Volume 104

March 13, 2001

Contents:

9) If I have to choose, then I choose none

10) Locality Pay Would Help

11) PMRs to Get Career Opportunities

12) Computers in your Home

13) State of Yesterday's Art Computers

14) Who Wants CC mail at home?

15) I want one at work before I get one at home

16) Will the Circle be Unbroken?

17) It's About Service

18) Postmasters Should Not be Commuters

19) A Techno Face-Life

20) But At Least He Left the Furniture

A continuation of PM Online Vol 103………….These issues are getting longer and longer.

If you have a comment on anything, send it to PM Online, Rupzip@cs.com

Find this and all other back issues at my web site:

http://ourworld.cs.com/rupzip

9) If I have to choose, then I choose none

I, for one, certainly agree that we should be working for more harmony and cooperation at the state levels, beginning with the state conventions. There is no valid argument for failing to bring these events together! NAPUS and the League in my state are both suffering from lack of participation in the conventions and other activities. Postmasters have been slammed and browbeatten and micromanaged for so long that most are just plain TIRED. So there is little incentive for them to join or to show up at a poorly-attended function where they will be expected to work harder for and contribute more to a cause that they can no longer respect. And the abolishment of half the convention leave has only added to this problem for both organizations. I am a dual member, and I requested special permission from my MPOO to use my entire 5 days of leave attending both state conventions-- but it was, of course, denied. This basically forced me to pick one organization and leave out the other. (His reasoning was that it was not as if it "mattered" if I was there or not!) Sure, I could have used my annual leave to attend one of them. But I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO DO THAT! I got pressure from both "sides" to pick their group over the other. So.................My decision last year was to attend neither! And I'm pretty sure that I am not the only one who did it that way. Many of us are getting pretty concerned because of the potshots, the slights and the short-sighted bickering that is getting more and more prevalant from both sides of the issue. I am a Postmaster who went for many years without missing a meeting. Each year, I always attended at least one state and one national convention, one Washington DC conference, and several regional functions of both the League and NAPUS. I attended them at my own expense, and I worked at most of them, too. So I am very confident in the fact that I have earned the right to express my feelings on this subject! Over the past several years, I have personally asked the steate leadership of both organizations to begin talking about & working on merging our state and local meetings. I strongly urge others to do the same. If we don't do it locally, the national level might never "get it together". Thanks for listening. signed: Just One Voice

(EDITOR: Once again, here is my take on the two organizations issue. We should begin at the basest level. A document should be drawn up called "This We Believe". It should be a statement that 'these are the things we believe in.' It should start with Postmasters rights and representations. They then should agree on the following items: 1) Joint statements: No organization should issue a statement without the other organization signing on. Speak with one voice. This posturing to 'one up' the other organization is wrong. 2) Joint legislative issues: We should begin to coordinate and lobby and work a legislative agenda together. 3) Encourage Joint State Conventions: We can never get along at the national level until we agree at the state level. 4) Publications: Beginning with the state and working our way to the national level we should combine our magazine and communicative efforts. 5) Consultation: We should never be at the table alone - we should be a united front. Shunning another organization while at the same time talking about cooperation is counterproductive. 6) Future Conventions: Each organization has national conventions planned at least four years out with contracts in place. We must stop the long indenpendent planning now and figure out a timeline for a joint convention. 7) Finances: A workgroup should be put into place now to discuss money, as this bone of contention will be strongest. What do you think? Send an email to rupzip@cs.com)

10) Locality Pay Would Help

The reason the system is broken is not because of the unions requesting pay. It is broken because there is only one pay structure for the whole country. The Postal Service needs area cost of living pay. How is it that a craft employee in Bangor Me. can make the same amount as a Craft employee in New York City? We need to take a look at that. $40,000.00 a year in Maine buys a lot more than $40,000.00 per year in New York City. Until that happens we will never be able to keep up with the private sector. Look at other companies or services. What do you think they pay a Cop in NYC. and what do you think they pay a cop in Bangor Me?? Or a teacher, or a store clerk. You name the profession, the pay is not the same in all areas of the country. Time has come for area wages, on both the Craft and management side!

(EDITOR: In the BOG 'reform package' , this very concept is addressed. They speak of the single wage system as part of the 'broken system.' But do those of us in high cost areas really believe our pay will go up? No, I think the low cost areas will see a pay decrease and that will be the base. One correspondent points that the area wages in Alaska are set at a higher rate and the rest of the nation didn't go down. Who knows how this will shape up. Just a thought)

11) PMRs to Get Career Opportunities

Postmaster Organizations have long asked for added opportunities for Postmaster Reliefs, who often toil for decades with no benefits, little pay, and no hope for anything beyond their two hours on Saturday.

Headquarters is now offering expanded opportunities for these faithful workers.

PMRs with a minimum of at least one year of continuous employment as a PMR/LR are eligible to take two postal examinations for registers anywhere in their districts. This could lead to consideration for permanent postal jobs in whatever location PMR/LRs choose.

PMRs who meet the one-year requirement can also apply for any vacant permanent Postmaster job within commuting distance up to level 15.

A summary of the agreement is found at:

http://www.postmasters.org/ln021501.asp

Now, HQ, was that so hard?

12) Computers in your Home

Sounds like a great deal. But for all of you nerd-wannabes out there consider the following:

1. a computer will do more to you than for you.

2. by the time you figure out the operating system it will be obsolete and a new version issued by Microsoft.

3. by the time you understand your software, your hardware will be obsolete.

4. this is one case where it pays to procrastinate - computers only get cheaper, faster and smaller.

5. for all the attention email gets, and its subsequent impact on first-class mail volumes, the vast majority of email is stuff that was never made its way to a mailbox anyway. How many people do you know mailed jokes?

Despite this have fun! Get your pocket protector, tape the bridge on your glasses, put your beenie cap on and nerd away!

13) State of Yesterday's Art Computers Well, in my office I have a 75 Mhz Pentium computer with a 28.8 modem and barely enough disk space to run Word. I am continually embarrassed when vendors and customers ask me for my email address, and the District informs me that I am not entitled to have one, only an internal "ccmail" one. I say these things in full recognition that there are many smaller offices which the USPS has decided do not warrant having any kind of computer at all (not counting, maybe, Model I IRTs).

Having said that, I am waiting with baited breath to see what the USPS offers as its idea of a "State of the Art" computer for $600 to $700 for employees' homes. This has got to be interesting.

Here are State of the Art things you can now get: 1.5 Ghz processor, nearly unlimited disk space but around 50 GB is a good average, 22" flatscreen monitor, 256 MB RAM (again, a good average). We won't even talk about sound cards; they vary so much. Did they consider printers? I guess 56K dialup has already been decided, but that is only a clue of what else is being thought, since highspeed DSL and Cable are now the "State of the Art." I say, "caveat emptor," and also keep a tongue in cheek and a good sense of humor when the details come out.

14) Who Wants CC mail at home?

At first I thought this computer deal sounded good, but frankly, if I were to update my own, I would go with a Dell. I would think anyone purchasing a computer would want full internet access, so I don't know what value the special offers are. And was this a way to allow all postal employees to have access to CC mail? Because those of us out here without computers at our office would like CC mail at work, but why would we want or need to get that at home? I guess I don't see the point, unless you are getting a heck of a computer. I saw computers at Walmart for $400!

Thanks, and hoping for more convincing information.

I like the newsletter, and I love my job!!! I am proud to work for the postal service. My father was a postmaster and a rural carrier, and my sister is also a postmaster. Most of the problems I hear about are happening in every business, even the factory my husband works in. He complains about the upper management all the time! I am a level 13 postmaster, and couldn't be happier unless I had a brand new building. But wait, I move into one in a few weeks!!! Of course, this is after working out of a fire station/garage the last 3 years, with a lobby that is 25 degrees in the winter! Soon I will be even happier!!!

Small town postmaster in the midwest.

15) I want one at work before I get one at home

I think it would be nice to have a computer in my level 11 office before postal employees get them i their homes!!!!!! How about a smaller version of POS 1. Something!

16) Will the Circle be Unbroken?

David: In the last newsletter you spoke about wages and stated "Somewhere the cycle must be broken."

I don't know about PCES, but EAS already got their cycle broken when we stopped getting real raises and COLA, and started getting EVA. That was YEARS ago. And I'm sorry, I don't feel guilty about that. I just think that it is pathetic that there are Postmasters who make less than their employees. Or were you not meaning to include "Postmasters" in the "Craft, management, PCES" category? Actually, I think a lot of us are treated as less than Craft employees...

Thanks, otherwise, for some great observations and for continuing the newsletter.

17) It's About Service We are in trouble. With all the unrest amongst the ranks, we can only fail- Someone has to take the bull by the horns and realize it isn't all about productivity but service to our customers. There is a price to pay for service.

Want the latest news? USPS News On Call toll-free at 866-545-USPS (8777).

18) Postmasters Should Not be Commuters

Postmasters must continue to be a part of the management team. We can not become a union ! But we should pursue reasonable remedies to our present situation. I believe a big reason for Postmasters being impotent is the fact that we are no longer required to reside in the town in which we are Postmasters. This one change from yesteryear created a loss of power in the local Postmaster position. Postmaster are now removed for training and other various reasons and replaced with employees from outside the community and the Postmaster cast adrift. Often because of reasons that were beyond that Postmasters control. To the local community this is often transparent mostly cause the local Postmaster comes from another area. Some may argue that the "commuting distance" is a solution to get qualified applicants, I believe it is a way to move Postmasters unfairly from office to office and in the long run to remove that title. Just ponder how the POOM or District manager might look by removing a Postmaster who lives in the town and is meeting his Communities needs. Well its my two cents worth and they are very old pennies.

19) A Techno Face-Life

The reason USPS is so far in negative numbers is because of their entry into the world of technology, the Internet, and their attempt to play 'catch-up' with other online businesses and the things that are 'yet to come' on the world wide web.

Technology is very very very costly...as is all of the applications, etc associated with same. You cannot finance a Fortune 500 entry into the world wide web on a hamburger budget...nor, can you manage it by hiring IP managers with minimum wage.

Simply put.....USPS is undergoing a face lift...a techno face lift, and the cost of this is akin to shopping only on Rodeo Drive.

Best,

Rick

Editor

Postal Employees News

(http://www.postalemployeenetwork.com)

20) But At Least He Left the Furniture

FYI Richard Porass not only departed unscathed by his relocation rip-off but as the architect of the EVA program he was able to leave with approx. $140,000 in his EVA bank account. With a salary cap he could not take annual bonuses, but on retirement the rules allowed him to take his "bank" with him. With Stausser now reporting the real financial numbers, the Board of Governors must really wonder if they were the victims of "fuzzy math.

~~~

For the ultimate pessimists, check out

www.disgruntledpostalemployees.com

These guys are so negative on our future that they have even set up a Postal Demise Hedge Fund

"If the Postal Service were a ship, there would be no doubt that it's rapidly sailing into the perfect storm."

Gene Del Polito , www.postcom.com

Postmasters online is the brainchild of David Rupert, Postmaster , POB 3 Wilson WY 83014 and a product of the Wordsmiths Group.

Postmasters Online neither represents nor incriminates the United States Postal Service, the US Government, NASA, or the Leave It To Beaver television series. All opinions are those of the contributors.