Summer Time
By the time you read this article we will be smack into the summer season. Everybody will be thinking of their summer vacations whether you are going away or staying around here, but either way you will be spending time with family and/or friends. Enjoying the time off from the job! No stress!
Don’t get too comfortable with your time off; you have to return to work at some point! Don’t get too relaxed and let your guard down before or after you go on vacation. Remember management is always watching you, they are worse than BIG BROTHER. Now with these new scanners that have GPS management knows your every move during the course of the day.
All of these programs are designed to make your job harder and allows management to monitor your whereabouts on a daily basis without going on the street to perform this observation.
I’m here to remind you not to get too comfortable during the summer months, the job will be here when you get back from vacation and management will be using any data they can to make your route longer and harder.
Management is always thinking of new ways to get more productivity from the carrier. Remember the people at LaFante Plaza Headquarters think that the carriers are always screwing them out of time. So let the people at LaFante Plaza know what it is like to be a professional letter carrier. Protect your street time don’t give them back a minute, because a minute here and a minute there will add up to another street you will be walking for free for them in the fall! Don’t rush because it is only going to come back and bite you in the butt. When management ask you to do them a favor; you know do a piece for them and don’t clock out because you have to go to your child’s event and management will take care of your time tomorrow. Don’t do it because it will show that you can do your route in less than 8 hours and when inspections come to your office management will sell you down the river. And that piece you walked to help management out during the summer will be the piece you walk every day for free in the fall, winter and spring!
Be professional as you can be. Everything management wants you to do will take extra time in the office or out on the street, take the time or you will lose the time and management will add to your route. Remember the route you walk during this summer might not be the same route you will be walking in the fall if you don’t protect it now!
The summer winds might be blowing now and everything might look peachy, but those summer winds will turn into fall leaves and winter snow. And the time you give up now will be the time you will be walking in the fall and winter months. So protect yourself and be professional. Don’t allow yourself to fall into management’s trap during the summer months because they know you want to go home early on a Saturday or the day before the start of your vacation. Don’t say “yes” when management ask you can you do an extra piece today but you have to leave on time because you have to go to watch your child play ball or some other activity so you don’t take your lunch and/or break to make up time! Don’t fall into management’s trap!
Don’t take shortcuts in the office to get out early, do your vehicle inspection, and write up accountable items as per M-41, take your office break if your office gets an office break, and take your wash up time. When service talks are be given turn around stop casing mail and LISTEN! And finally the Cardinal Sin of them all: DON’T WORK OFF THE CLOCK! Don’t rush to case mail, the standard is 18 letters per minute or 8 flats per minute and 70 pieces per minute for strap out time that is what is required of you, no more no less. One thing I see time and time again during route inspection is that your estimated office standard was always higher than your actual office standard, which means you are casing mail to fast or pulling down the route to fast. Remember be professional case the right mail to the right address all I can say is 18 and/or 8 and 70 pieces per minute for strap out!
So when those summer winds blow and you feel like you got the world in your hands remember those winds are picking up and turning into fall and winter and management will hold your hand to times that are not realistic because you sucked it up or were in a rush during the summer months. BE PROFESSIONAL!
Enjoy the summer and remember this slogan I see on the back of some 18 wheelers: “Behind every rolling ball is a running child”! Be safe and have a good summer!
