Senator Peters Introduces Bill Supporting Rural Mail Delivery Service
Legislation Issues Two-Year Moratorium on Mail Processing Facility Closures, Ensures Permanent Six-Day Delivery, improve postal employees morale
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) today joined his colleagues in introducing legislation to improve rural mail service and delivery and provide protections for post offices and postal employees in rural communities across the country. The Rural Postal Act of 2015 would place a two-year moratorium on postal mail processing facility closures, restore delivery standards and preserve six-day mail home delivery. This would protect three mail processing facilities in Lansing, Kalamazoo, and Iron Mountain, which service surrounding rural areas and are currently in jeopardy of closing.
“People across Michigan and the nation rely on the Postal Service to provide timely home delivery, from elderly Americans who depend on social security checks and prescription drugs to small businesses that need time-sensitive documents,” said Senator Peters. “I’m proud to support this effort to protect the six-day delivery schedule and prevent the closure of rural postal facilities so that every community in Michigan has access to reliable postal services.”
Rural areas have been disproportionately impacted by cuts to mail service and delivery. Over the past few years, communities in rural America have faced excessive closures of post offices and mail processing facilities, increased delivery times, reduced service standards, and a distressed Postal Service workforce. Nationwide, only about 63 percent of non-local mail arrived on time within three to five days last quarter, which is more than 30 percent below the Postal Service’s own annual goal. From 2001 to 2013, nearly 400 post offices closed across the country, hurting mail service, particularly in rural communities.
This legislation, which Senator Peters introduced with Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Claire McCaskill (D-MO), would tackle rural postal concerns and make meaningful changes to better protect rural communities by:
- Improving Mail Service Standards – The bill would make sure mail reaches its destination faster by restoring stronger service standards, and place a two-year moratorium on the closure of additional mail processing plants.
- Meeting the Needs of Rural Postal Customers – The bill would permanently preserve six-day mail delivery, instead of being added annually in appropriations legislation as it has in recent years.
- Protecting Rural Post Offices – The bill would protect rural post offices from closures, require specific procedures for reducing operating hours at rural post offices, and enable communities to formally petition the Postal Service to undo closures or reductions in hours.
- Improve Postal Employee Morale – The bill would establish a Chief Morale Officer within the Postal Service to oversee working conditions, staffing, communication, and training efforts.
Senator Heitkamp Introduces Bill to Improve Postal Employees Morale, Rural Mail Delivery
Kudos 2,”up the river”as the Queens P&D.C. sends the last of the letter-sized 2 the Brooklyn P&D.C., it is being milked 2 the last second possible, as there is letter operations overtime every single day 4 both clerks and mail-handlers. MHA’s r constantly being mandated 4 two-hours and six-days on the linear-sorter. As Queens down sizes 2 parcels only, now management babbles about moving around all the parcels machines. In reality all management of any consequences is in Btooklyn. The highest manager IN Queens is an acting/Junior plant-manager who is almost never seen. So naturally the local Triboro Brooklyn/Queens District favor Brooklyn , whether now or 2009, Queens lost post marking and outgoing mail back then. It doesn’t matter that the Queens P&D.C. is exactly off the side-rode of the Interstate, while Brooklyn is miles away from the most traffic-gridlock ed outdated expressway in NYC.
Too late for all the plants that already in the process of closing. Schedule your LLV training.
The mail is so lite we can work 3-8 hour days a week !!!!!!
The only way to boost morale is give us weekends off!!!!!!! No Saturday Deluvery !!!!!!
AH, finally a head with a live mechanism in it ! Go Senator Peters ! !
If Congress wants six day delivery why doesn’t this bill provide the funding for that. Congress could appropriate 1/6 of the USPS costs for mail processing and delivery if it wants to maintain 6 day service or it could mandate a rate hike to permanently cover those costs. This bill does neither.
Wow really! A lot alittle bit too late! Morale at an all time low and why add another position when you can’t seem to pay future retiree benefits. Maybe if we were five days morale might come up a few notches!
The average cost to mail a standard letter is 20 cents according to the Postal Services annual report. With small businesses spending 30 to 40 cents per letter for small mailings, it means large mailers may be paying 10 cents postage per letter or less! Since the contracts with the big mailers are private, only postal management, the PRC and Board of Governors know how much large mailers pay.
These mailers then turn around and spend some of their large profits on political contributions to politicians that are trying to privatize the service. The large mailers having an office at postal headquarters to have direct access to postal management.
These companies have manipulated the system to benefit themselves by keeping costs low for cities with the largest populations. In the early 1800’s congress gave the postal service a monopoly on letter mail, to provide low cost service for all America.
Forget about it!! All the current infantile U.S.Congress cares about is attemping 2 repeal Obamacare. Even though it freaking works, as 11 million more us now have access 2 health-care than before and health-care annual inflation is almost nil. These morons have 2 rightfully be consigned 2 kindergarten sandbox es before we will make postal improvements.
A “Chief Morale Officer”? Nice sentiment. But when you’re dealing with emotional psychopaths and childish ass kissers running the show, how do you expect them to improve morale? That will not happen. Abuse of employees in the USPS is rampant and legendary. Management will not police itself, period. Sad but that’s the way it is. It’s a nice thought as I said, but cannot succeed beyond cliched phrases. Inmates can run prisons, but lunatics are already running the USPS asylum.