Exposing Corruption At US Postal Service

Black Star News ^ | 5-30-2010 | Eric L. Wattree

[Colonel Kangaroo]

The time has come for postal employees to start flexing their political muscle.

The record is clear. The United States Postal Service has been abusing, bullying, and robbing their employees blind --through forced unpaid labor-- all over the country for years now, and with complete impunity. So it's time for both Postmaster General John E. Potter and Inspector General David C. Williams to go.

By overlooking the blatant corruption that has been clearly evidenced on their watch, they could both easily be charged with malfeasance at the very least.

The U.S. Postal Service is, literally, running a modern day plantation under Potter...

[Colonel Kangaroo]

I don't know anything of the writer's allegations, but I know that in smaller stations and post offices the work often does not allow you to take a break. When I worked at the USPS, I often was on the go from 6AM to 2PM without a break except for a couple of bathroom visits. Even a trip to the water fountain was a guilty pleasure.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

Maybe ping worthy

[gunnyg]

gotta keep those federal enclaves in every “community” organized and on the alert....

[maica]

You must belong to a previous generation. Workers are always on break in the post offices that I frequent.

On the other hand, post offices are increasingly empty - a new phenomenon from when lines used to reach to the door. Post offices are closing earlier, and lay-offs are sure to come if our economy does not rebound.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Perhaps these unhappy government bureaucrats should quit, and get a real job in the private sector.

[gunnyg]

can get your money orders at any 7/11; ups & FedExp do a great job....let me think now...what else can they be used for—oh!...can’t post that stuff here!

;)
:(

[MIchaelTArchangel]

Congressman Paul Hodes of New Hampshire is to the left of Barack Obama. I won’t take any story that quotes him as newsworthy.

The next newsworthy story that quotes Hodes will be the one in which he is quoted as claiming the election was rigged, that he couldn’t possibly have lost by 10 points.

[olezip]

The United States Postal Service has been abusing, bullying, and robbing their employees blind --through forced unpaid labor-- all over the country for years now, and with complete impunity.

This claim is utter nonsense! The USPS actually is doing a pretty good job in timely delivery of mail and providing employment to hundreds of thousands of workers, male and female.

[bushpilot1]

One of my brothers is a letter carrier..try walking a mail route .iced sidewalks, slippery steps..blowing snow, rain, sleet, freezing temperatures. Letter carriers earn their meager pay. The clerks in the office are a different story.

[Big Giant Head]

That sounds like me. I get there @ 6:30 and work non-stop until the work is done anywhere from 1:30 to as late as 5 pm. But I love my job, what can I say? Our office is busy, too. Mail volume, especially parcels, has gone UP for the last couple of years.

I didn’t read the article. When I see something about “unpaid labor” or “slave” my meter goes crazy.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

Perhaps these unhappy government bureaucrats should quit, and get a real job in the private sector.

One might make a case that the work is overpaid, but I think that the extremely physical nature of most post office tasks qualify as a real job. Those tons of letters and parcels do not move on their own.

[maine yankee]

“I didn’t read the article”

‘nuff said

[raybbr]

This claim is utter nonsense! The USPS actually is doing a pretty good job in timely delivery of mail and providing employment to hundreds of thousands of workers, male and female.

I agree. I have never any real problem with the U.S. Mail. Things I mail get there and I get things all the time.

Of the billions of articles sent through the Mail it would be interesting to see the fail rate - not anecdotal claims.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

A lot of people don't understand how many postal works enjoy and take pride in their work. It's like each dispatch and deadline in a little battle and there is a real feeling of accomplishment when you've done the job on time.

I share your discomfort with the tone of the article. But even with its melodrama it does provide a sort of a counterpoint to the usual stereotype of postal workers sitting around doing nothing.

[Prole]

The problem with the USPS is that it is run by imbeciles.

Who in the heck authorized the “if it fits, it ships” stupidity?

In business terms, it makes absolutely no sense to charge a flat rate for a service that has varying costs.

[Vaduz]

True wonder why the poster didn’t post the pay scale??.

[Route797]

Perhaps these unhappy government bureaucrats should quit, and get a real job in the private sector.

I used to come home from work so stiff and sore that I could barely move. I would lay on the floor and try to pop the kinks out of my joints. Try living like that for years on end. Of course, since it's government it's not a real job.

[9YearLurker]

I’m trying to get a handle on that story. Was it written by a friend of a postal worker who kept voluntarily giving her time to other people, giving up her vacations voluntarily, etc.? But she herself wouldn’t file a complaint, instead her friend did?

[Big Giant Head]

Okay, I stumbled through it. Pro-union slant all the way. I just don’t see the corruption in my office. There’s a few weird things that happen, but nothing like what they describe. This sounds like an article designed to get the USPS work force to galvanize as a Union voting block for Democrats.

No one is forcing me to work non-stop all day. I can take my breaks, and a half-hour for lunch if I choose to. I don’t.

Six hours a day? I call BS on that. Unpaid for 6 hours per day?!? Union worker?!?

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Nobody is forcing anyone to work for the government.

I appreciate that people work hard, as much as anyone. And yes, delivering the mail is actually one of the really, true and useful jobs of government. Certainly more useful than union teachers are turning out to be.

But government workers now make more, cost more and are the most significant rising expense in America.

Yes perhaps that’s lumping some in with the generalization, who wish they weren’t so characterized.

But it’s true.

As Reagan so brilliantly said. Government is not the solution to the problem. Government is the problem.

[headsonpikes]

The problem with the USPS is that it is run by imbeciles.

Who in the heck authorized the “if it fits, it ships” stupidity?

In business terms, it makes absolutely no sense to charge a flat rate for a service that has varying costs.

************************************************************************************

Your problem, prole, is that you fail to grasp the essential ethos of socialism - equality in all things.

In my experience, the left-wing imbeciles who administer The System each fancy themselves as a stalwart truth-bearing Prometheus, but in reality they are each and every one a false Procrustes, bearing only the instruments of pain and death.

[Mobties]

In my town, it seems the Post Office is run more for the benefit of the employees than the customers — e.g. employees take all the best parking places. No self respecting private business would last a month with that sort of attitude. Now we hear that upper management is a mess.

That tears it for me. Close it down. With FedEx. UPS, and the Internet already providing more efficient cost efficient competition, there seems to be little doubt that private entrepreneurs will fill what voids in service as might emerge from a dissolution of the postal service.

[PA-RIVER]

My wife sent her nephew a “musical card” with 30 dollars in it last week. The card was “kicked out” for being too thick and sent back to our house with a red stamp indicating it was too thick.

Someone at the post office cut the letter open and removed the 30 dollars and then taped it shut. Apparently it was still too thick, but they forgot to put the money back inside. I wonder if they enjoyed reading the card and listening to it?

[Gorzaloon]

Who in the heck authorized the “if it fits, it ships” stupidity?

In business terms, it makes absolutely no sense to charge a flat rate for a service that has varying costs.

Yes, it is insane. But my small business relies on it, because it is an incredible deal. 2 days, anywhere in the US, maybe 3, at less than UPS Ground's 5-7 days. It's a no-brainer, as long as it lasts.

It does get abused, though. I once ordered a machine part..Cast iron, about 40#, that arrived in a Flat Rate box. There were probably interesting converstations at the post offices it went through.

[Gone_Postal]

bump for later

[Colonel Kangaroo]

That’s a shame and inexcusable. Obviously that guy didn’t take pride in his work like most of my coworkers did. But crooks are everywhere in every walk of life.

[Gone_Postal]

just to say unless you live in a really small town....ALL post office employees park in the back of the building ..usually fenced in and designated for employees

The front is for customers

Just saying

[mdmathis6]

Unlike other non constitutionallly authorized government programs that could be cut, the postal services are mandated by the constitution and there is still a need for them even in this “internet age”!

[ebshumidors]

Most of FEDEX’s day sort is for Priority Mail. That’s why Priority Mail is so reliable and fast.

[mdmathis6]

And that is a good thing...but business’s fail and if fedex left the scene the postal service would have to take up the slack as per the constituion...or some other service would rise in it’s place.

[rlmorel]

Over the course of my life, I have had one letter that I know of delayed for a long period of time. I got a letter returned to me five years after I sent it. It was mangled and taped up.

Other than that, I have always been impressed at the reliability.

Which is why I question the US Census operations. I, and many other people I know (If I include freepers as “people I know”) had my census form “lost” requiring multiple phone calls and visits from the census.

I don’t think the issue is in the mail: If I had to select a reliable method to disseminate and return these forms, it would be the mail.

So I assume the Census is “losing” things on purpose.

[dljordan]

” have been turning a blind eye to unconscionable crimes against middle-class and minority workers”

So ‘middle-class’ is a code word for White people?

[Oceander]

One might make a case that the work is overpaid, but I think that the extremely physical nature of most post office tasks qualify as a real job. Those tons of letters and parcels do not move on their own.

But that's precisely the nature of the problem when government distorts a market - in this case, the market for postal services - there is no way to know if the service or good is being overpaid for or underpaid for - because the government's interference means that the price information is unreliable. The only way to know if mail workers are overpaid or underpaid is to terminate the government's monopoly on all remaining postal services, and to repeal all laws that give the union more power than it would otherwise have if it were just another garden-variety services provider, like any other temp agency.

[GatorGirl]

And “workers” is socialist code.

What ever happened to the term “employee”? Too capitalist?

[mad_as_he$$]

Many years ago I owned and serviced equipment in the “Employee Area” of about 50 postal facilities. Cannot speak for carriers but what goes on in the back rooms is nothing short of criminal. One facility had 10 phones (a GMF for those in the know) I rarely saw anyone working at what I would consider a fair pace for private industry.

Fast forward to today. I am very customer oriented in my life. I cannot STAND to go to the post office, the service sucks worse than a Wells Fargo Bank. 14 people in line and someone decides to go to break. Now I understand that in some facilities there may be a constant stream of customers but in most I see surges and poor manpower planning.

On the other side there is one of the old private contract PO’s in town. 18 miles from me. In and out slam bam done. I drive there to do my postal business.

[Crazy Jim]

Good way to ship lead shot too?!?

[Fresh Wind]

Around here, the USPS provides excellent service. Mis-directed and damaged mail is very, very rare, and the people at the counter are always friendly and competent. I even had a letter carrier knock at my door to tell me that the UPS idiot had left a package at a side door that I rarely use, and it was sitting out there in the pouring rain.

If you have to ship anything out of the country, the USPS is the ONLY reasonably priced option.

[Avoiding_Sulla]

“...but in reality they are each and every one [flying] a false [flag], [a true] Procrustes, bearing only the instruments of pain and death.”

I think that’s what you meant.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

Many years ago I owned and serviced equipment in the “Employee Area” of about 50 postal facilities. Cannot speak for carriers but what goes on in the back rooms is nothing short of criminal. One facility had 10 phones (a GMF for those in the know) I rarely saw anyone working at what I would consider a fair pace for private industry.

What time of day would be there? A GMF is a slow place during the day. If you came in during the day, you didn't see the real work of the post office. The hectic work starts early evening and ends around 7 AM. Some days just going at a fair pace for private industry wouldn't get the work done in time.

[kalee]

ping

[mad_as_he$$]

Since it was open 24/7 I went in at all hours but mostly in the early am (4-5) so I could get a jump on the day. However, almost any time the high speed sorters were running and I gather at that point very problematic - maintenance and supervision all over the place. Interesting what happens when one of those things goes berserk.

[headsonpikes]

Yes - they are true Procrusteans indeed, being liars to the bone!

[flowerplough]

smaller stations and post offices the work often does not allow you to take a break? In the multiply-duplicated, hyper-redundant Post Offices ‘round my home, the “workers” often seem to see customers as a break from the personal phone calls, internet surfing, and naps.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

smaller stations and post offices the work often does not allow you to take a break? In the multiply-duplicated, hyper-redundant Post Offices ‘round my home, the “workers” often seem to see customers as a break from the personal phone calls, internet surfing, and naps.

I was talking more about in the back out of public sight where the mail gets sorted and distributed. The window clerks are only the tip of the iceberg and not always the best advertisement for service. I think some people coming in to work at the USPS get the wrong idea of postal employment from seeing window clerks. They come in expecting a cushy job and are sorely disappointed when they are told to come into work at midnight on some grunt job.

To anybody who does not like the challenge of meeting dispatches and deadlines while working night hours, I would recommend looking for a less physically demanding job.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

Since it was open 24/7 I went in at all hours but mostly in the early am (4-5) so I could get a jump on the day. However, almost any time the high speed sorters were running and I gather at that point very problematic - maintenance and supervision all over the place. Interesting what happens when one of those things goes berserk.

You've been in a GMF a lot more recently than I. My GMF experience ended a generation ago in the letter sorting machine (LSM) era.

[flowerplough]

RE: window clerks are only the tip of the iceberg.

In the, again, repeatedly-redundant village post offices ‘round here, 6 or 7 of ‘em within 15 miles of my house, the window clerk is the sort-and-distributor and the Postmaster/mistress and the janitor. And, again, they seem glad to see me when I walk in. Drop the paperback, pause the video game, yawn, stretch, etc...

[Colonel Kangaroo]

I don’t doubt you a bit. You can only report what you can see. “Associate offices” like the one you speak of are usually a whole different animal than city stations with a full complement of carriers where the real fun comes in getting the incoming mail distributed and sorted to the carriers in time so they can get to the street in a timely fashion. Of course staffing decisions vary and that causes varied working conditions. A lot of the problem at the station we worked at was that it served a growing area and while the number of routes increased from 12.5 to 15, the USPS saw fit to decrease the number of clerks working there. Thus my coworker would think he had come in early on his own time to give himself a fighting chance to get his job done on time.