I think we’ve just given all of these postal worker happy mutants a reason to come out of the woodwork. 
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Wow. You think this is bad, you should try pest control. We work 10-12 hour days, drive around to 10 different towns a day, some which can be an hour away, actually have to service houses instead of just dropping off a package, and get paid about half what you guys get. Give me a break.
Coming late to this topic, but – of all the nutty sock-puppet and new comrade-generating posts that come and go on BoingBoing – this one has definitely generated the highest number in recent memory. Weird.
I appreciate the number of new accounts that went out of their way to include a “happy couple” or “happy family” avatar. A nice touch!
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You seem to have missed the message as well. Not to take away from the risk the police take to help keep our streets safe days after day, but working for the postal service is not low risk. When you have to stop on major highways multiple times to service boxes so that people don’t have to go beyond their driveway to get their mail, your chance of getting hit by a distracted driver is significant, especially when delivering out of your own vehicle. I don’t want to be biased, but as an Rural Assistant in an office that has a higher volume of Amazon than most in our area, I have already had multiple close calls with people flying by and almost getting hit by oncoming traffic while I’m at a box, never slowing down while I’m trying to make a safe turn off the road, or cutting me off because I’m at a box near an intersection. It’s madness. Also no one starts at over 20 an hour. The highest starting pay I’ve seen is just under 18, which granted is a lot but you don’t get benefits and are always on call, so your one day off could disappear with one sick call. And yet I love the job, because I’m helping people get what they think they need to live their life, at a cost that you wouldn’t get if the postal service became a privatized entity.
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I’d imagine for some it’s because they have to use their own vehicle, because management is slow to give offices the fleet they deserve. I did have to upgrade to a van due to the size of Amazon packages (was making it work with a Vibe before they started getting big), but each package is revenue we need!
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It’s never the decision of a Postmaster. Amazon and upper management really decides which offices will have Amazon Sunday based on the package load they recieve. For instance, our office has it because we get at least 4 pallets, even on a light day, and if we didn’t deliver them Sunday none of the rurals would make evaluation every Monday, because we also get at least a pallet each of FedEx, UPS and DHL every day as well. Our city carriers never make 8 hours most of the week already.
DPD are the only agents that can track a package right to your door
here in europe and yodel are getting in on the act but have some lessons to learn…
amazon in the uk try but I try too…
My recollection
- They are (or, they can) although
- As Federal employees they can’t legally strike
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Haven’t looked it up, but I’m thinking insect stings, and dogs.
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Dogs are way up there. I get to talk with a lot of carriers from USPS, UPS, and FedEx, and they all have dog stories.
Falls, heat exhaustion, and repetitive stress injuries are also up there. For rural carriers, it’s car accidents.
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they are unionized, although there is a huge free-rider problem. and no, they are not permitted to strike. there is also a problem with each craft within the postal service having its own union so there is no comprehensive negotiation. the rural carriers have their nrlca, the city carriers have their nclca, the clerks have their npca, the inspectors have their npia, and those associations have no comprehensive negotiation plan. all of them have a free-rider problem though.
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The wages are actually lower than comparable positions in the private sector and you don’t take a generalized civil service exam, but an exam tailored to the needs of the post office. Vets are given a few points preference, but aren’t automatically hired. Maybe if you couldn’t get an interview you didn’t do nearly as well as you thought.
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“We’re better than this, aren’t we?”
No, we’re not.
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Do you shop or go to a restaurant on Sunday and make people serve you? If you do your statement holds no water.
Yes, here in my neck of the woods, the Saturday and Sunday drivers are not the weekly drivers and often, these days are the only days they work unless they’re called to fill in during the week.
It’s not just USPS workers Amazon exploits. I work for a logistics company that handles Amazon freight, uh, somewhere in the USA. How do Amazon packages get from the warehouse into the post office Jeep? It’s all Independent Contractor outsourced. IC semi truck drivers haul the boxes from the Amazon warehouse to the Amazon sort center, where an army of all-under-30-hour-a-week-part-time “Amazonians” build the pallets, then IC straight truck drivers load those pallets and deliver to the various Post Offices. Amazon demands a dedicated driver for every individual route 7 days a week, but then runs an algorithm every morning to see what routes can be combined due to fluctuations in volume. So one guy is sent back home with no pay and another is forced to run two routes for the pay of the one, additional time, fuel, and expenses (that the drivers themselves are responsible for) be damned. Like it or lump it. Holiday season is nearly here, so we can expect 2 to 3 times the normal volume and a 7 day work week for the next couple months. Also, all the drivers are forced to re-bid on their routes every 6 months or so. There is no such thing as “free shipping” the true cost is just side-stepped by the industry and foisted on the workers and local communities, governments and environment, as usual.
Well, 1st Amazon is stopping the use of USPS as they hire their own couriers.
2nd, boo-hoo what a tough job, sorting and delivering packages. And being paid overpaid for it. It’s more complaining about the job being monotonous than being worked to death.
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JimmyJet has the right idea, in my opinion. I wonder how many commentors here order items from Amazon, only to get involved in this discussion about the labor and delivery and what’s right and who’s fault.
Simple Solution: Never order anything from Amazon.
I live a rich and full and meaningful life = and I have not ordered anything from Amazon in almost Two Years.
Go and spend the effort to buy it yourself, from a local store.
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This. Though I do break down when my local choice is worst buy or equivalent.
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