July 28, 2012-Saturday-I have an old childhood buddy, whom just celebrated his third year of retirement from the postal service after over forty years as a mailman in the City. He normally every 30 to 60 days drive up from the Peninsula to park in my garage with a list of items he needed to buy from Chinatown. He was the one I always called whenever I encountered some postal related problems or questions, since speaking to my local postal officials is nothing but double-talks or lackadaisical. I would accommodate him on his shopping trip and one of our most discussed topic is the postal service, which he have enlighten me on real inner working and culture of this disorganized company. I always wanted him to write about his experience and insights in the postal service, but he replied nobody would ever believe it. I told him I believe in everything he told me and he claims mainly because I am not mesmerized by all the talking points from postal management, Unions, workers, politicians, businesses, and the general public. He said postal accounting practices would make Al Capone's accountants rolling over in their grave. The mail volume numbers are inflated to justify management bonus and pay level existence. The Unions know that those numbers are inflated, since they use it to justify wages increase. He claims the post office biggest expenditures are the employees salaries, since they rank second to Walmart in the number of employees; while Walmart can pay the Federal Minimum Wage at $7.25 an hour. He cited the salary of a mailman range from $21 to $27 an hour, with a median rate of $24 an hour, which equal to customers sending 54 letters with first-class postage of 45¢; 432 letters a day, 2,160 letters a week and 112,320 letters a year. Then multiply the amount of letters per year to the total number of mailman in the postal service of 172,767 equal an awful lot of letters needed. He claims postal pundits would cite not all revenue comes from first-class letters; there Express mail, priority mail, parcel post, junk mails (He told me they are forbidden to use that term in the postal service), other services. He would cite the mailman salary does not include the extra costs of health benefits, retirement benefits, overtime pays, vacation and sick leave. The total amount of postal employees are over 639,000, which includes many management making over $100,000 a year. He told me there are craft employees making that amount with overtime due to the shortage of workers. Then the problem of too many post offices and facilities; equal rents and utilities cost. The last problem--the postal service have the largest fleet of vehicles. When the oil market caused gas prices to skyrocket, UPS and FedEx charged gas surcharges, the postal service never charged any surcharges and just to raise a penny in the postage stamp requires a long process. Therefore the postal service is a money-losing operation, I just realized that all those things he told about the postal service are unbelievable!
My beef with the postal service pertaining to the United States flag being flown in front of the North Beach Station at 1640 Stockton Street. Prior to 1997, the one story building housed the clerks that sold the stamps and mailmen that delivered the mails for the North Beach neighborhood. In 1997, the mailmen were moved to the North Beach Carrier Annex at 2200 Powell Street. Before the move I have witness many times a daily ritual held at the North Beach/Stockton Street prior to morning opening of the customer service window---a clerk raising the United States flag. I only seen once the lowering of the United States flag by the clerk after the closure of the customer service window hours in the evening. The owner of the one-story building at Stockton Street torn it down and replaced with a two-story building allowing the postal service to rent the first floor as a retail storefront. Two flag poles came with the new innovations. As the years passed and two of the senior clerks at the station retired, I noticed the flag not being lowered at the evening. The flag was flying in front of the building 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. I checked the Annex at Powell Street and the flag was flying in front of the building 24-7-365 days too. I asked my postal buddy why the flag not raise and lower each business day. He replied it could be several reasons:
#1-Manager did not read the SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) running a post office
#2-No employee assigned to raise and lower flag
#3-Clerk position assigned to task, but individual never informed it was his/her duties
#4-Clerk position assigned to task, but individual cannot perform task due to physical limitations
#5-Clerk position assigned to task, but individual refusal to complete the task
#6-The task is not a clerk duties, but Maintenance
#7-Nobody informed Maintenance Department to raise and lower flag
#8-Nobody informed that building had a flag pole
#9-Nobody informed on the proper flag etiquette.
I am a reluctant veteran, because of the Selective Service December 1, 1969 bouncing birthday balls "Draft Lottery." My birthday landed the number 29 slot and my postal buddy also a former veteran landed the number 114 slot. I pulled out the "flag etiquette" from the VFW website:
The federal flag code says the universal custom is to display the U.S. flag from sunrise to
sunset on buildings and stationary flagstaffs in the open, but when a patriotic effect is
desired the flag may be displayed 24-hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours
of darkness. Also, the U.S. flag should not be displayed when the weather is inclement,
except when an all-weather flag is displayed.
My postal buddy told me via email, when I informed him one day I would be ranting about this old pet peeve of mine, he came up with another reason:
#10-It's not my problem!
On July 22, 2012, Sunday morning my postal buddy called me concerning the movie theatre mass shooting at Aurora, Colorado. He claims he still keep in touch with the latest news from the postal service (Over forty years working for them and he have no life!). He told me to check my two local postal facilities to see if they comply to "USPS News Link Story-Flag At Half-Staff Through July 25" posted 7/20/12 at 4:51 p.m.
As a symbol of respect for the victims of the acts of violence Friday in Aurora, CO,
President Obama has ordered that the flag of the United States shall be flown at
half-staff at all government installations - including postal facilities - throughout the
U.S. and its Territories and possessions. The flag should remain at half-staff until
sunset, July 25, 2012.
When flown at half-staff, hoist the flag to the peak for an instant and then lower it to
the half-staff position. The flag should be raised to the peak again before it's lowered
for the day.
July 22, 2012-Sunday-North Beach Carrier Annex, 2200 Powell Street
July 22, 2012-Sunday-North Beach Station, 1640 Stockton Street
I called my postal buddy and told him noncompliance at both facilities. I told him maybe the memo is in the mail system, since it was mailed out on Friday either by First-class or Priority, therefore the Station Manager would not receive the memo until either Monday or Tuesday. My buddy said Headquarter in Washington, DC send the memo by email. I told him since it was posted at 4:51 p.m., the Manager most likely gone for the day. My buddy corrected me with Pacific Standard Time Zone of 1:51 p.m. and I told him maybe he left early for the weekend. He insist it's reason #10-It's not my problem!
On July 24, 2012-Tuesday-I decided to check out the many post offices nearby. I was astound to discover majority of the post office do not even have a flag pole outside:
Marina Station-2055 Lombard Street
Marina Green Station-3749 Buchanan Street
Gateway Station-1 Embarcadero Center
Rincon Finance Center-180 Steuart Street
Sutter Street Station-150 Sutter Street
My postal buddy claims these facilities are rentals and maybe the building manager do not allow the display of the American flag, since it might not fit the intention of the architecture. I always thought a main requirement for a post office was the outside display of the American flag.
July 24, 2012-Tuesday-North Beach Carrier Annex, 2200 Powell Street
July 24, 2012-Tuesday-North Beach Station, 1640 Stockton Street
July 24, 2012-Tuesday-Ferry Building, non-government installation flying half-staff
Maybe my postal buddy reasoning of "It's not my problem" might be right, but I rather have reason:
#11-Nobody gives a damn!
I forgot to inform my postal buddy that on:
July 22, 2012-Sunday-Chinatown Station, 867 Stockton Street
This station someone read or received the memo, since the flag was at half-staff.
I checked this morning:
The flag was raised back to the peak, but postal SOP of leaving the flag up 24/7 the new policy these days or is it really...NOBODY GIVE A DAMN!
My beef with the postal service pertaining to the United States flag being flown in front of the North Beach Station at 1640 Stockton Street. Prior to 1997, the one story building housed the clerks that sold the stamps and mailmen that delivered the mails for the North Beach neighborhood. In 1997, the mailmen were moved to the North Beach Carrier Annex at 2200 Powell Street. Before the move I have witness many times a daily ritual held at the North Beach/Stockton Street prior to morning opening of the customer service window---a clerk raising the United States flag. I only seen once the lowering of the United States flag by the clerk after the closure of the customer service window hours in the evening. The owner of the one-story building at Stockton Street torn it down and replaced with a two-story building allowing the postal service to rent the first floor as a retail storefront. Two flag poles came with the new innovations. As the years passed and two of the senior clerks at the station retired, I noticed the flag not being lowered at the evening. The flag was flying in front of the building 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. I checked the Annex at Powell Street and the flag was flying in front of the building 24-7-365 days too. I asked my postal buddy why the flag not raise and lower each business day. He replied it could be several reasons:
#1-Manager did not read the SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) running a post office
#2-No employee assigned to raise and lower flag
#3-Clerk position assigned to task, but individual never informed it was his/her duties
#4-Clerk position assigned to task, but individual cannot perform task due to physical limitations
#5-Clerk position assigned to task, but individual refusal to complete the task
#6-The task is not a clerk duties, but Maintenance
#7-Nobody informed Maintenance Department to raise and lower flag
#8-Nobody informed that building had a flag pole
#9-Nobody informed on the proper flag etiquette.
I am a reluctant veteran, because of the Selective Service December 1, 1969 bouncing birthday balls "Draft Lottery." My birthday landed the number 29 slot and my postal buddy also a former veteran landed the number 114 slot. I pulled out the "flag etiquette" from the VFW website:
The federal flag code says the universal custom is to display the U.S. flag from sunrise to
sunset on buildings and stationary flagstaffs in the open, but when a patriotic effect is
desired the flag may be displayed 24-hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours
of darkness. Also, the U.S. flag should not be displayed when the weather is inclement,
except when an all-weather flag is displayed.
My postal buddy told me via email, when I informed him one day I would be ranting about this old pet peeve of mine, he came up with another reason:
#10-It's not my problem!
On July 22, 2012, Sunday morning my postal buddy called me concerning the movie theatre mass shooting at Aurora, Colorado. He claims he still keep in touch with the latest news from the postal service (Over forty years working for them and he have no life!). He told me to check my two local postal facilities to see if they comply to "USPS News Link Story-Flag At Half-Staff Through July 25" posted 7/20/12 at 4:51 p.m.
As a symbol of respect for the victims of the acts of violence Friday in Aurora, CO,
President Obama has ordered that the flag of the United States shall be flown at
half-staff at all government installations - including postal facilities - throughout the
U.S. and its Territories and possessions. The flag should remain at half-staff until
sunset, July 25, 2012.
When flown at half-staff, hoist the flag to the peak for an instant and then lower it to
the half-staff position. The flag should be raised to the peak again before it's lowered
for the day.
July 22, 2012-Sunday-North Beach Carrier Annex, 2200 Powell Street
July 22, 2012-Sunday-North Beach Station, 1640 Stockton Street
I called my postal buddy and told him noncompliance at both facilities. I told him maybe the memo is in the mail system, since it was mailed out on Friday either by First-class or Priority, therefore the Station Manager would not receive the memo until either Monday or Tuesday. My buddy said Headquarter in Washington, DC send the memo by email. I told him since it was posted at 4:51 p.m., the Manager most likely gone for the day. My buddy corrected me with Pacific Standard Time Zone of 1:51 p.m. and I told him maybe he left early for the weekend. He insist it's reason #10-It's not my problem!
On July 24, 2012-Tuesday-I decided to check out the many post offices nearby. I was astound to discover majority of the post office do not even have a flag pole outside:
Marina Station-2055 Lombard Street
Marina Green Station-3749 Buchanan Street
Gateway Station-1 Embarcadero Center
Rincon Finance Center-180 Steuart Street
Sutter Street Station-150 Sutter Street
My postal buddy claims these facilities are rentals and maybe the building manager do not allow the display of the American flag, since it might not fit the intention of the architecture. I always thought a main requirement for a post office was the outside display of the American flag.
July 24, 2012-Tuesday-North Beach Carrier Annex, 2200 Powell Street
July 24, 2012-Tuesday-North Beach Station, 1640 Stockton Street
July 24, 2012-Tuesday-Ferry Building, non-government installation flying half-staff
Maybe my postal buddy reasoning of "It's not my problem" might be right, but I rather have reason:
#11-Nobody gives a damn!
I forgot to inform my postal buddy that on:
July 22, 2012-Sunday-Chinatown Station, 867 Stockton Street
This station someone read or received the memo, since the flag was at half-staff.
I checked this morning:
The flag was raised back to the peak, but postal SOP of leaving the flag up 24/7 the new policy these days or is it really...NOBODY GIVE A DAMN!
