PostalReporter.com Blog

WCNC-TV finds 103 complaint letters against post office – veterans say they’re ‘treated like trash’

WCNC has learned that more than a hundred disabled veterans who work for the U.S. Postal Service in Charlotte have signed complaint letters to the federal government, claiming they suffer from on-the-job harassment and what the letters call “blatant discrimination against veterans.”  The WCNC Investigators have learned the Charlotte Mail Center is also dealing with complaints of racism – in particular, about a black doll carried by one supervisor. “Why would an individual bring a doll, black, with a noose around its neck to work to a government facility and parade it?” asks Michael Anthony Smith.  Full Story and video

Excerpt from Report on Veterans in the Federal Government

The U. S. Postal Service (Postal Service) is one of the largest employers of veterans in the nation, second only to the Department of Defense. During FY 2006, the Postal Service employed 695,890 career employees. This was a decrease of 8,313 employees from the 704,203 employed during FY 2005 (Table 13).
 
 There were 179,348 veterans employed in the Postal Service during FY 2006. This is a decrease of 7,796 veterans from the 187,144 during FY 2005. Disabled veterans represented 8.8 percent (61,482) of the Postal Service’s career workforce, as compared to 9.0 percent (63,456) during FY 2005. The representation of disabled veterans in the Postal Service shows a decline of 1,974 disabled veterans (Table 13). Additionally, the Postal Service’s representation of 30 percent or more disabled veterans declined by 36 from 16,859 in FY 2005 to 16,823 in FY 2006 (Table 13).
 
 In FY 2006, veterans received 23.9 percent (6,859) of the promotions, as compared to 25.1 percent (7,270) in FY 2005. Disabled veterans received 9.5 percent (2,725) of all Postal Service promotions (28,696) in FY 2006, as compared to 10.0 percent (2,883) in 2005. This was a decrease of 158 promotions for disabled veterans. Postal Service veterans rated as 30 percent or more disabled received 2.8 percent (810) of the total promotions in FY 2006 as compared to 2.9 percent (844) during FY 2005. This was a decrease of 34 advancements for 30 percent or more disabled veterans. The promotion figures in the table for Postal Service include reassignments of Postal Career Executive Service employees and promotions to Executive and Administrative salary positions.
 
 In advancement and promotions, disabled veterans with less than a 30 percent disability rating accounted for 10.3 percent (2,696) of the total career hires, compared to 7.4 percent (2,620) in FY 2005. This was an increase of 2.9 percentage points. Additionally, 30 percent or more disabled veterans constituted 4.6 percent (1,191) of total career hires, as compared to 3.2 percent (1,144) in FY 2005. This was an increase of 1.4 percentage points.
 
 Although the number of disabled veterans with a 30 percent or more disability rating has declined as shown in Table 13 over the past four years, the percentage of the total workforce has remained steady at 2.4 percent. In addition, Table 13 shows the increasing percentage of 30 percent or more disabled veterans in both categories as a percent of veterans and percent of disabled veterans.

From eKey Technologies Overview of USPS OIG Audit Report:

The report looks at just the return portion of the disk rental process.  Using their own cost differential between automated and manual processing, the OIG says over the last two years the Postal Service has spent more than $40 million in additional costs processing the return portion of one company’s mail pieces.  The reason for the increased processing costs is due to the non-machinable characteristics of their mail piece design.  The OIG has projected over $60 million in additional processing costs over the next two years if changes are not made.  Using the USPS numbers contained in the report the costs are much higher.  Processing units are telling people that the outbound pieces of this customer are manually processed also, so it’s reasonable to double the above costs for a more accurate accounting.

The OIG report also states that other companies have requested approval to use a similar mail piece design but were denied its use because the design isn’t machine compatible.   Several of those letters are posted on this site.  The OIG says that this could be viewed as Postal favoritism.  The OIG goes on to say that this rental company was told in 2002 that their current design wasn’t acceptable. The USPS marketing department later provided their own letter to the company over riding the engineering departments determination.
 
This seems like more than favoritism.  It sounds more like malfeasance or even corruption.  This isn’t about a company leveraging its size and influence; it’s about postal officials not being held accountable for the ethical administration of their duties.  The USPS response seems to be that since the volume of this customer is so insignificant to the total volume in the First Class mail stream there is no need to make changes.
 
Additional processing costs, special handling and lost revenue running into the millions for just one customer?  No wonder postage rates are going up!

source: eKeyMailer.com

OIG Report: Review of Postal Service First-Class Permit Reply Mail (PDF)

 Excerpts from the USPS Office of Inspector General’s Audit Report on Postal Service’s Employee Benefit Programs

This report represents the results of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) self-initiated audit of the Postal Service’s Federal Employees Group Life Insurance (FEGLI and Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) programs (Project Number 07YG008HM000). The purpose of this review is to provide the Postal Service with information regarding its current employee benefit costs compared to most other federal and quasi-federal agencies in the same benefit programs. Our overall objective was to determine if the Postal Service programs are comparable to selected federal and quasi-federal government agencies; and if differences exist between the Postal Service’s employee benefit contributions and those provided by the selected agencies. We also determined if changes could be made to the Postal Service’s contributions and the potential costs associated with such charges.

We concluded the Postal Service’s FEGLI and FEHB programs for bargaining and non-bargaining employees are comparable to the six federal and five quasi-federal agencies against which we benchmarked. However, the Postal Service’s contribution rates for both programs were significantly higher compared to most agencies.

For example, the Postal Service pays the full cost of the premiums for almost all employees’ FEGLI basic life insurance and for executives’ Option-A life insurance and FEHB benefits. Most other agencies pay 33 percent of the FEGLI premiums and 72 percent ofthe FEHB premiums for their employees.  We also found the Postal Service made great progress in reducing future FEHB costs when it successfully negotiated with two of its major unions–the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union (NPMHU)–for a reduction in the agency’s FEHB contribution rate of 1 percent for each year of the new collective bargaining agreements. This will result in a $713 million savings for the Postal Service over a 10-year period.

We also determined the Postal Service can change existing FEGLI and FEHB contribution rates through negotiations with its unions (for bargaining employees) and consultations with management associations (for non-bargaining employees). These changes could result in significant savings for the Postal Service. Specifically, we estimate the present value of the Postal Service’s potential savings resulting from further reductions in benefit program contributions to be $1.073 billion over 10 years. This represent $1.073 billion in funds put to better use and will be reported as such in our Semiannual Report to Congress.

This report contains four recommendations that would allow the Postal Service to continue providing employees with benefits that are on par with those provided other federal employees, while significantly reducing the agency’s cost obligations.

Postal Service’s Employee Benefit Program (PDF)

APWU Challenges Inadequate Response to Union Concerns
re: Weingarten Wallet Card

In a recent letter to the Postal Service, the APWU challenged management’s inadequate response to the union’s concerns over a wallet card for supervisors that attempts to explain employee rights under the Supreme Court’s Weingarten decision. The letter provides in detail the APWU position regarding this matter. The union encourages members to know your rights and not rely on management’s explanation of your rights.

Read a copy of the correspondence between APWU and USPS.
http://www.apwu.org/dept/ind-rel/step4/Issues/110507%20Response%20to%20Dockins%20re%20Weingarten%20Card.pdf

Donald Henry, a Virginia postal clerk, says he’s coming forward-at the risk of losing his job-because he believes sensitive employee information was compromised and the post office has covered it up. Henry says it was no accident that tens of thousands of pages of sensitive employee information was tossed into a public dumpster behind the courthouse post office in Arlington. He insists he alerted his bosses when he noticed roughly 20 cases headed for the trash.  Sources say a supervisor ordered the documents thrown out. Among them: highly personal medical information, accident reports, performance reviews and countless grievances–including secual harassment claims lodged by postal employees against the Postal Service. The Office of Inspector General said Postal Employees were not informed because this was “an isolated incident” and that “all the documents were retrieved safely secured and disposed of properly.”

see video from WJLA-TV

A Kite, GA Postmaster has pleaded guilty to misappropriating $112,000 in postal funds, federal officials said.

Grayson Carter, 55, of Wrightsville, Ga., entered the plea Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Augusta, Ga., according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia.

Carter also pleaded guilty to illegally issuing a postal order for $736, officials said.

While working between August 2005 and November 2006 at a post office in Kite, Ga., Carter misappropriated money intended for postal money orders for his personal use, the statement from U.S. Attorney Edmund A. Booth Jr. said.

Carter attempted to return most of the money before being discovered but still owed the United States Postal Service about $18,000 when the scheme was discovered, the statement said.

A sentencing hearing has not been set yet. 

Associated Press

APWU President William Burrus announced that the union had prevailed in its efforts to gain admittance to the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee, a panel composed of large mailers that meets secretly with postal officials to develop long-term plans for the Postal Service. He called the agreement a “major accomplishment for the union.”

Every piece of equipment that postal employees interact with and every major management initiative — including network consolidation — began in the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee, Burrus said.

“This is the group making the plans for tomorrow’s United States Postal Service,” Burrus said, “and we only find out what their plans are once they are willing to go public.”

“If they are going to develop a new flat sorter, we don’t want to find out about it when they start putting it in our facility,” Burrus said. “We want to know five years before — when the idea begins.”

Despite MTAC’s role in influencing postal policy, the APWU had been denied admission to the panel. In May 2007 the union filed a lawsuit, charging that the secret policy meetings violated federal “government in the sunshine” laws. Faced with the prospect of losing the court case, Burrus said, he received written confirmation within the last few days that the APWU would be permitted access to the committee.

“We’re going to be there; we’re going to get that information; we’re going to monitor their activities,” Burrus said. “In short, we won!”

Starting Friday, Nov. 9, customers no longer have to visit or call around to different Post Offices to find an available PO Box. They can find them online at usps.com. The Postal Service’s new PO Boxes Available locator will make finding just the right PO Box “Quick. Easy. Convenient.”

To check it out, customers can go to usps.com and click on Locate a Post Office in the upper right-hand corner. Under the drop-down menu for “What are you trying to locate?” they can choose the new option “PO Boxes Available” and search by either ZIP Code or address. Customers will then receive a list of the closest Post Offices along with PO Box information for each office.

Information includes availability by box size and associated six-month box fees, as well as standard address, phone and fax numbers for each listed office. They can then click on More Info under each Post Office for more details, including PO Box lobby hours.

The PO Box Available online locator uses information from WebBATS to make it easier than ever for customers to locate a PO Box, help fill vacancies and boost your office’s revenue. If your office isn’t on WebBATS, your PO Box availability information won’t be available.

source: USPS

WASHINGTON, DC — The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service will meet in Washington, DC, at Postal Service Headquarters, 475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, on Nov. 14-15, 2007. The public is welcome to observe the Board’s open session, scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 15 in the Ben Franklin Room on the 11th floor. The Board is expected to discuss the following items:

Thursday, Nov. 15 at 8:30 a.m.

Minutes of the previous meeting, Sept. 24-26, 2007.

Remarks of the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Board (Jim Miller and Alan Kessler).

Remarks of the Postmaster General and CEO John Potter.

Committee reports.

Quarterly Report on Service Performance (Delores Killette, Consumer Advocate and Vice President).

Consideration of Fiscal Year 2007 Audited Financial Statements (Governor Katherine Tobin and Glen Walker, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President).

Tentative agenda for the Dec. 10-11, 2007, meeting in Washington, DC.