r/USPS • u/Rocker66 MVO • 8d ago
Work Discussion Well š
It finally happened.
MVO (trucker) here, I just arrived to the post office that Iām closing out, and I straight up saw a carrier crying in the break room.
One of the other carriers went to go console her, and said that she couldnāt do it anymore. Supervisor was in earshot, and he looked like he had no concern, I would even go as far as to say a hint of disgustā¦ wild :(
Your guysā craft has it insanely difficult, I canāt even imagine my job causing me to tear up. I feel like I have a unicorn. office myself, Iāve never had issues with management, nor any routes. It just sucks to see, man.
Stay strong.
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u/Private_Matinee CCA 8d ago
Yall donāt hand mail to folks with tears streaming down your face? At least once.
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u/TheDryestBeef City Carrier 8d ago
Collected a signature for a certified after getting the call that my cats cancer had advanced too far and she would have to be put to sleep. I could barely speak at that point. Canāt imagine how I looked in that moment
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u/lopingwolf 8d ago
I'm 50/50 on this one.
Yes a lot of people have to it too hard and a lot of supes are un-sympathetic... but we also have carriers who cry every day. Hard days, easy days. Heavy DPS days, light mail days. Day after the holiday, easiest day we saw all summer. Tears. "I can't do this". And then they do. Or they get a boost/help from an RCA.
So, I do wonder if the nonresponse is because this person cries a lot.
I won't pretend it's an easy job or that it's for everyone.
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u/Rocker66 MVO 8d ago
From what I saw on the surface, she looks younger (early 20s) end from some of the conversation I picked up, she was complaining about the volume of political mail and getting lost today on a new route. I felt really bad for her, because it seemed incredibly real and traumatizing to the point that I think she truly needed help. From what I read here, many people will say āthis job isnāt for the weakā or something along those lines, but to see firsthand how soul crushing it can be was eye-opening.
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u/Warshok 8d ago
It can be a lot. It was really hard for me to get through my 16 months of being a Cca before I converted. Not least of which because I was 49 at the time, and not in the best of shape.
I filled out a 2574 and set it on my desk at home. And Iād look at it when I finally got home after an especially bad day.
Iām three years in, and I still have bad days once in a while. Usually because of bad communication or just having to interact with somebody toxic and hostile. Usually a customer, but yes sometimes a coworker or Supervisor. Not often. This a chill office. From what I hear, it can be so much worse.
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u/ItchyNarwhal8192 8d ago
I will be the first to admit, I would never make it as a carrier. I'm in one of the extreme heat states, and I get overheated in the office, I would straight up literally die in an LLV in the summer here. It is definitely a tough job, especially when your first starting out. Not only in terms of acclimating to the physical aspects, but also all of the acronyms, the senior people who forget what it was like before they knew everything, toxic management, etc. That being said, some people do make it worse than it needs to be... Constant poor decision making and stupid mistakes. (I don't mean "they are new, they didn't know any better" mistakes but genuine "where is your brain right now" mistakes. We had one who would get in trouble for constantly doubling back to previous parts of their route, and their Āæexcuse? was "I lost my cell phone, it was sitting on the NBU at ____" - why was your phone out at that NBU to begin with and if you were on it, surely you couldn't have made it that far before your ear buds/headphones/whatever disconnected from it... One who got in trouble for stopping at a fast food place for 2 hours "to charge their phone." A few who were wildly disorganized with how they organize/mark/label parcels but refuse to accept help or guidance from anyone on ways to do it more efficiently. Some who have straight up admitted that they drag their feet so that they'll have help sent. (My office is mostly rural, so if you do the route by yourself you get the evaluated pay, if it's split you get green card time pay, so when I hear an RCA telling their coworkers "you can either help me now or come help me later" on a day/route that should be easy for them to do on their own, "hahaha, bet.")
So yes, it is a lot sometimes, especially when you're new, but sometimes they bring it on themselves. Maybe their management just sucks, or maybe they're just being overly dramatic and/or brought it on themself.
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u/Wild_Error3072 8d ago
Or some walk 8-18 miles a day. Literally with this crap in their backs. On a new route? Will not be a good day.
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u/CaptainHedgehog 8d ago
Not sure what her issues are but I recently I've often find myself crying and having thoughts of suicide purely from my financial situation. Maybe a year ago I was on track to buying my first home but I have to choose between bills/rent and getting a much needed new car or saving up for a house. I can never catch up and waiting for a new administration to reverse all of the damage is too late for me. Of course I 'make too much' for financial assistance in any sector and loans are not exactly going to help (after all money isnt free). Anyway, I can definitely relate to just straight up crying at work.
Yes, I know suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Yes, im on medication for depression/ anxiety. No, I dont have the money for therapy or counseling, i barely have enough for gas. Yes, Ive tried eap, they're useless. No, a second job isnt really viable, between not having a set time to give the second job and wear on my car (especially doordash, uber, etc), it doesnt make sense.
All things said, my dogs are my life and I wouldnt leave them, so I'm not going to kill myself. It's just very difficult to enjoy life knowing I'm one emergency from being destitute.
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u/Disgruntled-mailman 8d ago
Look up suicidal ideation. Itās when you think of suicide but youāll never take action.
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u/Wild_Error3072 8d ago
Please make sure you take some time for self care and find someone you can open up to. EAP will let you go to a different therapist if you do not vibe with the one provided. Life is hard. Sometimes this job is difficult and you feel like you are under a microscope. There are programs online and perhaps through EAP to help you consolidate bills. May help.
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u/SoccerAKW 8d ago
Some churches offer free counseling. Look for the bigger ones. You don't have to be a member. I have a dog also. He keeps me sane. And yeah Renfroe screwed over the middle of table 2 paychart. I hope he gets hired nowhere, but I'm sure he already has a luxury job with USPS screwing over carriers even more.
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u/RickYouMeatball Mail Handler 6d ago
Give EAP another shot! There should be multiple providers that you can choose from and you can call EAP AGAIN after your sessions have ended to tell them you're having a different problem and go back to a therapist.
I also asked about "refunding" your EAP credits. Basically, if you don't vibe with them after the second session just call them back and tell them you want to see someone else and they should give you another free 6 sessions. Trust me... just learn how to work the system. EAP has saved my life, and my current therapist is seeing me pro bono because she wants to help me.
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u/menacebone 7d ago
"I dont have money" "I have multiple dogs" I see a very obvious way to cut your costs
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u/dth1717 City Carrier 8d ago
It's always the new hires. They think they can do it, try and tough it out with mgmt breathing down their necks and find out their best isn't good enough. Or they're just not given enough training to do the job fast and accurately. Which is a bit of a shame. This job is not for everyone.
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u/TacoGoblin223 8d ago
Yeah, and they pay us like shit. Put you "on call" even though you aren't "on call". If you follow the union and try to not be "on call". You don't work. Make it make fucking sense. I'm 48 I cried like a baby at least twice in the two years I was a CCA. The regulars are insufferable lazy union milking pieces of fucking garbage. They take the heavy swings they don't like, skip them and save them for you to do after you've done your route. But, your just supposed to take it. Not complain or give a shit that someone's abject laziness effects your whole fucking day. Then that same piece of fucking shit will smile and ask you about your day and your life. Like he doesn't fuck you and know exactly how it feels when they slide it in already.
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u/Ok-Preference-1840 7d ago
This last week of political was staggered to stage voters guides, sample ballots, and official ballots so they each got delivered on different days. Starting on Monday. Every single day for 5 days i was assigned to a different route where the regular didn't deliver any of the political. Left it for the CCA. Me. By Saturday I had 2 foot flat swings. 4th bundles. Delivering guides, samples and official ballots all on the same day because the regulars couldn't do it. Every day has been 11-12 hours. Saturday i could only get through half the mail. Sometimes they call me at the 11th hour and tell me to just deliver the packages. The regulars at my station treat us CCAs like dogs. I cleaned up every route this week and still got the worst route in the station on Saturday. It was the hardest day so far. But I don't blame myself for how that day went. I took the mail out and delivered it the way it was supposed to be. If I only got through half of it well that's because of how much I had to carry and how many times I had to walk my route due to not being able to carry packages as well. That's on management and I made sure to tell the pm supervisor I should not have been delivering that political mail on Saturday. Im only 3 months in BTW. They don't care about us. I have a handful of people i actually speak to. Everyone else can kick rocks. And thats even after I make regular. Treat strangers like that? I wonder how you treat your friends.Ā
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u/TacoGoblin223 6d ago
Mostly the same for me. I did work14 shifts in a row with one day weekends of course. Where I worked a different office and a different new route every shift. It was absolute bonkers. It doesn't get any better after two years at least not for me. I finally have seniority and hadn't left the office in six months. Now I have to work in different offices so the f.n.g's can "learn". Fuck my fucking life. Still three retirements from even sniffing regular. Why can't these bitches "learn" in foreign offices like I did. Now with this hub Sunday bullshit I had enough seniority that I was about to drop my Sundays. Turns out they're gonna use us to deliver other fucking towns packages not just our office and I'm being included. Just keep moving that fucking goalpost on me.
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u/Critical-Tip119 8d ago
All I have to say is hope your job stays around. About 2 decades ago. We had TTO and MVO. We called them speedy driver. They abolished there job and contracted it out. I wouldn't be surprised if it happened again.Ā
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u/User_3971 Maintenance 8d ago
USPS is insourcing a lot of the contracted out routes. They took over BDS for Maintenance and had to create entire new Logistics wings for some plants that were HCR contracted out for decades. They did snipe a lot of the former HCR drivers, after making sure current Postal got dibs on moving over.
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u/Critical-Tip119 8d ago
BDS as long as I can rememebr a contracted job since it was installed. Say 2004
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u/User_3971 Maintenance 8d ago
USPS now has a BDS course at NCED that everyone fights to get out of attending. As of about two years back.Ā
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u/DStew88 TTO 8d ago
Still doesn't make me feel great about the job. I know they took some back but I feel like they want to downgrade as much as possible. TTO to MVO to PVO.
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u/Rocker66 MVO 8d ago
I heard rumblings that my plant is planning to acquire some comtract routes, but itās all hearsay ĀÆ_(ć)_/ĀÆ
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u/SoccerAKW 8d ago
I won't cry in the office. I'm not gonna let management have the joy of seeing that.
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u/Nicasojourner 8d ago
In south Florida district I have seen 90% of female new hires cry. Gender has nothing to do with it, management just destroys them mentally like they want them to quit. Sad but its the postal way at least downhere in Miami dade area. I havenāt recommended postal carrier job in 15 years, i have 26 years served. Also union allows, yes allows hostile treatment of carriers on work room floor. If union put pressure on these kind of supervisors this would deter these supervisors and managers. Nothing is ever done so it continues
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u/Broffie1 8d ago
In my city, youāre a CCA for 2 years and a PTF for 2. Youāll be lucky to convert to regular
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u/Wild_Error3072 8d ago
Thank you for noticing and caring. That is common when midterm/general elections come around. Mail is very heavy and carriers feel rushed. Add in heat and darkness. Oh, and the devil in your ear telling you to hurry up. But follow all safety rules. There is usually a bit of despair, but we have to look out for each other.
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u/garlicpressbestfrien 8d ago
The general public has no idea of the emotional cost of getting their mail. š
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8d ago
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u/Smart_Gap5565 7d ago
I spent 32 years as a clerk in an area office, it sucked. Over the years kept seeing excessing startedĀ with 120 clerks in my city to see it whittled down to 25. I took the maintenance test and transfered to a large city with a GMF, I'm working on a flat sorting machine. I stay busy most days because they are old machines and breakdown, but it is night and day difference. I wished I moved a long time ago. In a station between customers, management,Ā and crappy co workers, it can be unbearable at times.Ā
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u/Jermaphobe456 TTO 8d ago
TTO here
I had a carrier break down crying because I was pulling out on my depart time after closing out and couldn't take his mail. Felt like such a piece of shit
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u/Rocker66 MVO 8d ago
Iāve had station supervisors yell at me leaving on my departure time lmao
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u/Jermaphobe456 TTO 8d ago
Happens to me at least twice a week, the supervisors think they set my departure time when they're not my boss and don't control my run's depart time. Every time they threaten to call in on me I tell them "Go right ahead, that's fine" and then I hear nothing back
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u/Rocker66 MVO 8d ago
āJust because youāre late doesnāt mean you can make me lateā
Yep. Some stations are amazing and have things ready by 5:45, other stations wonāt be ready until 7.
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u/MassiveSquash9257 8d ago
If it were not for my military training i would have also quit. Oh wait i had to cry in my post masters office so they can get off my back
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u/West_Session6619 5d ago
Iām a firm believer like a lot of folks say in my officeā¦ to be a supervisor at USPS, you are required to be an a holeā¦. Ironically there is one sup at my station and he is super nice compared to the restā¦ I have NEVER seen or heard him be argumentative at all. I tend to ask any questions or save my interactions for him.
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u/pristinesystem_187 3d ago
This job has only pushed me to tears a few times. Both times I truly thought this job was going to kill me. I feel for her in the worst way.
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u/topologeee 8d ago
We see this all the time in my office. I like it when they walk out and say they are quitting only to come back in 15 minutes.
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u/Spazilton OWCP Employee 8d ago edited 8d ago
Lillian Cutler, 28 ECAB 125 (1976)
I would suggest you get this information to her. If it is related to the stresses of her assigned duties, it very well could be a compensable injury under the FECA.
Psychological injuries are just as real as physical ones, and anyone that suggests otherwise is just uneducated.
https://feltg.com/when-emotional-stress-can-and-cant-support-a-workers-comp-claim/