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Editorial: Ending Saturday mail delivery saves money, makes sense
New Pitney Bowes Mail Presort Facility to
Open in Jacksonville, Florida
1 Injured After Car Crashes
Into Hopkinsville Post Office
8/26/10
Oklahoma City Mailman
Attacked by Dog, Dog's Owner
USPS tries for more service with fewer offices
Rives Junction postal worker drives 1 million
miles without accident
In Florida Primary, more voters voted by mail than in person
8/25/10
USPS Reports
Net Loss Of $764 Million For the Month of July
The US Postal Service
today filed its July 2010 (unaudited) preliminary financial
report with the Postal Regulatory Commission. USPS reported a
net income/loss of $764 million. The total Fiscal Year to Date
loss is $6.1 billion.
USPS July
Preliminary Financials: Oh the Questions They Raise
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Are the
Postal Service's Earnings Forecast Too Optimistic?
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Postal officials gave varying accounts of ex-executive's perks
Newly released memos
of extensive interviews conducted earlier this year by the U.S.
Postal Service's office of inspector general with Postmaster
John E. Potter and other executives provide a rare look into the
operations in the top reaches of the Postal Service. Potter added that the
Postal Service 'in general does a lot of contracting out, like
in IT and programming and systems development.' Potter said he
did not believe that the Postal Service employees could keep
their programming skill-sets fresh enough to compete with the
private sector contractors," the summary of his interview
states. Concerning the so-called "deminimus use" policy governing
the use of postal resources for personal activities, he said the
policy refers to "limited use, like people taking calls from
their family, or people working on your house. I don't know how
or where to draw the line. In the past, you had to pay for
personal long distance calls from USPS phones, but now there is
a deminimus rule.
Potter
Knew of Bernstock's Sole-Source Contracts
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No-bid contracts got 'short shrift' at Postal Service
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Brownell Interview on Bernstock Case (PDF)
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Interview with PMG John Potter
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Mary Anne Gibbons |
Anthony Vegliante |
OSHA
Proposes $191,000 In Fines Against USPS at Kansas Bulk Mail
Center
An OSHA inspection
revealed seven alleged repeat and 21 alleged serious violations
of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. OSHA's inspection was
initiated under its site-specific targeting program which
targets employers with high injury and illness rates. "There is
no excuse for the lack of attention to the work environment that
resulted in a multitude of violations, including seven repeat
violations," said Charles Adkins, OSHA's regional administrator
in Kansas City, Mo.
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APWU
Convention Delegates Reject Proposal To Increase Union Dues
- After lengthy debate,
a proposal to raise dues by $3 per pay period failed. “I have
said on a number of occasions that we have sufficient
resources,” APWU President William Burrus said before the vote.
“I ask that you defeat this resolution.”
APWU 2010
Convention - Union Vows to Escalate Fight To Preserve Postal
Service (PDF)
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Videos|
Convention News
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Job Security Dominates Clerk Discussions At APWU Pre-Convention
Conference
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On
Saturday, delegates discussed resolutions, many of which focused
on excessing. The relocation of employees in the craft has been
a major point of contention between the Postal Service and the
APWU. “There’s no question in my mind, the days of being
comfortable in your job are over,” said Rob Strunk, Assistant
Director of the Clerk Division.
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APWU Delegates Take to the Streets: Save Saturday Service!
Burrus said that members
must “tell America that we’re not fooled” by the USPS plan to
close the mailbox on Saturday, and we must let the public know
that they shouldn’t be fooled either. |
Fight Against Subcontracting Takes Center
Stage at APWU Motor Vehicle Services Pre-Convention
- At the top of the agenda was discussion of the pilot program
that established flexible work rules and flexible schedules as
part of the union’s efforts to ward off subcontracting. “The
Motor Vehicle Division is under attack,” said MVS Director Bob
Pritchard, but the pilot program prevented 22 sites from being
contracted out.
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Leaving
the Mailstream: Verizon
Pitney Bowes Offers New Tabletop, Dual-Head
Tabber System for U.S. Mailers
East Derry, NH Residents Protest Transfer Of Acting Postmaster
My Post Office Says It Won't Accept Packages From Other Zip Codes
Sentiment builds to replace Healdsburg post office
Woman gets probation after stealing from
Contract Post Office
Comparing the USPS with Fed Ex
Assault charges filed in post office beating
GovDelivery and Zumbox To Offer Free Digital Postal Mail Delivery To Local,
State and Federal Government
8/24/10
Top PRC Lawyer Has Bright Ideas for New
Postal Revenues
Marketers brace for paper cost increase
APWU to rally against delivery cuts
Opinion: Hey Congress, Designate This
Detroit cop remains in critical condition after collision with mail truck
8/23/10
NC
Postmaster: USPS Must Re-Evaluate Its Management Culture to Face
Challenges Ahead
- What these examples
show is that the old aphorism that one measures to manage can
easily become a culture of managing to the measure. I do not
cite these examples to claim corruption or even incompetence. I
do think they demonstrate a management culture that has become a
prisoner of a deleterious institutional groupthink. If the
Postal Service is to successfully face the challenges ahead then
it must be willing to re-evaluate its culture. |
State
of the Union Address ‘Our Union is Alive and Strong’
APWU - “The
anemic hiring practices of the Postal Service,” coupled with the
effects of automation, subcontracting, computerization, and
worksharing have conspired to reduce our ranks, Burrus noted,
but union commitment is strong.
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Will the Post Office Be Stamped Out In 10 Years?
In its “Action Plan For The
Future,” the USPS says the post office of 2020 should be able to
“maintain current high levels of service and performance.”
Here’s my prediction for the future — if they think the level of
service we’re getting in 2010 is high, there won’t be a post
office to complain about in 10 years.
If postal service
wants more money, improve
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A Story About a Postal Story
Appeals Court Upholds Sentence of Postal Worker For Mail Theft
From Anthrax to Allium : Views from a New York Postal Facility's Green Roof
Why extending tax cuts for the wealthy could hurt USPS and the mailing
industry
Would ending Saturday mail delivery hasten the decline of rural
communities?
The Definition of the Postal Market
8/22/10
Oshkosh Postal
Workers
Fight To Keep Operation
This is not the first
time the members of the American Postal Workers Union Local 178
have had to make the case to keep U.S. Postal Service functions
and their 100 to 150 jobs in Oshkosh. In 2007, the union
successfully defended the Oshkosh distribution hub's strong
service, large processing volumes and efficiency to prevent
outgoing mail consolidation into Green Bay's center.
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Lost in the mail: Wrong woman signs for
$5,000 ring
..a retiree living in Panama City decided to send his oldest daughter a
heirloom diamond cluster ring worth $5,000. The ring never made
it to the daughter...a spokeswoman for the post office in Panama
City said the package was signed for and delivered to a woman
with a nose ring. There was also no printed name (included with
the signature).. all packages had to have a signature and the
printed name of the recipient. USPS sent the retiree $400
because the carrier who delivered the package failed to get the
printed name of the signer.
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ACLU Says Oregon Post Office Violated Protesters First Amendment
Rights
The attorney
for the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon
(ACLU) served Ashland's Postmaster with a letter outlining their
concern over an incident where protesters were barred from
gathering on steps in front of the local post office. In
so doing, the USPS violated the demonstrators’ rights to free
speech and assembly protected by the First Amendment. |
Proctorville Post Office
'going green'
Wheeling Mail Runs on Time
8/21/10
Postal worker subject of theft investigation
Mail truck parked near gas leak catches fire in Los
Altos Hills
Mail carrier struck by lightning
in Missouri
8/20/10
OSHA
Proposes $350,000 In Fines Against USPS At Portsmouth, NH Mail
Processing Facility
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OSHA's inspection,
conducted in response to employee complaints, found untrained or
inadequately trained employees at the Portsmouth distribution
center performing troubleshooting and voltage testing on or near
live electrical equipment and wiring that had not first been
de-energized. The workers also lacked personal protective
equipment and were not instructed on proper electrical lockout/tagout
procedures.
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USPS
Requests Former CFO Back Up Testimony On Behalf Of NALC
Former USPS CFO Michael Riley
submitted testimony to PRC on behalf of NALC earlier this month.
Former USPS Chief Financial Officer: Eliminating Saturday
Delivery Is Not Necessary. Now USPS is requesting that Riley
produced documents, analyses, data to support his assertions.|
Post office's tote boxes would be a top seller
If the Postal
Service really wanted to get serious about selling things (other
than stamps), it should market those wire-reinforced plastic
mail tote boxes. It's the best thing they've come up with this
side of the Elvis stamp.
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Letter Carrier unharmed after USPS truck set on fire
The letter carrier escaped not
injured. Investigators are trying to determine if the truck was
parked over a broken gas main along La Barranca Road. The postal
service told ABC7 there were fewer than 100 pieces of mail
aboard the truck, and officials will be informing people who
might have had letters or packages that were destroyed.
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Alaska letter carrier pleads guilty to theft
UPS Employee Pleads Guilty To Mail Theft
Marion OH Carrier Investigated For Stealing Mail
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