r/fromatoarbitration

From what I keep hearing in region 6 our business agent and his wife have not paid their fair share of dues. Apparently branch 14 did a huge audit and discovered they did not pay their dues flat out for years. How is this possible and how is this allowed? How is it that two people were allowed to not pay dues while we are all out here working our asses off to make ends meet and pay our dues and yet they are going around on our dime and making 200+ a year together and they cannot pay their dues? Seems odd to me I’m sure this will be just another cover up and nothing will happen but I can tell you I’m pissed and ready to rally on this shit. How would you all react if you found out your business agent and his wife who works for him weren’t paying their dues while you are out there working your ass off enduring everything? I can tell you everyone I have asked about this is ready to fight. We deserve answers and I’m ready to hear from branch 14 on the details of what is going on. They should step down now or come forward and explain themselves as to why they thought it was okay to not pay their dues.

According to David Groskopf if you run your mouth on a podcast without confronting the person one on one you’re a punk. What are people’s thoughts on this?

Typically I mind my route ,do my time and go home. I don’t dwell in office drama or care to know the latest gossip . However, this new trend pattern has me intrigued to get advice from my fellow carriers who may have experienced something similar. My office is short staffed. We have three ccas and all or some go home before 10hrs. Ss says if we say we refuse to do the pivot that is failure to follow instructions. Yet when we are approached to help and we abide the ss says a grievance can’t be filed because regulars are volunteering when they agree to the instructions. What should the language be so it’s understood that we aren’t volunteering and that a grievance will be filed when the situation arises?

My personal health insurance premium went up significantly starting in July, and it’s now over $200/month for just myself.

I’m a career City Carrier and would like to switch to a USPS health insurance plan. How do I do that?
Also, which self only plan would you recommend?

Thanks!

Just curious, how do you guys organize your grievance for the formal A? I have around a 130 page grievance and I'm just wondering if you guys do anything extra outside of just dropping off the grievance. I'm asking specifically about Things like creating a table of contents, or using binder dividers to separate the paperwork....new alternate steward and it's my first big grievance

One of the recent supervisors here has realized the grass is not greener on the other side and is talking about returning to the city carrier craft. I am trying to find out what the actual rules in the situation are. I've heard they can return within 1 year with no issues. I've heard 2 years. I've heard it has to be approved by the NALC. I've heard they come back as a PTF etc etc.

Reports are circulating that some CLC candidates may not plan to work regularly from their assigned offices if elected. For example, there are claims that at least one candidate for a resident national officer position may not intend to live in the Washington, D.C., area, and that some Regional Business Agent candidates may plan to spend much of their time working in the field rather than from their offices.
I’m not naming names, and I don’t want this thread to become about specific individuals. Instead, I’m interested in discussing the broader issue. Do you believe resident national officers should live and work in the Washington, D.C., area? Should Regional Business Agents primarily work from their assigned offices, or is it more important for them to spend significant time in the field? What do you think is the right balance?
I also think this is a question that every candidate should be asked during the current podcast interview circuit. Whether a host supports the CLC slate or is trying to remain neutral, this is a legitimate question that members deserve to hear answered. So far, I haven’t heard it asked, and I think that’s a missed opportunity. Knowing where candidates intend to work and how they plan to fulfill the responsibilities of the office they’re seeking is relevant information for every member before casting a ballot.

I understand that management is required to notify a carrier in advance if they are being forced in on their NS day. In my office this has been done by a letter left at the carriers case or handed to the carrier stating it. Recently, within the last few weeks, management has simply been putting the forced Regular carriers and T6 on the posted schedule. Does that count as sufficient notice? Regular carriers don't really seem to check the posted schedule.

Is it in the contract we HAVE to inform management of our heat breaks?

Makayla | Real Estate Investor @REIMakayla The richest person I've ever met at a closing table wore a Carhartt jacket and drove a 2009 Silverado with 210,000 miles on it

I assumed he was the contractor

He was buying the house next to mine. Cash. His 63rd

He's a retired mailman

We talked in the title company parking lot for 40 minutes and he rearranged my brain. This man delivered mail for 31 years. Never made more than $61,000 in a single year. His coworkers retired with a pension and a bass boat

He retired with 63 paid-off rental houses and around $52,000 a month in rent

I asked him how. He said something I think about constantly:

"One house a year. That's it. Everybody wants ten houses by Tuesday. I bought one ugly house a year for 30 years and let the tenants pay for all of them"

His system was almost embarrassingly simple:

Every year he bought the cheapest structurally-sound house he could find in a working-class neighborhood. The kind of house that scares regular buyers. Bad carpet, ugly kitchen, overgrown yard. He paid $30,000-$80,000 depending on the decade

He fixed ONLY what mattered. Paint, floors, a clean kitchen, working systems. He never once installed anything fancy. "Tenants don't pay extra for granite. They pay for clean and safe"

He rented it out and used the rent to pay the mortgage. Then he mostly forgot about it

Here's the part that made me put my coffee down. I asked him how much of his own money was still in those 63 houses

"None. Hasn't been for 20 years"

Every few years he'd refinance a few houses (the bank hands you cash against the value of a property you own) and use that money to buy the next ones. The tenants' rent paid back every loan. His mailman salary paid for his groceries and that was it. The portfolio built itself off its own rent

Nobody at his job knew. For 31 years. He said his supervisor found out two weeks before he retired and thought he was lying

Then he told me the thing I want tattooed on the inside of my eyelids:

"People think real estate is fast money. It's slow money that gets fast at the end. The first 5 houses feel like nothing. The last 30 bought themselves"

The math on his "boring" pace:

Year 1: 1 house, maybe $400/month in profit after the mortgage Year 5: 5 houses, $2,000/month Year 10: 10 houses, $4,500/month and the early ones are half paid off Year 20: 25+ houses, $12,000/month, refinances funding everything Year 30: 63 houses, $52,000/month, wearing a Carhartt to closings and confusing 25-year-olds like me

He never had a viral moment. Never raised money. Never watched a course. He bought one unsexy house a year in a flyover state and let three decades of rent do the heavy lifting

Meanwhile people won't start because they can't have 55 houses by age 27

You don't need 55. You need ONE this year. The mailman math works at literally any speed

He shook my hand, got in the Silverado, and drove off to Home Depot. 63 houses. $52,000 a month. 210,000 miles on the truck

Most retirement plans are a prayer. His was a paint roller

If you want to flip a house but have $0 in the bank, you can get funded for up to $150k with a hard money loan or 0% APR credit cards. I'm going to keep sharing what actually works, keep an eye out https://x.com/REIMakayla/status/2072479618599415851?s=20

The carriers today simply have no opportunity to do anything remotely close to this. The average carrier today can't even afford food and rent in HCOL cities. Like seriously wtf are we even doing here?

Came into work today, with trash can now taken away at our case replaced by 2 huge cans, they want us to separate, the straps and plastic from our flats, and paper only….. I love that this is the thing they want us to do, not solutions on water, ice machines, something for YOUR CARRIERS!

Anyone know where I can get a hard copy of Defenses to Discipline? I just can’t read a pdf on a computer screen. I need something I can hold.

USPS is not coming to the bargaining table in “good faith” because they’re unwilling to consider paying us what we’re worth because they claim that they’re broke, so they’re more interested in dreaming about how nice it would be to pay us minimum wage.

Renfroe is prepping for Arbitration and it again is a situation where what he does behind closed doors can’t be trusted because what he gave us last time around was a stipulated mediated decision to give us the same contract we voted down because he’s more concerned with appeasing management than actually following through with the demands of the rank and file membership.

There was also an acknowledgment that letter carriers have now become ignorant of the contract and instead jump as high as Managment asks us to jump when they tell us to jump.

The sad fact is that when Managment asks us to jump off a bridge our craft doesn’t need to jump because Renfroe pushes us off the bridge himself.

I have a majorly overburdened route in a high median income area. Heavy mail, almost 1000 deliveries all residential, fuckton of packages everyday. I’m 4/6 weeks of qualifying for a 271g and these geniuses had the bright idea to do a 3999 on Monday after the holiday. Yes you read that right. So my question is can I make them suffer and stay out for 16 hours with me or can they force me to throw off or stop at 12 hrs? Work assignment list and last holiday I got through half my route in 10 hours so I wanna make them suffer with me if I can 😂