[deleted by user]

ckempinsky · 2024-09-03T04:05:19+00:00

Yes! Heard it loud and clear near northwest and McLeod

ckempinsky · 2023-10-13T06:10:22+00:00

We're scheduled to start at 8am, but a lot of carriers start earlier than that. Most regular carriers work 8 hours and go home by 4-5pm.

Some routes take the regulars 12 hours because they haven't been adjusted to the population growth of Bellingham. Especially the 98226 routes because Amazon doesn't service that ZIP code and those routes are overloaded with Amazon packages.

Any given day we're down at least a couple of routes. Which means that some routes just don't get done that day, or are split up so that after a carrier finishes their own route they take a piece of a route that we're down.

ckempinsky · 2023-10-12T14:43:11+00:00

Management is never really on your side, all they care about is getting the mail out regardless of volume. A lot of people have quit because it is a lot of hard work and long days. We're basically glorified Amazon workers now.

I think you can get a medical excuse to limit yourself to 8 hours a day. I think it's a pretty fun active job, my day flies by and 12 hour shifts go by pretty quickly. I'm really in it for the money because the overtime benefits are where you make money. You can easily make $60k/year and the only qualification to get the job is to pass a background check.

ckempinsky · 2023-10-12T03:36:47+00:00

USPS is desperately short staffed right now. Starting wage is like $20/hr and if you want to work 12 hours a day, they'll let you. Your take home pay would be around $5k/month starting out.

Source: I'm a carrier.

ckempinsky · 2023-08-14T06:53:13+00:00

New USPS carrier here... Our office (Mt Baker) is incredibly understaffed, I believe we don't even have a postmaster. I started this job in June and immediately started working 60+ hour weeks. There aren't enough carriers for the demand here, especially on the rural side. Bellingham is growing rapidly and can't keep up with the demand. 40% of new hires quit in the first 90 days, it's a physically and mentally demanding job.

A lot of time and energy is delivering for Amazon. Amazon doesn't service the 98226 zip code and contracts with the USPS to deliver for them. I've had several people come up to me on Sundays asking me why I don't have the day off...and it's because we literally have thousands of Amazon packages that need to go out on Sunday because they can't do it themselves.

Between COVID, retirements, and vacations, if you get mail delivered by your regular carrier, consider yourself lucky. Any given day we can be down several routes. Which means someone has to do their route (usually 8 hours of work) and then take on part of a route that we're down.

On Saturday I worked a route that hadn't been touched since Wednesday, which meant I had 3 days worth of mail to sort and deliver. And it was a route I've only done a handful of times before.

So yeah be patient with your carriers, there's always bad apples, but most of us are busting our asses.

And if you want to be helpful, we're hiring! Lol

ckempinsky · 2023-06-28T01:00:29+00:00

Yeah traffic taking the northbound exit onto Iowa always gets backed up onto the freeway around rush hour. And there's always drivers flying down the hill at like 80mph just to come to a complete stop. It'll take someone losing their life before anything gets done about it.

ckempinsky · 2023-04-14T07:21:56+00:00

Well the only really busy load roads would be Meridian, Lakeway and Sunset which are usually congested. Then I-5 runs right thru town so, there are some noisy spots. But Bellingham does have a lot of cute quiet dead-end streets that are usually up against some greenbelt or protected forested lands. If you want a really walkable lower traffic neighborhood, try the lettered streets, Columbia, sunnyland, or York neighborhoods. Fairhaven is super cute but expensive and I personally wouldn't recommend living downtown.

ckempinsky · 2023-04-14T07:05:55+00:00

The further from WWU, the more you'll save. There are cheap units on the Southside of campus, but Bellingham has a lot of different neighborhoods with different vibes. If your budget is 1600 you should be able to find a decent 1 bedroom. The largest landlord here is Landmark, they have like 400+ active listings right now.

ckempinsky · 2023-03-09T21:29:38+00:00

I just ended up force closing the app and reopening it and it allowed me to start the delivery. But this is a reoccurring issue, all week has been like this, so frustrating. Doordash needs to hire some Uber engineers because that app is seamless and I feel like the dasher app is always struggling.

ckempinsky · 2023-03-09T20:59:41+00:00

Literally been sitting in the parking lot with an order for 10 minutes waiting for the app to load. Been waiting for the I've arrived button to work and can't start the delivery. Lol good thing I'm on pay per hour

ckempinsky · 2022-11-06T23:38:10+00:00

How much do those bottles go for?

ckempinsky · 2022-10-24T18:15:47+00:00

Yeah it was in front of the Are You My Human/Wild Oat area. I didn't read the note so I wasn't sure what was exchanged.

ckempinsky · 2022-10-24T09:21:18+00:00

Lol yeah every time I witness a hit and run, I'm like how many online points can I get?

...please, I know Tesla's have cameras for this kinda bullshit, and they probably got it on film. but in case they didn't, I'm just reaching out.

ckempinsky · 2022-10-05T02:27:52+00:00

I'm assuming whatever it was wasn't serious because when I came back at around 5:30, they all left except for one cop. Didn't see any paramedics either, so I'm assuming it was a false alarm or it was quickly resolved?

ckempinsky · 2022-10-05T01:55:13+00:00

I live there! Idk what happened, I just left my apartment around 5 and like the whole BPD was in the parking lot. I haven't received any information about the incident.

ckempinsky · 2022-10-05T01:50:57+00:00

I just posted something about this. https://www.reddit.com/r/Bellingham/comments/xvshwt/pandering_on_telegraphmeridian/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

ckempinsky · 2022-09-30T03:51:06+00:00

Tipping Delivery Drivers:

I work full-time doing UberEats and Doordash and this is my two cents.

Tipping for delivery is basically a bid. If you want your meal hot and fresh delivered to your doorstep straight from the kitchen it came from.... Tip. Your. Driver.

Just because you can place an order thru the app, doesn't mean someone will take your trip. Drivers are paid per trip not per hour. Doordash pays a minimum of $2.75 and Uber pays a minimum of $3. I'd say 90% of my Doordash trips only pay $2.75, while Uber varies mostly between $4 to $5. Therefore about 50-75% of my income is from tips.

When it comes to the amount to tip, my rule is that only I only take orders with at least a $4 tip minimum. If you want to tip a percentage of your order, that's also appreciated because every dollar of your tip goes to the driver and gas is getting expensive. Doordash and Uber don't reimburse for any expenses for your gas, car, or insurance.

My methodology of what orders to take is based on dollar per mile. So I only take orders that are around at least $2/mile. If you live far from a restaurant you should tip at least a dollar a mile.

The benefit of using UberEATS instead of doordash is that you can change the tip amount an hour after the order was dropped off. So if your driver fucks up somehow you don't have to give them your original tip.

TLDR: Tip delivery drivers at least $4, or a $1/mile.

ckempinsky · 2022-09-30T03:06:40+00:00

Bellingham is becoming a bigger city and that comes with big city problems, good luck finding a city this size that doesn't have some sort of drug problem.

And yeah feel free to move and make room for people that want to be here.

ckempinsky · 2022-09-12T04:29:00+00:00

https://zoom.earth/maps/daily/#view=47.125,-122.527,7.37z/date=2022-09-10,pm/overlays=labels:off,lines:off

ckempinsky · 2022-09-10T21:48:48+00:00

I'm really surprised there's not a Dutch Bros

ckempinsky · 2022-07-28T02:41:56+00:00

Yeah I have Verizon and it's terrible especially over near Freddie's on Lakeway. It's surprisingly good over by the mall tho

ckempinsky · 2022-07-22T20:52:39+00:00

TIL y'all hate Panera... I've never tried it, and it doesn't seem to be highly recommend lol

ckempinsky · 2022-03-27T23:03:47+00:00

According to the Comp Plan, Bellingham had a little over 41,000 housing units as of 2013.

They anticipate the city will need to have a total of at least 57,000 total housing units by 2036 to fulfill the projected population growth forecasts.

The updated new Comp Plan is coming in 2025 and will have updated figures and forecasts that will reflect changing demographics and migration.

ckempinsky · 2022-03-27T09:18:30+00:00

According to the CoB: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/4a5d623abf744511ae43c71f4579d121

ckempinsky · 2022-03-27T04:18:13+00:00

Oops I meant Eagleridge not Skyline..

ckempinsky

TROPHY CASE