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Not So Short and Sweet · United We Scan

0:34
Hey, welcome to the United We Scan podcast.
0:37
Just a quick disclaimer here that any of the views and
0:39
opinions expressed by the individuals are not that of the
0:43
USPS or the NRLCA. This podcast is for
0:48
entertainment purposes only and if you are in need of any
0:52
assistance, please contact your designated union representative.
0:57
Thank you. Welcome back everybody.
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Episode 141. We're going to keep this
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somewhat short and sweet tonight.
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No major topics to discuss, but we'll cut touch on a few things.
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And I've been under the weather most of the week and starting to
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finally feel better. So and I know it's going to be a
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week as Christmas overtime started yesterday.
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So we all know what that means. We're in for the long haul for
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the next three weeks. So Josh, how was your week?
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It was a week. They getting a bit Cray Cray out
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there. The other day I got loaded up
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and forgot something came back in to grab whatever it was and
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I, the supervisor was started been about I can't have the
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rubber bands sitting on the case.
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I have to put them back in that little pouch on the side.
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Everything's got to be clean. So other than that, it's like I
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said, it's just a week. Oh, how was your week?
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My week was crap. It was a full week.
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I'm exhausted. We got all that Black Friday,
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Cyber Monday stuff, or I should say the beginnings of it.
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So, you know, there was one day. Was it Wednesday?
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Yeah, Wednesday wasn't the worst, but Thursday, Friday and
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then yesterday really just kicked my butt.
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Walk in and you just see the wall parcels and you just have
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to sit there and mentally think, am I going to fit this all in
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one load if I could have to make 2 trips?
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And just try to mentally prepare yourself for it, you know?
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But it it Christmas comes same time each year and you just have
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to, I don't know, grin and bear it, but.
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I think the most part I yeah, you keep saying it come the same
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time of year, but the minutes seems to prove otherwise.
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Yeah, they forget. Yeah, they forget.
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What do you mean? What do you mean?
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We're going to have an influx of parcels?
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But I think the roughest part though, of the this last week is
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it just it sucks when you leave to go to work and you get to see
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your kid for like a second and like, you know, take him to
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school and then you don't come back home until like right
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before they got to go to bed. So that was a little bit rough.
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But I will say not delivering Amazon parcels because I've had
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to deliver freaking toilet paper.
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And I'll go on a rant about that in a little bit.
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But delivering the actual like wrapped presents, that is very
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rewarding to me. So it's not all negative and
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delivering packs of jumbo toilet paper, but but delivering the
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actual like wrapped package and knowing like it it says like do
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not open until Christmas, like those ones at least.
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Like, OK, if I could deliver at least one of those every day, it
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makes it worth it. So, but how was your week,
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Kristen? Well, as I mentioned there in
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the beginning, I was pretty much sick all week Tuesday.
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Monday I felt fine for the most part.
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It was a Monday, you know, 210 scans on a Monday.
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And then Tuesday I woke up with a sore and swollen throat.
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And then by the time I got home Tuesday I was not feeling hot.
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Had to run to the Walmarts with the girl to pick up more stuff
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for Christmas floats and whatnot and ecore for my LLV.
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And yeah, by the time I got home I'm like, I'm going to bed.
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And then I woke up Wednesday thinking I should have called
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in, went to work fighting. I don't know what this fever was
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because I went to try and find a thermometer and well, we found
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it, but the battery was dying. So it kept erroring, erroring.
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And so I never knew how high my fever actually got.
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But I can tell you from the way I was feeling, it was pretty
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darn high. And but I popped a couple
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ibuprofen, took some Tylenol with me, a bunch of water and
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bundled up and went to work and suffered through it.
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And Thursday I felt even worse than I did on Wednesday.
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So worked through it started to feel a little bit better.
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Friday. I was still pretty rough when I
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went in, but come by Friday, by the time I got back to the
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office, I was starting, I think my fever at that time, it
5:42
actually broke and was being controllable.
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So didn't have to work yesterday.
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Yay. And I'm still, you know, the
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fever's gone, but the throat's still a little scratchy and, and
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sore and whatnot. But I'm feeling a heck of a lot
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better today. So I push through it as we do
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when we don't have a choice, we do it.
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So and then Saturday they had my they had the aux carrier take my
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assigned LLV swapped out with with the sub.
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That way my LLV could be back to the office in time to decorate
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it up for the parade. And in which I did I, which you
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know, I posted pictures in the discord, I posted pictures in
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our Facebook group, I posted it in another rule carrier group
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and on my personal page. So I thought we had six people
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going and it dwindled down to two clerks, a city carrier and
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the supervisor who walked alongside the LLV.
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And let me tell you, the community was quite surprised to
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see us there. But it was a good surprise and
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it was very well received. So it was fun, you know, waving
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at the kids. We didn't hand out candy, but we
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I had 300 glow necklaces leftover from summertime that
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the glow stick ones. And so I handed each container
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to a clerk and said here you guys go, you can hand these out
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to the kids. And that's what we did.
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And it was fun. Everybody had fun with it.
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We all enjoyed it. And then I stopped and because
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it was cold and dark last night and everybody wanted to go home
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and she's like, you can come by tomorrow and take the
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decorations off. She told me I could keep the
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Garland and stuff on for the season.
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But the way I had everything clipped together with a string
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of lights and and the Garland, it was easier just to pull the
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whole thing off the LLV. And I had to take the big huge
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blow up Santa hat off because that was ratchet strapped down
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there through the windows of the doors.
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So there was no way to open the doors.
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Even I had to climb in and out of the back for the parade.
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So. But no, it was fun and tomorrow
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is back to the grind again and we are officially in the
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Christmas OT period as of yesterday, so see what happens,
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yeah? We in it, we're really.
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In it, from what it sounded like some people were trying to get
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the OT on day one, all the OT. But no, it was The parade was
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cool. The community really was like,
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whoa, even as we were lined up in line for the parade and
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whatnot. And they're like, post office is
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here. And then the former person in
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charge of the Chamber of Commerce director is now since
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retired, lives on my route. And I saw him checking out
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Ruby's float and whatnot and right in front of us.
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And, and so I hopped out and went out and talked to him.
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He's like, you guys have never been in this before.
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I said, no, this is the first time.
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It's a 20 and 20th anniversary of the parade, the first time
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for the post office. And we're already planning next
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year. So that.
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Was. Yeah, it was.
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I mean, the postmaster couldn't make it.
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She really wanted to, but she had other plans.
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But she did order pizza and soda for us for before the parade.
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So one of the one clerk that went with us, he went and picked
9:00
it up and brought it in. And so we got pizza on pop
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before we went out for the parade.
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And yeah, it was, it was, it was nice.
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It was. Little community outreach part
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and that shows that visibility, you know of us.
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That's really cool. Did you get many letters for
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Santa? We didn't get any, but that's
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OK. This was our first time and it
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was just a few Facebook group blast.
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But we think if we can make this an annual thing that it will
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eventually change. So right, well, I know because
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you guys were planning for to collect and postmark them.
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Yeah, that, then that. And if we had received any,
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that's what we would have done. So, you know, now we have extra
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time to plan for next year and hopefully get it approved sooner
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than two days before Thanksgiving, which is only, you
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know, a week and a half away from the parade.
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And and then, you know, we'll make Flyers up and whatnot, I
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think for next year and get it out the word out a little bit
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sooner. So I think that'll be cool.
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Yep. It was a good time.
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Even even the one little local buzz Hub guy who live streamed
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it, Obviously I'm in the parade so I couldn't watch live stream.
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So after I got home and I was watching it and when I found
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where we were, he's like, oh, even the post office got in this
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year. It's shocking.
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It. Was it was shocking.
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You know, every year in July we have the a Sable canoe Marathon,
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which is known around the world. It's an international event
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which is 120 mile canoe marathon that starts in a town 120 miles
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away on the river and ends the finish line is in our town.
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And they have never had a float or anything.
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So this year they had, I think there was two of the local guys
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that do the marathon. We there's a bunch of locals
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that do it. We've had international people
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come to do it, a lot of people from out of state and
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everything. It's really pretty cool.
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It happens overnight, but I'm not going to get into that right
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now. And they had an upside down race
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canoe with light strung along the sides, and the guys were
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carrying it like they can't carry the canoe for the marathon
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when they do the parade in for the water.
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And so it was tipped upside down, the two guys carrying it
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down the parade path. That was pretty cool.
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First time for them too. Nice.
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First time for us. Yeah.
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It was 20th anniversary for the parade and the first time for
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the post office, So. And everybody loved it.
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And they, I guess some kids were making comments about the Santa
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Claus decal on the window. Supervisor told me I had to keep
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that on for the entire season. I said, hey, no problem.
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She's like, where'd you get that?
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And I was like Amazon. And she's like, I think I might
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order one for everybody. Yeah.
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And you can. You can see around it and see
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through it, yes, Yeah, it's safe.
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Yeah, it is safe 20. Go ahead. 20 years for the 20
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years for the post office to get involved, Yeah.
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It took 20 years for the post office to get into the parade.
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Yeah. That tracks.
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It does. It does.
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It's not how long it takes to implement anything.
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Is on that true? At least a decade for sure.
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I'm sorry, I'm sorry I was just going to say 10 if they fast
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track it. Yeah, yeah.
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Fast track. Yeah, yeah.
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Yeah. See, we speed it up. 15 if
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they're not quite fast tracking it but trying to rush it.
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Sorry, Rex, you know they were trying to get that right.
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Yeah. Yeah, sure.
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And. They they they tried.
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Participation trophy for it, you know, but.
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Even deserve. That no, right?
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Some of them do, but not everybody who was involved in
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it. I know I had to go by little
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man, I asked Ruby. I says little man have a winter
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snowsuit coat and stuff and she's like, no, we still have to
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get boots and snow pants. But he is now the proud owner of
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a Carhartt winter jacket. Nice.
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Merry early Christmas from Grandma.
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Yeah, like, oh. I will go with quality and I
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looked at Ruby and I said and if his cousin is here next year at
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this time we're passing the code on to him.
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I was about to say, you got another grandbaby that can.
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I was like family first because she's like or so and so's kid.
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I said family first. She's like I.
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Know family first so. I can tell you 15 years ago a
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pair of Oshkosh overalls of mine were still in circulation from
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when I was 2. So yeah, so we I made sure he at
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least had a coat and a Carhartt winter hat.
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That Velcro's on the bottom for him this year.
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Now we just got to find snow pants and boots getting there.
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Start running around in it. Yeah, I know.
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He looks so cute in that coat though.
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It's adorable. Like, oh, I know.
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Yeah, my baby. And he, he, he was just been
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loving on me so much the last couple days because I've been so
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sick. I've been like, literally come
14:19
home from work and go to bed and maybe get up and try to eat
14:24
dinner. It hurt to eat one night.
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I made myself. I made Turkey stock with my
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leftover Turkey and made some Turkey soup.
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I think it was Thursday night that I made that.
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And that's when I started feeling better was Friday.
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I'm like, maybe all that garlic and onion, everything else I put
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in, it helped me, you know? Yeah, but I didn't eat much
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because I couldn't. It hurt, but yeah, yeah, thank
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goodness I'm starting to feel better.
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So now that Grandma's feeling better, he's all want to be
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snuggly with Grandma because he missed her.
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Didn't want to get used to it too, buddy.
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I know exactly so, but OK. No chit chat.
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So no, we're all good. It's I mean, we were just going
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to talk about two little things. Nothing like 2 crossing.
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I should say. One of the things was there is a
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there was a Washington Post article that was talking about
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how Amazon is going about exploring and expanding its
15:23
coast to coast delivery network. And whenever Amazon's doing
15:29
anything, US as postal workers are always like.
15:32
What are they doing? Because we, some of us, I should
15:36
say, not everybody in the country delivers quite a bit of
15:41
Amazon packages. And there's some areas that I
15:45
know they deliver all of Amazon's parcels, Amazon's not
15:51
there at all. And then there's other areas
15:54
where Amazon is completely taken over their delivery or like
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99.9% of it. And then there's other areas
16:03
like mine where we're kind of in between and Amazon gives and
16:07
takes, I should say. And I will say that there is
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still some of those offices that are that rural that do not get
16:16
Amazon at all. Yeah, I, I have an office that's
16:21
about 40 miles from me that doesn't get Amazon to route
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office. They don't get Amazon at all.
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In fact, they don't even have a mail truck.
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It's a contractor that comes from another office to drop off
16:32
their mail and pick it up in a in a van.
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My gosh. Yeah.
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So you know, you still have that mix.
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I mean, you know ours, we have quite a few Amazon Flex type
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drivers in our area, but we still handle the the bulk of it.
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I mean if I was to lose Amazon my route would probably drop to
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a 40K. Oh, you got.
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You deliver that much of it. Yeah.
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I'm in an area where there's in a 10/20 mile radius like 7
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Amazon hubs now and we still get a lot of Amazon.
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Yeah. Usually it's the big heavy
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stuff. Yep, but.
17:14
Like the toilet paper? Yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll go on my
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little ray after you're done. Sorry.
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Yeah, don't get me started on the 2 cases of toilet paper for
17:28
a business that sat at my case for three days.
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Business closed from the day after Thanksgiving until Monday
17:35
because yeah, I I know, I know, I know.
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Well, and what's what's interesting with Amazon is, is
17:46
that we in the old mail count system, it was really
17:50
frustrating because if it was an office that just got Amazon,
17:55
which I know a lot of them, like there's still a lot of offices
17:58
that never counted with the Amazon versus now where the ebb
18:05
and flow is semi OK, because our evaluations are based off of the
18:10
52 weeks. But it's it's almost like AI
18:16
don't know. I don't know if I want to call
18:18
it an abusive relationship, but it's a very it it's mixed
18:23
because you know, we it's good for us as opposed to service to
18:28
have the revenue. But then at the same time, is
18:33
the Postal Service charging Amazon enough for us to be
18:36
delivering these and for them to crutch on us?
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Or why isn't Amazon giving us all the little ones that they
18:45
know will fit in the mailboxes and having their guys take the
18:48
bigger ones? I, I, I mean, that's the
18:52
question we've always had. I wouldn't say for the part
18:56
where you asked are they paying enough for parcel?
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Probably not, at least when the their contract originated.
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However because they are pre routing them and drop dropping
19:09
them to the delivery units they don't necessarily need to be
19:13
paying either if that makes sense.
19:16
I mean what? If the post office once, I mean
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here, here you're looking at you.
19:20
Here's a scenario. What if the post Office wanted
19:23
to process all that stuff through the plants?
19:26
The joy was trying to do, which is why UPS stopped using us
19:30
because they wouldn't let them. They told them they had to drop
19:33
it or send it through the processing plants.
19:35
Yeah, but now? UPS.
19:36
Come a back load too. Great.
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And but I don't know if they're going to do the same.
19:41
You know the drop ship at the back door UPS, You know the
19:44
palleted are at the delivery units.
19:47
They had a FedEx package that came through the plant the other
19:50
day. Yeah, I did too.
19:52
I. Had to take a.
19:52
Double. Triple.
19:53
Look at the label to find our barcode.
19:55
But yeah, yeah, it was a FedEx package, yeah.
19:58
You see, I have them without, I've gotten, you know, without
20:01
our barcodes on them. Now it got into our put it off
20:06
to the side so they can send it back to FedEx but do their own
20:08
job. Well, the UPS.
20:11
So it. Was out of a mailbox the other
20:13
day. I'm like, really?
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The house is 30 steps from the mailbox.
20:18
Really. I had some new fly by night
20:21
delivery service that pulled the package out.
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Yeah, I did too, and I pulled them out and my manager sent
20:26
them back. At least you found where they
20:28
can go. We couldn't.
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Well, it didn't. Ours didn't have a return on it.
20:32
So the one surprised I was working with.
20:35
So I gave it to the one surprised when three days later
20:37
it was in my Gurney again and I showed it to someone else.
20:40
He wrote postage due on it. And then he says there's no
20:43
address. Dead butter.
20:44
Nope, and send it back dead better.
20:47
So my supervisor is. That customer.
20:49
Yeah, but those, I mean, we have to figure out ways for us to
20:54
gain revenue. And I mean, people try to be
20:58
like, oh, the post office is going bankrupt, but then they
21:01
like take advantage of of it and it's like, no, like you need
21:05
like these stupid fly by night, you know, poo dunk whatever
21:11
delivery services can't be using our mailboxes or, or acting like
21:17
they're postal workers and like, no, it's you got to go to the
21:22
front door. That's my customers mailbox.
21:26
But so in so there was all kinds of articles that were posted
21:32
about this Amazon thing and people are freaking out.
21:35
And then all of a sudden Amazon comes out and tells another news
21:43
anchor or news place, newspaper place, that it's not exploring
21:48
the possibility of ending its long time, long standing
21:51
partnership with the USPS as it weighs A dramatic transformation
21:56
in its prime delivery operations.
21:59
And that they don't want to cut ties.
22:03
They want to do the opposite and without a doubt our goal is to
22:08
continue working with the USPS as we have done for the past 30
22:12
plus years and are going to continue to push to reach an
22:15
agreement so they can't give us up.
22:19
It is not economically or what logistically.
22:24
Work in their favor. Yeah, I mean we go, I mean even
22:28
you, like we said earlier, UPS is coming back too and.
22:33
We're the only service that might goes to every address.
22:37
Yep, out there in the boonie lands and especially us as rural
22:41
carriers, we're going to still see that because it's, I mean,
22:45
we're still driving out there to deliver.
22:47
You know, I know people get mad at the junk mail, but honestly,
22:50
the junk mail is why we still do that, because we're a service,
22:54
but. And have I had trays of junk
22:56
mail lately? Yeah, progressives and all that.
23:01
Yeah. Did you all get the the the
23:05
credit one credit card here you're pre approved that they
23:09
all came out of the envelopes or had the side side of the
23:13
envelope roughed off? Yeah, that was just past week.
23:16
I'm like, there's no envelope for this.
23:18
Like a. Tab with it or it's weird.
23:21
Yeah, yeah. Caught in the machine.
23:24
But it's very interesting to me, you know, I, when I first
23:29
started in 2015, we did not have Amazon.
23:33
And then about six months into me working there, we got Amazon
23:37
and I watched, I like to remember seeing like, OK, you
23:42
during Christmas, you have the hamper of all the priority boxes
23:47
and then you have multiple hampers of just Amazon.
23:51
And, and then you'd have like the fruit like the Harry and
23:54
David's and the, the pears and the oranges and.
23:58
Stuff I haven't in over the last couple years, I've hardly seen
24:01
any of that. Yeah, another company delivers
24:03
that now. Yeah, so, but it's it's weird
24:07
though, because in my area they built an Amazon hub, but they
24:10
haven't opened it. But I see tons of Amazon drivers
24:16
out of my route along with like private contractor ones that
24:20
they used which I guess is their equivalent of an ARC.
24:25
But the the Amazon Flex. Yeah, some of them, but they
24:29
also, I don't know, the other. Was it on Thursday?
24:32
I saw two of them in the street yelling at each other because
24:37
one had to come help another. And they were like trading
24:42
parcels around. And I'm just sitting there
24:44
looking at them and I'm going to the same house that they both
24:47
just went to, to deliver an Amazon package.
24:53
So, and then, you know, I, I kind of alluded to this earlier,
24:57
but like the Amazon yesterday and this last week has gone back
25:04
to our old volume of them. It seems like to the point where
25:10
like last night, I'm, it's 5:30, the sun's going down and I'm
25:14
delivering a case toilet paper. So I, I, my, and so I walked
25:20
back in and I was talking to my supervisor about it and I was
25:23
like, the moral of the story is, is that Amazon still needs us to
25:27
wipe their butt for them. Like it's December the the
25:37
Saturday after Cyber Monday and I'm delivering a case of toilet
25:41
paper because from Amazon. So, but it is what it is.
25:47
It's it's going to sell. Amazon's not going any anywhere.
25:53
No and. They they're addicted to us.
25:56
And even they said in all everything I'm reading, you
25:58
know, this is the for the in negotiations for the contract
26:02
that expires October of 2026. So you still there.
26:06
I mean, there's still 10 months on this contract anyway.
26:09
And they're not, I'm not going to worry about it because we've
26:12
been through this before. I mean, in my old office when I,
26:15
when I started late 2014, early 2015 and we didn't get Amazon in
26:22
that office till September of 2017.
26:25
And then what I heard my current office, they got it two weeks
26:29
after the 2018 mail count. So I was my office was one of
26:33
those that did not have Amazon in the count until RX went into
26:37
effect. Where I started with Amazon and
26:42
just before Thanksgiving of 2012.
26:45
They just, they, they can't give us up.
26:49
They're not going to give us up. That was a fun Christmas, yeah.
26:53
And we know we deliver everything, you know the the hub
26:57
drivers because we have the him Amazon hub Flex drivers.
27:01
In fact, I have two flex drivers that I know of that live on my
27:04
route. One of them gets a stuff drop
27:06
right at his doorstop by the box truck.
27:10
But you know, they don't get the stuff we get.
27:14
You know, we get the boxes of the dog food.
27:17
They some do, some don't, depending.
27:20
We get the big huge double stainless steel sinks that come
27:26
in that take up half the back of the truck.
27:29
You know, we get that stuff. I literally had a second trip
27:32
for one house, six boxes that filled the truck.
27:36
That's why it was a second trip for the one house because I had
27:39
five huge ass boxes in the back of the truck and the smallest
27:43
huge ass box was sitting on the tray so I could take it up to
27:46
the house. I mean we get that crap and then
27:50
there's FedEx, then there's, you know, UPS and them dropping off
27:53
the little Poly mailers. And I'm like really, as I'm
27:56
lumping up 6 heavy boxes, you know?
27:59
Yeah, let me put this giant dog food box next to your small
28:02
little spur here. So ridiculous, but let me put it
28:08
so there is that I just. So yours doesn't blow away.
28:11
Yeah, so the dog food doesn't blow away.
28:13
So, so they're they're they're probably envelope doesn't fall.
28:19
Right, right you. Put the dog food on top of the
28:21
envelope so the envelope doesn't fall.
28:23
Why are we? Yeah, does anybody hate those
28:26
paper bags more than anything? Yeah, yes, yesterday after
28:30
yesterday. Oh, I actually cannot.
28:33
Stand them. I was I had like ones that you
28:38
could tell there was a box inside of it and it was like too
28:41
big to fit inside a mailboxes, but it was like the paper bag
28:47
and I'm like, oh, OK, new Amazon packaging unlocked here.
28:53
Just oh. And it rips open easy.
28:56
It doesn't fold very well. It's I can't stand them, though
29:01
I do know in a medium sized box I can stuff for a woman in there
29:05
as long as the stuff in them is soft.
29:08
Yeah. And even like those tiny little
29:09
Amazon boxes that they have, those will fit in a normal like
29:13
in a regular mailbox. Yes.
29:15
Now the next size up, a little bit wider ones will not fit in
29:18
the standard metal box, but they will fit in the slim plastic
29:23
ones. Yep.
29:24
Because of the height different Oh, I know it's just like you're
29:28
looking at the package going and we're looking at The Who it goes
29:32
to the box will not Nope that one Yep that one will Nope, Nope
29:37
yeah, it's you can eyeball what will fit in a farm box anymore
29:41
too. You know it's Yep.
29:44
Yeah, until you get to last night.
29:45
I was delirious after delivering or while I was delivering and I
29:50
was looking at one of the box and I was like, that'll fit in
29:52
the parts locker. And I was like, no, won't, no,
29:55
won't. And then I, I tested it because
29:58
I just didn't want to have to go to another front door.
30:00
And it was like, Nope, you should have trust.
30:03
You knew better. You knew.
30:05
Better I had one I was questionable with.
30:08
I had one that was questionable with for parcel locker, but I
30:12
was like, it slid right in. The bigger, the taller parcel
30:17
locker. I'm like, OK now.
30:20
Now it's just to see how long it's going to take this business
30:24
to actually come check their mailbox and take the parcels
30:28
because I've, I've had stuff sitting there for months.
30:31
So yeah. And I do, I know, yeah, I know I
30:35
can pull it and send it back or leave a notice, whatever.
30:37
But when you don't, they don't check their mailboxes regularly
30:40
either. So I it's like a game for me.
30:42
I have a couple of those businesses like, alright, how
30:45
long is this going to sit here? Just waiting for them to come
30:50
get it. Yeah, yeah.
30:51
Oh my. Goodness it it.
30:53
The larger parcel lockers, the larger parcel lockers, if it'll
30:57
slide in a tub, it'll fit. Good to know.
31:02
That is, those those bigger parcel lockers are about the
31:05
same size as the tub. Yeah, I can see that height and
31:08
width wise, Yeah, OK, Yep, nice. Well, so the second.
31:12
Thing. Yeah, so the second thing that I
31:17
was I thought we could talk about just briefly, I know it's
31:19
kind of we're just what is it? Corey Walton calls it the salt.
31:23
What salted peanuts when we're just like a bunch of random
31:27
topics but so on. I'll just say it from a more of
31:33
a personal part of this. But on Monday at the end of the
31:37
day after the chaos that was Monday, I was on Facebook and I
31:44
saw that a bunch of people were posting.
31:46
They were having questions about their pay stubs.
31:49
And I was like, OK, well let me log in and go look at my pay
31:54
stub. And my pay stub had 11
31:58
adjustments on it. And some of the adjustments were
32:02
for like nothing. It was just, it had all the
32:05
numbers and different pay periods and it just said like
32:11
$0.00, whereas some of them had a little bit of a amount.
32:15
And, but in total from all of the adjustments, I ended up
32:21
getting like $17.23 when I added it up.
32:28
Now, I, I mean, you could just be like, oh cool, I got $17.23
32:39
from the post office. But me being me going, why did
32:46
the post office give me $17.23 and are they going to come back
32:51
for it? And like that I'm going to owe
32:55
them it back now or is there a mistakes somewhere?
33:00
And so I started looking at not only my pay stub, other people's
33:07
talking to different people. And the main similarity that I
33:11
found was that it was something with FLSA overtime for regulars,
33:18
but that didn't really fit with all of the Subs, the RC as and
33:25
the PTS having the adjustments. So, so Long story short, I ended
33:32
up asking different people and I, it basically was told to me
33:37
that it was going to be, it was about the one big, the big
33:41
beautiful bill, no tax on overtime.
33:44
And it was something to do with that.
33:46
But I still being who I am, I like the analytical part of
33:52
understanding each bit of it, you know?
33:57
So then finally on Friday, which is our actual payday mind you, I
34:06
know some people really don't look at their pay stub until
34:10
payday. But I'm a weirdo and I have
34:13
anxiety and I like to look at it at the moment.
34:16
I know I can. But so, so Friday the union
34:21
finally came out with and said, which I'm also going to preface
34:27
this by saying the Postal Service should have been the
34:31
first ones to tell us and let us know what this is because
34:35
they're the ones who did it. So, but out of courtesy, the
34:40
union posted this and said payment adjustments related to
34:44
enactment of HR1, which is House Resolution 1.
34:48
The NRLCA has been notified by the Postal Service of
34:52
adjustments related to enactment of HR.
34:55
One known as the OBBB, which is 1 bit beautiful big bill that
35:03
was passed like at the beginning of this year or whatever.
35:05
Or was it May? I can't even.
35:08
Remember earlier this year anyways, yeah.
35:10
Yeah. So yeah, that will appear as
35:13
multi pay period adjustments and paychecks received 12/5/2025.
35:18
The USPS has stated the adjustments will only result in
35:23
increases in payment of varying amounts to roll craft employees.
35:29
The union has been provided limited information detailing
35:33
the calculations used to determine the adjustments.
35:36
We are working to schedule meetings with the employer for
35:40
further explanation. We will keep the membership
35:43
updated as additional information is provided.
35:46
So I'm happy they finally said something.
35:50
But me being who I am, I'm like OK like why did the Postal
35:55
Service do this now? Like did the IRS or somebody
35:59
release anything? And if you Google no tax and
36:03
overtime, on November 21st, the IRS released an article titled
36:13
The Treasury IRS provide guidance for individuals who
36:16
receive tips or overtime during tax year 2025.
36:21
So they gave like a guideline. And most of this article is
36:27
about no tax on tips. But the no tax on overtime thing
36:34
from the IRS states for tax years 2025 through 2028.
36:38
Individuals who receive qualified overtime compensation
36:43
may deduct the pay that exceeds their regular rate of pay.
36:47
Generally the half portion of time and a half compensation
36:52
that is required by the Fair Labor Standards Act and reported
36:55
on Form W2, Form 1099 or other specific specified statement
37:02
furnished to the individual. Maximum annual deduction is
37:06
12,500 dollars $25,000 for joint filers.
37:11
Deduction phases out for taxpayers with modified adjusted
37:15
gross income over 150,300 thousand for joint filers.
37:20
The deduction is available for both itemizing and non itemizing
37:25
taxpayers, and then certain employees are exempt from the
37:29
rules on overtime. Generally, the FLSA requires
37:35
that most employees in the United States be paid at least
37:38
the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime pay at
37:42
not less than time and a half their regular rate of pay for
37:45
all hours worked over 40 in a work week.
37:49
However, the law provides for certain exemptions.
37:53
Today's guidance provides a series of examples illustrating
37:57
situations that workers who receive qualified overtime might
38:00
encounter. Today's guidance does not affect
38:03
any rights or responsibilities regarding tips or overtime
38:07
contributions under the FLSA. And then below are abridged
38:12
versions of some of those examples.
38:14
And it, it gives some examples, but it doesn't give, it's not,
38:23
it doesn't necessarily explain it in Rule carrier speak.
38:31
Does that make sense? What I'm saying like we know we
38:35
get the FLSA overtime rate during Christmas because I mean
38:40
we've gone over this like the last couple months and if you're
38:44
assisting on other routes, you're getting the FLSA overtime
38:48
rate. So I would see that as qualified
38:52
overtime. And when I can, I, I like you,
38:56
went and saw everything. And so I had to go check mine
39:02
and I noticed I had adjustments for one pay period.
39:06
So I went back to that check to look at what it was.
39:09
And yes, that was the FSLA from when I assisted on a route
39:16
during that pay period. Yeah, You know, mine was a
39:18
whopping $12.00 and change and after taxes was like 9 bucks or
39:24
something like that. I'm like, oh, what?
39:25
Be a big deal, Yeah. Yeah, y'all are rich now.
39:29
Let me tell you. I had 6 adjustments, five of
39:32
which were for 01 of which was 6 and change and after taxes $4.
39:38
So the way that it looks to me is that the percentage of how
39:42
they calculated our taxes changed.
39:46
But what doesn't make sense still to me, and we'll have to
39:50
wait for more guidance, is the way that the IRS has presented
39:56
this is that it would be on our W2 and it would be sectioned
40:00
that way. And so part of me was like,
40:03
because I have, you have to like try and think about how Egan and
40:08
postal accounting are doing things in their backward way
40:13
that they do things sometimes. That they are calculating maybe
40:20
how many hours you're, you do have for that and they're going
40:25
to show it on your W2 and this is them preparing for that.
40:29
But that's just me speculating. The other thing that I noticed
40:36
'cause I like Josh showed me his and I've shown him mine and his
40:41
actually the the adjustments on his shows FLSA overtime
40:48
specifically spelled out, but on mine none of them say it now.
40:52
I want to go look at mine and double check what it said.
40:55
Yeah. So it's it's it's very strange.
40:58
And Miles, my other other understanding of this, if the
41:03
theory was correct, is that the Subs going over 40 hours, that
41:08
in my eyes would qualify as the overtime because they're not
41:15
salary. But if they didn't work actual
41:19
hours over 40 and they got like eval for like, let's say they're
41:22
on a 43K and they only worked like 38 hours.
41:27
So they ended up getting all eval.
41:30
I wouldn't say that's qualifying, but I'm not.
41:34
And I'm going to perface. I'm no tax person.
41:36
I'm just somebody trying to figure this out for my for
41:40
myself and for others because it is confusing.
41:45
But the other part of this is so House Res one or the one big
41:55
beautiful bill act in section 702O2 no tax on overtime And
42:03
this is this on the Congress website congress.gov Deduction
42:08
allowed. Part 7 of sub Chapter B of
42:13
Chapter 1, as amended by the preceding provisions of this act
42:17
is amended by redesigning section 225 as section 226 by in
42:22
center inserting the yadda yadda a qualified overtime
42:26
compensation. There shall be allowed as a
42:30
deduction an amount equal to the qualified overtime compensation
42:35
received during the taxable year and included on statements
42:39
furnished to the individual pursuant to section.
42:42
And I'm not going to read all that limitation.
42:45
And then it's what I already read earlier about the 12,500
42:50
dollars, $25,000 for joint, Yeah, but the other.
42:58
Where everything is zeroed out. You know how it balances each
43:01
other out? Because again, mine was only one
43:03
pay period and it does were were the $12.35.
43:09
It does say FLSA on there. That's yeah.
43:13
Even the ones that I had that were 0 FLSA had a line item for
43:17
FLSA. Yeah, I.
43:18
Don't. Yeah.
43:19
And mine didn't, no. Mine didn't either.
43:22
Yeah. So I don't know what I mean.
43:25
You can if you personally want, I mean, you could just go look
43:31
and maybe manually calculate it yourself, but I it's like some
43:36
certain percentage it looks like they took out of your gross
43:39
income. And if you really want to, you
43:44
could go over the last year from January 1st until now and write
43:51
down like how many hours you worked and what you think would
43:54
be qualifying overtime versus not.
43:59
So that when it comes to tax time and W2 time, you at least
44:02
have some of that information. But most of it sounds like it's
44:06
going to be tax issues, not postal so.
44:12
And but the question I posed to you the other day when we first
44:15
talked about it is, are they my taxes back now?
44:19
So now I can't, it's no longer been taxed.
44:21
So it's not something I can file.
44:23
Or they just adjusting your overall taxes to a lower
44:29
percentage and you can still claim it.
44:31
Yeah. Because if they're just
44:32
eliminating the tax and giving you the the credit back now,
44:35
then you won't, we won't be able to, which is why we need the
44:39
answers of what did they do and why And yeah, what is the end
44:44
result of it? Man, I really wanted that $17.23
44:48
that come tax time, you know? You know the things I read
44:55
scroll through Facebook and I'm sorry I have to mention this one
44:58
since we're kind of doing. Random.
45:00
Stuff this person says. I finished all the training in
45:04
Academy. My first day I went to the
45:06
office and they didn't have anyone do on the job training.
45:10
Just gave me the keys and told me to call if I had any
45:12
questions. Yes, that's holiday season for
45:15
you. Oh.
45:16
My gosh. My question is, can they come
45:18
back on me at all? Wow.
45:22
Can they or will they are two different questions?
45:27
I mean, should they? That's the third question.
45:31
Absolutely no training. First day in the office.
45:34
Here's the keys. Call if you need anything
45:36
seriously that. When I when I went that.
45:40
RCA really needs to be in touch with the DRASAP.
45:45
Yeah. Yes, yes, yeah.
45:48
Oh my gosh. Hey, I just think with that
45:51
$17.00 now you can go get yourself one of your delectable
45:57
overpriced overcooked caffeinated beverages.
46:02
Oh I will. I'm going to go to Dutch
46:03
Brothers and get me a that. I'm going.
46:06
To get me two. Dutch brothers.
46:12
When I worked. AT toys are probably cheaper.
46:15
Yeah, it it. I love Dutch Brothers, man, but
46:18
when I work at Toys-R-Us, Yeah. And they're kind of pricey, too.
46:22
Probably don't, but they probably don't burn their beans
46:25
when the roasted. I don't know what to do with my
46:27
$9.88 after tax. I mean that doesn't even buy a
46:33
new vape. That's I.
46:35
I guess that'll get me a monster and a bag of chips at Speedway
46:41
when I fill up with for gas. I don't know.
46:45
That's not one beautiful bill for you.
46:47
Let. Me tell you.
46:50
My first might get me a kid sized drink at a fast food
46:53
joint. Yeah, because that wouldn't even
46:55
get me a value meal anymore. I don't even know why they call
46:57
them value meals. Yeah.
47:00
They're not. There's no value anymore.
47:06
Oh my, Oh my. I yeah, I'm sorry.
47:11
That I saw so I the other thing I saw the other day was the city
47:17
carriers have like a a new mentorship program too for their
47:21
new hires and I'm like why don't we have that because like this
47:26
that would at least eliminate hopefully this.
47:30
I kind of use that as my platform the couple times I ran
47:34
as VI, you know, as having a mentorship.
47:37
I mean, I get and not all offices or even districts do the
47:42
OJ is, I know if people tell, well, we don't do that anymore.
47:45
What are you talking about? We don't do that anymore.
47:47
That's what their training materials come back and
47:50
specifically say must be done by a certified on the job
47:54
instructor. Yeah.
47:56
And it's just like, all right, so why can't, you know, I, I can
48:01
see and you know, I, there's some awesome OJ eyes out there
48:06
and there's some not so great ones as well.
48:09
But you know, and you then you have these offices where nobody
48:11
wants to train anybody because, you know, they're not getting
48:13
paid any different. It, you know, to me, it's not
48:17
about the pay when it comes to training.
48:19
I want to train somebody to succeed.
48:20
But you also it that too, you know, but you know, you they
48:28
still need somebody that's going to even once they kind of they
48:31
get the concept down and they're doing all right, they're still
48:34
going to have questions. You know, they're still going to
48:37
need somebody to lift their spirits up when they have a
48:40
regular that took a day after a holiday off at, you know, right
48:45
out the gate or, you know, just something like that, or they're
48:49
on a Monday relief day and they still need that person that's
48:54
going to have their back and just kind of, hey, you know,
48:56
it's OK, we'll get through this. You know, not necessarily
49:01
training them on the job, but being that positive energy that
49:05
they need somebody that can. Just how dare you want that?
49:08
Exactly, exactly. You know, it's you, you, you
49:12
really need a mentor, you know, in that way as they're getting.
49:16
And then, you know, you know, if they end up, you know, offices
49:19
that have ox routes, they get on an ox route.
49:21
Maybe you have that mentor. They can sit down and show you
49:23
how to use an edit book. You know, somebody that's
49:26
willing to show them how an edit book works or how to do case
49:29
labels. You know, the stuff that RCA's
49:32
normally don't have to do or you know, necessary in Ox row end up
49:37
on, you know, on a long term, you know, into a designation 74
49:43
position if possible. You know, if that happens, if it
49:45
goes that long term, somebody's got to, you know, they got to be
49:49
able to keep up that edit book. And yeah, the mapping and case
49:55
labels and stuff like that. You know, that's the only way
49:58
that you're going to teach these RC as to succeed, especially
50:03
once it become regular. And it is to hey, you know, let
50:07
me just kind of I'm, I'm here for you.
50:09
Any questions, please. You know, if you have questions
50:13
on this, you want to know how to do this it, you know, stuff like
50:16
that, you you need somebody that's willing to do that.
50:20
There should be a program for it too, on our side.
50:22
I agree. Yeah, we'll see what they.
50:24
Can the resolution in because that's one of the things that's
50:28
actually in their their new contract this year.
50:31
Yep, I. Want to say we, you know a few
50:34
years back at the state convention and just to date it
50:38
for you. Miznap was the national board
50:43
member that year, but it was brought up, the young lady said
50:47
that she had taken it upon herself to start training all
50:50
the new RC as and their retention had skyrocketed
50:54
because it was being done with uniformity in the training for
51:00
all the Subs versus the regulars who may or may not give the
51:06
full, you know, attention to detail.
51:10
And I had inquired about why they push the OJI position as
51:16
much and an answer I was given was that it's fine mine because
51:22
training is a management function.
51:24
Management's responsible for training.
51:26
Yes, management's responsible to get them training.
51:29
Now, I could have had the opportunity to go to another
51:31
office and train in RCA this week, but I was needed in my
51:35
office because my assigned RCA was covering half the route for
51:41
the route that was training with the other trainer in our office.
51:45
And right, so I didn't get that chance.
51:50
And I know the last RCA that they had come through that other
51:53
office, the postmaster was the one that had to do the OJT.
51:58
And I was like, I wish I would have known that she could have
52:01
contacted me directly. She got my number.
52:02
She used to be a supervisor and a city carrier in our office.
52:05
You know, she could have, hey, are you available, you know, or
52:09
any questions? You know, I, you know, I would
52:11
have helped her out. No big deal because that's just
52:13
the type of person I am. But yeah, I mean, you really
52:17
need. And even if it's not necessarily
52:20
somebody, even if it's somebody nearby, you know, we've got
52:23
within 40 miles just straight down US 23.
52:28
We have 4 offices, you know, there.
52:31
There's no reason why you couldn't have somebody centrally
52:34
located that's willing to mentor new ones that are just not quite
52:38
getting it yet, even after they've been trained to, you
52:41
know, Hey, what, you know, what, what, what, what can I help you
52:44
with? Where, where are you struggling?
52:45
Can I give you some ideas? Can I, you know, come down and
52:49
just see what, what's what's going on?
52:51
Yeah. And I I think the way a program
52:54
works is that they buddy them up with someone with a senior
52:57
veteran carrier. Yeah, something like that.
52:59
I haven't looked into it too much, but.
53:00
Yeah, and they do like they do the 30 day, 60 day, 90 day
53:06
reviews, which they should be doing anyways, but I think it's
53:10
more enforced with it, but I don't I don't know, I'll have to
53:13
look into it a little bit more. But I just thought of it with
53:15
you saying that this brand new sub just all right, go deliver
53:22
the mail. Day one, here's the keys.
53:25
Call if you need anything. Wow, that I'm just blown away.
53:29
Even when I. Back in the day before OJTSOJIS
53:34
and we were trained by the regulars, even I didn't get
53:38
that, you know that that was. You had a you know, a week with
53:43
your regular before they, you know, or almost a week with your
53:46
regular. Yeah, before they were released
53:49
to the hounds, Yeah. When I worked at Toys R Us, it
53:53
was I would, I worked for the cash office for Toys-R-Us.
53:56
I can talk about it now because Toys-R-Us is gone, but they
54:00
would. There was somebody who had no
54:03
training and they put them on a register overnight between like
54:09
Thanksgiving and Black Friday, and their drawer was like
54:14
thousands of dollars short and they couldn't figure out why.
54:19
And the other lady who would do the the bookkeeping and the cash
54:25
office stuff with me looked at camera footage and figured out
54:29
that the person that hadn't been trained and they were hitting
54:34
cash when the customer was swiping their card because they
54:39
didn't, they weren't trained. Yeah, so something as simple as
54:46
that, like that's things that get affected from lack of
54:51
training. And ever since I I had, I knew
54:56
about that and watched it happen.
54:57
Like because we were we had to count the drawers and figure out
55:01
where it was missing. And that it was something that
55:05
she had to watch the customers hand movement and realize that
55:10
that's what it was. But it's just the IT reiterates
55:14
the importance of of adequate training because like the I that
55:20
they let the person go. I, I agree and I, and I can
55:24
totally see like that with within, with within the post
55:28
office too, because you know, you get new newly replacements
55:32
in. And if they haven't, yes,
55:34
Academy gives you the basics of how to case mail, you know, or,
55:39
or markups or what to look for on whether it's UBVM or, you
55:43
know, something like that. But it doesn't really, you know,
55:47
it. It's that on the job training to
55:49
pay attention to what is a forward and what to do with that
55:53
forward air holds and, and stuff like that and what to look for.
55:58
You know, a lot of that is memory too, especially if your
56:01
office does holdouts for your holds and an address isn't
56:06
getting held out. And so you're just delivering
56:09
that mail because it's not dawning on you that you know,
56:12
it's a hold because it may be marked in the case as a hold,
56:15
but it's in the DPS and it's not being held out, so you're not
56:19
looking for it. You know, stuff like that.
56:22
You know, you know, like I come back to my case and I see a
56:25
piece of mail stuck in one of my CBU slots.
56:29
And I pull it out and I look at it and it's for a business that
56:33
I did a move left, no address for, but it's marked as a
56:35
forward because it's a move left, no address.
56:38
And The thing is, is that piece of mail was right there where
56:42
it's labeled right there on the case or that business name and
56:45
address to be forwarded, but the mail's back in the case.
56:48
I mean, that's, that's training. That's training, you know.
56:53
That sub might not pull all their mail to a case to deliver
56:58
and they're going to go out and try and deliver.
57:01
However, they're doing come back and management's going to try
57:04
and go after them. Like why didn't you deliver all
57:07
your mail? Oh, I didn't know.
57:11
Or or you have like I had a sub once that she would come in
57:17
literally throw everything in the truck and go no piece of
57:20
mail ever hit the case, including the dispatch tubs and
57:24
hot case mail. Well it's assuming hot case and
57:27
she would just run the route like 4 times.
57:32
Wow, get it all delivered, Yeah. You know it.
57:36
It it's. You know, it's I was trained in
57:40
case you're flats, in case you're flat size male first, in
57:45
case your letter size male. You know, your hot case, your
57:48
raw mail and and then move on to your parcels because well, in my
57:55
office specifically, you know, we're, we're waiting on the
57:58
clerk to still throw the parcels anyways.
58:00
I mean, I get now in SNDC's most of the time you come in and
58:03
everything's ready to go for you.
58:05
Even if that was the case, I'd still be casing my flats first,
58:07
then case in my raw letters. You know, that's just how I
58:13
work. And I try to teach that 10 to
58:15
easier because it's easier to case the flats first, then the
58:18
raw letter mail and then mark. And if you're using parcel
58:22
markers, then you put your parcel markers in with that.
58:25
And I see people Mark and the pack, they're going to town on
58:29
the packages, They're doing all the packages first before they
58:31
even touch a like a mail. Meanwhile, everybody is already
58:35
out and leaving for the routes and they're still casing mail
58:38
because they waited on the packages.
58:40
I do like my said I do my raw mail first or bundles them raw
58:45
but and then letters and then if they're done I will get my
58:51
parcels and check them that way I can if I have any methods in
58:55
there it can get to where it's supposed to go to whoever to
58:58
take it. Yeah, you know.
59:01
I'll I know I had a supervisor or manager years ago.
59:06
Tell us when once the DPS gets there what you do.
59:10
If you're casing it, he wants you to case the DPS 1st and then
59:14
everything else after. And his reasoning for that is if
59:18
you've already cased your DPS and you're working on raw hats
59:23
for letters, they're not in order.
59:25
You put, he can't put you on the he can't make you go to the
59:29
street. If you do all your raw stuff 1st
59:33
and put it up in the case now it's in order.
59:35
And then the DPS which is supposed to be in delivery order
59:38
he can tell you to hit the street which at least he gave
59:42
reasoning why he listed do it that way instead of just This is
59:46
what I said like some supervisors or managers would
59:49
do. My thing is, is, you know,
59:51
especially if you're in offices where you're having, you know,
59:55
there's still sorting parcels, throwing parcels by, you know,
59:58
when you get there and for a good portion of the morning you
1:00:02
should have all that mail up that way when those parcels are
1:00:06
ready to go. You know, that's me.
1:00:08
I'm coming in and I'm throwing parcels first or not throwing
1:00:12
parcels. Excuse me, I'm throwing up my
1:00:14
mail first. I get my mail done.
1:00:16
And you know, if there's, if the clerk's still over at the hot
1:00:20
case going through the raw letters or whatnot, or I kind of
1:00:23
glance behind me and I see that my pumpkins getting full, then
1:00:27
I'll stop. And because sometimes you just
1:00:29
need a break from what you're doing at the moment.
1:00:31
And I'll move the parcels from the one pumpkin to the one that
1:00:34
I take out to load the vehicle with.
1:00:38
And, you know, and then if I see that they're still busy over at
1:00:41
the hot case, then I'll, you know, I'll go start loading the
1:00:44
truck. And then I always do my, my
1:00:47
smalls last because that way if I have super small stuff, I can
1:00:52
throw that up in the case. I'm not going to pull down until
1:00:56
after all my smalls are done and then I pull down and to you
1:01:00
know, and do my final load. So I mean I have my system that
1:01:04
works for me. Y'all have your systems that
1:01:06
works for you. I'm not going to knock anybody's
1:01:07
system that works for them and they do it different.
1:01:09
That's, you know, every we all do things differently.
1:01:12
But when, you know, it's just really weird to see people come
1:01:16
in when you know, they weren't trained that way to do all the
1:01:21
parcels first and then not touch a like a mail.
1:01:23
And I'm like, what is going on? Why are we doing this?
1:01:27
This is wasting time. But that's that's me.
1:01:31
But all right, guys, anything else tonight We ended up not.
1:01:34
Are we just going to answer that?
1:01:37
I think that's it. All right, not too much going
1:01:40
on. So we made it easy.
1:01:42
Go ahead there. Your final words for this
1:01:44
evening, Josh. You know, the weather's still
1:01:47
changing out there. I know some people have already
1:01:50
gotten that dreaded word that shall not be named.
1:01:54
Oh yes, dress appropriately. Be safe out there.
1:01:58
Watch out for black ice or depending on where you're at.
1:02:02
Even worse in my opinion is wet leaves can be worse than for the
1:02:09
slickness. So be careful out there, be
1:02:11
safe, don't get overwhelmed. If you do, take a step back,
1:02:15
take a deep breath and step back.
1:02:17
Meow. Well, thank you guys.
1:02:19
I know we kind of there's a, there's not a lot going on, but
1:02:23
there it's, there is a lot going on in US delivering and trying
1:02:28
to make Christmas special for everybody.
1:02:31
And so I, I know mentally I'm just really tired and whatnot.
1:02:35
So to reiterate what Josh said, I personally think black ice is
1:02:42
worse because Friday I slid on black ice stepping out of my
1:02:48
vehicle to, to deliver a parcel to the front door because of the
1:02:52
snow melted and then refroze once it got dark.
1:02:55
So be careful out there, Don't fall, take it slow.
1:03:03
I know it's, it's, there's a lot of heavy volume, but do what is
1:03:08
safe for you. Don't let management bully you
1:03:12
into thinking that you need to be running.
1:03:15
You got to do what's safe and efficient for your own, for your
1:03:19
own self. Again, I'm going to reiterate
1:03:23
the EAP if you need help, if you need to talk to somebody.
1:03:28
I know us having to deliver all this volume can be overwhelming,
1:03:34
but the phone number for EAP is 1800 EAP for you or
1:03:41
1-800-327-4968. It's completely free for you if
1:03:48
you're a postal employee and for anybody who's in your household
1:03:53
use it. It's if you really need to talk
1:03:55
to somebody, even if you just somebody completely outside of
1:03:59
your immediate circle, they will help you.
1:04:04
So even though it is cold and snowy, make sure you're drinking
1:04:11
enough water and staying hydrated, eating enough protein.
1:04:16
I know yesterday I was struggling with that.
1:04:18
And you got to make sure you're taking care of yourself during
1:04:22
the chaos too. So, but yeah, please just take
1:04:26
care of yourselves, guys. So Kristen.
1:04:30
Thank you guys. I guess this ended up being not
1:04:32
quite so short, but still sweet. And yeah, staying hydrated
1:04:37
definitely is the key. I know this past week, being as
1:04:40
sick as I was, I was drinking triple the amount of water I
1:04:43
normally do out on the route and it's dry, it's cold snow, it's
1:04:50
been it, it, it was a week for me, that's for sure.
1:04:53
But yeah, guys, you got to stay safe.
1:04:55
You got to stay hydrated, you know, take precautions with the
1:04:58
weather. The Christmas load is, you know,
1:05:02
it's never friendly to us, but it doesn't last forever,
1:05:04
thankfully, you know, 3-3 weeks for the Christmas overtime
1:05:09
period. And then, you know, we go into
1:05:12
returns and gift card season. So it, you know, it, it'll
1:05:16
eventually end. It doesn't last forever.
1:05:18
We can get through this as we always do.
1:05:21
And you know, we kiss our families goodbye and say we'll
1:05:23
see you at the new year. So but and then out guys, stay
1:05:28
safe, stay vigilant, stay hydrated and we will be back
1:05:34
next week.