Retired Postal Worker gives a different view of outgoing PMG Patrick R. Donahoe’s legacy with USPS
January 27, 2015 – As some one who actually knows Pat Donahoe personally, and worked with him several years in the late 80s and early 90s, I can say with certainty that you are completely mistaken about Mr. Donahoe’s abilities to run this organization.
The USPS is a not for profit company so it can maintain universal service to all Americans at the most reasonable rates on the earth. Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act before Mr. Donahoe was our PMG.
He fought hard to get through Congress legislation to help alleviate the billions that Congress had assessed on the Postal Service through the PAEA.
I know from experience his dedication to every employee. He knows that the employees make the business, and he gives credit to all of you for your efforts. You may say anything you want about him, but every State of the Business Video he has done was to give credit to the men and women that do the jobs daily at the USPS, and he meant every word of praise to all of you. This is certainly not the USPS I started working for in 1980. The internet has taken a huge bite out of our core function and money producer, First Class Mail. He has built other strengths into our business to allow us to continue to remain a vital part of America.
He specifically asked for no golden parachute upon his retirement, unlike other past PMGs.
I have worked for many USPS managers, but not one of them has the care and dedication to this business as he does. He is an extremely knowledgeable and dedicated USPS employee and gives credit to those that do the jobs on a daily basis.
I retired in 2013 and contacted him to see when he was planning on retiring. He had said he had too many things to do yet and that he felt responsible to the organization to get things right. He said it was a tough uphill climb, but that someone had to do it.
I am honored to have been able to work with him and to keep in touch with him over the years. He is truly an amazing human being, I only wish you could all have been able to share with him the work I shared with him. You would most definitely see him differently than your comments are suggesting.
If you think that a 4 Million dollar retirement is not a golden parachute, then maybe we can all have the same. I think that every postal employee deserves a decent retirement. Donahoe doesn’t think that future Posatal Employees deserve a retirement at all. Yep, take the $4M and run.
former PMG Potter got a gig running washington national airport and former VP Tim Healy is President of a Pitney Bowes spin off sales outfit…………it all about cashing in for personal gain and me, myself and I. Brennan will be just another pea from the pod. I have been buying stock in UPS and FDX for over 20 years………did not have to be a brain surgeon to see this place going into the dirt. heir hitler blew his brains out when the end was near…….think the last PMG will do the same thing………or just go work with potter over at the airport?
Going Postal: I am sorry things suck at your office. Having 28 years in- I wouldn’t quit either. However, I would find the 1st day I could retire, and then get the hell out! You have been in this business long enough to know that the more things change the more they stay the same. I too though that by asking the “brass” for help or challenging them on certain things that they would be willing to at least look at another point of view, and consider my thoughts. Boy was I wrong. Most of my beef was with the NALC and I told Rolando what my opinions were, and challenged him. He didn’t like it one bit. I have been the union steward in my office for a number of years, but that doesn’t mean I agree with a lot of what they say. I don’t agree with the PO “brass” a lot either. But by now I think that you have learned just as I have that we can’t ask for help, or challenge our leaders because we won’t get what we ask for. Both sides play a game that they have been playing for 40 years or more, and NOTHING ever changes. It is only a GAME. I will put in my time, and then leave, and not worry about getting things changed or even try anymore. I won’t and don’t give to COLCPE, even though I had a regional officer tell me how much it sucked of me not to, and that I didn’t value my job. Screw them! Anyway, good luck to you in the last few years of your career, and I hope for your sake it gets better.
For the person that asked why am I still in an office that has management that is abusive….
I have been trying to get out for nearly the past two years. There is no movement as far as decent jobs via eReassign. What else do you suggest I do? You want me to give up 28 years of service and just quit?! That’s inane. I am not going to let the Postal Service do what it wants to do: drive GOOD employees to quitting their job before being able to collect their pension. They are doing this by keeping abusive management in place.
I will get to the comment praising Megan Brennan in just a moment. However, first, I want to finish talking about my personal situation and Postmaster Donahue.
He was not a good man. This has already been revealed in the many posts that so many of you have written here. I work in a high-volume office with manager(s) who have been very abusive. We asked for Donahoe’s help. He sent in a team of investigators who did nothing but put on a show. Despite over a dozen and clerks that came forward to tell investigators that they were being harassed in our office, Donahoe chose to have the whole problem swept under the carpet. I only found out the truth months later when someone from the labor team (who I knew) felt very bad about how the whole affair was handled and admitted to me that Donahoe ordered the cover-up.
Now about Megan Brennan…
I have met Megan Brennan. She is not a nice lady. She came into our plant three years ago when it was first put on the roster for closure. She essentially came down with her team to inspect the building. While there, she never smiled. She never said hello to any of the clerks or mail handlers on the floor. She had the same nasty pout on her face that every single photo I have seen has depicted. She will continue the same policies that Donahoe put in place. It’s my understanding that she worked for Donahoe in another office, latched on to him, and rode his coat all the way up the ladder. Anyone who thinks that she is going to be more sympathetic to labor than her predecessor is really kidding themselves.
There is only one way to handle an abusive manager. Keep filing grievances. They will have to answer to labor for every grievance. You do not need a steward to file. If they continue to harass or try to retaliate they are breaking federal labor laws. Do not hesitate to file if you feel that your rights have been violated. Trust me they will get tired of answering to labor!
First, the only thing that they have been interested in and have been moving towards for the last 20 years or so has been “The Last Mile” and providing a delivery vehicle for mail (letters, flats, parcels, etc.) from any source. Anyone who works in Function 4 knows this from the drop shipments that arrive daily from UPS, FedEx, Speedee, and others. We, also, know that the majority of the mail processed in the plants is business mail and that a lot of what is done is second and third handling and that our processing if it might be considered questionable because of the move towards greater checks and balances in Function 7. We, also, know that there has been a push to “sell up ” Priority and Express Mail as opposed to FCM to individual customers as there is more money in it. And, then, there are the “approved shippers” and “contract stations” and Village Post Offices or private enterprises like “Goin’ Postal” that offer USPS, FedEx, UPS, and other mailing services that have expanded to Walmart across the nation which will have their impact on Function 4 (Retail Positions aka jobs). Did I Leave out Office Despot/Office Max? And, then, there are Staples and . . ..
And, then, we rarely consider the mandates of the trade agreements that mandate postal privatization that were passed when there were Democratic majorities in Congress and signed off on by Democratic Presidents with the able assistance of Republicans and, more often than not, introduced by (BOO! HISS!) Republican Administrations.
We tend to forget, too, that we may have access to FERS, CSRS, FEHB, and other government employee programs and benefits – but we are not really federal or government employees and are not governed by their rules or pay schedules and that the Postal Department no longer exists and that part of the compromise was government oversight to see us through to complete separation from the government to full privatization.
As every PMG in the past has done, Donahoe has done his job and moved the USPS closer to privatization and there will be hell to pay for each and every postal worker whether they are EAS or Bargaining Unit. More so, you cannot say that the postal bargaining unit unions were not complicit in this as they bought in to it in varying degrees because capitalist unions serve the interests of capitalism and capitalism devours its own. The labor movement was compromised in the 1930’s and by the purges that followed any resistance to the compromise was neutralized just as any other “progressive” social, political, or economic movement in this country has been.
Donahoe may be a good and caring person. I understand that Adolf Eichmann was a good and caring husband and father as was Rudolf Hoess, the Commandant of Auschwitz during the period in which the majority of the mass murders took place. They were just following orders and doing what they were hired to do and they were good at it and were successful at it until the system changed. I am certain that the new PMG Brennan, one of the architects of the plant consolidations, will be good at carrying out her mission and is, also, a good and caring person.
The problem is “The American System” and the interests that it has served from the very beginning and until you/we change “The American System” you/we are not going to have anything different and you/we are not going to change it from within.
I feel very badly for the vast majority of the American People as we are conditioned to the point of being as delusional as the German People were from 1933-1945. One can only hope that one day they will wake up to what “The American System” is all about and change it. It is as simple and complex as that.
Dare one suggest a “Wild Cat Strike” in the Plants in the main population centers to force the issue one way or the other as was done in 1970?
I am a retired senior postal manager and many of your comments has substance. Patrick was a safe selection by the board of governors to replace Jack Potter but he was over his head as the PMG. My boss at the time and i had numerous conversations about Patrick decsions concerning changes in the USPS. His comments were uncall for bashing the union,customers,congress and its employees and he sounded like a disgruntled postal employee. No retiring PMG has ever made any negative comments before retiring like this in our USPS history. From personal experience working with the unions mailers/ customers and the management associations is part of the job. Megan The incoming PMG will do an outstanding job. All i ask is to all employees please give her a chance. Remember she will be the first female to be the PMG. There were a few area vice presidents that wanted the job however the board of governors selected her. For many of the females and people of color surely knows she will have a tough time because for years the senior executives were majority good old boys and mostly white.
Glad I retired when they offered the VER in 2009. “Fat” Jack Potter was too much. Pat The Ho’ really destroyed the business in just over three years as PMG.
He has $4million retirement and he wants us to give up our pension , can you believe that.
retire early and live longer. this job sucks the life blood out of you. all those that went into mangement did so because they know that being a letter-carrier is too physical, too much pressure, and who the hell enjoys walking through a foot of snow lugging mail in 20 degree weather. Plain and simple, the job sucks!!
he’ll get a retirement package of more than $4 million.
service has definitely gone down the sh… with the emphasis on city carrier speed; we’re defrauding the public by using the word “Service” in our title; better to just call us USP (U.S. Postal) I’m embarrassed to work for this outfit nowdays
10 machines for 20hrs vs 20 machines for 10hrs, now the PMG is looking to cut down on maintenance personnel.
Because you know him, and apparently you like him, you’re convinced that he’s done a great job for the USPS. And we KNOW that you’re not one of the employees he continually praises for doing a great job while he’s trying to figure out ways to stab you in the back. He’s helped run the USPS into the ground and he tried to convince Congress to help him do it, and of course the cuts he wants to make are from the bottom up and not from the top down. He is an idiot and you are an idiot if you think the USPS needs more chiefs and fewer Indians, because it’s the other way around. Oh well, as long as he gets his 4 million dollar departure fee, right? Please spare us the sentimental horse—t about knowing him and knowing how much he appreciates us. We know him too, and probably much better than you know him because we’re the ones he’s been trying to screw since he took that job. Good riddance to bad rubbish, and since you know him so well, please give him that message.
This coward didn’t even have the guts to sign his name. Wish I knew that before I read this garbage
Who’s kidding who here? Seriously this nonsense doesn’t even deserve a response.
1. Wonder how much this clown got paid for this bs.
2. Yeah buddy, we got it all wrong. Even though – literally- hundreds of thousands of postal employees, including those in mgmt., realize how much destruction Donuthole *himself* brought to the USPS, and you’re a single voice in the wilderness, we must have been wrong all along.
Thanks for setting us straight.
If things are so bad at your office GoingPostal then why are you still there? Eventually everyone has to help themselves in some capacity. Working for the PO isnt the only job in the world. I challenged Rolando on several issues once and got the same type of response that you got, so I decided to just play the game or get out.
Mr. Donahoe should thank the 80 percent of the workforce that is labor since we helped him achieve his goals for his bonuses and defered compensation. Mr. Donahoe received a total of $1,136,821 in bonuses and defered compensation since 2009 in his retirement package on top of his base salary! Did I mention that he also received free health care while the rest of us in the labor workforce contribute to our health plans. I am not complaining about my health care or my retirement plan. I feel that the USPS offers a very good plan for health and retirement. I just feel that Donahoe is a hypocrite because he kept on taking bonuses and raises while trying to cut service and take work away from the front line employees. He bashed labor and claimed that the USPS spends to much on labor and that labor is the reason why we are losing money. Does he not understand that the USPS is a labor business and that labor is the reason that the mail gets delivered? On behalf of labor employees, Thanks for retiring!!!!
Is this the same PMG that that wants to remove everyone from the FEHBP except for himself and executive leadership. The same person getting raises and bonuses while everyone else was on a pay freeze? The same person that wants to eliminate new employee pensions? Change from high 3 to high 5, really I can go on. He can donate his golden parachute if he truly didn’t want it. when did civil servants start getting golden parachutes anyway. Meanwhile his new plan that he’s bailling out on is falling apart. Thank for the departing gift.
Yep.
It’s also the same pmg, who will gutting craft ranks, has *increased* his own staff by almost 8%, has a private gym, and two chauffeured vehicles, all paid for with postal funds.
Oh, sorry, I almost forgot the bonuses that never quit for his staff either…….
That was his version of “shared sacrifice”, eh ?
I couldn’t have said it better myself!
All I ever heard from this butt when I was in the po was, your doing a good job but your going to lose it whenever we had those service videos. How is that encouraging to anyone? He has DESTROYED the postal svc, but service, destroyed lives, livelihoods and families. I am sure he is enjoying his golden parachute retirement, but what about the backs of the people who did the ACTUAL work. And the sad thing is, it is NOT over yet, more plant closures for this year. The APWU really sold the clerks out with their last contract. I blame this butt for the loss of my job and I have NO USE for him.
Yep.
The fact that an article such as this, was even deemed necessary, speaks volumes.
I am sure your pockets are filled with the 4 million he is getting. And how much were you paid? Give me a break!
Thank you sir for your friendship. The world is a better place because lucky people have good friends who support them through thick and thin.
As you described yourself you are happily retired and good for you. You are not then one of the 20% of our workforce who are underpaid and are not working towards a happy retirement. (the recent OIG study on PSE turnover rates puts the quash on any dreams of cost saving using PSEs) Neither are you a rural customer who has seen an extreme cut in first class mail service standards.
Not knowing anyone personally who works in the head shed in Washington, I can only judge people on what they do. Not what they say. Mr Donahoe has listened to the bean counters and has tried to cut costs by cutting services. Next time you go through the drive through at KFC ask yourself how you would feel if the 10 piece bucket of chicken you just paid full price for had only 5 pieces? A Washington bean counter might tell you that the customer would not notice and the company will cut its costs in half. A decent Chicken Industry Executive would know better and instead invest and use his knowledge of the chicken preparation process and find a way for the customer to pay for ten and get 11. Or at least through in an extra Chicken nugget.
Any one who believes that running 10 DBCS machines for 20 hours is a cost savings over running 20 DBCS machines for 10 hours does not understand the process. Especially when you consider the additional costs of transportation, the inefficiencies of an eight hour maintenance crew having only a 4 hour maintenance window, the machines and part supplies are already in place and paid for, the loss of capital by forcing higher trained people in lower level jobs, by degrading the value of our “bucket of chicken” by keeping it on the shelf an extra day: the list can go on and on.
The world is a better place because of good, unquestioning, supportive friends. The Post Office would be a better place with a leader who understands you cannot cut service and morale and the value to our customers and expect to profit long term.
Imagine if the last Post Master General had used the effort he expended in cutting service into actually improving the culture? One can only dream.
SkunK
It’s just the new employees that shouldn’t get a retirement like us old dogs hired back in the day?
Let me see hired on as a yardbird in 78, left in 82, came back in 85 left again came back in 86 an got called an offset, that Hollywood Pres threw everybody else into FERS, why not leave it at that?
Everytime they take something away, People are pissed off now, yea keep pissing them off while all you are sitting pretty, real smart you say? RIGHT!
So you’re ok with future employees not having a retirement, per Donahoe? While he goes out with his 4 million dollars?
Hope we don’t have another PMG who ‘cares’ so much.
This person is delusional.
Who wrote this anonymous praise for Postmaster Donahoe? Megan Brennan?
Let me give you yet another side of Postmaster Donahoe…
I personally contacted him to assist in getting help with management in our office who were harassing clerks and carriers on a daily basis. He sent down a team of executives who put on a mock investigation and then covered up what was happening in our facility. All of this was admitted to me months later by one of the persons involved in the investigation.
They left the problematic management in place, and to this day, employees are still being mistreated in our facility.
So, this is how Patrick Donahoe deals with bad management in the postal system?
I have no respect for this outgoing Postmaster. To say he has respect for his employee workforce is so far from the truth. We came to him asking for help in dealing with incompetence and harassment in our office. He responded by putting on a mock investigation which was covered up. The management still resides in our office and we are subjected to abusive treatment on a daily basis because of their decision to just ignore the problems.
Sounds like this person was another overpaid Manger that was part of the old PMG’S group he bought up on our backs ! You can tell his character by his remarks about new Hires and how they didnt deserve to be able to work and retire from the Postal Service ….22 years olds…..Now we need to get someone in the job who clearly has bussiness sence and isnt part of his Bubba Army .
The only thing we know he lied often about was the workforce as it is more of a workfarce.
No wrong again ole salty one… Lies like that cat back in the day in Gemany, what was the rats name? Gerbers? Here’s a word for your kind, repeat it over and over, SERVICE.