Deputy PMG: All Field Non-Bargaining Position Postings Frozen
US Postal Service Deputy Postmaster and Chief Operating Officer Pat R. Donahoe sent the following letter dated August 18, 2008:
Vice Presidents, Area Operations
SUBJECT: Field Non-Bargaining Job Postings
The July financial results were as follows: Volume was 5.4 percent under plan, revenue was 3.5 percent under plan, and expenses were 2.8 percent under plan, resulting in a net loss of $216 million. Year-to-date, volume is 3.5 percent under plan, revenue is 3.5 percent under plan, and expenses are 1.4 percent under plan, resulting in a net year-to-date loss of $1.4 billion.
The net income loss and decreasing workload require a thorough review of all administrative positions. Headquarters is working with Area representatives to determine the appropriate field administrative staffing. As a result, effective immediately, all field non-bargaining position postings are frozen. Any exceptions must be approved by the Area Vice President.
August 21st, 2008 at 8:45 am
It’s about time. This is a very top-heavy org. Instead of cutting productive workers, they need to start dumping some admin and mgmnt jobs. That’s where they’ll start cutting costs. Now if they can limit the spending of some of these mgrs. Like buying an airconditioned cab for a snowblower. Yes, people really do notice.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:36 am
Close down L’Enfant Plaza and replace it with my friend Cheney’s Halliburton….
August 21st, 2008 at 11:08 am
A lady from Headquaters recently visited our office to remind us that the Postal Service was in dire financial straits. One solution she suggested was for letter-carriers to drum up business by talking to, and educating our customers about services we offer. (Of course there was no mention of how much additional time on the street this was suppose to involve.) After her little chat I asked the woman if the Postal Service was mailing out info to every business we dealt with, and possibly following up with phone calls from employess who are not letter-carriers. I also asked if there was a masterlist of all businesses that rented P.O. Boxes that the Postal Service could use immediately.
To my first question I was told that there was no one making phone calls to our business customers to drum up business, additonal or otherwise. And to my second question I was not too surprised to learn that regulations prevented the Postal Service from composing a list of businesses from P.O. Box records.
I offer a modest proposal: amend this regulation, and begin contacting all of our business customers with information on our services.
August 21st, 2008 at 11:12 am
Northern New Jersey District needs to get rid of all the stiffs including the District Manager and Crew
August 21st, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Yeah, especially at Montvale full of idiots!
August 21st, 2008 at 3:38 pm
If the PO is in such dire financial straits—Management can give up their “pay for performance” BONUS. This is money that is unearned and undeserved!!
August 21st, 2008 at 4:58 pm
HEY BARRACUDA
AS SOON AS YOU GIVE BACK THAT $1500 COLA, I’LL GIVE BACK MY 5K BONUS…
August 21st, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Isn’t it sad that now that upper management has run the Post Office into a financial hole now they want to know how to make correction. First get rid of the dead weight that lack any real skills for which to make the Postal service operate better. Get rid of managers that have generated numerous complaints and EEO settlements as a result of their action. Eliminate Postmasters and use station managers thereby eliminating numerous unneeded managers. Eliminate administrative positions that are unneeded. Get rid of the girlfriends and boyfriends of managers which are paid by the Postal Service for service provided as perks. Return to providing service to the public for which the Postal Service have gotten away from in the last few years.
By so many screwing their way to get to the top it has resulted in the Postal Service getting screwed out of business. Okay Ladies and Gentleman choose your corner.
Just my opinion
August 21st, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Been at USPS for 33 years. Before WWW. we were best way to do business around country. Then came fax’s and now the mighty online world! It’s the Internet, THE INTERNET….and also the cell phone. No more urgent need for daily mail delivery, nice to have but not NECESSARY. Pay all bills online, send pix E-Mail and communicate with wireless more and more. Remember April 15th when almost all of us were open late and trays and trays to IRS? Just like the horse and buggy, the urban trolley company, and even Superman’s pay phone booth…USPS is rapidly going obsolete except for parcels; but the competition isn’t saddled with “universal service” to every little hamlet with a town name!!!
August 21st, 2008 at 7:12 pm
HAVE MANAGEMENT REDUCE THEIR PAY ON AN ANNUAL BASIS.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:50 am
finally trimming some fat off this puppy!!!!!!!!!woooooooooohooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!lets throw a part!!!!!!!!!!!!!!maybe they shoulda factored that into their million dollar conference last year!!!!!hahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:57 am
p.s. hey facts at least we earn our pay and besides thanx for that little 5k casual in leu of bonus i got last year ha ha!!!!!! and i agree with everybody most of those admins and managers weren’t worth a spit in craft anyway, just want to either sit on their butt or stand around and watch everybody work their butt off!!! The hell with em!!!!! AND ABOLISH THE 204B KISS BUTT PROGRAM WHILE YOUR AT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:59 am
LET’S TRY TAKING CARE OF THE BARGAINING UNITS THAT ACTUALLY PHYSICALLY MOVE THE MAIL AND EARN THEIR WAGES!!!!!!!!
August 22nd, 2008 at 5:53 am
a remora is a fish that attaches itself to a shark. the shark swims around killing to be able to eat and live. the remora just sucks on to the shark and eats the shark’s kill. sound familiar? The shark can live without the remora. can the remora live without the shark?
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:45 am
Why don’t they just “contract out” the jobs of the Headquarters staff and get some “real business people” to run this place? The Postal Service’s problems are shining a light on the ridiculous way that people are promoted into positions that they are not qualified to do. Stop trying to put more on the craft and straighted out the management house of cards.
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:47 am
Where’s Potter? Probably using a little sick leave before he retires.
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:48 am
“I am not a smart man…but I do know how to manage a Post Office.” — Forrest Gump
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Hey moderator, what gives you the right to censor posts?
Are you a management tool?
Post that creep.
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:46 pm
These are some sad comments, I’m sure there is some truth in every comment. I myself have never like to be judged as a group but as just myself and I also realized that a lot of our management makes less than us. Try doing your homework before blowing off
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Why is the LA district spending MILIONS are more offices ??????? the new Postmaster said his office is too small, it was OK with the last one , maybe his HEAD is toooooo Bigggggg
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:41 pm
And why you are looking in LA take a look at the area
August 22nd, 2008 at 5:03 pm
hey sad, don’t you realize you are part of a group working for the USPS? Don’t you think management is responsible for this mess and not the craft employees who actually do all of the arduous work? Let’s see some homework on making a viable business not putting money in the pockets of higher ups.
August 23rd, 2008 at 3:19 am
GROSS MISMGMT!!!
August 23rd, 2008 at 5:53 am
I have seen the USPS going down in flames, s I got smart, and got the hell out of there!. Do I feel better, hell yes!!Not only is the P.O. trying to kill itself, it is trying to drive all the hard working employees out of their minds! Heart attacks,strokes, all sorts of illnesses are popping up all oveer the place, along with divorces, and generallyhighly isgrintled people all over the place. What about all the people that rely on the U.S. Mail?? They don’t care, managemet is past totally incompetent!
August 23rd, 2008 at 6:37 am
The passing of the blame… the search for who, what, why how… the normal resistance to change… the fear of the unknown… and the clouded thoughts due to lack of focus!! WE ARE ALL PART OF THE PROBLEM & PART OF THE POTENTIAL SOLUTION!! Each one of the individuals that segragates MANAGEMENT from CRAFT has a longer journey than those who see us all as UPSP employees. We have all seen the segragated complaints, managment curruption and bad leadership as well as craft employees who are abusive and disrepectful to managers and supervisors and just as incompetent and undercommiteted as those management individuals that they complain about. WE ARE ALL USPS EMPLOYEES AND UNTIL WE COME TOGETHER AS A TEAM AND STOP FIGHTING EACH OTHER INTERNALLY WE CAN NOT BEGIN THE FIGHT TO SURVIVE IN AN EVOLVING WORLD WE ALL LIVE IN. WE ALL HAVE FAULTS AND IF WE COME TOGETHER WE WILL HAVE A STRENGTH FOR EVERY FAULT…. A BALANCE! BUT HUMAN NATURE AND GENERATIONS OF THOUGHT AND VALUES ARE CONSTRICTING ALL OF ARE ABILITIES AND WILLINGNESS TO SURVIVE!!!!!!!!!! WE NEED A PARADIGM SHIFT (A NEW WAY OF THINKING) IN ORDER TO SUCCEED!!!!!!!!
August 23rd, 2008 at 9:25 am
Dear management do nothings, it is not craft employees ordering wine and lobster at Ruth’s Chriss steak house, it’s you. And how about all these damn women at the district that don’t do squat, their goal all along is to sit on their ass all day. When wintertime comes around if there is a spit of precip they don’t even show up.
August 24th, 2008 at 10:57 am
i heard that for carriers when some one retires there is a freeze and the routes will not be put up to bid due to falt sorting machines is this true??
August 24th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Maybe the USPS can start saving money by NOT renewing the personal contracts they have with former/retired Postal Managers?? Paul Tartagilia (PVT), Howard “No Clue” Wingard, and many others on contract in the NY Metro area should be shown the door, for good!
August 24th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Currently we also have a retired area vp and mangers with personal contracts here in the southwest district/rio grande area. these people are not current in any of the route checks or other operations they are doing, however the good old boys in L’Enfant Plaza are pleased to pay outrageous perdiems and mileages just to spend. why doesn’t the oig look into this problem,oops forgot oig is the personal police for the postal service. how corrupt usps management has become.
August 24th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
In Postal Reporter there is a story about a VMF spending 60 grand in 1 month on out sourcing towing. Talk about a waste of money. The Carol Stream VMF burned a 2 ton truck to the ground that was 25+ grand out the door. No questions asked about that. Management probability got a raise.
And the tech that screwed up and started the fire
because he over charged the batteries was told he did a good job. He called the fire department.
And the waste goes on.
Bottom line is no one gives a sh_t, from lower management on up. If a manager screws up they get a raise and good job, if a craft person screws up and there head is not up the manager behind they screwed.
Maybe the best thing is to close the PO and start all over, and let mamagement do everything like thay want to. Can you see it now. The mail would never move.
August 25th, 2008 at 7:57 am
We sell the stamps, we pick up the mail, we sort the mail, we deliver the mail. End of story.
Stop trying to sell stuffed animals and other trinkets. Stop all the ridiculous paperwork that no one looks at. Stop the rah rah newsletters to the employees who don’t read them. Stop the constant micromanaging of front line supervisors, carriers and clerks. Use the wasted per diem money to purchase trucks that aren’t constantly being repaired.
See how much we can save with these few changes.
August 25th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
One big waste I have seen at the Post Office in recent years is all the pay that goes to either loser carriers that don’t do the job they were hired to do. You know, the ones that every other carrier complains about that don’t do anything but turn a 8 hour route into a 12 hour route. (A piece of #%@& if you will). And the other thing is all the extra money the Post office spends paying union time for stewards to defend these losers so these useless people can keep their jobs. DO YOUR JOB PEOPLE AND QUIT TICKING EVERYBODY ELSE OFF.
August 26th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
I know that most of the people I work with come to work with the intention of doing the best job they can everyday. Then, you are forced to work with people that put more effort into getting out of work than just doing the job they were hired to do. Add to the mix that if you are a high performer and want to get a detail to better yourself, chances are your manager keeps you in their vice grip, because they can’t afford to let the “producers” fly the coop. This in turn, generates resentment from “good” workers when they see “sub-par” workers getting higher detail opportunities that the “producers” in the organization should get.
August 26th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
MiTfineMailMan:
I agree with you… it is those that are lazy to work move up and kiss up with management… I have seen this happen..
In Southwest/Virginia area, there was a supervisor that was buddies with this ptf who let this ptf go home early, but this supervisor clocked him out at 8 hours a day…. call that stealing from USPS!
He got by with more than 6 months and this ptf became full time… something huh?!
Oh, these inspectors came… nothing is wrong here!!! We Don’t see nothing wrong done here….
August 27th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Dear Falloutboi, you must be another dumbshit manager. I’ve seen many carriers shown the door in my time because the manager actually got off his ass and provided DOCUMENTATION dude. Get off your lazy, fat ass and actually do some documenting of all of these atrocities you refer to and quit whining.
August 29th, 2008 at 6:47 am
We, all agree from the Mail Handlers, to all other crafts that the postal service’s fincal problem is piss-poor management. People it’s time to band together, other then continuing to fight. Most of us are Veterans of some type of Military service, these are are jobs that Congress gave to use years ago, write them and tell them the comments that you put on this web-site, how many of these people do think reads this information that written here, think about it!
September 29th, 2008 at 10:52 am
I don’t see the end of US Mail because customers have mail slots in their garage and mailboxes. We have official, solitary access to people’s homes. Nobody else does and people would not want anybody else putting anything in their mailbox. It’s part of the private express statutes and people want it that way. We may become deliverers of so-called junk but it will be secure and trusted delivery.
October 24th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
A horribly run Plant that is top heavy with unneeded administrative support jobs particularly in maintenance and InPlant Support. Maybe the women in there can sleep their way out as they did in.
October 28th, 2008 at 4:23 am
If all this cutting is going on, and losing all this money, why did my plant just have a half dozen flat screen tv’s installed with Direct TV.
November 9th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Replace all supervisor’s and managers with cctv. That is how the P.O. can save millions!
December 11th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
RE:Just my opinion Says:
August 24th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
In Postal Reporter there is a story about a VMF spending 60 grand in 1 month.
Were is it in the job description for any of the tech’s that says he is a tow truck operator, The few techs we do have are to valuable to waste on towing, i suppose you would have them contract the repairs out and let the $40 tech tow for 8 hours a day. We have VMF’s with station that are over 8 hours in round trip travel time and then you figure they may have to move 15 to 20 vehicles a day, shuttling is very expensive and time consuming. You have to remember that if we have 15 vehicle to go back to the stations in the am, the tow contactor can afford to provide us with 10 trucks and drivers and then when there down with the towing we do not have to pay them beyond the tow time, unlike an employee which we have to, pay for 8 hours.
February 21st, 2009 at 8:16 am
to the craft I will stop doing your work when you start doing it. You say give up my bonus sure when you give me 8hrs of work for the 53K a year you earn o by the way thats is more then I make as your supervisor. I dont get that nice COLA for doing noting. Thats why mine is pay for performance not just showing up for pay you thought was gong to sy work. Seems do the lest for the most pay