Ceecee

I a recent posting about Pet Sitting - - people said that if you have your mail held - you are inviting postal workers to rob your house. It also said that because mail workers only mage minimum wage - this is a common practice.

I was horrified to read that some people think Postal Workers rob houses because they know you are on vacation!! I have worked for the USPS for 26 years and have never even HEARD of this!!! Postal workers always get a bad rap but we are used to it. Almost all that I have know are honest, decent hard-working regular citizens. Each one goes thru an EXTENSIVE background check and drug test before being hired. You probably have less desirable people living right on your own street! And for the record, we do NOT make minimum wage....in fact....we make almost $45,000 per year in most jobs.
I am so sick of people always ragging on the Post Office and its employes. Go to your post office distribution plant and ask for a tour. See what you are getting for your 37 cents....you'd be amazed at how many hands take care of your letter before it is delivered.
Some of our letter carriers actually do PET SITTING for people on their routes - - that's how much they are trusted.

itsok

Most of us feel that you do a great job of delivering the mail. But there's a couple people who jump onto these threads and rag on anything that's being offered. They have nothing better to do with their time so they poke fun at someone who's asking a valid question, or they deride individuals who prefer to just do their jobs.

You know your job and you know how you do it. Don't let ignorance set you off. PS I also work in Washington DC.

xxx

I trust that the vast majority of postal workers are honest and I also believe they do a good job--in fact my father-in-law is a postal worker. You're correct that the USPS takes a lot of undeserved criticism. But remember, just because you're an honest person doesn't mean that everyone you work with is honest too. I work at the Justice Dept (yes I'm from DC too) and just last year I had some items stolen out of my office--given the circumstances it would have had to be another employee. I suspect our background checks are even more rigorous than anything they administer to postal workers.

The bottom line is that when I go out of town I go with the law of averages--the fewer people who know about it the better. This is not ignorance--experts (i.e. police who should know what they're talking about) recommend that you don't have your mail held. I just follow their advice. Please don't take it as a personal affront to your profession because it's not--just a recognition that dishonest people are everywhere.

Chris

Last year my brother in law, who has been a postal worker for almost 30 years, made just over $75,000 (worked lots of over-time). Hardly minimum wage.

xxx

Before seeing the petsitting post, I have never heard of anyone recommending that people not have their mail held by the post office while on vacation. I have always heard just the opposite - it's better to have it held than to risk having it pile up and advertise your absence, or get stolen from your box. If I have to choose between trusting the petsitter and trusting the post office, I choose the post office every time. Having my mail held gives me one less thing to worry about.

tips

http://www.cnn.com/2002/TRAVEL/NEWS/...nna/index.html

corie

And since when is a minimum wage indicitive of a criminal character? Oh wait, let me ask the CEO of Worldcom, Adelphi or Enron. They make lots of money so they must be VERY honest!

Ill do it later, however, as due to the drop in my stocks I can't afford internet access at home. I go to the library to have internet access, and of course their hours are limited due to the high cost of utilities here in California.

havetosayit

We had a rash of break-ins in our town, all of them when the homeowners were on vacation. Turned out it was a cop. People would call the PD to do a vacant house watch when they were going out of town, and the cop used that list to choose his targets. Go figure.

lcuy

very clever, corie!
In Honolulu, we too had some police robbing homes a few years back.
I prefer to let as few people as possible know our plans. I have a friend pick up the mail and papers.

MINDS THEMSELVES

You may recognize me from the pet sitting thread, I defended the postal workers!! Thank you for confirming my TRUST in them. Our area has 7 prisons within a 40 mile radius, we are a high crime area, but not DC. I have had the same mail man, sorry be he is a man, for 15 years, and I trust him. I wonder what kinds of traumatic things have occurred with others on that thread causing them to be so Type A, people have a right to their own opinion, but GEEZ.

ttt

ttt again