Burrus: It’s Time For USPS To Consider Offering Healthy Retirement Incentive

Perhaps it is time for the Postal Service to consider offering a healthy incentive for APWU represented employees to retire. The wage difference between a Grade 6 Step 0 employee and a newly hired replacement is $18,000 per year ($53,102 vs. $35,182) so for every 1000 employees replaced, the Postal Service saves 18 million dollars per year. It would be in their financial interest to entice those employees eligible for retirement to retire.

The Postal Service is strapped for cash so it will not be easy to fund the cost of an incentive, but there are creative ways to defer the cost while generating savings. In the previous effort, agreement was reached to spread the incentive over two years to lessen its immediate impact on the USPS’ financial position and other innovative approaches could be explored.

The problem is that employees, who are eligible, refrain from severing their employment for a variety of personal reasons and continue to work for lack of an alternative that meets their objectives. An incentive would influence many who will otherwise continue their employment for an indeterminable period.

The consideration of offering an incentive does not include what is known as “early outs” permitting employees to retire earlier than the legal formula. The Postal Service must receive the approval of OPM to offer early outs and such permission will not be granted, if it is intended to replace the retiring employee. Early outs cannot be used to reduce payroll costs.

At a time when the Postal Service is experiencing severe financial problems brought on by the unreasonable payment for future health care costs consideration should be given to this opportunity for significant savings.

In solidarity,
Bill Burrus

Burrus Journal

21 thoughts on “Burrus: It’s Time For USPS To Consider Offering Healthy Retirement Incentive

  1. Most of the letters I read have good ideas. The complaints of the latter are a bunch of cry babies that are the same people that cry about everything. They are hateful of us who have worked long and hard for most of our lives to provide for our families and now these cry babies are jealous of our seniority and ages. We should get a buyout or incentive as did the other big businesses like GM and Ford And many others. Quit her belly achin cry babies and do your time like we did. Proud to be APWU. It’ s better than not being a member.

  2. I took the 15K a year and a half ago and so glad I did. No more alarm clock, no more Call-In`s, no more FMLA, just lovin it! Let face it, most Postal Worker` s are low life bottom feeders who would not know what to do with themselves without their repetitive boring jobs. They pine away with fondness of their “best years of their lives” what, taking your 2 ten minute coffee breaks? Or perhaps putting yourself on the OTDL checking off “No Restrictions” or volunteering for the Holiday Schedule and convincing yourself that your getting paid (double time) instead of straight time plus another days pay which you would have been paid anyway for staying home. Just work till you drop, you don`t want to miss out on any OT just in case! So sad!

  3. I am maxed out on grade/step and maxed out on A/L earning. I will be 62 in a few short months and eligible for Social Security. Just give me the equivalent of 6 months pay and I will be gone today and you can hire a new, younger, fresh lad to replace at considerable savings. Call Me, I am ready to go.
    I have an even better idea that would convince some to go now and possibly prevent some foreclosures and create jobs. Why not allow people to transfer funds from their Thrift Savings Plan(TSP) directly to their mortgage without tax and without penalty. That would allow those that are upside down to refinance at a better rate and a lesser payment that they could afford to retire and thereby create a job for someone else. Do It and Do it now. Get those funds into the economy. I could apply approximately $60K to my mortgage and refinance to a better rate and lesser payment, that would reduce my payment to about 1/3 of what it is now. If I take that $60K out now, I would have to pay approximately $15k or more in taxes. Just not worth it. You want to create jobs, JUST DO IT.

  4. And is that money hiding under your bed?
    If you can wring it out of current operations, good for you.
    If you expect to get it from shrinking operations, or from taxpayers, forget it.

  5. I hope you guys hang around till you drop dead and don’t collect a dime from FERS, CRSR or SSI. Hey, you’re looking out for your retirement right! So stay, come to work, hang out, do nothing, that’s fine but when you retire at an age that only allows you to sit in front of the TV and all the excitement is when the nurse’s aide comes in twice a week to change your depends… I hope you remember all you did to make your retirement the best it could be.

    Best years of your life? Seriously, those years are the one’s you’re living right now so try to enjoy them while they last. Regardless of who were in life we all end up the same thing in death; food for the worms and plants around and above us.

    Of course you could just go now, take the grand kids to the park, walk the dog, take a cruise to Alaska or Timbuktu!!!

    I mean seriously, my uncle worked 35.5 years at the PO, retired was dead in 2 years.

    I’ve got 13.5 years to go and whatever LWOP has to be evened out so guess where I’ll be in 14 years?

  6. what a bunch of crybabies! You have one of the best jobs in the country. You have received excellent pay and benefits over the years. Your retirement package is generous. Why in HELL should anybody PAY you to retire? We’ll see how long you oldsters hang on when your job descriptions change or you get excessed to Timbuktu. NO sympathy from me…….shoulda gone when you coulda.

  7. Show me the money and i’ll hit the hit the highway now with 36 years in.
    I was planning to work my 41.11 and get me a big fat 84 percent of my wages with SL. A misely 25K is a drop in the bucket compared to what I’ll make if maxed out, and those pencil pushers know it. Do it baby, F it, get it done.

  8. Tell the work force that there is not going to be an incentive to retire. If you retire between now and December 31 , 2011 and an incentive offer is made to retire up until December 31, 2012 then you will be entitled to incentive offer. This will make people leave that are hanging on for an incentive. I work with at least 20 mail handlers that would leave but are hanging on like a turd stuck on the hairs of a dog. They stink , hang around and dry up . So cut them loose.

  9. Burrus should shut his damn mouth now because when the going got tough he ran away like a rat saying “he wanted to spend more time with his family” they all say that when they cave in during tough times. We don’t need his opinions anymore because he is not one of now and never was!

  10. I don’t see why they would offer money as an incentive to go to the people who can already go, let the people out who are chomping at the bit, like me, I have less than 3 years to go, but can’t go now. Give US the chance to leave, and you will see people hit the doors and never look back.

  11. I say get rid of the no lay off clause so we can start firing people immediately.

  12. What amazes me is that the USPS management can find money to pay on huge grievance violations. But can never find the money to offer a decent retirement incentive.

  13. OPM was overpaid by the post offiice. We are not getting any of that money back. What the post office should do is offer the employee a higjher percentage (ie instead of 1 %percent per year offer OPM FERS level three percentage the same one that is giving to congress and thier employee’s). This percentage is paid by opm not by the post office. I believe alot employee’s would take the offer. This way the post office will get back the overpayment . The hiring of new employee’s at a lower wage will be cost saving measure.

  14. The CSRS is fully funded so just add five years to our total service! It will cost the postal service zero. They can reduce our ranks if they will just do this. The five years adds 10% to my retirement. Do this and presto!….no need to wait for attrition or RIF’s. Do this now and you will give the USPS time to actually have cost savings based on the new contract. Give the 20% the workforce, CSRS, a reason to leave. 20% X 557,000 = 114,400 who would potentially leave this year.

  15. Mr.Burris to little left and to late.Those who didnt take ur first offer.15,000 was enough to get me through till nov-april.When my full retirement kick in.

  16. i have said it before on here and i will say it again.. one thing po taught us old bastards was to hang tough… ..be strong….
    new contract actually helped us.. at least in the short term..and we are all short timers…. for once..we are in the drivers seat… u want to evaluate my job and make it part time… and abolish my position.. .. i will still have a job in my installation….. i get excessed out of my section.. its by juniority…i aint junior…
    you want to excess me out of my installation… its by juniority… i aint junior
    i am prepared mentally and physically to do what i have to do until you do what you should do and that is offer me a respectable retirement incentive.. otherwise i will continue to work and build my monthly annuity.. until you wake the fuck up.. we did our time, we gave you the best years of our lives. dont turn your backs on us. and if you do. expect a fight…

  17. I agree with Bill Burrus. The sad fact is that the APWU contract was sellout to the members. After 39 years with the Post Office I feel the the APWU management was more concerned with getting a deal rathe than focus on the future of the Post Office. Bill is right; I know many people who are eligable to retire but can’t because of the econony or financial conditions. I know that an incentive would allow the Post Office to cut their employee cost and at the same time allow younger people to start a career. Will it happen, I doubt it. Bill, I for one, I wished you had stayed in the managemnt of the APWU. I believed we would have a better contract and also a better Post Office for the new generation of employees. Thanks for your concern and clarification of the situation at hand.
    Sincerely, Ed Pierce

  18. I have to agree with Billy B.
    Now that Guffey has sold out the membership many will gladly take
    the money and run – I know I would !

  19. Bill Burrus underestimated the money that could be saved by separating a career employee and hiring a PSE employee in their place. He didn’t include the fringe benefits that a career employee earns like sick leave, more annual leave, health and life insurance, CSRS retirement and TSP matching funds. And of course PSEs have other less obvious savings like flexible scheduling and no guarantees.

    It would make financial sense for the USPS to offer the maximum $25,000 to get rid of career employees as quickly as possible. Career employees are also the most resistant to change. The USPS could kill two birds with one stone. 🙂

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