(Santa Fe, New Mexico) It was the kind of day at Santa Fe’s upscale Zocalo condominiums that gives new meaning to the term “going postal.”
A debit card landed in the wrong mailbox, misplaced by a postal carrier.
How did mail delivery get this bad?
He (Mike Flores, operations manager of Postal Service in this region) says the Postal Service has a first-rate carrier working the complex. His name is Buzz Nichols, and residents think highly of him. One called him a problem solver, skilled in fixing messes left by other carriers.
But when he’s off or sick, mail is routinely misfiled, Zocalo residents say.
Flores acknowledges delivery failings because of reliance on backup carriers, not just at the complex, but everywhere.
The problem, he said, is that the Postal Service has to hire non-career carriers to help fill gaps in staffing. Mail is delivered six days a week, but most carriers don’t work every day, he said.
Carriers hired to help cover shifts make $13 to $15 an hour, but they’re not going to take the job if it’s only one or two days a week, Flores said.
So the inexperienced carriers may help cover four or five different routes in a week. This may slow employee turnover because they get more hours and more pay.
Residents say non-career postal carriers deliver more panic than mail
go big Connie
Sorry Troy, you’re wrong. These cca’s are running their rear ends off and as a result are making numerous mistakes. Many of these mistakes are inexcusable, like delivering parcels to wrong streets. If NALC is telling them to go slow, they’re not listening. I think you should take your stereotypical union bashing elsewhere, as your “facts” don’t support the problems presented in the article.
You get what you pay for….Rural Carrier Relief employees get zip for benefits. Must provide vehicle, must be on “free” on call and are guaranteed nothing for all this. Turnover is tremendous.
In spite of all this….RCA’s try their best and are indisensable.
USPS is the most trusted part of government because the regular and relief carriers of both unions go the last mile for their customers.
The residents are absolutely correct. They are given more than 1 route in one day and held to unrealistic times.
I have bad days too, everybody does, but the one thing I have noticed, tha the lack of training these CCA’s receive is what hurts the letter carrier job. go back to having the PTF Letter Carrier job clasification, which means better pay and benefits, and you will get more conscientious people to work the job. The clerks are getting there PSEs converted to PTfs, why not the carrier force?
The problem is, is that when the CCA’s go to Carrier College, they are trained by STRICTLY an NALC employee. So you know that they are told to ‘take their time’, ‘don’t be in a hurry’ etc. Someone from mgmt. needs to be involved with the process to negate the lies & misconceptions the NALC tells them, before they get hired.
It’s a zoo! This place is goin under….. Just look around!!
Carriers hired to help cover shifts make $13 to $15 an hour, but they’re not going to take the job if it’s only one or two days a week, Flores said.
I am sure that the residents speak the truth. However, I worked in claims on a short detail and the regular carriers were constantly losing packages through misdelivery at apartments. You know, I put it in the box and I am sure they did. It was the wrong box.