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by Scottythinks on July 14th, 2005

Scottythinks

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What has caused postal workers to "Go Postal" (get violent)? Is it just stress or is there more involved?

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  • by Alonzo Garbonzo on December 13th, 2005

    Alonzo Garbonzo

    In addition to stress, the life of a postal worker can be a demoralizing ordeal.

    I was once a seasonal worker in a large mail facility, a bleak, windowless factory filled with the deafening roar of machinery. Once inside, you are just part of the machinery. Emerging from the hell-hole at the end of a shift, you are numb, shell-shocked, and wanting a stiff belt of strong drink.

    The main job requirement is a high tolerance for tedium. You have to perform maddeningly repetitive tasks but not zone out or go bonkers.

    Your every move is highly supervised. If you are a few seconds late returning from a 10-minute break, you'll hear about it. It takes 2 or 3 minutes to hurry to and from the break room, which leaves about 7 minutes if you're lucky.

    Supervisors gain their positions for length of time on the job, not for human relations skills. If overtime is required, workers are not asked they are told to work late. The notice usually comes when the shift is just about over.

    Many workers do not have a choice of shift. They may be stuck for years working graveyard, which for most people is the worst kind of punishment. People endure it, however, because the money is better than they might earn elsewhere.

    The postal service arbitrarily determines who will be a full-time employee and who will be given the less disirable part-time status. Full-time employees get the best shifts and choice assignments.

    Some new hires are full-time from the onset while others will go years as part-time employees. So, you'll have a full-time new hire working beside a part-timer with 10 years on the job. The part-timer will have to train the full-time new hire who may eventually become his boss. Resentment tends to fester among aggrieved part-timers.

    These conditions could contribute to cases of "going postal." There are probably worse jobs, however. Working in a chicken slaughterhouse, for example. You don't hear about people "going poultry," so it's anybody's guess as to why postal work is so conducive to psycho-killer rampages.

    This answer is not backed up by studies or sworn testimony, so I hope readers will understand that this is just an opinion from one observer and not meant as a definitive, all encompassing treatment and rate accordingly.

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  • by postmuffin on February 15th, 2006

    postmuffin

    It is sad that the term "going postal" is used for anyone who gets violent. In fact, the percentage of postal employees who commit violent acts at work is no greater than grocery store workers, factory workers, the military or any other category of worker. As a postal employee I hate to hear the term. Until the recent events in California where a mentally unbalanced former postal employee (a female which is very unusual) happened, it had been 1998 since there had been a killing at a post office.

    Usually the person involved has been recently terminated from the job. They usually have firearms experience, from military experience. The postal service hires many veterans, in fact gives them preference in hiring. This could have some bearing on postal violence.

    The statement by the other answerer is incorrect in many instances. Bear in mind that they were a temporary worker in a plant, not a full time worker, so they do not completely understand how the system works. There would not be a person hired full time when there were still part time employees available to move up to full time. The postal service has a ratio of 90% full time to 10% part time. When full time employees quit or retire, then part time employees are converted to full time. Regardless, full and part time employees are very well paid and have full benefits. Some small offices have only part time employees because the workload does not call for a full time employee, and in this case they might work their whole career as a part timer. Part time employees quite often work nearly 40 hours per week, the difference is that they are "flexible" and their hours can adjust to workload.

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