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kallend

Federal employee pay freeze

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> Oh wait, I'm confusing the USPS with a business that needs to take good care of
> it's customers to turn a profit.

Exactly. If you go to a popular restaurant on a Saturday night, you are always seated immediately; there's never any waiting. Right?

Or like American and United Airlines. Have they beaten anyone bloody and dragged them off the plane lately?

Or like Wal-Mart. How many injuries and arrests do you think they will see during this year's Black Friday?

Or like Fedex. Apparently now they just get close to your house and throw the packages somewhat towards it.

Yep, the private sector takes good care of their customers, and their service is always excellent.

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billvon

> Oh wait, I'm confusing the USPS with a business that needs to take good care of
> it's customers to turn a profit.

Exactly. If you go to a popular restaurant on a Saturday night, you are always seated immediately; there's never any waiting. Right?

Or like American and United Airlines. Have they beaten anyone bloody and dragged them off the plane lately?

Or like Wal-Mart. How many injuries and arrests do you think they will see during this year's Black Friday?

Or like Fedex. Apparently now they just get close to your house and throw the packages somewhat towards it.

Yep, the private sector takes good care of their customers, and their service is always excellent.



Never mind that other restrictions on USPS regarding delivery and ability to charge for it.

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Just as you can’t really make a pregnancy faster by throwing 9 women at it, it’s hard for a business to ramp up so that they have 4 Times the staff at lunchtime.
The automated kiosks are great (when they work, which has been almost always in my experience). Like having more employees...

Wendy P.
There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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wmw999

Just as you can’t really make a pregnancy faster by throwing 9 women at it, it’s hard for a business to ramp up so that they have 4 Times the staff at lunchtime.



Damn. 'Cos I was thinking if there was some trick where I could turn into 4 people between 12 and 2 then have the rest of the day off I would be all over it.
Do you want to have an ideagasm?

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I got a job offer from a federal agency last year. It would have required me to take a roughly 20% pay cut. That was after I negotiated to enter at the top step of the GS level. Entering at the bottom step (which they originally offered) would have been about a 40% pay cut.

No thanks.

- Dan G

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airdvr

Do they not understand that most people can only visit them at lunch? That ought to be the time they have the most staff.



With a bit of business acumen, you'd understand why that's not likely to be a successful strategy.
Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

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>Always amazing to see how highly you guys regard the government when it works
>in your favor.

Always amazing to me to see how much you worship private industry.

Neither government nor private industry is inherently good or bad. Private industry is motivated by profit. That's a good thing when you are running a grocery store. Government is motivated by mandate that comes from elected leaders. That's a good thing when you are trying to run a military, build roads or run air traffic control.

Both have led to ridiculous excesses. Enron and the US military are two good examples here. Both have had remarkable successes. Consider the Apollo program, and consider the first reusable orbital booster.

Anyone who thinks "the government SUCKS because for-profit industry drives everything good!" has never worked with NASA.

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JerryBaumchen

Hi rush,

Quote

They are paid more than their civilian counterparts.



If nothing else, you are consistent. Throwing out your BS without knowing squat what you are talking about.

I worked for the feds for 30 yrs. Every year there is a Congessional commission that studies the pay for feds.

As a Mech Engr, I was paid about 85% of my civilian counterpart. As with any agency/firm/etc, there will always be a few that make more/less than others in the same job.

Jerry Baumchen



Sorry the truth so damn painful
"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

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Good point Bill, sometimes we get trapped in the "all good" or "all bad" cycle, when it is a mixture all around.#polorizedpolitics.

To reiterate on the post on the previous page about wage discrepancies based on education, I think that is a good point too, it isn't the same across the board. The military is a good example.

Take an E3 for example, ~ $25k a year, but housing, insurance, bonus if married or has kids. Basically 100% job security, and the good ol GI Bill that can be worth up $21k/year (actually more since most universities wave whatever the GI bill won't cover. "Yellow Ribbon" programs). For a 20 y/o HS graduate, that is about impossible to beat.

Now going to a 4 year college degree, that can vary a lot but where the shift starts to happen. Take an O3 ~50k a year plus those other benefits, but there are a lot of 4 year degree civilian jobs paying more, and a lot paying less.

With graduate degrees, it is pretty one sided, physicians are a prime example, in the military they get paid half or less than their civilian counterparts.

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jcd11235

***Do they not understand that most people can only visit them at lunch? That ought to be the time they have the most staff.



With a bit of business acumen, you'd understand why that's not likely to be a successful strategy.

OK...I'll bite.
Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

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airdvr

******Do they not understand that most people can only visit them at lunch? That ought to be the time they have the most staff.



With a bit of business acumen, you'd understand why that's not likely to be a successful strategy.

OK...I'll bite.

Well, at many small rural Post Offices they would need to hire only very skinny employees so 4 could fit behind a counter built for 2 and that might cause discrimination problems. Also, most folks who are open to part time gig's are thinking of more than just one hour between 12 noon and 1PM and/or one between 5PM and 6PM with a 4 hour break in between.

Seriously, unless you are sending your hard earned farmworker money home and need a postal money order to do it, get your mail General Delivery, believe wrongly delivered mail must by law be returned in person, or still collect stamps just what on earth justifies standing in line at the post office on your lunch hour?

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airdvr

OK...I'll bite.



How do you propose paying for all of the extra, unnecessary labor when those extra workers are on the clock before or after lunch? Alternately, how do you propose paying for the hefty hourly premium that would be required to entice reliable workers to a 2-hour per day job?

There is a reason easily anticipated rushes still frequently result in increased wait times for customers. It doesn't typically make financial sense to bring in extra workers for a short period of increased customer arrivals.
Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

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jcd11235

***OK...I'll bite.



How do you propose paying for all of the extra, unnecessary labor when those extra workers are on the clock before or after lunch? Alternately, how do you propose paying for the hefty hourly premium that would be required to entice reliable workers to a 2-hour per day job?

There is a reason easily anticipated rushes still frequently result in increased wait times for customers. It doesn't typically make financial sense to bring in extra workers for a short period of increased customer arrivals.

No, but in most service areas you could have a route driver act as a counter agent during the peak times. Retail shops do that sort of load balancing all the time.

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headoverheels

******OK...I'll bite.



How do you propose paying for all of the extra, unnecessary labor when those extra workers are on the clock before or after lunch? Alternately, how do you propose paying for the hefty hourly premium that would be required to entice reliable workers to a 2-hour per day job?

There is a reason easily anticipated rushes still frequently result in increased wait times for customers. It doesn't typically make financial sense to bring in extra workers for a short period of increased customer arrivals.

No, but in most service areas you could have a route driver act as a counter agent during the peak times. Retail shops do that sort of load balancing all the time.

You'll find that most post offices do that, to the extent that it's practical. But when the customers are arriving 5-10 times as frequently at mid-day, bringing up one or two extra people from the back won't keep the lines down.

It's no different than a fast-food joint during the lunch rush (or most any other retail establishment during their busy periods). Customers just have to wait longer during peak hours.
Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

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Iago

***Never mind that this won't actually save any money.



Nah, it's all posturing. They'll get their 2% bump in another spending agreement (with others concessions) so the Congressional monkeys can rant about how they stood up for the working stiffs in their district.

Not sure about the 'locality increases' thought. I'll have to look into that. I'd like to get a 25% pay raise just because I chose to live and work in an expensive area.

It's not that. The spending cap has already been set. Money not spent on federal employees will just get spent elsewhere.

Looks like civil servants are going to pay for the wall.

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