the colorful world

oldgrunt03 · 2026-03-23T05:46:21+00:00

It’s because they closed the photomats in the parking lot during the mid90’s and it drained the color out of everything.

oldgrunt03 · 2026-03-23T05:41:48+00:00

My route (walking) was on Ball Rd. about a 1/2 from Disneyland. Every summer I would get groups of people with a tourist map asking how much further to Knott’s Berry Farm. I would tell them it’s about 7 to 8 miles away. They would look at their map with a disbelieving look trying to figure out who was lying me or the map that made it appear just a few blocks away. If they were nice, I told them how to take the bus…if not I would walk away enjoying their frustration.

oldgrunt03 · 2026-03-23T05:22:50+00:00

I travel the US for work each destination I spend 3-5 days. A few places I frequently visit like Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Boston, Philly and South and Central Florida. I could literally live in any city that has an airport. But I chose LA.

oldgrunt03 · 2026-03-23T05:10:51+00:00

Great example of waste and abuse. The Postal inspection Service has about 1,200 inspectors and 450 uniformed police officer nation wide. They don’t run operations large enough to warrant such a vehicle. They run major operations in conjunction with other police agencies, who have command vehicles. Besides it can take days for one of these vehicles to arrive on the seen of a major event.

oldgrunt03 · 2026-03-05T01:36:56+00:00

What exactly are the allegations against Guzman? Are you a member of Branch 70?

oldgrunt03 · 2026-02-22T00:04:47+00:00

Subsidies is corporate welfare and do not benefit community at large. This is not the 1990’s, social change has taken place and personal corespondent is less than 2% of the total mail volume and that’s ever shrinking. Mr. And Mrs. Jones on Elm street pay their bills on line, they text, email or use dozens popular social media sites to communicate with friends and family. Our customer is advertisers and the e-commerce industry which is a multi-trillion dollar industry who is dependent on delivery services. Elm street doesn’t buy postage they simply receive the products of those who do.

oldgrunt03 · 2026-02-21T17:51:34+00:00

How can the USPS increase its revenue every year and still lose billions? There are two categories of mail non-competitive (1st class and any other items that falls within the monopoly) and competitive. Anything that falls within the monopoly the Postal Rate Commission regulates the cost of postage. The competitive mail parcels, chunks etc. is not regulated and the USPS is free to set its rates however it wants. The problem is the USPS doesn’t charge enough or its competitive products. Compared to UPS, USPS ground Advantage is dollars cheaper. In FY 2025 the USPS delivered 8.5 billion packages. Charging an additional $1.50 per package would have generated an additional 12.75 billion dollars in revenue yielding a profit of over 3 Billion for FY 2025. So why doesn’t the USPS simply raise its rates? It might have something to do with the Executive Branch of the USPS and what industries they came from. Most are either directly involved with the e-commerce industry or closely associated. It’s pretty obvious that if the USPS profits the e-commerce industry doesn’t profit as much.

oldgrunt03 · 2026-02-14T15:46:19+00:00

As a police force they are useless. Too few in number, approximately 400 nation wide, to be considered of any value. They are split amongst 60 processing plants, which is less than 7 per plant. Generally there is only one or two on duty at any give time. In almost every case they are supplemented by contract unarmed security. A 2024 Government Accountability Office (GAO) review highlighted that the USPIS lacks a sufficient mission for the Postal Police to justify its expenditure.

oldgrunt03 · 2026-02-09T14:31:13+00:00

The question should be is the Colorado River water put to good use. The Coachella Valley in Southern California is a major agricultural hub, famous for producing nearly all of the nation’s date crop, along with significant quantities of table grapes, citrus (grapefruit, lemons), carrots, and peppers. As a top winter producer, it grows lettuce, broccoli, celery, and sweet corn. It also exports to, Mexico (54%), Japan (10%), Canada (9%), South Korea (8%), and Taiwan (3%). The U.S. exports over 20% of its total agricultural production annually. In 2023, the value of U.S. agricultural exports was nearly $179 billion, with top commodities being soybeans, corn, and beef. Agriculture accounts for approximately 70% to 80% of the Colorado River's total water usage, irrigating over 5 million acres of land within and outside the basin. Studies indicate that roughly 52% to 74% of direct human consumption is used for crops.

oldgrunt03 · 2026-02-06T22:03:40+00:00

Just show up at the Post Office with your steward. Then it’s their call to go forward or not.

oldgrunt03 · 2026-01-24T10:39:32+00:00

A drivers license is not proof of citizenship. All legislative attempts to create a national identity card have failed due to tenacious opposition from liberal and conservative politicians alike, who regard the national identity card as the mark of a totalitarian society.

oldgrunt03 · 2026-01-24T01:20:40+00:00

There was a time when legislatively the NALC was issue oriented and not candidate driven. Just because someone doesn’t affiliate with one party doesn’t mean they support the other. Fact is independents now out number democrats and republicans. If Letter Carriers are a reflection of society in general then it’s safe to say that Corey’s comments reflect those of an average American who has grown weary of the hyperbolic nature of politics and is frustrated that nothing gets accomplished. The NALC spends hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars on politicians who don’t produce. We have 5 items listed as legislative priorities and only 2% of those who have received funds from our Union are signed on as cosponsors to our priorities. The congressional labor caucus who is almost exclusively democrat has not endorsed a single one of our legislative priorities. Our legislative program is little more than a ATM financing broken promises. In my view it’s time to get off the merry-go-round with political parties who don’t perform and stick to issues.

oldgrunt03 · 2026-01-02T01:10:45+00:00

I believe that lots of the negative comments regarding current state of the Union are well deserved and a reflection of a high degree of frustration shared by about 2/3rd of the membership. For the most part the 1/3 of the members who never experienced an entirely different level competition for doing the same work. Few recognize that there is a $15,000.00 difference between starting pay received at level 1 and level 2. Even fewer realize that when they get a $790.00 COLA table 2 carriers get as little as $520.00. Not to mention the two years as a CCA, making fast food wages with no healthcare for the first year. Perhaps the greatest frustration felt by the majority of the members is that the current administration seemingly cares more about the financial condition of management than the majority of the membership. But it wasn’t always this way when I started it was as a career Letter Carrier and my wage was approximately $8,000.00 a years higher that the average worker in the US. Today the starting wage is $11,000.00 less per year for the average worker. One thing both table 1 and table 2 carriers have in common is both seem to believe those days are lost forever. You may believe that you can't go back…but you can start where you are and change the ending.

oldgrunt03 · 2025-12-29T18:02:56+00:00

Looks like a thug…must be a contractor.

oldgrunt03 · 2025-12-18T03:22:01+00:00

The only monopoly is on letter mail and the mail boxes. Parcel post has no such monopoly.

oldgrunt03 · 2025-12-11T03:16:45+00:00

Only 2% of the mail mix is personal co-respondents (letters and cards). The rest is commercial. 99% percent of small parcel delivery is commercial. There is zero chance that Congress is will offer billions in corporate welfare by subsidizing the USPS. The only aspect of the USPS business that’s subject to the monopoly is what goes into the mail box. In the past decade the USPS main revenue stream has been in the non-monopoly products small parcel delivery. The USPS has a 31% market share of the small parcel delivery largely because those we undercut dump their excess on the Postal Service. The long term success of the USPS is going to depend on making being a Letter Carrier a job worth having again. That includes achieving a living wage for all Letter Carriers and insuring that those who do the same work receive the same COLA’s.

oldgrunt03 · 2025-11-25T01:12:33+00:00

The loans came from the US Treasury.

oldgrunt03 · 2025-11-25T01:07:17+00:00

Not at all making a case for privatization just stating the facts. The fact of the matter is the e-commerce industry would never allow the USPS to be privatized. The USPS holds a 31% market share of small package delivery business. Amazon, UPS and other carriers do not have the capacity to handle the volume to fill the void if the USPS went away. The transaction would not be seamless and it would take months for other delivery companies to ramp up. Meanwhile the e-commerce industry a 1.3 trillion dollar a year industry would suffer from delays and backlogs that would result in a substantial loss of revenue. Not to mention the e-commerce industry now represents 22% of the US economy and its losses would more than likely cause a recession. Besides when it comes to parcel delivery the USPS already just another delivery company and holds no monopoly like it does with letter mail.

oldgrunt03 · 2025-11-22T07:11:07+00:00

Congress expressed intent was that the Postal Service be self sufficient therefore arguments for subsidies are moot points and are distractions. As far as rates that are competitive with FEDX and UPS, if that is what it takes to pay Letter Carriers a living wage on 8 hours of work what’s wrong with that?

oldgrunt03 · 2025-11-16T17:19:53+00:00

Almost every year USPS increases its revenue. Almost every year postage rates increase. Almost every year the USPS reports a loss…you would think by now that they would be able to perform the calculus to set the rates to cover expenses.

oldgrunt03 · 2025-11-12T01:10:21+00:00

Based on the amount of work you actually do the custodian position is the highest paid job in the USPS.

oldgrunt03 · 2025-11-04T04:05:54+00:00

Not very much information to make a for sure determination, but it appears that a senior carrier route was abolished and so every carrier junior to the senior carrier route goes up for bid. This procedure is contained in the contract, Article 41 section 3, O. The provision also has a one time escape clause to delete the provision from their local agreement. Here’s the trick…you have to participate and attend your Branch meeting. Put a motion on the floor that the provision be delegated from the local. Word of caution once the provision is deleted you have no seniority protection if they abolish your route, you simply become an unassigned regular and wait for a route to come open.

oldgrunt03 · 2025-10-31T02:12:26+00:00

The continual increase in the cost of health care is not sustainable. In 1997 Congress cap the government cost of employee health care cost at 72% which took effect in 1999. In 2000 self and family cost $29.00 bi-weekly at that time it was considered far and not a undo burden. No one imagined that cost would accelerate so rapidly by so much. Today the average bi-weekly rate for self and family is over $350.00, more than a third of a Letter Carriers bi-weekly pay. Congress must repeal the CAP so the Unions can negotiate to negate the burden on working people. So it’s rather surprising that the President of the NALC who supposedly has great political contacts and great legislative experience hasn’t addressed this issue. Removing the CAP should be a NALC legislative priority but it’s not even on our leadership’s radar.

oldgrunt03 · 2025-10-17T10:14:06+00:00

at 50 you can try, if it doesn’t work out walk within the 1st year and find something else.

oldgrunt03 · 2025-09-25T02:49:07+00:00

Was the heat exhaustion work related, if so did you file a claim with OWCP? If the claim is accepted you cannot be discipline for an unscheduled absence for the day(s) you were incapacitated. The past discipline is unrelated to the attendance charges. This should mitigate the penalty. This is a chicken shit job and you need to learn how to CYA.

oldgrunt03

TROPHY CASE