The agency hired 117,000 new workers during Fiscal Year 2015, virtually all of them into non-career positions, postal officials said Thursday in a document presented to the Postal Regulatory Commission.
“The Postal Service still has a continued need to hire 125,000 non-career employees in FY16 to maintain the appropriate levels,” the USPS document says. “Continued hiring of non-career employees (including PSEs [Postal Support Employees] and MHAs [Mailhandler Assistants) is necessitated by conversions to career positions and current attrition rates.”
Among last year’s new non-career workers, 52,000 have left the USPS (including 22,000 short-term, peak-season hires), 5,000 were converted to career positions, and 60,000 were still in non-career positions at year-end.
The USPS ended FY2015 with nearly 492,000 career employees and 130,000 non-career workers, both numbers slightly higher than a year earlier. The payroll continues to grow: The Postal Service ended December with 7,000 more careerists and 4,600 more non-career workers than it had a year earlier.
An e-commerce-driven surge in package deliveries, plus the addition of such new services as Sunday delivery, are fueling the hiring binge and employment growth. It’s a huge turnaround for an organization that cut an average of 21,000 workers annually between 2000 and 2013 and rarely had to hire new ones. And it runs counter to government and news-media reports predicting further USPS cutbacks.
Growing pains
The growth is also causing new headaches for the USPS.
“Recruiting for City Carrier Assistants (CCAs) is a challenge in some regions due the physical nature of the position and extreme outdoor environments, as well as local economic conditions,” the report said.
The wave of new hires has been blamed for everything from higher work-related accident rates to increased problems with delivering poorly addressed mail. The USPS has struggled to orient, train, and equip the new hires – sometimes, for example, failing to provide cold-weather gear to rookie carriers.
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Part time workers will be the down fall of U.Sp.s constant turn over lack of quality and the who cares attitude will destroy the post office one day.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree WE see it all day long at the LANDC these people are lazy spoiled no work Ethic no fundamentals you can count the good ones on one hand this is a subtle way for the USPS TO EVENTIUALLY PRIVATIZE THE POST OFFICE BRCAUSE A WATERED DOWN WORKFORCE IS LEADING US DOWN THIS PATH THE SERVICE WILL GET WORSER NOT BETTER
ReplyDeleteLOL! They hired what, 117,000 employees in 2015, and close to half (52,000)of them quit??? That's 44 percent who saw no future in the USPS. Smart people. Give 'em credit for brains.
ReplyDeleteNow, they want to hire 125,000 this year to replace the ones who quit and to replace the full-timers who will be retiring? If 44 percent turnover holds, that will be 55,000 who will be leaving the USPS in 2016.
Of 117,000 hired in 2015, there were 5,000 who became career employees? That's only 4.27 percent converted. Who wants only a 4.27 percent chance of becoming a career employee? You get better odds at a casino than that.
Pretty soon, the working world will get wise to what it's like working at the USPS, and nobody will want the job. Good luck hiring quality people then, USPS management.
The fools that were on the executive board of the APWU including their president,Cliff Guffey,who have since been voted out,should never have sold their souls to Donahoe and agreed to a 14% increase in non-career employees.
ReplyDeleteThe responsibility of maintaining the PROPER customer service lies in the hands of the Postmaster General Brennan. As you can see, she is failing miserably! Her way of thinking is to save the USPS money buy hiring low-paid workers to replace career workers, but she gave no foresight to how bad her managers are! These non-career employees are doing a bad job because they have supervisors who are constantly on them, but refuse to train them properly. The only way this will work is for management to wise up and fire these inefficient managers, and replace them with managers who want to do their jobs properly and who will provide the proper training. She must also convert more non-careers into the thousands of vacant positions that they abolished but are still needed! But she won't, because she is a company figurehead and is only out to save as much money for the USPS as she can with no worries or cares about providing customer service!
ReplyDelete"The wave of new hires has been blamed for everything from higher work-related accident rates to increased problems with delivering poorly addressed mail." Also theft....also destroying(dumping) mail......................YOU GET WHAT YOU (DON'T) PAY FOR
ReplyDeleteIf the data is accurate, the USPS has an attrition rate for new hires that is not acceptable by any industry standard. Recruitment of employees costs money and must not be forgotten. Perhaps a small bonus/award for managers that are able to retain employees would lead to better hiring decisions and attention to the workplace environment.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with all those comments. The management aspect especially! I've transferred a couple times in my career thus far and, seen my share of managers in my time and, also heard my share of stories from other employees in my time. All the same. I heard of no good stories about managers my whole career. They all subscribe to the same tactics. HARRASSMENT, BULLYING, INTIMADATION, SCREMING & YELLING, BELITTLING PEOPLE. Watch the movie the POSTMAN ladies & Gentlemen; A postal worker definitely gave their input on the scene where the LAWS OF 8 were stated. That's a postal supervisor on a daily bases.
ReplyDeletethe post office is getting slammed with MVO/TTO accidents some of the drivers they have hired don't know j how to drive a 10p ROADRANGER TRANSMISSION the po solution give them the keys and let them learn i heard from a friend that there were7 accidents in the qpdc in one week now that ny passed the law that if you take you road test in an automatic tractor you will have a restriction on your license .the 30 yrs can't go because they don't have the age they will take a beating on SS we have a driver in his 80s and if you mention retirement to him he will attack you. i was sent out one nite as ago driver to show a new driver a route .no mind you was driving a 7 ton with a back up camera yet he was stillable t back into a2016 KIA
ReplyDelete.
Get the custodians out the cafeteria and hiding offices maybe mail processing and mail carrier employees can get a helping hands.
ReplyDeleteThe majority of the custodians are clerks that were excessed and had nowhere to go. Don't hate on them because the Post Office failed to protect their career employees. Instead of offering them their position back they replaced them with sorry PSE's they picked up off the street.
DeleteIf the USPS and postal labor would consolidate to 1 union instead of 4, they'd be able to shift employees from positions that are no longer needed to those that need to be filled. Then they would have experienced people in place. There are reasons to hire non-career/part-time flex employees....it's done in all companies. But given that overall mail volumes continue to decrease, there is NO reason to have a higher head count today than 2 years ago and to be hiring at the levels mentioned.
ReplyDeleteThe USPS employees are more consumed with how they're being wronged then how to ensure an excellent customer experience. The USPS management is attempting to pull a rabbit from a hat by transforming into a relevant player in their market space while being legally restricted in how they can do it. There is a real culture problem with a workforce that feels entitled - it hasn't ever resulted in good customer service (just ask someone who's flown on American Airlines).
ReplyDeleteI wonder if we are failing why we made a 1.3 billion dollar profit last quarter? I agree that new hires are being treated poorly, but those who stay know they will be hired permanently if they stick it out. Upper management would be better served if they vetted out new employees better and gave them benefits from the start. Having pension, health benefits from the get go usually makes a new employee feel he has a vested reason to do a good job.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea to consolidate Postal processing plants and excess workers to go to jobs that they can't do or hate doing, and create a hostile work environment. If the employees were allowed to retire without a pension penalty, then the UsPs could hire many new employees. Instead, they will continue to make incompetent decisions based on "the numbers" to diminish service standards. Wondering how all the financial problems of the USPS have affected upper managements pay and perks...
ReplyDeleteIts already happening in our office. Our supervisor send the 30 year regular carrier back out to help the new CCA, the new CCA get to work in the office to do the supervisor job to sent the other regular to help the new CCA, and the supervisor get to go home early. A win win for the postal service.
ReplyDeleteI hope to be gone in a couple of years but right now it is only a hope.
ReplyDeleteIn response to "if we are failing, why did we make $1.3 billion profit last year?" Very simple....a 6% price increase for Market Dominant Products in 2014 (including the 4.3% exigent surcharge for the 2008 recession). ANY business that could increase prices by that amount in today's business climate would result in profits. That does not happen anywhere else....and I am separating what happens with those products from the competitive side (parcels).
ReplyDeletePSEs are better in terms of working attitude and reliability and yet they are getting paid almost half what the regulars are getting paid. No benefits no premium pay no holiday pay. Where's the equality they are talking about?
ReplyDeleteIt's truly sad to see first hand what the PO has become. Sure, now the need to hire is urgent, because of the worthless people that have been hired in recent years. Wanna see how bad the "service" is now? Order a package and trace it. Your package will be mis-sorted several times before being delivered, if it's not stolen or delivered to the wrong address! Sad state of affairs!
ReplyDeleteWhy do ppl always bad mouth the new postal employees for not working, being lazy, causing the postal svc to fall to the waistline, etc? What about some of the OLD lazy ones who are set in their ways that never want to do any work besides the bare minimum or the ones that hide in the locker room and sleep their entire shift or the ones that are always in the union office whining and complaining about something and looking to file grievances to get paid all the time or the ones who call in sick all the time and abuse their FMLA?? You old heads were once new employees too so stop talking down on the new ones now. Perhaps its time for u to stop being so territorial with ur job and let it go especially if you have been there over 30 yrs. Its just a job you ppl that have been there since u left high school need to know that there is a life outside of the postal service. Get out and enjoy your thrift savings or can you even leave because you have spent it all.. Ur minds are so institutionalized from being in ur jobs so long u dont even want anyone else to have a job. How selfish of u!! PSE's and MHA's are there to do the jobs that u guys never show up for.
ReplyDeleteSomeone above said 52,000 quit last year. Did they all quit? Does this include seasonal employees who were no longer needed in January? If the 52,000 figure doesn't include them, then yes, there's an attrition/morale problem. But if it does include them, how many of these 52K were strictly seasonal?
ReplyDeleteA more accurate analysis would exclude the strictly seasonal employees, IMO.
BEEN THERE DONE THAT. MY SON STARTED OUT AS PSE AND HAS SINCE BEEN PROMOTED TO FULL TIME CAREER BUT IT TOOK HIM 2 YEARS TO GET IT EVEN AFTER HAVING HAVING AN ARBITRATION SETTLEMENT.IT TAKES THE POST OFFICE FOREVER TO DO SOMETHING AND YOU AREVERY RIGHT THEY HIRE AND FIRE AS FAST AS THEY CAN THEY DONT WHO IS THERE TO THEM IT IS JUST A BODY AND WILL WORK THE BONES OFF OF SOMEONE FOR MEGER AMOUNT OF MONEY AND THEN THEY WONDER WHY PEOPLE LEAVE AL THE TIME. FORMER 26 YR CAREER
ReplyDeleteThey need to get a new contract and get rid of PSE's. Hire them as career employees and the quality will be there. There should be one union to cover the plant employees and a union to cover the carriers. That's it, then we'd be stronger and can work together. Too much supervision and too much stress on the employees makes for a bad attitude, thus bad relations between them, which leads to all sorts of problems. People call in, go on light duty, and get burned out. I want the postal service to be successful and provide employees with a career they can be as proud of as I am.
ReplyDeleteI'm one of the former employees that got let go on January. I wish to come back because I sincerely need this job and want to make a career out of this. I was a seasonal and from my experiences pse's and regulars mess up on the job. The one thing I will say is that most of the regulars are the laziest people I have ever seen. They don't even want to do manual. They just talk talk talk and talk. Some of them live in the locker room and should just retire and give us young people a shot. Management simply sucks and treat pse's like we are garbage. The problem with the post office is simple. There is no chemistry and there is simply no team work. I will say it again not everyone is like this but the majority are. I wish this place improves and call me back. I can only dream about becoming a career employee but at this point is all I would love. It will fix so much.
ReplyDeletePMG Brennan, an Obama appointee (through the Board of Governors, the majority of whom are Barack's selections), refuses to do the right and honorable thing and implement a just working environment. Progressives talk a good game, but when nobody is looking, they perform like the robber barons of old: low-paid, unprofessional (through no fault of their own), "the devil may care", employees who are pushed and stressed like characters from Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle". Accidents have increased two-fold, morale at an all time low, and a feckless and timid union. Little wonder that those of us who are in the 4th Quarter, don't want the game to last beyond 0:00!
ReplyDeleteDear Dead Tree Edition
ReplyDeleteI have tried to contact different outlets to share my story with. I've faced my share of struggles with mangers at the Post Office . I believe my story needs to be heard. The harassment is so intensely fierce that you will become to imitated to return to work. During a morning meeting with our manger we were told due we want her to be the bitch. So here's how it went. There was a announcement made for all of the carriers to meet her in the center of the room for a morning meeting. We were told about the scans that were missing. Then our manger continued to state that we need to make sure were hitting all of the scans because we don't want her to be a "Bitch" because some of y'all don't know how I used to be. But you all don't want me to be a bitch. Some other replied in fear and said yeah you don't. Then stated to another carrier during the meeting where's the can't get right due. And everyone laughed and said yeah where's can't get right. I've never in my life ever worked for an establishment that will treat you this way. The guy never responded to can't get right calls then the meeting ended. I don't know the true feeling of the guy they were speaking of, but I felt so bad and humiliated for him. Listed below is a copy out of there own policy and procedure manual.
d. Be respectful. Whether in the actual or virtual world, your interactions and discourse should be respectful. The Postal Service Standard of Conduct states, “Employees are expected to maintain harmonious working relationships and not to do anything that would contribute to an unpleasant working environment.” Do not verbally attack other individuals or companies. This includes fellow employees, contractors, customers, vendors, and competitors.
I really want the harassment to stop and to be able to do my job.
What the post office says and what they do is two entirely different things. I have an ongoing physical threat situation that I have no actions taken by the post office even thought they post those BS posters all over about zero tolerance. It is all smoke and mirrors.
ReplyDeleteI recently left military service (over 10 years honorable). I was looking for a career position since the USPS advertises they have a great reputation with recruiting Veterans. They also advertise it is a great career with a good work environment and benefits. I'm not seeing this after reading. No career positions listed in my state. No benefits with the non-career jobs. Year-long non-career contracts and 1/2 the pay of a career position....wow.
ReplyDelete...Why should I even show up to the interview? I have a great work ethic, years of experience in challenging work environments, and I would be a benefit to the company that hires me. But, it's got to pay a decent wage and be worth it. I've read through this thread, along with a couple others. 1/2 of the non-careers leave (over 50,000), less than 5% are able to switch to career....are you serious? From what I've read, the USPS has chosen the Walmart method of business models (save money by only hiring part-time and offering no incentives to stay).
Is there any chance at a career in the USPS? Or, have they decided they would rather keep hiring non-careers over and over again to save money. On a related note, I had the same carrier for over 15 years growing up. Now, I've seen over 5 different carriers come to my mother's residence in less than two weeks. How is this a good work model for reliability?
Are you black and able to read a little? That is all it takes and also be able to kiss ass correctly. If you are white and can kiss ass that is a maybe. Oh yeah, if you are female you have it made. You can go almost instantly into a supervisory position without having a clue what you are doing. I am a white male with 27 years, I know a little about an awful lot.
ReplyDeleteWhite, college educated, former 11B with clearance (I take pride in what I do, but don't kiss). I guess it's not looking attractive enough to accept the job. I just wanted a career I could do my job, get to move around (not be stuck at a desk), and my time in the military would mean something. A decent wage would have been nice as well. Guess I'm barking up the wrong tree.
ReplyDeleteWow. A variety of comments all negative. I have recently completed and was accepted as a MHA, pending my return call for a start date. I just retired from the Army as a SFC. Plan is to continue federal employment with the USPS. I am excited now to see how fubar this establishment is. I can tell you this, threaten me on the job site and i will have your position.
ReplyDeleteWow. Alot of comments here and all negative. I recently retired from the Army and looking to continue federal service with USPS. Have completed everything and pending the final call back with a start date. Now I am really anxious to see how the USPS really operates. I will say this, if I am threatened on the job, I will have their position. You get only get treated they way you "let" someone treat you.
ReplyDeleteYou are totally wrong. You will not get anything unless you are screwing a supervisor and threaten to blow the whistle claiming sexual harassment. You will be threatened, it is inevitable. Do not waste your time, you will never make the money that I do as you will be under a different pay scale. I am at $28/ hour and you might top out at $20, plus there is not as much opportunity as a mail handler. Consider this, they do not have "level 7" pay as there is no need for intellect. Mail handlers are the mules, clerks are the drivers.
ReplyDelete