Do I care that the post office put a sticker on my mail boz, "Managed Service Point?"

[R.C. Christian]

LOL, metrics for mail carriers. Too bad they don't put those on capitol hill.

R. C. Christian gets rep from me for this post. Kudos!

I'm not sure I deserve it but thanks!

 

[Harry Dresden]

Just take it off. And if they put another take that one off too. Fuck em.

I read on the internet where a fellow did just that. Apparently, the next day his mail carrier was at his door replacing it. As you can see from the section of the OP out of the Mail Carrier's Handbook the USPS is very serious about this program. It is probably a hassle I would lose anyway.

​

What I am wondering is some letters I receive have bar coding on them, supposedly to facilitate automated sorting by the USPS. Could this lead to the USPS not only recording the delivery, but EACH LETTER I get? Not that I have anything to hide, but we still get junk mail for the people who lived here ten years ago.

If someone was out to damage me, what is to prevent them from sending me mail from some group like the American Nazi Party? I don't want my name associated in any way, especially with being on their mailing list.

As it is now, we are receiving Sports Illustrated which we did not subscribe to. I wrote them and told them to stop, and they did not. Is Sports Illustrated going to show up in a year with a bill, and be able to verify delivery through the USPS?
​

I read on the internet where a fellow did just that. Apparently, the next day his mail carrier was at his door replacing it. As you can see from the section of the OP out of the Mail Carrier's Handbook the USPS is very serious about this program. It is probably a hassle I would lose anyway.

just say you dont want it on there....its your box they cant make you do anything.....i had lots of people tell me they did not want it there....they just find another place to put it....


What I am wondering is some letters I receive have bar coding on them, supposedly to facilitate automated sorting by the USPS. Could this lead to the USPS not only recording the delivery, but EACH LETTER I get? Not that I have anything to hide, but we still get junk mail for the people who lived here ten years ago.


the bar codes are so the machine the OCR...(Optical character recognition) it goes through knows where it is going.....it also says where it has been.....if you have had a regular Carrier for a while and he is worth a dam you should not be getting anyone elses mail unless it is Current Resident or you have a sub....


If someone was out to damage me, what is to prevent them from sending me mail from some group like the American Nazi Party? I don't want my name associated in any way, especially with being on their mailing list.

anyone with your address can send stuff....if its first or second class just refuse it.....it goes back and the sender has to pay the postage.....if its junk its up to you to contact the company sending it and tell them you dont want it and to take your address off their list....


As it is now, we are receiving Sports Illustrated which we did not subscribe to. I wrote them and told them to stop, and they did not. Is Sports Illustrated going to show up in a year with a bill, and be able to verify delivery through the USPS?


if you refused it and they keep on sending....when the bill shows up refuse it and write on the face of the bill....refused did not order....

 

[Harry Dresden]

It started out of curiosity about MSP sticker on my mail box, but as I though about it, I realized it is a good topic for a thread. It effects almost everyone, there are issues from government employee efficiency to Patriot Act which is all over the news on privacy issues. It also does not demand a lot of research to understand. But, in the end, EVERYONE complains about GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY, we taxpayers should be happy, but I am not. Something about this just does not feel right to me, and I do not know what it is - yet.

Beach....i delivered Mail for 33 years....those stickers have absolutely nothing to do with what you read at their site....all it is, is a way to keep an eye on the carrier....if you have a regular carrier who knows how to do his job you usually get your mail around the same time every day.....or you should anyway.....so them saying it helps them help you with the time is bullshit....if you dont want it in your box rip it off .....and if they put another there take it off....if they say something....tell them you dont want the thing in your box.....they will just stick it in your neighbors box.....tell him the same thing i told you...its your box they cant force you to have it in the box......us Carriers thought it was bullshit and they know it.....it had nothing to do with delivering the mail or the problems the PO is facing.....

Thank you for the inside perspective. Our neighborhood has had the same carrier for at least ten years. Neighbors informed us when we moved in that our carrier should probably be on disability as he has PTSD from military service. Mail gets in the wrong box so frequently, that we took a PO Box. Our carrier misses at least a day of work a week, and has disappeared for months at a time. We get a lot of temporary carriers, and mail can come as late as 7pm, and sometimes not at all. We really do not mind the inconvenience for a war veteran.

Now, I believe some bureaucrat in the post office will fire our mail carrier rather soon. Who knows, I may send a letter complimenting his service. I will not create any kind of a problem for our carrier. Religionwise, I am kind of an Agnostic, but I do believe in the Golden Rule, and I think the Old Testament shares some worthwhile lessons about punishment for our misdeeds. It is not what we do at church on Sunday that matters, it is what we practice in our everyday activities that speaks to our character.

he wont get fired....unless a Vet is caught stealing or doing something pretty bad they wont fire him...a Veteran is pretty dam hard to fire.....and that has nothing to do with the Union....if your mail is being mis-delivered COMPLAIN....and i am serious....they know who delivered your street they know who to get on....if you have a lot of subs chances are its them mis-delivering.... after my day off or if i was off a few days i used to pick up lots of mis-deliveries....

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

One of these stickers showed up in my mailbox a few weeks ago. I quickly deduced what it was for. And since it was about 1,238 on my list of things to be concerned about, I simply tuned it out.

 

[Harry Dresden]

One of these stickers showed up in my mailbox a few weeks ago. I quickly deduced what it was for. And since it was about 1,238 on my list of things to be concerned about, I simply tuned it out.

it is nothing to be concerned about.....the carrier is being forced to scan those non essential things...its just a way for some useless middle manager to justify him being there....otherwise....he doesn't do much....

 

[Connery]

I hope you don't "go postal" on this issue...

The Post Office needs accountability and needs to be efficient. It in not a place just to hang out anymore. They want to stay in business and keep those workers who provide a service employed.

 

[Harry Dresden]

I hope you don't "go postal" on this issue...

The Post Office needs accountability and needs to be efficient. It in not a place just to hang out anymore. They want to stay in business and keep those workers who provide a service employed.

going postal went out last Century.....and who "hangs out" at the PO?.....

 

[Montrovant]

I hope you don't "go postal" on this issue...

The Post Office needs accountability and needs to be efficient. It in not a place just to hang out anymore. They want to stay in business and keep those workers who provide a service employed.

going postal went out last Century.....and who "hangs out" at the PO?.....

I did some work for the post office some years back. I wasn't a postal employee, I got the job through a temp agency. Still, I worked with a number of actual postal workers, and they told stories of other areas where the employees often did just 'hang out' rather than work.

I also learned to dislike the carriers in the area, as they came to the facility I worked at on their lunch break and more than once did a real number on the bathrooms. *shudder*

That's the only direct experience I have with it though, so I have no idea if the hearsay I got was true or exaggeration or jealousy of people in a better position, etc.

As far as this scanning thing....just how short a time frame are carriers expected to run under, I wonder? Efficiency is well and good, but there's also concern that if they are too draconian in their desire to get the mail delivered at the same time every day, the carriers may end up being unsafe trying to fit their schedule.

Whatever the case, it doesn't sound like anything to be too concerned about. And as others have said, if you ARE concerned, just take the sticker off and tell them you don't want it there.

 

[Beachboy]

Just take it off. And if they put another take that one off too. Fuck em.

I read on the internet where a fellow did just that. Apparently, the next day his mail carrier was at his door replacing it. As you can see from the section of the OP out of the Mail Carrier's Handbook the USPS is very serious about this program. It is probably a hassle I would lose anyway.

​

What I am wondering is some letters I receive have bar coding on them, supposedly to facilitate automated sorting by the USPS. Could this lead to the USPS not only recording the delivery, but EACH LETTER I get? Not that I have anything to hide, but we still get junk mail for the people who lived here ten years ago.

If someone was out to damage me, what is to prevent them from sending me mail from some group like the American Nazi Party? I don't want my name associated in any way, especially with being on their mailing list.

As it is now, we are receiving Sports Illustrated which we did not subscribe to. I wrote them and told them to stop, and they did not. Is Sports Illustrated going to show up in a year with a bill, and be able to verify delivery through the USPS?
​

I read on the internet where a fellow did just that. Apparently, the next day his mail carrier was at his door replacing it. As you can see from the section of the OP out of the Mail Carrier's Handbook the USPS is very serious about this program. It is probably a hassle I would lose anyway.

just say you dont want it on there....its your box they cant make you do anything.....i had lots of people tell me they did not want it there....they just find another place to put it....


What I am wondering is some letters I receive have bar coding on them, supposedly to facilitate automated sorting by the USPS. Could this lead to the USPS not only recording the delivery, but EACH LETTER I get? Not that I have anything to hide, but we still get junk mail for the people who lived here ten years ago.


the bar codes are so the machine the OCR...(Optical character recognition) it goes through knows where it is going.....it also says where it has been.....if you have had a regular Carrier for a while and he is worth a dam you should not be getting anyone elses mail unless it is Current Resident or you have a sub....


If someone was out to damage me, what is to prevent them from sending me mail from some group like the American Nazi Party? I don't want my name associated in any way, especially with being on their mailing list.

anyone with your address can send stuff....if its first or second class just refuse it.....it goes back and the sender has to pay the postage.....if its junk its up to you to contact the company sending it and tell them you dont want it and to take your address off their list....


As it is now, we are receiving Sports Illustrated which we did not subscribe to. I wrote them and told them to stop, and they did not. Is Sports Illustrated going to show up in a year with a bill, and be able to verify delivery through the USPS?


if you refused it and they keep on sending....when the bill shows up refuse it and write on the face of the bill....refused did not order....

Worthwhile information. Thank you for taking the time to write it up in a post!

 

[Harry Dresden]

I hope you don't "go postal" on this issue...

The Post Office needs accountability and needs to be efficient. It in not a place just to hang out anymore. They want to stay in business and keep those workers who provide a service employed.

going postal went out last Century.....and who "hangs out" at the PO?.....

I did some work for the post office some years back. I wasn't a postal employee, I got the job through a temp agency. Still, I worked with a number of actual postal workers, and they told stories of other areas where the employees often did just 'hang out' rather than work.

I also learned to dislike the carriers in the area, as they came to the facility I worked at on their lunch break and more than once did a real number on the bathrooms. *shudder*

That's the only direct experience I have with it though, so I have no idea if the hearsay I got was true or exaggeration or jealousy of people in a better position, etc.

As far as this scanning thing....just how short a time frame are carriers expected to run under, I wonder? Efficiency is well and good, but there's also concern that if they are too draconian in their desire to get the mail delivered at the same time every day, the carriers may end up being unsafe trying to fit their schedule.

Whatever the case, it doesn't sound like anything to be too concerned about. And as others have said, if you ARE concerned, just take the sticker off and tell them you don't want it there.

Still, I worked with a number of actual postal workers, and they told stories of other areas where the employees often did just 'hang out' rather than work.


that has to be in the clerk craft.....after they get through with the mail that's there, they do look like they are just hanging.....the Middle Management are the ones who are there just to eat lunch.....many of them should be dismissed,as many of their jobs are quite useless....like the ones who "manage" the scanning points....absolutely useless operation.......

I also learned to dislike the carriers in the area, as they came to the facility I worked at on their lunch break and more than once did a real number on the bathrooms. *shudder*


our people are too far away from the station to do that.....why would they fuck up their own bathroom?.....

but there's also concern that if they are too draconian in their desire to get the mail delivered at the same time every day, the carriers may end up being unsafe trying to fit their schedule.


that's true.....but if you have been there awhile you don't care about THEIR time frame....we use to tell them....when i get done....is when i will be done....mail volume is different every day....you cant do it in the same amount of time every day...a good Carrier will be pretty consistent give or take a half hour....but we did have some pretty poor ones who always had to have help or always said they needed OT.....some of them would get an Hour street time help and still take OT.....

 

[Beachboy]

Beach....i delivered Mail for 33 years....those stickers have absolutely nothing to do with what you read at their site....all it is, is a way to keep an eye on the carrier....if you have a regular carrier who knows how to do his job you usually get your mail around the same time every day.....or you should anyway.....so them saying it helps them help you with the time is bullshit....if you dont want it in your box rip it off .....and if they put another there take it off....if they say something....tell them you dont want the thing in your box.....they will just stick it in your neighbors box.....tell him the same thing i told you...its your box they cant force you to have it in the box......us Carriers thought it was bullshit and they know it.....it had nothing to do with delivering the mail or the problems the PO is facing.....

Thank you for the inside perspective. Our neighborhood has had the same carrier for at least ten years. Neighbors informed us when we moved in that our carrier should probably be on disability as he has PTSD from military service. Mail gets in the wrong box so frequently, that we took a PO Box. Our carrier misses at least a day of work a week, and has disappeared for months at a time. We get a lot of temporary carriers, and mail can come as late as 7pm, and sometimes not at all. We really do not mind the inconvenience for a war veteran.

Now, I believe some bureaucrat in the post office will fire our mail carrier rather soon. Who knows, I may send a letter complimenting his service. I will not create any kind of a problem for our carrier. Religionwise, I am kind of an Agnostic, but I do believe in the Golden Rule, and I think the Old Testament shares some worthwhile lessons about punishment for our misdeeds. It is not what we do at church on Sunday that matters, it is what we practice in our everyday activities that speaks to our character.

​

he wont get fired....unless a Vet is caught stealing or doing something pretty bad they wont fire him...a Veteran is pretty dam hard to fire.....and that has nothing to do with the Union....if your mail is being mis-delivered COMPLAIN....and i am serious....they know who delivered your street they know who to get on....if you have a lot of subs chances are its them mis-delivering.... after my day off or if i was off a few days i used to pick up lots of mis-deliveries....

Thank you for the useful advice.

 

[Beachboy]

One of these stickers showed up in my mailbox a few weeks ago. I quickly deduced what it was for. And since it was about 1,238 on my list of things to be concerned about, I simply tuned it out.

Good thinking.

When you get arrested for something, and you are communicating with your attorney. Don't be surprised if the Feds are listening in. Under the Patriot Act the Federal Government can listen in to your private communication with your attorney if they believe you are terrorist related.

The Feds may hear nothing about terrorism, but they might hear you confess to something. There is nothing to prohibit them from passing that information on to local police.

It is nice to know we have vigilant Americans like you looking out for the rest of us. Don't let me interrupt your important internet activities further.

 

[Connery]

Moved to proper forum

 

[Beachboy]

One of these stickers showed up in my mailbox a few weeks ago. I quickly deduced what it was for. And since it was about 1,238 on my list of things to be concerned about, I simply tuned it out.

it is nothing to be concerned about.....the carrier is being forced to scan those non essential things...its just a way for some useless middle manager to justify him being there....otherwise....he doesn't do much....

In the end, I think you are correct. When former President Bill Clinton was asked at the end of his term in 2000 what he thought the biggest issue would be for the U. S. Supreme Court in the 21st century his response was one word. "Privacy."

 

[Darkwind]

Its a time management tool. City carriers are managed right down to the minute. It means nothing to the resident and is merely a means for the Post Master of the local branch to keep track of the carriers.

 

[Beachboy]

Its a time management tool. City carriers are managed right down to the minute. It means nothing to the resident and is merely a means for the Post Master of the local branch to keep track of the carriers.

On the surface that is fine. One of our clients had a national sales force. The sales people carried a computer input sheet and marked where they had been and what they had sold to each client. Keeping the pressure on to sell, made a certain amount of sense, but eight calls per day were expected of each sales person.

In the Denver office the sales force had little trouble, but the sales people who went to Pueblo, Grand Junction, and Ft. Collins were always justifying their time, and the company lost some good sales people. What assurance is there that the person in home office reading the computer print outs has a sense of geographical size of territories?

 

[Darkwind]

Its a time management tool. City carriers are managed right down to the minute. It means nothing to the resident and is merely a means for the Post Master of the local branch to keep track of the carriers.

On the surface that is fine. One of our clients had a national sales force. The sales people carried a computer input sheet and marked where they had been and what they had sold to each client. Keeping the pressure on to sell, made a certain amount of sense, but eight calls per day were expected of each sales person.

In the Denver office the sales force had little trouble, but the sales people who went to Pueblo, Grand Junction, and Ft. Collins were always justifying their time, and the company lost some good sales people. What assurance is there that the person in home office reading the computer print outs has a sense of geographical size of territories?

I'm not sure what kind of answer would satisfy your question.

I know of rural postal routes that are only 50 miles long, but have 250 boxes. It takes a full 8.5 hours to run the route including the case time.

In some parts of the southwest, postal routes are 300 miles long, but only have 40 boxes. They take a full 8 hours to run including the case time.

City carriers have it even harder. In the Post Office I worked, back when I was an RCAC, the city carriers had one vehicle, and two routes. One route was wholly a foot route and the managed service points were located at the mail boxes found on the street corners and in the downtown section. The carrier had to scan them within a specific time after having scanned out of the office. Each Post Master would walk the route with their city carrier once a year and they would determine the delivery time based upon that yearly audit and they assigned the scan times.

I personally thought it was micromanagement to the nth degree, but it is what it is. That is the only real purpose of these managed service point scanners.

Think of them like a security guard who walks around with a key and has to hit the key box for each round he or she makes at specific times.

 

[Beachboy]

Its a time management tool. City carriers are managed right down to the minute. It means nothing to the resident and is merely a means for the Post Master of the local branch to keep track of the carriers.

On the surface that is fine. One of our clients had a national sales force. The sales people carried a computer input sheet and marked where they had been and what they had sold to each client. Keeping the pressure on to sell, made a certain amount of sense, but eight calls per day were expected of each sales person.

In the Denver office the sales force had little trouble, but the sales people who went to Pueblo, Grand Junction, and Ft. Collins were always justifying their time, and the company lost some good sales people. What assurance is there that the person in home office reading the computer print outs has a sense of geographical size of territories?

I'm not sure what kind of answer would satisfy your question.

I know of rural postal routes that are only 50 miles long, but have 250 boxes. It takes a full 8.5 hours to run the route including the case time.

In some parts of the southwest, postal routes are 300 miles long, but only have 40 boxes. They take a full 8 hours to run including the case time.

City carriers have it even harder. In the Post Office I worked, back when I was an RCAC, the city carriers had one vehicle, and two routes. One route was wholly a foot route and the managed service points were located at the mail boxes found on the street corners and in the downtown section. The carrier had to scan them within a specific time after having scanned out of the office. Each Post Master would walk the route with their city carrier once a year and they would determine the delivery time based upon that yearly audit and they assigned the scan times.

I personally thought it was micromanagement to the nth degree, but it is what it is. That is the only real purpose of these managed service point scanners.

Think of them like a security guard who walks around with a key and has to hit the key box for each round he or she makes at specific times.

Our client's final decision for action was basically as you describe. We took the history of the sales territories and came up with how many accounts could be managed in a day, as well as the schedule for different days. For example if the Ft Collins sales rep stayed in town eight calls per day were expected. If they drove to Loveland to work, that dropped to six calls. Then we put in a special exception. Mr, Steele of Steele's Markets owned four large grocery stores up the northern front range. If Steele called in a special order the rep may only make four calls on the Steele stores, but spent half his day driving. Customer service is the key to making the big sales numbers in the grocery business.

They did catch one sales rep, the one out of Pueblo, who was working four hour days creaming his major accounts. As the client had a gourmet cheese line with two week dates on some of the products, he had to be fired. Out-of-date merchandise is bad for the reputation of our client, the grocery store, and possibly the health of consumers.

So, as you see I am on both sides of this issue. I do not like the micro management aspect either. Our client had a tie-in with Schwinn bicycles where you could enter a contest to win a bike. One rep got very creative and hung bicycles from the ceiling of large grocery stores over the product. He was landing end-aisle displays with his tactic, which are "gold" in the grocery business. But, in the end management had to tell the bean counters to back off on this rep's time sheets. The last thing we wanted to do was stifle creative thinking among sales people to sell product.

This sales rep also came up with gourmet cheese tasting in fashionable bars.
He made Vice-President in six years, and is now my client contact.​

 

[Harry Dresden]

Its a time management tool. City carriers are managed right down to the minute. It means nothing to the resident and is merely a means for the Post Master of the local branch to keep track of the carriers.

On the surface that is fine. One of our clients had a national sales force. The sales people carried a computer input sheet and marked where they had been and what they had sold to each client. Keeping the pressure on to sell, made a certain amount of sense, but eight calls per day were expected of each sales person.

In the Denver office the sales force had little trouble, but the sales people who went to Pueblo, Grand Junction, and Ft. Collins were always justifying their time, and the company lost some good sales people. What assurance is there that the person in home office reading the computer print outs has a sense of geographical size of territories?

I'm not sure what kind of answer would satisfy your question.

I know of rural postal routes that are only 50 miles long, but have 250 boxes. It takes a full 8.5 hours to run the route including the case time.

In some parts of the southwest, postal routes are 300 miles long, but only have 40 boxes. They take a full 8 hours to run including the case time.

City carriers have it even harder. In the Post Office I worked, back when I was an RCAC, the city carriers had one vehicle, and two routes. One route was wholly a foot route and the managed service points were located at the mail boxes found on the street corners and in the downtown section. The carrier had to scan them within a specific time after having scanned out of the office. Each Post Master would walk the route with their city carrier once a year and they would determine the delivery time based upon that yearly audit and they assigned the scan times.

I personally thought it was micromanagement to the nth degree, but it is what it is. That is the only real purpose of these managed service point scanners.

Think of them like a security guard who walks around with a key and has to hit the key box for each round he or she makes at specific times.

what City did you work in?....in 33 years i have never seen or heard of a Post Master getting off his ass and walking the route with anyone.....the Carrier Supervisor yea....but not the PM....

 

[Darkwind]

On the surface that is fine. One of our clients had a national sales force. The sales people carried a computer input sheet and marked where they had been and what they had sold to each client. Keeping the pressure on to sell, made a certain amount of sense, but eight calls per day were expected of each sales person.

In the Denver office the sales force had little trouble, but the sales people who went to Pueblo, Grand Junction, and Ft. Collins were always justifying their time, and the company lost some good sales people. What assurance is there that the person in home office reading the computer print outs has a sense of geographical size of territories?

I'm not sure what kind of answer would satisfy your question.

I know of rural postal routes that are only 50 miles long, but have 250 boxes. It takes a full 8.5 hours to run the route including the case time.

In some parts of the southwest, postal routes are 300 miles long, but only have 40 boxes. They take a full 8 hours to run including the case time.

City carriers have it even harder. In the Post Office I worked, back when I was an RCAC, the city carriers had one vehicle, and two routes. One route was wholly a foot route and the managed service points were located at the mail boxes found on the street corners and in the downtown section. The carrier had to scan them within a specific time after having scanned out of the office. Each Post Master would walk the route with their city carrier once a year and they would determine the delivery time based upon that yearly audit and they assigned the scan times.

I personally thought it was micromanagement to the nth degree, but it is what it is. That is the only real purpose of these managed service point scanners.

Think of them like a security guard who walks around with a key and has to hit the key box for each round he or she makes at specific times.

what City did you work in?....in 33 years i have never seen or heard of a Post Master getting off his ass and walking the route with anyone.....the Carrier Supervisor yea....but not the PM....

I delivered in a small town in Northeast Pennsylvania. The Post Master there was a woman bucking to get promoted to the regional office. I can't for the life of Me, remember her tittle. But she walked the city routes every year I was there. She had a real thing about keeping Overtime to zero. Oh, and our office is small. It didn't have a carrier supervisor. We had four Rural routes, two city routes, one full time clerk and one part-time clerk shared between three offices.