US Postal Service Closing Chattanooga Remote Encoding Center

HI I HAVE A STORY FOR ALL YOU PEOPLE THAT WORK OR HAVE WORKED AT THE REMOTE ENCODING CENTER. IN 1993 I TOOK A JOB WITH LOCKHEED MARTIN LOGISTICS IN NASHVILLE FOR KEY ENTRY OPERATOR. IT WAS THE FIRST JOB I TOOK COMING OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL. I STARTED KEYING THE MAIL FOR FT. LAUDERDALE. I WORKED 3RD SHIFT FOR 1YR THEN TRANSFERED TO DAYS. I CONTINUED TO WORK FULLTIME TILL 1996 WHEN THEY TOLD ME THE CONTRACTED JOB WOULD END AND THAT CURRENT EMPLOYEES WOULD HAVE OPPORTUNITIES WITH THE USPS. I WAS SO EXCITED, I WAS ACCEPTED FOR EMPLOYMENT AND MOVED TO THE ANTIOCH REMOTE ENCODING CENTER. I LIVED 50MILES FROM IT BUT DROVE TO WORK CHEERFULLY EVERYDAY, I LOVED MY JOB. I EVENTUALLY MOVED TO ANTIOCH. I TOOK THE BATTERY EXAM SEVERAL TIMES I JUST COULDN'T MAKE IT HAPPEN MY SCORE WAS TO LOW. I CONTINUED WORKING AS A TE HOW COULD I REFUSE IT PAID WELL AND I ACTUALLY LOVED THE WORK. BUT TO MY DARKEST DESPAIR THE NEWS CAME 1998 THIS REC SITE WILL CEASE OPERATIONS OFFICIALLY 1999. I BATTLED WITH WHERE DO I GO NOW? 6 YRS OF KEYING THE MAIL AND WORKING LONG HOURS GONE IN AN INSTANT WHAT DO I DO? I FRANTICALLY SEARCHED FOR DATA ENTRY OPERATOR WORK. NO COLLEGE AND KEYING MAIL IS ALL IVE KNOWN FOR 6YRS AND COULD NOT LAND A CAREER JOB. BUT I HAD A GREAT WORK RECORD WITH LONGETIVITY IT WAS BOUND TO LAND ME SOMETHING GOOD. TO ALL THOSE PEOPLE MY EXPERIENCE AFTER LEAVING THE AREC MY WORK RECORD HAS TURNED FOR THE WORST. I HAD TO TAKE LOWER PAYING WORK THAT WAS MORE STRESSFUL THAN I COULD EVER IMAGINED. I ALWAY HOPED THAT I COULD FIND SOMETHING SIMILAR TO THE AREC BUT ITS JUST NOT THERE. THE FEELINGS ARE NUMB AND I HAVE BEEN MENTALLY ILL FOR QUITE SOMETIME. CANT SEEM TO COMMIT TO ANY ONE COMPANY, TO GIVE THEM EVERYTHING SO THEY CAN CUT ME LOOSE LATER. I'VE WALKED OFF ALMOST 10 OTHER JOBS SINCE YEAH IT WAS GOOD WHILE IT LASTED. BUT NOW I DONT HAVE MUCH. I OFTEN THINK ABOUT WHAT IF I HAD GOTTEN CAREER BUT IT JUST DIDNT HAPPEN FOR ME. AND FOR THOSE ACTUALLY READING THIS AND YOU WORKED AT THE AREC FROM 1996-1998 LOVE TO HERE FROM YOU. THIS JOB WAS MY LIFE AT ONE TIME AND I STILL THINK OF IT OFTEN WOULD LOVE TO TALK WITH ANYONE ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE THERE.

I currently work for the Chattanooga REC and I am a little upset about the closing. It's always been known, even from the time of hiring, that this job is a temp job and at any time will be gone. I've been a TE for 5 years. That's a long time to be temp but it's true. It is and always has been a great place for me to work. Some hate it and some love it. You just have to be the right person for the job. The thing that bothers me the most is that we had to find out from a news story that we were cloing. I was watching the news half heartedly with my 3 kids when the story came on. My oldest, 10, said, "Mom, your works on TV." To my shock, that's how I got the news. It is true, TE's put up with a lot of crap from this job, but you just deal with it and move on. The whole Christmas thing isn't that bad. If you are honest and work with you supervisor, they do change things to help you. Maybe it's because I've been there for a while or maybe just because I come in, do the job, and leave it there when I go home to my family. Your job is only as good as you try to make it. Mangament could've handled things better. That's really my only complain. They should've shown careers and TE's alike the same compassion toward any and all circumstances. I will miss a lot of people, some not as much. It is hard after spending almost every day for 5 years with the same people. I wish anyone reading this and everyone at the REC the best of luck finding a new path in life.

I am currently working for the Rec but I found out about the shut down from the media. I was in shock! They didn't even have the guts to give all the employs a heads-up before they broke it to the media. I went in the next day and asked my supervisor if they were going to have a meeting for all the employs who were off the day it was announced and she bluntly told me "NO"! She told me to just watch the bulletin boards for new information that may be released daily or to ask another supervisor and he could fill me in on whatever he knows. I feel like, as a TE, that we count for nothing. Careers are the first and foremost on everyone's list and the TE's just need to move on and be happy we even have a job. I am married and have 2 children and my paycheck alone pays my house payment. If I can't find a job, I could lose my home. You would think with the REC being a government institution, they would make more of an effort to help us out. All they care about is us being there for them to key mail. Like here at Christmas time, we are expected to work 6 days week and 2 hours over time per night and just completely forget about our families and lives. I was scheduled to work 10 days straight with no day off and when I addressed the issue and told a supervisor that previous plans had been made for my 1 day off, she shrugged her shoulders and said "oh well". Who knows, this shut-down could be a blessing in disguise. Maybe there's something bigger and better out there waiting for me and my family!

During my several years at the REC, it was noted by many that John McCullom (Plant Manager) would be clocked in, but could never be found.

Later I learned his staff would clock him in, while he enjoyed time away, on the clock.

The place ran extremely well, even with that well paid ornament.

well in response to your comment... it is made very clear and as far as i know every employee there knows that the chances of the place closing at anytime is inevitable... we all knew they were working to do it all electronically rather then pay a room full of people to do these jobs.. we knew the day was coming, just didn't know when... a lease wouldn't close a gov't mandated building and we all know that.. i am sure when the monitors were purchased no one at the chattanooga site knew this was coming so soon... as i was told while i worked there, all it takes is one phone call to tell them... "we are shutting her down" and that is that... heck congrats to the chattanooga rec site though, it outlasted the vast majority of REC sites throughout the U.S. I really enjoyed this job and hate to see so many lose their jobs, but i cannot say that it really came as that big a shock, just by knowing what type of organization it is and how it works...

I took the test and was almost hired there this year but decided I didn't want to take a job with no benefits. Looks like I made a good decision for once.

It's heartbreaking for me to have spent so much time trying to get this jobs (2 years+), just to come in one day and be told at the start of the new year that I won't have a job. I fall under the category of TEs that did want to get into a career position, and I hoped starting here that it would lead to higher positions. I heard that Battery Exams will soon be given, but even that doesn't guarantee me a job, specially if the careers will be given the openings first. It's very depressing because about this time last year I was laid off by another job that I started in hopes of finding a home and career. I have strong beliefs that there was more to it than what is public about our closing. I know we were meant to be a temp service, but at our orientation, it was bragged upon of how Chattanooga had been so successful and long lasting. The awesome economy had to have an effect on it, as the USPS wants to save money by using technology over manpower. My biggest complaint here is that how can a government related company or whatever choose NOW as the time to cut 500+ jobs? Then they say they will assist us in finding new jobs...the job market is awful, not to mention that without a college education and a great deal of experience or great connections, there is NOWAY we will find a job that pays 14 an hour. And for an even more depressing note, nothing makes you feel more awkward than coming into work everyday knowing that you're soon to laid off...again in my case.

I actually work at the facility. They may say this is the reason, but the fact of the matter is that our lease came up for renewal in April. We were not set to be downsized yet, in fact we were passed over this last year when two other plants closed. We even had brand new flat screen computer monitors put in for ALL of the computers in the building minus about 10 after the announcement was made that we were not going to be closed(4-6 months ago). We would have been downsized eventually in the next few years but not right now. It was for no other reason than they did not want to renew our lease. Yes our jobs will eventually disappear because of newer technology, but we process over a million pieces of various types of mail daily at our plant. By no means did our volume decrease at our facility. If anything we've had more than usual. Unfortunately, our lease was up...so they announce right before Thanksgiving that our jobs will be eliminated. Those "part-time" employees, a great deal of them work 37.5 hours which is the only way to keep them from being careers or having benefits and extra pay. Basically you work 7.5 hours a day instead of 8, unless they call overtime and then you work 9.5 hours, but you are still part time. There are people who built their lives around this job, those "part time" employees who do a full time job that hoped to become careers one day and have job security. Now if they want a job they can go hundreds of miles away to a different plant or go somewhere else. There are many older and physically handicapped people that have no where else to go. Those who have given years to this facility, but since they are not careers they are not guaranteed anything. The loss of this facility also extends farther than its employees to the various charities that are contributed to with the cfc campaign, where you commit a portion of your check to go to a charity of your choice. We had over $50,000 in commitments for the coming year. It is unfortunate that they have chosen to conceal the reason we are closing. I thought that when they explained it to us, that they would at least have the decency to say the same thing in their press release. No one expected this, it literally came out of the blue, the supervisors were crying along with some of the other employees. I just think to be fair, they should acknowledge how important those "part-time" workers were, how much they mattered since they comprise a vast majority of the employees, instead of just focusing on the careers and telling the remainder of us that we will begin lay offs beginning in January. Many of the workers will be forced to retire (the lucky ones who can), including the careers, since the only option is to move. They say they will help us find new jobs, but they also shifted the story around to give the media a fluffy reason for our closing, forgive me if I don't believe they are entirely telling the truth about that either.