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pfelton@apwu480.org|
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Five Day Delivery is a Bad Idea 
Photo by Eric Seals, Detroit Free Press John Potter has proposed eliminating Saturday mail delivery. This is not necessary. This will harm our customers. This will harm APWU members, and other postal employees. There are other solutions to the USPS financial issues. I urge readers of this page to take action. Not Necessary Potter estimated that the Post Office will lose $238 billion over the next ten years. That's an average of $23.8 billion a year. This is ridiculous. Even in our worst year, in the midst of a deep recession, we never lost anything close to that. Harming Customers Some people may think eliminating a day of delivery is no big deal - so I get my electric bill on Monday rather than Saturday, so what? Don't tell that to the pensioner whose check that's supposed to come on the first of the month now comes on the third. Don't tell that to someone who gets medicine through the mail, and whose supply is running out - especially if we have a holiday weekend and the medicine that would have come on Saturday now doesn't come until Tuesday. Or even to someone who ordered a movie from Netflix or Blockbuster, intending to watch it on the weekend. (This last item may not seem so drastic, except that it is so unnecessary.) While we're talking about service to the customer, I should add that management's reaction to its financial issues is to cut service in a variety of ways - short staffing on the windows, closing Post Offices, taking blue boxes off the streets - when there are other alternatives (see below). APWU Members If you think excessing is bad now, just wait to see what would happen if they go to 5-day delivery. Staffing at the Metroplex would be downsized, which would have ripple effects throughout the postal world. Obviously, there would be less of a need for letter carriers. There would be a massive army of excessed employees looking for somewhere to go. Management would use this to try to convince an arbitrator to go after our No Layoff protection. In fact, I believe this is one of the reasons management is bringing up this proposal during a contract year. Other Solutions When I got my monthly bill from All State I looked at the postage they paid for first class treatment. I did the same when I got my bill from DTE. They both paid a little over 33 cents! If we stopped giving away 10+ cents per letter to these big corporate mailers, we could afford to provide six day service, with adequately staffed windows at all the Post Offices across the nation. Saving our jobs and providing good service go hand-in-hand! Over the last ten years, while bargaining unit positions have been cut, headquarters personnel has increased 38%. There is an incredible ratio of one supervisor/manager for every 8 employees in the Post Office - a more reasonable ratio would be 1 in 20. Remember, when they cut our jobs, they hurt the customer; when they cut management positions, they make life more pleasant for everyone... There are also some specific measures Congress could take that would make our life a lot easier financially (dealing with the pre-funding of health care for retirees). I urge you to go to apwu.org for a fuller explanation of this issue... Take Action The 5-day proposal is not a done deal. The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) will make a recommendation pro or con, and then Congress will decide (current law requires 6-day delivery; it will take an act of Congress to change that. If Congress does nothing, we keep 6-day delivery). I have composed a letter to the PRC. Click on this link [PRC letter] to download a copy. All you have to do is download, sign and mail it. Check that, all you have to do is download multiple copies, and get your friends, coworkers and neighbors to sign and mail it as well! I end this posting with a poem... Five Day Poem
While service is cut and jobs are slashed
When management forecasts a deficit
When banks and insurance companies mail their statements
When people get medicine in the mail
The customers and postal workers
Paul Felton |
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The 480-481 Area Local maintains offices at 810 Livernois in Ferndale, Michigan 48220 and represents all APWU members in the following USPS installations: Almont, Allen Park, Anchorville, Belleville, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Brighton, Carleton, Chelsea, Clarkston, Clawson, Davisburg, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Fair Haven, Flat Rock, Garden City, Grosse Ile, Hartland, Hazel Park, Highland, Keego Harbor, Lake Orion, Marine City, Marysville, Michigan Metroplex, Milan, Milford, Mt. Clemens, New Baltimore, New Boston, New Haven, New Hudson, Novi, Oxford, Pickney, Plymouth, Port Huron, Richmond, Rochester, Rockwood, Romeo, Romulus, Royal Oak, South Lyon, South Rockwood, St. Clair, Sterling Heights, Trenton, Union Lake, Utica, Walled Lake, Warren, Washington, Waterford, Wayne, Westland, Willis, Wixom, Wyandotte and Yale.
The Union office is normally open from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM Monday through Friday and the telephone numbers are (248) 543-3262/3263/3264. The 24 hour number is (248) 543-3262. FAX: (248) 543-2750.