that we can unify behind.
1:17:17
Yes, we can not agree on everything and you never will be
1:17:21
asked my wife for 37 years. But the fact of the matter is
1:17:25
you stand united and you protect everybody's interests, not just
1:17:31
your own. That's that's the basis of a
1:17:33
union. Everyone, not just one or two or
1:17:38
three people, but everyone. So with that in mind, please
1:17:45
keep that in mind, help protect your fellow carriers from
1:17:51
harassment, from dangerous situations, from being
1:17:56
threatened, being harassed. Step up.
1:18:00
Be a voice for the union. Be a voice for that individual.
1:18:04
You don't even have to be a union member to step up to
1:18:06
protect somebody. I mean, acts of heroin is
1:18:09
happening every day across the world.
1:18:12
And it's not because they're black or white, not because
1:18:15
they're Catholic or Muslim. It's because it's the thing to
1:18:19
do. It's the right thing to do.
1:18:24
You guys are going to have another hot, wet weekend
1:18:28
depending of the week. Depending on where you're at,
1:18:31
you're probably still going to have an influx of Amazon Prime
1:18:34
days coming at you Monday on top of the rest of the bullshit
1:18:38
Mondays. Bring go out there.
1:18:41
Do your job professionally, efficiently, safely, and make
1:18:45
sure your vehicles are in good shape, ready to go.
1:18:49
Get the job done and go home. You are the most important
1:18:53
delivery of the day to your loved ones and to us.
1:18:58
Like Josh said, we don't want to see any more reports about
1:19:01
people having heat stroke or dying jobs.
1:19:06
Not worth it. It's not a job out there worth
1:19:08
it and you didn't sign up for it.
1:19:10
Unless you're in the military, you're not in the military.
1:19:14
You work for the United States Postal Service.
1:19:16
Deliver your ass home to your loved ones.
1:19:19
God bless you and all. Have a good night.
1:19:20
Good week, James. Thank you guys.
1:19:25
You're right. It's it's important that we take
1:19:28
care of each other. We are a family.
1:19:30
We are brothers and sisters of the crap.
1:19:33
And we may not get along. You may not like me.
1:19:38
I may not like you, but anybody messes with my brothers and
1:19:42
sisters, I'm going after them. It doesn't matter if you and I
1:19:49
fight with each other. You know, you call me names.
1:19:52
I I get upset about it or you post anonymously and try to put
1:19:57
me down in front of the entire craft.
1:20:00
That's fine. We're brothers and sisters.
1:20:03
That's what how families are. But when you are in trouble or
1:20:07
you need help and you reach out privately to me, I'm going to
1:20:12
respond. I'm going to help you because
1:20:14
that's what brothers and sisters do for each other.
1:20:19
We are here as a craft to do a job.
1:20:25
And that job is to take the mail we are given, the packages we
1:20:29
are given, and deliver them to our customers diligently and
1:20:34
faithfully every day we are assigned.
1:20:39
We are not here to deal with idiotic management,
1:20:45
micromanagement, harassment, toxic work environments, hostile
1:20:51
acts, violence, any of that stuff.
1:20:54
We're here to come do a task, get it done, and get paid on
1:20:59
payday. Management doesn't seem to
1:21:02
understand that one bit. So we have to protect each other
1:21:09
every single day because at the end of the day, we're all in
1:21:14
this together. Have a good week everybody, and
1:21:18
we'll see you in the next episode.