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Saturday, February 12, 2011

LETTER OF WARNING FOR MISSED MSP SCAN IN THE POSTAL SERVICE



Today I received the following award from the U.S. Postal Service:



And Monday the following letter from me will be attached to it in my file at work:

February 12, 2011


RE: Official Letter of Warning (LOW) issued to Dale Lund on above date

To Whom it may concern:

When told that I would be receiving this LOW, I threw out two questions. Neither required an answer, for the answers were obvious and known by both the supervisor and myself. The first question was: “Do you think I missed these scans intentionally?” The second was: “Do you think that warning a man in his sixties never to forget again is reasonable?”

Hand-held scanners are relatively new to the Postal Service, being a nightmare and a nuisance to carriers from the beginning. Some scanning actually does provide a service, e.g. delivery confirmation, but MSP scanning is simply to inform district management what time each carrier gets to certain points on the route and if he/she did in fact pick up outgoing mail from a collection box after the given collection time. In effect, the carrier is obligated to assist management in spying on the carrier. As this LOW points out, “MSP scans are being made in an attempt to provide consistent/timely delivery of the mail.” In other words, if not for using these hand-held scanners to scan various bar-codes inside mailboxes, etc. throughout the route, the carrier’s work and delivery would be erratic and irresponsible. Having worked for the United States Postal Service 24 years, it’s my experience that carriers are just as responsible, regular, diligent and hard-working as ever, except that now they feel as though they’re not trusted. So morale is lower.

The LOW states that I have “failed to follow instructions on MSP scanning, which causes customers’ loss of confidence in our ability to provide good service.” This is bunk. I am as conscientious as possible about following instructions, but the major bunk is the second part of the statement. People don’t give a large rodent’s posterior about MSP scans in regards to service (delivery confirmations excepted). All some know is that there’s a weird, bar-code sticker put inside the mailbox they struggled to set up in accordance to postal regulations--the box they had to buy but that the USPS claims as its property. They see the carrier come by, open their box, put mail in, then scan the bar-code, and they wonder about it. I don’t think the term “service” enters their mind concerning this.

Also, several times, someone has noticed me scanning the blue pickup box downtown after emptying it, and has asked me something like, “Do they make you do that to prove you’ve picked it up?” My response is, “Yes, they don’t trust us, but they expect you to.” I don’t think “service” comes to mind here either.

We all forget at times. We’re human (SURPRISE!). Collection box scans can be checked later by the carrier, but other MSP scans cannot be. And so these scans must be remembered or missed; there’s no turning back. Occasionally carriers miss a scan--they forget, usually due to distraction--and only a fool would think these misses are intentional. More and more work, in these hard times, is piled on each carrier. As route length increases, so does time pressure. Carriers on the street are distracted constantly, yet are both conscientious and skilled in overcoming these obstacles. But they are not perfect, nor will they ever be. It’s sad that USPS management (especially district management) has become so twisted as to consider the scanning of a bar-code more important than accurate mail delivery and, yes, more important than service.

This LOW is inaccurate. It mentions my missing only one MSP scan, when actually I missed two within a couple weeks, which is very rare for me. My good scanning record has been commended several times by my supervisors. What a mean fellow I am to have missed these scans now! And, if I miss one more within 30 days, “more severe disciplinary action” will be taken against me. “Such action may include suspensions, reduction in grade and/or pay, or removal from the Postal Service”!

Even murder, if unintentional, is reduced to involuntary manslaughter and can avoid serious punishment. While Christ was being intentionally tortured and killed by crucifixion, He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” How wicked I am to forget to scan a bar-code!

If I were to promise never to forget again, I would be as unreasonable as this LOW. But I do promise to continue to do my best, as I have for 24 years in the USPS. And I do indeed promise never to miss another MSP scan after March 31st of this year. Most employees who do their best receive a commendation at retirement. I receive a Letter of Warning.

Sincerely yours for 47 more days,

Dale Lund
______

This letter is to be attached to the Letter of Warning.


[On March 23, 2011, my supervisor, Jeff Campbell, called me over to his desk to "witness something."  He showed me the Letter of Warning and my letter in response to it.  He then put them together and fed them into the shredding machine.  After the letters were no more, he turned to me, smiled, and shook my hand.]


______
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20 comments:

  1. Perhaps, you're mistaken and thought you worked for an organization that actually gave a shit about you?? Child work slaves in Singapour are treated better than postal employees! The only thing that separates us is the pay scale!! The worst part is, they could care less if you misdeliver someones mail. But, by golly, don't you dare miss an msp scan!! That is so much more important than anything else you'll ever do as a carrier!! And the only reason why? Because some fat piece of shit, sitting in an office, gets paid six figures a year to crunch those meaningless numbers, just to justify his meaningless job!!

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  2. Until I read this post, I'd never even HEARD of an MSP scan. So, as a postal customer, I don't see how it could cause a loss of confidence on my part should my mail lady miss one. I'm more concerned that I have a pathway shoveled through the snow in my yard so that her route is made just a little bit easier while she delivers my bills and advertisements. They need to ease up. Srsly.

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  3. I also never heard of a MSP scan....but I absoultely LOVE your response. You don't think they can fire you to get out of paying you a pension or other benefits?

    You have been a great mailman for us for many years and I will truly miss your quirky self!

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  4. I love it when stuff like this happens! Just confirms that you are on the right track.......no pun intended. :)
    Tami

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  5. Dale your old and forgetful you should retire as soon as possible. P.S. you suck

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  6. LOL...The comment above is by Ruben, the union steward at work. The last two words are his trademark. The rest I agree with. Ruben is the likeliest one to get my mail route when I leave.

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  7. I was a letter carrier and scanning a bar code doesn't prove that you picked up the mail, it is a waste of time. The Post Office can kiss my ASS!!!!!!

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  8. You didn't scan a what? Where? Why? I have no idea what that is all about, but I do know that we have loved having you as our mailman all of these years. Sometimes you were the only bright spot in our day. Always cheerful, friendly and yes, funny! We are going to miss you so much when you retire, and hope "they" don't replace you with one of "them"!

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  9. HEAVEN FORBID if he gets our route. We will have to go in the dining room to sort out our mail. LOL

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  10. I can't believe you recieved an LOW one month before your retirement. What a DS your supervisor is. Makes me mad!!! Your grievance letter tells it like it is, YAY!!!
    I love our mail lady and will love and respect her even more knowing what you all go through. Enjoy your retirement Uncle Dale, you deserve it!!! Love, Terri

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  11. My husband is a city carrier and union steward. He say's scanning MSP points is one of the easiest things carriers can do. I said well maybe as a regular but not for me because I'm a new T.E.! The regulars don't have all their scan cards for me to case in! I do many routes and today yessss I missed a fricken scan point the day after Veterans day on a route I've only done twice! I'm going to hear about it Monday...

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  12. i would like to say this is the exception - but not. sadly this is happening more and more. I am so friggin scared that when i wasnt working i saw a man with a clip board in a car and immediately got scared. the government is so fast to stop bullying in school, they should look in their own back yard.

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  13. Well you can blame your union for getting a LOW one month before you retire. Most people think this is crazy and want to blame the PO. Truth of the matter is this; there are most likely a handful of carriers in your office not making their MSP scans, as a result they are probably receiving discipline as well. Your union will grieve their discipline and in their argument will ask for names of all other carriers not making scans and if they've received discipline. If you yourself have been missing MSP scans and haven't received discipline, the union will argue disparate treatment against the others. The union forces management's hand into addressing both the good and bad employees. It stinks because someone like you , who's been loyal and a great carrier,has one bad day and the PO is forced to take action with you. Don't blame the PO and call management a bunch of bastards for giving you a LOW 1 month before retirement...it's really not their fault. This is the truth of the matter that carriers don't seem to realize and would rather bitch about management instead....Blame your own union, sometimes they hurt more than they help. Don't be blinded by all that union rhetoric. Or you might have missed 4 or 5 or 6 scans the previous month and are now being disciplined. I've been in management for 15 years and I've yet to see a carrier disciplined for missing one scan. Most often I'll hear carriers, or friends and family of postal employees, complain about management and how evil we are but most often the disciplined employee forgets to leave the part out about how they were given instructions or told about an issue numerous times before and then failed to perform correctly.

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    1. Typical Management propaganda. It IS the Union that assists carriers when they face frivolous discipline from supervisors/managers who sit on their ass all day and often times forget to provide stewards information they request because they forgot? Forgot? Management can forget and never face discipline, but let a carrier miss one MSP scan and the hard working 30 year letter carrier becomes a piece of shit. Supervisors/managers at all levels need to focus on the bottom line; providing outstanding service to our customers. Customers don't care whether a carriers misses a MSP scan point, he/she cares whether the mail carrier is delivering the mail at 9:00 or 10:00pm like last month when a carrier got shot while delivering the mail in Landover Maryland. Instead of focusing on how to get carriers off the street in a safe manner, Management thinks of ways to discipline carriers for insignificant issues. I retired from the United States Military after serving 24 years and never witnessed or endured the treatment that I now endure in the United States Post Office. Most supervisors have never carried the mail, but they insist they know it better than those who have been doing it for 20-30 years. What a joke. Keep making that walk to the candy machine while im out delivering the mail in all types of weather and faced with obstacles and safety issues daily; oh yeah that MSP scan too. I am the Union Steward at the Mitchellville, Maryland Post Office and damn proud of it and damn proud of protecting letter carriers against supervisors/managers who would never last at any other company with the attitude they display at their stations.

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  14. Thank you for your comment, but I can't blame my union for anything. I'm proud to say that I've NEVER been a member of the National Association of Letter Carriers, or any union for that matter. The NALC is not my union, and I do blame them for much of the trouble in the USPS (see my interview with a supervisor at http://oldelephantwings.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-last-blog-about-postal-service.html), as well as for the reason it will inevitably fail. I know how the union works, causing more trouble than it solves, and it also supports Democrats who support abortion (causing more trouble than they solve), so I in good conscience can't support them and have never given them a penny. Besides the union, though, I place much of the blame for the inefficiency of the USPS on middle management -- the people who make rules and policy and technique just to try justifying their jobs, when they don't know the first thing about casing and delivering mail. All in all, it's terribly frustrating to work for the Postal Service, and I thank God every day that I'm retired. If ever I get depressed nowadays, I simply remember my postal job and that I don't have to do it anymore. Sudden elation!

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  15. I agree with many of your points and I also agree with you on mid managements inability to impliment common sense policies. The PO is one of the only companies in America where, as a manager, I'm forced into confrontation with my employees on a daily basis...you say your routes 9 hours today and I say it's not. I think alot of the problems on the workroom floor can be fixed by simply changing the carrier routes into evaluated type routes like the rural carriers. That won't fix everything but it would go a long way in fixing the constant confrontaion/arguments on the floor, which in turn will help heal managent employee relations. Bottom line is this; there's far too many things needing to be fixed in the PO to talk about in this reply section. I also think management (first line supervisors/Managers/Postmasters get a bad rap. When we screw up or don't make our numbers, we get our asses reamed and are made to feel useless. If we treated our employees like that there would be EEO cases on a daily basis. On top of that, we also had our pay raises frozen for 2 years (Which is the second time in the last 5 years this has happened). So constant complaining from my employees about how they hate their jobs, while they're also making more money than me and collecting cost of living, as well as negotiated raises, seems to fall on deaf ears with me...

    Enjoy your well deserved retirement

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  16. Can anyone really give you a warning Dale? I think a warning is an invitation for you to do something as a reply.
    Wilfredo

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  17. As a customer who has been angry at our postal carriers, my mail kept getting sent back to senders without MY permission. So excuse me if your letter doesn't make me all warm and fuzzy. Even after the USPS supervisor came over to my apartment building and wrote in marker MSP Scan with arrows pointing where barcode is the carrier still sends my mail back. I have my sister-in-law every week send and envelope with my address and her return address prominently clear on the envelope easy to read STILL gets sent back to her with the yellow sticker unable to forward. Inside our mailboxes we have our name on the box which mine is displayed. So when the post office ask (when I call) if my name is on or inside the box, I always say yes. A supervisor actually came out to check to see if my name was displayed in or out of the box as if not to believe me. She looked pretty dumbfounded when she seen it. Utility companies call me asking for my new address to send the bill and want to set up an appointment to schedule when I will be shutting off my utilities since my bills get sent back to them. I have to convince them I haven't moved. The post office even admits that nobody has put a request in my behalf to send back MY mail. So comparing yourself to a murderer and Jesus Christ is a stretch. When will our carrier get punished? This has been going on for over a year now. I gave them all the chances to rectify this, I have got in touch with a lawyer and the post office is going to get sued. The lawyer wondered why I waited so long to finally have a suit drawn up and my response was to allow the post office to correct the incompetence. So now my hope is after getting a settlement, they finally terminate the employment of this carrier and enforce their rules a little harsher throughout all post offices!!

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    1. My post above talks only about the MSP scans that carriers are now required to make at certain points on their route. It has nothing to do with barcodes on envelopes. Totally different problem. I can see that you're furious with your carriers, and mail carriers in general, including retired ones like me, but I doubt very much that your mail that is being sent back ever reaches your carrier, but rather is being mistakenly caught somewhere in the automated system and returned. Carriers are human and know better, especially when notified by a person on their route. Hopefully this glitch will be somehow found and corrected, and after a year of having this trouble I don't blame you a bit for being furious, as I would be. Keep on "reminding" the Postal Service when these mistakes happen, but the carriers deliver only what they receive to deliver, and I'd wager they've never even seen the mail that was returned.

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  18. As fun as it is serious, I really enjoyed reading many of these comments. I ask myself if any other organization would allow for such mediocrity? If we only gave you a portion of your product would you pay for the whole product? I am happy to see that MSP are no longer part of the track you down process, but now part of the predictive delivery process, which I believe is what it was intended for in the first place. A product that customers can get to see about when their packages will be arriving. But again, why complete 100% of your REQUIRED job duties, when we are only paying you 100% of your paycheck?

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