Parcels of Knowledge

This week on The Last Loop, Jamie covers October 24–30, 2026, beginning with a USPS Office of Inspector General investigation into timekeeping and management oversight at the Richmond Regional Processing and Distribution Center. The audit identified significant discrepancies and more than $429,000 in questioned costs, raising important questions about accountability, supervisory responsibilities, and the evidence needed to establish individual misconduct. We also examine two new arbitration decisions, C-37970 and C-37972, involving discipline, Weingarten rights, GPS evidence, carrier start times, the M-39, and management's obligation to provide information to the union.On the workroom floor, we break down USPS's decision to delay nationwide multifactor authentication for MDD-TR scanners, supplemental heating tests for Next Generation Delivery Vehicles in Alaska, and extraordinary election-mail procedures ahead of the November 3 election. We review the latest Postal Bulletin, including holiday mailing guidance and reduction-in-force competitive areas, along with important articles from the November Postal Record covering Article 8, December overtime rules, FMLA, workplace safety, veterans' rights, and workers' compensation. Our coverage also includes APWU maintenance testing changes, NRLCA steward development, NPMHU interest arbitration and health benefits, and the latest postal regulatory and operational news.The Podcast Desk brings together conversations from From A to Arbitration, The Postal Stand-up, Classes of Mail, The Comfort Stop, The Hot House, Next Generation Carriers, Key Cases, Rural Route Realities, The Relay Box, and other postal programs. We examine the NALC leadership transition, election participation, union accountability, grievance handling, the Article 8 rule of reason, electronic signatures through Informed Delivery, and the importance of developing new stewards and union leaders. We also highlight women in NALC leadership, Delaware's new law strengthening protections against assaults on postal workers, and Corey Walton's plans for union education, financial transparency, and workplace representation.Beyond the Postal Service, our International Postal Watch looks at threatened mass layoffs in Norway, Royal Mail developments in the United Kingdom, labor action affecting Australian postal operations, and a postal strike in Grenada. The Solidarity Corner covers six labor struggles and victories involving public employees, journalists, healthcare workers, university dining employees, and other organized workers. Closer to home, we celebrate a Pennsylvania letter carrier who helped a customer experiencing a medical emergency, visit communities experiencing changes in postal service, and explore the history of Operation Santa, unusual postmarks, and other stories from postal history.Plus, our new Steward's Action Desk brings the week's most useful contractual lessons, management instructions, and grievance considerations together in one place. With the national election behind us and a new NALC administration preparing to take office, this week's question is how we turn promises of accountability, education, and stronger representation into meaningful improvements for the people doing the work.Check out this week's companion report:Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

In this episode we talk about the election results, and Alan Gegax calls in for some interesting news.Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

What can a podcast, a website, Facebook, Reddit, and Discord each offer letter carriers trying to understand their rights and do the work together? In the second episode of Footnotes, the Minion from the Old Dominion, Jamie Gregory, follows From A to Arbitration across all five spaces to see how they connect carriers and stewards with information, practical tools, and one another.We look at the podcast’s lessons, interviews, and arbitration series; the website’s grievance starters, file-building resources, and LMOU database; Facebook’s public page and member group; Reddit’s searchable rank-and-file reports; and Discord’s channels for questions, resources, and events. We also recognize the people who helped build and maintain this community, the members whose questions and contributions keep it going, and Corey Walton’s transition from podcast host and teacher to elected NALC Executive Vice President.This is the idea behind Footnotes: trust, but verify. These resources can help a carrier find the right question, follow it to the source, and bring what they learn back to their steward and branch. The knowledge grows when members can share it, check it, and build on it together.For the companion report, click here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1345lwGmwh2yO0K-jlnNq0ts_yICIp38xmSzNg0KkZPk/edit?usp=sharingHey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

This week on The Last Loop, Jamie covers October 17–23, 2026, starting with the certified results of the NALC election. James Henry and Corey Walton will take office in December, but turnout of about 21 percent leaves the incoming team with a challenge: keeping members involved after the ballots are counted. We also remember former NALC Vice President Ron Brown and look at three arbitration decisions that turned on very different records: a medical footwear accommodation, an Act-of-God leave claim, and a delayed-mail removal.On the workroom floor, we explain what M-01769 says about management’s time-estimate tools, how sequence numbers can help count political mail, and what carriers should know about new scanner security and election-mail guidance. The September–October Postal Record and Winter Activist bring stories on fair branch elections, leadership development, veterans, field technology, workers’ compensation, Open Season, and family-member verification. Our podcast conversations—from The Postal Stand-up, Classes of Mail, From 8 Arbitration, Key Cases, 613, Triple Threat Tuesday, Next Generation Carriers, and Rural Route Realities—add perspective on pickup work, mail preparation, sick-leave rules, union democracy, election participation, workplace safety, grievance handling, and the changing work of letter carriers.The Solidarity Corner visits six labor fights and wins, from California state workers and Portland unions to refinery workers, professional cheerleaders, and NWSL players. We check in on postal developments in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Argentina; celebrate a rural carrier who helped an injured customer; and visit Waco, Akron, Chesapeake, and other communities dealing with local delivery questions. Plus, the Diwali Forever stamp is out, the rural Christmas schedule is in the Postal Bulletin, and NALC’s Texas voter phone bank is coming up October 25. This week, the question is how members and communities can ensure the systems they depend on answer to them.Check out this week's companion report:Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

In this episode The Roseville Wreckingball gets together with Alan Gegax of Classes of Mail fame and talks about the avalanche of issues that are caused by undelivered mail.Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.