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There was a time when you could give a christmas bonus to the mail man. I wish that the delivery men were more consistent, I would love to be able to give them

There was a time when you could give a christmas bonus to the mail man. I wish that the delivery men were more consistent, I would love to be able to give them a cash gift for all the work they do for me and my family on a regular basis. Unfortunately it seems like during the holidays the usual delivery guy isn't around and it's a chaotic mix of people. While we are here, I hate that they are now making people deliver on Sundays. Every year I struggle more with the morality of the package economy.

agrajag 9y ago
I'd really prefer that people be paid an adequate wage where I don't feel like I have to tip. And why is Sunday delivery worse than Sunday work in a myriad of other industries, like retail or restaurants?
- quantumofmalice 9y ago
  I'm not big on Sunday retail either. I prefer the older tradition where most stores were closed on Sunday so people could be with their families.
  - gumby 9y ago
    For an alternative perspective: Sunday shopping is a boon to people who work or have other conflicts the rest of the time (e.g. work M-F, kids' games on Saturday). Also for holidays: my mother really appreciated being able to work Thanksgiving, Xmas, July 4th etc because others really wanted that time to be with their families‡ -- those holidays meant nothing to us (immigrants) but meant that when she wanted someone to cover for her for some other day everybody owed her a favor (plus as a bonus people generally try not to go to the hospital those days -- she was an M.D.). ‡ (or perhaps it's simply that I was such a horrible kid that she was happy to be out of the house).
  - techsupporter 9y ago
    I’m thrilled that there are several places open on Sunday because I work a non-typical shift while keeping this whole Cloud Economy working. The standard 9-5, Monday-Friday work hours aren’t so “standard” in my corner of our industry.
dashundchen 9y ago
USPS now delivers exclusively on Sunday for Amazon. It looks like they are expanding this service with lower wage jobs, with less benefits compared to the traditional postal worker. I was shocked to receive a package from Amazon via USPS this past Labor day, of all days. Quite depressing to see the continued erosion of rights workers fought for over the past century, to service one of the most powerful companies in the country. I've been trying to opt myself out of Amazon where possible. https://www.alternet.org/labor https://www.alternet.org/labor /horrific-new-marriage-between-your-post-office-and-amazon-sunday
- WhitneyLand 9y ago
  You are misguided, working on Sunday is orthogonal to treating workers well. I admire your concern, but other metrics shine much more light on concern for humanity. Growing up in Las Vegas, working on weekends was I think, beyond even what you’d imagine in some tourist destinations, some of those are at least were seasonal. Imagine if your delivery person who you are concerned about, worked weeekends and also in the middle of the night on a swing shift, my parents did. Were all the casinos great places to work because of all this? Absolutely not, some made Amazon look great. However, I observed: - There were big differences in treatment of employees between different operators. The overall effort and concern they had, or did not have, overshadows any single issue. So it’s good to call out businesses, but to encourage the right behavior a broader set of metrics is better. - Families can be healthy and thrive with weekend and shift work if it’s done right, without crushing overtime or 12 hour days, and if they are treated well overall. Things in life just happen at different times come to seem quite normal.
dazc 9y ago
'There was a time when you could give a christmas bonus to the mail man.' In the UK this was the case until around 10 years ago. The local postman was part of the community. Now we get random people with no local knowledge or connections. Hence letters and parcels end up at the wrong address or don't get delivered at all.

agrajag 9y ago

I'd really prefer that people be paid an adequate wage where I don't feel like I have to tip. And why is Sunday delivery worse than Sunday work in a myriad of other industries, like retail or restaurants?

quantumofmalice 9y ago
I'm not big on Sunday retail either. I prefer the older tradition where most stores were closed on Sunday so people could be with their families.
- gumby 9y ago
  For an alternative perspective: Sunday shopping is a boon to people who work or have other conflicts the rest of the time (e.g. work M-F, kids' games on Saturday). Also for holidays: my mother really appreciated being able to work Thanksgiving, Xmas, July 4th etc because others really wanted that time to be with their families‡ -- those holidays meant nothing to us (immigrants) but meant that when she wanted someone to cover for her for some other day everybody owed her a favor (plus as a bonus people generally try not to go to the hospital those days -- she was an M.D.). ‡ (or perhaps it's simply that I was such a horrible kid that she was happy to be out of the house).
- techsupporter 9y ago
  I’m thrilled that there are several places open on Sunday because I work a non-typical shift while keeping this whole Cloud Economy working. The standard 9-5, Monday-Friday work hours aren’t so “standard” in my corner of our industry.

dashundchen 9y ago

USPS now delivers exclusively on Sunday for Amazon. It looks like they are expanding this service with lower wage jobs, with less benefits compared to the traditional postal worker. I was shocked to receive a package from Amazon via USPS this past Labor day, of all days. Quite depressing to see the continued erosion of rights workers fought for over the past century, to service one of the most powerful companies in the country. I've been trying to opt myself out of Amazon where possible. https://www.alternet.org/labor https://www.alternet.org/labor /horrific-new-marriage-between-your-post-office-and-amazon-sunday

WhitneyLand 9y ago
You are misguided, working on Sunday is orthogonal to treating workers well. I admire your concern, but other metrics shine much more light on concern for humanity. Growing up in Las Vegas, working on weekends was I think, beyond even what you’d imagine in some tourist destinations, some of those are at least were seasonal. Imagine if your delivery person who you are concerned about, worked weeekends and also in the middle of the night on a swing shift, my parents did. Were all the casinos great places to work because of all this? Absolutely not, some made Amazon look great. However, I observed: - There were big differences in treatment of employees between different operators. The overall effort and concern they had, or did not have, overshadows any single issue. So it’s good to call out businesses, but to encourage the right behavior a broader set of metrics is better. - Families can be healthy and thrive with weekend and shift work if it’s done right, without crushing overtime or 12 hour days, and if they are treated well overall. Things in life just happen at different times come to seem quite normal.

dazc 9y ago

'There was a time when you could give a christmas bonus to the mail man.' In the UK this was the case until around 10 years ago. The local postman was part of the community. Now we get random people with no local knowledge or connections. Hence letters and parcels end up at the wrong address or don't get delivered at all.