Lawmakers question pay for USPS employees

[The Straight Story]

Lawmakers question pay for USPS employees

House lawmakers are seeking answers on workforce costs at the U.S. Postal Service.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has scheduled an April 5 hearing to examine postal workers' pay and benefits. Lawmakers previously have expressed concern over the U.S. Postal Service's labor costs, which account for approximately 80 percent of its expenses.

The committee will hear from witnesses on the new contract between the Postal Service and the American Postal Workers Union. USPS and APWU on March 14 reached a tentative agreement after months of negotiations. Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., expressed concern that the contract could worsen the Postal Service's fiscal situation.


"Costs must be reduced to align them with falling mail volume and declining revenue projections," Issa said. "The union contract renewals are the best chance to find new savings. Unfortunately, this looks like a missed opportunity. The Postal Service must show Congress and the American people that it can pay its own way, because the numbers do not seem to add up."

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=47400&oref=todaysnews

They say 80% like it is a bad thing. One would think the costs of paying people would, in most cases, be one of the largest expenses.

[angstlessk]

1. EGGactly ...define the other costs...this is a labor intensive industry

it's like saying..that the cost of cleaning a hotel is 80% labor...YEAH!...IT IS LABOR INTENSIVE...IT USES PEOPLE...THERE IS LITTLE OTHER THE POST OFFICE DOES THAN WHAT REQUIRES PEOPLE!

[Angry Dragon]

2. Unlike congress that earns every penny that they are paid

I mean they do such a good job I think they should be paid the same as CEOs

They worked hard and passed the budget bill ........ oh that's right they can't
seem to do their job.... time for the people to decide what pay congress gets.
They seem to feel that it is okay to decide what others make.

[elleng]

3. Circular???

'Costs must be reduced to align them with falling mail volume and declining revenue projections'

Surely its expected that workforce costs for Postal SERVICE would constitute a high % of its expenses!

[Urban Prairie]

4. So perhaps the USPS should cease giving bulk/mass/junk mailers HUGE pre-sort discounts

on postage for pre-sorting their mail far beyond what is necessary for it to be ultimately unsorted and then added/combined with the other thousands of first class mail pieces and then processed within the mail stream of their hi-speed sorting machines for delivery. The most pre-sorting that is required is ONLY to their 5 digit zip codes, yet these mailers obtain the largest discounts (other than volume) for pre-sorting it ~3 levels further down to the carriers' actual daily routes.

That excess pre-sortation is completely unnecessary, but the Bulk Mailers lobby is very powerful and influential in DC.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

7. If they did, they might be able to support themselves...

...and those same companies would still use the bulk mail service, even if it were more expensive. It brings in a ton of revenue and they know it.

[Curmudgeoness]

5. Didn't they ever hear the term "going postal"?

This is a workplace with a lot of stress, and the people who work there deserve to be paid a decent wage. They just will not let the working and middle classes rest until they are extinct.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

6. When it comes to the USPS, I sort of have to agree.

I don't know if you have been to a Post office in a small town recently, but the people who work in the three I have frequented most of life have become assholes recently and bitch when they have to do ANYTHING for ANYONE who comes through the door. I don't mail anything anymore. Scratch that. I mail my state taxes once a year and Christmas cards. That is it though. I use FED EX otherwise. We get our bills in the mail and pay them online. It's about to outlive it's usefulness and unless they figure out a way to actually pay for itself, it's going to die and rightly so.
Duckie

[Urban Prairie]

10. The USPS is the LAST resort of communications in the case of national emergency

Still is one of the US' largest employers, letting it "die" would affect hundreds of thousands who were or are employees. The USPS should just raise the minimum US postage rate for a first class letter to a dollar, or base it on distance for delivery, since UPS uses USPS zip codes to do just that.

You are seriously basing your opinion of all postal employees on a relatively small amount of them in apparently rural areas, that you met who worked the counter? Yeah, I know many are gruff assholes, but I also know how postal management and many rural postmasters treats them in particular, often spiced with intimidation and implied threats of termination. Being a P.O. window clerk is one of the most stressful and vulnerable positions as a postal employee, for potential discipline and possible termination, if not in extreme cases, federal prison, due to their direct handling of money.

I could add some stories of heroic postal carriers who saved their customer's lives, or about what would/could happen IF it was broken up and privatized, (think mail fraud, ID theft, and burglaries) but doing so likely would not change your opinion of them anyway.

Disclaimer: I am of course, biased since I *was* a postal worker for about 15 of my 35+ years of employment.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

12. Then versus now are two different worlds.

The USPS is dying. It is not the fault of all of the employees, but I do know every time the stamp prices go up, service gets worse and worse. I have a different mail man every day that it is delivered here in OK City. If my mom doesn't have mail, the mail person does not stop at her store to see if she has any mail that needs to go out anymore. The guy comes in and practically throws it in her face when she DOES have mail and runs out without saying much if anything. It just seems like back in the day we had the same one every time, they were courteous and cheerful. Now they seem pissed off. I don't know, it's just my perception and my opinion.
They seem to only serve to deliver Christmas Cards and bills now. :shrug:

[Oasis_]

14. As a former USPS employee..

I worked for the USPS for eight years before leaving to pursue other opportunities that presented themselves in the private sector. The vast, VAST majority of employees are committed to providing the greatest degree of service possible, BUT they're often impeded by a managerial bureaucracy that numbers one manager for every seven employees- an unheard of ratio in the private sector.

Force the USPS to rid itself of the layers upon layers of completely useless management (each Supervisor commands well over $130,00 in total compensation when factoring in health care costs, vacation time, sick time, standard pay etc etc.) and allow the dedicated employees to assume more of a leadership role in the business (as well as the Congressionally required mass overfund of pensions--a huge drag on the bottom line) and the USPS once again becomes a viable service.

Oasis

[devils chaplain]

22. The USPS is set to announce a cut of 3,000 postmaster and 2,000 supervisor positions this Friday...

And while it's awful to see jobs go, if anyone does deserve the axe it's postal management.

[devils chaplain]

21. Management cares nothing for service at the USPS...

In a normal business, an employee would be disciplined for being rude to customers, but that's not management's focus at all -- it's not about service, it's all about speed, particularly with temporary delivery personnel who in your case are likely desperately running to get back by management's specified time.

[Dappleganger]

25. You think that stamp prices going up causes service to get worse?

Well I tell you what, if people come in with an attitude and bitch about the prices, than multiply that by hundreds a week than it might make me move just a tad bit slower.

[Brickbat]

15. The postal employees in my rural area and the larger town down the road are, to a person, kind,

helpful, generous and extremely good at what they do. I'm in there at least once a week to mail something. While I like UPS, there is no UPS "store" here and they don't always come up to make a pickup.

[Occulus]

18. I guarantee you there's a terrible and abusive supervisor or a hostile work environment at play

I know this because I am a USPS employee, and have recent, firsthand experience in exactly that sort of situation.

Bad supervisors fail upward in the postal service. Good ones stay where they are, and really good ones, well-liked by the employees, "aren't management material", to coin a phrase.

A good work environment produces good employees, generally speaking; a bad environment is bad for the employee and customer alike. Want to fix the postal service? Reform postal management, STAT.

[Dappleganger]

24. That's certainly untrue where we live.

You couldn't meet a group of more helpful, cheerful workers anywhere. The same can be said for our mail carrier.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. It's been 41 years since we had a postal strike and Nixon brought in the Army to sort the mail.

The result of that was, recognition of the unions, and almost doubling of pay.

Perhaps, the postal unions will get off their duff and realize their power to bring the country to a halt if Issa has his way.

[NashVegas]

9. Perhaps It's Time We Look At the Salaries of Congressional AIDES

[underpants]

11. Do they pay rent for facilities? Have their vehicles already hit the books?

I don't know but I see where this is going - any well paying job has to be eliminated.

[and-justice-for-all]

13. I think these lawmakes are overpaid...

and we should not be providing them with their health care either, they need to go out and buy their own.

[highplainsdem]

17. +1,000

[Rage for Order]

19. Let's make them Independent Contractors and issue them 1099s instead of W-2s

Then they can handle their own tax withholding & payment, retirement planning, medical insurance, and planning for any bout of unemployment. That would be quite the wake up call for these people who have never done an honest days' work in their lives

[readmoreoften]

23. [phone]

[Rage for Order]

16. Just raise the cost of a stamp to $0.75 and be done with it. It's still a great deal

Where else can you drop an envelope in the mail in Miami and have it practically hand delivered to a friend in Seattle in 3 -4 days for $0.75?

[groundloop]

20. Once Again - What the hell are the Publicans doing about JOBS.

Every damned thing they're concerned about is anti-jobs, and anti-middle class. WAKE UP AMERICA !!!!

[U4ikLefty]

26. My postman is cool & deserves a raise...you fucking heard me!!!

I'll pay the higher taxes too.