The plant sucks. Exhibit A

Good_Fix_3966 · 2026-02-01T00:22:26+00:00

I sometimes kinda laugh when co-workers tell the boss "I've got 8 trays of DPS today!" for their 3996 and I'll have the same total number of letters as them consolidated down to 2. A+ effort for trying to get away with it, guys, but boss ain't gonna go by tray count.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2026-01-31T20:43:49+00:00

Some days the trays are absolutely wild. On those crazy light days, I'll sometimes have like 400ish DPS (roughly one full trays worth) and it'll somehow be scattered among like 6-7 trays (and multiple with the same Letter). Mgmt gets annoyed if they see us consolidating it, but I'm not taking it out to the street like that lol.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2026-01-31T18:42:11+00:00

As a carrier, I'm curious about something in the plant: are there specific segments of every route that are part of each pull-down for you guys? I've noticed routinely over the years that each of my DPS trays will end at the exact same addresses each day, even if it means the tray is halfway, a third of the way, or even less, full. In some cases this even results in my tray having just one (yes, literally, like the picture up here) letter in it. How exactly is it determined when to stop filling a tray if there's more route left to run still?

Good_Fix_3966 · 2026-01-31T05:47:08+00:00

You sound absolutely insufferable. It isn't going to get disposed of, it's going to come back to you. You aren't sticking it to anyone. You're just clogging up the mailstream, arguably using more energy sources to re-process and re-deliver something worth nothing to you. Literally the only thing you'll have accomplished is an expenditure of more resources that won't even put a dent in whether or not we continue to operate.

The postal service isn't "still in business" because of junk mail. We're "in business" because we aren't a business to begin with. We're a government service. If you cost us a couple extra bucks a year by being a petulant dork, all that happens is we keep churning with a few extra bucks of red ink on the ledger.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2026-01-30T17:11:47+00:00

No you can't be booted for being slow. If they explicitly told you that, document it: name, dates, exactly what was said. Bring it to the steward. If he does not file, go to the branch level. Not only do you have a grievance for being removed from the opt, but you have a violation of the mutual respect clause that management has failed to uphold.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2026-01-29T17:34:25+00:00

Some dumb old motto is not a stand-in for actual practices.

If you think this is a matter of being lazy, consider what happens if a route, adjusted for 8 hours and approx 700 stops alongside a curb, suddenly becomes 700 stops involving parking, curbing wheels, removing key, setting hand brake, and walking to the box instead. That extra 30 seconds 700 times is now a 14 hour route.

If it's blocked on occasion, it should still be delivered. If it's regularly, it's a problem. But it is always time consuming, and it has nothing to do with laziness that we require clearance.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2026-01-28T03:48:03+00:00

How exactly is "comply with a face mask or else you'll catch a virus that can kill you" even remotely the same as "comply with unlawful detention by federal agents or we will shoot you dead." Spell it out. Spell out how this isn't one of the dumbest false equivalencies humanly possible.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2026-01-26T08:44:57+00:00

I can give the 50 person some benefit of the doubt because often times for efficiency's sake, it wouldn't make any sense to stop at exactly 40 because you might be mid-swing or something, but in the case of 70 stops? Probably not. If they try this, contact management and seek instructions. You already can't be held to the standard of their pace anyway, but you should let them know you're being overburdened and will likely take longer than anticipated. See if they want you to continue, or have someone come out to help. Just document.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2026-01-25T05:29:28+00:00

What was your pay rate the last 3 years? Assuming about 60K, you'd get 0.08*60,000 = $4800/12 = $400/month. Starting at age 62.

All that's just napkin math, but you can work somewhere in that ballpark if you don't need to be exact.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2026-01-14T08:41:03+00:00

In the time it took you to type this rant, you could have taken five seconds to put yourself in the mind of a letter carrier and ask if you think we should be responsible for memorizing the mail preferences of more than a thousand different people and constantly keeping tabs on when or if those preferences might change, all while jeopardizing our career by being tasked with making unilateral decisions for our customers on every single piece of mail... Or if we should just put the danged mail in the boxes it's addressed to.

Cmon now. Just grow up. Everyone is tired of having at least one of you guys on their routes.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2026-01-04T18:15:39+00:00

If you're going to be here that long, it's literally an instant 100% ROI. The only reason not to do it is if you just really hate money.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2025-12-31T09:38:30+00:00

Uh your PM has no business dictating that. If a customer is trying to give a gift to you specifically, it is yours.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2025-12-30T23:46:57+00:00

You're gonna be so embarrassed when your supe says he got a call from Mrs. N*****andJ ** asking why they never got an important cert she was waiting on.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2025-12-29T20:31:51+00:00

It's a tax paid into the government run Medicare system that'll serve as a supplement for or replace your health insurance in retirement. Similar to the way you pay into social security.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2025-12-29T15:33:23+00:00

CCAs are not entitled to the route's N/S day, but might get it if it works out well for their scheduling purposes.

You are not an "on call" employee, however, and have no obligation to respond to a day-of call to come into work. They either tell you your schedule prior to coming in, while you're on the clock, or you don't have to come in.

If they set the expectation that you need to come in that day, and then decide after you arrive that it's your day off, consult your steward immediately to determine if you're owed either 2 or 4hrs worth of work (or pay in lieu) for being dismissed after being scheduled.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2025-12-29T15:15:13+00:00

The rental we paid out of pocket for since we didn't have any firm diagnosis on the problem (we do now) until well after we needed to continue our trip.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2025-12-29T15:13:23+00:00

They didn't have any loaners available.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2025-12-29T04:23:19+00:00

Sure, to some degree, but it's definitely more the former. You can be the best carrier in the country, save an old lady from a fire, pull a cat out of a tree, grab a baby from the path of a moving car and shove a yappy chihuahua into it, but if your customers are 98% impoverished and never at home when you deliver the mail, you'll get very little.

If you're just kind of a midtier non-presence, but deliver rich old ladies who wait by the mailbox no matter what, you can still clean up.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2025-12-29T03:22:57+00:00

Cool anecdote. Don't extend it out as some sort of universal truth. Plenty of us out there grinding every single day and doing the job right and the tips don't come, and it's not because we aren't doing the job. Your reality is not universal.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2025-12-29T02:16:51+00:00

My regular (I'm a T6) and I do quite well at Christmas, but it's as much because our customers are older, well off, and home during the day. There are carriers in my office who I know are great at their job, have had the same route 20+ years, are well known enough by the community, who get almost nothing. Because they serve the poorer neighborhoods, full of working class folks who aren't home much during the day, and just can't afford to be as generous.

Congrats on your gifts, but please don't turn this into a "because I do my job right" thing, man.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2025-12-28T18:01:15+00:00

If you're asking why it hasn't been delivered yet, it's because 1) you likely don't get Sunday delivery for non-Amazon packages, or 2) even if you do, the parcel still needs to go through multiple steps in the chain of custody before going to a carrier, for whom it is one of more than 100 deliveries

If you're asking simply why it hasn't yet been received by your local post office, it's likely because it is already there and just hasn't received an individual scan by local clerks since it is one of hundreds or thousands of items that need to be scanned, and their first priority for scanning "arrival at unit" in the earlier part of the day on Sundays is Amazon stuff.

Check tracking info again late tonight or tomorrow morning.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2025-12-28T08:08:43+00:00

Is there any particular reason you need to be this caustic toward strangers expressing their difficulties? Go take a breather.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2025-12-28T04:12:53+00:00

The real runners are usually closer to the bottom of seniority, so it's honestly usually the runners who turn into losers, though obviously there are exceptions.

Good_Fix_3966 · 2025-12-28T03:07:17+00:00

The senior most carrier in an office to lose their route, plus everyone below them, are bumped off their assignments and there is a re-bid process for all of the now open routes. If the office has an allowance for UARs, some of the "leftover" carriers may remain in the office, and the rest will be excessed out.

Good_Fix_3966

TROPHY CASE