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Internal crime duties to switch to Office of Inspector General

posted 9/10/04

 Until the Office of Inspector General was created in 1997, the Postal Inspection Service also served as the USPS Inspector General. The Act creating the OIG changed this, and the two organizations have been working under an agreed “designation of functions” —or division of duties — for the two organizations.

 Under that designation of functions, the mission of the Inspection Service is to protect the Postal Service, its employees and its customers from criminal attack, and protect the nation's mail system from criminal misuse. The OIG’s role is to conduct and supervise objective and independent audits, reviews and investigations relating to Postal Service programs and operations by preventing and detecting fraud, waste and misconduct.

 An ongoing review of the duties of the two groups has found that the 1997 agreement needs to be revisited for the sake of organizational clarity and to assure that the statutory mandates for both organizations are being fulfilled.

 As a result, to be consistent with Congressional intent, the Postal Service, the Inspection Service and the Office of Inspector General are planning to shift appropriate internal crimes duties to the OIG. The Inspection Service will focus its efforts on areas of responsibility Congress has designated as within its exclusive jurisdiction.

 A transition team, with representatives of the OIG and the Inspection Service, will work over the next one to two years to clarify responsibilities and facilitate the transfer of duties. Steve Moe, an experienced USPS executive familiar with the work of both organizations, will lead the team. Moe has extensive experience in Human Resources and the Law Department.


U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, FEDEX EXPRESS BUSINESS ALLIANCE (USPS.com)

"On March 16, 2004, FedEx Express entered into a fourth addendum to its transportation agreement with the U.S. Postal Service, allowing FedEx Express to continue carrying incremental pounds of mail through November 30, 2004 at higher committed volumes than required under the original agreement. Third Amendment to Third Addendum dated December 8, 2003 and Fourth Addendum dated March 16, 2004, each amending the Transportation Agreement dated January 10, 2001 between The United States Postal Service and FedEx Express. Confidential treatment has been requested for confidential commercial and financial information, pursuant to Rule 24b-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended." (source: Document filed with Securities Exchange Commission)

Top 30 of 150 USPS Suppliers 2003

 FY 2003 Top 150 USPS Suppliers by Payment Received (pdf)

Rank| Vendor| Amount Paid

1 Federal Express Corporation, Memphis, TN $1,074,806,512


FedEx starts talks with pilots, hoping to avoid another slugout
 

April 19, 2004 (AP) FedEx and its pilots have started negotiations over new work rules, but both sides hope to avoid a nasty fight like the slugout four years ago. "Both sides right now understand that they have to live with each other. They realize also that a strike or a conflict will hurt them both," said Gary Chaison, a professor of labor-management relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. Four years ago, under the threat of strikes and replacement workers, FedEx and the Air Line Pilots Association settled the cargo airline's first union contract for U.S. employees. Now, that contract can be amended. It should help that this time negotiators are working on an existing contract. "So you're working off of a basis of something rather than starting from scratch," FedEx spokeswoman Sandra Munoz said. The current contract took effect in 1999 after years of haggling between the pilots and a company that has consistently been averse to organized labor.

The squabbling reached a peak in December 1998 when the pilots threatened to strike during the Christmas shipping season, raising worries around the country for FedEx customers. The strike talk also stirred up hundreds of non-flying FedEx workers who rallied in Memphis to support the company, Tennessee's largest private employer. The strike talk ended when FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith and other senior managers began preparing to lease planes and flight crews from other companies. Pilots agreed to keep working and contract negotiations resumed. Labor negotiations at FedEx are governed by the national Railway Labor Act, meaning the current work agreement remains in effect until it is amended. Under federal law, the pilots' contract can be amended as of May 31 and the new negotiations got underway late last month. "We're looking at basically a week of active negotiations every month through the end of the year," said David Webb, chairman of union's executive committee at FedEx.

While the company's 4,100 pilots plan to ask for a pay raise, their first concern is "quality of life issues," Webb said, "and specifically the kinds of schedules they're being forced to fly." Most passenger airlines have faced serious financial trouble since the Sept. 11 attacks, and some of the biggest are cutting payrolls and seeking major work concessions from employees. But FedEx Corp., the parent of FedEx Express, the world's largest cargo airline, is making money. "Under no circumstances will we negotiate any concessions in view of the extensive profits FedEx has made," said Webb, a pilot captain for some of the company's biggest cargo jets. FedEx offered only general comments on the negotiations. "What we're looking for is a contract that's fair for everyone, the pilots, the other employees, our customers and the shareholders," Munoz said.

The pilots and the company already disagree on key matters likely to be at the heart of the talks. The company says the average FedEx pilot makes $167,000 a year. Webb said that figure is too high, but he would not offer a pay estimate to counter the company's calculation. FedEx also says its flyers get more time off than federal rules require and the average pilot works 13 days a month. The union, meanwhile, contends the company often forces its pilots to put in as many hours as it can and gives them little say on flight schedules. "There's a significant loss of control once you begin a flight on when you might come back ... Under current work rules, the company has the ability to non-voluntarily extend you in the field, basically for indefinite periods of time," Webb said. FedEx flyers work mostly at night and with the company's international business growing, some are handling longer, more tiring flights, Webb said. "We're looking at how you appropriately define hard work as opposed to less hard work to make sure the guys who are really doing the yeoman's work in this business are adequately compensated," Webb said.

While FedEx and the pilots want to avoid the kind of scraps they have gotten into in the past, contract talks can turn ugly regardless of good intentions, said business professor Chaison. "It's not entirely a rational process that we're dealing with," he said. "Quite often there's an emotional content to bargaining, and the parties try to impress on each other their ability to inflict harm if they don't get their way."


Update: Georgia District Manager begins as Acting  Sacramento District Manager on 3/29/04 -

Sacramento Calif. USPS District Manager Removed

 NAPUS Member: "As a result of the investigation launched by the Management Associations in the Sacramento California District, .. has been removed as the Manager. Postmasters, Managers, & Supervisors stepped forward and gave testimony in the matter of the hostile environment in Sacramento. An ongoing investigation is being held. Further information will be posted."

Workplace Environment Issue Being Addressed-Friday, March 26, 2004 - I’ve been informed by California State President Norma Powell and National Vice President Charley Mapa that the Postal Headquarters intervention team is making progress in the ongoing investigation in the Sacramento District. The District manager has been removed from the position while the investigation is taking place. CA LEAGUE officials have been working with the District and Area for well over a year, trying to improve the workplace environment in the Sacramento District. We are pleased that the LEAGUE’s efforts are helping the situation get the attention it deserves. We’ll advise as developments occur.

--Steve D. LeNoir, LEAGUE President
 
"USPS Headquarters informed NAPUS President Wally Olihovik that a change has been made in the District Manager position at the Sacramento California District Office.   Olihovik praised the Postal Service for taking a positive step to improve the workplace climate in Sacramento." source: NAPUS (3/25/04)

THANK YOU FOR YOUR COURAGE
"On behalf of the Sacramento Focus Group (Think tank) - Norma Powell & Rod Rodinsky (League), Marilyn Walton ( NAPS), and Rick Burtzlaff, Rich Webberson, & myself (NAPUS), I'd like to personally thank all the brave Postmasters, Managers, & Supervisors who stepped forward and gave testimony in the matter of the Hostile environment in Sacramento. We - YOU - were successful in getting the deed done. Congratulations! This only proves that TOGETHER, WE CAN DO WHAT WE CANNOT DO ALONE! Thanks to everyone who did the right thing and made it better for their fellow members of the Sacramento District! I am extremely proud of all of you. Now, the healing can begin."
Diana Barela

NAPUS Member to PostalReporter.com: one of the senior management officials involved in the abuse of EAS employees in the Sacramento District was the postmaster of Royal Oak, Michigan during the time of the multiple shootings in the 1990s. (This rumor is buzzing all around the Sacramento and Bay-Valley Districts). In addition, USPS has started interviewing employees this week in the Sacramento District surrounding the allegations against senior management officials. (3/19/04)

 

USPS Headquarters Schedules Workplace Environment Review for Sacramento District

download pdf file

March 2, 2004

Mr. Steve LeNoir

President

National League of Postmasters

of the United States

1023 North Royal Street

Alexandria, VA 22314-1569

 

Mr. Wally Olihovik

President

National Association of Postmasters

of the United States

8 Herbert Street

Alexandria, VA 22305-2600

 

Mr. Vince Palladino

President

National Association of Postal

Supervisors

1727 King Street

Alexandria, VA 22314-2753

Gentlemen:

As you are aware, representatives of your associations in the Pacific Area have requested a workplace environment

review of the Sacramento District. Issues involving alleged mistreatment, abuse, and intimidation on the part of senior

management within the district have been raised in a recent letter to the Postmaster General. An ongoing effort to

address these treatment issues involving your local representatives has been in place for approximately one year, focusing on building effective working relationships. Apparently these efforts have not yet resulted in any meaningful changes as viewed by the members of the team, and they are now asking for a formal intervention by Postal Service Headquarters.

Discussions about this request have been held with senior management here at Headquarters, as well as with the functional manager of these types of workplace intervention efforts for the field. A determination has been made to assess the work environment within the Sacramento District coordinated by Postal Service Headquarters utilizing resources from outside the Pacific Area. This assessment will most likely include confidential interviews of management employees, and the development of recommendations for addressing the concerns outlined in the letter that can be implemented right away, as well as sessions on improving leadership skills and communications that can set a benchmark for future interaction between postmasters, managers, supervisors, and senior management in the Sacramento District.

It is our intention to begin this effort shortly and to keep an open line of communications with you and your representatives during this assessment. We will provide periodic updates to you as we move forward, and will share the final recommendations for improving the working environment with you prior to implementation. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Valerie E. Martin

Manager

Labor Relations

Policy Administration


SACRAMENTO PC POSTMASTERS/SUPERVISORS FEEDBACK REPORT

 As most of you know, about 18 months ago, the 3 Management organizations formed a focus group – the “Think Tank” – to work on issues surrounding service issues, cost containment and the work environment for the EAS employees of the Sacramento District.  However, the focus of the group has concentrated mostly on the improvement of the work environment as it was felt that this was the most pressing issue at the time.  Issues/concerns were gathered and presented to the District Manager in hopes changes would occur.

The VOE surveys continued to indicate that we were sliding in our efforts – occasionally we saw improvements, but they were short lived at best.  In order to get additional information, we recently held 3 after hours sessions with the EAS and invited their input.  Approximately 100 Postmasters & Supervisors attended these sessions.  Unfortunately, it indicated issues far more disturbing that we initially thought.

 After the sessions were complete and after many long hours of deliberation, we have concluded that we faced a serious condition in the Sacramento Performance Cluster.  We found ourselves with a group of employees we felt were at great risk.  We have determined that the well being of our employees is at stake and consider  Sacramento PC to be a Hostile Work environment.

Two primary issues surface most – the Lack of Trust issues with constant fear of discipline and the Perception of Unbearable Working Conditions.

Over the years, linkage has been made between perceptions of an abusive environment and acts of desperation, such as suicide or violence.  Currently, the environment in the Sacramento Performance Cluster is one of hopelessness and despair for many EAS employees.  We feel the situation has reached a crisis point.

To that end, we, the 3 management organizations, NAPS, NAPUS, & NLPM, produced a report and cover letter, requesting that the parties at the national level, including the PMG, request the OIG conduct an investigation of the management style & practices of Mr. Francia.  We also requested that he be reassigned during the investigation so people would feel free to testify.  In addition, we requested that the Area not intervene while the investigation was in progress.

To be successful in this endeavor, when the OIG comes to do this investigation and I am confident that they will - everyone needs to be candid and honest and give testimony.  It will do no good at all if folks do not step up to the plate and be willing to testify to what is going on.  I am counting on all of you to help your fellow EAS in this regard.  Together, we can make the Sac PC a better place to work.

(source: NAPUS Redding Calif. Chapter)

 


INVESTIGATION:  "U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay Jr. says he has begun an investigation into why the Main Post Office at 1720 Market Street  in St. Louis, MO has closed its infirmary during most weekend hours, when hundreds of workers are busy sorting mail for Monday deliveries. Some 2,400 work in the building. St Louis Local APWU President Roosevelt Stewart,  "Mail is flying all day and all night long and there are accidents all the time." A spokesman said he could not say how many workers are injured, but the infirmary "doesn't have heavy use" on weekends." -end-(source St Louis Today)

TIME WARNER PROPOSAL WOULD RAISE PERIODICALS' POSTAGE RATES
By David Straus, ABM Postal Counsel

February 24, 2004

American Business Media has not yet been given the opportunity to respond to the complaint filed at the Postal Rate Commission by Time Warner, Newsweek, Readers Digest, TV Guide and Conde Nast. Now that the Postal Service has filed its answer, in which it urged dismissal of the complaint, the Commission has several options: 1) it can call for a full-scale evidentiary hearing on the issues raised, 2) it could dismiss the complaint and terminate the case, 3) it could defer a ruling on the complaint until the next rate case, or 4) it may call for comments by other affected parties before it does anything. American Business Media believes the fourth option is the most likely course.

To develop its position and comments, American Business Media has been analyzing the early results submitted by those ABM members that have calculated the potential effect of the new rates proposed by Time Warner and the others. Thus far, we have analyzed results for 41 typical American Business Media member publications. All 41 would pay increased postage under the proposal. In fact, 20 of the 41 would pay double-digit increases, and five would pay increases between 50% and 81%. There is more work to be done, but it appears that the single most important factor influencing how a publication would fare under the proposed rates is pieces per sack, which follows from the "sack charge" proposed.

(As previously reported, Time Warner has provided a program to help you calculate the postage effect of the proposed changes. We encourage you to perform these calculations so that you can see the impact of the proposal. and write "Request for Alternate Rate Calculator" in the subject line. Please note that you need Microsoft Access and mail.dat files to use the tool.)

Although there is little chance that the rate design in the complaint will be adopted any time soon, the Postal Service's answer makes clear that it intends to move slowly in that direction. American Business Media members should continue to investigate ways to move from small sacks to larger sacks, and from sacks to pallets. (source American Media Business)


Minneapolis man charged with hacking into Post Office Web server

The Associated Press - 02/21/2004
MINNEAPOLIS


A young Minneapolis man who allegedly hacked into a Web server belonging to the U.S. Postal Service has been indicted on computer fraud charges.

Joshua Linsk, 21, is charged with two counts of computer fraud and one count of possessing 15 or more unauthorized access devices, the U.S. attorney's office said.

A grand jury alleged that Linsk transmitted a code in May 2002 that damaged a Web server database table owned by the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General.

Linsk also was charged with accessing a computer maintained by Whitney Education Group Inc. to obtain credit card account numbers and related information. The indictment alleges that Linsk got more than 15 credit card account numbers.

Linsk was arraigned Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Franklin Noel and was released on a $25,000 unsecured bond.

 

Putting the stamp on mailers

Entrepreneur thinks idea of boxes with postage just might fly

By CHERYL HALL / The Dallas Morning News

CARROLLTON – Joe Gaikoski is making it easier to send good things in small packages. In the process, he hopes his company gets many happy returns.

Last month, the 37-year-old owner and president of Amerisource Packaging & Printing LLP launched EZ Postage, billed as the "world's first postage-paid box."

It comes in two sizes – one for $4.99 that snuggly holds a CD and a $5.99 model for a DVD or game disc.

It's all about convenience. Buy a gift and the postage-paid box, then drop the package in a mailbox to any destination in the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.

Mr. Gaikoski guarantees that his prepaid postage will cover its intended use. Use one to mail metal parts, and you're on your own.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, he promises. EZ Postage for books, photos and documents are being developed.

The inspiration actually came in an edict from his wife.

A little more than a year ago, Roz Gaikoski spent a time-consuming morning buying a DVD for a Christmas present, getting a card at the supermarket and then driving to the post office, where she stood in line to buy a box and mail it.

"She said, 'You're in the packaging business. There has to be a better way,' " Mr. Gaikoski recalls.

Her challenge prompted him to take another look at a DVD shipping box he'd already developed.

What if, Mr. Gaikoski thought, he slapped stamps on those boxes and sold them to video and music retailers?

When he didn't find anything similar on the market, Mr. Gaikoski waded through U.S. Postal Service guidelines and modified his boxes to meet its rules. Next, he spent hours at a neighborhood Target weighing CDs and DVDs with a postal scale to see how many stamps it would take to cover even the heaviest.

"No one ever asked me what I was doing," he says with a chuckle. " Finding Nemo blew up all that research when it came out. It had two discs, two books and advertising, and weighed a gram more than anything else.

"So this is postage paid for heavier than Nemo," he says, proffering a DVD mailer.

Patent attorney Tom Timmons was skeptical when Mr. Gaikoski knocked on his door for legal help. "I thought, 'This is so simple. It must have been done before,' " recalls the Dallas attorney, who's been doing patent work for 29 years.

Before taking the job, Mr. Timmons ran a routine patent search and a more thorough one on the Internet. To his amazement, he found lots of patents for specialty shipping boxes and packages but none with prepaid postage.

Netflix, for example, mails subscribers its rental movie discs without the plastic covers in metered-mail envelopes.

Mr. Timmons says he filed a broad utility patent in September for any specialty package with prepaid shipping – be it transported by U.S. mail, UPS or FedEx. Although the U.S. Patent Office hasn't responded, he's "reasonably confident" that "pending" will become "permanent" – but it could take six months to a year.

In the last three months, Mr. Gaikoski has sent nearly 500 videos, CDs and games to family and friends to test the system.

"The beauty really hit home with me the first time I walked out to the mailbox in my pajamas and mailed Bruce Almighty to my sister-in-law in Honolulu," he says. "It went out on Monday, and she called on Thursday to thank me for the gift."

Ironically, the newness of EZ Postage creates a sizable hurdle for Mr. Gaikoski, who has to convince retailers that the postage-paid boxes will actually enhance sales. Then consumers have to prove his hypothesis.

So far, a dozen major retailers have expressed interest, including Wal-Mart Stores, which asked for samples. The Army & Air Force Exchange Service and the parent company of CD Warehouse are in the final stages of setting up tests but haven't signed their deals yet.

"It's so easy, it's difficult," says Mr. Gaikoski. "People can't understand why, if it's such a great idea, it hasn't been done before."

Moving experience

This isn't the first time Mr. Gaikoski has moved into uncharted entrepreneurial seas.

Joseph Greer Gaikoski was born and reared in Akron, Ohio, the youngest of five children in a blue-collar home of modest means.

The week he graduated from high school in 1985, the Akron Beacon Journal ran a story about 186 people applying for two jobs at a local McDonald's. That was a clear indication to the 18-year-old that it was time to head to Dallas, where his father had moved after his parents divorced.

His first job was at Sysco Food Systems unloading 100-pound sacks of potatoes.

"By the time I was 21, I was the night manager at Sysco in charge of 70 employees," says Mr. Gaikoski. "By the time I was 23, I was at Tuesday Morning as director of distribution."

In June 1996, at the encouragement of his late wife, Nancy, Mr. Gaikoski quit his $45,000 job, cashed in his 401(k) and took out a $1,000 cash advance on his MasterCard to start a company that provided boxes and packaging materials.

"We ate a lot of Kraft macaroni and cheese and Ramen noodles that first year," he says.

The company, then called ProTek Packaging, was doing well and had annual sales of about $1 million in 1998 when Nancy was diagnosed with breast cancer. She died nine months later.

A grief-stricken Mr. Gaikoski let his employees go and moved his company's operations into a neighboring packaging company to concentrate on rearing his two young children.

He emerged from his business cocoon in November of 2001 after meeting and marrying Roz, whose daughter sat next to his son in pre-kindergarten class.

He changed the company's name to Amerisource in honor of 9-11.

How much that division will bring in is a big question.

More testing

Mr. Gaikoski is in final negotiations with Magnolia Entertainment LLC in Oklahoma City about testing the boxes in CD Warehouses.

Magnolia vice president Matt Allen likes the concept but has no idea whether it'll actually fly. "I plan to test it in a small, a medium and a large market and see what happens."

For one thing, Mr. Allen worries that the product may be seasonal, and the holidays are over. "So I'm not sure this is the best time to give it a try."

Still, he's intrigued. Having an on-the-spot way to mail might spawn impulse purchases as well as encourage customers who typically purchase gifts online to buy at the store instead – and buy a box to boot.

Mr. Gaikoski has also heard encouraging words from Dallas-based AAFES about putting the boxes in its military stores.

His sales pitch to the Army and Air Force stores, as well as to the Navy Exchange Command in Virginia Beach, Va., is that his boxes are U.S. Postal Service-approved and can be sent to bases anywhere in the world, including Iraq, without additional postage.

The Postal Service, which is undoubtedly pleased that someone wants to buy a bunch of stamps, is considering putting the boxes in its vending machines, Mr. Gaikoski says.

"I'll be totally shocked if EZ Postage sales don't reach $3.5 million by the end of this year. But then I'm passionate and excited," he says, half-heartedly trying to rein in his zeal. "For example, if Blockbuster puts them in all of its stores and just sells one box a day at each, that would be $32,725 a day," he says, keying in an average wholesale price and multiplying by 8,500 stores.

Dennis Serratt, a retail product broker for Professional Reps Group Inc. in Fort Worth, thinks he's aligned with a winner.

In fact, he figures Mr. Gaikoski's early estimates might be a little low.

"Once one major retailer signs up, this is going to explode," predicts Mr. Serratt, who's been a manufacturer's rep for 22 years. "By the end of next year, this is going to be phenomenal."


Numbers Show Direct Mail Efficient and Effective
by Gene Del Poltio - President . Association  of Postal Commerce
from Startribune.com

After reading "Let's Face it: Direct mail doesn't work" by Michael Nelson (Nov. 2, 2003), Star Tribune readers might well believe that advertising mail is simply the last choice in marketing.

Happily, there's more than $50 billion on the table that says this isn't the case.

Nelson explains that "corporate America will spend about $46 billion this year on direct mail, with an average response rate of about 1 percent. ... That's a 99 percent-plus rejection rate, and it's simply not good enough in today's economy."

Not good enough according to whom?

Let's use Nelson's standard and test various media. For instance, does every ad in the Star Tribune generate a 1 percent response? If not, should the Star Tribune be smaller? Who should make such a decision? What about ads on TV or in magazines?

Why would a local business, charity, political candidate or government agency spend money on a medium that doesn't work? Does that make sense to anyone?

Nelson says "the gross inefficiencies of blasting out billions of pieces of junk mail to unknown recipients must be taking its toll, as direct-mail volumes are showing signs of decline for the first time in years."

Advertising expenditures reflect economic trends. During the past few years the nation has been in an economic holding pattern, so it follows that advertisers adjust spending to fit the times.

For instance, according to Robert Coen, senior vice president and director of forecasting with Universal McCann, a leading advertising agency, $49 billion was spent on newspaper advertising in 2000 -- an amount that declined to $45.4 billion in 2003.

Coen also says that in 2000 a total of $44.6 billion was spent on direct mail, $49.0 billion in 2003 and $51.5 billion will be spent in 2004. In effect, advertisers now spend more money with mail than with newspapers. Would that happen if advertising mail was inefficient and ineffective?

Census Bureau figures show that the national population climbed from 255 million in 1992 to 288 million in 2002, an increase of 33 million people.

During the same period, the Newspaper Association of America says that in 2002, morning and evening circulation totaled 55.2 million copies -- down from 60.2 million a decade earlier. One could argue that newspapers are now "more efficient" because they serve a larger population with less circulation. It's just a guess, but somehow such "efficiency" is probably not the goal of most publishers or ad departments.

Nelson repeatedly uses the term "junk mail." According to the Washington Post, "newspapers have been at war with advertising mailers for a long time -- ever since the mailers began siphoning ad dollars away from publications. Indeed, newspaper editorialists invented the term 'junk mail' in the early 1950s, according to Richard Kielbowicz, an associate professor of communications as the University of Washington, Seattle, and an expert on postal rate issues."

Nelson claims "the direct-mail industry has been built on a mass production model, driven by tonnage -- 5.2 billion tons last year, to be exact."

More than 5 billion tons? Really?

According to "Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 2001 Facts and Figures," a publication produced by the Environmental Protection Agency and the latest available edition, all municipal solid waste produced in the United States amounted to "approximately 229.2 million tons" in 2001 -- a decrease of 2.8 million tons from 2000.

As for advertising mail, it totaled 5.4 million tons -- far less than the 12.2 million tons represented by newspapers.

Here's a basic truth: The United States has a huge and vibrant economy with a variety of advertising channels. There's room for all media. As a country we need our newspapers, we need our mail stream, and we need all other media as well. Based on performance, advertisers will decide which media works best to promote a given product, service or nonprofit cause -- and that's the way it ought to be.

Gene A. Del Polito is president of the Association for Postal Commerce (www.postcom.org), an organization that includes the nation's largest mailers.

 

Court Upholds USPS Prohibitions on Signature Solicitation

Conduct on Postal Service Property - Prohibitions on Signature Solicitation

On December 31, 2003, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued its decision in Initiative and Referendum Institute v. United States Postal Service. The case challenged the constitutionality of the Postal Service's prohibition against solicitation of signatures for petitions, polls, and surveys on Postal Service property (see POM 124.54a). The court found that the prohibition was constitutional. Therefore the prohibition is in full force and effect. The court's decision was conditioned on publication of clarifying information about the regulation, in accordance with the Postal Service's previous offer to do so.

Postmasters and other installation heads are reminded about their obligations regarding enforcement of the Postal Service's regulations governing conduct on Postal Service premises with respect to activities in support of ballot initiatives and public referenda.

Please note that Postal Service regulations regarding conduct on Postal Service property prohibit the solicitation of signatures on petitions, polls, and surveys on Postal Service property. This prohibition extends only to efforts to have members of the public provide signatures on Postal Service premises, and not to communications that promote the signing of petitions, polls, and surveys somewhere other than on Postal Service premises. The regulations do not prohibit members of the public from engaging in other forms of expressive activities on the exterior areas of Postal Service property that are open to the public. For example, leafleting, distributing literature, picketing, and demonstrating by members of the public are prohibited only in lobbies and other interior areas of Postal Service property that are open to the public. These activities are not prohibited on exterior areas of Postal Service property, such as Postal Service sidewalks and parking lots.

Thus, if a petition circulator wishes to collect signatures for a petition, poll, or survey, he or she would not be prohibited from standing on exterior parts of Postal Service property that are open to the public and passing out informational leaflets, holding up a sign, or both. The leaflet or sign could provide relevant information about the petition, poll, or survey, and direct Postal Service customers to nearby non-Postal Service property, that is, property not under the Postal Service's charge and control, where they can sign the petition, poll, or survey, if they so desire.

These activities, however, are still subject to other provisions in the regulations pertaining to all parts of Postal Service property, such as those prohibiting disturbances, soliciting contributions or collecting private debts, campaigning for public office, vending, commercial advertising, impeding ingress and egress, depositing or posting literature, and setting up tables, stands, or other structures.

These regulations do not apply to municipal or other public perimeter sidewalks, even if the Postal Service's property line extends onto such a sidewalk, or even if there is some obligation on the part of the Postal Service to maintain the city sidewalk, such as by removing snow. The beginning of Postal Service-controlled space must be easily distinguishable to members of the public by means of some physical feature. For example, a Postal Service sidewalk that is perpendicular to the city sidewalk would indicate to members of the public that they are entering onto Postal Service property, as would stairs leading up to the entrance of a Post Office.

Please refer to POM section 124, Conduct on Postal Property, and Poster 7, Rules and Regulations Governing Conduct on Postal Property, to review these regulations in their entirety. If you have questions regarding this article, the conduct regulations in general, or the application of a specific conduct regulation, please contact your Field Legal Office for advice. (source: USPS)

INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM INSTITUTE, et al., v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE (pdf)

 

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