As if the post office isn’t busy enough already, it’s prime-time shipping season now through the first of the year. Changes in the post office, mean changes in your delivery, notably, that Terre Haute, Indiana’s processing plant closed in 2013, and mail sent from Terre Haute zip codes to Terre Haute zip codes is shipped to Indianapolis for processing and then back to Terre Haute. According to AFL-CIO Union leaders, Indianapolis is taking a majority of mail services from across the state, slowing down its production.
Several News 10 viewers sent e-mails, and phone calls to the newsroom asking why they were getting their mail after dark. News 10 confirmed some letter carriers are working later hours, after seeing one driver on Terre Haute’s south side Tuesday around 6:30 P.M.
“First of all they have to sort the mail at these plants and then ship them out to those outlying areas, so for instance Terre Haute used to have a plant here, it doesn’t anymore, the mail here goes to Indianapolis gets sorted and then has to be shipped back,” said John Triplett, President Letter Carriers’ Association.
Triplett noted, if mail takes longer to process, it takes longer to get Terre Haute drivers on the road. “If the mail comes at 6:00 you can start at 6:30 but if it doesn’t come at 7:00 you can’t start at 6:30, consequently you’re starting later,” he said
USPS: ‘Mail delivery broke, service ok’
I am in total agreement with my people who commented before me. Postal Management and the Letter Carriers Union are evidently some kind of “morons”. Everyone who knows anything about thug mentality knows that half the battle is already won with the cover of darkness. It has been going on for years now, and no one on either side has been putting up much of a fight. This article truly amazes me. I just heard about some new program that they are coming up with in Chi-town called operation safe haven or some crap like that. there are two things that I don’t get. 1. What makes them think that our customers whould want to put their selves in harm’s way for a carrier? Don’t take me wrong, they love their carriers, but if they become involved, what do you think is gonna happen to them when the smoke clears? They still have to live in these areas after the Postal inspectors, Postal Police, and the Chi-town cops leave. 2. Should’nt it be the responsiblity of the Postal Service to keep the Letter Carriers and all their employees safe for that matter? They are constantly sprewing safty this, safty that, but where is the safty when it comes to serving mail at night time? They claim and the Union agreed that delivering mail at night time in it’s self is not necessarily unsafe Huh, are you kidding me? Wild people, wild animals, scared people with their finger on the trigger, all kinds of dangers lurking in the night. It don’t take no genius to know that predators come to feed at night, am I right or wrong, you tell me?” NOT ONE MORE LIFE TO SAVE ONE MORE DOLLAR”
Letter carriers used to start at 6 Am and sorted all mail by hand and were usually done with route by 2:30 or maybe 4 pm at the latest. Overtime was almost non-existant. Now overtime is 2-4 hours per day per carrier. That was before volume was “down” and automation was not here, and routes were not eliminated and those addresses were not added to existing routes. Now starting times are 8 to 9 am and many days waiting for mail to come from processing centers. Management hasn’t a clue.
How lame is the USPS’ claim that they are “investigating” late deliveries? Hell, they know exactly what’s wrong – it’s the damn management that shut down processing plants and pushed carrier’s start times back and eventually caused the death of a CCA carrier in Maryland. One certainly hopes this will be an isolated incident, but the reality is, some city neighborhoods are deathtraps in broad daylight, so what safety provisions exist when a carrier is delivering a drug infested housing project after dark? To management, it’s just another number and another headache.
Perhaps continued media pressure will force them to act, but it won’t be until they’re totally cornered with nowhere to run. The trouble with investigating management is, the people and inspectors doing the investigations answer to the very managers they’re looking at, so what does anybody think the results are going to be?
Each mail truck should have a giant light on it like they give the nighttime road construction guys
Until management stops worshipping the dollar starts respecting human life, this will continue.
Interest-Jesus never preached a sermon in the dark.
mgmt. should try and see in the dark for a change.
Terre Haute, the answer is the same reason that it is happening across the nation.
USPS mgmt. idiocy.
Period.
It has nothing to do with the shortened daylight hours, as it has been occurring all summer too. Don’t believe this lie when they present it.
This is considered news? This is normal thru out the country.