Postal News - November 2007

Kenneth Jones vs. US Postal Service, illustrates why postal employees should think twice before appealing their discipline to the Merit Systems Protection Board.

New Book: Beware of Cat: And Other Encounters of a Letter Carrier

Postal Worker Fired After Second Violation of USPS Zero Tolerance Policy

Bush Plan Would Cut Tax-Free Employer-Provided Health Insurance

MSPB Overturns Postal Worker’s Removal for $45,000 Stamp Stock Shortage

Postage Rate Hike in 2008?

Postal Service: ‘Intelligent Mail’ Fully Operational By 2009

Video: Signed, Sealed and Delivered- Labor Struggle in the Post Office

USPS: New Postal Law-The Financial Impact

Can Bush Open Mail Without Warrant?

Former Postal Worker Charged in FEHB Scheme to Defraud USPS and NALC

Un-Merry Christmas
Postal Service Terminates Disabled Iraq War Veteran for Unacceptable Attendance

Letter to the Editor - Mismanagement at Royal Oak Carrier Unit

FedEx and DOT at Stalemate in Dispute Over Disclosure of Postal Contract Data -

USPS, APWU Reach $5.3 Million Agreement in Anthrax Travel Grievance

Postal Worker Fired for Refusing to Work on DBCS Machine

Postal Nurse Charged With Defrauding USPS

Five-Year Postal Employees Stats At a Glance

Big Win For APWU in MS-47 Maintenance Case - "Custodial Jobs Protected"

Emery Agrees to Pay $10 Million for Submitting Fraudulent Billings to USPS -

USPS to Sell Segway Scooters to General Public

Former Postmaster jailed for stealing over $50k

Postal Worker Sues USPS – Denied Permission to Work Off-the-Clock?

USPS OIG Paper: Postal Officers Travel Expense Guidelines

USPS Mail Processing Facility Faces $44,250 in Fines for Safety Violations

USPS and GE Sign New Six-Year $100M Contract for Semi-Trailers

Man Pleads Guilty in Kickback Scheme to Pay Postal OWCP Specialist

APWU Initiates Dispute Over Changes to USPS Computer Security Rules

Postal Worker Injured in Iraq Wins Job Back Under USERRA

USPS to Conduct Search for Sex Offenders on Postal Payroll

Postal Supervisor Fired for Rewarding Employees With Non-Worked Overtime Pay

Reader Raises Concern Over USPS Revised Emergency Salary Authorization Policy

USPS OIG Audit Report: Pasadena P & DC Consolidation

MSPB Upholds Removal of Postal Worker Videotaped Abusing FMLA

USPS to remove stamp machines by 2010

Postal Service Plans for More Than $1 Billion in Cost Reductions

Carrier Fired for Gambling Signed Last Chance Agreement

Mystery Shopper Evaluations Should Not Be Used to Discipline Window Clerks -

National Dispute Initiated Over USPS’ Improper Use of Casuals

APWU: Olympia, Tacoma and Everett Mail May Move to Seattle

Postal Service Lists 139 Facilities As Potential Candidates for Consolidation

Postal Worker Fired for Violating USPS Zero Tolerance Policy

Court Backs USPS in Stamp Trademark Lawsuit

Letter - Postal Workers Injured on Duty Should Know Their Rights

USPS Migrating Personnel Info to PostalPEOPLE System

Driving Postal Vehicle Without Seatbelt May Get You Fired

USPS Dragnet Continues to Sweep Up Injured Workers

Supreme Court Revives Postal Worker's Discrimination Suit

Number of Active Postal Employees by Age, Years of Service (PDF)

Trenton APWU Excessing Update, Custodian Exam for Clerks

Federal Court Overturns Letter Carrier Removal for Breach of Last Chance Agreement

Postal Window Clerks Protect Your Jobs

USPS releases April 2006 Financial and Operating Statements

North Carolina Postmaster Reassigned After Assault Complaint

Postal Mail Handlers in Talks to Stay With AFL-CIO

NIOSH Reports on DBCS at Denver Postal Facility

USPS Proposing to Contract Out Postal Vehicle Service

Federal Court Affirms USPS FMLA Return-To-Work Policy

Whoa…An Interesting Supreme Court Case Involving USPS

November 30, 2007-

Postmaster Returns to Battle Creek Post Office

David Wyatt, who had been postmaster in Battle Creek at the time 28 letter carriers were suspended will return to work at the Post Office on Monday. Wyatt had been granted an unspecified leave after being reassigned to Kalamazoo postal operations for three months last spring, said Jim Mruk, USPS manager of public affairs and communications. PR reader has a different version of the events: Message |

Royal Oak postal employee robbed at gunpoint
Mail carriers adding stops for special deliveries

Two postal workers charged with not delivering the mail

Driver Who Killed Mail Carrier Sent Back To Jail
Postal vets earn Million Mile carrier award

Postal workers help Ronald McDonald House

November 29, 2007-

Customers like to hear music at post office

Posted: Paint mailbox or else

Postal Contract Driver Shot in New Mexico

Postal officials deny city's use of safety reports
No Toy Collection at Post Offices in Connecticut
DVD rentals costly to Postal Service

Calif. Supreme Court denies FedEx appeal on contract drivers

November 28, 2007-

APWU: PTFs in Large Offices Eliminated as of Dec. 1
New Limits on Numbers of Casuals Also Go Into Effect - “Dec. 1, 2007, will be a historic day for postal labor,” APWU President William Burrus declared this week. “It marks the elimination of part-time flexible employment for the Clerk Craft in large offices. “As the result of contract negotiations, Clerk Craft PTFs will disappear as a job category in every postal installation of 200 work-years or more,” Burrus noted. “This has been a long-standing objective of postal employees, and it has finally been achieved.” |

New USPS Website for Retired Postal Employees

"This new website (KeepingPosted.org) gives all postal retirees quick, easy access to industry news, current events, annuitant resources, the Postal Service’s position on the important issues of the day and special offers previously available only to current employees." |

USPS Seeks Vendors for Beverage and Food Service Inside Retail Facility

USPS is seeking information and interest for a company to provide non-alcoholic beverage and/or limited food service in an experimental retail arrangement within a newly designed, customer-friendly full-service postal retail outlet. The Postal Service wishes to create an environment that provides customers, including many small businesses, convenient access to a variety of business-related retail services co-located within the postal retail outlet. The USPS contemplates offering free third party wireless fidelity internet connection service (Wi-Fi Certified) for use by consumers during the test term. Reader: "I wonder how this solicitation complies with the Randolph-Sheppard Act, which gives preference to blind venders in federal and USPS facilities? The USPS is required to go through the state agencies for the blind." |

Temporary Mailman Accused Of Dumping Letters
Edmond's first post office ledger found

Rural Carrier gets fine, probation for dumping bulk mail

Postal workers ready to deliver
Post office experiences lull before Christmas crunch

November 27, 2007-

Burrus Issues Stinging Rebuke To USPS Inspector General

APWU President William Burrus slammed the Office of the Inspector General recently, charging that in a September audit report on employee benefit programs the office had inserted itself into the collective bargaining arena. In a Nov. 16 letter to Inspector General David Williams, Burrus said, “Simply put, your analysis of the cost of postal benefits compared to those of other federal agencies lacks relevance. |

New USPS Voice of the Employee Survey?

"The USPS wishes to pre-qualify suppliers who can develop, implement, manage, and analyze information for a national Employee Engagement survey. The purpose of the Employee Engagement survey is to measure employees’ attitudes about the workplace and their perception of drivers of their overall work experience. It will be a census survey of the entire employee population to gain insight into the issues and concerns of the workforce. The current survey (Voice of the Employee) measures perceptions of workplace environment, consists of 41core questions and is administered on a quarterly basis to one fourth of the employee population." The entire audience of the approximately 800,000 employee population will be sampled during each year |

Mail Trucks Vandalized at North Austin post office

(Texas) Vandals broke the windshields on about 50 postal vehicles at the Bluebonnet Station. Investigators don't know whether the vandalism was committed by someone who works at the post office or had worked there in the past. They're looking at surveillance tapes and checking employee records for possible motives. Vandals smash postal truck windows |

New sorting system may help alleviate postal issues
Mail hub move proposal by USPS being examined
Strategies for 'dead letters'

Gas Leak Closes Post Office

November 26, 2007-

Another Iowa Town Soldiers On Without Its Post Office

Randalia's post office was one of 12 closed in Iowa this year by USPS.
People in those communities send and receive mail through rural delivery, but they must drive to a larger town's post office to ship weighted mail. Richard Watkins, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service, stresses that the residents of Randalia — and other cities that have lost their post offices — have not been forgotten." We provide universal service," he said. "... But if we're providing good service from five miles away, what would you do? If no one (bids) on this job, what would you do? It's a business decision. Our goal is to provide postal services, not to continue to operate post offices in small towns." |

Convenience & savings: USPS gets it mostly right

Managing a National Network in a Slowing Economy

Junk Mail Builds Revenue For USPS
Shhhh: Postal carrier plugs in rather than gassing up

Cooking up ideas that tip scale of gratitude
Postal carriers ready to wing it