Just an FYI, postmarc, RCAs will also get the 1.5 increase in November.. This is not only for regular carriers...

Supersub....at least if you are a regular you get to look forward to the whopping 1.5 increase on November 21. So for those of you out there who are regular carriers you will get a small raise I guess(before the taxman comes)

/m7190 a raise? LMFAO...umm...I aint seen one I got to actually keep yet...

I know that many of you have known Vicki Kohls for a long time. Maybe as WIWENCH or from the website she used to have RCanswers.com or maybe you just knew her as Vicki. She has dedicated many hours to helping her rural carrier family online and off. I have been very fortunate that I have the privilege of being her very close and dear friend. It deeply saddens me that I have such sad news to share on her behalf. Vicki has suffered a brain aneurism, stroke and massive heart attack. She is currently battling the biggest fight of her life and is in very very serious condition. She is improving but still very deep in the woods.
  
I am sure she and her family would appreciate any prayers and then some to help them through this difficult struggle. I am also hoping that you might take a minute and send her a little encouragement get well card. If you are interested in doing so you may by mailing it to the following address.
   
Vicki Kohls, patient
C/O Froedtert
9200 W Wisconsin Ave
Milwaukee, WI 53226-3596.
She is currently in room 10.

As always, the USPS is not being user friendly so I am attempting to help the family by providing them with as much information as possible on any Federal or Postal rules and regulations that may apply to her situation or any programs that may help her/them during this time. If anyone knows of anything I may have overlooked and you think I need to share with her family so they can best protect Vicki from the system please email me and I will pass it on to her family. You can email me at vickihelp@gmail.com

When she has been approved for the leave share program I will post again so that anyone within her geographic district (Great Lakes) who wishes to donate may do so.

It is with a heavy heart that I ask you to please keep her in your prayers until we see her smiling face once again.

Thank you.

/m7189

What? If you are a RCA, you get paid $18.24 per hour. That's it. Doesn't matter how many checks you get. It will be $18.24 an hour until RCA's get a pay raise on the next contract....maybe.

Well my 5th pay check is over plus my end of training as well, but I'm still getting pay base rate of 18.24 as a RCA and this on 6th pay check. Any suggestion?

wow, thanks for the feedback, rcaforever, Moving, and gerbug. I doubt we will leave, it is too big of a risk. My wife is a teacher and teaching jobs in Minnesota are WAY better than in Florida. We (for personal and health reasons) would really like to move down there but the risk is pretty great. We are both happy with our employment just not our climate. We live here because we were raised here and have seriously thought about changing our family base for our sons. We don't hunt, fish, snowmobile, ski, or anything that Minnesota has to offer really. We like to Scuba Dive and be outside in WARM weather...Minnesota is a wonderful place for many reasons but it might not be right for US. However, moving could be a HUGE mistake if we are wrong...just weighing all options so we have peace of mind. I don't have the education to find another job with this pay and benefits so we most likely will stay til retirement (20 years:()

Edited by author 10-13-2009 04:49 PM
Chad.....another option is to become a city carrier or management, then transfering is alot easier..............also, in Florida I hear there are whole routes that come and go with the seasons.......who runs these routes, I don't know........of course you always could be a highway contract carrier........no benefits, but still doing the same job.............

Chad /m7176 I wanted to move also, so I did end up quitting and I became an RCA again. It did work out for me, I moved to an office that had over 20 rural routes and I made regular again in 2 1/2 years. I don't recommend this for people. I would wait for a transfer post your ad all over the web, I know of at least 3 spots to post. Here, postalmag.com, and ruralinfo.net. In this day and age where routes are getting smaller with every mail count it might take a long time to be regular again. If you do however choose this option make sure you have a place to go with a Postmaster willing to hire you. There is a provision in the contract for this it is MOU #10. You will be following your wife so you will be able to get unemployment. As far as your leave, any EARNED Annual leave you will be paid for in a lump sum, Sick leave they will hold it for 3 years then you will lose it as stated by SUPER sub /m7178. Good luck!! If you have any questions ask them here or leave your e-mail and I can contact you.

Chad....I am excited for you. My dad lives in Ocala, and I spoke with the rural carrier there, and his job seems so wonderful. No snow to fight, and although his route looked heavy it is not like ours out in the country.....the miles are much smaller. Also, all the carriers I saw drove minivans. Postal minivans. Looked so much nicer than the LLV's we have in Virginia. The carrier I spoke with had a route that consisted of a few retirement communities, and he would pull up, roll the mail to a covered area and fill the individual boxes while the retired people stood on the other side of a rope, waiting for their mail, talking and joking with him, and he was loving all of it.
Keeping your marriage is worth more than all the money in the world. Enjoy your change!

one solution that I am aware of is to glue a couple of steel strips onto the fiberglass top using epoxy. Make the footprint of the strips the same as the footprint of the sign. Use clear silicone caulking around the edges to prevent wind whistle and wind lift. Paint the steel to match the top.

juleezon, in the past when carriers used "light bars" across the top of their vehicles, there fairly large rubber suction cups on each side of the bar which helped keep it down. I used to be able to buy new ones at the auto parts store (old ones wore out in the weather). Another possibility might be to rig up some kind of tie-down.

With newer vehicles, I've had a similar problem with the magnetic signs - they don't adhere very well to plastic bumpers - LOL!

Let us know what you come up with.

Hi all,
I just bought a Jeep for the route, it has a fiberglass top and am wondering what other carriers have come up with to attach their strobe light?
Thanks

WE would like to move. If transfering was a possibility for me we would've already done it. She wouldn't even suggest me quiting my job unless I wanted to. My job is better paying with better benefits, just wish it was portable. Thanks for the feedback.

/m7176 Yup. Mutual transfer. Or quit and try to get hired back as an RCA. Or, like Option suggested, wish her Bon Voyage! :)

Why is her job more important than yours? Does she make more money? Since you asked about mutual transfer, I'm assuming you're regular. In this economy, you're being asked to quit your livelihood -- a full-time job that's $20+ an hour, with full benefits. Probably the best job you've ever had, or will ever have.

Think about it, dude. I sure wouldn't do it.