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Spring Forward · United We Scan

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Thank you. Now here are the hosts of the
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United We Scan podcast. Welcome back, everybody.
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Episode 64, This is our spring forward edition.
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As those that still participate in daylight savings time, we
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sprung forward today. So on that news, yeah.
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I believe it's 65 if you add in the bonus episode.
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I'm not counting the bonus episode.
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That's a bonus episode. Bonus bonehead.
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That's not a. Regular this.
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Is a regular Sunday episode. Back from spring booster for us
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in Michigan. Yep.
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James and I attended our Spring Booster this weekend.
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Not a whole lot of anything of of importance to say, Oh my God
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guys, guess what we found out. No, nothing really like that at
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all other than that. I mean normal people there.
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There was a few newcomers. That was nice to see.
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I'd like to see them actually actually actually asking
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questions too during the Q&A's and stuff.
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Not being afraid to ask, that was great to see too.
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Yes, it was. There was.
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I think those a couple of them at least that were there as
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first timers were there to ask questions.
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So which is which you know that's what it's all about,
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that's that's the good point about doing that is being able
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to come and being able to ask questions.
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I know I saw some people there on today for just the Stewart
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Q&A that I didn't see there yesterday.
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Of course I could have just missed them though too, but.
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That's. How it goes?
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I didn't see anyone. Didn't see you either, Josh.
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It's all good. Speaking of Josh, how was your
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week this week? My week was pretty good.
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Almost every day had like 200 random letters, so I can't
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complain with that. Even Friday, where there were no
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clerks so no mail got worked, I still had almost 200 letters.
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Yeah. It was just another week, yeah.
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Yeah, I hear you, James. How was your week?
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Well, it was normal for us Monday.
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We got our week previous week's radar report and found out that
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my Saturday had a 76% coverage factor on it.
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Rest of them were in the 90s or 100% when we had the box
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holders. But it was quite depressing to
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see that 76 on my coverage factor.
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I kept looking at what it was, and I only had 900 pieces of DPS
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that day, but I had 260 random letters.
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So it's kind of interesting to think about how coverage factor
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is affected by what you have in your DPS so much compared to
4:05
anything else. But then throughout the week, it
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was just normal for us in the office.
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Mail volume was exactly identical pretty much to every
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week prior to that. Less inverts, of course, because
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apparently the plant was being mindful of what's inverted in
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the DPS. But we know they control how
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things get taken out of the plant during counts.
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So on Saturday morning I decided to drive up the hour and a half
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to the spring booster instead of spending the night like some
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people do, just to save on some cost.
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Because everything you do with the union is a cost.
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Even if you get reimbursed for it, you have to put the money up
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front first. So ended up going up Saturday
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morning and then woke up this morning to snow on the ground as
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we were ready for the last part of the spring booster and snow
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is still on the ground, the wind is blowing like crazy.
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I'm actually surprised I still have power at the house, but
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good old DT and E here in Michigan.
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Other than that, there wasn't much to report because
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everything that we've told you is going on was talked about at
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Spring Booster. So we already clued into
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everything that's going on and problems and issues, spent an
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hour on the phone learning about SNDCS from people who actually
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have moved into SNDCS. So getting that information put
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together is a good one. It was a good week overall.
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How about you, Bill? Oh, it was a uneventful week
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until Friday. You know, the the letters, the
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flats, the inverts, the the parcels were all nominal across
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the board. And then Friday morning, it was
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announced that a special counter be coming to our office to
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address issues that several carriers had on their count.
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And I said, well, what kind of special counters people familiar
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with the Rex program? And I said, well, you were
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trained to the Rex program and they said somebody smarter than
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me, that's when they picked me up off the floor.
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You're going to have somebody come in.
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And we know the carriers that are involved with this because
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they're the only ones that had numbers above 500 on their miss
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sorts several days. And don't ask me how we know,
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but we do. We know.
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And that's the situation that we're in.
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I mean, you know, we, we have, you know, annual cheaters,
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perennial cheaters, whatever you want to call them.
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If there's a mini mail survey or a mail count there are certain
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people that you know fabricate their numbers and when
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everybody's handing AA1 foot tray of mist swords you're you
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know inverted numbers counted separately and they're handing
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in two two foot trays of mail. There's something rotten in
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Denmark but OK maybe maybe they'll be caught who the hell
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knows. All in all it it was a a decent
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week we we got our numbers at the on Friday and they are
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similar to what numbers I've had from the previous two mini mail
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surveys so I'm not expecting a great change.
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The only real negative is that your final FSS time allocation
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will be pulled off of there, which for me is only 25 minutes.
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And the fact of the matter that I would say in the last six
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months my parcels have been down 15 to 20% from the previous
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year. So since I have 5 hours the to
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waste before I hit the the bottom of AK48, I'm fine with
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that. I hear ya.
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Yeah. Monday, Monday I had 256 DPS
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errors and 76 inverted after I / 4 Monday.
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Yeah, my Marina campground slash summer trailer glorified trailer
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park, which there's only 1/2 a dozen people that actually have
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a box of the CBU. But good old Spectrum sent first
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class out to every single unit. 173 of them were now mail
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receptacle. I just I rub.
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I pulled them out when I saw him, I looked at him.
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I just pulled them all out of the DPS right then and there.
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I set them off to the side to count when I got done putting
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everything else away, divided them up in stacks of 25, wrote
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down how many there were so I could just take care of it right
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then and there. And then I ended up my water
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bills. 95% of my water bills were upside down, 308 upside
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down. I think it was something like
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that. Yeah.
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So Monday's numbers were pretty good.
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The rest of the week we're pretty average looking.
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I was supposed to Oji on Tuesday.
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Our RCA had a vehicle issue and couldn't make it in.
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Supervisor called me at 15 minutes for start time to tell
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me, but she hadn't contacted my RCA yet and I said, you know
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what, he's driving 20 minutes into work.
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He's probably already left. Just go ahead and give him the
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day. I'll take the next day.
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So I took Tuesday off and then Wednesday and Thursday I
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finished up the Oji for the 3rd RCA and then I was off and then
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I left Thursday night to go down to booster 'cause I like
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observing my state board meetings and spent the weekend
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at that. Yeah, that was my week.
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That all that interesting? By any means?
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Tomorrow's a new day. Mini Mail Survey is over with.
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If I may, can I interject 2 quick points here?
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Go right ahead. The the the 1st is that we're a
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a a dual zip office and it was amazing that the 82 routes which
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I am one of we received on average 200 plus miss sorts
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every day. The eight O zip code averaged
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less than 20 for the entire mini mail survey.
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Yeah. We've got 3 zip codes in my
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office so little. Bit you know the the other thing
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I want to point out is that on Friday we got a a a single sheet
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box holder and one of the carriers was arguing with the
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supervisor about getting it you know included in the count and
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and ladies and gentlemen when we try to help you carriers in our
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offices you know we're trying to work cooperatively at least I
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try to not to the point of kissing ass but just explaining
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the rules and regulation. It didn't matter whether he got
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that on the mini mail survey as long as he inputted it the next
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day on his scanner. Some people are thinking that
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that's going to bump up his mini mail survey and in fact it
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really doesn't. So please don't sit there, argue
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till you're blue in the face on something that you think you're
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being cheated out of, OK? Yeah, that's then.
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That was kind of brought up over Booster this weekend too,
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especially with the Stewart Q&A and stuff.
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It's, you know, outside of the Mini Mail Survey, your parcels,
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your rec scans and all that stuff is a 52 week average.
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The Mini Mail Survey is just capturing the random raw stuff
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to get that average every six months.
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That's all it's doing, plus your distances in any miscellaneous
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time. But that that's really all it
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is. That's why it's only 6% for your
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route evaluation, because everything else supposedly is
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The data is for the 52 weeks. And realistically, what you
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capture in these two weeks for the survey, the only difference
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it's going to make is if you're on the cusp of going up or down
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to the next evaluated hour. Yeah, if you're only.
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Within a. Couple minutes or so that close,
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it's really otherwise it's not going to make a huge difference.
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And when we say a couple minutes, we mean less than five
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2-3 at the absolute most. And you also have to remember
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the numbers you're capturing are technically plant errors.
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The raw mail, raw flats and stuff are technically plant
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errors because they were supposed to be sorted into the
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automated systems and things like that.
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So they want to keep track of what the plants getting wrong so
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that way maybe later on management can use it against
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the plant managers. So don't worry about too much.
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The biggest, biggest numbers that you have is your DPS, your
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parcels and your WSS box holders that you input into the scan
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around 52 weeks. The major components of your
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evaluation are evolved in the 52 week average, so don't worry
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about too much about the numbers.
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I mean yes some people are going to have a God awful number of
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raw random letters and random flats and things like that over
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this, but it's not a break the bank style count.
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So was there anything you took away from this weekend that the
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audience should know about Kristen?
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Anything that maybe struck you as something that should be
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repeated or something that they definitely should be made aware
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of? From the actual booster itself,
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not so much. I mean we had a Social Security
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administrator do a a a zoom presentation because of the
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government stuff going on and lack of funding to travel.
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So and that was basically on your Social Security retirement
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stuff like that. Otherwise I did have some other
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things that came across to me outside of that.
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Oh, I do have something that I took away from the weekend.
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Why I was there, and this is about regional conferences
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'cause it was, it was. It was asked to our national
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secretary, Treasurer on how to verify membership from attendees
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in other states at regional conferences.
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They said that there is no membership verification at
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regional conferences and if non members show up, they are
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welcome in. If.
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Non non members register at regional conferences.
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They're not gonna be turned away because they're not verifying
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membership at regional conferences.
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That and there's no elections or any voting.
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Correct. So.
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There's nothing that wouldn't be known to the public craft as a
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whole anyway at at these regional conferences that I know
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of. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
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whoa. Let's let's back up the SWAC and
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you're a non member and you're sitting there when the president
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of your union calling you a freeloader and scab.
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I think I think I might have an issue then.
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That's unfortunately part of the the system right now with the
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leadership that we have. You know, the fact that they say
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they're they're open to discussion, but yet Bridget and
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Shirley are too busy talking with each other, which they have
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offices right next to each other at National, but yet they got to
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spend all this time at regional conferences still talking with
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each other instead of talking with the craft kind of just
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shows exactly where their mindset is when it comes to
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these conferences anyway. So it's not like dues paying or
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non dues paying. People could turn around and
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actually have a conversation with them, 'cause they're too
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busy having their own personal conversation that they should be
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having throughout the year outside of that.
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Hold, hold it. Am I used because this is an
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opportunity for our national officers to mingle with the
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people on the ground. It's an opportunity for them to
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find out what concerns we have as dues paying members or in
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this case a non dues paying member.
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Is there there's something wrong with my, you know, thought
17:14
process here that you would actually attend a conference or
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seminar or even a state convention and talk to the
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people on the ground? Oh, but Bill, your your check's
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not good enough, don't you know? Well, you know, you know, that's
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not true, James, but. I meant I meant to the board.
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I meant to the board. Oh.
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Oh, OK. But yeah, it it was stated that
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there is no membership verification for at regional
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conferences and non members can attend.
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And then another take away I had from our spring booster was when
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I asked the question about coverage factor and the very
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first response out of her mouth was, they're still working on
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that. You've had almost 13 years to
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work on it, and yet you still haven't figured out coverage
18:08
factor and they still haven't fully come out with a definition
18:12
of what an obvious parcel is. And the only thing they can say
18:16
is it's on the quick reference guide for the scans where it
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says anything that is not a letter or a flat.
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But yet you remove the definition of what is a letter
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or a flat because you got rid of the rulers that we used to have,
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which would tell us whether it was a letter or a flat.
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You got rid of what a parcel definition was because both of
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those were in the mail count section of the PO6O3 and they
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literally negotiated that away in the latest contract.
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Not the current negotiations they're doing, but the ones they
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did for the contract we have now.
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So we literally have no description on what constitutes
19:00
a letter, what constitutes a flat, or any of that stuff.
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Just it's an obvious parcel. And carriers were asking at at
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the Q&A, can you define what an obvious parcel is?
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And no real answer came out of it.
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And the person that said that was our state.
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Dr. That was a question in there.
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All right, I got the e-mail I've been waiting for.
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Guys. James knows what this is about.
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Letter read. And this effects our leave
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replacements who travel to offices that are not under their
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postmasters. And if this is happening
19:42
properly I am happy for you. If not definitely talk to
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somebody and let me read this. So I guess I do have put my
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glasses back on. I was going to try and read it
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without them. This is from the Department of
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Labor. It has been confirmed with
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National Labor Relations Board and I know RDR, after an hour
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long conversation with the individual, was not going to
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touch it. So 29 CFR 785.37 home to work on
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special one day assignment in another city.
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A problem arises when an employee who regularly works at
20:26
a fixed location in one city is given a special one day work
20:29
assignment in another city. For an example, an employee who
20:33
works in Washington, DC with rather working hours, 9:00 AM to
20:36
5:00 PM may be given a special assignment in New York City with
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instructions to leave Washington at 8:00 AM.
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He arrives in New York at noon ready for work.
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The special assignment is completed at 3:00 PM.
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The employee arrives back in Washington at 7:00 PM.
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Such travel cannot be regarded as ordinary home to work travel
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occasion merely by the fact of employment.
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It was performed for the employer's benefit and at this
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special request to meet the needs of the particular and
21:06
unusual assignment. It would thus qualify as an
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integral part of the principal activity which the employee was
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hired to perform on the work day in question.
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It is like travel involved in an emergency call described in
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785.36, or like travel that is all in the day's work C
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78530.38. All the time involved however
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need not be counted since since except for the special
21:38
assignment the employee would have had to report to his
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regular work site. The travel between his home and
21:45
the ravo depot may be deducted it being in the home to work
21:49
category. Also of course the usual meal
21:52
time would be deductible. All right, so lunch break.
21:56
And basically what this is saying is if you they schedule
22:00
you to work in another office that is not under your
22:03
postmasters you are to be paid on.
22:08
The clock. To travel to that office and the
22:13
travel back Article 36 Two. Additionally, the additional
22:19
time spent traveling to another city would go against the 12
22:23
hour rule. T 27.
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Travel home to work on a special one day assignment in another
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city. An employee who regularly works
22:32
at a fixed location in one city is given a special one day
22:36
assignment in another city and returns home the same day.
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The time spent in traveling to and returning from the other
22:43
city is work time, except that the employer may deduct, not
22:48
count, the time employee would normally spend commuting to the
22:50
regular work site. So in my instance, if I was
22:55
still in RCA and it's approximately a 5 minute commute
22:59
for me to my office and they want to send me to one that is
23:04
40 minutes away. Now this is management, you
23:08
know, scheduling me to work one or 40 minutes away.
23:12
They are technically supposed to pay me 35 minutes travel time
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each way in addition to the mileage.
23:22
Yes, you heard that right. This came from the Department of
23:26
Labor and was confirmed with the National Labor Relations Board.
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If they are sending you to another office to work, you are
23:35
supposed to be on the clock for the travel time, and that
23:39
includes the travel time minus what your normal commute to your
23:44
office would be to from home and back.
23:48
That is big. So let me put this to you guys
23:53
in another aspect related to your work here.
23:57
When you are at your office, say you work in Auxford out at your
24:00
office in the morning and they turn around and they send you to
24:04
another office. You have to figure out the
24:08
commute time from that office to that other office.
24:11
You should be remaining on the clock to go to that other office
24:15
and come back from that other office and the assignment in
24:20
that office should be less than 12 hours.
24:25
With your aux route, travel time, other route, and travel
24:29
time back to your office, we cannot work our Rcas over 12
24:34
hours. Contractually, if they send you
24:38
to another office, the time for you to go from where your office
24:43
is located that you're assigned to, to that office and back,
24:47
plus the route time cannot be more than 12 hours.
24:51
Management has abused this on carriers forever.
24:56
It is time for our RC as who are being forced to travel to all
25:00
these other offices within 50 miles to start filing for E
25:05
travel and grieving for E travel based on these issues.
25:13
Here the Department of Labor has the paperwork for it.
25:18
The fact that management has gotten away with it for years
25:22
and people have not been aware of it has to stop.
25:26
We need to spread this across the nation to every RCA, even
25:31
regular carriers, everybody. Because when you travel for
25:34
training purposes like to your Academy and stuff, you get E
25:38
travel to go there. This is why you get the E
25:40
travel. If it wasn't a law, they
25:44
probably would not be paying you for it to go to the trainings
25:48
outside of your jurisdiction. But this is also saying that you
25:52
should be on the clock green card time for your travel, as
25:56
well as your mileage under E travel.
25:58
E travel is just going to be your mileage, your per diem,
26:01
whatnot. This is also saying that you
26:03
should be on the clock green card time for that travel to and
26:06
from. But if you're using your
26:09
personal vehicle, you should also get paid the mileage to go
26:12
there. Well, you get the E travel to
26:16
go, yes, that's what the each travel is, is your mileage and
26:20
per diem and hotel expense if needed.
26:23
Yes. No, you're not going to get paid
26:26
hourly to travel to training. This would be.
26:30
That's completely different under that when it comes to your
26:35
training, you would get the mileage, the per diem, whatnot.
26:39
This is, let's say, the opposite of what I told you earlier about
26:44
my postmaster using you as a last resort there, rattlesnake.
26:49
If my postmaster and your postmaster said yeah, OK, I'll
26:54
send him up there. You should be paid the hourly
26:59
rate to drive the 40 minutes to my office and the 40 minutes
27:04
back on the clock. Less, less your regular commute
27:08
from your home to your office. Yeah, he's about a five, maybe
27:12
10 minute commute to his office, so that's why I said that.
27:15
OK. I know where he lives and I know
27:17
where his office is. Now, if your commute is shorter
27:22
to the other office than it is to your main office, you won't
27:26
get anything correct, because it would be greater to go to your
27:30
office than to the other office you're going to.
27:34
But if you're going from your office to that other office
27:38
after running a little bit for your for your primary office,
27:43
then you should be paid for that.
27:45
You'd still be on the clock. But this is but but yes I
27:49
understand that James, that is how it's supposed to be and I
27:52
know has been in the past but this is saying on non scheduled
27:57
days in your office and they are scheduling you to work in
28:00
another office you are to you are supposed to be paid on the
28:05
clock to travel to that other office from your home minus the
28:10
normal travel time it takes you to your office.
28:13
Same with like the you travel with the mileage you know.
28:18
Anyway, my instance. I live .3 miles from my office,
28:21
so I get mileage no matter where I would get sent to.
28:25
But minus that that normal commute time to your office.
28:30
Yes, you are supposed to be paid on the clock.
28:32
This is huge. I don't think you'll get back
28:37
pay out of this. Honestly.
28:40
This individual did spend a good over an hour on the phone with
28:47
ADR, who in the end said they were not going to touch it.
28:51
Yep, so take your time file it as it happens.
28:56
But that is a Department of Labor ruling, and the National
28:59
Labor Relations Board has backed it up.
29:02
All right, Devil's advocate here.
29:04
Go for it. We already have an understanding
29:07
that you'll be paid for the EMA difference between traveling to
29:13
your Home Office and to an outside office.
29:16
Not the EMA, the E travel, the government, the government rate,
29:20
not the EMA rate. Right now, given the fact that
29:25
we work for the post office, would that supersede an hourly
29:30
compensation also? No, the hourly compensation is
29:34
supposed to come along with it. OK.
29:38
Because you know that that's going to be one that the AD Rs
29:41
and the D Rs are going to sit, sit on and just say we can't do
29:46
anything about it. But you know, you've got the
29:48
paper paperwork and documentation on it.
29:52
I would have people filing on that left and right.
29:55
I did post the PDF as well as this grade shot in the listeners
29:58
chat, not in the stage chat, but the listener chat.
30:01
Excellent information. Yes, that that was a big one.
30:05
And when I heard that the Dr. would not touch it, I said
30:08
please send it to me because I will put it out there and I and
30:13
I got it. I just double checked the
30:14
e-mail. So I had to put it out there.
30:16
I'm like, this is big. I do have something else that I
30:20
will be put when I get that info.
30:22
It probably won't be until at least next week.
30:25
It's not going to be tonight, but I will discuss it when it
30:29
gets to me just so it's it's quite interesting.
30:34
This individual did want to put it on blast to the state, but
30:39
however would not do it. Did not want to be put in that
30:42
position and I said send it to me, I'll get it out there.
30:46
Well, like in your case, Kristen, where you said your Dr.
30:49
said they won't handle those grievances, that potentially
30:55
could be labor charges for failure to represent.
30:58
Yes, I mean if if you have good management that's aware of that,
31:03
which you know good management is a needle in a haystack and
31:07
then I applaud you for being able to get it.
31:10
But I am putting it out there that the Department of Labor
31:13
says that you are supposed to be paid on the clock for that
31:17
commute. Now, if you're commuting home
31:20
and you stop off at the bar before you get home, well, you
31:23
can't claim that time your time stops where you stop at the bar.
31:28
Plain and simple. When you stop at the grocery
31:30
store, you stop at daycare. You know that's your your cut,
31:34
your cut off time. But if you're going from point A
31:37
to point B, you're supposed to be paid on the clock minus what
31:41
your regular commute would be to your office.
31:45
The only exception to that would be if you turned around and you
31:50
took your lunch, say at McDonald's or a sit down
31:55
restaurant for 30 minutes, something like that.
31:58
That would be a lunch period before you continue your commute
32:02
home. That would be the only way it
32:04
would be legal to stop on the way home from the work that
32:10
you're doing would be a non paid 30 minute lunch, yes.
32:16
So that was the big one that I was just chomping out the heels
32:21
to get out today. I know you wouldn't stop talking
32:25
about it at Spring Booster. Once I found out about it and
32:29
I'm like, this is big, I was like telling James, you're gonna
32:32
be are you here, This is big. I gotta tell you this.
32:36
And yeah, yeah, that is. That's the big one.
32:41
Like I said, it didn't come directly from Booster, but it
32:44
came I came from Booster with that knowledge.
32:48
And since our national board is so kind to listen to us, I'm
32:51
sure they'll post it up on their Facebook page by the end of the
32:54
week. We'll see.
32:57
We'll see. Because it does.
32:58
It doesn't benefit management. Jane.
33:02
Or or you, you may get a notice, you know, the Labor Relations
33:06
says don't listen to that because there's nothing we can
33:08
do for you. That's true.
33:16
I But no, I I mean, like I said, there's the Department of Labor
33:21
articles. I said I posted the screenshot
33:23
up on the listener chat. Kristen, I need you to clarify
33:27
something for me. I can try.
33:29
OK, I understand after SWAC OK at your at your booster meeting
33:35
that the only person that they did a cavity search for
33:39
recording devices was James. True or not true?
33:46
I'm gonna. I don't know.
33:48
I wasn't present for that. With 100% accuracy, she can
33:52
neither confirm nor deny. That is true.
33:55
I can neither confirm nor deny because I was not part of that.
34:02
I will say the cavity search did not occur, but boy did I get the
34:08
dust stairs while I was playing on my phone during the meetings.
34:13
Yes he did. I can't confirm that 'cause I
34:16
was sitting next to him and then and then our our our great AD Rs
34:25
and Dr. put together their little skit and R1.
34:29
ADR loves having games, competition games.
34:32
Sometimes they divide it up between the two districts and
34:35
this time it was a team game of like bar trivia type thing and
34:41
you had to have a team name and yes, our team name for James and
34:44
I was United. We scan no, we did not win when
34:51
when they were not going through the losers and and it was it was
34:55
stupid stuff. I mean I didn't know the price
34:57
of a stamp in 2007 so I couldn't tell you how much a book of
35:00
Stamps was when they started the Forever Stamps.
35:02
I had no clue we missed that one.
35:05
We missed one. Neither one of us watched
35:07
Seinfeld, and neither one of us knew Newman's name.
35:11
So we missed that one and we missed. 4141. 8. 2820 was book
35:19
of Stamps and we missed the one. Yes, you you all can Boo us now
35:24
for the mini mail survey for the four categories being counted.
35:30
We missed the miscellaneous time because neither one of us had
35:34
miscellaneous time, so we didn't think about it.
35:38
And then the other one was a specific article.
35:41
I had the right article, I just didn't.
35:44
I had Article 10 down, but it was article 10.7, point B and I
35:49
didn't have the .7, point B. And they told us not to use our
35:53
phones and cheat. So we did not.
35:56
So yes, we did not win. We were one of the losers.
36:00
And when they were going through and you know naming the listing
36:03
the teams that did not win and when they said United we scan,
36:07
there was a complete dead silence in the in the room for
36:10
about 5 seconds. Now, at any point, did they get
36:21
around to discussing the ways they're going to be cutting the
36:25
routes, the route adjustments? There is going to be.
36:30
Each district is going to have a team.
36:33
They did say that their carrier input was going to be part of it
36:40
and that's really all I took away.
36:42
I don't have that note sheet with me.
36:44
It's in my car, which my daughter has.
36:46
James got to meet my daughter this weekend.
36:49
That's a. Troublemaker.
36:52
My mini me isn't She literally is my mini me.
36:56
Ain't that the truth. That I left that one in the car
36:59
because it was in my pocket and I tossed it in the back seat, so
37:01
I didn't make it in the suitcase with the other ones.
37:03
But what I took away from it was there was going to be district
37:07
teams and carriers would have input on what to cut off and
37:15
they were going to do the overburdened routes first,
37:19
before they were absorbing any oxes to build up the substandard
37:25
routes. Yeah, I'd love to see what the
37:27
carrier input really looks like and what they actually do.
37:31
Yeah, that that's really all I all I have on that.
37:35
Whether James has any other information that he took notes
37:37
on, that's just going off the top of my head, so.
37:40
Not really. I mean it's it's literally it's
37:43
depressing to think about how little input carriers have in a
37:49
lot of things and how little input that carriers have even in
37:54
this union in general you know and how little help they get
38:00
through the system. So it's it's it's disheartening
38:03
to see that carriers have to come to these events to get the
38:07
answers they want, which is part of the reason we're on here is
38:12
because carriers weren't getting the information outside of these
38:15
union sponsored events as much as they should be.
38:20
OK, well I didn't tell you Friday.
38:22
They didn't have clerks to work any mail and the ones owned
38:27
their parcels didn't show up until after 9:00 and the MCSO
38:34
told them not to throw any of them.
38:37
So I called the the not my ADR because he was on leave, but one
38:42
of the other old AD Rs and I asked him quickly about with the
38:49
adjustments. He said that adjustments are
38:52
supposed to or the evals go into effect Saturday April 6th,
38:57
They're supposed to start working on them Monday the 8th.
39:02
They're going to work on the overburden routes that the
39:06
carriers cannot get back within evaluation first.
39:12
That's their number one priority and then they're going to work
39:16
on rate, you know the rest of the overburdens and down the
39:20
line he said. That they have a program that
39:26
they can put input your route information and it'll pretty
39:31
much tell them what they have to take off, like how much and or
39:35
what area, what section. But his phone had been ringing
39:38
off the hook since it was the last day of the survey and
39:42
everyone from everywhere was calling him about issues they
39:46
were having, so I had to get off the phone with them at that
39:49
quickly. Thank you for making me lose my
39:51
train of thought again, Josh. Sorry.
39:56
Oh, I. I I remember now when it comes
39:59
to the the, the routes where they're not meeting the
40:03
evaluation first, now we have district managers and pooms
40:09
taking that in as if you have a. A a non overburdened route so
40:16
A46K or less they are now going to threaten to cut those routes
40:22
if you are not making your evaluation.
40:26
Which is hilarious because they're taking the work off of
40:29
you to cut your evaluation so you get back in time, but yet
40:33
you're still going to be over evaluation because your route is
40:35
actually under evaluated anyway if you're always working over
40:39
your evaluation. Absorbing oxed routes.
40:42
They wanna cut the overburdened routes first before they build
40:46
up the substandard routes by absorbing OX routes.
40:49
Those are gonna be last on the list.
40:53
Hey, Bill, what's that statement you say about management and the
40:56
way they make things happen and we just talk about it, What's
41:00
that statement you say? I don't know which one you're
41:05
referring to. I've got so many for management.
41:10
I think you say you can't make this up.
41:13
Oh no, I'd say can't make this shit up.
41:17
Close enough and and and yeah. And the and the problem with
41:21
this is that I've got management that that can't get a PTR
41:27
report. You know, I had to show her how
41:29
to get to the radar report. You're going to depend on these
41:33
people to be trained as well as they were trained for Rex and
41:38
implement cuts on our routes. I don't think so.
41:42
I mean, 'cause that'll drive me nuts that to have somebody that
41:46
incompetent trying to adjust routes with no knowledge and
41:51
experience and half assed training, I just just for for
41:55
fun today. Not really fun.
41:57
But I was going through some of my files and I found the sheep
42:01
where Ronnie said emphatically, we're not doing this until we
42:07
have transparency. We still don't have
42:10
transparency, folks. Nobody knows what an unscanned
42:13
parcel is. Nobody can actually give you
42:17
your radar reports for your bundle flats to match up with
42:20
anything that they report on on your end of run reports for.
42:28
For them to take this and apply an algorithm to a program that
42:34
doesn't give you credit for CB Us because the first one's empty
42:38
or gives you a drive speed matrix when they don't realize
42:43
that a third of the country is truly rule and there's potholes
42:46
that swallow up small animals. How the hell is this going to
42:51
work? I wish I had more faith, but I
42:54
don't. I I I get it.
42:57
You know it's yeah I an unscanned parcel.
43:03
That was the one, another one that was brought up this this
43:06
morning and basically we were told, we were told.
43:11
About the the one that asked about not delivering it.
43:16
Oh yeah. All right, we'll get there.
43:19
If it's not a flat and it's not a letter, then what is it?
43:24
That's basically what we were told.
43:27
If it's not a flat, if it's not a letter, then that leaves it as
43:31
a parcel. All right, frequency.
43:34
I I I get that jab. I get it if you're old enough.
43:37
Uh huh. OK.
43:42
All right, now here's another one that was brought up.
43:46
There was a carrier who had a a a parcel.
43:50
It was an obvious parcel, but it was metered postage so there was
43:55
no scan on it. Snow storm happens.
43:59
They take it out with them a few times, and then finally on that
44:04
third or fourth time, they're able to get to the mailbox, but
44:08
the driveway's not plowed, so they leave them a notice.
44:11
How are we getting credit for that?
44:13
Well, go ahead, James. I'll let you finish this one
44:16
off. So the answer that they were
44:18
given on that is every day you take it out, you scan it as an
44:23
unscanned parcel. So apparently what they said was
44:28
the only time it matters to the customer is when you scan the
44:32
barcode because then the customer gets notified of it
44:35
using the unscanned parcel. It just gives you credit for it.
44:39
But they're like, so those four times you took it out, you
44:43
should have put it in as an unscanned parcel.
44:45
But my thought, my thought on that exactly, my thought on that
44:50
is you're saying you delivered something but you didn't deliver
44:53
it. You're taking it back to the
44:55
office to redeliver it another day or do something with it.
44:58
On top of that, when you give them the peak slip, there's no
45:01
way for them to actually use the barcode or the QR code on it to
45:06
summon redelivery of the article.
45:09
So there's absolutely no way to literally be honest about what
45:15
you're doing with that unscanable parcel without
45:19
creating issues between you and management.
45:21
And we know management benchmarks, we know management
45:24
checks that stuff all the time. And they're like, well, you took
45:28
it out, so you should put in the unscanned parcel for delivery,
45:31
blah blah, blah, blah, blah. But you're basically falsifying
45:37
a scan. You're falsifying an input on
45:40
your scanner so that you can get credit for just carrying that
45:44
around for four days or five days or however many days it
45:47
takes you to get it out to the customer.
45:49
However, because they did leave a notice, now Josh let us
45:53
finish. They did leave a notice, and
45:57
this makes sense. If you have an unscannable
45:59
parcel and you need to leave a 3849, do it as an unscalable
46:06
parcel to the mailbox so you're at least getting a credit for
46:11
handling it and delivering that 3849, yes.
46:15
I was going to say for those four days that you took it out
46:19
and brought it back before you could get to the box and leave a
46:23
notice, I would presume to authorized agent.
46:27
You, being the agent, Authorized agent to deliver it, then try
46:31
attempt to deliver it the next day is the only thing I can
46:34
think of well. That could be a possibility
46:37
because that was the biggest question was, you know you don't
46:40
have an attempted under the unscannable parcel, it's just a
46:46
delivery scan. So yes, if you're going to leave
46:49
a 3849 carrier discretion to say that you had an unscannable
46:55
parcel delivered to the mailbox because that's obviously where
46:58
you're going to leave the 3849. Again, carrier discretion on
47:02
this 'cause they were searching for an answer and what James had
47:06
said was the answer that they got.
47:08
So anything else on that, James? Not that I can think of, I'm
47:15
just reading through my 4 pages of notes I made earlier.
47:19
So yeah, the unscalable parcel debacle still continues.
47:24
If it's not a letter and it's not a flat then carry your
47:29
discretion. It's an unscannable parcel and
47:32
if you have to leave a notice for it or keep to you taking it
47:36
out could carry your discretion. Unscannable parcel however you
47:41
wish to put it to get credit for handling it that day.
47:45
Again, no solid answers, but something towards a direction, I
47:51
should say. Kind of say.
47:54
Hesitant to say, but yeah. And leaving the unscamble parcel
48:00
to the mailbox completely makes sense to me.
48:02
If you're leaving a 3849 for that for whatever reason, you
48:06
know a driveway that you can't go up because it hasn't been
48:09
plowed out after a snowstorm. Josh is tender to agent to bring
48:14
it back, to take it back out. Me.
48:18
Makes total sense. Again, the big carrier
48:21
discretion on that one. That one was.
48:24
That was a good one that was brought up.
48:26
You know I I I am paired with the carrier discussion
48:29
discretion. On Friday we had a tunnels
48:33
towers foundation mailing and it was one of those semi rigid
48:39
cardboard Flyers or whatever that that you would if you had a
48:44
four case or a four row case it it would slip into.
48:50
But I don't So I put down on my 4240 and I explained to my
48:55
supervisor that I'm putting these down as unscanned parcels
48:58
and showed her that, you know to get that into the case I'd
49:02
actually had to bend it and and crack the cardboard to get it
49:07
fit in there and got no argument over the.
49:10
The thing of it is, if you do explain it to a supervisor,
49:15
they'll usually go along with you and be able to justify it
49:17
for you if you have it on your 4040.
49:20
A lot of times people are putting them unscanned parcels
49:24
in there and they're hitting 20s and 30s, which are what red
49:28
flags over six. So you know, it'd be best to be
49:31
proactive in in this situation and discuss it with the
49:35
supervisor, and if you have to, give a demonstration at your
49:39
case that it won't go in there without manipulation.
49:43
Oh, another one. I wanted to bring up service
49:46
talks, Service safety talks. A lot of people are saying I
49:50
don't have service safety talks in my miscellaneous time this
49:53
time around. No, you do not, nor will you.
49:57
From the very beginning, management was supposed to be
50:01
inputting the safety service talks in the RMSS program.
50:08
They were not. Therefore, that's why with the
50:11
first too many mail surveys, they were put.
50:13
They agreed to put it under miscellaneous time.
50:17
They stopped that this time around and they are supposed to
50:20
be inputted into the RMSS system.
50:24
If it is not in there, make sure that you are documenting the
50:29
safety service times on your 40, two 40s.
50:34
That way if it's not showing up on your 4241 AMS, when you get
50:39
them, when you request the 4241 Ms., when they give you your
50:45
4241A's, make sure that you have those documented on your 42
50:51
forties for any disputes. So from here on out, if you
50:57
haven't done it in the past, start that watch.
51:01
As soon as they start talking about you know we have a stand
51:06
up talk, we have a safety talk, we have a service talk whatever
51:10
and keep track of that time and put it on your 4240.
51:16
And when you're timing, you time from the moment they call for
51:20
the safety or service talk, if it takes them 7 minutes to start
51:25
talking, that's seven free minutes until the time they
51:31
dismiss you. So from the moment they say
51:37
we're having a service talk, all all the carriers come gather
51:40
around, we're going to have a service talk start the timer.
51:44
And they hand you the safety service talk on a sheet of paper
51:47
at your case. That is not a safety service
51:49
talk. Those are not safety service
51:52
talks. They are supposed to be giving
51:54
them verbally, not handing you a sheet of paper.
51:59
Well, they can hand you a sheet of paper, but they still have to
52:01
read it. Yes, but if they're not reading
52:04
it and they're just handing you a sheet of paper, that is not a
52:08
safety service talk. So yeah, so make sure you're
52:19
documenting those times on your 42 forties for backup for
52:22
yourself. They will not be on the
52:24
miscellaneous time this time around.
52:26
They are supposed to be inputted each time throughout the year
52:31
into the RMSS system by management.
52:35
And it's a rolling 52 week average.
52:44
The wish they'd go back to the powers labels like that, like
52:46
how it was supposed to be done to begin with.
52:49
Yeah. However, it's not.
52:51
Which really sucks because all my seasonals come and go outside
52:56
of the mini mail survey. I think I had one Powers label
53:01
in two weeks and that was for my move left, no forward, left no
53:05
address that I did. So yeah, so Seaway and the
53:15
safety service talks put that time down on the 4240.
53:19
Do not expect it in miscellaneous time.
53:21
It will not be there and management is supposed to print
53:26
out the radar and in a run reports every single day of the
53:30
year. And if they are not, what do we
53:35
do, Bill? File file file.
53:39
Thank you. Anything else and.
53:45
Then smile. See, there was here.
53:49
Anything else? Right there.
53:51
And then file again after smiling, I feel sorry for any
54:02
carriers being moved into an SNDC.
54:05
Let me just say that, uh, oh, do I lose, Kristen?
54:16
No, I'm here. I spent several hours talking to
54:23
several carriers that have been moved into S&D CS and it is
54:30
pitiful. It is pitiful.
54:33
There are carriers that do like it.
54:36
There are carriers that don't like it.
54:38
There are carriers that have 30 years of experience being mail
54:42
carriers and there are carriers that have less than a year of
54:45
experience as a mail carrier. But the biggest things that I
54:51
can talk about on that some carriers have an inspection
54:58
distance total of 1/4 of a mile walking distance measured from
55:06
their case to their trucks. PO VS are being forced into
55:10
government vehicles that are not even being assigned to their
55:15
routes. So if a government vehicle goes
55:19
down, there's a chance that management could turn around
55:21
while you're using your POV Today Cramp, I didn't bring my
55:24
POV with me today. Rurals are still closest to the
55:32
door. As per contract, we are actually
55:34
required to be the closest vehicles to the doors at any
55:38
office, whether POV or government vehicle.
55:44
The benefits are you have the mail handler sorting your mail
55:48
so it's already up before you even get to the office because
55:50
they were working on it all night.
55:54
They do have the package sorting machine there and the carriers
55:58
that I've talked to have not had that many issues with it other
56:02
than the fact of some management is forcing second trips on
56:06
carriers to take out missed sorts.
56:09
Like a couple of carriers I talked to, they were telling me
56:12
that carriers were going 30-40 miles for one or two packages.
56:16
So hey, take that extra 3 minutes per mile for that second
56:20
trip. The SMDC automatically is
56:26
formula when you go into it. From what I've heard carriers
56:31
that were in offices that were formula get to keep the days off
56:36
that they had in the formula office before they moved to the
56:38
SNDC and the carriers that did not have the days off during the
56:44
week that have to be moved to a week they are the ones that are
56:48
forced to the other days available.
56:51
Seniority does come with the carrier, so the lift is combined
56:56
and that includes even your sub lists are combined and they are
57:01
working them on any route that they need them to.
57:05
Each implementation has had the district Rep there for it, so
57:10
the district Rep number one should have made sure the
57:13
formula calculation was correct, but they didn't hold mail, comes
57:19
back to the office, gets thrown in a cage and then is delivered
57:23
the next day to the office that they just vacated, certified
57:28
also go to the office and then if you get the Peach slip they
57:31
have to send the certified back to the SMDC for you to get it to
57:37
deliver it. That's a nice.
57:38
Carrier So carriers have to drop the PO Box mail off at the
57:43
office if they leave the office early enough.
57:47
So. Now you've incorporated a whole
57:50
bunch of new lock pouches. Yes, and most likely it's an AUX
57:55
carrier to deliver the former truck route.
57:58
Like they'll hit all the offices that the SNBC is is has
58:02
absorbed. So they'll literally drive the
58:04
truck route to deliver the PO Box mail to all these offices
58:09
that used to be delivered by a truck.
58:11
They're arguing right now over that because offices that were
58:15
rural, they're having city carriers deliver them CC as
58:18
deliver them. There is plenty of room to work
58:22
the route. They actually give them space to
58:23
work the routes and some of them have locker rooms.
58:26
A lot of offices don't have locker rooms.
58:28
The SMDC does, and plenty of facilities to use if you need a
58:32
restroom carriers. Some carriers doubled their trip
58:36
their distance to go to work. They've screwed over the aux
58:40
route carriers because instead of starting at the close to the
58:43
same time everybody else does, they now have them coming in in
58:46
the afternoon and then going to the offices that they just
58:50
vacated. And picking up.
58:52
The outgoing end of shift takes longer because the Poom's office
58:58
is in the SMDC and the management and supervisors are
59:04
also in that office, and they cannot access their management.
59:09
They cannot scan their badge to get into the rooms where the
59:13
offices are to talk to their managers.
59:17
They also do not have the ability to contact management
59:21
for help. They didn't get a phone number
59:22
to call or any of that stuff, but apparently they may have
59:26
info that they hand out, but they don't just immediately gave
59:31
give it you the info as soon as you get there so you have nobody
59:34
to contact if you had an emergency on your route or your
59:37
truck broke down or something like that.
59:39
Every carrier has to badge in and out of the building and if
59:45
you don't badge out you cannot get back into the building.
59:49
A lot of carriers are driving a full day of hours for the week,
59:54
so a full 8 hours for the day just going to and from their
59:58
routes. The routes were rearranged on
1:00:02
arrival to the SNDC where they put the closest box to the SNDC
1:00:08
first and then rearranged them. According to that mail handlers
1:00:13
do bring large parcels around to your case instead of sorting it
1:00:16
on a machine. There is.
1:00:18
Absolutely no training for the carriers on this move.
1:00:22
No information, no. This is how we're doing things
1:00:25
here. This is where this stuff goes,
1:00:26
or any of that stuff. When they first got to the SNDC,
1:00:29
they literally had to figure it out on their own.
1:00:32
And because of all of this, more carriers are working off the
1:00:37
clock. And according to the people that
1:00:39
I spoke to, they were doing it in front of the district
1:00:43
representative, and the district representative didn't say a
1:00:46
word. I have a question for you in
1:00:48
regards to with the formula aspect.
1:00:53
For offices that were a regular office, they're moving into the
1:00:58
SNDC and becoming formula. Are they giving them the
1:01:04
opportunity to volunteer for a day off first, or are they just
1:01:10
signing them a day? I'm glad you asked that.
1:01:14
SO one of the carriers I talked to is was the most senior person
1:01:20
to go into one of these and they said that they had asked that
1:01:24
question, what if I wanted Monday off and they said no,
1:01:29
your your day is Saturday. That's it.
1:01:32
Another carrier I talked to was given a Tuesday and they asked
1:01:40
if they could have Wednesday instead 'cause it would work out
1:01:42
a little bit better for them and they were told no also.
1:01:45
So whatever formula implementation they're doing,
1:01:47
they are not allowing the carriers to volunteer first,
1:01:50
which again is a violation of the formula process, I do
1:01:55
understand. That that was an issue with.
1:01:57
The one in new. York and a carrier tried to
1:02:00
reach out and. And nobody, nobody is helping
1:02:07
them. Nobody's getting in there and
1:02:09
making sure things are done correctly in in the way the
1:02:12
contract States and the way the manual state and the way MO us
1:02:16
have been brought out for this stuff.
1:02:19
Nobody on the union side is actually fully helping in this.
1:02:25
Our Union stewards, our AD Rs or DRS should be able to quote the
1:02:34
requirements for this verbatim or have access to this
1:02:38
information verbatim and be pumping for our carriers in
1:02:42
these SNDCS. They should be fighting for
1:02:44
every inch for these carriers in the SNDCSI don't care that we've
1:02:49
added more cost to the post office by putting in these
1:02:52
SNDCS. Obviously from the conversations
1:02:54
I've had it's gonna cost the post office a crap ton more
1:02:57
money to operate these SNDCS than it was operating the stand
1:03:01
alone offices. But that's neither here nor
1:03:03
there. It's not my industry to tell
1:03:08
them how to run it. What I'm concerned with is how
1:03:11
are you treating my carriers? How are you treating my brothers
1:03:14
and sisters in the craft? And how is the people who are
1:03:20
supposed to take care of these carriers treating them?
1:03:23
How are they enforcing the rules and regulations?
1:03:27
We have negotiated and and figured out with management to
1:03:32
make sure our carriers are well taken care of.
1:03:35
And it appears to me that there is a lot of issues of lack of
1:03:40
information or lack of motivation to defend these
1:03:45
carriers and protect what we have because you know, give
1:03:50
management an inch and they'll take a mile.
1:03:53
And the two biggest, biggest issues for me out of this whole
1:03:57
thing is there is no safety for the carriers.
1:04:03
You go out there and your engine blows up or your transmission
1:04:07
goes out or you get robbed on the route.
1:04:11
You have nobody to contact at your SMDC.
1:04:16
They don't give you a phone number to call.
1:04:18
You can't look up the phone number to call because it's not
1:04:22
a public office. So there's no number to call on
1:04:25
Google. Who are you supposed to call?
1:04:28
VMF Are you supposed to do a text message on the scanner that
1:04:32
they don't look at either carrier?
1:04:35
Safety is at risk with these SMDCS carriers.
1:04:39
Being able to find a manager to talk to is a problem in these
1:04:43
SMDCS. Most of the management that were
1:04:47
at their offices is still at the offices because they still have
1:04:51
the window there. They still have the clerks
1:04:52
there. The only people that aren't
1:04:54
there are the carriers. So are they supposed to call
1:04:57
their old postmaster? Who's supposed to call the POOM?
1:04:59
Who's supposed to call their manager to be able to get them
1:05:02
to do something? There is no clear path for the
1:05:06
safety of the carriers. Look, they're concerned about
1:05:09
that. Oh, I mean, we do have safety
1:05:12
talks, don't we? Oh wait, they're just concerned
1:05:14
about benchmarking. That's called lip service.
1:05:18
Phil, they are. They tell you every, every time
1:05:21
they have a service talk that safety.
1:05:22
There's number one concern. Josh, I'm gonna drive down to
1:05:25
North Carolina and smack the shit out of you, OK?
1:05:31
They're only concerned about their numbers.
1:05:33
They're only concerned about your safety.
1:05:34
As long as it doesn't involve a vehicle accident or damage to
1:05:38
private property, they're not concerned about us.
1:05:41
So who's doing the route mapping with the carriers at the SMDCS?
1:05:46
They aren't, because you have to have at least three to four
1:05:50
weeks of bread crumbs in order to be able to do your new
1:05:52
mapping. And you do your DPM, your LTM,
1:05:57
your traffic control points and all that stuff.
1:05:59
So I feel really bad for the carriers that got moved to the
1:06:03
SMDC during the Mini Mail Survey because mapping is closed on the
1:06:10
last day of Mini Mail Survey and they won't be able to map until
1:06:15
they open it back up after the evaluations come out.
1:06:19
And it just, it boggles my mind to think that an organization
1:06:27
who wants to go forward with something like this hasn't
1:06:31
figured out how to do something so simple and easy to do.
1:06:38
If they just tried it the right way, they could easily move
1:06:41
these people to S&D CS in the in between Mini Mail Surveys and
1:06:47
then the mapping will be done before the next evaluation comes
1:06:50
out. Now I will give them credit.
1:06:52
They did give them evaluation boosts to their routes when they
1:06:57
moved them to the S&D CS, but from what I could tell just in
1:07:01
travel alone and things like that for the for the carriers
1:07:06
that I got route adjustment information for, the one carrier
1:07:11
only got 6 hours added to their route and they added almost 8
1:07:19
hours of driving time to their route.
1:07:21
Not to mention anything else that changed like traffic
1:07:24
control points and stuff like that because you got a lot more
1:07:27
traffic control points between the SNDC and your route and
1:07:32
stuff like that. So the question becomes, when
1:07:37
does the evaluation from the SNDC actually affect the real
1:07:42
route evaluation? Is it going to be another year,
1:07:45
year and a half of evaluations before they actually get their
1:07:48
full value of the route? Most of these routes are already
1:07:51
overburdened from the move to the SNDC before they even did
1:07:55
the mapping and stuff like that. Your K routes that moved to the
1:07:58
SNDC are guaranteed overburdened before they even got there.
1:08:02
The J routes they should be K routes are a little bit almost
1:08:05
overburdened K routes. H routes will be lucky.
1:08:08
They'll probably be a low K, but there is no obvious plan to get
1:08:16
these carriers accurately paid in less than a year and a half.
1:08:21
Well, if your information is correct in regards to the
1:08:23
carriers searching through these new SD and CS, in regards to
1:08:28
where you put your miss sorts, the parcels, the three M KS
1:08:33
throwback cases and you know anything like that is
1:08:37
particularly the one SD and C that was implemented the day of
1:08:40
the mini mail survey start. Then how are you getting, you
1:08:44
know, the appropriate time, the distance from your case to, you
1:08:48
know, gather your equipment or anything else like you know,
1:08:52
Basically they're getting screwed from the get go.
1:08:55
Yeah, exactly. Well, actually the, the one
1:08:59
benefit is yes, they got new equipment.
1:09:01
The new equipment is garbage labels don't fit in it, you know
1:09:06
so but the big thing is, is everything is right there for
1:09:11
the carriers right around them. So I that is the one thing that
1:09:15
is good is everything is still right there and everything is up
1:09:19
and and ready when they get there.
1:09:21
So there is a benefit to the SMDC.
1:09:23
I'm not, I'm not faulting that. But the issue is when they get
1:09:28
back like the carriers who don't have an assigned vehicle also
1:09:33
don't have an assigned gas card for that truck.
1:09:36
So they have to use AZ card. So when they get back, they
1:09:39
actually get extra time on their end of shift duties because they
1:09:42
have to go and search and find a manager to give that Z card back
1:09:45
to. So their end of shift times are
1:09:48
going to be blown away out of proportion and you know that the
1:09:51
POOM who's in that that SNDC is going to be coming down on the
1:09:55
extended time that they have on their end of shift duties trying
1:10:00
to find a manager. But do you think that Plume's
1:10:03
going to turn around and say, OK, management needs to be on
1:10:06
the floor to get these cards back when the management, when
1:10:09
the carriers come back? No, he's going to say carriers
1:10:12
need to lower their end of shift times and not give a solution.
1:10:15
To it. All right, guys.
1:10:19
I wouldn't say in that aspect you would think they'd have an
1:10:21
accountable clerk because anyone that has an arrow key has to
1:10:25
turn that in and sign it back in.
1:10:27
There are no but gas card. You'd have to have be able to
1:10:32
sign, you know, turn it into whoever you're turning in your
1:10:35
ever key to. There are no clerks.
1:10:37
And how do you sign your, you know, accountable in and out
1:10:41
every day? Management brings them around
1:10:46
and I and I believe if I if I recall correctly I believe some
1:10:51
S&D CS have an accountable machine where you go up, you
1:10:57
scan your badge and you scan your scanner and it actually
1:11:01
releases your accountables for you out of that machine like
1:11:04
your arrow key and stuff like that.
1:11:07
Plus they're going to the digital arrow keys now.
1:11:10
I don't know. It's it's a it's a cluster mess
1:11:12
and yeah, we'll see how it works out.
1:11:14
But I I have very little faith that these S&D CS are actually
1:11:18
going to save the Post Office money like some people think
1:11:21
they're going to. All right, guys.
1:11:24
Before we wrap it up, Bill, we had a question come through from
1:11:27
one of our listeners prior to you getting on.
1:11:29
I wanted to hold it off till you got on and I want to touch on it
1:11:34
before we go. I did throw it up under the
1:11:36
candidate questions channel, but.
1:11:38
Says you guys running for office have a plan to help with the
1:11:41
high miles, high mileage route. We have 130 plus mile routes
1:11:48
that got destroyed by Rex. What solution would you provide
1:11:53
these these routes that are high miles and not a whole lot of
1:11:57
boxes that got absolutely murdered because of that fun
1:12:01
little drive matrix? Well, in my estimation, when you
1:12:05
get into a situation with high mileage routes for years they
1:12:09
they basically been getting the gravy without paying for it, but
1:12:14
that was part of the contract. So they're entitled to it.
1:12:16
Now it's come back to bite them because of the drive speed
1:12:20
matrix and that has to be readjusted to compensate them
1:12:25
for that. Many of these routes, even
1:12:28
though they're high mileage, you're still running into
1:12:31
situations of unpaved roads, dirt roads, gravel roads, and
1:12:36
everything else in between. So as each route is unto itself,
1:12:42
each high mileage route also has to be examined in that fashion
1:12:46
too, and and should be adjusted to to basically compensate them
1:12:51
somewhere in between where they are and where they were.
1:12:55
Nobody in the high mileage route ever said anything about it
1:12:58
until we instituted the Rex program.
1:13:01
Now, understandably, they've been penalized for it now, and
1:13:07
that shouldn't be the case. And as they said, have many and
1:13:10
I know Ronnie has said this in the past at national conventions
1:13:14
just because an arbitrator ruled this, you can still they're
1:13:19
still possible to negotiate some of the standards.
1:13:23
Am I correct on that bill? Yes, as we have already seen,
1:13:29
the standards have been negotiated and not in our favor
1:13:33
all the time either. Correct.
1:13:36
Yeah, definitely. I mean, I not 130 mile route by
1:13:40
any means, but I mean our highest miles route in our
1:13:43
office is 95 miles. That's and it's only about 485
1:13:48
boxes roughly off the top of my head.
1:13:51
And that one, yeah, that one did lose 3 hours and that was right
1:13:58
there. The three hours was the Lawson.
1:14:01
And the non the non L status going from 2 minutes a box to
1:14:05
1.2 minutes a box and then the drive speed matrix is what
1:14:10
killed it. That drive speed matrix
1:14:13
definitely needs to be. I would want to sit down and
1:14:18
negotiate something out for these high mile routes.
1:14:22
I That is definitely one of the biggest killers besides the box
1:14:27
factor. I mean, my office itself has
1:14:30
several routes that are over 50 miles, which to me is not
1:14:35
technically high mileage, but they're at the higher end, OK.
1:14:40
Once you get past 50 miles and you know you're still at six,
1:14:44
700 bucks and once you get to 100 mile and you're at 400 to
1:14:50
500 bucks or even less, doesn't matter.
1:14:54
It's the mileage that is concerning because of the fact
1:14:57
that you have the the gas, the wear and tear and the fact that
1:15:01
you know the the traffic control points that aren't there are now
1:15:06
you're the penalty that you're suffering for having that route
1:15:09
there. There was a number of routes
1:15:11
that I've seen in the past where they're only delivered three
1:15:14
days a week because they're over 200 mile.
1:15:18
I mean good God, who wants to be driving 200 miles a day on a
1:15:22
route. So therefore there has to be
1:15:24
compensation in there for that. You just agree.
1:15:29
What it is, you know it. It's it's it's unjust.
1:15:33
It really is. I agree.
1:15:35
I wanted to toss that out there. So we're going to wrap this up
1:15:39
for it tonight. So on that note, Josh, your
1:15:44
final commentary for this evening.
1:15:46
Survey's over. Take that deep breath.
1:15:49
Relax. You have for the 15th to get any
1:15:53
errors corrected in the system. They'll let us know.
1:15:57
I haven't seen anything in writing yet, but they'll let us
1:16:00
know when you have to have your disputes in by, I'm sure between
1:16:04
now and the 15th. Have a good week.
1:16:07
Don't get overwhelmed. If you do, take a step back,
1:16:10
take a deep breath. Step back in.
1:16:14
We'll see you next time, James. Yeah.
1:16:18
We try to come on here and talk about all the issues that are
1:16:23
facing rural carriers today and all the stuff that's going on.
1:16:27
But you also have to remember we have pride in the work that we
1:16:30
do, and you should too. It's not easy for somebody to
1:16:37
step up and work in all different types of weather
1:16:40
conditions, delivering a lot of things people don't want and a
1:16:44
lot of things that people desperately need.
1:16:48
It takes a special breed of person to be able to do that,
1:16:51
and we just want everybody to be treated with dignity, fairness
1:16:54
and respect when they do that and paid for the time that they
1:16:58
work. So we're not trying to be
1:17:02
negative about things, we're trying to do constructive
1:17:06
criticism and help build this craft up because at the end of
1:17:11
the day, we're all in this together.
1:17:14
Bill. I have to look back on my years
1:17:17
in the post office to say that Rex is something that we needed.
1:17:24
The only problem is, is that it needed to be fine-tuned before
1:17:29
they threw it out in the field. We have fought for years to get
1:17:32
paid for everything that we do and now that we have a system
1:17:37
that is allegedly doing that, we have to turn around and fight
1:17:42
again. And this is this is my problem
1:17:45
with our union in relationship to the United States Postal
1:17:49
Service. This should be a cooperative
1:17:53
situation where we work together and it's not.
1:17:57
There's the animosity that is generated by postal policy from
1:18:03
the national level down to the district level down to your
1:18:06
local post office. It it it, it rips my heart out
1:18:10
because of the fact that we can't do without you.
1:18:13
You can't do without us. But yet you treat us like the
1:18:17
ugly stepchild you never wanted. But we're the ones that do the
1:18:21
job. We're the ones that generate the
1:18:24
income, We're the ones that deliver the product because
1:18:27
you're incapable of doing. That's why you're in management.
1:18:31
You tried in many situations, whether it be a clerk, a city
1:18:34
carrier or a rule carrier to be an employee at that level and
1:18:40
you failed. So the next step was let's go
1:18:44
into management and that that's the biggest problem to me at my
1:18:48
level is, is that we have inexperienced management who's
1:18:53
in fear of the postmaster, who's in fear of the district Rep,
1:18:57
who's in fear of Lewis as as Don would call him.
1:19:03
And we should be working together.
1:19:06
But until the post office honors the contract, until the post
1:19:11
office treats us with the respect, dignity that we
1:19:14
deserve, then let's go Tooth and nail app and let's protect every
1:19:19
carrier dues and non dues, dues paying carrier.
1:19:23
Because like I keep saying, if they do it to one, they'll do it
1:19:27
to all of them. Step up for your fellow brothers
1:19:29
and sisters in this craft. Take a stand and say this is the
1:19:34
line and you're not crossing it anymore.
1:19:37
Everybody. The mini mail survey's done.
1:19:40
We'll wait to see what the results are.
1:19:42
Then we can file our disputes and then we'll get them back.
1:19:46
Or we won't get them back in the next six months.
1:19:49
But keep doing your job as best as you you can to your ability.
1:19:54
Be safe. Get home because you're the most
1:19:58
important delivery and your loved ones want to see you at
1:20:00
the end of the day. Thank you, guys.
1:20:03
Yeah, we're kind of covered quite a bit here tonight, so we
1:20:07
will definitely continue as we find out more information on
1:20:11
everything. I do have a friend that recently
1:20:14
went to an SNDC in a different state than the person James
1:20:18
talked to who is willing to talk to us.
1:20:21
So it's a matter of getting with her and would maybe bring her up
1:20:24
here one evening to discuss how her experience has been in an
1:20:29
SNDC. So on that note, we will be back
1:20:35
next week. Everybody have a good week.
1:20:37
Stay safe out there and thank goodness the Mini Mail survey's
1:20:41
over with now for another six months.
1:20:44
Till next time guys, And I was just going to say
1:21:01
something and it left my mind. I talked too long, didn't I?
1:21:07
Yes, yes. Thank you.
1:21:09
Thank you. Yo, don't worry about James
1:21:13
being placed in prison. Bill may be in prison.