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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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 31, 2010

Postal Service cancels its Paterson NJ veterans ceremony

Veterans are fighting mad after learning a long-standing tradition — a Memorial Day ceremony at Paterson's main post office on Ward Street — has been canceled. The reason: Reportedly the post office can't afford the coffee, doughnuts and overtime — an estimated $1,000. "They didn't want to pay for the overtime," said Ed Falato, Navy veteran and vice president of the carrier's union at the post office. It's the first time in 30 years that the morning ceremony has been canceled, he said.    |

 

May 30, 2010

USPS: Tri-Lateral Shipping Alliance Signed with eBay GC and China Post

Locals protest postal cutbacks in Winsted

Going Postal in Little Compton

Monroe postal carrier's safety record nets award

Postmaster a special delivery to Nome, by way of Bethel

Detroit newspapers to be delivered by independent carriers because of USPS propose 5-day delivery plan

 

May 29, 2010

11 honored by Postal Service for accident-free driving

Search continues for postal worker's killer
Missing Priority Mail Bags Found

Wauwatosa letter carrier retires after 50 years of service

Postal figures foggy, union responds to closure

USPS Updates Multiple Systems Over the Holiday Weekend

 

May 28, 2010

League of Postmasters President on Postal Legislation and Closing Post Offices - One particularly disturbing development is the thought that the Postal Service is overstaffed by 30%. That is a fascinating idea as almost universally, Postmasters are running offices that are seriously understaffed. Certainly, there are still plants out there that have hundreds of extra employees, but, by and large, associate offices do not have that luxury. Along with the thought that we are overstaffed by 30%, is the concept that we have 30% too many post offices. While it is an established fact that closing the 10,000 smallest post offices would save only about a half of one percent of the Postal Service’s operating budget, the thought persists that we need to close these offices because they are unprofitable.  |

 

Postal Worker’s Letter to PRC: Don’t End Saturday Delivery – Save Money Elsewhere - Letter from a Texas Postal Clerk to the PRC: Money is being wasted on salaries for supervisory positions. We have too many of them. I feel the 204B program should be eliminated. The Postal Service is a SERVICE company. We have not been giving good service in my opinion. I don’t think we should eliminate one day of the week of service to save money. On weekends we have plenty of mail to work and we get it out on time. It’s ridiculous to cut service to save money when the real problem of saving money is at the top.  |

 

Two Illinois Postal Workers Charged with Unemployment Benefits Fraud

Pennsylvania Post Office Robbed
Milwaukee letter carrier suffers injury from dog attack

USPS adopts new penalties for failure to update addresses

In e-mail age, still nothing like a handwritten letter

Royal Mail Appoints First Female Chief

Former postal worker gets time served in workers comp fraud

 

May 27, 2010

USPS and Hallmark To Introduce New Line Of Postage-Paid Greeting Cards

Postal carrier says stuck accelerator sent SUV through store window
Lynnwood postal worker wins $2.8 million

Mailman Saves Woman, Baby From Fire

Reduced operating hours may benefit direct mail marketing campaigns

Business or Public Good: It's Not Just About Saturday Delivery

Sacramento Field Hearing Transcript (PDF)

Las Vegas Field Hearing Transcript (PDF)

 

May 26, 2010

Postal Worker Pleads Guilty To Stealing Netflix Discs

NY Letter carrier accused of selling marijuana to cop while on his route

 

May 25, 2010

Customer stuck with counterfeit money from the post office

David Lipin found himself stuck with fake $100 bills after allegedly cashing money order at the West Hollywood post office  |

 

Court Finds Arbitration Award Unenforceable on Address Management Systems specialist - This case is before the Court on remand from a decision of the D.C. Circuit. Am. Postal Workers Union v. U.S. Postal Serv., 550 F.3d 27 (D.C. Cir. 2008). Before the Court is the question of whether a particular finding in an award resulting from arbitration between the American Postal Workers Union and the United States Postal Service is enforceable.  The parties have fully briefed the question. Upon consideration of the briefs and the record of this case, the Court concludes that the finding is unenforceable and summary judgment should be entered in favor of USPS.  |

 

Bismarck postal worker sues for harassment

South Florida Collection Boxes Disappearing
No more boat mail on Saranac Lake
Please, Mr. Postman, Contact Me, wife pleads
USPS realignment means expanded roles for two star players
5-day delivery would be postal death knell
Historic California post office facing closure

California postal worker pleads guilty to stealing prescription drugs from the mail
Quad/Graphics Has Quarterly Loss, Eyes Plant Shutdowns

 

May 24, 2010

USPS OIG: Can the Postal Service Further Consolidate the Area and District Administrative Office Structure? In the past 18 years, the Postal Service has reorganized its field structure at least three times. In 1992, the Postal Service reorganized its field structure from five regions and 73 field divisions into 10 areas and 85 districts. From 2002-2006 the Postal Service changed its field structure to nine areas and 80 districts, and adjusted again in 2009 to eight areas and 74 districts." |

 

New York Postal Custodian told not to wear mask while cleaning asbestos floor tiles - An ailing 9/11 first responder who now works as a custodian at a busy Long Island post office has been forbidden to wear a protective face mask when he scrubs the mailroom floors -- even though the stressed tiles contain potentially cancer-causing asbestos.  |

 

USPS Launches Improved Employee Website

Retired Detroit letter carrier charged with stealing mail
At Pitney Bowes, Constant Reinvention
Texas postal carrier admits stealing mail
How will cutting Saturday mail affect direct mail operations?

Yahoo Looks To Direct Mail Partner To Help it Crack Local Ad Markets

Closing some post offices makes sense - Federal Times

IRS may get access to TSP accounts of tax-delinquent feds

 

May 23, 2010

Five-Day Delivery Campaign Driving Away Businesses, APWU Says

“At a time when the USPS should be exploring every available avenue to increase volume and revenue, this seriously flawed PR offensive seems to be driving business away,” Morris said. He urged the commission to reject the Postal Service’s proposal, saying it would “needlessly weaken the Postal Service, a very valuable and essential American institution.” Abolishing Saturday delivery also would deepen the divide between services provided to rich and poor neighborhoods, Morris said. Private couriers would fill the void for Saturday services in the more profitable locations, leaving the Postal Service to serve rural and poor communities." |

 

Could USPS Be the Key To Investigating Landis Doping Allegations?

Floyd Landis admitted doping between 2002 and 2006. For three of those years he rode for a team sponsored by the United States Postal Service... When the USPS terminated its nine-year sponsorship of the [cycling] team at the end of 2004, it was reported the agency's commitment had risen to around $8m a year. Certainly over the course of the sponsorship, tens of millions of dollars were paid to sponsor the team. Report: Authorities looking into whether USPS money was used to buy drugs for cycling team  |

 

Postal employee stable after crash

Postmaster held hostage after armed robbery

 

May 22, 2010

Update: USPS Retail Survey Lacks Privacy Act Safeguards?

"The Retail Employee Survey was never reviewed or approved by the Privacy office. The survey has now been discontinued."  |

 

FSS Throughputs 9% Below Plan, USPS Official Says

Low mail volumes, not mechanical problems, are causing the 12 machines that are up and running to handle about 255,000 pieces per day rather than the 280,500 target in the original plan, Ms. Fulton said. Updated FSS Deployment Schedule (PDF)  |

 

NY letter carrier admits stealing mail
Three Postal Workers Arrested in Providence Post Office Drug Bust

 

May 21, 2010

NALC: Settlement reached on medical records
Follows union lawsuit to stop coercion when investigators seek information; tougher restrictions for OIG agents, postal inspectors.  The NALC has entered into a settlement agreement with the Postal Service and the USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) that imposes significant new restrictions on OIG agents and postal inspectors when they seek to obtain confidential medical information about employees from the employees’ doctors or other personal health care providers.  |

 

Postal Rates Headed Higher -- Again
Come January, mailers will have to pony up more for postage. In the cards: A 2 cent hike in the price of first-class stamps -- to 46 cents each -- and up to a 5% boost in postage for magazines, catalogs and bulk mail. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) realizes that raising rates will accelerate the shift by businesses and other mailers to e-mail and nudge businesses to increase their targeted Web advertising efforts."  |

 

Mail Carrier can't make deadline, dumps mail

A mail carrier has been charged with theft after she left seven tubs of mail undelivered outside an apartment complex in Gary. In a statement to investigators, Lowe said she became "overwhelmed" at the amount of mail that had to be delivered and decided to leave it at the apartment complex at about 4:45 p.m., returned to the post office and clocked out at about 6 p.m. without informing anyone. She said she went back to the complex after work but the mail was gone.  |

 

Mail Carrier Admits to Stealing Items Worth At Least $200,000 on Route
Including a $250 jar of caviar- The investigation showed that she stole DVDs, gift cards, credit cards and other goods  from some of the 422 customers on her route. Police initially estimated the value of the items she stole at $200,000.  |

USPS clerk sentenced for stealing $19K

Fairbanks postal worker charged with theft

May 20, 2010

Senators, Congressman Call for Public Information Meetings on Fate of Easton Mail Facility

Memphis Public Hearing On Cutting Saturday Deliveries
Liquor, drugs smuggled by mail to Alaska villages

 

May 19, 2010

USPS Blanket Policy To Challenge Postal Employees With Too Much FMLA Leave?? During an EEOC hearing several months ago involving a USPS FMLA Coordinator in  Michigan admitted that the "Agency policy is to challenge any certification for absences that allow an employee to take off work a great deal." The EEOC administrative judge wrote," This policy shows that the Agency is not complying with the Rehabilitation Act because it is not accessing each employee's need for absences on an individualized basis but simply challenges all requests for absences that it feels are general too many."   |

 

Burrus: A Pig with Lipstick... Is Still a Pig

Through the years, my criticism of the USPS has been consistent: Top-level managers have converted the Postal Service — a public service — into an arm of commercial mailers. As a result, the natural tension between the union and the employer has been influenced by management’s bias towards its biggest and most powerful customers.  |

 

APWU Urges PRC to Save Saturday Delivery at Memphis Field Hearing
"APWU Assistant Clerk Craft Director Mike Morris explained that by abolishing Saturday delivery, private couriers would fill the void in the more profitable locations, leaving the Postal Service to serve rural and poor communities, without the financial benefit of providing service to more lucrative areas. As an example, he explained that while more affluent parts of Memphis would likely fare well under a private delivery system, poorer communities would most assuredly become underserved."  |

 

USPS Announces Realignment of Shipping, Scanning And Product Tracking Services - In a strategic organizational shift designed to achieve long-term business objectives, PMG Jack Potter today announced realignments within two groups representing key areas of revenue growth for USPS. The Expedited Shipping and Ground Shipping groups have merged into a single Shipping Services group. Also, USPS has formed the Product Visibility and Operational Performance group to develop a world-class customer information platform through scanning technologies and product tracking services.  |

 

Postman delivers help in emergency
Carrier, mail handler join Pony Express 150th anniversary ride

Creating better value in direct mail
Is direct mail on its deathbed?
DMA to conduct webinar on USPS sustainability and the exigent rate case

 

May 18, 2010

Post Office Waste Could Cost Mail Day
The postal service has been in trouble for many years," said Tom Schatz with the group Citizens Against Government Waste. "They have not been running it as an efficient business. "Schatz pointed to a recent report from the Office of the Inspector General. It showed the postal service spent more than $792,000 "without justification" on meals in a 5-month period. $2.9 billion went to vehicle repairs because of an ineffective warranty and reimbursement process. Inspectors also found that of the 117 postal facilities checked for lease rates, 26% paid above the going market rate. Rachel Clobodien with the National Taxpayers Union said the post office is spending close to $1 million a week on a practice called stand-by time. It's when employees are paid even when there is no work to be done. "That is about $50 million a year," she said.  |

 

Many protest proposal to end Saturday mail delivery at postal hearing in Dallas

Commission chairwoman Ruth Goldway repeatedly emphasized Monday that a final decision has not been made to eliminate Saturday deliveries. "It will take an act of Congress to change the law from six [days] to five," she said.  Hearing scheduled tomorrow in Memphis | Regulator Says No-Mail Saturdays Not Done Deal |

 

NYC: Van Wyck Expressway opens after mail truck fire
Neither rain nor sleet, or your lawn ...
Minivan Crashes Into Jackson, MS Post Office

US Postal Service’s Woes Impact Netflix

 

May 17, 2010

USPS Issues New Butterfly Stamp For Irregular Shaped Greeting Cards

Postal Employee Loses Employment Discrimination Lawsuit Against USPS

Rural Carrier Pleads Guilty to Mail Theft

Pony Express lives on as link to the Wild West
Denver post office still closed three months after shutting for renovations
Postal worker recognized for assisting snake bite victim

 

May 16, 2010

CA: Post office built in 1910 faces closure

MO.: Former Rolla postal clerk indicted on federal charges

Man pleads guilty in Wytheville post office standoff

 

May 15, 2010

Federal Disability Retirement under FERS or CSRS: Understanding the Different Perspectives and Differing Interests by Attorney Robert R. McGill

PRC: Witness List For Hearings In Dallas and Memphis To Consider USPS 5-Day Mail Delivery

Winlock postmaster to face prostitution charge

'Mastermind' of postal robbery had insider knowledge

Mail carrier accused of repeated thefts

Post office is a miracle at your door

Bills to Extend Health Insurance Coverage to Young Adults Introduced in House, Senate

 

May 14, 2010

Congressman To USPS OIG: New Documents Show Wage Theft In New Hampshire Post Offices Continues - Paul Hodes and Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter are demanding an investigation into a new round of allegations that letter carriers at even more post offices have been shortchanged on their paychecks. In documents obtained by Hodes, post offices in Dover and Salem, New Hampshire are shown to have manipulated letter carriers’ time sheets to remove overtime pay and earned wages. Union,  lawmakers say Dover letter carriers shortchanged |

 

Postal Service Needs Help Preventing Dog Bites

Special Delivery: Letter carriers don't just protect your mail -- they save lives

Closing of Historic Rural Post Office Would Be Disastrous

Seabrook postal carrier retires after 31 years

Calif. Petaluma postal clerk gets 5 months for thefts

Postal Worker sentenced for stealing more than 500 parcels containing prescription drugs

USPS OIG Audit Report: Move Update Program and Investigations (PDF)

A man who put his stamp on postal bargains

USPS OIG Audit Report: Automated Package Processing System Equipment Maintenance Opportunities (PDF)

 

May 13, 2010

20,000 Pieces of Undelivered Mail Found in Mailman's Philly Home

Checks, bills and even a college acceptance letter from 2007 were among 20,000 letters found inside the garage of a Philadelphia postal carrier. When the mailman missed several days of work in April, postal officials went to his Port Richmond home and found tubs and tubs of undelivered and unopened mail. The postal worker, who has yet to be identified, worked out of the Bustleton station in Northeast Philadelphia. Some of mail found in the postal carrier's home dated back to 1997.  |

 

Burrus: USPS Postage Discounts Are Illegal, Self-Defeating

Postage discounts for major mailers are illegal and “self-defeating,” APWU President William Burrus told lawmakers May 12. Excessive discounts for corporate mailers who engage in worksharing “deprive the USPS of revenue that is essential to maintain the nation’s mail network,” he said. “Workshare discounts artificially reduce the mailing costs of favored customers — large mailers — at the expense of individual citizens and small businesses,” Burrus told the House Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia.  |

 

Postal Service plans for new bypass mail hubs

Feds: Postal worker stole IDs on route
Big, little postal clients plead to keep Saturday service

 

May 12, 2010

Alert Postman Credited With Helping Resident
Jury convicts Texas mail handler for theft

USPS Leaves Confirm Customers Hanging Once Again

Letter carriers' food drive tops 1 billion pounds in 18 years of helping to 'Stamp Out Hunger'

 

May 11, 2010

Postal Service Moves Closer to Energy, Fuel Reduction Goals

USPS OIG: Can Letter Processing Get Even Better?

 

May 10, 2010

Update: Postmaster Used USPS Computer to Seek Sex from 13-year old  girl On Craigslist- Lewis County detectives said Postmaster communicated with them regarding an ad offering sex with a 33-year-old woman and her 13-year-old sister. Investigators said Postmaster was sending e-mails to detectives from the computer at the Winlock post office. Washington State postmaster arrested for using Craigslist to arrange for sex with women- Lewis County Prosecutor Michael Golden said he also expects to charge the man with attempted rape of a child because one of the intended victims is a 13-year-old girl.    |

 

Postal service outlines possible Saturday cuts at Las Vegas meeting

Rich Griffin, vice president of the Nevada State Association of Letter Carriers“ We are a service, and unfortunately, the Postal Service forgets that,” he said. Omar Gonzalez, regional coordinator for the American Postal Workers Union, said he was speaking Monday on behalf of 250,000 members of his union. “The mail will be deliberately delayed,” he said. “We think that the public deserves full service. Gonzalez continued: “It’s a spiral to the elimination of the Postal Service as we know it. If the Postal Service goes, the country’s in trouble.” Postal workers oppose five-day week at hearing | Time Warner Backs U.S. Postal Service’s Saturday Cut  |

 

OSHA Fines USPS $210,000 For Safety Violations In Bedford Park, Ill.

Third postal facility fined in less than a week- The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited the U.S. Postal Service with three alleged willful violations at its Bedford Park, Ill., processing center. The Postal Service faces a total of $210,000 in fines, for electrical and protective equipment hazards, following an OSHA inspection conducted in response to employee complaints.  |

 

Postmaster General John Potter leads a cry for retrenchment

Potter expects that unions will make concessions during negotiations this year, but William Burrus, president of the American Postal Workers Union, warned otherwise. "I'm not going to make any concessions," Burrus said. "He's trying to deny services to the American public through the service reductions. All of this is designed to accelerate significant savings and become a delivery arm of major mailers. "The value of going to four days -- removing a second day -- is even greater," he said. Although no such plans exist, Potter said that Tuesdays are the second-slowest day of the week.  |

 

PRC: Measuring the Social Value of Postal Services to the Nation

The PRC is seeking research proposals to quantify the social value of postal services. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the impact (costs and/or benefits) of the community presence of the Postal Service (post offices, daily delivery to homes, its (competitive) products, etc.)    |

 

Post Offices Introduce Zip Lines To Speed Up Wait Time

The post office has introduced a new Zip Line at several Wisconsin post offices to help get customers through the line in less than five minutes. The Zip Line is a retail window where customers can mail up to two packages or buy no more than two stamp items.   |

 

Postal Bulletin: New FERS Accrued Unused Sick Leave Ruling in Effect

House Oversight Hearing To Examine USPS Workshare Discounts

Plea bargain delivered to ex-mail carrier
New York window clerk pleads guilty to OWCP and Social Security fraud

 

May 9, 2010

Woman runs post office from her home
Mail carriers happy to collect spam

 

May 8, 2010

FSS Machines Shuffled Again -- But Do They Work?

The U.S. Postal Service announced yesterday that it is putting Flats Sequencing System into five new locations but has still not revealed whether the machines work as intended. The revised schedule released yesterday shows the last of the 100 machines starting up in May 2011. Eleven machines are already sorting mail, and another 37 are in various phases of installation or start-up. |

 

USPS OIG Request Public Help In Catching Postal Employees Faking On the Job Injuries? An Ohio postal clerk was convicted by a federal jury of four counts of mail fraud, eight counts of worker’s compensation fraud, and two counts of making false statements to federal officers. Eastern Area Special Agent in Charge Elizabeth A. Farcht, USPS OIG, stated, "This conviction should put those who choose to defraud the system on notice that our Special Agents with the USPS Office of Inspector General will aggressively investigate these cases, and present them to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for criminal prosecution when appropriate. You can also help by contacting the USPS Office of Inspector General ... if you know a postal employee who is faking an injury or defrauding the Postal Service.””  |

 

3 men involved in Florida post office robbery

Workers, Customers Held Up at Miami Post Office
eNAPUS Newsletter: Postal Populism Amid Governmental Distrust (PDF) - see also: Sen. Ron Wyden Introduces “Vote-By-Mail” Legislation and  Van Hollen Bill Would Extend FEHBP Coverage to 26 Year Olds in 2010

May 7, 2010

PRC: Witness List For May 12 Hearing In Sacramento To Consider USPS 5-Day Delivery

Brookfield postal worker hailed as hero

Thousands of Pieces of Stolen Mail To Be Returned
Contract carrier gets prison for illegal benefits

Bellingham WA man who threatened post office workers pleads guilty
Postal Service semi crashes, burns

Residents lobby to restore closed PO
'Letter-stash' mail carrier pulls a 'Seinfeld'-esque stunt
Car crashes into Texas post office; 5 hurt

Postal truck rolls over toddler in Plainfield

Health and pension burdens freeze USPS in its tracks

 

May 6, 2010

USPS Reports $1.6 Billion Loss For Second Quarter

 The U.S. Postal Service, which has said it may lose $7 billion this year, narrowed its fiscal second quarter loss to $1.6 billion. For the three months that ended on March 31, total volume was 3.3 percent less than the same period in 2009. Even with a one-time boost of $180 million of First-Class Mail revenue related to the Census, revenue at $16.7 billion was still 1.4 percent less than the same period a year ago. For the six months ending March 31 the total net loss is $1.9 Billion. USPS Reports $1.6 Billion Quarter Loss for 2nd Quarter   |

 

PRC: Witness List For May 10 Hearing To Consider USPS 5-Day Delivery

Kew Gardens fights to keep post office branch open after lease expires

Postal consolidation: Some Jackson postal work goes to Memphis
Des Moines Network Distribution Center Review (PDF)

Postal Service Plans Move for Panama City Distribution Center

Book: There's Always Work at the Post Office

Million Mile Men

 

May 5, 2010

OSHA Fines USPS $217,000 for Safety Violations in Denver Just Days After Citations Issued in Providence - In four “willful” violations, inspectors found postal employees working on equipment they were not familiar with and properly trained to maintain; on machinery with exposed, live parts that were not de-energized; in areas with potential electrical hazards; and without protective equipment for the eyes and face, exposing them to injury from electric arcs, flashes, or flying objects. These violations accounted for $210,000 in fines. The remaining $7,000 fine was associated with a serious safety violation in which safety signs, symbols, or accident prevention tags were not used to warn employees about potential electrical hazards. |

NALC: Memorandum signed on Next Phase of Joint Alternate Route Adjustment Process  President Rolando announced May 4 that the NALC and the Postal Service have reached an agreement on the next phase of a Joint Alternate Route Adjustment Process. However, the agreement makes it clear that finalizing a number of incomplete revisits of 2009 MIARAP adjustments must be given priority over the evaluation and adjustment of routes/zones under the new JARAP.  |

 

Cops: Fired Postal Worker Tried To Kill Ex-boss

‎California-  A man fired from the U.S. Postal Service tried to kill his supervisor by ramming him with a car in Albany, police said today. Tian Yu Lu had been terminated from his job several months ago and decided to exact revenge over the weekend by crashing into the supervisor who had fired him, Albany police Sgt. Dave Bettencourt said.  |

 

Senators Introduce Legislation To Expand Vote By Mail

This legislation will help remove barriers to voting by making it more convenient for all Americans to cast their vote and have a say in our federal government. Not only will these bills encourage more Americans to participate in elections, they will also save money and provide a much-needed boost to the Postal Service.  |

 

PRC Chairman Goldway: USPS $238 Billion Loss Proclamation Is an Unsubstantiated Figure With No Connection to Reality - Goldway said the USPS is presenting dire forecasts to scare Congress into allowing the USPS to do the things it has wanted to do for years, such as moving to 5-day delivery, closing retail services and consolidating its network.  |

 

APWU: Obama Declares: 'I'm Pro-Union'

USPS Resumes International Mail Service to Haiti

Former Houston Postal Employee Pleads Guilty to Unauthorized Use Of USPS Gas Credit Card

Postal Service Plans Move for Panama City Distribution Center
Postal Service finds 2,000 missing Social Security checks

One Year Later, USPS Looks Into Gamefly Complaint
Badger enters new frontier at Milwaukee post office
Postal Jobs Canceled
How Michigan could save the Saturday mail
Flooding prompts Kentucky post office

 

May 4, 2010

OSHA Cites USPS for "Willful" Safety Violations; Says Agency Knowingly Endangered Employees -The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has charged the USPS in Providence, RI with 12 willful and serious safety violations, and ordered it to pay fines of $558,000. The Postal Service “ignored long-established safety standards and knowingly put its workers in harm’s way,” OSHA said. The violations “exposed workers at the Providence facility to the serious and potentially fatal hazards of shock, electrocution and arc-flash. The citations [PDF] substantiate charges levied by the APWU regarding the Postal Service’s failure to adhere to OSHA standards for electrical safety. The Postal Service has 15 days to respond. Safety problems go beyond Providence plant   Postal Service responds to OSHA fines  |

 

Burrus: Phony Deficit Projections Mask Management’s Real Goal

USPS is on track to suffer losses never before experienced in the history of an independent enterprise: A $238 billion deficit over a 10-year period. Without challenge, this assertion was repeated over and over again as breaking news. Putting It in Perspective : We now have the opportunity to put this outlandish projection into perspective: To reach that figure, the Postal Service would have to suffer average deficits of $23.8 billion each year for the next 10 years. The USPS has never recorded a deficit that high in a single year, making it highly unlikely that it would average that amount annually for the next 10 years.  |

 

Postmaster Tries to Explain Why Pittsburgh PO Has Long Lines

let me clarify for Trib readers that a single snapshot of one day at one of our many locations does not present an accurate picture of our regular service. There are peak times for any business, be it a bank, car garage or coffee shop.   |

 

Super Tour??

Oakland APWU : We are in trouble if the rumors are true that management is in the process of establishing a "Super Tour." |

 

NLRB Settlement on Information Requests Concerning Ergonomics & Tour 2 Consolidation The APWU and the USPS recently settled a portion of an unfair labor practice charge concerning information requests related to ergonomic issues and Tour 2 consolidations. The settlement agreement requires the Postal Service to provide the union with requested information that is relevant and necessary to the performance of its duties as an exclusive collective bargaining representative. |

 

TSP  funds thrive in April

Congressmen seek new study on Marysville consolidation
USPS consolidation with Grand Rapids will cut about 40 jobs from Oshtemo Township site
Social security checks missing in Charlotte
Spokane City Council rejects 'Do Not Mail' concept

Should the Postal Service request financial relief from the $6.8 billion FERS surplus?

 

May 3, 2010

Oakland: Postal Employees Injured On Job Continue to Placed Off-Duty

Oakland Postal management hit injured employees with "shock and awe" tactics better suited to the battlefield. Starting a few days before Thanksgiving of 2009, management started to place injured on duty employees off duty. The expected Phase 2 interviews never took place:   employees were called aside, allowed to clean out their lockers, and told to  leave the building. The departures have continued into April 2010.  |

 

Postal Service Scores a Win with Walmart

If FedEx and UPS are so much more efficient than the U.S. Postal Service, how did the USPS manage to beat its private rivals for an exclusive deal with the nation’s toughest customer? At last month's National Postal Forum, postal officials were bragging that they had recently negotiated an agreement with Wal-Mart to be its exclusive shipper of prescriptions ordered by telephone. The drugs will be sent via Priority Mail, with Wal-Mart picking up the tab..   |

 

Optimizing the Postal Service Network and 6-day Delivery

 A recent response by the Postal Service to an interrogatory by Douglas Carlson provides the first nationwide picture of the Postal Service's effort to consolidate sortation on Saturday among fewer facilities. The Postal Service can consolidate sortation of collection mail that is collected on Saturday because it has at least 12 hours of time to transport the mail for sortation at a distant facility and get that mail back for final sortation at the destination facility.  The list of facilities that Douglas Carlson elicited from the Postal Service identifies 139 facilities that do not sort on Saturday.  A cursory look at the distance between facilities that sort mail only Monday through Friday and facilities that sort mail within that facility's territory on Saturday suggests that the Postal Service could be significantly more aggressive in consolidating sortation on its slowest day of the week.   |

 

NALC: Then & Now Standing Tall (PDF)

Jacksonville: Postal workers picket against proposed cutbacks

What's the best date to retire in 2010?
Pushing the envelope: How the Penny Black delivered democracy, romance and stamp mania

May 2, 2010

News Story Changes Post Office's Plans
Florida postal employee pistol-whipped during attempted robbery
Concerned mail carriers credited with saving elderly customer's life

Mailman saves woman from fire

 

May 1, 2010

USPS faces $558,000 in OSHA fines for safety violations in Providence

“The Postal Service ignored long-established safety standards and knowingly put its workers in harm’s way,” OSHA assistant secretary of labor Dr. David Michaels said. It “exposed workers at the Providence (Rhode Island) facility to the serious and potentially fatal hazards of shock, electrocution and arc-flash.”   |

 

Is the Postal Service Bluffing On Its 5-Day Delivery Proposal?

Is the five-day proposal just a ploy to get the mailing community to fight even harder for legislative funding /reform to save the sixth day of delivery?  How much of the OIG’s $75 billion CSRS calculation does it think it will receive? How much of an exigency rate case is it planning?   |

 

U.S. Postal Service's Animal Rescue stamps too cheap a deal at 20 for 44 cents