December 31,  2011

Postal employees honored for 225 years of cumulative service

'Didn't miss a beat' After 42 years, metro-east postal carrier is stepping aside

Slated Wyoming Post Office closures squeeze rural residents

USPS says Bentonville Post Office will close | Tiny town's faithful fear post office closure

The postman – and the memories he carries – fading

 Why Mail Matters: It Drove the Decline of Newt Gingrich in Iowa | Gingrich Hit Hard by Iowa Mailers

December 30,  2011

December 19,  2011

Congress grants USPS 8-Month Extension on Pre-Funding Payment

We are pleased that the action taken by Congress and the president once again prevents the Postal Service from defaulting on the $5.5 billion payment to prefund retiree health benefits,” USPS spokesman David Partenheimer said Monday. “We hope this latest deferral gives Congress time to pass comprehensive legislation to address this and other critical issues to help the Postal Service return to profitability.” The bill also mandates that the Postal Service continue delivering mail six days a week — an annual provision in the spending bill. Those orders could change, however, if a push to deliver mail just five days a week is included as part of postal reform proposals expected to be considered by the House and Senate next year.  NALC: Congress postpones USPS pre-funding payment for 8-months |

PMG Thanks Employees For Maintaining Focus On The Business

In his annual holiday message, the PMG thanks employees for their hard work and dedication in 2011 ― a year filled with much attention from Congress, the media and the mailing industry. With so much public interest, Donahoe acknowledged that there were many distractions, as well as mixed messages from different sources. |

Postal Service Busiest Mailing and Delivery Days are this Week

Fewer holiday cards sent by snail mail
UPS Does Not Necessarily Win If The Postal Service Fails

December 18,  2011

Wanted: New Postmaster General; Must Be Able To Kiss 535 Backsides Simultaneously - Dead Tree Edition - Rep. Dennis Ross indicated a few days ago that Donahoe should be fired – apparently for bowing to pressure from 20 senators and agreeing to a mostly meaningless moratorium on the closing of postal facilities. The Republican subcommittee chairman’s attack comes less than two weeks after Democratic Congressman Peter DeFazio said the PMG should be canned for trying to save money by lowering the Postal Service’s delivery standards.  |

Memphis: Trucks stuck for hours waiting to unload Christmas mail

Dozens of mail trucks were stuck in South Memphis for hours Saturday afternoon with nowhere to unload. The holiday rush nearly doubled the mail coming through at the Memphis United States Postal Service processing center. David Walton with the USPS said the closure of three West Tennessee post offices in January were not to blame for the long line. MD: Post Office Closure Causing Backups |

USPS District Manager Brutally Attacked In Pontiac, Mi

Oakland County Sheriff’s Office is on the lookout for a man who brutally attacked a U.S. Postal Service manager in Pontiac Thursday. There was nothing taken from the victim who is a new district manager for the U.S. Postal Service. Police Investigate Postal Service Manager Attack |

USPS carrier not allowed to deliver while wearing Santa suit

Bellevue Reporter - For more than a decade now, letter carrier Bob McLean has driven around Bellevue each holiday season, delivering a little Christmas cheer while wearing a full Santa getup for two or three days. But this year, a local grinch complained to the U.S. Postal Service, and McLean has been banned from bringing his alter ego to work this year. |

New Link: PostOfficeFreak.com

Video: America's Disappearing Post Offices

Postal Workers Protest Processing Center Shutdowns

Cartoon: Postal Service slower service

Feds' pay, pensions safe in payroll tax cut extension

Editorial: First-class frustration

Letter: Postal Service saddled with funding mandates
Editorial: Canceled - Congress can save Postal Service from extinction  

Rural Alaskans worry costs will skyrocket if bypass mail disappears

December 17,  2011

Oregon post office robbed at gun point

December 16,  2011

USPS, Two Postal Unions Extend Contract Talks Again Until January 20, 2012

The Postal Service and two of its major unions have agreed to extend separate labor contract negotiations until Jan. 20, 2012. Contracts with the National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO (NALC) and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, AFL-CIO (NPMHU) expired at midnight Sun., Nov. 20, 2011. The extension will allow the parties to continue to work on the important economic, health care, workplace and other contractual issues being discussed. |

Congressman Ross Says Firing PMG May Have To Be First Step

  PMG is trying to delay an deflect.  First Brac management change may have to start at the top   |

USPS Agrees To Eliminate Dual Appointments Of Rural Carriers and Postal Support Employees After several months of discussion with the APWU, postal management has agreed to eliminate the use of “dually appointed” Rural Carrier Associates and Postal Support Employees (PSEs). In accordance with a letter dated Dec. 7 [PDF], the dual appointments will end no later than Jan. 13, 2012.  |

Senator Akaka Introduces Postal Investment Act of 2011

Provisions included in the bill may be offered as amendments to the Committee-passed bill, S. 1789, when the the legislation is considered next year. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has indicated that postal relief legislation is a high priority and will be taken up in early 2012.  |

Video: Too Big to Mail

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart  |

Postal Supervisor Arrested at PO On Drug Charge

A postal worker was arrested Thursday on drug possession charges for allegedly receiving painkillers without a prescription through the mail.   |

Contract Talks Extension Between USPS and NALC, Mail Handlers Ends Today  NALC | NPMHU |  |

Canada: Snail mail vital to entrepreneurs

Postal center shutdown plan causes outrage

 It's busy season at the Postal Service

December 15,  2011

USPS: We Can't Pay Retiree Prepayment Even If Delayed

The Hill - The U.S. Postal Service would see a required prepayment for retiree health care pushed back until August under the government spending measure that could soon be considered by Congress. But a spokesman for the struggling agency reiterated on Thursday that USPS will not be able to pay its $5.5 billion health care bill, even if it is pushed back to Aug. 1.   |

Postal Service 'crisis' overblown

Cape Cod Online - Now, because the USPS has a "universal service obligation," unlike UPS or FedEX, it's apples and oranges to compare the post office to private companies that have no obligation to provide universal service at low cost. Like most businesses, private carriers can charge whatever they want. Not so with the P.O. Hypocritically, it was the Bush administration-led Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 that precipitated this "crisis" Letters: The Future of America's Post Offices   |

Despite Moratorium on Postal Closings, USPS to Hold Public Hearing for Bronx, NY PO - Following yesterday’s announcement  by the Postal Service of a moratorium on postal closing until May 2012, the Postal Service will continue to hold a hearing to close the Hunts Point Post Office in the Bronx on Thursday, December 15, 2011. USPS To Hold Public Hearing For Closing PO in  East Bremerton, WA PO Dec 21 |

USPS to simplify pricing policy that offers 7,600 domestic options

USPS Mailing Changes Won’t Impact Most Mailers

Mail driver pepper sprayed, punched in face

Businesses fret about reliance on mail amid Postal Service cutbacks

Pennsylvania Postmaster Relief Found Guilty Of Misappropriating $2,600 In USPS Funds

December 14,  2011

House Republicans Attack Postal and Federal Retirement Benefits

APWU - The House of Representatives voted 243-193 on Dec. 13 to pass the so-called “Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011,” which would cut take-home pay for postal and federal workers by increasing their contributions to the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). The bill also would slash unemployment benefits, place unreasonable burdens on unemployed workers, and cut vital healthcare programs.  |

Who will deliver the USPS from its "bogus financial crisis"?

Philip Rubio for the Guardian  - The USPS is the victim of an invented crisis. The 2006 Postal Enhancement and Accountability Act forced the postal service to unnecessarily prefund its retiree health benefits 75 years into the future at the rate of $5.5bn a year over a ten-year span .Don't blame the salaries of postal workers: their selection by high exam scores, training and accountability, plus good wages and benefits has produced high productivity and a low quit rate. The postal workforce has, in fact, shrunk from nearly 800,000 in 1999 to 560,000 today. Most of those job cuts had to do with increased automation, but many have come at the price of service – despite the post office's original constitutional mandate. Picture a homeowner whose bank suddenly demands its mortgage paid in full not in 30 but in three years, with the homeowner reduced to desperate but futile measures of selling off furniture and appliances to avoid foreclosure. Video of PMG: What is the future of the Postal Service?  |

Outbox Wants to Revolutionize U.S. Mail

Inc.com - As the U.S. Postal Service announced a controversial plan to make snail mail even slower (first class would take two to three days instead of one), several start-ups are looking to make getting mail easier–and faster. One of them, Austin-based Outbox has received $2.2 million in funding. The weeks-old company, which was founded in October by Evan Baehr and William Davis, two 2011 Harvard Business School graduates, plans to digitize postal mail and deliver it to your tablet. The service would be free, with mail opened, scanned, and stored in a digital mailbox users could then tag, search and archive.  |

Closing of Village Post Office Ok'd

Cyberspace or USPS? How Will You Send Your Holiday Cards and Gifts?

E-Mail Inventor: Use Technology to Overhaul USPS

Austin: USPS Sells Downtown Post Office

Postal Service's Future Beyond 2013 Cloudy Due to Severe Capital Constraints

Mississippi postal worker guilty of mail theft

December 13,  2011

Senators Announce USPS Agreement To Delay Postal Facility Closures For 5 Months - Press Release  - Moratorium would protect good-paying jobs while Congress works to enact comprehensive postal reform legislation - USPS To Delay Post Office Closings for 5 Months

The U.S. Postal Service, in response to a request made by multiple U.S. Senators, has agreed to delay the closing or consolidation of any Post Office or mail processing facility until May 15, 2012. Senator Carper Statement on USPS Decision | Statement of Congressmen Issa And Ross On USPS Moratorium | APWU: USPS Announces Moratorium | Postal Service Declares Moratorium - Save the Post Office | Post Office Closure Causing Backups  |

NALC: Extension of payroll tax holiday should not be paid for on backs of federal workforce - NALC e-Activist Network -As the House of Representatives prepares for a final vote on the payroll tax holiday extension later today (12/13) the Republican majority has once again turned to federal employees to foot the bill for it. NALC has weighed in over and over with Congress on the inappropriateness of treating federal workers as the cash cow or “pay-for” for programs that most Americans are able to enjoy. NALC fully supports the extension of the payroll tax holiday while the economy continues to struggle, but certainly not on the backs of the federal workforce.  |

APWU: Arbitration Hearing Begins on Schedules of New Full-Timers

An arbitration hearing began on Dec. 13, 2011, on the first two of several disputes that arose when management incorrectly implemented new provisions of the 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement. The disputes involve the placement of newly converted full-time employees into non-traditional schedules, and the denial of retreats rights to Clerk Craft employees on posted Non-Traditional Full-Time (NTFT) duty assignments in their former installations. |

New York Congressman Introduces Legislation to Help Stop USPS Layoffs and Service Reductions - Congressman Maurice Hinchey has joined several of his U.S. House colleagues in introducing the Postal Service Protection Act – legislation designed to alleviate the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) immediate financial crisis and prevent the layoff of thousands of USPS employees nationwide.  |

Postmaster General Talks Sustainability in Durban While Promoting Junk Mail Back Home - Donahoe talked in an international media roundtable that was hosted by the International Post Corporation (IPC) and the South African Post Office. He mentioned some of the Postal Service’s green initiatives and announced that “this is a powerful story and makes the business case for sustainability.” He only forgot to mention that the Postal Service is mainly making money from delivering junk mail and is losing billions of dollars a year. It is a powerful story, but not on how you succeed when you are sustainable, but probably more on how you lose when you aren’t.   |

Dallas office workers want answers to missing mail mystery

Mail carrier helps save woman from burning home

Longer routes for mail carriers

PRC Chairman Send Letter To Congress (PDF)

December 12,  2011

OIG Audit Finds Problems with application of criteria used by USPS To Select Post Office Closures -

 USPS OIG issues audit report "Postal Service-Operated Retail Facilities Discontinuance Program. "Handbook PO-101 expanded the authorization to initiate discontinuance studies from Postal Service Headquarters (HQ) management (top-down approach), aligned procedures for all Postal Service-operated retail facilities, and added factors to consider for identifying retail offices for the discontinuance study. However, due to data inaccuracies or incomplete information, we found inconsistent application of the criteria for selection of facilities for discontinuance studies."  |

USPS hopes for another deferral on mandatory payment

The U.S. Postal Service hopes to receive another deferral this week from Congress on a multibillion-dollar payment to prefund retirees' health benefit.  |

Opinion: Building a 21st-century postal service
by Senators  Collins, Carper, Brown and Lieberman via Politico - The situation is dire but not hopeless. With the right tools and action from Congress and the Obama administration, the Postal Service can reform, right-size and modernize. Nearly 150,000 postal workers are at or near retirement. Our goal is to encourage roughly 100,000 of them to retire. The Postal Service estimates this would save about $8 billion a year.In addition, our bill would help save the Postal Service, and the federal government, money by reforming the federal workers’ compensation program — of which 40 percent of all claimants are postal workers — in a humane manner.  |

The real cause of the Postal Service's troubles
Gainesville Sun - It is time to clear up any misunderstanding about what happened to the U.S. Postal Service.The service's presentation to residents of the 326/344 ZIP code areas was so sloppy it claimed that getting rid of 235 employees would save $5 million a year.So let's summarize: Zero dollars in employee savings plus negative $2.5 million in additional transportation costs. A fifth-grader can figure out there is no savings at all. The Postal Service plots its own demise   |

Meriden carrier union leader still has hope for Postal Service

Derry store's postal kiosk a 1st in New England

December 11,  2011

Delayed Retirements, Rising Overtime Bedevil USPS Finances

Deadtree Edition - One barrier to cost cutting is a slowing attrition rate. In the Postal Service’s latest employee statistical report, released yesterday, the number of full-time employees had declined by fewer than 13,000 in the past 12 months, versus more than 17,000 in the previous year. Postmaster General Pat Donahoe has indicated that the USPS workforce needs to shrink by about 35,000 employees annually to reach its ideal size of 425,000 in 2015. Overtime so far this year is dramatically higher for city carriers, mailhandlers, and supervisors.  |

APWU local president to public: Sorry for lack of service at  post offices

Biloxi Sun Herald - we no longer have employees to staff the windows at your local Post Office. When I visit Post Offices along the Coast, I rarely see more than one employee serving the public at any given time. This makes for longer waits to our customers, who are generally on their lunch periods, trying to take care of their business during that time. This action by the USPS seems to be the next step toward dismantling the U.S. Postal Service  |

Good reason to save the post office

Gerald Ensley: If USPS perishes, many jobs will, too

December 10,  2011

Postal Service plant closures will be 'a mess'

"The downsizing or the demise of the postal service, it's going to be a mess and it's going to be a mess for a long time," said John Zodrow, a retired Denver attorney and former Postal Service arbitrator who wrote a book about its labor relations. "It's a huge undertaking."  |

Over 4,000 In Socorro, Texas fight to save post office

EL Paso Times - Socorro Mayor Trini Lopez and more than 4,000 people want to keep their post office open, and they are ready to fight. On Friday, Lopez and a group of Socorro residents met with postal representatives in San Antonio and submitted 4,600 signatures in favor of keeping the post office open. Tense Forum on Fate of Dallas's Main Post Office    |

The Case for Consolidation: Overview of the Postal Service's Request for an Advisory Opinion

California Congressman Calls On PMG To Keep Mail Processing Facility Open In Stockton

Oregon: Protests voiced over cuts proposed for post offices

December 9,  2011

Parade of USPS Service Cuts Ignite Congressional Outrage (PDF)

NAPUS - Within weeks of taking the reins of the Postal Service, PMG Donahoe announced his intention to decrease customer access to full service retail facilities by closing “low-performing” post offices (aka small and rural post offices); as the year went on, the USPS amplified its drumbeat for eliminating six-day mail delivery; and, this week – in the midst of the holiday mailing season – the Postal Service dished out another service slice, reduce delivery service standards. Senators Seek to Stop USPS Cutbacks  |

Postmasters Continue Discussions with USPS on VER and Incentives for Retirement Eligible Employees - Presidents of both Postmaster organizations continue to meet with postal leaders to request the establishment of a RIF-avoidance process that offers VER’s and incentives (including adding years of service) for retirement eligible employees. Every effort is being made to get this issue resolved by the end of this year. NAPS to Return to Pay Talks With USPS  |

Large group of Senate Democrats seeks to stop postal service cutbacks
The Hill -A group of 18 Senate Democrats have signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) asking for Congress to postpone the Postal Service’s action. They are requesting that congressional leaders add language to appropriations legislation that would prevent the Postal Service from consolidating area mail processing centers and rural post offices for the next six months.  |

Senator Tester: Delay Postal Service closures for six months

New York Congressman Introduces Bill to Preserve Postal Services, Cut Costs

Senators Seek to Stop USPS Cutbacks

Saved: A complete list of POs removed From RAOI

Will the Postal Service Save Email from the Grave?

December 8,  2011

Cash-strapped Postal Service paying $Millions in rent for unused building

My Fox Boston - -Their 20-year lease for the 19,000-square-foot building  in Winthrop, MA shows they started renting the building in 1999. In all, they are on the hook for $3.7 million in rent over the life of the lease. Aside from two small subleases, the building has remained vacant. Those subleases, only one of which is still in place, netted the USPS just $98,400. The Postal Service could have gotten out of the lease after five months, but chose instead to sign on for 20 years.   |

70 grievances filed against USPS Redondo Beach Management For Hostile Workplace - Easy Reader News - Many carriers have continued to deliver mail well after dark and sometimes as late as 10 p.m. in the wake of a round of consolidations that reduced the number of routes in Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach from 113 to 85. As a result, carriers now have lengthier routes and more deliveries to make." We need help,” a carrier said. “I don’t know where we are going to get it from.  Somebody in Washington D.C. must  like FedEx or something, because they are destroying the Post Office.”  |

Editorial: A business undone by Congress
Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot - In the past year, Congress has had time to ponder the content of school lunches, to bemoan the demise of the incandescent light bulb, to grandstand on the national debt and motto, to decry government regulations hampering economic activity. Yet it has all but ignored the pleas from the postal service, a self-sustaining organization being crushed under the weight of a 2006 law passed by - you guessed it - Congress. Editorial: Postal Service bites nose to spite face | Editorial: Rooting for USPS to find a sustainable business plan  | It's Imperative for USPS to Meet Delivery Standards  |

The Public Be Damned: Using the Amtrak Script to Kill the Post Office

Huffington Post - If the conversation about the end of the U.S. Postal Service sounds familiar, it's not just because we've heard variations of it since 1970, when the old Post Office Department became a separate business. It's also because the destruction of mail delivery closely parallels the wrecking of American passenger rail. Apparently the Congress has it in for quasi-public institutions with work forces composed disproportionately of African-Americans. 

Chicago: Postal workers rally against proposed cuts

Cuts to U.S. Postal Service to include next-day, Saturday delivery
Postal worker released from hospital following pellet gun shot

Pitney Bowes expresses patience with USPS financial dilemma

December 7,  2011

Postal Workers Behaving Badly

Washington Post -Most of the 574,000 employees of the U.S. Postal Service complete their appointed rounds and quickly move envelopes and packages to final destinations. But some postal workers steal mail, burn it, hoard it or claim thousands of dollars in fraudulent workers compensation claims, according to a new watchdog report. |

USPS changes: How they’ll affect the 2012 campaign
Slate - Campaign consultants who specialize in direct mail might not admit it, but some of them are surely thrilling at the latest U.S. Postal Service cutbacks to first-class service. For years, their challenge was getting a quick look from a voter who might also be juggling freshly arrived love letters, holiday cards, or bank statements. The swift disappearance of most bills and handwritten envelopes from what mailers call “the postal stream” over the last decade has abruptly improved the odds.  |

Editorial: USPS Financial Crisis, Self Inflicted?

by Mike Nodine - The United States Postal Service is being stolen from its intended purpose and mission to primary provide a service to individual American Citizens. Those in charge of USPS, including Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, intend to “repurpose” the US Postal Service as a quasi-Government entity with its primary focus to provide First Class Service to commercial mass-mailers at Second Class Mail postage rates often below operational costs. It appears the primary goal of their plans is to ensure the commercial for-profit mailing businesses can preserve, maintain and maximize their profit margins at the expense of individual American Citizens who have, or at least once had, a Constitutional RIGHT to this Service. Manufactured Crisis About to Cripple the Post Office | Editorial: Stop the Postal Service’s ‘panic selling’  |

Politico says NALC warns of USPS 'death spiral'

Workers' comp reform has lawmakers crisscrossing partisan lines

December 6,  2011

USPS, Two Unions, Continue Negotiations to Midnight, Dec. 16

Updated! ..the contracts with the National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO (NALC) and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, AFL-CIO (NPMHU) expired at midnight Sunday, Nov. 20, the Postal Service and the two unions agreed to extend the negotiations deadline until midnight, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2011.NALC contract talks extended again until Dec. 16th   |

USPS Mulls Moving Mail Processing To Burlington

The U.S. Postal Service is considering moving some of its mail processing from the White River Junction post office to facilities in Burlington and Manchester, N.H., but the move would probably not create more jobs in Burlington, spokesman Tom Rizzo said.  Wrong time to cut postal jobs, Sen. Sanders says  |

Nation Reacts to USPS Plans to Cut Service Standards and Reduce Networks

USPS Moves Forward its Ill-Advised Plan to Reduce Service Standards- A service-oriented business such as the USPS should not be cutting service in an effort to save money” said National President John Hegarty. “At such a critical time for the USPS and for the American economy generally, the Postal Service should be improving service and attempting everything in its power to grow the business rather than degrading service. This misguided action is the definition of “penny wise and pound foolish,” as it will simply drive more and more customers away, sending them to the internet, and to our competitors| Sen. Collins Blasts USPS Money-Saving Plan || The Postal Service Plots Its Own Demise | The Nation || Stop! The Poison-Pill that is Killing the Post Office.|| Who Killed the Postal Service? - The Atlantic ||What to Do When the Mailman Slows Your Business Down | Entrepreneur.com|| Farewell, first-class mail || Editorial: Junk mail- A plan to gut the USPS is wrong direction for U.S. || NY Metro APWU: Thursday’s Postal Closing Hearing for Bronx Stadium Post Office to be Flashpoint for Protest  |

Video: Major Cuts to USPS Spending, Staffing to May Take Effect in April 2012

PR Reader: "This could mean early retirements, possibly with an incentive, excessed people have nowhere to go."  Fox News Insider - "The effects will probably not be felt until early April of 2012, said Dave Williams, Vice President of Operations. In a press conference Monday, Williams said that there’s really no choice for the USPS – slashes in spending and staffing simply have to be done.“  |

Kucinich: USPS Privatization Plan Will Hurt Business, Workers and the Economy

December 5,  2011

House Dem calls for firing postmaster general; blames Obama, GOP Congress

The Hill- Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) on Monday afternoon called on the the Obama administration to fire Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe in light of Donahoe's announced plan for drastic service reductions at the U.S. Postal Service (USPS)."This guy, this so-called postmaster general, should be fired because of a lack of any imagination or initiative," an angry DeFazio said on the House floor. "He's proposing the death knell for the great United States Postal Service." Video: Congressman: PMG Plan For USPS Means Americans Underserved" |

Magazines Gird for USPS Nixing Saturday Delivery 

Ad Age - Weeklies That Try to Reach Subscribers Before Weekend Would Have Even More Problems Staying Timely -Other magazines aren't waiting to see what Congress lets the Postal Service do. Bloomberg Businessweek has been developing an alternate delivery system since last year, when it began using newspaper carriers in Philadelphia. Today newspaper carriers deliver some 200,000 of the magazine's roughly 900,000 subscription.  |

Who Should Be The Next Celebrity Stamp?

NPR -"The U.S. Postal Service has waived its rule banning someone from being honored on a stamp until he or she has been dead for at least five years. Host Scott Simon reports the Postal Service has received thousands of nominations from the public for new stamps to honor more recent celebrities, ranging from Billy Graham to Lady Gaga." They hope that putting popular, current faces on postage stamps might make more Americans eager to buy stamps and send mail in an envelope."  |

Postal union honors man who tried to keep post office open

Top 10 things every fed should know before retiring

Week in Review: More news, more of the same

Arbitration between the USPS and NRLCA Begins Today

USPS to close 12 Capital Region Branches

December 4,  2011

What were you thinking, Mr. President? Obama nominates Hammond to the PRC

On Friday the White House announced that President Obama was nominating Tony Hammond as the fifth commissioner on the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). No offense to Mr. Hammond, but that’s probably not good news for communities trying to save their post office or processing plant, and it’s not good news for postal workers either. With a Republican-dominated PRC, [ until 2016]  it’s hard to imagine many appeals on post office closures winning a “remand” decision.  It’s been hard enough getting a victory with two Democrats and two Republicans.  Of the last twenty decisions, just two were remanded, and only Chairman Goldway has issued dissents from decisions to affirm the closing. Importance of PRC Appointments | Precedent Provides Hints about how PRC Will Rule on USPS Service Changes  |

The Junking of the Postal Service
New York Times - “The post office is in the final stage of decaying into total irrelevance,” ..The fact is that the primary beneficiary of the United States Postal Service today is arguably the advertisers whose leaflets and catalogs flood our mailboxes. In fact, to compensate for projected declines in “real” mail, the Postal Service has been aggressively promoting the use of new services for advertisers like Every Door Direct.. “One could argue that the real customer of the Postal Service is now the direct mailer; it is a channel for advertising,”   |

USPS Proposing to Close 3 Congressional Post Offices

DC Postal Robberies May Be Connected

Attack on postal worker lands man behind bars

December 3,  2011

Postal workers aren't 'excess' to be jettisoned to cut costs

Don't you love the euphemisms that employers substitute for the word "layoffs"? Instead of saying, "We're firing you and ending your livelihood," they "downsize," "right-size" or "maximize efficiencies." They all mean the same thing: Employees are screwed. |

President Obama Names Republican Tony Hammond to PRC

- Tony Hammond served on the Postal Regulatory Commission and its predecessor agency, the Postal Rate Commission, from August 1, 2002 to October 7, 2011. Earlier this year, APWU Region Coordinator Omar Gonzalez urged postal employees to call upon President Obama to appoint a Democrat to the Postal Regulatory Commission. President Obama has appointed 3 Republicans to the PRC. The PRC is now composed of Two Republicans and Two Democrats.  |

USPS in need of 90 Rural Carriers Associates in the South Carolina

Dallas City Officials Write Letter to PMG About Loss of Dallas Postmark and Potential Closures

Alaska Delegation Refutes USPS Inspector General Bypass Mail Report

December 2,  2011

Update: USPS Denies Its Selling Advertising On Trucks

 DM  News - In spite of several media reports indicating that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is in a partnership with Colorado-based advertiser Lighted Promotions to sell advertising on up to 17,000 postal freight delivery trucks in 11 states nationwide, a USPS spokesperson told Direct Marketing News on Dec. 2 that no such arrangement exists. In a follow-up interview, Partenheimer said that Lighted Promotions “has been providing ad space on some trucks owned by contractors" which he said are not owned by the Postal Service  USPS Selling Advertising on Trucks in Pilot Program -As part of a pilot program, USPS and advertising partner, Denver-based Lighted Promotions  -- which installs lighted outdoor ads on big rigs -- have sold ads on the back of up to 17,000 USPS freight trucks in 11 states.  |

USPS to Limit Next-Day Delivery of 1st Class Mail
 CNN - the USPS will announce on Monday a cost-savings proposal that will change its national standard for First Class mail delivery. Postal officials say the changes will help make the mail processing system more efficient. The proposed rules are not a surprise. The postal service asked for public comment in September on "eliminating the expectation of overnight service" for first class mail. But it could have a major impact on customers, especially those who still use the mail to pay their bills. archive: USPS Proposal to Revise Service Standards for First-Class Mail, Periodicals and Standard Mail   |

PRC Issues Order Denying Postmasters Complaint Over Management Of Post Offices NAPUS -Effective December 1, 2011, this change will allow the Postal Service to convert a Post Office into, or replace it with, another type of USPS-operated retail facility (including changing it to a station or branch). The change would also make it possible to change the staffing of a Post Office such that it is staffed only part-time by a Postmaster, or not staffed by a Postmaster at all, but rather by another type of USPS employee  Postmasters To Manage More Than One Post Office In Changes To USPS Manuals - Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM), Part 113, Definitions, is revised to clarify that a postmaster may be responsible for the management of more than one Post Office™ facility, and that the postmaster may assign duties to subordinate personnel, including when the postmaster is not physically present.  |

Postal Worker Opens Fire Inside Alabama Mail Processing Facility
A worker carried two guns into a mail processing room in a post office in Alabama's capital city at the beginning of his evening shift and fired several shots, sending co-workers scrambling but leaving no one hurt, officials said Friday. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, Clark Morris, said the man showed up for work and began firing shots about 6:30 p.m. Thursday in Montgomery. Shots fired at Alabama Post Office, no injuries - CBS News - Postal  Mail Handler Charged in Postal Shooting  .   |

USPS FAQ For 2012 Domestic and International Mailing Services Price Change

USPS released the following “Frequently Asked Questions” on Prices Changes effective January 22,2012.  |

FOIA: Voting Records of USPS Board of Governors (PDF)

Proposed USPS Kalispell closure plan draws a crowd

Tulsans air concerns about center's proposed closing

Postal worker robbed, locked in truck in Northwest D.C.

December 1,  2011

USPS promises to fix “unacceptable” flats processing delays

Post & Parcel - US Postal Service executives resolved to fix problems in their periodicals processing yesterday, as mailers pressed their concerns about significant delays. On-time performance levels for one-to-two day periodicals delivery have slumped to as low as 44% this year as USPS expanded its use of automated flats sequencing systems (FSS) as a way of improving efficiency in processing flats immediately prior to delivery. USPS has now deployed a number of specialist teams – “Tiger Teams” – to investigate problems at the FSS locations, and put in place corrective measures in areas like mail preparation and maintenance procedures.  |

Congressman Issa’s Vista office evacuated after bomb scare

U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, released the following statement about a phone call and suspicious item left outside the Vista, California, 49^thCongressional District Office earlier today.   |

What a difference a day makes: The Postal Service slows down the mail

The cumulative effect of everything that the Postal Service wants to do — close half the nation’s post offices, consolidate half (or more) of the processing facilities, eliminate Saturday delivery, shrink the workforce by 220,000 — will end up doing a lot more than “relaxing” the service standards.  It will turn the country’s postal system into something only a Third-World country could be proud of.  It will be an ignominious chapter in the history of one of the country’s greatest institutions. USPS will no longer deliver mail using In-Home-Date windows  |

Postal Service Will Introduce Parcel Lockers December 6

Yesterday at MTAC, The Postal Service announced that it will begin beta-testing parcel lockers with a brandname gopost in Northern Virginia on December 6.   The beta test will include 25 sites when it goes live. When the test begins, the Postal Service joins Amazon in testing parcel lockers for delivering parcels to individual consumers.  |

APWU-Supported Workers’ Compensation Bill Passes House

The bill (H.R. 2465 [PDF]) would raise benefits for funeral expenses (to $6,000) and compensation for facial disfigurement (to $50,0000); these benefits have not been increased since 1949. The bill also would streamline the claims process for workers who sustain a traumatic injury in an armed-conflict zone; permit physician assistants and nurse practitioners to certify disability for traumatic injuries, and label injuries sustained due to terrorism as “war-risk hazards.” House approves workers' comp reforms -The House on Tuesday passed a bipartisan bill that would overhaul federal workers' compensation programs for the first time in almost 40 years and make it easier to catch cheats.   |

Two Alabama Postal Employees Indicted for Stealing, Delaying and Destroying Mail

USPS Celebrates Louisiana’s Bicentennial On 2012 Forever Stamp

USPS: Village Post Office Numbers Growing

Postal workers, patrons oppose closing Reno mail center

San Jose: Man who caused post office shutdown was jogger in unusual gear

Former Virginia Postmaster Free On Bond