The postdoc is a holding pen with a nicer name

A postdoc was supposed to be a short apprenticeship. It is now a queue: another contract, another paper with someone else's last name, another year in which you are cheap and replaceable.

The holding pen works for the lab. It does not work for the person who still thinks a faculty job is the exit.

How many years in your group is "almost ready," and who decides?