As I was preparing a monograph on Postal Problems and Possible Solutions a new problem arose just this morning.
For a year and a half, my wife and I lived in a very small resort community. We were, according to the law, residents and not "hotel guests".
We moved. We filled out a forwarding form. Our mail was forwarded for a few weeks. Then we received this note in an envelope with some mail:
[ Name of Resort ] is considered a business the Post office doe not allow ind Forward out of a Business. Please Fix your mail will be unable to forward.
How do I explain this to someone who works as a manager for the USPS?
Metaphor.
I live at the Sunnyside Apartments.
I am a renter.
I move.
I have my mail forwarded.
Sunnyside Apartments is a business.
Does that mean the Post Office won't forward my mail?
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Now, this begs the question. What does this mean: "Please Fix your mail will be unable to forward."
Should I go on to illuminate from the inside?
I worked for the USPS as a letter carrier for a few years. (Until it became unbearable.)
Case in point.
A new guy was going to do one of my routes.
The route had a large loop requiring the use of "Relay Boxes"
You drop of a bundle of mail in each of three boxes and begin the route.
You deliver, say, 60 houses. You open the relay box and get mail for the next 60 houses. Then for the next 60. Then the next 60. This puts you back at your jeep.
This pattern requires a "Z" pattern of delivery. E.g.
1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 13, 15, 17, 19....and so on.
You start on one side of the street, deliver 5 or six houses, go back to the beginning of the street, deliver 10 or 12 houses, go back to where you left off, and so on. This is, yes, an efficient way of delivering this type of loop. If you have this information before you go out to deliver the route. Then management interferes.
I am explaining this to the carrier. Or trying to. The Manger comes over to offer wisdom:
"Fifteen minutes on the street is worth more than an hour in the office."
Oh, yeah......
The carrier came back two hours late. He delivered 60 houses, ran out of mail, went back to the jeep to get more. He delivered 60 houses, went back to the jeep to get more. You get the idea.
Later, the carrier foreman told me that the carrier being late was my fault. "The mail was out of order."
Well, yes it was. It was supposed to be. Also, the carrier should have known about relay boxes.
The Postal Service will never solve its problems until it implements an efficient way of getting rid of managers who simply can't manage.
Now, if you will excuse me, I must try to fix my mail.
I will keep you updated on the Sectional Center Manager's Lack of Capacity to Fix the Problem and to keep Postal Management Incompetence At the Fore.
Sincerest regards,
Slim
slimfairview@yahoo.com
Copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview
