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Your NAPS Family Has Your Back

Your NAPS Family Has Your Back
By Peggie Bednar
President of Myrtle Beach, SC, Branch 695 and Retired Postmaster of Rock Hill

Over the years, the duties and responsibilities of postmasters have significantly increased. What once was another EAS district employee’s responsibility now has been delegated back to postmasters.

As a postmaster 20 years ago, my responsibilities were scheduling employees, working the window and ensuring mail was dispatched and delivered on time. This was a much simpler time; you knew if you failed, you surely would need your NAPS representative.

All tasks needed to be conducted efficiently and effectively to ensure there were no disruptions in the mail delivery system. There was a 24-hour-clock process, six days a week—a wash, lather and repeat process.

Fast-forward to today; this is not all that is required of postmasters. We ensure employees report as scheduled (should their attendance become an issue— PDI them and all that entails), request supplies purchases (praying that the approver approves your request), enter repairs needed for the facility (hoping they are approved as I would not have entered them if they were not needed), enter carriers’ edit book updates (don’t mess it up as it will affect rural carriers’ pay) and confirm the line of travel for all rural routes in their facilities.

We no longer work the window more than 15 hours a week or complete bargaining-unit work. Thank goodness, as we now are out delivering mail increasingly often. And don’t get me started on reports.

We also must ensure all reports required by USPS Headquarters are accurate and submitted timely. If the reports are not completed, know you will be required to attend a Zoom meeting.

These reports are what have me baffled as most, if not all, are reactive as opposed to initiative-taking, requiring increased time to review what occurred. As a result, we do not have time to troubleshoot today’s events before running these reactive reports.

Here is what I wish could be programmed. Because the mail volume is known before arriving at each facility, including parcel volume per route, we could just push a button that would give us the data immediately for carrier expectations, window operations (approximately the time for clerk lunch breaks) and the best time for scheduling TACS corrections as this now is clerk’s work (training your LSSA and, if able, another two clerks as backups), as we are out of the building delivering mail.

My stress level was extreme. If I were not a NAPS member, I would have been committed to the psych ward. My NAPS family was there to help me when I was pushed to the edge.

Remember, you are not alone out there. Get involved with your local NAPS branch and learn what they are doing for postmasters and all other EAS employees. Bring a fellow EAS employee with you to the meeting so they, too, will have the NAPS family behind them for everyone’s success.