Did anyone take the USPS buyouts?
October 21st, 2009 | Agencies Postal Service | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
Are you one of the 18,000 people who accepted the Postal Service’s $15,000 buyout offer? Want to talk about why you took the deal? E-mail me. (Alternatively, if you didn’t accept the deal, I want to hear why not!)
I’m working on a story about the buyouts, and I’d love to include your stories. Glad to keep you anonymous, of course.
Tags: buyouts, early retirements
Comments
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MrJames Says:
October 21st, 2009 at 4:27 pmYES!! Took the early out because the workplace environment has gone from barely tolerable to totally intolerable. Less workers, more work for those who remain, people sitting in a room?? supervisors performing craft duties. Additionally they (for some unknown reason) moved the timecards from the entrance to almost the other end of the building & if you dare move your card there’ll be dire consequences!! Cant wait to get out of there fer sure- Woo Hoo!!
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been there Says:
October 21st, 2009 at 7:52 pmthe p.o. needs to consider buy outs for highest paid cival service try 25000 a lot will go after all we are near retirement we just need that extra push and it would help both the po and old timers.
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cmnatfederalnews Says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 5:12 amI want to take a buyout. The annunity income I will receive after 24 years of service is not enough for me to leave right now. The $15,000 incentive was not enough to make much of a difference. I would take a buyout that included a cost of living feature.
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csrs Says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:37 amYes, I have taken the early retirement offer this time around. I am 53 with over 31 yrs of service. For every year under the age 55 I lose 2% of my retirement , 4 % , but for every year worked over 30 I gain 2% , so I am losing 2% to retire early. I was going to go at 55 no matter what , so the $15, 000 while not that much , is enough to get me out the door. I have worked over 30 yrs on T-1, the overnight shift. Over the past 6-7 yrs or so my body is finally feeling the toll of pounding cement floors , lifting, and repetitive motion all these years. I can’t deal with all the pain anymore.
Plus I am so sick of seeing upper mgmt. run the place I used to have pride in , so far into the ground I don’t know if it can be salvaged. They may have their “excuses” but I want it known that supervisors are getting bonuses of thousands of dollars for their “good ideas” or doing a good job. Otherwise known as doing what they get a paycheck for in the first place. How dare ANY company billons of dollars in debt give anyone any extra money above their normal pay until they are operating in the black? AIG anyone? As for folks sitting around in rooms doing nothing aka standby time…. not where I work. Sure mail volume is definitely the lightest I have ever seen it , but we most often can find something productive to do.
I do look forward to my retirement , but also feel a bit of
melancholy.
Let me just add one more thing please. I know automation is a necessary part of Postal Service but for every piece of automated equipment to sort mail that a post office gets , management gets a pay raise. In my state we have one of largest mail processing plants. We have many machines that are idle for much of the time throughout a 24 hr period, not just now but always have. On my shift we have supervisors who run mail through their machines multiple times to get their “numbers” higher so they look good to their bosses. Now mulitply this nation wide. This is beyond mis-management and waste. Now when our unions contract comes up next year the lowly worker who is trying to get the mail out to the customer in spite of management , not because of them, will no doubt , be made to look like the bad guy as usual because we make so much money and have such wonderful benefits! (not) What saddens me most is the customer seems to no longer matter, it all about numbers and climbing the ladder. There will be no Post Office for anyone if this is not changed. Thank you for letting me get 30 yrs of “stuff” off my chest! Hey, you asked for it… ; ) -
yogi Says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:00 pmYes, I took the buyout. My facility is closing in a few months anyway. The only available jobs for us are between 500 and 1200 miles away. We are fortunate to be offered those but if you can’t move, that’s it. Since my job is already gone this buyout will buy me some time until I can find something else.
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jazzdork Says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:08 pmI didn’t take the buyout. I took the early out offered this past summer. Why? After over 30 years, which included over 20 years in management, I’ve seen the postal service evolve into a micro-managed company that had little or no need for actual managers at the local level. All opportunity to lead and manage was stripped away by district and area managers. The office that I managed led the way in productivity and revenue year after year, but it became a situation where it was never good enough. Over the past couple of years, we became impotent data entry clerks; our only responsibility was to respond to the brow-beating that we received day after day. I do not use the term “brow-beating” lightly. I have years of experience and have dealt with many types of managerial personalities, and they never bothered me to the point where I ever felt as though I was being harrassed. Until the past couple of years, the USPS was an enjoyable place to work. My colleagues in management and craft were all working together to serve our customers. Then the micromanagement advanced to such an extreme that were simply driven to produce more with less day after day. Our excellent record and continued excellent performance was now not good enough. We were treated with extreme disrespect by our MPOO and district and area managers. I would receive literally dozens and dozens of emails each and every day from our MPOO chastising us and goading us and blaming us. It became too much to deal with, and the work was no longer enjoyable, nor did I feel that we were striving for our common goal of customer service anymore. I went on a job search, found a new job to move on to, and gladly submitted my acceptance of an early retirement. I have found that work in the private sector is so much more enjoyable because I am now appreciated again, and my contributions are recognized as valuable. I find it very sad that a good career with the USPS had to end on such a down note, but the current state of management affairs has created a hostile, frustrating, impossible and unproductive environment.
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twfid Says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 4:39 pmI took the buyout. Best decision that I have made in three years.
I am a newer (2+ yr) ptf. I see no future for myself with the Post Office. We as ptf’s are constantly beaten over the head with the threat of layoffs, reduction of hours and then told that we can be scheduled for as few as two hours a week but must remain on call 24/7.
The ptf’s are forced to do the bulk of the work while the old time regulars who are guaranteed a job rarely, if ever put in a honest days work.
Every regular job that has been vacated has been abolished and a career as a ptf is not an option for me. -
dkhilde Says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 6:15 pmNo,because the reduction in penalty,the 2 % per year is too much. OPM should tell the USPS the smart thing to do is buyout the csrs employee. They are the highest paid employee and most expensive employee. Vacancies created by these employees leaving would be replaced by FERS employees who would NEVER reach the top of the pay scale, thus the USPS would SAVE MONEY. Also eliminate all the area VP and asst VP, Jesus the little these people do and most if not all info to the field is done by the net over the computer which every post office has.
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PhiCrappaZappa Says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 6:28 pmI couldn’t afford the buyout. But if the PTB will just buy my home for a cool million or so like it does the elites of the USPS, I could probably swing it.
I have a better question for you. Of the 15% reduction in management “positions” Potter was so happy to fill Congressional ears with, just how many EAS “personnel” were removed from postal service? I wager ZERO. Words mean things, and Potter is full to the brim. -
return to sender Says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 8:07 pmBuyout not offered to carriers. Offer maximum buyout
to the civil service employees which would reduce
the highest paid employees, however only a serious
offer would be considered. -
GunnyG Says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 10:29 pmI’m a military retiree that has been with the USPS for only 2 years. I am taking the resignation buyout for several reasons. At the plant level there is no ability to move up as they keep those that are eligible to retire lingering around. Very few personnel are trained to an adequate level and the rest just keep mulling along until they are able to retire. It is very evident that the reduction in mail flow will have a devastating effect on personnel. Unfortunately, the USPS is not attempting to reorganize in a manner consistent with the modern age of electronic communication.
Finally, the mail processing is done in such an antequated format that it is not surprising that people choose other forms of communication. -
sunnistorm Says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 10:58 pmAfter 30+years as a USPS Clerk under the CSRS, the $15000 buyout was an insult. I have 2 more years before I can retire at 62% of my “high 3″. I’ve opted to use all my accrued sick leave for total knee replacements on both knees (after decades of working 8-12 hrs/day on my feet on cement, tile or wood floors.) The USPS owes me new knees at full pay using my sick leave. ( I NEVER gave workman’s comp a thought for my knee surgery, because I didn’t want ANY involvement from the USPS with MY knees…!) Hopefully I’ll retire in 2011 to continue my life (without postal stupidity!) in a new career as an LPN—tuition for my training will be paid with my accrued annual leave, lump-sum-payment, at separation. Don’t get me wrong–the USPS has been a God-send from day one, providing benefits, salary and security for my two daughters and myself–but I can’t wait to get out of this organization!
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longtimer Says:
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:18 amI’m 53 years old with 34 years service. I could afford a 2 percent a year cut but just could’nt see giving 4 percent up. I just wonder how many more employees are in the same boat as I am. Surely they will come up with another offer.
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elenia Says:
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:07 amI had the yrs. but not the age and I wasn’t about to lose 6 yrs of service for a measly 15k. After paying higher insurance premiums and leaving an annuity for my spouse I would have about 16k/yr to live on! I’m actually planning on staying and maxing out my retirement, I’m going to leave the USPS with as much as I can get.
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joyce4000 Says:
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:41 pmI took the buyout, finally! I have 36 yrs. Only because I started working fresh out of high school. I was not old enough to leave with 30 yrs or Iwould have been gone long time ago. People often would ask me why I was still there with 35yrs. I would have gone without the buyout but the offer without it didn’t come close to the annuity that we needed to survive. But all I can say is HALLELUAH!!!!
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MrJames Says:
October 26th, 2009 at 2:58 pmSilly Question: Since only 18,000 took the incentive why not pay the full $15K? Like I said silly question……
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MrJames Says:
October 26th, 2009 at 4:18 pmoooooh Just had an epiphany – they’ll take the money they didn’t have to pay out (for the other 12,000) & place it some interest bearing account until Oct/ Nov 2010 them make payments out of the interest earned over that time period. OK I got it now……
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MrJames Says:
October 26th, 2009 at 4:21 pmRE: Jazzdork Couldn’t have said it better. All The Best!
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Denise Cook Says:
November 12th, 2009 at 7:54 pmBest decision I have every made. Working a full time job
that I simply love. Enrolled in school to finish a degree I
started 10 years ago . There ’s life after the USPS. -
tom jogger Says:
November 17th, 2009 at 3:41 pmi feel the postal retirees that retired after our postmaster told us that there would be no buyouts should be entitled to the money given to employees that did retire when it was offered.this was only three months of retirees.