From Charley Mapa, President National League of Postmasters:
As you know, in response to requests by a significant number of you, several weeks ago, the League sent a letter jointly with Napus to Postal Headquarters requesting a VERA or early out for Postmasters. Just moments ago I received the attached letter from Postal Headquarters stating that the Postal Service has received approval from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to offer a Voluntary Early Retirement to Postmasters. Judging from the tone of the attached letter, the Postal Service has set itself to the task of formulating the plan to offer the VER to Postmasters.
If you have any inclination that you may participate by accepting an early retirement, start planning today by contacting your financial advisor to help you make your decision.
Respectfully,
Charley Mapa
President
National League of Postmasters
USPS VERA Initial Approval Notice (Click to view letter)
I HAVE BEEN RETIRED FROM THE POST OFFICE FOR 5 YEARS NOW. MY CAREER CONSISTED OF 15 YEARS CITY CARRIER, 22 YEARS IN MANAGEMENT INCLUDING VARIOUS OIC DETAILS. I AM A PEOPLE ORIENTATED PERSON WHO GOT ALONG FINE WITH THE CRAFT AND WAS HARASSED BY UPPER MANAGEMENT TO DO THIS OR DO THAT. I AM PROUD TO SAY, THAT IN MY WHOLE CAREER, I TOOK CARE OF MY EMPLOYEES AND FENDED OFF THE KISS BUTTS UPSTAIRS. I ORGANIZED XMAS PARTIES, RECREATION TRIPS, AND HALLOWEEN PARTIES FOR MY EMPLOYEES. I NEVER HAD TO YELL AT OR FORCE ANY EMPLOYEE TO DO THEIR JOB AS I RESPECTED THEM AND RELIED ON THEM TO GIVE GREAT SERVICE TO THE PUBLIC. I HAD TO BE FAIR TO REWARD THE EMPLOYEE AS WELL AS GIVING DISCIPLINE WHEN ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. I NEVER MADE IT UP THE LADDER AND NEVER TOOK THE POSITION TO GET MYSELF AHEAD. WHEN I RETIRED, I DID NOT RECIEVE A THANK YOU OR RETIREMENT CERTIFICATE FROM THE POST OFFICE, BUT I HAD OVER A HUNDRED OF MY CRAFT EMPLOYEES FROM DIFFERENT CITIES THAT ATTENDED MY RETIREMENT. THAT MEANT ALL THE WORLD FOR ME….THE POST OFFICE WOULD RUN ALOT BETTER IF THE UPSTAIRS FAT GETS THEIR JOBS LOST. STILL AS OF TODAY, MANY OF MY EX-POSTAL CRAFT EMPLOYEES STILL KEEP IN WITH ME NEEDING ADVICE OR JUST TO SAY HELLO. ITS A GREAT FEELING!
I too have been around nearly 32 yrs… the PO has changed and I don’t think for the best…I hear all the slack about the supervisors…and I don’t agree with all of it….I am an injured rural carrier who works in a large office…we have a station manager , and two supervisors….and they work hard….I hear all the crap that they endure from up the ladder of command…I would not have their job for any amount of money…there are a few good people in management…there are also a few jerks and worse…as in all the crafts…there is fat to be trimmed at every level if we are to survive…the PO will never be what it used to be…sad…
I have been with the Postal Service for over 30 years now. Most of this time has been spent as a supervisor with 12 years being spent as a letter carrier. What the heck happened? I would tell you but it would take about 56 pages. Mainly, all of this “trouble” can be traced to the fact that we have too many “programs”, “projects”, SOP’s, AMSOP’s, telecons, processes, suspenses, and all the while “big brother” watching intently on his monitor at headquarters. Minute-to-minute supervision, not ljust micro-management. I know the Postal Service is in trouble, but start at the top and stop just before you get to the front line supervisors. Above these positions is a lot of fat. Then go to the carrier routes. There is fat there too, and they know it. We really don’t need operations to continually be breathing down our necks with new and improved methods and procedures. The old “war horse” has just about all it can do. We need to radically change the way we do business.
Fired Kesha Holifield from her Post Master position at Elizabeth City and that will let someone else advance, or current PM stay around. She lied about her degrees which she brought foe $1500 dollars from Hamilton University to get into the 2006 Intern program, and is now raising hell in Elizabeth City. Funny thing no one from USPS OIG, or OPM gives a dam about how she lied to get there.
i am a rural carrier and have been for over 30 years. what i have seen is unbeliveable. my office 32 years ago had one postmaster with 165 boxes and me – rural carrier 155 miles with 355 boxes. one full time clerk every morning for 5 hours and an additional clerk of 4 hours on thursdays. we helped customers. we had no computer, no phone and basically no contact with upper management. we did our jobs, handled customer complaints, shared tape, helped with packages, many of our customers could not read or write had no bank accounts and needed our help with their personal matters. —- change to today– one postmaster–300+ post office boxes, major company revenue (20 to 50 express mails every monday. Phone, computer, 2 large (K) routes -1,200 boxes, numerous programs and guess what? ABSOLUTELY NO HELP–O –NADA FOR THE POSTMASTER. HER WORK LOAD INCREASED BY A FACTOR OF 4 AND HER HELP WENT FROM 2 CLERKS OR 24 HOURS PER WEEK TO NONE NOW. SHE WORKS 40 TO 80 HOURS EVERY WEEK, THUS THE REASON SHES EXEMPT. (NO OVERTIME) sTRESS, FATIGUE, NO ENERGY, BEING ALWAYS ON THE LIST , EVEN IF OUR OFFICE DOESN’T APPLY TO THE PROGRAM. (SOLUTION–VERA – EVEN IF SHE LOVES HER JOB AND WOULD LOVE TO STAY. THE PRESSURE IS OVERWHELMING. I TRAVEL TO AROUND 15 OR SO SMALL OFFICES THAT ARE 11 TO 16 IN SIZE AND ALL ARE ABOUT THE SAME. PRESSURE-PRESSURE-PRESSURE. My customers want the pre 1971 days where the bottom line was not the most important part of our job–the customer was. we had time to lend them tape, fix their package, fill out their money orders, explain their bills, i had a blind family that i helped for years. now we cant even share a peice of tape, we have no time for package help. 2 issues, and one must suffer–has too!! revenue or customer satisfaction. ups has learned some–ups post office boxes–they will wrap ship and give you a stree address and customer service to unhappy usps customers. I love the usps and its been good to me but management or unions or bosses or thinkers that dont think are making the rules about projects that are absolutely non essential or unnessary compared to the need for service to be broght back. my people want the tax subsidy back and service back also. i am a republican an subsidies sound bad to me but it sounds good to me and for the postal service also. yes i would take a cut for more help in the ofice.
That is the one postion in the po that I have NO idea what they do. Get rid of all of them, they are just dead weight.
shpeg is a farce..falsified documents to get the safety manager the pfp….
It would be enlightening if the Postmaster in my office would get the boot now, never mind an incentive to retire early. I don’t mean to be cruel…but it is the POOM who is really running this office. Why does the USPS need such expensive dead-weight as a non-performing Postmaster anyways? The Postmaster exists in this office to create chaos and havoc. He really serves no purpose except to prance around the workroom floor in the morning talking about his beloved NY Yankees to anyone who’s willing to listen (another Yankee fan).
Under his tuteledge, management has absolutely wrecked the Safety Program, failing SHPEG for the 3rd year in a row. SHPIP was reported falsely just to get the heat off of the PM.