Four or five years ago, I happened to stop at a convenience store near Pennsboro, WV. The store made sandwiches and other lunch fare and had an area where you could sit and eat. I sat next to a booth where three men in cheap sport coats sat. I couldn’t help but overhear their conversation.
They were gloating, in every sense of the word about how they had scared a postal clerk when they had dropped in to inspect a rural post office and made her nervous. They appeared to be low level post office managers.There wasn’t any discussion of how the inspection went. It was all about how they had intimidated her. It was all I could do to keep my mouth shut. They were petty dictators.
Since then I’ve made a point of talking to clerks in rural post offices in many places. From what I’ve heard that’s not an unusual occurance for the clerks at the counters and post masters in small offices. Post offices have to submit regular reports via the internet. The fact that local phone service was unreliable and the only access was dialup made no difference.
Postal managers seem to be focused on creating more reporting requirements perhaps to justify their jobs, That’s why I say the post office should eliminate half the management levels. Have you read any of the articles on the bonuses given high level postal managers even as the post office loses money?
I don’t know how big city facility post offices work, but the workers in rural offices have to work under a tyrannical regime.
If I ran the post office, I’d review all of the paperwork requirements and the management descriptions with the idea of eliminating everything and everyone that wasn’t absolutely necessary. If someone screwed up, fine require a report. If not, get the hell off the workers’ backs.
You wouldn’t need as many managers if the process was overhauled.
Because the process is so complex, you end up with tons of managers to supervise and inspect the process.
If the process was simplified, all these managers would be eliminated or moved into more productive roles.