Vol 106

Postmasters Online

Volume 106

May 10, 2001

Contents:

Memo to the Postmaster

1) Beware the Computer Deal

2) Two Organization Approach Best

3) Just One Voice

4) Safety CD Offered

5) The Death of Common Sense

Did you hear the News?

Memo from Postmaster General to Postmaster/Your Town:

Today at 11 o'clock there will be a total eclipse of the sun. This is when the sun disappears behind the moon for two minutes. As this is something that cannot be seen every day, time will be allowed for employees to view the eclipse in the car park. Staff should meet in the car park at ten to eleven, when I will deliver a short speech introducing the eclipse, and giving some background information. Safety goggles will be made available at a small cost.

Memo from Postmaster to Area Manager:

Today at ten to eleven, all staff should meet in the car park. This will be followed by a total eclipse of the sun, which will disappear for two minutes. For a moderate cost, this will be made safe with goggles. The

Postmaster General will deliver a short speech beforehand to give us all some background information. This is not something that can be seen every day.

Memo from `Area Manager to Station Manager:

The Postmaster General will today deliver a short speech to make the sun disappear for two minutes in the eclipse. This is something that can not be seen every day, so staff will meet in the car park at ten or eleven.

This will be safe, if you pay a moderate cost.

Memo From Station Manager to Supervisor:

Ten or eleven staff are to go to the car park, where the Postmaster General will eclipse the sun for two minutes. This doesn't happen every day. It will be safe, but it will cost you.

Memo from Supervisor to staff:

Some staff will go to the car park today to see the Postmaster General disappear. It is a pity this doesn't happen every day.

author unknown

With this unorthodox look, we welcome the new Postmaster General, expected to be named today. Many believe that Jack Potter, the Postal Service's chief operating officer and executive vice president, has emerged as the strongest candidate. Others have bet on Deputy Postmaster General John Nolan. Potter, a 22-year postal veteran, most recently was senior vice president of operations.. The Board of Governors desperately sought an outsider to come in an clean up this mess, but every individual approached turned the job down quickly. The job will dirty. It will be tough. It will be painful. The lives and careers and futures of 800,000 employees and the mail delivery of millions of Americans will be affected. We give you our best. We will work hard. We will be professionals. All we ask is that you mine the tremendous intellect and ideas that are present in the field. We can help and using the great ideas at hand can collectively make a difference. Best wishes Mister Postmaster General.

1) Beware the Computer Deal

So now you will be able to access the USPS Intranet (blue.usps.net) to get even more info then what is offered on the Internet (www.usps.com) from your home, but beware what you do and say using those servers. Don't play games, send nastygrams, etc. because it is all logged on the USPS Servers and might be used against you. Did someone say "Big Brother"?

Name Withheld

2) Two Organization Approach Best

On the issue of combining the two organizations, I think your take on it is the most reasonable I've heard.

Chip....another dual member

(To read The Postmaster Online position on the issue, read this weeks Federal Times or go to: http://ourworld-top.cs.com/rupzip/id85.htm)

3) Just One Voice

Today the news is full of stories about the Postal Service's problems and possible solutions, with drasctic actions and dire consequences predicted. I fear that this may actually be the time that some of these bad things come to pass. Our past wasteful practices and our current bloated upper echelons are going to be our downfall. But for more than 20 years, many upper managers have continually cried "wolf" in an attempt to get the working folks to do more with less. I have worked while sick. I have worked while on annual leave. I have paid my own expenses while working on details away from home. I have not turned in mileage when I was entitled to claim mileage pay. I have worked extra long days to avoid using additional clerk hours when some short-sighted district personnel sent a report to be completed with a one-day or two-day deadline for getting it back to them. I have worked through many lunch breaks and postponed or cancelled many doctor/dental/eyecare visits over the years, due to being shorthanded. I have kept my office open past closing time in order to accomodate mailers who could not make it in during regular hours. I have worked mail and delivered parcels for free on Sundays and hoildays. I have used my lunch time to deliver supplies or forms to neighboring offices or to do accident investigations for them. I have spent a lot of $ on long distance phone calls from home at night just talking to OIC's or new Postmasters when they needed help or guidance because they were put into a job with no previous experience, and without proper training. I have used precious weekend time helping make the move when another Postmaster was lucky enough to get a new building. Back when I was a clerk, I used to "borrow" the manuals to take home at night to study-- because that's the only training I got! Once (years ago) our MSC asked all of its's Postmasters and OIC's to use a day of annual leave, while actually continuing to work that day, in order to "make the budget". And we did that! And so far NO ONE has EVER said a sincere thank you in any way that mattered. And at this point I no longer expect any reward or a real thank you. The only reason I list these things at all is to make the point that I am not the only Postmaster to do such things as these. I'm not an exceptional employee. I'm just one voice, in a crowd of many. So no one should really blame us when we don't immediately start scrambling to hoard our used paper clips and our short pencils because of this last round of dire predictions. OF COURSE WE ARE CONCERNED! Very concerned. But we have been used and abused for so long that we are virtually numb. None of us are surprised that there is no rallying cry of support from the rank and file of Postmasters now. The Postal Service has so little credibility left with those of us who have "been around for awhile". Couple that with the fact that Headquarters has failed to significantly reduce or eliminate unnecessary positions in Districts, Regions and above- when there has been ample time and warning that they should do so. In the last year alone, over $600,000.00 could have been saved by the elimination of MPOO jobs- and that's just in OUR district. (When you add in the cost of their mileage, leased vehicles, cellular phones and secretaries, that figure probably goes much closer to $1,000,000.00 per year.) Then...... factor in the results of their browbeatings and the costs associated with their bad decisions, and the sky is the limit! And everybody but HQ and the MPOO's themselves seem to know that they are an unnecessary drain on our resources. One MPOO in our district is so unreachable that Postmasters often can't even get him to return their calls regarding emergency situations. For example, a Postmaster retired and the PMR was sick. But the MPOO tossed her the keys to the building anyway, and asked her to "take care of things" for a little while. Several months went by. Several phone calls were made to try to arrange for the possibility of appointing an OIC or hiring a backup PMR. But nothing happened. Several more months passed. The PMR decided to quit, rather than continue working without any time off. She made more phone calls to the MPOO, leaving messages on the machine that she was quitting. Again, no calls were returned. Finally, she closed down, locked everything up tight, stuck a sign on the door, and went home for good. This $60,000 per year MPOO did not find out for about two weeks that one of his offices was no longer in operation! He finally did, then, appoint an OIC! So until the Postal Service stops trying to keep the paychecks and large bonus checks rolling to folks like him for NOT doing any meaningful work, the rest of us won't be on the Bandwagon. And that's too bad, because this time we need to be there.

Food for thought. Thanks for listening.

signed: Just One Voice .

4) Safety CD Offered

As part of the PEG process last year, we created a Safety CD ROM. The CD has four folders in it: safety talks in outline form for presentation, safety talks in newsletter form for posting or presentation, a JSA library and a set of safety program guides.

The JSA library has about 80 JSAs (Job Safety Analysis- PS Form 1783) and also a blank JSA form so you can write your own. There are six sub-folders, JSAs for: all personnel, carriers, custodians, clerks, mailhandlers, office folks. Each JSA may be easily customized for your office.

All the files were formatted in WORD 6.0/95 or WORD 97. Please state your preference when ordering. These are not FormFill files (the worst program the Postal Service ever purchased). You must copy the files to your hard drive to use them since the CD ROM is "read-only." You will need to know how to create and copy directories in Windows.

This offer is only good in the USA and any location with a zip code! Eventually, it may be offered on late night TV. To get your free copy, send a penalty label (Label 41) to: Marty Joyce, Human Resources Specialist, US Postal Service, 1001 California Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15290-9421. These are extras left from our PEG program, so first come, first go.. Please no email orders.

5) The Death of Common Sense

Something to Think About.

My family recently acquired a black Labrador retriever puppy. She's a beauty, loyal, devoted great with kids and listens to my every command. We call her Dakota. While I was surfing the net for information on how to train Dakota I found information on training dogs to assist the blind. Did you know that Seeing Eye dogs go through strict rigorous training that teaches them to obey every command their user gives? Every command, except when harm would come to the user. These animals are trained to use their own judgment or instinct so that no harm comes to the user.

When I first joined the Postal family the Postal Service trained its Supervisors, Managers and Postmasters in similar fashions. Managers where taught rules and regulation we where taught to think on our feet. Managers where given freedom to use judgment and instinct with operational decisions. Each manager was given memorandums, instructions, and goals to follow just as we continue to get today. However, in today's Postal Service, judgment, instinct, and common sense have been replaced by a micro managed organization with little room for creativity and thinking out of the box.

How many logs do you need to complete only to show you completed other logs? The daily call-ins, How many? What's the purpose of inputting via the intranet plus calling by phone every Tuesday & Friday projecting your F-2 hours, F-4 hours, Total hours, penalty hours, LWOP hours? Don't get me wrong; we should plan out our week but what if someone projected additional hours. Would they get some assistance? No, just a phone call demanding an explanation.

In closing I find it distressing that we rely on dogs to use their own judgment everyday to assist the disabled while the Postal Service denies managers to do the same.

That's something to think about.

Please sign me anonymous.

This Issue Continues with Volume 107 Click Here