July 31, 2007-

Mail carrier helps police nab suspects

Two Detroit men believed responsible for at least 50 suburban home invasions over the past five months face charges after being arrested with the help of mail carrier. Both men were placed under surveillance after a U.S. Postal carrier -- who is also a recent graduate of the Lakes Area Citizens Police Academy -- alerted police of "suspicious persons" driving around an apartment complex in a maroon sedan. |

Editorial: Privatization, consolidation, contracting = DESTRUCTION  |

Deprince is an inspiration to all  |

Bottle Rockets Probable Cause Of Postal Fire

Police: Reported post office shooting a hoax

Mail delivery in one Waco neighborhood could soon be changing

July 28, 2007-

NALC: Tentative Agreement Being Readied For Rank-and-File Ratification Vote

 It is anticipated that the proposed contract will be ready for the official Ballot Committee (see separate article) to mail out to all active members in good standing by early August. The precise date of the mailing will be determined by the Ballot Committee. If ratified, the contract would provide a lump sum COLA payment of $686 for July 2006–May 2007, followed by a COLA for the two-month period of May–July 2007 which currently stands at $38 annually, and then nine additional COLAs over the five-year term of the contract.   |

Oakland Postal Employee Gets Prison for Assaulting Postal Police Officers

Court documents say that on Nov. 21 at the Oakland Processing and Distribution Center, Hercules pushed and swore at his supervisor, who used a handheld radio to call for help. Three Postal Police officers responded, and Hercules punched two of them in their faces before they could subdue him.  |

Time to ‘band’ together in Slope

Letter Carriers accused of littering streets with rubber bands. What is the postal service’s official policy towards litter? It’s a fair question to ask now that Park Slope’s streets are being blanketed by dozens — hundreds, thousands! — of thick, brown rubber bands that are carelessly dropped every day by letter carriers.  |

Opinion: New 13-Ounce postal rule make no sense

"Since the 1990s there has been a rule in place that said you couldn’t mail a package that weighed more than 16 ounces if you used stamps unless you took it to a Post Office and handed it to a clerk. The new rule modifies that to bring the size down to 13 ounces. The weight rule alone flies in the face of rational thinking. If you could make a 16-ounce bomb, who is to say you couldn’t make a 12-ounce one? It might be slightly less powerful, but a bomb is still a bomb. Some local postal officials, speaking off the record, question the logic too. Sounds like the change is a veiled attempt to drive customers to the post office where they offer to sell you everything from coffee cups to tote bags."   |

Highway Contract Driver pleads not guilty to destroying Indian artifacts - Court records show it was a HCR driver and not a letter carrier    |

Postal Employees Honored With Community Award

Sorting mail one piece at a time
Culp Creek post office gets canceled

July 27, 2007-

USPS Seeking Info to Contract Out Mail Distribution and Transportation? Is USPS Planning to Outsource P&DCs and BMCs - "The U.S. Postal Service is conducting market research to identify interested organizations with the capability to implement a time-definite mail distribution and transportation network. Network components consist of (1) Operations, (2) Network Design, (3) Facilities, (4) Equipment, (5) Information Technology, (6) Personnel, (7) Network Management, and (8) Security.  A synopsis of the network is described in this document. The synopsis is for information and planning purposes only and does not in any way constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP)." (PostCom )  |

July 26, 2007-

Postal investigation sought in St. Joseph, MO

A U.S. Congressman said he's going to call on the postmaster general to investigate possible problems in St. Joseph's post offices. U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, a Republican from Tarkio, Mo., said Tuesday that his office has received complaints about mail being destroyed and delayed and he hasn't obtained satisfactory answers But sources inside the local post offices said that Carl Norwood, the St. Joseph post master, ordered clerks to dump the mail because of an impending inspection sometime before July 15. Those carts weren't checked for first-class mail and were sent out to be recycled, local sources said. What may be happening is infighting between some postal employees and postal administrators.  |

Too Sick To Work at One Agency But Not A Second One  |

Massachusetts postal worker charged in theft of $13,000
QC postal carriers deliver thank-yous to returnees from war zone
Postal Service Tell Public Dog Attacks Are Costly

Workaholic climbed to postmaster post

July 25, 2007-

Letter Carrier Faked Dog Bite Claim for Profit, Investigators Say

-"A Freedom letter carrier was arrested Friday following a month-long investigation by the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General into allegations that she tried to extort hundreds of dollars from one of her customers. Letter carrier Carolyn Maielua, 49, allegedly told the customer she'd been bitten by the customer's dog earlier this summer, but that she wouldn't report the attack if the customer paid her $700, according to Dan Mihalko, spokesman for the Inspector General's office The customer paid about $100, but when she didn't come up with the rest of the money, Maielua withheld her mail and the customer reported the problem to the Freedom Post Office, Mihalko said."    |

Senate Subcommittee Hearing Today on Implementing Postal Reform

U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security will hold a hearing titled “Views from Postal Workforce on Implementing Postal Reform” today at 3:00 p.m. The hearing will be the second this year at which the subcommittee has taken testimony on the implementation of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (P.L. 109-435), which was signed into law in December.  |

Postal Workers Legal Woes

Mailman In Uniform Arrested In Drug Sting - An Indianapolis letter carrier faces felony narcotics charges after police said he tried to buy crack cocaine from undercover officers while he wore his U.S. Postal Service uniform. Ex- Postal worker indicted for stealing stamps - Wendy Watkins was charged with embezzling about $707.95 worth of funds and stamp stock . New Mexico postmaster admits thefts. Postmaster Pearson Cummings pleaded guilty to stealing $16,000 from the register and writing out false money orders to himself. Ex-North Carolina Postmaster gets fine, probation for $42,000 Theft    |

Fire Destroys Longtime Post Office

Interest Arbitrator Selected for NRLCA Contract Hearings  |

Mail carrier dies after slide into ditch

Contract Route Driver Indicted   |

Waco postal distribution center will not close, officials say

Editorial: Waco postal jobs -- saved!

USPS is there to serve at Oshkosh

Postal Carrier Honored for Bravery

Rural Carriers Head Up Cut the Corn Campaign

Postal Service delays Georgia utility bills
St. Charles bulk deliveries draw complaints
Fumes force evacuation of Omaha post office
Postal Logistics is the first to earn USPS OK to co-palletize

Explosion halts mail

July 24, 2007-

USPS steps up after 5 weeks of no mail for residents
"Through rain, sleet or snow, residents expect to get their mail. However, mailboxes at La Villita Las Colinas haven't seen any deliveries. In fact, one homeowner, Misty Broome, said she hasn't received one piece of mail since she and her husband moved into the neighborhood five weeks ago. "I felt like I'll be a reasonable person, maybe a week, maybe two weeks," she said. "But at the two-week point, I really started taking it seriously."   |

Delaware Rural Carriers Union Officer Admits Stealing $59,000

For four years, the secretary-treasurer of the Delaware Rural Letter Carriers' Association diverted money to himself -- including checks as small at $12 -- to steal almost $59,000 from his union, according to court documents. On Monday, Michael A. Pingitore, 47, of Newark, admitted six counts of embezzlement of union funds. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert F. Kravetz said Pingitore set up a secret bank account that he controlled in the union's name to collect reimbursement for business travel by other union officials, money from rebates due to union members, and some union fees and dues in dozens of transactions, some more than $6,000.  |

Postal Truck Stolen On Milwaukee's Northwest Side
Post office embezzler receives probation   |

New 13-Ounce Mail Rule to Take Effect July 30

Post office goes green: Three trucks run on biofuel

July 23, 2007-

Machine augments staffed post office counter

When the U.S. Postal Service changed the opening time at its staffed service counter from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. in February, Postmaster Vincent Daniels had no inkling that it would cause such a controversy among residents and township officials. Mayor Jason J. Varano said even though the post office is open 24 hours so that customers can use its automated postal center, personal service is what customers seem to miss. Instead of working at the counter, clerks are now sorting mail for the carriers, allowing all mail delivery to be completed by 4:30 p.m., instead of 6 or 6:30 p.m.   |

USPS streamlines sorting to keep up with growth

One of the seven mail sorting machines at the Hesperia Post Office. The highly automated procedure sorts mail by carrier route. Since mail currently takes longer to sort, some carriers have to return to pick up and deliver mail later in the day. Once processing is moved down to Redlands, Cannone said that could change. “Our whole intent is to get carriers on the street earlier, so they complete their routes by 5 p.m.”   |

Op/Ed: Service and efficiency in postal service
 The National Association of Letter Carriers, like the American Postal Workers Union -- and the Postal Service itself -- has a storied history. That, in and of itself, is no reason to keep union carriers in place, as opposed to the contract workers that the Postal Service has employed in recent years to cut costs, even though it does speak to a tradition of service (perhaps not as efficient as it once was).  |

Job Opening: USPS Recruiter

Pardeeville postal carrier Hary gets state honor

Summer swelters, but mail won't fail

July 22, 2007-

Photo: 1940s Postal Vehicle

Letter: Contract Delivery Must Be limited

Post office tries to speed sorting

July 20, 2007-

Washington Watch from Linns Stamps

Clerk Miller "Formerly Known as USPS BOG Chairman" - Because of his repeated calls for privatizing the U.S. Postal Service, James Miller III, the chairman of the Postal Service board of governors, has not been regarded as a friend of the nation’s large postal unions.   Perhaps in an attempt to show his appreciation for postal workers, Miller showed up at the board’s May 2 meeting sporting a light blue Postal Service postal worker shirt.  He said it was a great shirt, and he was honored to be working for the same organization, but he needed a name tag.     He asked Postmaster General John E. “Jack” Potter if he could use his influence to get him a name tag.    Without pausing, Potter shot back, “When you join the union, we’ll give you a badge.” With that Miller announced that he would be known as “Clerk Miller.” New USPS Lobbyist- Marie Therese Dominguez  hired as vice president of government relations. In her new position, Dominguez, a former Clinton administration appointee, will be in charge of bolstering the Postal Service’s image on Capitol Hill. Dominguez comes from FieldWorks, a Democratic consulting firm. One of the firm’s partners is Deborah Willhite, who once held the top government relations job at Postal Service headquarters. Richardson new consumer advocate for PRC.   |

USPS, APWU Reach Agreement on Contract Postal Units

The issue was whether the creation of a Contract Postal Unit (CPU) violates the National Agreement if a contract is let to a contractor who does not own the property or facility where the CPU is being established. As of May 17, 2007 , branded products and services of competitors such as UPS, FedEx, and DHL may not be sold at any newly-established CPU. Exceptions to this exclusivity requirement may be approved by Headquarters Retail Access Channels, but this is likely to occur only in isolated areas where the CPU is quite literally the only place in town at which a consumer can process package deliveries.  |

USPS to Sell Prepaid Cards at Post Offices

"The USPS desires to sell General Purpose Stored Value Card at approximately 15,000 POS ONE locations nationwide. The sales of General Purpose Stored Value Cards at USPS retail sites will be operated as an alliance between the USPS and a commercial partner."  |

Nation's oldest postmaster wants to be known for being herself

Now that the national hoopla has died down, Verna Naylor, 91, can get back to just being herself and doing her job.In May, it was announced that Naylor is the oldest postmaster in the United States and the second oldest postal employee in the country, second only to a 92-year-old man in California. She also has the distinction of being the oldest female postal employee.  |

Photo: Antique Mail Cart

USPS to meet with residents on post office

Street’s Mail Service Cut Due To Terrorizing Pit Bull
Harry Potter Flying Into Stores, Homes

PhotoStamps of the Year Contest Winners

Mail should be flat rate

Customers mourn kind, helpful mailman

Nice job, Postal Guy (or Gal)

Post Office Robbed At Gunpoint

Cost increases aside, Postal Service still bargain

July 19, 2007-

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: What is the Postal Service Contracting Out?

Today, the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service (of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform) will  conduct a hearing on USPS' decision to consider all new routes for contract delivery. Witnesses will include Rep. Albio Sires (NJ), Alan Kessler (BOG Vice Chairman), PMG Potter, David Williams (Inspector General, USPS) and union presidents , Burrus,  Hegarty, Pitts and Young. |

Postal carrier shot in Illinois
A gunman shot a mailman Wednesday afternoon in Calumet City, and the federal government is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to arrest and conviction. The mail carrier was treated for a bullet wound to the leg after the gunman tried to rob him at 4 p.m.   |

Photo: Semi-Automated Postal Robotic Delivery Vehicle

 "SARA is a semi-automated postal deliver robotic vehicle. The concept is a proposal for a robotic vehicle for delivery of letters and flats in residential areas. We concluded that many tasks of the postal delivery can and should be automated to gain savings in fuel and man hours."  |

Postal Bulletin July 19 Issue - SOP for “Notice Left” Mail

Post office is the best deal when sending your bags ahead

Man reindicted in crash that hurt postal worker
It's a red-letter day for sender as mail from 1981 returns home

Mail mix-up in Dana Point wears out welcome

Postal Employee Arrested for Assaulting Cop

Cooling a postal hot seat in Monticello

Postal Service to offer Flight 93 postmark

Rattlesnake mailed to ex-boss

July 18, 2007-

Is The Postal Service Suffering?

The lines are longer at the post office and some people are getting their mail later in the day. It's all part of the new U.S. Postal Service. But is customer service suffering? There are fewer people behind the counter, and fewer people delivering the mail. And the post office is beginning to hear complaints from customers. Jim Bertolone heads up the American Postal Workers Union, which represents mail clerks. "It appears to us that the service has gotten so bad, both in delivering the mail and how long people wait in line, the Postal Service is in fact encouraging people to buy their postage online, or get it in their drugstore. We don't want you to come into the building unless you're going to spend a lot of money."  |

Postman who vanished is charged in federal court
John R. Jordan, the Knightstown letter carrier who disappeared for several days before he was found in Columbus, has been charged in federal court. Jordan was charged with "unlawfully detaining and delaying mail entrusted to him and which was to be delivered by him as a carrier of the Postal Service," said an announcement from U.S. Attorney Susan Brooks on Tuesday. Runaway mail carrier put on home detention  |

Peoria Woman Going Postal Over Mail Pick Up

A home-bound woman in Peoria is going a little postal because her outgoing mail isn't always picked up. Sharon Roberts tells us, "the post office informed me if there is no mail delivered to your house, the carrier does not have to pick up your outgoing mail. It is a courtesy--not part of their job.  |

House Subcommittee to Hold Hearing on USPS Contracting

Cost increases aside, Postal Service still bargain

Police seek tips in postal station robbery

Postmaster General Discusses ‘Vote By Mail’ at Conference

Publish and Perish?

July 12, 2007-

Tentative Agreement Reached On City Letter Carriers Contract

The agreement, retroactive to November 21, 2006, provides general wage increases of 8.85 percent over five years along with regular cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) and a single lump-sum COLA payment of $686 for the period between July 2006 and May 2007.The proposed contract includes new limits on contracting out of city letter carrier work in more than 3,000 city delivery installations and establishes a six-month moratorium on contracting out city carrier delivery services elsewhere across the country. The tentative 2006-2011 National Agreement also abolishes the use of low-wage temporary employees known as “casuals” and replaces them with bargaining unit “transitional employees The agreement provides a 1.4 percent wage increase retroactive to November 25, 2006; and wage increases of 1.8 percent on November 24, 2007; 1.9 percent on November 22, 2008; 1.9 percent on November 21, 2009; and 1.85 percent on November 20, 2010. Tentative Agreement Highlights |
 

Police Search For Missing Mailman

Authorities are asking for help to find a mail carrier who disappeared Wednesday morning. Officials said John Jordan, 48, started his route on Wednesday but disappeared. Jordan's postal van was found a few blocks from the Hancock County courthouse. Jordan made his first morning deliveries, but the rest of the mail is still inside the truck as it gets processed for evidence.  Jordan is a 20-year veteran of the Post Office in Greenfield, Indiana.   |

Worker bot sorts packages

 "...a parcel sorting system that employs agile robot workers capable of quickly classifying and separating small items such as mail packages |

Sen. Harkin Secures Postal Service Provision in Appropriations Bill

Contract Mail carrier arrested for DUI on route  |

Video: NALC Picket Held July 1, 2007 in Paterson, NJ

Postal Delivery Suspended to Lubbock Home Following Dog Attack

Letter Carrier Biking to Deliver a Different Message

Mitt Romney mails USPS-compatible DVDS

Sam's Unusual Mailbox Pictures

DHL, union at odds over firing

UK: Postal Strike? What Strike?
 

July 11, 2007-

Death of the Mailman?
"There is talk of reducing the number of days the mail is delivered from six to four or even one. There are suggestions of eliminating home delivery in favor of customer pickup at central locations. There is discussion of outsourcing some delivery areas to private companies. Call me an alarmist, but none of this sounds good. Any blow to the U.S. Postal Service is a blow to the fiber of America. I know it's a changing world. I know the cost of everything is going up. But if we can't save the U.S. Postal Service, we've got big problems."   |

USPS Deployment of Automated Postal Centers Put On Hold

Postal Service is delaying the second stage of installing automated postal centers in lobbies.
Spokesman Gerry McKiernan confirmed the delay Wednesday, saying the agency is studying why some of its already installed automated centers did not perform up to expectations. A June report from the agency's inspector general said that as many as half of the installed centers were not meeting minimum expectations.  |

EEOC Annual Report on U.S. Postal Service Work Force

While the United States Postal Service constituted 28.5% of the work force, it accounted for 43.7% of all EEO counselings, 36.9% of all complaints filed, 41.2% of all completed investigations and 40.7% of all complaints closed in FY 2006. The top 3 bases of alleged discrimination most often raised were: (1) Reprisal; (2) Disability (Physical); and (3) Age.   |

Humane Society Sues Postal Service for Mailing Animal Fighting Materials - "The Humane Society of the United States filed a lawsuit in federal court in the District of Columbia challenging the United States Postal Service's refusal to implement portions of a new federal law that prohibits the mailing of animal fighting paraphernalia, including trade magazines that advertise fighting animals, knives, and other implements used in illegal dogfights and cockfights." Roosters Delivered to Post Office Tip Police to Cockfighting |

Video: USPS Infomercial

Heat-related illness sends three postal workers to the hospital

McHugh bill would stop mail-order cigarettes

Postmaster says no local plans for contract mail service
USPS offers hold mail command via the Web

UPS works to hobble its rival, FedEx

July 10, 2007-

Union wary of Postal Service’s plans for KCK center

Plandome Heights Mail Carrier will be missed

Mailers react to $29M House cut

NPR: Postal Rates Increase for Magazines

July 08, 2007-

Postal changes aim to thin lines

In a move that departs from typical postal procedure, local union leaders and postal management audited their own facilities over the past several months, leading to a major realignment of job duties that they believe will add more window clerks and eventually shorten lines. Local postal leaders said they have not been allowed to replace employees lost over the past few years to relocation or retirement, leaving large gaps in operations. The current realignment aims to fix this staffing shortage by combining and shifting job duties.   |

Postal van collides with truck in Mesa rollover
Post office orders 'green' packages

July 01, 2007-

What would Dad think of outsourcing our postal carriers?

"A mail carrier's salary allowed us to be about as middle as middle-class could be in the 1950s. But lately the mailman is going the way of the shoemaker, the steelworker and the auto worker. These jobs are being outsourced. The United States Postal Service is gradually doing away with its own mailmen, outsourcing the jobs to private companies, who pay their employees who knows what." A postal proposal delivers anxiety  |

Talk Therapy for Postal Rage
“There have been times when I have been in line and there were no (window) clerks behind the window,” said Mr. Dubrow, citing his experience as the holder of a post office box at the Kensington station. “If it’s quiet or something, all of a sudden they’ll go take a walk.” Just recently, Mr. Dubrow said, he waited a half-hour to deal with a matter regarding his post office box, only to be told he was in the wrong line. His e-mail complaint to post office management has gone unanswered for two weeks, he said Friday. See Video referenced in story  |

Uncertain future for Zip Code 99757