August 30, 2006 - New Web site will be one-stop shop for Postal Service HR info

Federal Times discusses PostalPEOPLE, the new USPS HR services in Greensboro, NC, with Deborah Giannoni-Jackson, Postal Service vice president for employee resource management, whose office oversees the Shared Services Center in Greensboro. When fully in place at the end of this month, only 450 employees will be on hand — down from 1,300 — to answer telephone inquiries from the entire Postal Service work force. Those 450 employees will in large part concern themselves with such pressing matters as retirement, separation from service, job benefits, promotions and applications for job transfers. All of the 450 workers at the center are nonunionized and are part of the Executive and Administrative Schedule (EAS) work force. |

August 30, 2006 - Less Postal Workers Will Lead to Lower Newspaper Costs ??

"Postmaster General Jack Potter was speaking to a group of 50 state press association executive directors and presidents at a postal summit called by National Newspaper Association President Jerry Reppert Aug. 11 in Washington, D. C. Potter told us it is labor driving up costs for the U. S. Postal Service. And labor accounts for 76 percent of USPS costs. “ We lose money on every piece, ” he said, and the USPS has no choice but to pass on those costs to their customers. Potter said sample studies show it takes 8 1 / 2 seconds on average for a postal clerk to put a newspaper into a mail slot, and the average postal worker is paid 1 cent every second. That 1 cent per second wage — which calculates to $ 36 an hour or about $ 75, 000 a year — just isn’t high enough." Someday, Potter told us, it will be a machine placing our newspaper in the slot |

August 30, 2006 - Postal Worker Accused Of Tossing, Damaging Customer's Boxes

A local businessman is accusing a U.S. Postal Service employee of tossing 20 cases of his company's juice out of the back of a delivery truck.  |

August 30, 2006 - Praying postal carrier helps save a woman's life

As Jacksonville mail carrier Synetta Drayton-Haggary slipped the letters into the mailbox, she heard a plea for help. Up on the porch, an elderly woman was begging for prayer. Drayton-Haggary left her vehicle and walked up to the woman to pray with her, not knowing what she needed. They bowed their heads. When it was over, the sobbing woman pulled out a handgun and gave it to Drayton-Haggary. |

August 29, 2006 - APWU: National Contract Negotiations Begin

APWU Seeks 'Fair and Rewarding' Agreement - Negotiations for a new national agreement between the Postal Service and the APWU are an opportunity “to restore some semblance of stability and predictability” to the lives of union members, APWU President William Burrus said during the first day of contract talks with the Postal Service [ opening statement [PDF],. Both sides said they hoped to have a signed agreement by Nov. 20, the expiration date of the 2000-2006 agreement “These negotiations are our opportunity,”  The Postal Service has eliminated debt, which had reached a high of $10.3 billion in Fiscal Year 2002,” Burrus noted.  PMG John E. Potter echoed the APWU president’s sentiments on a number of issues. “We respect the contributions that have been made by the APWU and its membership across the board these past five years,” he said. “We really want to work out a negotiated agreement.” |

August 28, 2006 -  NALC Seeks ‘Fair’ Wage Increase in Contract Negotiations
Young Expresses Optimism for Reaching Negotiated Settlement -The head of the National Association of Letter Carriers urged USPS today at the opening of contract negotiations to build on an improved labor relations climate and reward letter carriers with a “fair” wage increase and continued benefits for helping it become a profitable and productive government agency. NALC President William H. Young noted that the Postal Service has eliminated the debt of $11.3 billion it had in 2001 when the current contract began. The Postal Service has turned a $8.4 billion profit over the past three years, he added. “Letter carriers expect to be rewarded for their contributions to the success of the Postal Service,” Young said. Video of the event  |

August 29, 2006 - Mail Handler Contract Update:

This is the second Contract Update distributed by the NPMHU during the course of 2006 negotiations. He [Mail Handler President John Hegarty] went on to say that he was optimistic that the NPMHU and the USPS could come to an agreement, if both sides made and accepted reasonable proposals. Postmaster General Potter agreed, adding that the “worst possible outcome” for the Postal Service was to allow the terms of the next contract to be decided by an interest arbitrator. He expressed the Postal Service’s desire for a reasoned agreement with the representative of its employees. At the same time, the PMG emphasized the challenges that the Postal Service is currently facing. In particular, he described how the Postal Service’s financial situation is impacted by the increasing use of electronic means to transmit messages and conduct business. He also discussed the enormous impact on the Postal Service of rising health care costs, especially legacy costs for Postal Service retirees.  |

August 29, 2006 - Former postal employee wins $162,500 Settlement
"A former Roanoke postal employee who claimed he was racially harassed by fellow workers has reached a $162,500 settlement with the U.S. Postal Service. Tony P. Welch [a Mail Handler] who worked at the main branch  from 1996 until 2002, said he "wouldn't call it a slam-dunk victory," but he was satisfied with the outcome. Welch, who is black, claimed in his federal lawsuit that five white male co-workers who had been accused in an earlier lawsuit of harassing a female employee frequently made racially derogatory comments toward him beginning in 1998.".  |

August 29, 2006 - Junk Mail Weighs on Their Minds - "The Direct Marketing Association says that far from harming the environment, catalogues help it, by reducing the number of cars headed to shopping malls. Direct mail, they say, accounts for only about 2 percent of the country's total municipal solid waste. Then there's the argument that junk mail keeps the Postal Service afloat. "We certainly wouldn't want to see a drastic and expensive and unnecessary government program created that would probably do more harm than good," said the association's Pat Kachura. I think it's inevitable that catalogues will diminish over time, do-not-mail list or not. As more and more people look online for product information, catalogues won't be needed. I don't know if the UPS truck driving to my house is better than me driving to the mall."

August 28, 2006 - Postal Worker Displaced by Katrina Unable to Find Job -  "When Ryan Aubert packed his overnight bag on Aug. 28, 2005, he never thought that one year later, he would still be away from home. Now the Louisiana native and his family are focused on building a future in McKinney (Texas) . Aubert and his family also drained their savings. He worked for the U.S. Postal Service at St. Tammany for 10 years. He's trying to find work at a post office in this area, but was told there are no positions available in McKinney. He's also been told if he doesn't find another postal position before September, he will lose his tenure."  |

August 27, 2006 - APWU President Burrus Responds to Postcom Gene Del Polito (PDF) -In a recent article, "What's Up with APWU", Gene Del Polito asserts: "Here is an organization that is supposed to represent the long-term best interests of a key sector of the Postal Service's employees in a manner that best insures continued employment. Yet, nary a week goes by without seeing something in the electronic or print media that reflects a union that is hell-bent on ensuring its members' extinction." Burrus responds in part by writing:. "I attribute your failure to understand the objectives of the American Postal Workers Union to my communication skills - or lack thereof - and take full responsibility. It is not the intent of the American Postal Workers Union to ensure our own extinction. In fact, if there is any doubt, our union plans to be a viable organization far into the future. In we have failed to deliver a clear message identifying our objectives, I offer the following .  |

August 27, 2006 - How to Fire An Employee

First, the postal supervisor didn't start out with the intent to fire the employee; he started with the intent not to fire her. Jake's [not his real name] first step was to sit down with the employee when it became clear that a problem was brewing. He discussed with her the situation they were in, the behavior she had shown that created the situation, and the impact that her behavior was having on the organization. He laid out clear expectations for job performance, and provided her with training, mentoring and other opportunities for success. He worked with the human resources department and the union to ensure that they had every chance to give input and participate in correcting the problem. Unfortunately, it became clear to Jake and the team that even though she was treated fairly and was given every opportunity to respond in a positive way she didn't make use of those opportunities.  |

August 27, 2006- Snakes in a Mailbox - Mail carrier's hand bitten multiple times - Two snakes bit a letter carrier four times on the hand Saturday when the she reached into the mailbox, township police said.  The bit woman, in her 20s, reported tingling in her fingers. She bled slightly but exhibited no swelling or discoloration, police said.  |

August 26, 2006  - USPS OIG Audit Report (PDF)

Management of Retail Workhours in Relation to Workload -  From January through May 2005, retail managers could not justify approximately 46% of their retail associates' window service workhours in the NY Triboro District. Local postal managers said they did not consider retail counter activities a primary focus and directed their work efforts to the delivery side of operations. The Postal Service is in the process of developing reporting tools to generate exception reports that will rank opportunities to reduce retail workhours, based on actual performance versus earned workhours.  |

August 26, 2006 - Postal Contractor Charged with Mail Theft
Contractor sold stolen mail on eBay - Mark David Hoggay was vice president in charge of human resources for New Breed Leasing, of Bolingbrook, a private company contracted by the U.S. Postal Service to clean and maintain mail transportation devices used at sorting centers, such as wheeled canvas carts and hampers. It was from that connection that Hoggay had access to more than 10,000 pieces of mail that were involved in the incident, said Sheriff Ken Ramsey. "This involved a lot of jewelry to all kinds of collectibles, such as baseball cards," Ramsey said. "Because of Netflix (an online movie rental business), he had a lot of DVDs. It was well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Video  |

August 26, 2006 - Mail Stolen From Seattle Post Office - The U.S. Postal Service said it will investigate security at a post office on Capitol Hill following a KIRO 7 Eyewitness News report that transients stole mail from unattended bins on a loading dock. Postal employees said thieves backed up trucks to the loading dock area, hauling away bags of packages. A trash bin outside the loading dock contained credit card applications, mileage plan statements and other letters. Postal employees said it was undeliverable mail that was discarded.  |

August 26, 2006 - Man pleads guilty to assault on postal worker as a hate crime -  A 57-year-old Yonkers man Friday pleaded to assault in the third degree as a hate crime. On November 7, 2005, at approximately 6:30 p.m., John DeGuista overheard José Rodriguez, a U.S. Postal Service worker, speaking Spanish to an employee at a Dunkin Donuts in Yonkers. DeGuista told the victim to stop speaking Spanish because he was in America.

August 26, 2006 - Postmark Katrina - U.S. Postal Inspection Service has teamed with The Weather Channel to produce an extraordinary story. Postmark Katrina pays tribute to the heroic struggles of Postal Inspection Service and Postal Service employees to restore mail service to residents of the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Airing August 27 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, with an encore performance on August 28, this episode of Storm Stories follows Postal Inspectors, Postal Police Officers, and other Postal Service employees, many of whom were themselves homeless, as they overcame overwhelming obstacles to safeguard mail from devastated areas and deliver it to the needy victims of this unprecedented natural disaster.

August 25, 2006 - Postal Carrier Wounded in Drive-By Shooting
"A female letter carrier was hospitalized Friday after being shot twice in a drive-by attack at a South Los Angeles postal facility, police said. The shooting in the 8500 block of South Broadway occurred shortly after 7 p.m. Thursday, said Los Angeles police Officer Jason Lee. The victim, a 27-year-old woman who had been on the job for about three months, had just finished her shift, NBC4 reported. The postal employee went to her car and noticed it had a flat, Channel 4 reported. The woman called her boyfriend for help, then a car with two men inside rolled up and gunfire erupted, the station reported. The victim was shot at least twice." |

August 25, 2006 - Postal Service to close Fayetteville, Tampa Bay RECs in 2007

The U.S. Postal Service is closing one of its Fayetteville facilities, costing nearly 190 people their jobs. The postal service announced the closing of its remote encoding center to its employees on Thursday, said Tony McKinnon Sr. McKinnon is president of Local No. 984 of the American Postal Workers Union. The center’s last day will be March 2. The Postal service also announced that it will close the Tampa Bay, Fla REC. The move should save the postal service $3.2 million in the first year after the closings. The Tampa Bay center has 456 temporary employees and 121 traditional ones.   |

August 25, 2006

Diverse Stamps Planned For 2007
Mailings contained cornstarch

August 24, 2006 - Postal Carrier Allegedly Failed to Ring Twice Before Entering Customer's Home - Michigan: Resident Lori Powers told Scottville city commissioners Monday a postal carrier recently entered her house without knocking.He walked in the house and left a package about eight feet inside her door, rather than leaving it on the porch or just inside the door without walking in, Powers said.  |

August 24, 2006 - Mail delivery key taken in letter carrier holdup - Chicago police and U.S. postal inspectors put out an alert on Wednesday for a man and a woman who robbed a mail carrier on the city's West Side. The incident happened at about 1:15 p.m. Monday , authorities said. The suspects approached the mail carrier on the street and placed an unknown object against the victim's back. One of the assailants used a bolt cutter to cut a chain from the carrier's belt, and took a U.S. Postal Service key used to deliver mail, officials said

August 24, 2006  - Devon post office to reduce hours - The Devon branch of the Milford post office will cut back its hours next month to save money, a U.S. postal official said Tuesday, citing a lack of business at the Naugatuck Avenue facility.

August 23, 2006 - Couple says carrier withheld delivery on purpose -"When Pete and Donna Varga asked their mail carrier to please use the sidewalk and not cut a path in their Jackson lawn, regular deliveries stopped for four months. The Vargas said they got mail only on Wednesdays all summer.  "We called it Mail Day." Last week, the carrier was suspended without pay, and inspectors requested charges of conduct unbecoming a postal employee and felony delay of mail. A postal inspector said he had not seen such behavior by a letter carrier in 19 years of investigating." Postal supervisors in Jackson worked with the couple but couldn't force the carrier to make daily deliveries, Mills said.  |

August 23, 2006 - Former Postal Worker Sentenced to Five Years for Mail Theft and OWCP Fraud - "Debra Lynn Sheffield, a former employee of the U.S. Postal Service, was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, to 63 months imprisonment and ordered to pay nearly $30,000.00 in restitution. Sheffield, age 40, pled guilty in March to a felony information which charged her with one count of Theft of Mail Matter and one count of making False Statements to Obtain Federal Employees' Compensation."  |

August 23, 2006 - NPMHU: 2006 Contract Negotiations Begin

Opening Statement by President John Hegarty - Mail Handlers have played an important role in the success of the Postal Service, including its financial success, and Mail Handlers expect and deserve to share in that success. The Postal Service has essentially eliminated all of its debt; it has enjoyed constant improvements in employee productivity, and it continues to rate highly in any measure of consumer and customer satisfaction. A large part of this success must be attributed to the dedicated work of career Mail Handlers, who are working harder, and working smarter, than ever before. National negotiations provide the Postal Service with an opportunity to acknowledge the contribution of its employees, and a key measure will be whether the Postal Service is ready to provide fair wage increases over the entire term of the next National Agreement. $812 COLA Increase to be added to wages  |

- Negotiations Begin Aug. 28 on New Contract for 224,000 Letter Carriers
- Collective Bargaining Set to Begin Aug. 29 for APWU

August 23, 2006 - Former USPS Pacific Area VP Al Iniguez to Retire

Postmaster General Jack Potter announced yesterday that Al Iniguez, recently named Executive Director, Energy Initiatives , will be retiring in October.  |

August 22, 2006 - Take-A-Number System ends at post offices

Starting today, at all Tucson area post offices, customers coming to the service counter must stand and wait in line, instead of taking a number that will later get called. Postal officials say the change will speed up service. "Experience in other parts of the country have shown that when you take out the numbers and use the old-fashioned queue system, lines go faster," said Rob Soler, customer relations coordinator with the U.S. Postal Service. But some customers say the old Take-a-Number system was better. This new system is being phased in at all post offices in Arizona. Many other states have already begun using the queue method instead of the number ticket system.  |

August 21, 2006 - Letter Carrier saves mail from truck fire
Postal Carrier Vincent Lombardi saved almost all of the mail he was delivering when his truck caught on fire Tuesday. While waiting for a replacement vehicle to arrive, Lombardi continued to deliver the mail on foot. Within minutes, however, Lombardi noticed smoke coming from the engine compartment and flames coming from underneath the motor. Lombardi called the office and, with the assistance of two bystanders, attempted to extinguish the fire. Lombardi lost some personal property in the fire, but he was able to remove almost all of the mail he was transporting, Kemprowski said.  |

August 21, 2006  - The Case of the Pilfered Pallets - The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is running low on pallets. An unprecedented shortage of plastic pallets used by bulk mailers has led Paul Vogel, v.p., network operations management, to find new ways to resolve this ongoing challenge. User awareness of the problem is one way Vogel plans to get the government's pallets back. Threat of arrest and conviction is another. Most of his tactics fall someplace between these two extremes.

August 20, 2006 - Post office worker robbed Saturday

August 19, 2006 - Powder Response at Postal Facility Target of Inquiry

An investigation is being conducted into whether supervisors at the San Bernardino P & DC (Calif.)  failed to properly respond to a letter containing white powder and an ominous note. Employees claim a top supervisor at the facility responded to the Aug. 3 incident by testing the powder with her bare fingers before concluding it was flour and ordering employees back to work. One of those exposed to the powder said she was discouraged from seeking medical treatment immediately after the incident and was told she would have to go to a doctor at her own expense.  |

August 19, 2006 - Wisconsin: Postal service considers distribution center in Racine County - USPS plans to build a new regional distribution center that will handle all mail for Southeastern Wisconsin. Landing the postal distribution center would be a coup because it would employ 300 to 500 people, Trick said. Apparently these would all be new jobs — not transplanted from elsewhere.

August 19, 2006 - NC: 'Rural courtesy service’ lacks many of the regular postal offerings
The service is open one hour a day from noon to 1 p.m. and manned by a carrier from the Horse Shoe Post Office once she finishes her daily route.

August 19, 2006 - Woman seeks reimbursement from USPS

August 18, 2006 -  Postal Protest in Philadelphia

Hundreds of angry postal workers are making a special delivery to their bosses in the government in the form of a protest at this hour.  They are rallying over what they call "serious problems" with mail service in the past few months. They blame equipment changes and personnel cuts made since operations moved to the new Southwest Philadelphia postal center. They say the new technology is unreliable and workers are complaining about frequent equipment breakdowns at the new center." Delegates Protest Consolidation: "Following Thursday's spirited rally at a Philadelphia post office, delegates approved a measure calling for a nationwide demonstration against consolidation. Delegates approved that "the National Executive Board support and direct the membership to participate in a national day of informational picketing at post offices nationwide." The coordinated rallies are to be held on a date no later than mid-October 2006. "   |

August 18, 2006 - 20 Years Ago, Patrick Sherrill Killed 14 People in the Edmond Post Office - "Twenty years ago this month, Patrick Sherrill killed 14 people in the Edmond Post Office, emblazoning into nightmare a new term: "Going Postal." But a redacted report shows someone almost stopped him." Post office killings led to changes "Time changes things, but in the 20 years since the Edmond post office massacre, almost everything about the U.S. Postal Service is different, officials said. Larry Flener, Oklahoma district consumer affairs manager, said from the way mail is brought in and processed to the relationships between management and employees, almost nothing is the same as it was in 1986. Since the Edmond shootings, the postal service has been driven by the idea of preventing violence in the workplace, he said. A threat assessment team was developed and members of every level of employment are represented, he said. Education is also key, and the postal service hired experts to train supervisors to identify troubled employees or those who might be struggling with their jobs, Flener said.  |