Whistleblower often hears from people who want us to crack down on workers who don't appear to be working. A resident of Bloomington was frustrated that she had to wait for her mail while the letter carriers in her neighborhood took breaks. Here's what she wrote:

"I would like to see the whistle blown on some postal employees, especially after reading in the (Star Tribune) that the Post Office is suffering billions of dollars in losses. On our particular street, we don't get our mail any longer until almost 5 P.M. Yet, we repeatedly see the truck parked and the person on their cell phone or reading a magazine. When asked why they aren't finishing their route, we are told that if they get back from their route too early they have to help with other things so they purposely stall in returning.....how much of this is going on and if the employees were truly working and being accounted for, would the postal system be in such dire straits and need to cut our mail delivery one day..." It's not just one letter carrier, this reader says, and complaining to the local post office didn't make a difference. After Whistleblower relayed the complaint to Peter Nowacki, a spokesman for the Postal Service, he said he would look into the allegation. He said complaints like this are investigated and corrective action is taken if necessary. "The situation as described by your reader is unacceptable, but we do not believe that this is a widespread problem. Because of the nature of their work, letter carriers spend a large majority of their time working without direct supervision. Our supervisors do conduct periodic observations and evaluations of each carrier's work while they are delivering on the street." He said letter carriers can take their 30-minute lunch and two 10-minute breaks in their route vehicle. Have you seen this happen in your neighborhood? Does it make you mad? Or do you think people are too quick to jump to conclusions when a worker appears to be idle?