As noted in the update on Wednesday, there was a tremendous response to last week’s brainstorming exercise! As of Friday afternoon there were almost 350 comments posted — many more than usual! If nothing else, this shows widespread and heartfelt concern for the well-being and financial viability of the Postal Service. Not only was the quantity of postings notable, so was the variety of ideas; they covered a broad spectrum, from cost-cutting possibilities to new lines of business. And many of the postings received replies, for instance Nostradamus’ original posting received 13 replies, which is a testament to the thoughtfulness of everyone involved. The creativity shown by the participants makes categorizing the ideas difficult, but we’ve attempted to develop poll questions to highlight the common themes, and get your reaction as to the relative importance of these items.
Loading ...While every comment received attention, some ideas stood out as particularly thought-provoking or creative. In order to gauge your reactions as to the viability and value of a sample of ideas, we’ve developed another poll question. The following ideas were submitted by Sheri, Randy, D. Traver, Move into the future, JM, and others.
Loading ...This topic is hosted by the OIG’s Risk Analysis Research Center (RARC).
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The obvious solution to Postal solvency is to orchestrate a 5-day delivery week in consonance with an incentivized early out. And by incentivized, I mean added service time. No one will leave with a cash-only incentive except those already way past their retirement dates. In that case, the Postal Service will actually lose money since the one’s taking it are overdue to retire anyway. More than that, this weak economy will languish for at least 5-10 more years and nobody in their right mind will settle for less in times of uncertainty.
If the above is enacted, no one loses their job because the junior employees will be needed to fill in the personnel positions lost and by going to a 5-day week. In conjunction with that, the Postal Service won’t have to scramble to hire new employees because of the mass exodus of senior employees opting for an early out.
This is a win-win situation for both the service and prospective retirees and allows the service more time to assess the feasibility of other changes to universal service, without having to employ kneejerk initiatives which may bleed more cash and ruin its (currently waning) reputation. A subordinate benefit to relieving the organization of its “old-timers,” might be one in which the corporate culture of distrust and disincentivized performance, be turned around into a healthy organization rewarding performance and attitudes.
Short of enacting the above, the Postal Service will struggle to find its 21st Century identity and market niche. And despite any overtures to privatize the organization, in the case of an electronic communications meltdown — an Internet catastrophic event — the “Plan B” Postal Service will immediately become “Plan A.”
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In total agreement. Why was the “penalty” assessed??? Give those who qualify for VERA their full annuities and it will be overall better for the service in the future. A VERA was offered, but it wasn’t a true voluntary early retirement because they assessed a “penalty” for not being 55!! If you want to truly see a cost savings and reduce expenses, give those who qualify for the VERA their full annuities without “penalty” and the cost savings will be SUBSTANTIAL!!
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I’d gladly take added time onto my years in service, with no penalty, and leave right away. I’m fifty years old, and even if the OPM delayed my full retirement until I turned 55, in other words, I took the reduced pension for five years while the USPS got back on its feet, I’d still go.
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I don’t think it was so much an “assessed” penalty, as opposed to an organization trying to see how much it could save by offering nothing. The results were obvious.
The main problem with this organization, is that it’s trying to turn on a dime, adapting to a new market paradigm (no mail). Problem is, the P.O. is a monolithic entity mired in regulations and employs an antiquated methodology of managing personnel. An incentivized VERA would buy the organization the needed time to truly assess what operations can be scaled back, what real estate holdings are non mission-critical, what technological implementations will actually generate an ROI, etc. An incentivized VERA is the shortest path to short-term solvency, yet long-term planning.
When you have an organization that values process over results and has a one-size-fits-all mentality, it’s VERY difficult to adapt to changing environments.
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Polls show now is the time the public would accept a change to NO delivery except Express on Sat/Sun. So we should cut Sat delivery by next March. This will create excess delivery employee nationwide. These employees will try to be excessed to vacant positions which are few and far between, so the next step would be layoffs under our contracts.The Whitehouse,Congress, and OMB do not want a 50,000 layoff headline to hit the newspapers so this would push OMB to offer and incentive for ELIGIBLE employees to retire. A refund of your retirement payments for a cut in anuity was done in the late 70′s and would cost USPS zero. A 1 yr phase in would be needed to cover the talent drain with a 10% cap at all ofices nationwide by seniority. Option B a $25,000 option bonus would have to be paid for from a budget we don’t have funding for, a payback is your money returned to you and costs USPS nothing. It would give a leaner,less costly labor force with Sat/Sun off. Why not?
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AGAIN, ABSOLUTELY, why the “penalty”. Stop penalizing employees who’ve already put in 30 yrs of service just because they are not yet 55 yrs. old!! It won’t cost the USPS any “pay out” money at all. Just stop assessing the “penalty”. We don’t want $25000 dollars. We just want our full retirement in order to save the business. The USPS would be potentially saving approx. $30000 dollars a year on my salary alone if they would just stop the “PENALTY”!!
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You can always tell who’s craft,and who’s management.Management should realize they are on borrowed time.We’re getting down to 500,000 craft employees nation wide,but still have 30,000 supervisors,29,000 postmasters,and over 10,000 headquarters.What other business model has this much overhead.
First reduce management overall by 30%.Then put the rest of management on a salary.No more getting paid for every hour they work.Also make them work split shifts.They have clerk leads to handle customer stuff during the day.Supervisors only need to be on the clock from,8-12,and 3-6.Now that would save a ton of money.
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Really you need all the idea’s. Need to become slimmer and trimmer, reduce supv/worker ratio, give real insentives to the VERA so people take it. And explore new area’s like the banking idea, already have money orders do wire transfers and more and secure instant document transfers (fax/email) You need them ALL.
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Very, very funny! USPS keep on tolerating nepotism, favoritism, idiocy and stupidity. Postal managers always show contempt to good workers and protect the lazy ones. Unions the same. With this kind of working culture and the advent of new communications technology, we will not survive.
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Yeah, I never thought of that one. But it is good! As clerks we are responsible for any shortage in our accountability. If we don’t follow correct procedures for check acceptance they say we are responsible personally to pay. So, when supervisors and PMs violate our contracts and the grievances result in monetary reward, make those supervisors/PM pay! They are accountable!
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If we convert the current Carriers to the Rural Route concept as far as pay, we would elimate violence on the work room floor sparked by mangement, because times would no longer would be a factor. We would become more efficent, as 99% of all Rural Carriers case all their DPS and in my station there are 2 who start at 7am and are done by 12 noon, with hardley anyone working past 2pm. If we don’t chose to do this we can do the later and allow carriers to case all their DPS, on mounted Routes you can save as much as 1 hour a day, at least 2 hours a day if it was Rural as we then would be skipping lunch and breaks. More office time less street time results in less time in a motorized vehicle less chance of an accident, theft or encounter with a disgruntled patron.
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Not to mention the waste of fuel sitting idling while fingering DPS-duh. Less time on the road, fewer accidents, less likely to be around school kids and people getting home from work.I’m betting that someone is so invested in the machinery that they can’t see or don’t care what the effect is in practice. Same thing with the flat sorter-we saw a retro fitted LLv and every carrier in the room noted that there was no room for parcels-not an inch-now that we have invested billions in the flat sorters no one is going to modify or back down from this plan-it’s someone’s baby and I’m sure that someone has enough clout to go full steam ahead-no matter what the consequences are-forget the fact that we no longer get enough flats to fill the LLV’s-we’ll be hauling partially empty racks around town-now that’s efficient.
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If the USPS set up city delivery like the rurals, how would the carriers be paid? Rurals get paid well for mounted delivery, and every step on a dismount is counted and they are paid for it accordingly. City carriers would have to be paid 10 times as much as rural carriers, if they were using the same system of pay. Not to mention, the increase in trips and falls when carriers are running their routes or other ailments that result from carrying mail. The expenses in accidents and lost work time would be large, to say the least. There is a monumental difference between rural delivery, and city delivery. It would not work, unless city carriers are paid waaaaaaaay more than rural carriers, and I don’t see that happening.
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OK Here goes. Don’t get pissed off. And I hope you all
follow through.
And, I already know my sick pay balance identified below, is AS SAFE THE SUN COMING UP Tomorrow.
But, the USPS continued existence is definately
on the ropes.
Now, I’m a techy currently working in transportation, so to set the tone, my answers to poll questions are
reflected as such.
Question 1. Introduce Non-traditional Postal Services, i.e. web based, IP, wireless lan/wan etc., intelligent transportation net, similar to other noted comments provided in Brainstorming 1.
Question 2. Develop Web Based digital mail (Charge new fees for new technology services.
However,
I’ll bet my sick pay balance, only 1% or less know answers to the following questions. And, to assure accuracy, and prove you’re not peeking,
1. Who is the Chair of the committee?
2. Who are the ranking members?
Be honest with yourself.
1. First ask yourself to name the Congressional committee members that represent the USPS’s future, and the districts they are from and which one presides in you’re district.
2. Ask 50 USPS people you work with simply to name
the Congressional Committee these members belong to.
The Congressional Committee members who decide the USPS’s fate!!
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PMG Potter do you really care on how to make money. It seems to me you have a track record of losing money. Yes I could only blame one for this. You are the CEO of the largest business in the world. You go against the contraxt more so then not. Then when someone says lets case our DPS you and mangement replies it would be against the contract. We would save money. But saving money is not in your interest, so you implemented a program called DOIS. DOIS is nothing more then a management falsifcation input program. There is no human factor and the only result is increased work room floor violence. But you go ahead and keep spending money, buy some more flat sorters and service contracts to go along with that, don’t forget to tell congress how we are losing money, you can leave the part out about your purchase approvals. Spend Spend Spend just like the politcal figure heads we voted for. The spending going on in this country will catch up with us in the form of inflation with-in the next couple of years, the Postal Service is there now because we had a head start. How long do you think you would last as CEO in the private sector? To make money we need to centralize all deliveries points. To the Office of Inspector Generals thanks for asking my opinion I hope you find it worthy of being posted.
Z
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I believe there needs to be a few changes to help the service survive.
1. Stop the daily argument. The abuses by management are well documented and wide spread.
Solution: Evaluated routes. Evaluated by an independent agency. There is no trust in the organization. It must be outsourced. Currently there is no incentive to work faster, smarter or harder. the only reward is more work.
2. Retirement structure for military retirees
Solution:HR22. This retirement obligation must be taken over by the Treasury like every other Governmental agency.
3. 5 day delivery
Solution: Very unpopular with unions. Very popular with membership.
4. VERA/Right size work force
Solution: Eliminate the penalty to retire. Many members are ready and willing to go. They can not accept a penalty. Review MRA 55 yrs old to retire. This is a very physical job. 55 is quite old for Carriers. Could be a 25 and out retirement.
5. Logistics Network
Solution: Right size the delivery network. 4 drivers sit in my office for 4 hours and leave with 1 piece of equipment with little to no mail when they leave.
6. Right Size administrative/Supervisory positions.
Solution: Mandate a Worker to Supervisor ratio. When I was a Leader in the military we supervised with a ratio of 3 leaders to 100 crew. 3-5% should be plenty. You would have to eliminate many of the reports they conceive on a daily basis. A total review of there administrative workload;It seems daunting and unnessesary.
7. Workforce make-up
Source: Greater dependency on a T.E workforce.
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Ed, #4 is ABSOLUTELY on target! Why the penalty?? If there was a real need to reduce costs, then why not let the people with 30 yrs in and say 50 yrs old retire with full annuity?? The cost savings would be substantial! I liked the comment someone made about Mr. Potter; Won’t he receive some type of cash “bonus” when he retires?
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Potter wants the Postal Service to look bad. Then the politicians that he is still buddies with in Washington, can push to privatetize the USPS. No matter what, Potter will still get his bonus!
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The agency should know who is working hard and making $52000 yr who is not working and make $61000 yr.
The management has to be cut or demoted to lower level,either upper or lower management,without them(50% less) the mail will be still going out No Problem!
The postal service has clear present financial crisis and it is danger,remember that.
And like I mention from part 1,the sick leave has to be able to cash it out so the eligible can be retire.
the Money talks!
you don’t need to make the people excess and compress to the tour 1 even if they have too many people they can bump each other because simply want to make them retire ok?
how many people can you survive this tough economy without money ?
Nobody!
how much money the potter will get after he retire?
1 million dollar!
how about us? None!
and curbside delivery has to be done,and the mailbox has to be install. how?
the offer to the customer(who doe not have curbside) if you buy the $50 worth of service or stamp you will get the mailbox for free. how is that sound?
If you are less income like rural area, it will be free.
remember we are the service to the public.
One last thing to the Office of inspector general,
Always who steal the money from the agency it is not far from you .
take a look inside not outside.
You will find what you are looking for.
thanks!
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You’re too conservative on your estimate for what the non-workers (manager’s) yearly salary is. $61,000 is really a shameful $110,000.
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If we put a small charge when mail is put on hold it would add up also
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How about offering ALL employees an early retirement?
By that, I mean, quit excluding ET’s and maintenance.
We have seen the writing on the wall and have been planning accordingly. Now that we are prepared to retire and make room for some younger employees, we
are being excluded from the early offer. Also, a little extra service time or cash would be a bonus.
I hope someone out there is listening!
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Let’s look beyond the normal way of doing business, let’s offer our custumers window service at home, let’s allow our carriers to conduct all transactions on the road, let’s allow our customers to schedule window service the same way they schedule online for a packace pick up.
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1. evaluated routes for city carriers…they are taking 8 hours and alot of days O.T. for delivering 6-7 hours worth of mail. 2. cut management…we don’t need the ratio of management to workers that the P.O. is currently operating with. 3. no bouneses… I come to work everyday for my paycheck only and so should everyone else.
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I’m now retired,however,I always found the cost associated with meeting(Bulk mail system)the Van unloading time standards as a terrible waste of money.
As an example , a trailer arrives at a facility(BMC)and the requirement is to unload that Van within 18 hours,or whatever the time is now. Now we as managers will often do whatever it takes to meet the standards and don’t show delays. So we unload the Van place the contents on the floor,and guess what! as far as reports go we are OK.
That simplified example(above) more times than not,causes an overtime situation. Most of the personnel associated with that operation is aware of our commitment to the time standards, so the craft and sometimes even the supervisor will create a situation that requires additional time, and we can believe whatever theory throws at us(shouldn’t happen with procedures in place and etc,etc)but even to the vigilant manager, it becomes sometimes impossible to avoid. This should be revisited, doesn’t advance the mail. When the 18 hr rule was put in place, the cost associated with that was just unbelievable to me,it turned out to be one more excuse to work extended hours. This of course pertains to facilities that do not have a tour following them. That is just one small example, I can probably write a book, the unnecessary overtime,is a major issue, and it happens when managers make their reports based on hours rather than money,you can say to the manager well it cost me an additional 8 man hours to unload that van (2 hours 4 mh) doesn’t sound too bad,but if you tell the manager that it cost you $280.00 to unload you might get a different reaction.
Enough from me though these are just issues that I used to try(very hard)to address and was looked at like I had more that one head (3).I often asked the question show me on paper where this insanity pays off.
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Combine both city and rural carriers crafts into one and let it be “carrier”. That would eliminate inner bickering about territory, which would allow management to square routes more efficiently for the customers and the delivery of mail. Have one pay system (evaluated or salaried; they’re the same), less supervision would be needed, and the savings on manhours and fuel alone would be immediately realized.
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First of all let’s blow this productivity misconception out of the water, the fact is as of last year we were delivering 50% more mail than 20 years ago with fewer delivery employees, automation affected the office times but in the end more than half of that time was from increased street performance, and that my friends is a direct result of the craft employees working harder. What happen this past year is an unprecented economic downturn that directly effected our customer base. Not an employee problem.
Secondly, can we stop this “evaluated route” talk? Rural carriers are paid the same regardless of the number of hours they work. If they are evaluate 9.5 hours daily they are paid 9.5 hours even if they work 4 hours, the reality is in this case they are paid 5.5 hours for not working–hardly the economic savings needed for the USPS. The reality is that the rural craft savings come from the fact that their “subs” are not career employees and have no health, retirement, etc cost, plus they are paid a lower rate.
The city craft is the only daily measured employee craft in the USPS, the hostility between management and this craft is the fact that management has developed the basis for their “incentive” pay on the backs of employees that they can measure–hence the lions share of conflict arise because management rides this craft into the ground. Management has created whole new administrative functions and operational support (a boatload of non-productive managers), whose only purpose is to promote and increase management for promotions and incentive pay. It’s amazing their only purpose can be summed up in “if you can’t dazzle them with brilliance–bury them in bullchips”. In private enterprise if your supervisor can’t promote efficiency he’s fired, in the USPS we create 50 new manager positions and whole new departments to determine why the productivity went down.
There simply is too many chiefs and not enough indians folks.
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Right on, 100% !!!!!
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I think that we are top-heavy when it comes to management in our area. The station I work in is a Post Office Box, retail window station. We are associated with a nearby carrier station. (We are under the same finance number). However, our station and one other retail station, do not have supervisors, managers on site. (which is kind of nice, because things run much smoother when we are just allowed to do our job without interference and micromanagement). Our managers all work out of the carrier station, there are at least four of them on duty all the time. They almost never come to our station unless they have to make a bank run for change. So why do we need supervisors that aren’t even necessary to get the job done? The supervisors should be thinned out and upper management needs to be listening to the workers that actually interact with the public on a daily basis when making decisions about products, hours, convenience and other things that affect the customers. Thank you.
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just do away with those lazy custodians
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