oops hit the wrong button - love the internet..........as I was saying we need to have mail to have jobs- make sure you get your bills via USPS, your bank statements.......request catalogs, etc etc etc...........Might help a bit!

The APPS in our plant is being considered for removal. An employee told me there are 25 sites considering removing APPS machines due to dwindling volume. This is heresay of course just like the rest of these boards. Maybe they are needed in the new tier sites?? Anyhow if they remove the APPS this should help the clerks in our plant as it will be ran on the SPBS and manual. Priority mail is pretty heavy at the moment. Skids of flats still way down.

They just took out the last FSM 1000 and now triple the clerks to sort it manually and can't get the first class out.

Anyone hear of anything on this???

To Bigmikec: I can only say if the shoe fits.... I know some people are faking it for sure, and they know who they are. Sorry, when you can do absolutely nothing, and you are in your early twenty's, no way. These people see how to get out of work shortly aftter being hired, and then make it a career. One woman when on light duty on her 91st day, and that was 19 years ago! I mean the sad truth of the matter is, some people are just plain lazy! And these people are screwing over their fellow employees. But they don't care. Management is too lazy to do any thing about it , because it's too easy to just go get someone else that's not as lazy. And I'm not bitter at all. What goes around comes around. Some of these people are going to realize that when it's too late.

If you think the USPS will get rid of the APPS and revive the SPBS,you're dreaming.In my plant,as soon as the APPS went into service,the SPBS is trashed.

I thought they were selling the old SPBS to Canada.

We were told SPBS was obsolete but China wanted them since they have nothing comparable. The Chinese is probably copying it and will sell it back to USPS.

old clerk: There are always bad apples and someone always takes advantage of a good thing, I'll admit that. But the last GAO Report I read had frauds scored in at less than 1% something like .0003%. In any event, you may be getting your wish in that the USPS has the National Reassessment Process rolling to purge the system of limited duty employees. Now, that includes frauds and deserving folks.

The laws protect people old clerk, and the ADEA protects old guys like you. If the USPS starts pushing you out be sure to seek the protection of the law... because to a good many profit-seeking high managers, old clerks need to go. After the disabled they may come after you. I promise not to think of you as a fraud if you're saved by the law.

the tour supervisor denies leave requests and uses service needs as the reason for the denial. Some of my coworkers insist that service needs is not sufficient reason but can not tell me where to find out if that is correct? Does anyone know if service needs/needs of the service is adequate reason for denial? thank you.

"needs of the service" is a cop out that management has used over the years.

However, Arbitrators have ruled time and time again, that management cannot use "needs of the service" as a blanket policy to deny leave or for that matter, anything without justification.

The Union, should, file a written request for the specific reasons that mangement is using for "needs of the service". Those reasons must be other than because "I said so", annual leave usage that is under the allowed percentage, unscheduled sick leave usage, FMLA, or the number of limited/light duty personnel is not justification for "needs of the service." Piss poor management may be a good reason, since most managers do not know how to schedule a work force in the first place, either in good times or bad times, but Arbitrators do not accept this reason either.

This is why there is a flexable work force, PTFs not causuals to fill in to protectd the needs of the service.

Once the request for information is filed and the answer is received, the Union MUST file a grievance on the usage of the term "needs of the service" everytime it is used. Everytime.

99.999% of the time, what management deems as support for the "needs of the serivce, will not stand up to Arbitration and I doubt the grievance will go past Step 2, much less to Step 3.

Any Union Steward worth his/her salt can beat this with both hands tied behind their back. There are countless regional arbitrations in the APWU, NPMHU, and the NALC data bases that bust management balls on the improper use of "needs of the service".

Level 16 office PM and one ptf clerk.me!! I ask for leave for JULY 1 To July 8th. The PM said July 3rd holiday was for the PM and I could not have it off. I dont think THE PM can not give me the leave. AM I right??

Edited by author 06-16-2009 03:33 PM
sm, what the pm meant was "for the needs of the service" you can not have that week. does not matter if he really said

Edited by author 06-18-2009 10:32 PM
/m3628 Did you sign up for leave during the prime time choice period?

What you need to read over is the information for Members-At-Large of the APWU: http://www.apwu.org/mal.htm

Basically, they came with an LMOU for the small offices: http://www.apwu.org/news/webart/2008/webar...-mal_mou-080128.pdf

Here is the information about the choice vacation period:
d. Choice vacation period shall be from April 1
through November 30.
e. February 15, shall be the final date for
employees to submit their request(s) for
choice vacation period(s). If the employee
desires a copy of the approved leave request,
the employee must submit the request in
duplicate.

You're past February 15, the last signup date. So this provision applies:
8. The Procedures For Submission Of
Applications For Annual Leave During Other
Than The Choice Vacation Period (Item 12)
The remainder of the employee’s accrued annual
leave may be granted at other times during the
year, as requested by the employee, if approved by the installation head/designee.

I hear that, "for the needs" of the service all of the time. It is a lame excuse. My PM just took the last few days off, the other PTF is sick, and the FTR asked for vacation. That leaves me, a person who has never opened or closed an office, done a deposit, to sink or swim in a level 18 office. I received two days training on the deposit from a hostile co-worker.

I have a question: Who in their right minds does things like this?????

And remember, I am only to call if the truck is late or the MPOO is coming. So, I can't even call the PM.

But, I did hear a funny today. I was at the Farmer's Market and a guy says, "Hey, you work at the PO, who is that guy that was working the other day? His line was out the door, he was inept, slow and rude". I had to laugh and tell him that was our PM who is trying to cut hours so sends the clerks home. Made my day.

I have a question, who/where do you call to get the skinny on PARS and CFS and how it works? Every day we get mail back telling us that it is done incorrectly, we follow what their paper states to do, and we get it back again, with completely different instructions. There has to be a rulebook or a handbook somewhere.

For instance: Deceased Mail, it doesn't go into PARS. We are supposed to put it into a half tray, sleeve it and put this piece of paper on it that someone sent to us. We were told NOT to stamp it deceased but to write, RTS and the date on it and initial it. For the last week, it comes back with different instructions. How do I find out how we are really supposed to do it???? They told us to toss our DECEASED stamp. Our PM has not and won't order the deceased tags for the trays so I have to turn over an old tag and write on it.

Another question: When Click n Ship comes in, I weigh it up even though my co-worker, the FTR tells me that they are a trusted customer, and that I am wasting time, and to let it go, and they are ALWAYS short. I write the amount that they are short (over weight) on the package. I am going to start putt9ing postage due on them but I don't know the on-line discount, only that the weights never match. Do I call the customer and let them know? They are sometimes up to a pound short.

Thanks for listening.

Your co-worker is right, management don't cares whether the postage is correct or not. EVERY night we processed thousand of uncanceled letters/flats. Why the PO are sinking fast.

heck I worked the pars table - stuff the machines couldn't sort and it was almost impossible to figure it out - we'd get mail that had been going in circles for a couple of years - asked MDO questions and they never got back to us on them - soooooooooooo we sorted them the proper way and sent them on to manual letters to be sent where they should go! Good Luck! We also weren't allowed to touch deceased mail - it was done on tour2 - they have closed tour 2 so have no idea what they do with it now LOL

ps - your co-worker should be written up - it's her/his responsibility to make sure the postage is correct and a "trusted" customer is about as reliable as a crooked employee! You keep doing what you know is right and make sure you make note of the descripancie (sp) LOL

We also weren't allowed to touch deceased mail - it was done on tour2 - they have closed tour 2 so have no idea what they do with it now LOL

If I send it in the way they told us to, it comes back every time. So I stamp it with the finger, write "Deceased", the date & my initials, black out the barcode, draw a line through the delivery address....and it doesn't come back.