How I Learned to Love the Obamaphone

Some of our readers will be aware that I have a working payphone. It has since been relocated from Norfolk, VA to neighboring Portsmouth, VA, but it works just the same. “Pick up the handset, listen for the ring tone, dial a phone number, insert quarters if required”. Now, four years down the road, I wonder if this was the correct approach to public communications. It is common knowledge that near-universal cell phone adoption led to the demise of the payphone network. These rugged devices retrenched from a ubiquitous sight to core locations such as government buildings and transit centers, and now many public facilities have forgone them altogether. What gives? The Lifeline cell phone, or Obamaphone. The program had existed since the Reagan era as a landline subsidy, but around 2008, entrepreneurs determined that cell phones could be issued to the needy for less than $9.25 per month, thereby requiring no out-of-pocket cost for basic phone models. Thus, I had to reframe my mind around the remaining fragments of a public telephone network, in which I include courtesy phones you may find on the front desks of hotels, hospitals, and airport terminals. In contrast to the third-party commercial interests that determine payphone removals, ensuring that these public courtesy phones remain in place now appeared to be a high priority. If we could approach grocery stores and transit centers to provide courtesy phones, then we might have a basic but functioning network of public telephones. Who is going to pay for this public telephone network? The State of Maine notably funds 50 public interest payphones, which is not too dissimilar from the keypad-equipped call boxes found at highway rest stops in other states. Overall, though, this duty was left to the private sector. In contrast, the Lifeline program gives an individual subsidy that enables a niche cell phone market to thrive. Thus, within existing constraints, expanding enrollment in Lifeline, and putting Obamaphones in more hands, is the most economically viable option for those interested in public communications access. Reversing the retrenchment of public telephones- payphones or courtesy phones- is the next issue to address.

Where to Stand on Vape Shops

We are here for a loopy subject- drug testing. Many employers, including retail chains such as Home Depot and OfficeMax, have implemented random drug testing programs. It is commonsense to test forklift drivers, who often maneuver around mindless customers. A manager worth their salt can name the benefits: To ensure a productive workforce, improve workplace safety, protect material assets from damage, and reduce theft that funds an addiction. Other employers, most sizably those in the transportation industry, are required by law to maintain such a drug testing program. If you want to drive a truck, a school bus, or a tugboat, you've got to "pee in the cup". The most common practice onboard a ship is to drug test all crewmembers, even when not required by law (for example, galley staff without emergency response duties). For several decades, employees complied, willingly or begrudgingly. In the early days of random drug testing, some labor unions resisted the practice, but later changed their focus to educating and rehabilitating. For many professional mariners, it's unthinkable to jeopardize one's career over a marijuana joint: just say no, even if one believes in hypocritical dichotomy of approved/ socially acceptable drugs and vices (Nicotine, Alcohol, Ritalin), versus those seen as anti-social (Cannabis). "If you can't say no, I don't want you on my boat". Perhaps part of the drug testing regime is to evaluate one's ability to follow the rules: As far as use of prescription medications is concerned, fitness for duty is made between discretion of the employee and employer. Now, drug test failures are on the rise. There is certainly confusion and quality control issues concerning widely marketed supplements such as CBD Oils, low potency THC, and Delta-8. Full-fledged cannabis can be purchased over-the-counter in a growing number of states, and medical marijuana is widely available, even without federal sanction. Many members of Gen Z simply don't care about the consequences of failing a drug test. While the worst that a retail employer can do is fire the employee, failing a drug test while holding a credential will usually lead to suspension or revocation, and incur a lengthy and costly process to return to employability. Entry-level crewmembers may not see the value in return-to-work, and leave the industry altogether. To this end, employees need to understand that heavy equipment and mind-altering substances are a bad mix. To the government's end, it is due time to recalibrate the cannabis threshold to better detect recent use, as Canada has done.

No Tax on Overtime?

On lonely night watches onboard the USNS Supply as a Third Engineer, I often contemplated that the tax rate on overtime pay should not be higher than a worker's regular wages. After all, overtime is usually worked during nights and weekends for the convenience of the employer (rather than the employee), and workplace accidents are most likely to happen after working over 40 hours in a week. No tax on overtime? A better deal than I could ever imagine. This would have been a pipe dream, except one state has actually tried it. Alabama made this a reality, at least temporarily, in an effort to alleviate labor shortages. The offer of untaxed overtime wages sounds too good to be true, and the plan will probably be axed by the bean counters who work for Congress. Yet the affordable suburbs of the Northeast, home to cops and firefighters and transportation workers, ate this up wholeheartedly. These are places like Ocean County, NJ (outside of New York City) and Stafford County, VA (outside of Washington, DC), where half of a blue collar civil servant's paycheck can come from overtime pay. If implemented, this could mean a significant rollback in income tax for an unsung group. As a counterpoint, the Hampton Roads region of Virginia has a large number of overtime-eligible workers (particularly among civilian employees in the shipyards and aviation hangars). However, there was no big move towards Trump. After working locally for several years, I realized that the South prefers to spend time with friends and family, rather than maximizing a paycheck.