Tuesday, October 29, 2024
USPS to hold two benefits webinars
The ‘Open Season 101’ sessions begin this weekend
The Postal Service will host two sessions of its “Open Season 101” webinar on Sunday, Nov. 3, and Saturday, Nov. 16, from 1 to 3 p.m. Eastern each day.
The presentation will include information on 2025 benefits changes, including the Postal Service Health Benefits Program and the Postal Service Health Benefits System enrollment platform.
Other topics will include the new flexible spending accounts program, Checkbook’s Guide to Health Plans for Federal Employees, the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Program and the Annual Leave Exchange.
Participants can also speak with a benefits specialist during each webinar.
Registration information is slated to be posted soon on the MyHR website’s open season page.
USPS will also hold a virtual benefits fair throughout open season.
Participation in the webinars and virtual benefits fair is voluntary. Nonexempt employees must participate off the clock or during authorized breaks.
Additionally, employees can receive open season information by texting BENEFITS to 39369. Message and data rates may apply.
On the Job
All in stride
This letter carrier has walked the same route for 41 years
My name is Bruce Schnittker and I’ve been a letter carrier on the same route in Garden City, NY, for 41 years.
Before joining USPS, I was a butcher. But I wanted a career with benefits and a union, so I started looking for a civil service job.
In 1983, I took the Postal Service test and was then hired to work at the Post Office in Garden City, which is a village on Long Island.
Back then, we started at 6 a.m. Because there was no automation, we had to sort all the mail by hand, which took between 2.5 and 3 hours.
When I first started, we used our own vehicles before we got Postal Service Jeeps.
I have a park-and-loop-style route, which means I park and walk away from my truck in one direction, delivering mail down the odd side of the street and then back up the even side of the street. Then I do the same thing in the other direction.
I usually have two loops. Then I move the truck and do another set of loops. There are 360 delivery points on my route. I probably walk about five to seven miles a day, but I prefer to be out in the fresh air instead of sitting inside an office.
My customers make it easy to come to work every day. I’ve watched people grow up and have their own kids.
I approach this job with a positive attitude, which helps the day go by.
“On the Job,” a column on individual employees and their contributions to the Postal Service, appears regularly in Link.
November 5, 2024
Datebook
PSHB virtual seminar
USPS employees may participate in an upcoming virtual seminar on the new Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) Program.
The session will be held Tuesday, Nov. 5, from noon to 1 p.m. Eastern.
PSHB — which takes effect in 2025 — is a new, separate program within the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and will be administered by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
USPS employees, annuitants, and eligible family members are required to enroll in this new program.
The MyHR website’s PSHB page has more information, including the Zoom links and passcodes to participate. To find the page, enter “Postal Service Health Benefits” in the MyHR search bar.
Participation is voluntary. Nonexempt employees must be off the clock or on authorized breaks.
Employees can also receive updates by texting “PSHBP” to 39369.