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Postal Service's History of Seeking Five-Day Delivery to Cure Financial Woes

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Top USPS Attorney Says They Are Two Sets Of Rules Governing Use Of Postal Equipment - Replace a broken USPS - Letter to the Editor of the Washington Times by Wayne L. Johnson, Commander, Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps (retired) |

 

Appeals Court Uphold Removal of Postal Manager For Falsifying Timecard

 

Board Of Governors Chairman Remarks On USPS Need To Act Like A Business    |

 

Arbitrator Limits Abusive Postal Supervisor’s Contact With Carriers   |Comments

 

PMG Potter Names New Chief Postal Inspector And Finance VP

 

Arbitrator Reassigns Postal Supervisor For Violating Workplace Violence Policy

 

NALC Branch VP: Limited Duty Carriers Suffer The Ultimate Harm

 

Gamefly Accuses USPS Of Preferential Treatment For Netflix and Blockbuster

 

USPS Seeks Suppliers For Electric Vehicle Conversion of LLVs

 

USPS Seeking Contractor To Create New ID Cards For Postal Employees

 

USPS Cancels Associate Supervisor Program

 

San Francisco Passes First ‘Do Not Mail’ Resolution in Nation

 

Oakland APWU Urges Congress To Investigate The Postal Service

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 20, 2010

Lance Armstrong's Mail Fraud

More than a decade ago, some Postal Service whiz decided our stamp money would be better put to use sponsoring a fabulous cycling team. Yet today FDA special agent Jeff Novitzky is leading a massive, multi-million dollar federal investigation to discover whether the Postal Service was tricked into overpaying Armstrong and his teammates. As the Lance Armstrong investigation gains steam, someone in Congress will figure out a very straightforward line of reasoning. The greatest fraud of all here was that the Post Office blew millions on its very own private professional cycling team.  CAGW: USPS Races Downhill and Loses Money | OIG Report (PDF)  |

 

Postal Service worksharing outgrows its intention
Mohammad Adra is the Assistant Inspector General, Risk Analysis Research Center in the Office of Inspector General at the Postal Service. His office found that worksharing has grown within the Postal Service so much that the program might need to be changed.   |

USPS: Privacy Act May Apply When Collecting Personal Info From Customers Or Employees - - If personal information is collected from an employee or customer on a form or survey, the Privacy Act may apply. When personal information maintained in a Privacy Act system of records is collected, a privacy notice must be provided. The notice — or “Privacy Act Statement” — is basic information about why data is being collected, the laws that allow USPS to collect it, and the disclosures that may be made using the information. The Privacy Office is responsible for reviewing and approving all Privacy Act Statements. USPS News Link  USPS Retail Survey Lacks Privacy Act Safeguards  |

• Eastern Maryland mail hub response expected

• How I learned to love postal rate increases
 

 

July 19, 2010

USPS: Setting the Record Straight on the State of the Postal Service

The state of the Postal Service, its finances and its future, has been the topic of much conversation recently. In some instances, these discussions have not been based on fact. Here is accurate information to help customers and the mailing industry better understand what is really happening.  It's being said that the current financial crisis the Postal Service is facing is a result of poor planning, and postal management should have seen this day coming long ago. Bloat? What Bloat? Postal Service Tells Mailers - Dead Tree Edition- The U.S. Postal Service denied yesterday that its workforce is bloated or overpaid in a message to mailers explaining its position on the proposed exigent rate increases. |

 

There Is No Way To Escape The USPS Upsell

The US Postal Service insists on mandatory upselling at counter windows. I brought a package into the USPS office in Port Chester, New York, and stated as clearly as possible, "I would like to send this the cheapest way possible. No upsell please."   |

 

• APWU Praises House Bill To Restore USPS Financial Stability

• USPS Reaching Out To E-tailers

• Goin’ postal ... or where’s postal goin’?

• Man Arrested For Stealing Postal Truck

• Mail loss could sting South Dakota

• Postal rate hike bad idea

• OSHA Launches New Whistleblower Protection Site - AFL-CIO Blog - www.whistleblowers.gov

 Black Postal Workers Brace For Proposed Cuts

For decades, the U.S. Postal Service has provided many communities of color with a reliable career option with steady benefits. But proposed budget and service cuts -- including eliminating Saturday deliveries -- threaten the livelihoods of many career postal workers. To get a sense of how communities of color will be affected by these proposed cuts, host Michel Martin speaks with William Burrus, president of the American Postal Workers Union. Also joining the discussion is Philip Rubio, the author of There's Always Work at the Post Office: African American Postal Workers and the Fight for Jobs, Justice and Equality. click here to listen to the story

 

July 18, 2010

Wrinkles found in Postal Service pact
When the U.S. Postal Service's top marketing officer agreed to hire Goldman Sachs nearly two years ago without a written contract, top executives inside postal headquarters scrambled to make the unauthorized deal square with postal procurement rules. But the no-bid contract they eventually awarded to Goldman Sachs was backdated and was for the wrong kinds of services: The company was hired under a banking services agreement, but Goldman Sachs' postal work didn't have anything to do with banking, records show. And the idea to hire the banking giant came from a top former postal executive who also served on the board of directors for a company where Goldman Sachs was a big investor. Claims against Bernstock expose clash of public-private rules ) |

 

Six postal workers decontaminated at BMC in Springfield

Fire Department hazardous materials teams are continuing to test a suspicious substance to determine what splashed postal workers when a parcel broke open Sunday morning. Six employees of the U.S. Postal Service’s Bulk Mail Distribution Center were exposed to the liquid. They were put into a portable shower where they cleaned themselves. Their clothing was placed in a sealed bag and they were given contamination suits to wear, he said.   |

 

• Postal Supervisor Killed In Crash remembered as devoted family man

• Slain Postal Worker Remembered in Softball Classic

• East Cleveland resident asks court to block change at post office
• What Your Mail Services Won't Tell You

 

July 17, 2010

Postal worker: I don't have to answer to Chicago cops

When the police caught up to Julius Campbell, they asked for his driver's license and his postal ID. But they said Campbell told them, "I don't have to show you anything," saying he wasn't bound by the jurisdiction of the police, only by postal inspectors. They disagreed and charged him with reckless driving and resisting police.  |Comments (113)

 

• Louisiana Man Pleads Guilty to Assaulting, Robbing Letter Carrier

• Post office retiree drowns off coast

• Fixing the Retirement Liability Calculation
• Your Money and Your Life - Life insurance options for federal employees
• NPR: Through Rain, Sleet, Snow, Lifesaving
• New Jersey postal worker charged with stealing mail

 

July 16, 2010

Rep. Stephen Lynch Introduces Legislation To Correct USPS CSRS Retirement Overpayments

Congressman Stephen Lynch introduced legislation yesterday to correct methodology which overcharges USPS for its CSRS retirement obligations.  The legislation amends the provisions of title 5, United States Code, relating to the methodology for calculating the amount of any Postal surplus or supplemental liability under the Civil Service Retirement System.  |Comments (63)

 

Retired Postal Worker running across America to honor Iraq war dead

At every mile marker, Mike Ehredt, a retired postal clerk,  stops and places a yellow ribbon tied to a flag with the name, rank, service, age and hometown of the service member who died.  Visit Project America Run  |Comments (53)

 

Six-Day Delivery Supporters Finally Speak Up To PRC

Dead Tree Edition - What a difference a month makes! More than 92% of the comments submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission in June regarding the number of mail delivery days favored six-day delivery.  |Comments (46)

 

Postal Worker Responds to Postcom’s Comment on Employees “Sitting Idly In Holding Rooms”  - We sit idle on the clock because management orders us to do so. There are employees asking to leave without pay and they are not allowed to go. There is work for us to perform. I know, I have documented the amount of mail sitting and waiting for management to put the clerks back on the floor. PostCom Responds To APWU Article On Mailers -Well, the last I checked, it wasn't mailers who were sitting idle in holding rooms refusing to do work because contract agreements said they didn't have to  |Comments (37)

 

Postal Employee Tries To Fight Off Attempted Post Office Robbery Suspect

Postal service offering reward for arrest after employee hurt in New Jersey robbery attempt .The U.S. Postal Inspection Service said the suspect walked into the post office  Wednesday and threatened a female employee with a weapon. The suspect forced the employee into a back room. The employee fought back and was injured, the agency said.  |Comments (29)

 

 

• Sunday Funnies Comic Strips Debut on Stamps

• Editorial: Stamp prices rising again

• Postal Service renews Daytona Beach consolidation study
• USPS buffeted by technology, weak economy

• A 8-Point Plan to Save the Postal Service

• What if Congress does nothing on September 30?

• USPS: Attribution of Advertising Costs (PDF)

• Eltingville letter carrier lauded for heroics after helping extinguish fire

 

July 15, 2010

APWU Urges Affected Postal Workers To Complete NRP Questionnaire

To strengthen the fight against the Postal Service’s harsh National Reassessment Program (NRP), the APWU is encouraging limited-duty and permanent-rehabilitation employees to complete a questionnaire sponsored by a law firm that has filed a class-action complaint against the USPS. The complaint alleges that the NRP discriminates against disabled employees. The NRP, which was initiated nationwide in 2006, “is part of an aggressive campaign by the Postal Service to reduce costs by denying work to injured employees,” said APWU President William Burrus. “The union has fought the program every step of the way,” he said. FYI: National Reassessment Process EEO Class Action Lawsuit Website   |Comments (137)

 

USPS Spokesman: We Encourage People NOT To Go To The Post Office?

Matters at the Presidio (San Francisco, CA) post office grew worse last month, when its stamp-vending machine was hauled away. James Wigdel, the USPS spokesman for San Francisco, said that stamp-vending machines are being removed from every post office in the nation because they are old and hard to maintain. And if a post office is not already one of the few that has an APC, Wigdel said, it will never get one, since the machines are not being manufactured any more..As a general matter, said Widgel, “What we encourage is for customers not to go to the post office. We are trying to embrace the future and encourage people to use USPS.com,” . “The green thing,” Wigdel concluded, “is not to go to the post office at all.”   |Comments (85)

 

Why Offer 30% Discounts on a 'Money-Losing' Product? Tough Question #3 For USPS -how can the Postal Service claim on one hand that rates for Standard flats should be raised at least 16% while on the other hand justifying temporary discounts of up to 30% on that same type of mail?  |

• Negro Leagues Baseball Stamps Also Honors Postal Worker

• Post Office To Be Named In Honor of Slain Ohio Letter Carrier

• Marketers bear the brunt of postal woes

• Editorial: Post office can save cash, but only if Congress acts
• Cutting Delivery One Day a Week

 

July 14, 2010

PostCom Responds To APWU Article On Mailers

Well, the last I checked, it wasn't mailers who were sitting idle in holding rooms refusing to do work because contract agreements said they didn't have to. Talk about 'immeasurable' damage.  |

 

City Carrier Work Years and Workhours, by Employee Type FY 2009

PRC requested data from USPS to determine workhours used by city carriers for FY 2009. The data obtained for the city carrier employee types listed is to determine the percentage of workhours by day of week. Saturday has the least amount of workhours used by city carriers, Tuesday and Wednesday used the highest workhours  |

 

Postal Service tech investigated for selling $500K worth of stolen government goods on eBay - A U.S. Postal Service computer tech is being probed for peddling $500,000 worth of stolen government equipment on eBay - and using the money to buy Knicks tickets.Gregory Giordani scammed the Postal Service procurement system for seven years, ordering computer parts, tools, ink toner and even motorcycle parts which he then sold over the Internet, according to a search warrant affidavit unsealed in Brooklyn Federal Court.   |

 

Akron: Mail carrier saves life during route, for second time

Keith McVey has been delivering mail on the same route for 29 years. But he's proved twice now that he's much more than a postal worker.|

 

• Beirut Veterans Honored With Stamp, But Not Through USPS

• Union rep fights postal changes

• PRC Hearing Today on Five-Day Delivery Proposal

• Sayville Letter Carrier earns Million Mile Club Award

• USPS Brings Out Its 'Big Hitter'

• Contract Post Office employee pleads guilty in theft of cash and stamps

 

July 13, 2010

• Postal Service, Commerce Department Expand Strategic Partnership

• Mold Problem Stops Mail Delivery
• Postal worker runs 'Son of Sam' website

• Georgia Postal worker arrested for forgery

• Cool jobs: Postal Service stamp development manager

• Postal workers picket to address concerns over cutting Saturday delivery

• USPS OIG: Assessment of Worksharing (PDF)

• Community pharmacists call fears of postal cuts 'overstated'

• Post office perfidy

• Former Illinois postal employee given probation after stealing packages
• Mailman Accused Of Taking Valentine's Cards, Drugs
• USPS still studying move of Green Bay mail processing to Oshkosh
• 184 to be laid off at Atlanta postal facility operated by Pitney Bowes

 

July 12, 2010

APWU: More Hypocrisy as Big Mailers Decry Rate Hike
"In Run-Up to Postal Reform, They Championed Annual Increases" ” ....commercial mailers have been permitted to influence postal management beyond the scope of their contribution. While direct mail accounts for an ever-increasing share of mail volume, its contribution to USPS revenue is a pitiful 20 percent. But the voice of the average citizen, who pays 44 cents postage per letter, is drowned out by those who have access to USPS decision-makers  |

 

Five-Day Delivery Would Mean 40,000-50,000 Fewer Carriers

Cutting Saturday delivery also wouldn’t be the first time the agency has tried that option. Back in 1957, according to CNN.com, the postmaster general implemented five-day service — but the change lasted just one Saturday. Public furor was so great that additional funding was immediately allocated and mail was delivered the very next Saturday." Down the road, and we’re talking years from now, we won’t need as many carriers because we won’t have to support that sixth-day delivery,” “It’s estimated that probably between 40,000 and 50,000 fewer carrier positions nationwide will be needed.”  |

 

PRC Commissioner: Magazines Have Been Under-Paying Postage

Goldway says periodicals have fallen behind in covering the actual costs the USPS incurs in handling the class of mail.  |

• OSHA proposes $272,000 in Fines Against USPS Capitol Heights MD Mail Processing Facility

• Should Businesses Be Run Like The Post Office?
• Editorial: Privatize the post office
• Postal Increase Is Just the Beginning For USPS Revamp
• South Dakota reps oppose 5 day delivery, rate hike
• Feeling the postal pain

• Recycle bins a hit in post office

 

July 11, 2010

Union Decides Not To Challenge USPS Pilot Program With Office Depot

Although we are always concerned about the possible loss of jobs, we concluded that our members’ jobs were not at stake in this instance. We decided that the Office Depot venture, which is an extension of the Preferred Mailer program, has the potential to direct more business to the Postal Service.   |

 

AT & T Ships Products To Postal Employees Using USPS Discount Program Via FedEx, UPS - An AT & T representative explained that shipping costs are cheaper using FedEx or UPS.   |

 

MSPB: An Appellant Is Held Responsible For Errors By Representative

 ...the appellant’s choice of representative is personal to her, and she may choose to be represented by an attorney or a non-attorney, at her discretion. Notwithstanding the choice, however, she remains responsible for the actions or inactions of her chosen representative and cannot avoid the consequences of her choice. The representative, Debby Szeredy is a candidate for APWU Clerk Division Director.  |

 

No Saturday mail? Does anyone care?

Charlie King remembers when mail was delivered twice a day. That was half a century ago, back in the era of three-cent stamps, back when handwritten letters outnumbered junk mail.  |

 

Oklahoma Postmaster Receives Five Years Probation

One of two area postmasters accused of misappropriating funds has been sentenced and the second is set for sentencing today in the U.S. Western District of Oklahoma Court.   |

• Postal Commentator Questions PRC Chairman’s Remarks On Five-Day Delivery

• 12-yearold Connecticut boy taken to hospital after being struck by mail truck
• Editorial: Postal Service exec prone to excess

• Falling like phone booths, blue mailboxes still deliver

• USPS paints Social Networking as a big fat ruse

• Judge surprised Rural Carriers are allowed to drive from passenger seat

 

July 10, 2010

• Charities, periodicals fight postal rate hikes that could sink some

• The Decision Part II :  USPS could withdraw rate increase if Congress waives trust fund payment

• Will These Companies Get Stamped Out?

 

July 09, 2010

USPS May Split Role of Letter Carrier By Creating '100% Street' Routes

The Postal Service believes it can achieve significant savings by having letter carriers spend their entire shift delivering mail while other employees take over the carriers' mail-preparation duties. The idea is to split the role of letter carrier into two different jobs -- casers who would take on any mail sorting now done by carriers and deliverers who would strictly deliver the mail. Here is what the USPS said about the tactic in a "Flats Strategy" paper it submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission this week.  |

Major Mailers Go Ballistic Over Rate Increase
Burrus Update: Attempt to Shift the Burden to Postal Employees- The mailers comprising the Affordable Mail Alliance want mail service, but they do not want to pay the actual cost of those services. Instead, they are seeking to shift attention to the employees. They are suggesting a renewed focus on closing stations and branches, consolidating mail processing facilities, and demanding concessions from workers. USPS Up to Old Tricks in Exigent Filing  |

 

• Does anyone at USPS HQ actually listen to what they’re saying?

• How Postal Rate Hikes Foretell America's Future

 

July 08, 2010

Sen. Susan Collins: USPS Rate Hike, Service Cuts May Lead To Fewer Customers - As the principal author of the 2006 postal reform act, I am disappointed that the Postal Service is seeking rate increases that far exceed the rate of inflation....The Postal Service cites as one factor justifying the exigent rate case 'continued movement toward electronic alternatives' despite that trend being neither unexpected nor extraordinary. "The Postal Service's proposal could actually worsen the erosion in its customer base. Sen. Charles Grassley says cutting Tuesday mail delivery might be an option - While some have suggested Saturday delivery be eliminated, Grassley say he’s also seen a study indicating the better day to cut would be Tuesday, at its mail volume is smallest. “The postal service is what the word service means, it’s a service,” Grassley says. Rep. Gerry Connolly suggests 24-hour business model for USPS - It is an important niche that the Postal Service actually has, so instead of reducing service from six to five days a week, the Postal Service ought to be looking at a 24-hour model like the competition," Connolly said. He said looking at creative ways of expanding customer service is how USPS will be able to stay competitive.  |  

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USPS Asks To Eliminate Saturday Delivery – Congress Still Has Questions

The most attractive alternative, which would save more than enough to allow six-day delivery to continue, would be bringing postal wages and benefits more into line with those in the private sector and quickly rationalizing the Service’s nationwide network of processing facilities.   |  

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Burrus: Management’s Grievance Strategy: Defer and Delay

USPS management seems to have lost interest in reaching agreements on contract interpretation issues, leaving the union no choice but to initiate grievances for a growing list of disputes, APWU President William Burrus reports in a recent Update for union members: “Postal management appears to have made a conscious decision to apply the most draconian interpretation of contractual terms,” he wrote, “and to await the decision of an arbitrator years in the future.”  |  

 

NALC: Cutting Saturday Delivery And Other Measures Are Not Long-Term Solutions - "What is at stake here is finding a long-term, common sense solution to the financial problems plaguing the Postal Service. The answer does not reside with penny-wise, pound-foolish service cuts, as proposed by the USPS. Neither is it to be found by making false and misleading claims about postal labor costs to avoid a postage rate increase, as some mailers are now doing. Of the options under consideration to solve the Postal Service's financial crisis, the smartest solution is to reform the congressional mandate to massively pre-fund future retiree health benefits.   |

 

PRC Releases Tentative Schedule To Hear USPS' Request For Rate Hike

“The June 16, 2010 conference has provided the Commission with a number of potentially useful suggestions and comments. October 4, 2010 is Deadline for PRC's  determination.   |  

 

Postal Service Rated Among Best in Diversity

Forty percent of postal employees are minorities as compared to 32.8 percent in other federal agencies. Fifteen percent of executives are African-Americans. The Postal Service employs approximately 124,000 African-Americans, 52,000 Hispanics, 50,000 Asians, 1,300 native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders and nearly 4,000 American Indian/Alaska Natives. |  

 

Walmart vs the U.S. Post Office

When business slows a bit at Walmart, the giant retailer typically drops prices to help get customer traffic in the stores back up.  On the other hand, the U.S. Post Office has a very different strategy.  When its customers go elsewhere and losses mount, the Post Office raises prices.  In fact, the Post Office just announced a nearly 5% price increase to take effect in January. Which strategy is more likely to be successful–Walmart or the Post Office?  |  

 

• Newsweek: Why a Higher Postal Rate is Good for the Economy  |  

• What a mess the USPS has made with a combo filing |  

• Mail carriers can't park in handicap spot  |  

• Former Indiana Postal Clerk Indicted For Theft of Nearly $14,000   |  
• Suitcase Prompts Bomb Scare At Post Office |  

• USPS's $75 billion dollar problem

• Former Oklahoma postmaster sentenced in thefts
• Two cents' worth: Mail still a bargain
• Postal carriers find ways to keep cool on the job
• Hold extended on law banning cigarettes from mail

• Postal Service, U.S. Dept. Of Commerce to Sign Partnership Agreement

 

July 07, 2010

OIG Criticizes USPS Oversight Of Grievance Settlements And Questions Payments to Union Officials - There is no assurance that at least $27.8 million in grievance settlement payments were justified or warranted. We also found that union representatives received excessive payments from grievance settlements. Union representatives in four districts (Colorado/Wyoming, Alabama, Mid- America, and Capital) were involved with the allocation of class-action grievance settlements for six grievances that resulted in union representatives receiving payments that were significantly more than other members of the class.  |  

 

FYI: National Reassessment Process EEO Class Action Lawsuit Website

NRP Class Action: Postal Workers Affected by the USPS National Reassessment Process - The attorneys for Sandra McConnell ..et.al vs USPS created a website to answer all questions that postal employees may have regarding the EEOC class actions case. .|  

 

Senator Carper To Introduce Comprehensive Legislation This Year To Address USPS Financial Woes - Today's announcement by the Postal Service underscores the serious financial crisis they are currently facing. Like many other businesses, the Postal Service is looking at every option available to them to raise revenue and cut costs. I don't think it should be Congress' role to critique every business decision made by the Postal Service. |  

 

July 06, 2010

DOL Files Complaint Against USPS To Correct Safety Violations At 350 Facilities- The U.S. Department of Labor's solicitor today filed a complaint against the U.S. Postal Service for electrical work safety violations. The complaint, which asks the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission to order USPS to correct electrical violations at 350 facilities, marks the first time the department has sought enterprise-wide relief as a remedy. Department of Labor Safety Complaint Underscores Widespread, Systemic Violations Labor Department jolts Postal Service over electrical work-safety violations  |

 

• Small Parcels Get Slammed in Exigent Rate Case Filing

• Why Higher Postal Rates Are Good for the Economy

• The Exigent Rate Case: Rethinking Price Regulation

• Florida insurance company victim of change of address fraud
- Postal Service fires back over Citizens story

• Direct Marketing Association Strongly Opposes USPS Request for Rate Increase

• Post office lifer is happy with his post

• Netflix Loses Big in Postage Increase

• Postage increase would prompt changes for poor, non-profits in Utah

• Offline interactive: the strange rebirth of direct mail
• Federal Pay, Pensions Facing Firing Squad?
• Postal Service unveils price increases; industry groups plan to fight implementation
• So Much For Encouraging Publishers To Mail Efficiently . . .
• Is The FSS A Boondoggle? Tough Question #2 For The USPS

• Nonprofit Postal Rates Targeted for Hike
• Video: Letter carrier comments on keeping cool

• Documentary on post office shooting to be screened

• Oldest postal worker dies in Ohio at 94

July 05, 2010

Letter to Rep. Gallegly: USPS OIG Can't Get Bernstock Prosecuted?

What in the world is going on here? I know of front line supervisors fired for doing route inspection paperwork with their postmaster, carriers who were fired for letting their child sit in daddy's jeep, and clerks who have been investigated for having Government pens at their homes. Yet this guy, Robert F. Bernstock isn't even prosecuted? If I were an OIG Agent, I'd be pissed and embarrassed. The OIG cannot get Robert F. Bernstock to court? There are some big dogs stealing and wasting millions for their own personal gain. The boys and girls in the OIG set out instead to chase a few craft employees for pennies.    |

 

USPS OIG: Would Workforce Flexibility Work At the Postal Service

One area identified in the Postal Service’s action for the future is to increase workforce flexibility. A larger, part-time work force would give postal management the flexibility to increase or decrease employees depending on mail volume. Although this change is not as drastic as closing postal facilities or switching to 5-day delivery, it raises questions about what a part-time postal workforce would look like.    |

 

• National League of Cities Weighs in on Postal Service Cost Cuts
• As FedEx, UPS slug it out, rural service at stake

 

July 04, 2010

USPS to File Rate Case Tuesday: Mail Groups Question Legality
Mailer groups expect the U.S. Postal Service to file a case for an exigent postal rate increase Tuesday. Under the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA), the USPS is entitled to receive annual rate increases based on the rate of inflation. But this law also entitles USPS to file "exigent" rate cases under extraordinary circumstances and Postmaster General Jack Potter said last year the postal service might do so. Some question its legality and necessity. - Magazine publishers are preparing to go to war with USPS over rate increase | Postal Service to Announce Price Changes  |

 

• Safety issue divides town, post office
• Cutting Saturday mail service could hurt remote areas most
• Southwest Atlanta post office robbed
• The New Quad/Graphics Still Has The Blues -- and Soul, Too

• Chesterfield post office flying flag illegally

 

July 03, 2010

• Midland MI residents torn on decision to close downtown post office
• Celebrating America's freedom, peanut butter and the postal service

July 02, 2010

MSPB: USPS National Reassessment Process Has Procedural Flaws

Under 5 C.F.R. § 353.301(d), agencies must make efforts to restore partially recovered employees “in the local commuting area.” The local commuting area is the geographic area in which an individual lives and can reasonably be expected to travel back and forth daily to his usual duty station.  Because the agency’s search for available work was apparently limited to a single district, whether the agency searched the entire commuting area remains an unanswered question of material fact, which must be explored on remand.   |

 

Top USPS Attorney Says They Are Two Sets Of Rules Governing Use Of Postal Equipment - "The Postal Service's top attorney, Mary Anne Gibbons, told investigators she thought there were two sets of rules governing the so-called "de minimis" policies on the use of postal equipment for outside activities: one rule for hourly employees and another for executive employees such as Mr. Bernstock." According to the report , " Gibbons told the OIG that PMG Potter had the authority as the head of the Postal Service to override federal government policy limiting the use of government resources for use in Bernstock's personal business activities. He was authorized to override Postal Service policy to allow Bernstock to use his computer system and e-mail for his personal business activities." Replace a broken USPS - Letter to the Editor of the Washington Times by Wayne L. Johnson, Commander, Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps (retired)  |

 

• Postal Service to Announce Price Changes

• Rep. Sandlin says USPS needs to keep six-day mail delivery promise

• Could the Postal Service Lose its Niche in Parcel Delivery?

• Woman sentenced to 8 years in prison for stealing $38K in stamps
• USPS loses billions of dollars due to excessive pension contributions
• Oregon postal workers to picket

• Medford postal workers rally against eliminating Saturday service

• What a Ride: Wausau Man Retires After 35 Years of Delivering the Mail

• Hirt Named Wyoming Postmaster of the Year

• Scituate's Humarock postmaster retiring after 41 year

 

July 01, 2010

• Postal Service Resumes Operations in South Texas

• Lima, Ohio postal center phase-out begins

• Alaska and Hawaii Senators Disappointed that No Field Hearings on Postal Service Five-Day Delivery Proposal Will Be Held in Their States

• Helping out a postal employee in a time of need

• Indiana Postal Clerk Gets Probation For Misappropriation Of Funds

• Former Virginia mailman pleads guilty to fraud
• Full Service Intelligent Mail Series - Full Service ACS

• The future of electric fleet cars has arrived

• April Post Office 'robbery' didn't happen
• Former Virginia mailman pleads guilty to fraud
• Ohio postal worker under investigation for mail theft

• South Dakota: Postal clerk Charlie Wood retires

• Postal carrier honored for 50 years of service