USPS Shuts Down 132-Year-Old Post Office After Request for $600 a Month - 2 employees paid $8.33/hr

[Demovictory9]

USPS Shuts Down 132-Year-Old Post Office After Request for $600 a Month
Its two employees were only paid $8.33 an hour



When Colleen Raftis bought a building in the tiny Washington town of Nahcotta last year, it came with a historic post office staffed by two elderly women who took turns working three hours a day for $8.33 an hour. She says that when she asked the US Postal Service for more money for wages and upkeep of the post office, somebody told her they would get back to her—and within days, she was informed that the post office was being shut down, the Seattle Times reports.

Raftis says that when she bought the building, the USPS had a contract to pay $4,000 for six months, which worked out to around $662 a month—barely enough to cover the low wages of Gretchen Goodson, 82, and Kathy Olson, 73. Raftis says the notice the contract was being terminated came as a complete surprise late last month and the two women only received one day's notice from the USPS.

https://www.newser.com/story/303762/usps-shuts-down-po-after-request-to-pay-workers-more-than-833-per-hour.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=uol&utm_campaign=rss_world_login

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/she-wanted-to-pay-the-post-office-employees-in-this-tiny-washington-town-more-than-8-33-an-hour-usps-shut-the-place-down/

It would have meant better money for Gretchen Goodson, 82, and Kathy Olson, 73, who alternated working six days a week, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. To save money, the office was only open three hours. They were earning $8.33 an hour.

“I was so stunned,” says Goodson about the closing.

Cate Gable lives in Nahcotta and writes a weekly column for the Chinook Observer. She’s spearheading an effort to save the post office. She says it’s about more than picking up mail:

“Our post office is a place to meet neighbors, to chat about the local news, the weather, to find out who’s sick and who’s better, who has an operation pending, or whose dog has died. It’s a place where funeral notices are posted on the windows, where a bulletin board announced all manner of events and services … board meeting minutes … lost pet flyers, yard sale announcements …”

[2naSalit]

1. Well, it shouldn't be too long...

Before that asshole PMJ is ousted so I hope they drag their feet on physical decommissioning the place.

[Karadeniz]

2. Can Biden get this cancellation canceled?

[Blue Owl]

3. Anyone smell DeJoystick fuckery at work?

[dhol82]

8. Exactly!

[MichMan]

4. Since they weren't USPS employees, was it the previous owner who paid them less than min. wage?

Hiring someone under minimum wage as an independent contract worker should have never been OK in the first place.

How long had it been going on like that?

[Ms. Toad]

9. Minimum wage is $7.25/hour.

Last time I checked $8.33 was more than $7.25.

(And minimum wages apply to employees, not independent contractors.)

[MichMan]

12. According to the link it's 13.69

"The minimum wage in this state is $13.69 an hour, but the two women were contract workers with the homeowner."

[Ms. Toad]

13. If they are Federal employees,

The federal minimum wage ($7.25) applies.

If they are independent contract workers, they in business for themselves - and are responsible for setting what they charge. I've worked as an independent contractor for $1.25 an hour - although for most of my independent contractor gigs I price what sell at a rate that pays me $15-$20/hour.

(Not justifying the USPS refusal to pay a reasonable amount - just explainng the law)

[live love laugh]

16. A contractor is not a federal employee. nt

[Ms. Toad]

17. Correct, but what contractors charge is not governed by wage laws.

The whole point of being a contractor is that you are in charge of the conditions under which you work, including what you pay yourself out of the fees you set for the services you provide.

[monkeyman1]

5. Dejack-off to jail & have a freind named bubba !

[msongs]

6. if it's not serving the needs of Amazon it has to go nt

[yaesu]

14. yep, pretty much. nt

[calimary]

7. I hope they can save it.

Sounds like the heartbeat of that little community.

[KewlKat]

10. I think it was closed on 27 Feb

[NCjack]

11. I suspect that NoJoy's next phase of mayhem is closing rural post offices.

[iluvtennis]

15. Just shameful. SMDH. nt