bbsam

Moderator
Staff member
...and the postmaster general would have backed up his postmaster....it sounds as though the packages were piled to where the employees would have had a very hard time opening up their receiving door from the outside, instead having to dig through the pile to get to the door from the outside.
I doubt it. Signature was obtained. If pkgs were not secured, I think that lands squarely on the postmaster and her employees. I highly doubt the postmaster would want it escalated any higher through their ranks.
 

badpal

Well-Known Member
Post office is tough. Normally I would say get a signature first and if they don't sign just refuse it all but the post office is tricky because they care less than us!
I actually have a good relationship with the post offices , try building a relationship by trashing amazon and the dirtball customers on your route.
 

HEFFERNAN

Huge Member
You told them no one answered the door, they replied "sorry, we're shorthanded"
She signed for it.
It is THE POST OFFICE'S problem, not UPS.


If there was no signature, the driver could have been fired.
Outside of that, it's the Postmaster's job to make sure his/her employees open the back door for UPS.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
You told them no one answered the door, they replied "sorry, we're shorthanded"
She signed for it.
It is THE POST OFFICE'S problem, not UPS.


If there was no signature, the driver could have been fired.
Outside of that, it's the Postmaster's job to make sure his/her employees open the back door for UPS.

So that justifies leaving a door blocking wall of packages 8' high, 3-4 rows deep?
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
My first stop every morning is the Post Office... I'm there every morning within 10 minutes of leaving the building... I back up to a dock, honking my horn while backing... get up against the dock, go around to the back of the truck, and ring the buzzer button on the wall... its a loud buzzer I can hear it going off from outside... So I push the buzzer, open the back door on my truck and it's bricked back to front... 400 - 600 pcs a day on that truck...
I grab a mail bag, scan it, stack it on the dock ledge against the overhead door, and repeat... scan, grab, stack, scan, grab, scan, grab, stack... After a couple minutes of the door not coming up, I reach around and push the buzzer again... go back to scanning... stacking... ring buzzer again... scan, stack, scan, stack... buzzer again... the stop finally zeros out on my Diad, I've been here now for almost 25 min. I have this behemoth wall of boxes stacked up 8 feet high, 10 feet wide, 3 to 4 rows deep... Get in my truck drive around to the front of the post office, go in and find a couple girls on there computer playing on facebook... they see me, one of them sticks there hands out to sign the board, I tell them no one ever came to open the back door, they tell me 'yeah we're short handed today', I get the signature and leave...

4 hrs later I get ODS'd to come to the bldg immediately... So I do and I walk in the office, and get met by this lady who I'm told is the 'post master'... she has a picture of my wall of boxes there on the door, and I get asked if I did that today... I agreed that yes that was me today and she went off on me how it's not secured and anyone could drive up and steal everything, and so on... I keep telling her that no one ever came to open the door up...

Center manager is gone to another building... On road supervisor was on car with another driver today... So it's just me, the office secretary, and the 'post master' in the room talking... So I dont know what will happen to me tomorrow when I show up for work...

I really cant even start my route until I get the post office out of the way and free up some room... so what do I do... sheet 147 boxes as closed??? obviously that would get me in trouble plus I'd have that much more work the next day

Can I be fired for this today? Was I in the wrong? I mean it's not perfect service, but given the circumstances I felt I did what was best given the situation... The secretary told me I left everything unsecured and that was wrong, and that I should have walked around to the front to get someone... So I reminded her that if I did that I'd still be leaving everything unsecured... she thought for a second and agreed that it would be... so now what... take everything i've scanned and stacked up and put it all back into the truck, close the truck up, walk around to the front of the bldg get someone to open the door, then go back around and open the truck back up and start unloading again???
 

bbsam

Moderator
Staff member
Something doesn't exactly makes sense then. I think the door must not have been blocked as stated in the original post or why on earth would the OP continue to ring the bell if he knew the door couldn't be opened?
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
Something doesn't exactly makes sense then. I think the door must not have been blocked as stated in the original post or why on earth would the OP continue to ring the bell if he knew the door couldn't be opened?

The door was not blocked until the OP decided to block it with his wall of packages.

That is what they were most upset about.
 

PASinterference

Yes, I know I'm working late.
Assumptions are not facts.

YOU ASSUMED the packages were blocking a door.
The OP did not say that, unless I missed something.
On top of a litter of puppies, blocking a fire hydrant and a school crosswalk. Let's assume the driver screwed up big time because he didn't wait an hour for proper staffing to show up. $10 says Dave would have signed himself and kept on running.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
On top of a litter of puppies, blocking a fire hydrant and a school crosswalk. Let's assume the driver screwed up big time because he didn't wait an hour for proper staffing to show up. $10 says Dave would have signed himself and kept on running.

You would lose that bet. I admit to bending the rules a bit here and there but never at the Post Office.
 

LeddySS98

Well-Known Member
Okay Mr Upstate, allow me to clarify for you... It is an overhead door at the the dock... it is motorized on a chain pulley... the person inside pushes the UP button and the door moves straight up... So 95% of the time I get there, ring the buzzer, and start stacking, and the door usually starts going up within a couple of minutes of being there... and once the door is up, the boxes just go inside these cages which are just on the other side of the door. right there at the back door, and its actually quite a bit faster then because I'm not having to stack anything.. and they'll usually be one person, sometimes a couple people to help me...and they just throw the stuff into the bins and pile it up, they sign, I leave, and its onto my next stop.

The door was not blocked, it just goes straight up... And when they dont answer I ring it again... and again... and normally by the 3rd time ringing the door goes up and the packages go in.

Some days they dont have any metal cages and they just pile them up in a pile, there on the floor.

I get a long fine with the employees... Most of them complain all the time about how stupid things are ran there...
Had the girl that signed for it, gone back, opened the door... then nothing more would have come of this... but because they more than likely went back to playing on the computer and just left everything back there as was... then hrs later someone was back there and saw it, and all hell broke loose


I've done this before... probably 5 or 6 times over the last couple years... never this big of a wall, but being the time of year, they have more volume now than they do the rest of the year. I stack it out, and ring the buzzer until the stop is complete, then if no one answers I then drive around, go in... find someone, tell them it's back there, they sign and off I go.
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
Should have gotten the picture from the postmaster and forwarded it on to the postmaster general to get his input on the situation.
This was my first thought too.
You know folks, we can make complaints too. We had a driver who got sick of a receivers bad attitude. He went around to the front of the building, went in, and complained to the CEOs secretary. From then on, he was the nicest receiver ever.
 

BlackCat

Well-Known Member
Screw the post office.

A couple of years ago the post master came out and tried to flex his muscles, giving me crap for being late.

I told him that I do not work for him OR the post office and I will get there when I get there.

He never seen a package before 3:00 after that exchange.

They wanted everything put in a cage. Sure. Just make sure the cages are ready when I get there. I am not walking around the PO looking for empty cages. If they do not have cages ready when I get there, it all goes on the dock.

Sort packages by zip code? Not going to happen.
 
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