Layoffs

I saw a blog entry on http://returnoftheconservatives.blogspot.com/ mentioning that the U.S. Postal Service plans to layoff 40,000 workers. I've heard this before and, I believe they do plan layoffs for the first time in their history. I know for a fact they are offering early retirement to full time carriers. One city carrier I know at the Post Office where I work has put in his paperwork and is counting the days till he leaves. I'll be saddened to see him go as he is a really good joe and, as far as I know, a good mail carrier too.

Return of the Conservatives blog entry mentions that the Postal Serviced is bloated. I can state unequivocally that at the Post Office where I work, that isn't true. We have 2 custodians doing the job of 5. We have at least 4 city routes that they haven't filled with full time carriers. Because of that, other city carriers have to take pieces of these routes and carry them in addition to their regular routes.

On the rural side, we don't have enough substitute carriers though that problem is complicated. We have substitute carriers that will only work 1 day a week and aren't able to come in on short notice. The reason they do that is because they have other full time jobs. I can understand why they keep their full time jobs (the Post Office won't guarantee them more than 1 day a week) but, it creates real problems for the few subs that will come in on short notice. Those few subs tend to get tagged a LOT and that isn't right. Another problem we have sub wise is we have some bad eggs. We have one sub that has been written up at least EIGHT times and, they still can't fire that sub. That sub is now refusing to carry any route that sub doesn't like. If that sub gets assigned to a route the sub doesn't like, the sub calls out sick. The sub refuses to provide documentation that the sub was legitimately sick. Guess why. This "can't fire us mentality" is a major problem at the Postal Service.

The bad economic times promise to make things harder at a time when the Post Office is already having problems. High gas prices have really clobbered the Postal Service though this has let up some with the price of gas coming down though that won't last. More and more people are paying their bills on-line is hurting the Postal Service as it costs them their bread and butter mail i.e. First Class. And, can you remember the last time you actually wrote someone a letter? That hurts the Postal Service too. With the bad economic times, advertisers will cut back the fliers they mail. You say that's great. I say you're wrong. It's those fliers that are now paying for your mail service. Cut back on those fliers and the price of 1st class stamp may have to go higher which conversely will hurt the Postal Service as more people will turn to paying their bills on-line. It's a real problem. Ironically, this comes when the Postal Service is doing a better job than ever at delivering your mail. And, we offer good value. A study I saw recently showed that we did just as good a job as FedEx or UPS with Express Mail i.e. we promise to deliver it to the address by Noon and we were as much as 30% cheaper. Unfortunately, the word doesn't seem to be getting out about that.

Times promise to be hard for the Postal Service for at least the next year. The Postal Service needs to be more responsive to its customers and postal employees need to get out of this mindset that their jobs are absolutely safe. While the postal unions can offer some job security, there is a limit to it. The upcoming layoffs prove that. In the coming times, the greatest security those working at the Postal Service will have will be on how well they take care of their customers. Take care of the customer and, you'll stay in business (and the Postal Service is a business). Fail to do so and someone will take the Postal Service's place. FedEx and UPS and have shown that.