Shopsmith Shipping Record

[Bruce]

I went to mail a parcel at the local UPS facility and had to show a government issued photo ID for them to take it. Then I went to vote and I had to show...................!
Bill V

If you vote democratic in some places, you don't need an id. And you can vote as often as you want. Heck, even your dog can vote. Oops, did I go there?

[jsburger]

I went to mail a parcel at the local UPS facility and had to show a government issued photo ID for them to take it. Then I went to vote and I had to show...................!
Bill V

If you vote democratic in some places, you don't need an id. And you can vote as often as you want. Heck, even your dog can vote. Oops, did I go there?

You go Bruce.

[Ed in Tampa]

I worked for the government for 40 years (24 active duty Air Force and the rest Civil service). My wife worked 35 years civil service for the Army and Air Force in maintenance directly supporting the war fighter. While there are people that have the mentality you describe do not put all of us in the same boat.

It is not just driving the route. They have to sort and load the truck in the morning. During peak times (holidays) it takes way longer than "8" hours and they don't get paid overtime. How do you now they work less than 8 hours a day? Please explain. I live out in the country. For years my mail lady drove her own car and had to install the right hand steering wheel on her dime. About 10 years ago they finally got real (used) mail trucks. Maybe if we want better mail service the government should spend more money on that and cut some of the useless social programs that mostly don't work. That way you wouldn't have to stand in line at all.

You really are kidding right? Please say you don't think that is true. Have you ever taken the USPS test for hiring. I have... Oh never mind. That is just a stupid statement.

BTW, I didn't qualify to to be hired by the USPS to deliver the mail but I was qualified to load nuclear weapons and fix all manner of Air Force aircraft and components.

Lastly I would not tell any one that I failed the postal entrance test, I would just keep that to myself.

. . .

Does the expression over qualified apply?

Over qualified is a term used to explain why you aren't hireling someone but don't want to tell them why. It plays to their ego and most won't argue that they aren't that qualified.

[Ed in Tampa]

First of all USPS workers are no longer real civil service employees. It is private. Knowing postal workers does not in any way mean YOU understand how the internal workings of a particular facility work. All employs have different opinions of the company.

I certainly would tell that I didn't qualify to deliver the mail because the test is idiotic. I took the test around 1996 after I retired from the Air Force. There was only one test. There was nothing about what job you were applying for. The job you were applying for was the USPS period. It was almost mostly about remembering addresses and getting them in the correct order. It was just a stupid test. If you haven't taken the test then you don't know.

My wife got rifted at McClellan AFB after 25 years of civil service with the Army repairing tank laser sights and helicopter radios when the idiots in Washington closed the base. That was in 2000/01. With her years of service she had reinstatement rights. For those of you that don't what that means she can take any job anywhere ahead of other applicants as long as she is qualified. Since the USPS is NOT a real civil service job (it's been privatized) she could not get a job with them because of her reinstatement rights. So she took the test, it was the same test I took according to our conversations about it and she didn't qualify either. I have no idea how the USPS hires their employees.

Going Postal, again you have to be kidding? That happened how many years ago ONCE. That is just ridiculous. How many of the same incidents have occurred since then and they were not USPS employees.

Never said postal service was civil service. I said they function as civil service.
Knowing postal workers does not give me info into the behind the scenes but it does give me info on how much time they spend at work.
The term Going Postal came about by more than one incident, it came about through a series of incidents. Some worst than others.
Frankly I think the postal service does an excellent job in most situations. But it could function far more efficiently if they could fire dead wood, get rid of beaurocracy, and hired people that wanted to work.

[garys]

I certainly would tell that I didn't qualify to deliver the mail because the test is idiotic. I took the test around 1996 after I retired from the Air Force. There was only one test. There was nothing about what job you were applying for. The job you were applying for was the USPS period. It was almost mostly about remembering addresses and getting them in the correct order. It was just a stupid test. If you haven't taken the test then you don't know.

That sounds like the test for mail carriers. It is important that mail carriers have excellent memories in remembering names and addresses and the sequence they are to be delivered. That lessens the number of mis-delivered letters.

There is also a different test for postal clerks. These are the people you see at the post office window handling your packages and letters. But, those people are only a tiny percentage of the clerks in the system. By far most of the clerks work in the mail processing plants sorting the letters using multi-million dollar automated sorting machines. This job takes a different set of skills than the carrier on the street.

Then, there are mail handlers. These are the people who move many tons of mail each day in and out of trucks to get it to the final destination. Again, there is a different test for this job.

Also, there are mechanic jobs. The postal system has many thousands of delivery trucks in their fleet, and it takes thousands of mechanics to keep them running every day. If you worked as a mechanic in the military, look into this job.

And, there are electronic technician jobs. The postal service has the largest computer network in the world, and it takes a lot of computer savy people to keep it working. Just one of those multi-million dollar sorting machines might need 6-8 computers in it to work, and rely on another 20 or so support computers in the building to be able to sort mail at 10 letters per second. If your military MOS was electronics, take this test and get into that field.

Like I said earlier, different skills for different jobs. It is the same in any large organization.

[JPG]

The last conversation with my local station manager(first of this month) revealed that the mail is delivered to the local office pre-sorted for delivery. i.e. the carrier does not sort it prior to delivery.





So what does that say about pre job 'testing'?

[garys]

The last conversation with my local station manager(first of this month) revealed that the mail is delivered to the local office pre-sorted for delivery. i.e. the carrier does not sort it prior to delivery.

Correct. Today, almost all mail is sorted by machine. The mail goes from the processing plant presorted by the machines and clerks every morning to the carrier station where the carrier gets it. The carrier's job is to then get it to the correct house. Anybody who has ever worked with a computer knows that computers can make a lot of mistakes, and the carrier is the final filter to find and correct those mistakes before they get to the customer.

[JPG]

How many sorting machines does a single 'letter' pass through???

[garys]

About the only answer to that I can give is multiple machines. Depending on the starting location, and the destination location, it could be more or less.
It requires one machine to break down the letters by city/area. Then, those letters are sent to that location where they will again be sorted by address and put in sequence for the carrier. That requires two more passes through a machine.

[charlese]

As long as we are just shooting the bull -- I never understood the term overqualified. Whenever I hired people I hired the MOST and HIGHEST qualified. Even had a PHD (sociology) hired and serving brilliantly as the manager for a firefighting helicopter operation.

As for "under qualified" Had a college music major serving as a squad boss. He was the best leader and firefighter ever. Personality and interest (drive) are very important. You can always teach methods and technique.

Also a manager friend of mine said "I never hired anyone who was smarter than me. Boy!-- I am paying for that now!"