PostalReporter.com Blog

USPS Press Release

Postal Service to Employ State-of-the-Art Technology to Improve Delivery Capabilities
 
 Agency Awards Northrop Grumman $874.6 Million Contract For Mail-Sorting  System

  The Postal Service has moved forward with another initiative to improve its delivery capabilities by awarding Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation an $874,639,000 contract to build a sophisticated system that will sort “flats” — large envelopes, magazines, newspapers, catalogs and circulars — in the order in which they are delivered.

    Letter carriers today spend a portion of their workday in the “office” manually sorting flat mail, a labor-intensive process. The Flat Sequencing System (FSS) — designed in collaboration with Postal Service engineers -sorts mail in delivery sequence at a rate of 16,500 pieces an hour, helping letter carriers start delivering mail earlier in the day.

    “The Flat Sequencing System will enable the Postal Service to provide more efficient service to our business customers, who rely on the mail to advertise, generate revenue, and get information into their customers’ hands as quickly as possible,” said Walt O’Tormey, vice president, Engineering.

    A pre-production FSS will be installed and tested in Dulles, Va., in August, and nationwide deployment of 100 systems will begin in summer, 2008.

   Last year, the Postal Service delivered 53.2 billion flats, consisting of 8 percent First-Class mail, 17 percent Periodicals, and 75 percent Standard mail.

Related link: USPS facilities slated to receive FSS machines during the Phase 1 deployment (PDF) (via PostCom.org) 

Northrup Grumman Press Release

BALTIMORE, March 1, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) — Northrop Grumman Corporation has been awarded a $874.6 million fixed-price contract from the United States Postal Service (USPS) to provide 100 Flats Sequencing Systems (FSS) designed to further automate the flats mail stream, which includes large envelopes, catalogs and magazines.

“The FSS award is the latest in a series of programs reflecting our strong relationship with the Postal Service to integrate Northrop Grumman flat mail technologies into innovative postal automation solutions. We have focused on developing a comprehensive system that will enable the agency to realize operational efficiencies, and we are extremely proud and excited at the opportunity to make FSS a reality,” said Vicki Spira, vice president of Postal Automation at Northrop Grumman’s Government Systems Division.

Northrop Grumman’s first generation of flats sorting technologies is in operation at Postal Service processing centers nationwide. FSS represents the next generation of flats automation by sorting mail to the delivery sequence of each carrier, thereby reducing manual sorting. Flat mail is a labor-intensive category of mail to process and deliver due to variations in size and thickness

Northrop Grumman is serving as the FSS prime contractor. The company jointly developed the key technologies incorporated into FSS with Solystic, a company subsidiary in France, and Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc. in Arlington, Texas. This team will field a pre-production version of the system later this year, which will be used by USPS to develop system operational procedures.

Installation of the first FSS production units at USPS facilities nationwide is expected to begin in 2008 with the remaining FSS installations scheduled for completion by 2010.

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a $30 billion global defense and technology company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in information and services, electronics, aerospace and shipbuilding to government and commercial customers worldwide.

From ABC News Blotter

Authorities say they have shut down an underground printing operation in New York City that was producing thousands of high-quality counterfeit U.S. postage stamps. 

Authorities say the quality of the counterfeit stamps was excellent and that they were destined to be sold at cut rates on the Internet or at small grocery stores in New York.

Tom Boyle, Assistant Inspector in Charge of the New York office of the USPIS, said the investigation into counterfeit stamps was triggered after postal inspectors discovered that hundreds of letters were being rejected for delivery because the stamps lacked the required phosphor tagging.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service says such operations are just a small part of a thriving black market in bogus stamps.

The busted printing operation was being run out of an apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan

A raid on the facility, executed by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the New York City Police Department, uncovered hundreds of coils and sheets of 39 cent self-adhesive “Lady Liberty Flag” stamps, authorities said.  Investigators say they also found USPS wrappers complete with barcodes, computer software, industrial-sized cutting boards, three industrial printers and other professional printing supplies.

The financial loss to the USPS due to the New York operation was estimated at $300,000.

Read more fron ABC News Blotter

USPS News Link:

The Facts

The new law requires Postal Service products to be split into “competitive” and “market dominant” categories. Competitive products are Priority Mail, Expedited (Express) Mail, Bulk Parcel Post and Bulk International Mail. Market dominant includes all the others: First-Class Mail, Standard Mail, Periodicals, single-piece Parcel Post, single-piece International mail, Media Mail, Bound Printed Matter, Library Mail and Special Services.

Price changes for market-dominant products must be tied to the rate of inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This does not apply to competitive products, which can be priced to generate a profit. But to keep competition fair, the prices for competitive products cannot go below a certain level.

With the ability to price competitive products for a profit, there is a new obligation. We will have to pay the equivalent of the federal income tax, just as if our competitive products business was a stand-alone corporation. This money would be transferred to the Postal Service Fund and can be used to support our universal service obligation.

The PMG’s View

The Postal Service must take advantage of all the pricing flexibility afforded by the new law so we can provide universal service at affordable rates for decades to come.

For market-dominant products, there is a CPI price cap at the class level. Within each class, the Postal Service is not required to raise rates uniformly. The average rate adjustment for the entire class must be at or below the rate cap. We can and will use this pricing flexibility to encourage positive mailer behavior. Lower increases for those who correctly barcode, use letters versus flats and/or participate in other workshare activities should be expected.

Regarding our competitive products, the Postal Service now will have greater ability to adjust prices to compete for package business. You can expect USPS to use volume pricing along with presorting and other workshare opportunities to lower some prices.

While it is true that we will pay a “tax” on profits from the competitive businesses, these tax revenues will be used to support our market-dominant products and fund universal service. We must continue to focus on high levels of package service and productivity in package operations to assure that we have a viable product to sell. The competition is, and will continue to be, fierce.

APWU News Bulletin #04-2007, Feb. 26, 2007 | PDF

The APWU — along with individual customers and small businesses — achieved a significant victory Feb. 26, when the Postal Regulatory Commission announced its recommended decision on a USPS request to increase rates: The PRC rejected the Postal Service’s proposed rate structure, and instead endorsed an APWU suggestion to increase postage for individual first-class letters to only 41 cents, instead of 42 cents as the Postal Service requested.
 
The commission also echoed the APWU assertion that discounts for presorted mail should not exceed the costs that the Postal Service avoids when large mailers engage in “worksharing.”

Rejecting a USPS proposal to disconnect rates for single pieces from rates for presorted mail, the panel concluded, “de-linking” would abandon “the principle that worksharing discounts should be based on the costs avoided by worksharing activities.” The USPS proposal would have expanded discounts beyond that, and would have unfairly shifted the burden of this rate increase on to single-piece mailers, the panel found.

“This trifecta victory of the American Postal Workers Union is a win for every citizen of our country,” said APWU President William Burrus. “We have denied the large mailers further subsidization of their postage by individual mailers.”

“For more than a decade,” Burrus added, “the APWU has argued that excessive worksharing discounts rob the Postal Service of needed revenue, and undermine the fundamental mission of the USPS — to provide universal service at uniform rates.

The APWU has been the lone voice of opposition to efforts by the mailing industry to keep their postage costs low, at the expense of the rest of the mailing public,” Burrus said. The APWU has long sought to reduce excessive discounts and was the only union to actively oppose the USPS rate proposal.

 Full article from APWU

Postal Regulatory Commission Also Backs ‘Forever’ Stamp

See PRC Proposed Rates an d Schedules

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer

Say goodbye to those pesky 1- and 2-cent stamps that used to clutter up desks and purses every time the price of mailing a letter went up. A new “forever” stamp — good for mailing a letter no matter how much rates go up — was recommended Monday by the independent Postal Regulatory Commission. The panel also called for a 2-cent increase in first-class rates to 41 cents, a penny less than the post office had sought.

In addition, the changes would sharply scale back the price of heavier letters.

“Adoption of this proposal is good for the Postal Service, postal customers and our postal system,” commission chairman Dan G. Blair said at a briefing.

A forever stamp would not carry a denomination, but would sell for whatever the first-class rate was at the time.

For example, if the 41-cent rate takes effect, forever stamps would sell for 41 cents. If rates later climbed to 45 cents or more, the price of the forever stamp would also go up at the counter or machine, but those purchased before the change would still be valid to mail a letter.

So there would be no need to buy small-denomination stamps to add to envelopes.

Currently, first-class mail costs 39 cents for the first ounce and 24 cents for each additional ounce.

While the first ounce would rise to 41 cents under the proposal, it would cost just 17 cents for each additional ounce. (more…)

Ad agency Campbell-Ewald launched a new WordPress-powered site for the U.S. Postal Service for its Deliver Magazine

According to Adirondack Base Camp blog:

Talking to the Postman - USPS goes 2.0
Matt, the father of all Wordpress, points out this neat find: Deliver - official blog of the United State Postal Service.

More than ever, the revolutionary new internet is quickly replacing vestigal medias and creating new forms of interaction. The injection of the of one of the world’s largest and most efficient information movers into the blogospere is big news. I think this is really worth paying attention to. Please compare: the dollars spent on delivering information via the “snail” system and the initial and operating cost of delivering information the new way.

Now the big question: What is the future role of the United States Postal Service in the new digital age?

Davis Letter to OPM: Let’s Capitalize on Success of Dental/Vision Open Season

February 16, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the leading advocate for giving federal employees access to dental and vision benefits, sent the following letter today to Office of Personnel Management Director Linda Springer. The letter lauds OPM for its overwhelmingly successful roll-out of the new program, and urges Director Springer to attempt to “leverage” this success to “ensure participants are receiving the best…products and services at the lowest cost.”

Davis sent the following letter to OPM:

February 16, 2007

The Honorable Linda M. Springer
Director
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
1900 E Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20415-0001

Dear Director Springer:

Congratulations on the Office of Personnel Management’s extremely successful Open Season for the new Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP). When Congress passed the legislation to create FEDVIP in 2004, first year enrollments were projected to be about 200,000. As you know, interest in the program ended up far exceeding expectations, however, and thanks in part to OPM s flexibility in extending the enrollment deadline, there were over 700,000 enrollees for FEDVIP’s first Open Season.

Based on this unexpected response, I encourage you to identify ways that the federal government can leverage this large pool to ensure that participants are receiving the best dental and vision products and services at the lowest cost to the participants. Because FEDVIP is entirely funded by federal employee contributions, this would not necessarily lead to a savings to the government. It could, however, reduce out of pocket costs to federal employees.

Thank you again for your work in successfully rolling out FEDVIP, and I look forward to working with you to identify ways to further improve and enhance the program in the future.

Sincerely,
Tom Davis
Ranking Member

From Wikipedia: “Bridal Veil is a virtual ghost town located in Multnomah County, Oregon, United States. As of July 2006, all that remained of the town was a post office, a cemetery and a church. One reason Bridal Veil still exists is its highly sought after postmark. Letters that come through Bridal Veil have their stamps cancelled with a Bridal Veil postmark. Thus, thousands of brides bring their wedding invitations through Bridal Veil for that coveted postmark. During the spring and summer, the height of wedding season, the post office is filled with thousands of wedding invitations awaiting that special postmark. The wedding business and ardent support from locals every time the federal government threatens shut down of the Bridal Veil post office has helped keep the town going long after the logging industry left the town.”

Flickr Photos

The Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) posted on its web site yesterday an online presentation to help labor organizations comply with the recordkeeping requirements of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA). The presentation covers the statutory requirements for recordkeeping, what records need to be kept, and points out potential recordkeeping problems with suggestions on how to avoid them. The presentation in PowerPoint format can be downloaded from this link: http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/olms/Financial%20Recordkeeping.pps

NOTE: The DOL under the Bush administration has been getting tough with labor unions with new reporting and disclosure requirements. Since many people don’t have PowerPoint installed on their computer, I have converted the presentation to a PDF file .

 A new book that exposes how Postal Service operations are being molded to suit the interests of corporate mailers and USPS competitors at the expense of workers and consumers has become a “must-read” for union and community activists.

Preserving the People’s Post Office, by Christopher W. Shaw, makes a compelling case for giving citizens and workers a stronger voice in determining the future of the Postal Service. Published by Ralph Nader’s Center for Study of Responsive Law, the book traces the history of recent postal “reform” efforts and exposes how corporate interests and conservative ideologues are conspiring in efforts to reshape the nation’s postal service

The book credits the union for standing up for consumers’ interests. “The American Postal Workers Union has been the sole union voice consistently advocating the universal public service principle,” Nader writes. “Greater efforts on this front could reap even larger rewards for both postal employees and postal patrons, as united they could forge jointly a more robust and vital Postal Service.” read more  

Purchase Book from Amazon.com  Preserving the People’s Post Office