What goes in the life of a postal worker? How widespread are theft, sexual harassment, and the abuse of power in the post office? Retired postal worker Warren Pearlman talks about all these, plus many more, in his book “My Life and Times as a Postal Worker” (AuthorHouse; 2012).
“The book you’re about to read is my story working in the post office as a clerk and union officer,” wrote Pearlman in the back cover summary of his book. In his acknowledgments, he added, “Then information and facts gathered for this book came from mostly the newspapers and going onto the internet looking for information. The vast majority of the book came from my own personal knowledge and experiences.”
Other resources included the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence (CAEPV).
The author started his career in the Postal Service as a clerk in December 1969 at the Biscayne Annex, the main post office in Miami, Florida, and retired in June 2007. He had served the postal sector for almost four decades. He also served in the Army for 19 months between 1970 and 1972.
“During my time working for the post office, the United States Postal Service changed dramatically,” said the author. “When I first started in the Post Office, I had no idea I would stay as long as I did 37 years, five months and 17 days.”
“My Life and Times as a Postal Worker” covers Pearlman’s tenure in one of America’s oldest government agencies. He spills details about the unethical behaviors in the postal sector, particularly unethical politics, theft, and sexual harassment. He did not even spare the union in his book. Pearlman also talks about the postal killings that took place across America.
Warren Pearlman’s revelations in “My Life and Times as a Postal Worker” proves that not everything in the Postal Service is letter-prefect.
The revealing memoir was last displayed at the Miami Book Fair 2019 Street Fair on November 22-24, 2019 at Miami Dade College (Wolfson Campus) in Downtown Miami, Florida.
Order “My Life and Times as a Postal Worker” today on Amazon.
source: Webwire
Retired March 30 2018 and have never missed it even one second. The longer I am gone the more I dislike the postal service. All the bad stuff posted before my post is true.
I really loved my job as a window clerk; until management got involved. They would stand behind you with a stop watch to see how long you took with a customer. Measuring tape was bought in to measure how much mail we had in a tray. It was already counted when it ran through the machine.
Plus, I used to work a jackhammer and dig ditches in 90 degree heat for $5.50 an hour…. working at the postal service is like child’s play to me.
Most of these employees that complain never had a job in the real world… this is the easiest gig on the planet, working at the USPS.
Try being a mail carrier.
I agree… I’m talking strictly from a clerk’s point of view….but when I first started, I did a three months detail at a station….all the carriers were telling me to transfer to being a carrier…it was the best job in the postal service…. you’re your own boss once you hit the streets…etc….. I know times have drastically changed for the worse since those salad days.
But as a carrier, you can cook a steak on the dash of your LLV on your lunch break!!! LOL
I see new employees on the phone and texting and not running machines they are assigned to. The supervisors say nothing and no action is taken. If you do good work they will run you as much as they can. Even about half of the new mechanics do as little as possible and are usually successful at it. We have leaders but no leadership. They tell you what they want but when you ask how you are going to get ten hours work in a eight hour day they look at you stupidly.
It was bad, real bad. I was there 28 years and the way I survived was that I degenerated into near total apathy. I just did not give a crap about anything. Bad on me for not rising above the challenge but it was and is that bad.
maybe that was your way of best coping with an unpleasant work environment
The conditions must not have been too bad….he spent 37 years working for the USPS.
Nobody was holding a gun to his head forcing him to work at the USPS.
true but don’t forget most of the folks there need the money and wont find a better paying job elsewhere so they have to tolerate it
There are many stories in print on how the postal service has treated it’s employees. And not just the last few years has abuse occurred. just because the author is a ex union official doesn’t make the book somehow inaccurate. Stories have been written in the National Law journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and on the national TV networks. the Postal service has always treated it’s low life workers like dirt, while the big time operators are treated with respect! I notice the Postal big shots just gave the PM General a $291,000 retirement bonus. That came from Postal Mag.com. just think of how much the low life worker receives in a retirement bonus.
The Post Office has been around for over 200 years. Never in the
nation has the standards of treatment of employee’s, or customers
been so low. Their has been cases of abuse like ” GOING POSTAL ” that
has lowered the standards of all workers. The 130000 workers that were hurt that they just dumped was after this guys time. You do
rightly point out that the leadership is interested in money for them.
The union dues were over 500 per year, and only a waste of money. Charles Bukowski in his book “POST OFFICE” does in his own way
show his out look of being there. A lot of drama, but USPS still has a
lot good people willing to do their best . I hope they get a chance to
shine .
I can’t find anything about the PM getting a huge bonus so if it’s true post the link. I’m not retired yet, I have 34 years and things have gotten a lot worse since 2008. I have dealt with some union officials that were okay and some I’ve scraped better things off my shoes.
10K but after taxes $6700. Then you have to wait and wait.
Not really. The union is only better than nothing and the PO does need a union. 28 year retiree here. Thank God I am gone.
Here in Michigan the Post Master reliefs were just fired, and replaced.
In the town I worked , The workers were all fired, and replaced. I was
not fired, but retired after having a stroke. The standard here starts at zero.
The fact that he was a union officer means he has zero credibility. Anyone who knows clerks and their union knows this. If he sells two copies I will be surprised.
If this guy retired in 2007 he never saw the worst of it.
You do have a good point . The last decade things have went to hell in
a hand basket. I am glad that I don’t have to account to the public anymore on this mess.
Yeah, the author missed the “millennial wave”, descending on us with their iPhones in tow and their crappy “OK Boomer” attitude.
I could write a book about the U.S. Postal Service, too.