Postal Worker? (unemployment, university, post office)

[lyzzard]

Thanks for the link, very helpful.


Litchfield would cut the commute down some, but I don't think it would be by much. You would just take the 1-10 straight into town, just about anyhow. Outdoors isn't so bad in the mornings, and you can always acclimate yourself to it. If your kids are older, and can swim, a pool is always a plus. Some communities have one that the HOA takes care of through your dues.

The plant my husband is at now is much smaller and more laid back than the Van Buren one. He's going to be alot busier when he moves. You'd think your plants out there would spend a little money to save some in the long run.

We can't afford to move and buy a house It's one or the other (come on lotto!). I think Indiana would be too far away. If we were going to move that far it would most likely be to Iowa. I have family and some friends there, and my husband fell in love with it when we visted there. I guess it all depends on the house thing, and I think it will be at least a couple months before we hear anything about it. But, you never know.

[WICKED LESTER]

Our plant out here is scrambling to stay operational. The mail volume is dropping fast and we are on life support. Right now we are having a problem with being understaffed because of unfilled jobs due to retirements. There will be 2 more mailhandlers retiring Aug 1. We had 2 in March, and we'll have 2 on long term sick leave by June 1. The overtime list people (including myself) are working 5 x 12 hr days to fill the void because they won't fill jobs because they don't think we'll be around much longer.

I'd like to come visit when it's 115 to make sure we still are ok with it, so hopefully we'll be back out there in July.

I've driven through Iowa and been to Des Moines and I like the open laid backness of it, but I only spent a day or two. I'm sure wherever you end up things will work out.

Keep me up to date on anymore changes out there, sounds like things are moving around at a high pace, unusual for the good ole USPS.

[lyzzard]

You survive the heat with A/C, and there's no beating the bush with that one. Going out early in the morning or late in the evening is how most people socialize other than work, which isn't bad since most people are indoors working, or other, during the day anyhow. I filled up a little blow-up pool and had my little guys play in it for about 45 minutes today They absolutely loved it.

There's still lots to do during the day when it's hot, as long as you have lots and lots of water and a ton of sunscreen. Oh, and hats, they make a difference too I think the rest of the year makes up for the hard summers. You certainly can't beat our winters.

The best way to save on energy cost is investing in solar panels (one company will pay you for the extra electricity and one won't) and making sure you have the best/proper insulation. The house we're in didn't have insulation last year (it's an older house and it really sucked) and when the landlady finally put some in it made a huge difference in our heating bill. Double paneled windows would help a lot too, but you pay for what you get I guess.

I was in Iowa for 3-4 years about 10 years ago. As long as you aren't in a flood area things are very calm and enjoyable. The college scene was a little tiresome though.

Sounds like things are hard pressed out there. I think the mail volume is dropping all over the place, that's what we get for having technology eh? Imagine what it would be like without junk mail or netflix. Overtime has it's good and bad, the Sunday pay is nice for sure too.

My husband was lucky he got hired when he did, and full time career at that. They stopped hiring right after, so he is literally at the bottom of the rung since no one has been hired since.

If anything happens I'll be sure to let you know. He finds out what's happening with him next week.

[WICKED LESTER]

I got hired at the beginning of the last wave, so I'm close to the bottom, but before the new union contract which protects me from being laid off. If I move and become a PTF again, that might be a different story, so I'm not in too much of a rush to transfer, not until the economy bottoms and REALLY starts getting better, but before house prices start going back up in AZ.

Mail volume is down everywhere, yes, and it's been decreasing before the economy hit the fan. Now the top dogs have another excuse to use and since "everyone else is cutting back and making changes" they can too. Hopefully they make the right changes that the real employees have seen and asked for. I have a position that mon-friday w/ weekends off and they are not allowing anyone to work at non-scheduled. So I work 10-12 hr day Mon-Fri and have the weekends off. Boy doesn't that suck! Hehe. I turned regular 2 years ago august taking a job that people passed on TWICE and now I hear all kinds of "it must be nice to have weekends off and get all your OT during the week" crap. All I can tell them is "you had your chance to bid my job twice and you didn't take it, I don't want to hear your whining." That's exactly what my response is. Hehe

I'll definately look for those features in houses. I believe we've been looking at pretty new houses when we were out there, but now I have a few more questions in my arsenal for the realtor when we look at more when we are ready to move.

So what is a monsoon and the monsoon season I keep hearing about?

[WICKED LESTER]

I'm in Lafayette, 60 miles north of INdianapolis. I talked to a union guy at west valley, they are getting 3 (originally 5) FSS's, one being installed right now.

What did the plant that your husband was at handle? Was it a BMC, bulk mail center? I visited the Van Buren plant and that and the West Valley were the ones I was interested in.

I was hoping to move by winter since the winters really suck here now (just bone chilling cold!), but as time goes on and i await the recovery of the economy, I'm thinking it might not be until next year until the USPS stabilizes enough to where I'll be able to transfer. I've traded letters with the senior plant manager and he says jobs are all frozen until they can realign/reorganize, etc.... I just have to be patient, which I have no choice. Hopefully I can transfer before they shut this place I'm at down and I get forced to Indianapolis.

Unfortunately for casuals, they are temps, a transfer, being a career employee, is higher in the pecking order than a temp. I don't think I'd want to be a carrier in the 115+ heateither, no matter how much I like the sun!

peace,
paul
ps. any new news?

[lyzzard]

I think my husband worked FSS's. He said FS something, so it's probably safe to assume. I don't know about the BMC, I'd have to ask later. He's a mail clerk, not a handler, I was wrong about that.

He applied on e-reassign for some places in Iowa, it says that they're all on hold? I'm afraid we don't know much, and he's more of a procrastinator than I am when it comes to figuring out what needs to be done and/or who needs to be talked to. Do you think he'd need to call them up there as well? Or is applying just as good?

He's been transferred, and is currently unassigned. Which I guess means if he doesn't get some kind of assignment they can place one on him, whether moving him again or putting him in a lower assignment. Since he's at the very bottom it's hard for him to get a bid accepted.

The weather has been fantastic for June. Was only 92 yesterday, which compared to how it normally is is really enjoyable. And it was cloudy! I think I'd prefer the 70's though.

He hasn't heard anything much else going on and still has a job, so that's always a good thing. At least you're being pro-active about it all Don't give up!


liz

[WICKED LESTER]

Yep, all jobs are on hold, nationwide. There probably isn't anything he or I can do to get a transfer other than wait. I've tried writing the district plant manager with a Medical Transfer Request telling him how much my wife and I (99% my wife) needs to be in AZ for health reasons with 3 letters of recommendations from doctors and he wouldn't budge, saying "all jobs are under withholding."

Since all jobs are frozen, your husband will stay unassigned until they are unfrozen, but at least he'll get a slot before any transfers or if they hire casuals again.

Yeah, I'd prefer 70's too if it didn't come with the humidity, but here if we hit 70's, it's 80% humidity! I've been in Los Vegas for 2 weeks working, years ago where it was 100-115 and I didn't even know it cuz it was very low humidity, and i was in blue jeans, weighed 100+ more than I do now and toward the end of July. I just remember how comfortable it was. It's the humidity that gets me.

Not much is happening around the postal world, just everyone playing the shuffle game during the dog days of summer. When the mail starts flowing again in the fall when schools are back in, the new fiscal year starts, the economy starts rolling, things will start happening with job transfers.

peace!
wl

[lyzzard]

When the mail starts flowing again in the fall when schools are back in, the new fiscal year starts, the economy starts rolling, things will start happening with job transfers.

I sure hope so! Do you know how much notice they give you if/when they do transfer you? Just curious about that.

Glad you told us that all jobs are on hold. He heard something about a meeting for those under 5 years of service and got nervous about it. I told him to stop stressing us out lol, not much we could do if things went down south like that. I'd rather not ponder about it and just do what we can as it is, and keep my fingers crossed of course

Heard anything about your move out that way? Or they keeping you all on pins and needles too?

lyz

[WICKED LESTER]

Nope, haven't heard a thing. I'm hoping we can do this before house market starts getting better. As far as notice, the plant manager you move from can delay it 90 days max and the employee can delay it 45 days if we want or if we need more time, beg for the full 90.

The speculation has been going around that if you don't have 6 yrs of continuous service in then you are subject to layoff, but all the union contracts say if were hired before Feb 06, then you can't be laid off. If you someone was a casual before then and didn't become a PTF or regular until after that, then they aren't protected.
I'd only transfer if I knew I was going to stay or exceed 40 hrs as a PTF, though. All of our OT has been cut, so we all are at 40 guaranteed hrs a week right now and it financially is ok at that level. I remember being a PTF and getting 30 hrs one week, 60 the next and it just drove me nuts cuz it was hard to budget not knowing what I'd get. That's about that. The humidity is hurting here, can't wait to get in the dry heat!

wicked

[lyzzard]

What exactly is PTF? Part time filler?

I guess he would be subject to layoff then, 'cause he was hired Feb 08 as full time career. He gets 40 hours a week now guaranteed, but stopped getting overtime, just the extra sat/sun night pay. Not exactly heartening is it?

There's no dry heat here! lol early monsoon is what we have, and that means a higher dew point level. So it's hot and sticky now, no rain, just misery. It was good for a few days, but we had to enjoy it while we could, cause it is certainly gone now!

lyz