The Postal Stand-up

They have postage. They have addresses. They're regular mail, and they should be treated as such.

On this episode, I'll talk about common scams, and misleading mailers.

What do you do when your customer's mailbox is broken, when they don't have a visible house number, or when you can't get to their box? There's a form for that: PS Form 1507.

There are four circumstances under which you can disobey management's instruction: when they're unsafe, unethical, illegal, or impossible. I'll talk about each of those circumstances.

We don't have one. So what CAN we do?

We find ourselves faces with two conflicting rules: the 12 hour work hours limit, and the requirement to obey management instructions. I'll talk about how those rules interact. Also, I forgot to mention that overtime carriers are limited to 12 work hours, not 11.5.

I'll tell a story about the day package lookahead solved a mystery on my route.

Why it's important to vote in your branch elections.

How can you tell the difference between normal management behavior, and harassment?

No rollaway or runaway trucks, no worries when your supervisor shows up for a safety check.

Just in time for election season!

If a piece of mail has "Restricted Delivery" on it, and it has the extra postage required, then we can ONLY deliver it to the person who is named on the mail.

Learn how to be a "fake-ass CCA."

This episode was requested by a listener. Feel free to send me your topic suggestions, questions, or general feedback, at classesofmail@gmail.com .

Obeying the contract isn't just for carriers. It's for management, too.

In this episode, I'll give you some advice for how to handle and deliver damaged parcels.

Do NOT clock over to 354 if you can help it. There is plenty of useful and productive work you can be doing, and that's what you should do.

Why do we get asked to scan our mail pieces for a sample request?

In this episode, I'll try to impart to you something that took me 15 years to learn: it's OK to deliver the mail at a comfortable pace.

We all make mistakes out on the route. Especially me. And I have the added difficulty of making mistakes as a union steward. Mistakes are an inevitable part of being human. The key is in how we handle them.

In this episode, we discuss how to handle address searches. These are the letters that district attorneys, or other investigators, send to the Post Office, asking whether the person named in the letter receives mail at the address indicated.

This episode will discuss the "Craigslist Scam," which involves sending the victim a fake check, and having the victim take the funds from that check to pay a scammer's accomplice. I'll tell you how the scam works, and how to recognize the look of one of these envelopes.

What's the proper procedure for when a mailbox gets completely full with mail? We pull it out, hold it at the station for ten days, then send it back.

I need your help. In this episode, I will discuss two passages from the by-laws of Branch 2502, and ask you questions about whether they're being obeyed. Send your answers to ClassesOfMail@gmail.com .

In this episode, I explain the rationale behind asking for monetary remedies for contractual violations, and why the union doesn't always ask for them on a first offense.