17 thoughts on “Video: Congress considering 2 bills that could change the way you get your mail”

1. With all the mail theft being perpetrated nationally, requiring customers change to central delivery in the interest of saving money will be one more step toward customers leaving USPS once and for all. The younger generation (under 40 ) uses auto pay for all of their bills and rarely, if ever uses the USPS for anything other than some package delivery. The neighborhood box units (central delivery) are being vandalized on a continuous basis and the mail stolen. The central boxes are not located where most customers can see them, making them a “goldmine of opportunities” for the identity thieves. Curbside delivery would be a more secure option while balancing costs and customer satisfaction. Door to door delivery (on the porch) certainly is too expensive to maintain any longer, given the financial pressures facing the USPS. All customers should retrieve their mail from their mail receptacle daily, no matter what type of receptacle they have.

2. I am an APWU clerk for 38 years and a Union representative. When I visit stations in Manhattan and the Bronx I see how hard letter carriers work. This is not a Union issue regarding losing members. This is a community issue and, as James said, a national treasure. Carriers know the communities they serve and the community knows them. Carriers see when elderly, handicapped and others do not pick up their mail and, often times, notify authorities. Carriers have saved lives. Growing up in NYC I knew two people, my police officer who walked a beat and my mailman. Some things are just better the way they are.
   In the snow, in a storm and in the fall and winter when it is darker more than lighter, imagine an elderly or handicapped individual attempting to pick up their mail at a cluster box. It ain’t happening. As I write this people are fishing mailboxes to steal checks.

3. Many people don’t care if the changes take away benefits from the employees or an annuitant, or if the changes makes the job even worse than it is now. To the general public, the Postal Service employment is a dream job! People to day just don’t care how their fellow man, or ,woman is treated! Any one that thinks that the Postal service is a great place to work, go on down and find out how pleasant and easy it is. And as for changing management, good luck. First step, take away their prick pills.

4. All the USPS has to do is have people put a mail box at the curb in areas where it makes sense to eliminate a carrier walking up to the door. Cluster boxes do not make sense when the carrier still has to drive to the customers house to deliver parcels and other mail that require a signature. The USPS does not supply cluster boxes so who is going to pay for them and where are they going to get the land to put them? It does not make sense to make it mandatory to have cluster boxes because all of the recent theft reports on cluster boxes. This is just another example of a lack of investigation and how out of touch our congress is on how the USPS works.

5. I retire very soon so I suppose I don’t have much of a dog in this hunt. But I have to admit I am somewhat ambivalent about the possibility of centralized delivery for all city routes.
   It’s true the union would not want it because it would result in longer routes and less job positions. However, in the overall interest of the life of the USPS, it is an antiquated and silly idea to overstaff in this event as long as people are not laid off in the process. It makes the union’s (NALC) arguments of management bloat and excess a moot point, and in this respect the union is also overlooking the possibility of a safer working condition for carriers who may be able to deliver mail to cluster boxes in much better lit locations and not go door to door in terrible gang infested neighborhoods.
   The second issue is wear and tear on the body. I did nothing but walk for my first route (18 miles), 14 on the next one, and my last two were extremely heavy, the third with tons of hop and stops, which is more wearing than walking, and by the time I got the route I will retire on the damage was done. I’ve had multiple surgeries that were a direct effect of my job, a shot back and shoulder and chronic fatigue that will maybe go away only after I leave my job of 32 years in every type of weather and conditions you can think of.
   I walked, and so have tens of thousands of other brethren city carriers, with loads so heavy in the pre-internet days I couldn’t stand up straight, the pouch constantly falling off my shoulder, one street so heavy in volume I had to make sometimes four swings out of it with no vehicle, just a relay box. Carriers since computers really took off haven’t experienced those old timer days, and they’re lucky in that regard. Yes, we get some fairly heavy loads, but nothing compares to the old days.
   Centralized locations will save the health of many many letter carriers. If bad people are hanging around the boxes and the carrier fears for his or her safety, they can just drive on, something you can’t do if you’re confronted by a deranged meth head a half mile away from your LLV.
   Customers, on the other hand, especially older ones, need that front door service, and I would hope should this program be initiated, it will be easy to get hardship dismounts for them. I will have to admit that there are some extremely lazy people out there. This is a true story, I swear I am not making it up: one woman had a certified letter and the NDCBU was directly across the street, a quiet lane where traffic really was locals only. The day was sunny, pleasant, and definitely provided no excuse to not leave the house. I attempt accountables first before going to the NDCBU to avoid leaving that box to go midway through the mail and going to the door. Therefore, I had the certified letter, but the rest of her mail was in the DPS and residual tray. She asked if there was any other mail, and I said I didn’t know for sure because I stopped at her address first. She said, “can you bring it to me? My husband won’t be home with the car until 5:00.”
   She wasn’t kidding. Drive to the other side of the street to check your box? That is one of the laziest things I ever heard of. No wonder she was chronically unemployed and always waiting on a welfare check.
   The customer isn’t always right, and in this instance, definitely isn’t right. I will argue it won’t hurt anybody who is physically able to check a centralized location, and if carriers don’t run like chickens with their heads cut off, the route adjustments could be minimal. Whether that will happen with the CCA’s and new regulars who are working through lunch breaks and misdelivering mail all over the routes they’re on, I don’t know. Some CCA’s I hope are not runners, because ultimately they are responsible for their own job security.
   So I suppose one can see it both ways, convenience for the customer but possibly less wear on the carriers. Whatever happens, people will get used to it, because aren’t we all usually a bit adverse to change whether it makes sense or not?

6. Wake up America….a national treasure is being stolen from you by postal management. Your Postal Service.

7. No more “Walk slow more dough” for the slugs.

8. USPS,and the unions turn a blind eye to what is right in regards to the customer.
   The tried, and true is yesterdays garbage. The customers are not so stupid, as the
   stories tell. USPS has to pull their stuff together while that is still possible!.

   • Hardly been noticed my butt. They are routinely pilfered. You might need to check this sutra more often.

9. Facts r that some newer housing developments,usually semi-attached condominium homes,have had such cluster mail boxes 4 years. And,it has hardly been noticed. Facts r that one type of mail delivery is hardly suitable 4 all residential addresses.

10. It would save on a carrier’s body by going to curbside boxes or cluster boxes and eliminate alot of dog issues. But the union will never support it since it would diminish the number of carriers needed

11. Time is money ! Competition

12. Old news! Post Office needs to change with the times.

13. If the usps is short of money, why does it’s mgmt. still receive huge bonuses over and over ?

    Why is the same mgmt. not held responsible for the hundreds of millions, if not billions, they waste every year ?

    Until then, cry me a river usps.

    • Your point cuts right to the heart of the problem. There way to many
      cheifs, and not enough indians. If the customer has to pay their share
      with crummy service. The least USPS could do is cut a little of the fat.
      A lot of mid level management are useless!.

14. Are we forgettting handicapped people thats a large number #babyboomers

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