I guess I’m on the edge of the storm. A few employees in our area just tested and confirmed positive. Got my first positive confirmed customer on my route.

What are your companies polices? We aren’t being told anything.

I emailed the Post Master General and the NALC’s national director of health and safety. The response was not reassuring, and about 10 days late.

I guess I'll start spraying all my mail/packages with Lysol.

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:
I guess I'll start spraying all my mail/packages with Lysol.

The exposure on mail/packages is minimal. The bigger concern is employees working in confined spaces. And if one tests positive, they aren’t informing other employees. A few stations in New York walked out the other day. Even our local sanitation department did the same. Low level grunts aren’t being informed by management who want to “meet numbers”.

Once I’m out on the street, I feel safe. Except for the customers who break through their door to greet me. I politely ask them to go back inside, and I’ll leave their mail in their mailbox.

Our UPS driver told me today UPS is not providing them with anything to even clean there hands. He said he expected to get the virus.

quote:

Originally posted by CCR:
Our UPS driver told me today UPS is not providing them with anything to even clean there hands. He said he expected to get the virus.

I pretty much told my wife the same thing. Experts have mentioned that they expect this to effect 40% of the population. Give the latest statistics and my age group, if I get it, I have a 1:250 chance of dying from it. Those aren’t bad odds.

I use hand sanitizer, wipes, spray bottles of 10% bleach solution, and probably a few other things. Washing my hands is almost impossible, once I’m on the street, all my businesses are closed.

My biggest concern is the roughly hour or so I am in the office in the morning. I just started “barricading” myself in my case (cubicle) so no one can get within 4 feet of me.

I'm a contractor in USPS facilities.

I can use USPS provided disinfectants while in the building, or commercial bleach/ alcohol wipes on my equipment outside the building.

So far, none of my guys have conce into direct contact with positive cases, but it's getting closer. We've been in meeting after meeting to conce up with contingency plans, banking on us getting exposed at some point.

quote:

Originally posted by CCR:
Our UPS driver told me today UPS is not providing them with anything to even clean there hands. He said he expected to get the virus.

Interesting their union hasn't stepped in and worked with corporate, UPS drivers have the strongest of teamster unions.

KOMO News had this on your groceries. Packages should be about the same. Basically wash your hands and don't touch your face.

quote:

No need to disinfect groceries to prevent COVID-19, health officials say

https://komonews.com/news/loca...health-officials-say

My ups guys have gloves. fwiw. I have them leave packages in a pile in the sunshine and for several days as the latest guidance I see is 72 hrs for cardboard...

Over the weekend, they had an article in the local paper, saying there was a confirmed case at the local Amazon distribution center.

I see their trucks still delivering daily up and down the street, so it hasn't slowed much down apparently.

No policy changes except to stay home if you've got symptoms of an illness. I've been wearing wool gloves with latex on the palms/fingers for the past couple years in an effort to keep my hands from drying out due to handling packages all day. I know it doesn't offer the same level of protection as latex gloves, but I wouldn't be able to stand it after a couple hours.

Everyone at the terminal scatters like cats if someone sneezes. It's kind of amusing.

quote:

Originally posted by braillediver:
KOMO News had this on your groceries. Packages should be about the same. Basically wash your hands and don't touch your face.

[QUOTE]No need to disinfect groceries to prevent COVID-19, health officials say[/QUOTE

https://komonews.com/news/loca...health-officials-say

This MD has a different opinion:




Link to original video: https://youtu.be/sjDuwc9KBps

.

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
My ups guys have gloves. fwiw. I have them leave packages in a pile in the sunshine and for several days as the latest guidance I see is 72 hrs for cardboard...

We touch so many surfaces, we’d need to change gloves every 2 minutes. Not to mention I witnessed two fellow employees, in the span of 30 seconds, wipe their nose on the back of their gloved hand.

I have a “park and loop” route. Every time I have to move my truck, I use hand sanitizer. I am very strict about touching my face. I spray the crap out of any common surfaces in my truck with a 10% bleach solution, and wipe down any company equipment with wipes at the start of the day.

We still have a crowd of carriers hanging around in the morning to clock in. I wait until the crowd disperses until I hit on.

Orguss, this is what I emailed on 3/18/20. Some of my suggestions were implemented nationwide the next day. Mainly getting signature confirmations, and service talks over the intercom. I received a response from the office of the PMG on 3/27/20, that some of my other suggestions were up for “consideration and review”. Just in my own county, confirmed cases had increased 731% during that timeframe.



I am writing you today, as I had thought about some ideas on how the USPS can establish a more defensive posture that could be provided to not only carriers, but all USPS employees. Given our current situation, this needs to be addressed immediately, not sometime in the future.

The general consensus of carriers is a lack of concern from upper management. We get told daily to wash our hands, keep our “social distance”, and cough in a tissue or sleeve. NONE of this can be applied to actual work practices currently administered by the USPS. With a lot of businesses closed, carriers may not have a place to even use a bathroom, let alone wash their hands. Social distance does not mean standing as a group, in front of a supervisor, for a 5, 10, or 15 minute standup talk, in groups of 60 or more, 2 feet apart. Or having to knock on a door for a signature, or being told you can’t enter a facility until you get screened, answer some questions, and possibly even told you have to get your temperature taken with an oral thermometer.

These are challenging times. But we have no directives or protocol from the upper level of postal management. Some stations are being told they are allowed to sign for items for the customer, I have been told at previous stations a carrier is not authorized to sign for the customer. Some stations are being told if a business requires them to go through a health screening process, bring the mail back. Other stations are being told to do what is necessary to deliver the mail.

Infectious disease experts are estimating this virus will effect at least 40% of the population, possibly more. I honestly feel like the post office is on a vacation on the beach, with its head in the sand, awaiting a hurricane. They know it is coming, but instead of boarding the windows and shuttering the doors, they are praying that it changes course.

These are just some suggestions, but they could be implemented almost immediately with no effect on service. I believe the post office will get through this, if they are proactive, instead of trying to clean up “after the hurricane hits”. With all the talk of privatization, this can make the American public realize we still are the backbone of the country. If the Post Office is ordered to shut down, I think our country will be at a point that it will never be the same, and the Post Office will be a relic of the past.

First, limit social distance. A public service announcement from the USPS should be sent to all major media outlets explaining extra precautions that customers can take to avoid exposure. DO NOT open your door to retrieve the mail directly from your carrier. If they need to ask a carrier a question, let him get a safe distance away. Make costumers aware of the Informed Delivery service, so they know they can pre-sign for anything, via online, that needs a signature. There is no need for a carrier to knock on the door, hand a customer their scanner, and have them sign for anything. If a carrier leaves a notice, and the customer is home, a complaint will be made, or they will drive to their local post office to pick it up. Again, there is no directive nationwide, on what is to be expected.

Deviate start times for carriers in 5 min increments. The smaller the group the better.

Stand up talks can be given over the intercom. There is no need for 50, 60, 100 carriers to be confined together to discuss the topic of the day, that may not even be pertinent to the current situation.

If possible, move carrier cases further apart, if stations have space. Although I don’t have consolidated casing, I have heard they are almost stacked on top of each other.

Ensure all routes are staffed. With summer prime time vacation only weeks away, not being proactive could destroy the USPS, especially when carriers and clerks are unable to work, due to being sick. There is not a physician in America that would not give a 2 week medical excuse for anyone who tests positive for Corona, even with mild symptoms. We may see 40% or more, of the USPS workforce out in the summer months. In my state, a lot of businesses were forced to close, and people are desperately looking to work. Why wait with our head in the sand? Get the hiring process going now!!!

This is for the clerks, but it should be addressed. Offer a curbside pickup, or call ahead service. With the weather, there isn’t a reason that a kiosk could be set up outside most post offices in the parking lot. One clerk could be out front, and communicate with other clerks inside, with a two way radio. Having customers come inside to a USPS facility with our current situation is a very bad business model. I have heard clerks complaining of customers coughing, sneezing, and not keeping a “social distance”. It would limit exposure to all front line employees.

As of now, Amazon has instilled limitations on the products they will deliver, as well as hiring 100,000 employees. I have not heard anything from the Post Office other than “wash you hands, sneeze into your arm or tissue, and use hand sanitizer”. Business goes on in the USPS, despite going through what could be one of the worst pandemics modern day America has seen.

Limiting contact between employees and customers, should be a NUMBER ONE PRIORITY as we move forward. Without our employees, we will not survive.

Avoid doing “cash” transactions if you must go to a store. Money is a germ factory with how many people handling it every day. Use credit card or gift cards, throw the slip in the trash at home, sanitize your hands. Drink two beers.

We have a confirmed case at my office. They did a "Deep clean" of our facility, but nothing was disturbed, so we're all calling BS on that.