The Economic Downturn..

[RVR II]

Over a month now working for the USPS and there's a lot to learn in my job
The PSE's (like me) are literally the heart of each post office. We sort the incoming mail for city & rural carriers and then have to sort outgoing mail from the carriers when they return.
Being the junior PSE, I'm getting all the grunt work including Amazon Sundays. I will also have to work Amazon orders tomorrow and being that Columbus Day Monday is considered a Federal holiday, that is double time pay which is sweet
I am hanging in there but my body is starting to feel its age with soreness & fatigue which are starting to become more noticeable. I currently have no day off scheduled this week so I'm doing my best to adjust to the grueling split-shift schedule, and there's talk I could be doing Amazon Sundays by myself which would be really tough as those are 4am start times and don't end till the job is done. I could also be going to 'Window training' where I'm trained to work the counters dealing with customer's mail that come into the post office.
They are supposedly going to hire some seasonal help because the Christmas rush is fast approaching so that will be nice but so far it's just talk

[wihogfan]

Split shifts are a killer. Short term I could do it (and have), but after about 2 weeks I'd crash and sleep for 24 hours hours straight.

Related to postal services- post office in town next to ours lost 2 days of outgoing mail-not just mail dropped off, but all mail picked up in the town. Month long postal investigation hasn't found any of it. Lots of people with missing checks and late payment fees are pissed. It's always amazing to me how dependable and quick USPS, UPS, and Fed-Ex are and have been for the last decade plus.

[RVR II]

Split shifts are a killer. Short term I could do it (and have), but after about 2 weeks I'd crash and sleep for 24 hours hours straight.

Related to postal services- post office in town next to ours lost 2 days of outgoing mail-not just mail dropped off, but all mail picked up in the town. Month long postal investigation hasn't found any of it. Lots of people with missing checks and late payment fees are pissed. It's always amazing to me how dependable and quick USPS, UPS, and Fed-Ex are and have been for the last decade plus.

If I lived further away than I do then yeah it would really suck but as I only live 10 minutes away it's not that bad.

Today was a chaotic day.. The day after a holiday is a total cluster-fuck! 2 days of mail to sort and a late truck compounded the issue this morning, and a lot of the carriers didn't make it back by 6pm (some mail hadn't even been delivered when I left at 6:30pm ) when the outgoing mail truck has to leave for the Charlotte Distribution Center so those that didn't make it, their mail will have to be taken to the Charlotte DC by the supervisor.
The line of customers was non-stop all day and some with attitudes because of the holiday yesterday.. And it'll only get worse as Christmas approaches

[RVR II]

The Beginning of the End for Sears..
https://www.apnews.com/1cbf64586e114ac38bab82a42b8be12e

[The Lurker]

The Beginning of the End for Sears..
https://www.apnews.com/1cbf64586e114ac38bab82a42b8be12e

Considering the CEO was a Randian that pitted the departments against each other as company policy, I’m not surprised.

[RVR II]

Been on my first day off in 2 weeks from the Post Office.
It's a lot to learn and get done in a day.. My body aches from the work load so far. My left elbow has sharp pains from sorting packages with my left hand and scanning with my right.. I can't really switch hands as it's a right-handed scanner that fits on my first 2 fingers and my thumb operates the scanner for reading bar codes. My Sketchers with Memory Foam are helping with my flat feet but my lower back is soar from daily lifting tubs of mail and letter trays to sort for Rural & City Carriers.
The Post Master seems to like my work ethics with my time management and attention to detail so that's a plus. The other PSE's have noticed the difference as well as I am taking a lot of the work load off of them during the day.
Had a couple issues with a couple snotty impatient rural carriers the past couple weeks  wanting their mail right away despite me sorting everybody's as fast as I can do it, but after talking to the Post Master about them they seem to have backed off me for now. If I could come in at 5am instead of 6am I'd have the mail sorted by the time they come rolling in between 7:30-8am but I'm not authorized to come in any earlier so this issue is bound to happen again soon
I'm off tomorrow as well and don't plan on doing anything but resting my body but I could be called in for Thursday even though I'm not on the schedule for that day. Christmas is coming and the work load will only increase steadily as the holiday approaches so stress will be on the increase with carriers and customers alike so I'll have to be prepared for short tempers

[wihogfan]

If you haven't read it already, give it a year or two on the job before you do, but then read Charles Bukowski's novel "Post Office" (about his experiences in the 60s sorting mail at a post office).

Good week for me for interviews I guess- 4 face-to-face and another 4 phone. Thought most went well, but no offers yet- but also no rejections yet.

[wihogfan]

I guess the good news is my job search isn't at a total standstill. Had 2 first face-to-face interviews last week that I've been told will lead to second interviews soon (still waiting on when exactly those will be though) and had a phone interview early this week that resulted in me getting a second interview with that same company next week.

Comical thing was that I had 2 calls this week from companies that rejected me last month (1 after a phone interview and 1 after a face-to-face interview). I didn't re-apply with either company, but the same people who had interviewed and rejected me previously were the ones who called this week and neither apparently remembered me from my previous interviews and rejections.

[linszoid]

Had 2 phone interviews this week which has lead so far into one in-person interview scheduled next week. These aren't the most ideal jobs I'd like to get hired for but they're better than my current situation.

[RVR II]

Thought I had this morning off from work but somebody changed my schedule without telling me yesterday and just before I clock out a coworker said to recheck my schedule because I'm required to be here in the morning on Election day and sure enough Somebody wrote in 6am for this morning when it was only 2pm-until

Not to mention I am required to clock out when I reach the 12 hour mark as I will get 'penalized overtime' and the supervisors get chewed out for it.
And now they have a new scan system where when somebody drops off pre-paid packages I have to scan each individual package and go through like 5 or 6 steps each time to enter it in the system as 'accepted' which kills my production time when someone drops off 50+ packages..
I'm beginning to think they set us up for failure

[linszoid]

What the heck is "penalized overtime"?

[RVR II]

What the heck is "penalized overtime"?

Apparently there is some rule between the APWU postal union and the USPS where PSEs like me are not allowed to work more than 12 hours in a day, even though I work a split-shift starting at 6am and have anywhere from 2-4 hours off for lunch, I must clock out by 6pm or I start to accrue 'penalized overtime' and the Union will contact the postmaster and supervisor that I am in violation of said rule and they get chewed out by someone from the union or higher up.
Never heard of it before myself till now so I'm actually cool with being kicked out of work at 6pm

[linszoid]

Had 2 phone interviews this week which has lead so far into one in-person interview scheduled next week. These aren't the most ideal jobs I'd like to get hired for but they're better than my current situation.

I had the in-person interview today. I thought it went pretty well. The interviewer spent 80% of the time talking with me adding the occasional "uh-huh" "yes" and so forth. He does seem to want to move quickly so that may work in my favor. I should hear back Friday.

[wihogfan]

Had 1 of the companies that I was told I'd be called in for a 2nd interview inform me yestersay that the local job was given to an internal out-of-state candidate. I was offered an interview for that person's job, but still not at the point where I'm considering moving yet.

Did have a 2nd interview with another company today. Thought it went well amd that it would be a good job, but person I interviewed with is on vacation starting tomorrow and through all of next week, so it will be the week of Thanksgiving before I know anything more.

[wihogfan]

And I don't really even get excited about phone interviews any more, but I've been averaging about 3 phone interviews a week for the last month or so.