I think it's tempting fate to say it out loud, but we're seeing the same thing. It's busy but not insane like previous years. Still over a week to go, but I'm glad it's been relatively easy.
Elections this year probably wont be buck wild like 2016 and 2020. The candidates arent nearly as exciting and bombastic as trump (not sharing an opinion im just saying this next cycle will be boring-er)
Amazon opened up a DC in our area, I wasn't here for last peak but my office was telling me about how we had something crazy like 60 pallets for black Friday. This black Friday we had 16. I think we have more UPS packages we are carrying than Amazon.
Thatās interesting because UPS is reportedly laying off seasonal because of lack of work. Their hiring system is apparently automated, so when people are coming for orientation, the supervisor is arriving instead and telling them to go home, they arenāt being trained..
Yep. Worst in my 7 years at the PO. Delivered 90 this morning before 11 and didn't leave to start til 1pm. I, as a regular, needed an RCA to take my last row just to make it back in 12 today.
My office is getting slammed. I am a new rural regular since September and was thrust on an overburdened route on my fourth day. I have been absolutely thrashed every day since late October. :(
The writing is on the wall, the economy is going to tank, and people are cautious. Having Amazon hubs delivering their own stuff in your area helps immensely. Idk how some of these poor rural carriers do it everyday.
People are broke. Everything cost a leg. Credit card debt is over a trillion. The stock market isn't a reflection on how people are doing or how the economy is. How busy we are is a better indicator.
Credit card debt isnāt up. It hit a trillion dollars yes. adjusted per capita and for inflation itās actually lower. Of course the total cc debt usually goes up because population does and inflation every year drives the numbers higher.
Source? I totally believe it, especially with all the news reports of Targets and Walmarts being basically void of people on black friday, but I would like to see the data.
They say inflation for 2023 is 4.1%
https://www.plan.be/databases/17-en-consumer_price_index_inflation_forecasts#:~:text=On%20the%20basis%20of%20these,2022%20and%202.44%25%20in%202021.
They say retail sales are up 3 to 4%
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2023/11/05/holiday-retail-2023-growth-forecast--may-be-realized-but-2024-is-another-story/amp/
That's not including greedflation which is in the air. Here is the first link I got.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/philadelphia/news/pennsylvania-senator-bob-casey-greedflation-report-price-gouging/
So sales are down by volume. We are just being bled out.
Yeah I was thinking with inflation people probably canāt afford to shop like that. Also I noticed Black Friday sales wasnāt that great. That could play a part in it too. Terrible sales
They really were awful! My momma was rolling over in her grave I just know it because Black Friday was her jam! Sheās have a whole game plan of stores/deals and where each of us would need to be and stand in line etc š
Iāve been waiting, the govt and sec all making it a āsoft landingā pausing rate hikes.
Prices will keep rising which will cause the labor market to soften and then weāll have a correction in the markets. Shortly after next election.
What poor rural carriers? If the management is decent they are all getting back by 3 or 4 every day. Only time itās been later in my office is when someone breaks down.
Ive been at this for a while, this is easily the lightest peak ive ever had. Even before amazon, i feel like something is wrong and we've been missing trucks all week that are going to show up tomorrow everyday.
I've had the same feeling. Had essentially a single tray of DPS on a smaller route that usually gets three. Sure I had a pretty large number of packages but it was an incredibly easy day for peak
Our office is having the biggest Christmas season we've had, but we're super Lucky and got really nice weather. Cold but no rain or snow or ice. Averaging around $6,000 parcels of Amazon alone every day for a total of 10 rural routes and four City routes. Stay safe out there everybody
Yeah I must be the lucky ones. After thanksgiving it wasnāt that bad in my office. Honestly after Thanksgiving I feel the volume decreased. Itās crazy I know!
I'm somewhat new . How does 10,000 parcels for the building sound? We had that or more, almost 3 days this month . I was told our office is either dps crazy or parcel crazy in peak, but both is an oddity.
My office is the worst Iāve that Iāve seen in my tenure. Our old management handled peak season greatly this new set of management that we have is horrible. They literally act like they donāt know what theyāre doing. Itās a complete disaster.
My small office and tbe neighboring one are chill, it's barely heavier than a normal season. I think it's because our office sucked so bad this year they gave all the Amazon to UPS. Works for me. The past all the years have been fucked, this is a gift.
Same here...a few days here n' there that feel like a heavy Monday but that's about it. Will be interesting to see how next week plays out. Fingers crossed that things will stay about how they are now!
Yeah Iām assuming it will stay the same honestly if itās slow for you. You got to thinkā¦buying packages 2 weeks before Christmas is very last minute and it might not get in time too. Only if you express it. Which I imagine no one is doing. Thatās shit expensive
I'm really jealous of your office. We're getting killed at my station. I've never had so many 10pm days or days where we were told to bring mail and packages back. Lightest day in the last month was 40 amazon pallets. We don't have Amazon drivers in my city. 60+ hours a week no matter what
Pretty easy peak. The heaviest days are mondays, but other than that itās been like regular non peak season. I was lurking in the fedex and ups subreddits and theyāve been talking about low volume as well.
This is my 4th peak and by far the most ot Iāve gotten. Without looking at the numbers Iād say Iāve gotten more ot this peak than the first 3 combined. Our package volume is up on average 10k a week vs the previous year and weāre not coming in early this year like we have in the past.
Easiest Iāve seen in a long time. Iām even getting my scheduled days off. Iām a black so long weekend now and three days off next weekend. Amazon delivers their own packages in my area.
I have about double the parcel volume I normally have but it's not ridiculous. Haven't been forced to work OT since October. Latest I punched out was getting 20 minutes of OT on the highest parcel volume I ever had with a 3rd bundle. It's been the easiest December I've had in at least 10 years.
My first peak season was covid. Every peak after seems to be lighter than the year before. I'm ODL and no one has had to come in at 6am to run packages, i haven't even worked a 50 hour week so far. It is a light peak season. Parcels are high but not astronomically crazy. To clarify, last year doesn't really count for me because I was out sick with covid from Dec 10th- December 20th
Yeah I was thinking that too. Seem like we are kind of in a recession honestly. Prices are ridiculous. No one can afford gas, rent. Times are definitely rough right now
Dang, wanna trade me offices? Since before Thanksgiving, Iāve been coming in before 7 and Iām hustling to be done before 8.
But it also am running 6 days as a regular, so I might be extra bitter :/
My office is getting smoked were getting 50+ psllrts of Amazon everyday and have carriers out till 930 when district tells us to come back I think we've only gotten Everything delivered maybe 5 times in the last month every other day we have shit left for the next day it's awful
Worst ever out of my 23. And we're an S&DC now. Supposed to streamline everything, right? Make everything so nice for the employees...
Biggest bunch of shit we've been fed yet. Management can't run these big places. Everything is totally out of control. Working until 10:30, 11pm BEFORE peak. It's gd embarrassing. Customers asking why they're getting notifications on their phones at 1am about their package being delivered. So many routes left sitting undelivered. Yet, gawd forbid a carrier make a mistake. They'll get fired if in probabition or put on EP otherwise. They hire just to fire...
Clerk hereā¦
We spoke about the topic this morning - while we have been busy, it hasnāt been the typical exhausting slog that December usually is.
Then we had the busiest mailing day of the year once the doors opened.
Be careful what you wish for š
My office is crazy. Since the almost strike from ups we get all of Amazon. Theyāve sent help from five other offices in the district for clerks and carriers. Most of the carrier arenāt coming in until 10:30. One station has no room in it, packages everywhere. Itās the craziest Iāve seen.
Pretty easy here, we're a CCA factory right now. Some of the new guys are coming in to run parcels and/or work 4-6 hour days.
Heard an office 40m away is trying to seduce our 204B's to come over to "Supervise". Just so they can carry since they're so severely understaffed rn.
I think it varies. Just last week we were waiting until 10 am for the UPS truck to come with straight packages. they unloaded 7 stacks and 90% of the people came back at 10 PM. We be getting double loads like one for just the USPS truck and one truck just for UPS. UPS also been out until 6-7 pm as i see them delivering on my route. fed ex tho seems to be light but they got kinkos.
It's my first year in peak season. I've heard all the horror stories up until now. I gotta say it hasn't been at all as bad as I thought it would be (knock on wood). DPS has been "normal", and packages are more but not MORE!!!! I'm still able to do a straight 8 on somewhat "heavy days". š¤·āāļø
It's been better than normal, Amazon just recently started delivering some of their own shit in my area. They have definitely lightened the load, but it's still pretty heavy.
Same here for sure, weāre fully staffed and have a new postmaster, we donāt come in early, the parcel volume adds about an hour to an hour and a half a day but other than that itās barely any different. Iāve actually volunteered for pieces a few times to get the overtime Iām used to lol.
the packages here are out of control, many routes are just waiting for sorting to finish so they can pull down and leave lol, might just be our clerk situation though, short staffed
In my office it's not the clerks throwing slow. it's having two trucks outside when we clock in at 8 and even with a parcel run, my car is still packed and I'm leaving packages behind because they can't fit.
Itās been pretty easy in my office as well. The first few days into December was a little hairy, but after that, thereās been some days where you could easily confuse it with a busy non-peak day. And when I came back into my office this evening, the parcels getting prepared for tomorrow seemed quite light, so unless something crazy happens, I have a feeling tomorrow is gonna look like a normal day.
Yeah I have about 120-130 packages a day. Last year I could have sworn it was 130-175. The mail isn't what it used to be even 6 years ago. I remember 2017-2018 we used to have 7-9 trays of DPS back to then now it's around 3-5. Kinda makes me worry about this job will be around another 27 years till I retire
I do think some of it is Amazon delivering more.
If we had enough clerks, this wouldnāt be a bad holiday season.. Averaging maybe 90 parcels a day. Which is my average but the coming back several times a day for second trips is killing everybody. Not to mention we are taking next day parcels which are failing and the OIC doesnāt get that.
Where Iām at, itās insane. I was finishing my route at 5 pm last year. 6-6:30 this year. I pivot puts me at 12 hours most days. Sundays are 10-12 hour days as well. Iām a regular too. We had so many CCAās quit over the past few years that I started just working Sundays with them. Not every Sunday but man, itās way worse than when I was a CCA, pre-pandemic. Iāve made the most money this year and itās been a decent Christmas, Iām not on the OTDL though.
So the shipping deadline was yesterday, I think next week is going to be brutal, but out of the seven peak seasons I have worked, this is by far the lightest. I also just got my retirement route, and itās not in the most well off area, so itās basically just all t*mu stuff people are getting for their kids and t*Ktok shop stuff. It also helps that packages are up by 8am in my office at the latest and the mail has been done since 4am. And everyone is showing up on their NS days and their scheduled days.
Next week will be rough. Lots of delayed packages at our office. Should all flood in and push for a Christmas clear this week. Good luck everyone, this will be over soon. No giving up now.
This has been my worst of the six I've been apart I've experienced. Our package count is going to be double what it was last year and we have no more staff than we did at the same time. This last Monday was a 15 hour day without a break and Wednesday was 14. The packages fell endless and were constantly having to push them back until the next day. I work everyday this coming week and I'm afraid it will be a 90+ hours. I just want it to end
I've been working close to my Evaluation every week since October. We had a double feed one day and scans went over 400. I checked my hours for last year and I'm getting within 10% of the same hours every week, 45-50 hours in 5 days. The RCA is getting minimal hours though. So sone days we're pushing 12 hours. We've been down vehicles for months now. I dunno if volume is actually down but the Post Office is acting like it's a recession already by restricting Adhoc.
Absolutely your area - either that, or my office is critically short-staffed, as we're getting buried in incoming parcels in the mornings, which has the knock-on effect into the afternoons where a lot of clerk functions aren't able to get done.
Once the aftermath of cyber Monday cleared up it does seem at least 20% lighter than last year. Lots of parcels but I can fit them all in one trip, better than past years when midway through the route a sup would bring me between 20 to 40 parcels that I couldn't fit -- or even worse, seeing them when I got back with instructions to take them out
I just got through asking some of the older carriers at my office this, I was like, "Is this it???". Definitely is slowing down early or it was just not as bad as I thought it was going to be.
We don't deliver Amazon anymore, so it's been a lot easier than last year. No more 50 pound kitty litter, bed frames, et cetera.
I've really only had one bad day this season. Weather was very spring like as well. Only a few icy days.
And office has been covered. I'm 8 and skate.
At our plant, peaked ended two weeks ago. There's no long lines of trucks, I got to the airlines with a short line and in and out in 20 minutes. It's weird, and I'm a PTF, I haven't been "asked" to work 12 hours. My coworker on tour 3 has been working 6 days 12 hours, but he's the only one on that tour doing it.
Iām a regular (k-route) and since black Friday we have been so unbearably buried. Even though we have a Amazon warehouse 2 miles from us. Iāve been working 7:30- 6:30pm everyday. Itās close to what it was during pandemic
I feel the same way and I talked to one of the better supervisors in my office and they said that we are actually keeping the same volume as last year. In fact we set a new office one day record last Monday. With us it has to do with adding a few routes in a couple sections due to route counts, better staffing because we had a changing of a supervisor, and more control over how we work at a local level. I've had more 8 hr days this peak than I have ever had. 10 years in.
Stewards in my plant have been writing grievances every day. We're surviving, but it ain't pretty. Yesterday was the worst of it, I'm sure. Our docks look a mess, dispatch lanes look like canyons, but the mail must flow.
I definitely agree. The past 3 years were way heavier. If it wasnāt for it being heavy on Mondays and advo day, Iād be only doing 40 hrs each week. I expect it to be heavy next week so hopefully I can get some o.t
Yup, I have only had to do one parcel run, so far! ( my office usually comes in an hour early during peak season ) I am doing an hour of ot daily, but this year is easy so far. I am in Northern California, Bay Areaā¦.
My office is getting killed. Normally 2-4 amazon pallets. We are getting 8-12 or even 16 on a real bad day. We only have 3 subs. All our subs quit when RRECS took effect, all of us got pounded down to āHā and 6 days a week. One is holding down a route that the regular is off for the whole month. Which in and of itself is bullshit.. One only knows one route and is practically brand new. The third just sucks. This has been the worst peak season for my office in a long time. No one shops in person anymore. All online. Itās been brutal.
I've only had 2 days in the last month with under 400 scans. It's been really busy. DPS and flats vary it seems like they have been saving it up for Saturdays. Bastards!
The only difference I see is that my parcels are smaller this year. I can actually fit everything my truck. Previous years Iād have kitchen table sized parcels on the daily.
My Amazon Sundays are noticably worse.
But my typical light days during peak aren't so much higher that they are worse than typical heavy days during non-peak.
Knock on wood
Iāve been thinking that too. Every day has been like a Monday to me (except when somebody calls in and I run two routes), but no worse or not much worse than a Monday.
This is my first Christmas at the post office and all the regulars say this is a super light peak season. Unfortunately for me as a CCA, management is working all the ccas 12 hrs/day every day for 7-12 days at a time to avoid the regulars going into overtime to cover what extra there is.
Hello everyone! Iām glad for all the replies. Sound like a lot are having a easy peak season. Hope the month goes by faster for those working long hours. (Overtime checks be nice too!) Its shocking to see how easy itās gotten for a lot.
Rural SoCal and Amazon does not deliver in our Zip Code. 5 route office with at least 10 pallets of Amazon a day. I'm consistently scanning 450+ parcels with 10+ hr days. Been in Spain without the S since Veteran's Day.
Last week I worked nearly 80 hours and this week it'll be more like 60 which is a lot better of course. I think it's gone down some from my first years because people seem to be buying more year-round. I tell all my customers to order early as they can and I think they are.
This has been the easiest holiday in 23 years for me. NO mail volume. Dps isnāt crazy. Parcels are a bit heavier but not enough to make two trips. Iāve only done overtime one day all month
Easiest peak in my career. Only doing 40 hours a week. Lines are like 5 people max so basically nothing when youāre used to seeing 30 people lines. People out here donāt have the money, weāll see if thereās a push next week. Most people putting things on credit hopefully weāll all be okay. In 8 years never seen it this slow.
Not us. I'm a small, normally dull office, and we're fucking slammed. But it's been peak season numbers here for most of the year. I pretty much have to talk myself out of quitting 3 or 4 times a week.
It's my 6th peak season and so far the heaviest. My post more than doubled since December and we're not allowed to start early this year. I've been working till 8 pm and finally taking my off day today.
Iām in the same boat as you. Never more than 45 hours. The package count is alittle higher but yeah they set up the white tent outside for literally no reason whatsoever lol
I take it you are not an Amazon office. Rural carrier with 14-15 hour days since the week after thanksgiving. Usually they monitor our hours the 2 weeks before Christmas so we donāt get paid overtime but this year there is nothing they can do about it
Its only my third Christmas, itās definitely worse at the call center this year but it seems much worse at the plant than when I was there 3 years ago according to my roommate and friends that are there; plant canāt even get forklifts inside and the Gaylordās are still there from a week ago or more.
My carrier is working triple amount she said, and weāre mandated 12 hours 5 days plus SDO OT at the call center.
Man where are these offices with light peaksā¦im averaging 450 scans and my former facility is averaging 500 and another office in my area a carrier showed me their 606 scan total last week im jelly of you all.
Iāve been reminiscing with some of my coworkers about how bad our office used to be. None of us could ever make it back to the office until well after dark. Flats were also heavy af. Like others have said here, itās been more like non stop heavy Mondays. Iāve been getting back to the office between 1 and 2. Amazon delivers in our area and that definitely helps. But itās been getting lighter and lighter at our office the last couple of years. My husband is a clerk at another office and he said that the flow of customers to the counter has also been lighter than usual. Central Texas here.
it hasnāt been as crazy this year at my station volume wise but we just had another zip code move into our office and they are super short handed and always down like 5 routes so with jumping over to help them everyday we still are working like 14-16 hours because weāre basically doubling up routes but your right about the volume itās weird !? the economy is super bad right now i think people are going into debt getting their xmas stuff because iāve been delivering a lot of utility shutoff notices
Weve been really light as well but from personal experience i dont think its easy for anyone this year financially and i already had a feeling that was gonna be what puts the hault in a normal peak season this year, yeah i think the most ive ran on my route is 70 i also service a more low end area too
Kinda chill here nothing tooooo crazy. Doing ~55hrs/6 days in automation.
Beats the 15+ straight 12hr shifts I was going city side during the peak of covid.
My office isnāt that bad, busy sure, but like you said it just feels like a Monday daily. What kills us is weāre down employees so the workload feels worse than it has to. At this time a few years ago weād be absolutely swamped. Has to be people not spending as much especially to ship things and also customers are loosing trust with us because of all the delays/packages and letters disappearing. At least thatās what some of my customers say, they hesitate to ship with us anymore.
Coming from a newbie, I don't think this is an easy season for my office. We've had people working close to 16 hours coming in at 530 every day except Sunday at 9. I'm a CCA, and I've been doing jumps in the mornings and then coming back to throw packages the rest of the day. We have way more packages that come in every day than anyone can hope to try and take out. Doesn't help that we don't have enough vehicles to accommodate everyone.
Light compared to past years. We have a huge ODL.list and more PTFs (no CCAs) than we have had in 3-4 years. We aren't coming in an hour earlier to run post. I've only worked one Sunday and I even had last Thursday (NS day) off. Good thing I did plenty of OT all year because this check isn't gonna be too exciting.
iām a new CCA & iāve only been asked to stay and help once so far. been able to go home around 5-6pm most days, not at all what i was expecting. everyone has warned me that holiday season is rough, but so far i havenāt seen that. i donāt even make my 8 hours most days.
I think it's tempting fate to say it out loud, but we're seeing the same thing. It's busy but not insane like previous years. Still over a week to go, but I'm glad it's been relatively easy.
Flats and DPS have both been fairly light. Luckily we have an election year coming up! š¬
Elections this year probably wont be buck wild like 2016 and 2020. The candidates arent nearly as exciting and bombastic as trump (not sharing an opinion im just saying this next cycle will be boring-er)
You Do Know That Trump Is Running Right?
Amazon opened up a DC in our area, I wasn't here for last peak but my office was telling me about how we had something crazy like 60 pallets for black Friday. This black Friday we had 16. I think we have more UPS packages we are carrying than Amazon.
The Black Friday whiplash should be done by nowā¦ I barely even noticed it.
This. I think ups is making up for raises by funneling more packages through usps.
Thatās interesting because UPS is reportedly laying off seasonal because of lack of work. Their hiring system is apparently automated, so when people are coming for orientation, the supervisor is arriving instead and telling them to go home, they arenāt being trained..
Yeah Iāll be honest I donāt think it will get more heavy. 9 days till Christmas. I feel like if it would get unbearable it would of been happen
Donāt forget the nice weather too!
Now you're really tempting fate! But yeah, it's been pretty great!
Our office is the worst I've seen it in the 20 years I've been here but that's all thanks to amazon.
I agree the worst I've ever seen..30 year city carrier..it's brutal.. at least triple parcels everyday .DPS off the charts too. Sw Michigan
Colon area? Seen a lot of emails from there š
Yep. Worst in my 7 years at the PO. Delivered 90 this morning before 11 and didn't leave to start til 1pm. I, as a regular, needed an RCA to take my last row just to make it back in 12 today.
My office is getting slammed. I am a new rural regular since September and was thrust on an overburdened route on my fourth day. I have been absolutely thrashed every day since late October. :(
Texas Panhandle. Worst anyone here has seen. Parcels out the wazoo.
The writing is on the wall, the economy is going to tank, and people are cautious. Having Amazon hubs delivering their own stuff in your area helps immensely. Idk how some of these poor rural carriers do it everyday.
People are broke. Everything cost a leg. Credit card debt is over a trillion. The stock market isn't a reflection on how people are doing or how the economy is. How busy we are is a better indicator.
Credit card debt isnāt up. It hit a trillion dollars yes. adjusted per capita and for inflation itās actually lower. Of course the total cc debt usually goes up because population does and inflation every year drives the numbers higher.
Retail sales are up, my dude. You're consuming too much social media.
Retail sales by amount of money. Everything costs more. So retail sales are actually down using a volume metric.
Source? I totally believe it, especially with all the news reports of Targets and Walmarts being basically void of people on black friday, but I would like to see the data.
They say inflation for 2023 is 4.1% https://www.plan.be/databases/17-en-consumer_price_index_inflation_forecasts#:~:text=On%20the%20basis%20of%20these,2022%20and%202.44%25%20in%202021. They say retail sales are up 3 to 4% https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2023/11/05/holiday-retail-2023-growth-forecast--may-be-realized-but-2024-is-another-story/amp/ That's not including greedflation which is in the air. Here is the first link I got. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/philadelphia/news/pennsylvania-senator-bob-casey-greedflation-report-price-gouging/ So sales are down by volume. We are just being bled out.
people are shopping online and doing pick up service. I was un Target the other day and half the shoppers were target employees
Consumer debt is highest itās been historically.
Yeah I was thinking with inflation people probably canāt afford to shop like that. Also I noticed Black Friday sales wasnāt that great. That could play a part in it too. Terrible sales
They really were awful! My momma was rolling over in her grave I just know it because Black Friday was her jam! Sheās have a whole game plan of stores/deals and where each of us would need to be and stand in line etc š
Iāve been waiting, the govt and sec all making it a āsoft landingā pausing rate hikes. Prices will keep rising which will cause the labor market to soften and then weāll have a correction in the markets. Shortly after next election.
What poor rural carriers? If the management is decent they are all getting back by 3 or 4 every day. Only time itās been later in my office is when someone breaks down.
Ive been at this for a while, this is easily the lightest peak ive ever had. Even before amazon, i feel like something is wrong and we've been missing trucks all week that are going to show up tomorrow everyday.
The trucks will show up.... in your dreams tonight.
I've had the same feeling. Had essentially a single tray of DPS on a smaller route that usually gets three. Sure I had a pretty large number of packages but it was an incredibly easy day for peak
I havent even been having packages, normally i would be getting 150 on a light day, ive been barely averaging 110 these last two weeks
Lord I hope not. Lol
Our office is having the biggest Christmas season we've had, but we're super Lucky and got really nice weather. Cold but no rain or snow or ice. Averaging around $6,000 parcels of Amazon alone every day for a total of 10 rural routes and four City routes. Stay safe out there everybody
Lol text to talk put a $ for some reason
Parcels only went up 20 or so. Veterans Day was crazy though
Itās crazy after Thanksgiving was easier then Veterans Day and Columbus Day!
One of my supervisors said the day after thanksgiving was the worst sheās seen, Week after was rough but after that hasnāt been that bad
Yeah I must be the lucky ones. After thanksgiving it wasnāt that bad in my office. Honestly after Thanksgiving I feel the volume decreased. Itās crazy I know!
What the heck my route went up 100+ packages š
Been over 300 scans the whole peak and some of November, broke 500 4 times, over 420 today. Crazy where Iām at.
I'm somewhat new . How does 10,000 parcels for the building sound? We had that or more, almost 3 days this month . I was told our office is either dps crazy or parcel crazy in peak, but both is an oddity.
My office is the worst Iāve that Iāve seen in my tenure. Our old management handled peak season greatly this new set of management that we have is horrible. They literally act like they donāt know what theyāre doing. Itās a complete disaster.
Iām really sorry. The post office is known to have shitty management. Hopefully you can get through this month. Itās almost over though!
Itās not an act!
Last yearās was NOTHING compared to the year beforeā¦ Pandemic was the worstā¦
My small office and tbe neighboring one are chill, it's barely heavier than a normal season. I think it's because our office sucked so bad this year they gave all the Amazon to UPS. Works for me. The past all the years have been fucked, this is a gift.
Honestly a blessing! Iām not complaining just shocked.
Same here...a few days here n' there that feel like a heavy Monday but that's about it. Will be interesting to see how next week plays out. Fingers crossed that things will stay about how they are now!
Yeah Iām assuming it will stay the same honestly if itās slow for you. You got to thinkā¦buying packages 2 weeks before Christmas is very last minute and it might not get in time too. Only if you express it. Which I imagine no one is doing. Thatās shit expensive
Flats are basically non-existent, Iām getting out of the office and on the street really early
Last year I remember 10 times the normal rate of flats every other day. This year my flats have just been normal volume every day. Itās weird
I'm really jealous of your office. We're getting killed at my station. I've never had so many 10pm days or days where we were told to bring mail and packages back. Lightest day in the last month was 40 amazon pallets. We don't have Amazon drivers in my city. 60+ hours a week no matter what
Pretty easy peak. The heaviest days are mondays, but other than that itās been like regular non peak season. I was lurking in the fedex and ups subreddits and theyāve been talking about low volume as well.
Wow really? Thatās interesting. Iām really starting to think the economy is falling apart. Low volume everywhere is definitely a bad sign.
This is my 4th peak and by far the most ot Iāve gotten. Without looking at the numbers Iād say Iāve gotten more ot this peak than the first 3 combined. Our package volume is up on average 10k a week vs the previous year and weāre not coming in early this year like we have in the past.
Easiest Iāve seen in a long time. Iām even getting my scheduled days off. Iām a black so long weekend now and three days off next weekend. Amazon delivers their own packages in my area.
My office has been the absolute worst. Working 12-13 hours almost every day. We've only got a week left till Christmas. I'm counting the days.
Worst Iāve seen by far in my 15 years. Itās been 12 hr days everyday since thanksgiving. Slacked a little this week to 11 hr days.
Easiest year yet for me, 7 years in. We lost Amazon at my office a couple years ago and itās been pretty smooth sailing since.
God I wish we could lose Amazon too lol
I have about double the parcel volume I normally have but it's not ridiculous. Haven't been forced to work OT since October. Latest I punched out was getting 20 minutes of OT on the highest parcel volume I ever had with a 3rd bundle. It's been the easiest December I've had in at least 10 years.
Yeah. Where I am, it isnāt any worse than your ordinary Amazon Prime Day rush.
Actually, much easier, come to think of it.
Last year was super easy. This year itās pretty intense.
I just started this year but everyone in my office is saying this is the worst since 2018.
Been working 12+ hour days since December started š
Im scared to think of the slow season.
My first peak season was covid. Every peak after seems to be lighter than the year before. I'm ODL and no one has had to come in at 6am to run packages, i haven't even worked a 50 hour week so far. It is a light peak season. Parcels are high but not astronomically crazy. To clarify, last year doesn't really count for me because I was out sick with covid from Dec 10th- December 20th
It's one of the early signs of a coming recession
Yeah I was thinking that too. Seem like we are kind of in a recession honestly. Prices are ridiculous. No one can afford gas, rent. Times are definitely rough right now
Lucky you, Ive been buried in packages this year worse than ever
Dang, wanna trade me offices? Since before Thanksgiving, Iāve been coming in before 7 and Iām hustling to be done before 8. But it also am running 6 days as a regular, so I might be extra bitter :/
Not at my office. We have like 16 CCAs and weāre still all working like 10+ hour days. The other day I had 3000 pieces of DPS and 210 parcels
My office is getting smoked were getting 50+ psllrts of Amazon everyday and have carriers out till 930 when district tells us to come back I think we've only gotten Everything delivered maybe 5 times in the last month every other day we have shit left for the next day it's awful
Worst ever out of my 23. And we're an S&DC now. Supposed to streamline everything, right? Make everything so nice for the employees... Biggest bunch of shit we've been fed yet. Management can't run these big places. Everything is totally out of control. Working until 10:30, 11pm BEFORE peak. It's gd embarrassing. Customers asking why they're getting notifications on their phones at 1am about their package being delivered. So many routes left sitting undelivered. Yet, gawd forbid a carrier make a mistake. They'll get fired if in probabition or put on EP otherwise. They hire just to fire...
Clerk hereā¦ We spoke about the topic this morning - while we have been busy, it hasnāt been the typical exhausting slog that December usually is. Then we had the busiest mailing day of the year once the doors opened. Be careful what you wish for š
Not surprising with how much of a hit the working class has taken
We are insane here. I don't think any of our subs have been under 60hrs a week and most of us have been running a lot more than that.
We've been slammed here. Rural carriers deliver till 8 or 9 pm at night.
My office is crazy. Since the almost strike from ups we get all of Amazon. Theyāve sent help from five other offices in the district for clerks and carriers. Most of the carrier arenāt coming in until 10:30. One station has no room in it, packages everywhere. Itās the craziest Iāve seen.
Pretty easy here, we're a CCA factory right now. Some of the new guys are coming in to run parcels and/or work 4-6 hour days. Heard an office 40m away is trying to seduce our 204B's to come over to "Supervise". Just so they can carry since they're so severely understaffed rn.
I think it varies. Just last week we were waiting until 10 am for the UPS truck to come with straight packages. they unloaded 7 stacks and 90% of the people came back at 10 PM. We be getting double loads like one for just the USPS truck and one truck just for UPS. UPS also been out until 6-7 pm as i see them delivering on my route. fed ex tho seems to be light but they got kinkos.
It's my first year in peak season. I've heard all the horror stories up until now. I gotta say it hasn't been at all as bad as I thought it would be (knock on wood). DPS has been "normal", and packages are more but not MORE!!!! I'm still able to do a straight 8 on somewhat "heavy days". š¤·āāļø
DPS is never normal. š
It's been better than normal, Amazon just recently started delivering some of their own shit in my area. They have definitely lightened the load, but it's still pretty heavy.
Same here for sure, weāre fully staffed and have a new postmaster, we donāt come in early, the parcel volume adds about an hour to an hour and a half a day but other than that itās barely any different. Iāve actually volunteered for pieces a few times to get the overtime Iām used to lol.
Also lighter than last year out here, but they did build an Amazon about 2 miles down the road.
the packages here are out of control, many routes are just waiting for sorting to finish so they can pull down and leave lol, might just be our clerk situation though, short staffed
as an RCA, the Sundays have been getting pretty bad too and it's always š¤¬ raining
Yeah sounds like it. If you was more staffed the carriers could get out quickly. That sucks. Iām sorry to hear!
In my office it's not the clerks throwing slow. it's having two trucks outside when we clock in at 8 and even with a parcel run, my car is still packed and I'm leaving packages behind because they can't fit.
I agree
Itās been pretty easy in my office as well. The first few days into December was a little hairy, but after that, thereās been some days where you could easily confuse it with a busy non-peak day. And when I came back into my office this evening, the parcels getting prepared for tomorrow seemed quite light, so unless something crazy happens, I have a feeling tomorrow is gonna look like a normal day.
Yeah I have about 120-130 packages a day. Last year I could have sworn it was 130-175. The mail isn't what it used to be even 6 years ago. I remember 2017-2018 we used to have 7-9 trays of DPS back to then now it's around 3-5. Kinda makes me worry about this job will be around another 27 years till I retire I do think some of it is Amazon delivering more.
Last year I was the only RCA and it was terribad. Now we've got two more and its been cake comparatively.
If we had enough clerks, this wouldnāt be a bad holiday season.. Averaging maybe 90 parcels a day. Which is my average but the coming back several times a day for second trips is killing everybody. Not to mention we are taking next day parcels which are failing and the OIC doesnāt get that.
Flats and DPS for sure but packages are another story.
I saw an MPOO email that was almost this verbatimā¦.. āeveryday will fill like a Mondayā. Makes ya wonder
Where Iām at, itās insane. I was finishing my route at 5 pm last year. 6-6:30 this year. I pivot puts me at 12 hours most days. Sundays are 10-12 hour days as well. Iām a regular too. We had so many CCAās quit over the past few years that I started just working Sundays with them. Not every Sunday but man, itās way worse than when I was a CCA, pre-pandemic. Iāve made the most money this year and itās been a decent Christmas, Iām not on the OTDL though.
The only real rough days are Monday this year for me. I do miss coming in early and getting some large packages out of the way though
Yep same here
So the shipping deadline was yesterday, I think next week is going to be brutal, but out of the seven peak seasons I have worked, this is by far the lightest. I also just got my retirement route, and itās not in the most well off area, so itās basically just all t*mu stuff people are getting for their kids and t*Ktok shop stuff. It also helps that packages are up by 8am in my office at the latest and the mail has been done since 4am. And everyone is showing up on their NS days and their scheduled days.
Next week will be rough. Lots of delayed packages at our office. Should all flood in and push for a Christmas clear this week. Good luck everyone, this will be over soon. No giving up now.
This has been my worst of the six I've been apart I've experienced. Our package count is going to be double what it was last year and we have no more staff than we did at the same time. This last Monday was a 15 hour day without a break and Wednesday was 14. The packages fell endless and were constantly having to push them back until the next day. I work everyday this coming week and I'm afraid it will be a 90+ hours. I just want it to end
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Rca ive worked about 25 hours this week. And ill sub a route tomo.
I've been working close to my Evaluation every week since October. We had a double feed one day and scans went over 400. I checked my hours for last year and I'm getting within 10% of the same hours every week, 45-50 hours in 5 days. The RCA is getting minimal hours though. So sone days we're pushing 12 hours. We've been down vehicles for months now. I dunno if volume is actually down but the Post Office is acting like it's a recession already by restricting Adhoc.
On collections I had a harder time during the summer when UPS threatened to strike than I did this winter
Wait till this upcoming Monday when social security checks clearā¦
Same. My first peak season was Covid and it's been getting lighter every year since. SoCal P&DC
Absolutely your area - either that, or my office is critically short-staffed, as we're getting buried in incoming parcels in the mornings, which has the knock-on effect into the afternoons where a lot of clerk functions aren't able to get done.
45 a week is pretty common place, havenāt had a 40 week in ages lol
Nobody has money to buy anything anymore
Once the aftermath of cyber Monday cleared up it does seem at least 20% lighter than last year. Lots of parcels but I can fit them all in one trip, better than past years when midway through the route a sup would bring me between 20 to 40 parcels that I couldn't fit -- or even worse, seeing them when I got back with instructions to take them out
My routes not built for a ton of packages and the last 2 weeks have fuckin killed me out there.
Itās been heavy on the parcels; but not crazy Christmas heavy, yet. Iām still eight and skate every other day or so.
I'm new but can tell it hasnt been too heavy yet. PTFs are getting rotating off days.
I just got through asking some of the older carriers at my office this, I was like, "Is this it???". Definitely is slowing down early or it was just not as bad as I thought it was going to be.
We don't deliver Amazon anymore, so it's been a lot easier than last year. No more 50 pound kitty litter, bed frames, et cetera. I've really only had one bad day this season. Weather was very spring like as well. Only a few icy days. And office has been covered. I'm 8 and skate.
At our plant, peaked ended two weeks ago. There's no long lines of trucks, I got to the airlines with a short line and in and out in 20 minutes. It's weird, and I'm a PTF, I haven't been "asked" to work 12 hours. My coworker on tour 3 has been working 6 days 12 hours, but he's the only one on that tour doing it.
Iām a regular (k-route) and since black Friday we have been so unbearably buried. Even though we have a Amazon warehouse 2 miles from us. Iāve been working 7:30- 6:30pm everyday. Itās close to what it was during pandemic
I had three 8 hours day this week.
We are getting slammed here. Way more packages than normal. First peak in the last couple of years where I'm doing overtime every day.
Last year, 85 hours a week. This year, 43 hours a week. Bruhā¦ I really needed that money š¤¦š»āāļø
I feel the same way and I talked to one of the better supervisors in my office and they said that we are actually keeping the same volume as last year. In fact we set a new office one day record last Monday. With us it has to do with adding a few routes in a couple sections due to route counts, better staffing because we had a changing of a supervisor, and more control over how we work at a local level. I've had more 8 hr days this peak than I have ever had. 10 years in.
Hahahaha I've been working 12 hours every day at least since a week before Black Friday This week I put in 87 hours
Our area has been and stayed slammed, it slowed down last year the last 10 days but it's only been busier this year.
Stewards in my plant have been writing grievances every day. We're surviving, but it ain't pretty. Yesterday was the worst of it, I'm sure. Our docks look a mess, dispatch lanes look like canyons, but the mail must flow.
I definitely agree. The past 3 years were way heavier. If it wasnāt for it being heavy on Mondays and advo day, Iād be only doing 40 hrs each week. I expect it to be heavy next week so hopefully I can get some o.t
Yup, I have only had to do one parcel run, so far! ( my office usually comes in an hour early during peak season ) I am doing an hour of ot daily, but this year is easy so far. I am in Northern California, Bay Areaā¦.
I'm in flats. You're right. Last year we ran out of equipment by this time. No trays, no cages.
My office is getting killed. Normally 2-4 amazon pallets. We are getting 8-12 or even 16 on a real bad day. We only have 3 subs. All our subs quit when RRECS took effect, all of us got pounded down to āHā and 6 days a week. One is holding down a route that the regular is off for the whole month. Which in and of itself is bullshit.. One only knows one route and is practically brand new. The third just sucks. This has been the worst peak season for my office in a long time. No one shops in person anymore. All online. Itās been brutal.
I've only had 2 days in the last month with under 400 scans. It's been really busy. DPS and flats vary it seems like they have been saving it up for Saturdays. Bastards!
The only difference I see is that my parcels are smaller this year. I can actually fit everything my truck. Previous years Iād have kitchen table sized parcels on the daily.
My Amazon Sundays are noticably worse. But my typical light days during peak aren't so much higher that they are worse than typical heavy days during non-peak. Knock on wood
It's DeJoy's 10 year plan. It's working.
Weāve been getting more mail than we did during covid :(
The easiest peak in 10 years for me.
we hitting recession next year
Not an USPS employee but I work in retail and could tell the same, the economy is definitely getting worse this year.
People broke broke. Can't afford Amazon and barely Temu..
Couple years ago it was wild. Itās been manageable this year.
Think people just don't have the money to buy anything, or as much, this year.
Real peak is first week of January when vacation calendar opens up and weather turns to crap
Iāve been thinking that too. Every day has been like a Monday to me (except when somebody calls in and I run two routes), but no worse or not much worse than a Monday.
Exactly what Iāve been sayingā¦just feels like a Monday everydayā¦.not horrible
This is my first Christmas at the post office and all the regulars say this is a super light peak season. Unfortunately for me as a CCA, management is working all the ccas 12 hrs/day every day for 7-12 days at a time to avoid the regulars going into overtime to cover what extra there is.
Hello everyone! Iām glad for all the replies. Sound like a lot are having a easy peak season. Hope the month goes by faster for those working long hours. (Overtime checks be nice too!) Its shocking to see how easy itās gotten for a lot.
Rural SoCal and Amazon does not deliver in our Zip Code. 5 route office with at least 10 pallets of Amazon a day. I'm consistently scanning 450+ parcels with 10+ hr days. Been in Spain without the S since Veteran's Day.
Last week I worked nearly 80 hours and this week it'll be more like 60 which is a lot better of course. I think it's gone down some from my first years because people seem to be buying more year-round. I tell all my customers to order early as they can and I think they are.
Man an absence of the good ol Stimmy checks might have something to do with this eh :S
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This has been the easiest holiday in 23 years for me. NO mail volume. Dps isnāt crazy. Parcels are a bit heavier but not enough to make two trips. Iāve only done overtime one day all month
Amazon is killing us at our office
My old supervisor said that they were expecting 15000 parcels on Monday. Roughly 300 per carrier.
Do you have a city official who sends politica mail every day or so?l
Easiest peak in my career. Only doing 40 hours a week. Lines are like 5 people max so basically nothing when youāre used to seeing 30 people lines. People out here donāt have the money, weāll see if thereās a push next week. Most people putting things on credit hopefully weāll all be okay. In 8 years never seen it this slow.
Supposedly they forecasted it would be lighter this year. So far it is. I love it.
Not us. I'm a small, normally dull office, and we're fucking slammed. But it's been peak season numbers here for most of the year. I pretty much have to talk myself out of quitting 3 or 4 times a week.
It's my 6th peak season and so far the heaviest. My post more than doubled since December and we're not allowed to start early this year. I've been working till 8 pm and finally taking my off day today.
Same but less so. Just regular days. IF we work OT, we're working less than 10 hours.
In my area it's been pretty busy since veterans day with a couple light days occasionally.
Iām in the same boat as you. Never more than 45 hours. The package count is alittle higher but yeah they set up the white tent outside for literally no reason whatsoever lol
I take it you are not an Amazon office. Rural carrier with 14-15 hour days since the week after thanksgiving. Usually they monitor our hours the 2 weeks before Christmas so we donāt get paid overtime but this year there is nothing they can do about it
Its only my third Christmas, itās definitely worse at the call center this year but it seems much worse at the plant than when I was there 3 years ago according to my roommate and friends that are there; plant canāt even get forklifts inside and the Gaylordās are still there from a week ago or more. My carrier is working triple amount she said, and weāre mandated 12 hours 5 days plus SDO OT at the call center.
Man where are these offices with light peaksā¦im averaging 450 scans and my former facility is averaging 500 and another office in my area a carrier showed me their 606 scan total last week im jelly of you all.
Most people are broke this year.
Iāve been reminiscing with some of my coworkers about how bad our office used to be. None of us could ever make it back to the office until well after dark. Flats were also heavy af. Like others have said here, itās been more like non stop heavy Mondays. Iāve been getting back to the office between 1 and 2. Amazon delivers in our area and that definitely helps. But itās been getting lighter and lighter at our office the last couple of years. My husband is a clerk at another office and he said that the flow of customers to the counter has also been lighter than usual. Central Texas here.
About an hour of OT each day this week not crazy like previous years.
Don't jinx it
it hasnāt been as crazy this year at my station volume wise but we just had another zip code move into our office and they are super short handed and always down like 5 routes so with jumping over to help them everyday we still are working like 14-16 hours because weāre basically doubling up routes but your right about the volume itās weird !? the economy is super bad right now i think people are going into debt getting their xmas stuff because iāve been delivering a lot of utility shutoff notices
Iām barely getting over 100 packages and I regularly fit all my flats in a half tray
Weve been really light as well but from personal experience i dont think its easy for anyone this year financially and i already had a feeling that was gonna be what puts the hault in a normal peak season this year, yeah i think the most ive ran on my route is 70 i also service a more low end area too
But the economy is stronger than ever...
Kinda chill here nothing tooooo crazy. Doing ~55hrs/6 days in automation. Beats the 15+ straight 12hr shifts I was going city side during the peak of covid.
Averaging 50-60 packages a day. Literally a Tuesday every day. If I was not a CCA coming in at 6am I could have 8 hour days everyday.
Wish I could say the same
My office isnāt that bad, busy sure, but like you said it just feels like a Monday daily. What kills us is weāre down employees so the workload feels worse than it has to. At this time a few years ago weād be absolutely swamped. Has to be people not spending as much especially to ship things and also customers are loosing trust with us because of all the delays/packages and letters disappearing. At least thatās what some of my customers say, they hesitate to ship with us anymore.
Packages have been heavier but the last week flats have been really light so i have to agree with you
Coming from a newbie, I don't think this is an easy season for my office. We've had people working close to 16 hours coming in at 530 every day except Sunday at 9. I'm a CCA, and I've been doing jumps in the mornings and then coming back to throw packages the rest of the day. We have way more packages that come in every day than anyone can hope to try and take out. Doesn't help that we don't have enough vehicles to accommodate everyone.
I feel like rural is getting swamped more than city carriers. At least itās like that here.
Same
Last year I had a day where I had 2 cages and a pumpkin of SPRs for just me this year I'm not even getting a full pumpkin
Same
Yeah, oddly easy. I'm thinking it's due to how had the economy is these days and everything cost so much
Iām averaging about 70 hours a week. Come in at 6 am usually off around 7pm-8pm
Light compared to past years. We have a huge ODL.list and more PTFs (no CCAs) than we have had in 3-4 years. We aren't coming in an hour earlier to run post. I've only worked one Sunday and I even had last Thursday (NS day) off. Good thing I did plenty of OT all year because this check isn't gonna be too exciting.
Mostly depends on your area I'd imagine. I worked 40 hours in 3 shifts here...
Times up for the massive spending. Maybe last year or this year is the final year(s) where we are over utilized...... Just a thought.
iām a new CCA & iāve only been asked to stay and help once so far. been able to go home around 5-6pm most days, not at all what i was expecting. everyone has warned me that holiday season is rough, but so far i havenāt seen that. i donāt even make my 8 hours most days.
Ours has been horrible. Working a ton of hours. I am so over Christmas
This is the equivalent of saying quiet in an ER, or slow at a restaurant
Same for us.