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Selected News from Postalblog
USPS Resolves Dispute With Unions Over
Computer Security Rules
USPS Selects Former Halliburton Executive
As New CIO
Proposed FMLA Rule Changes Would Be
Major Defeat For Workers
APWU: Proposed FMLA Regulations Threaten
Medical Privacy, Other Protections
Bush Administration Seeking Changes To FMLA Regulations
USPS to Add
Surcharge for Express Mail Delivery on Sundays and Holidays
Big
Pay Increases Approved For Top Postal Service Officers
Letter: Expeditor dies after
on the job fall in Denver parking lot
Postal Workforce Stats At A Glance
USPS Retail
Cost Cutting (PDF)
Postal Watchdog Files Complaint
Over USPS Elimination of Bound Printed Matter Rate
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Former Postal
Public Affairs VP Jaffer Starts Own Consulting Business
Former Postmaster Wins Hostile
Workplace Lawsuit - But No Money
USPS Wants To Automate Road
Tests
Postal Service Updates Its
Transformation Plan
EEOC: Postal Worker Has Claim
For One-Time Incident of Discriminatory Harassment
Postal Worker Fails to Convince
Appeals Court to Overturn APWU-USPS Settlement
Appeals Court:
Evidence of Disability for Disability Retirement
NALC’S Young:
Good Cop/Bad Cop - Right Here In The USPS
Rollout of PostalPEOPLE Initiative Completed
Mail Handler Fired After Threatening
Behavior Towards Co-Workers
Court Upholds Postal Supervisor’s
Demotion For Altering Time-Keeping Records
USPS Los Angeles District Gets
Approval From OPM to Offer Early Outs
NALC’s Young
Urges Support For Harkin Amendment to Labor-HHS Bill
APWU: Casual Issues Disputed
At National Level (PDF)
Arbitrator Issues
Award in Rural Carriers Contract Case
click
here to read the award (PDF)
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A Short Comparison of USPS Contracts
With APWU, NPMHU, NALC and NRLCA
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PRC Requests Help In Developing
Report on Universal Postal Service And Postal Monopoly
Postal Service’s Oldest Employee
Still Going Strong At 93
OIG Recommends
USPS Increase Postal Employee's Benefit Costs
Canadian Lottery
Scheme Using Fake USPS Checks
APWU Questions and Answers on USPS Shared Services
Court To USPS: Retire Not Fire Postal Veteran With PTSD
Bogus USPS Early
Out / Buyout Letter Making The Rounds
PMG Potter and USPS Executives
Focus On 2008
USPS Threatening
To Discipline Employees Over Failure to Pay Local Tax ??
Postal Worker Gets 2 Years
for Stealing Over $400,000 In Money Orders
USPS Seeking Info On Automatic
Vending Machine Manufacturing
Veterans Preference and the U.S. Postal Service
Supreme Court to Hear Postal
Worker’s Retaliation Case
USPS Reports $5.4 Billion Deficit
for FY 2007
Appeals Court Overturns Postal
Worker’s Conviction for Theft
Fired Postal Worker Featured
in Push to Expand Reservist Job Rights
USPS Workforce Size and Employment
Categories, 1986-2006
Appeals Court Overturns Postal
Worker’s Conviction for Theft
Fired Postal Worker Featured
in Push to Expand Reservist Job Rights
USPS Responds to APWU Inquiry
Regarding Absences of 3 Days or Less
Letter Carriers Ratify New
5-Year Contract
USPS Offering
Cash Prizes in Automated Postal Center Sweepstakes
Postal Inspectors
Sue USPS for Overtime Pay
APWU Questions
USPS Medical Documentation Requirement for Absences of 3 Days
or Less
Arbitrator Awards
$50,000 for Postal Inspectors Misconduct
USPS, Postmasters
Reach Agreement on Pay Package
Notice: USPS Revised Rule for
Conduct on Postal Property
Mail Handlers
Awarded $13.8 Million for Casuals Violation
Company Tests Popcorn Vending
Machine at NJ Postal Facility
"Kelly Girl" Arbitration Award to Cost USPS Nearly $20 Million
USPS BOG Chairman Gets Blue-Collar Name Tag
Postal Supervisor Fired For Rewarding
Employees Non-Worked OT Loses Appeal
Court Excludes
AMS Specialist Position From APWU Bargaining Unit
Flat
Sequencing System (FSS) Strategy
USPS: Boston District's New Mystery Shopper Board Game
USPS Performance Scores at Record Levels
USPS Seeks Private
Companies For New Priority Mail Care Package Program
Former USPS
Contractor Nabbed in NJ Postmasters Scheme
Postal Employees Cry Foul Over
Alleged USPS Privacy Violations
Photo: Semi-Automated
Postal Robotic Delivery Vehicle
USPS Deployment of Automated
Postal Centers Put On Hold
USPS Seeks Vendors for Postal Package Processing System
Video: USPS
Infomercial
Postal Supervisor’s Retaliation
Lawsuit Dismissed
Video: NALC Branch #709: Reno
Picket Against Contracting Out
New CSRS, FERS
Retirement System Goes Online in 2008
NALC, NRLCA Presidents Debunk
PMG Letter Justifying Contracting Out Mail Delivery
PMG: USPS Strongly
Opposes the 'Mail Delivery and Protection Act'
Photo: Postal
Window Clerk and A Very Strange Mail Package
OSHA partnership helps reduce
ergonomic injuries at USPS
USPS Customer
Satisfaction Questionnaire Website Launched
Court Affirms Enforcement of
Unfair Labor Charges Against USPS
Senator Collins Introduces Postal Resolution Reaffirming Protections
of Sealed Mail
NAPUS: Is Mail Service at Risk?
USPS Awards Contract to Protect
Employee Personnel Records
NALC Young: It’s time to stop
the ‘run amok’ OIG
Postal Service Awards $874.6
Million Contract for Flat Sequencing System
Unofficial Transcript of NALC Rap Session
Recent EEOC
Decisions Involving Postal Employees
Postal Employees Know Your Rights
Postal Worker Fired After Second Violation of USPS Zero Tolerance
Policy
Postal Employees Should Think
Twice Before Appealing Case to MSPB
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
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Mismanagement at Royal Oak
Carrier Unit
FedEx and DOT at Stalemate in
Dispute Over Disclosure of Postal Contract Data
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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
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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
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
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March 31, 2008
Alabama post office
robbed
MDA: Letter carriers deliver
for three important letters
Postal worker charged
in hit-and-run wipeout
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March 30, 2008
Postal worker critical after West Side crash
A postal worker is in critical condition
Saturday afternoon after he was possibly ejected from his postal
truck and hit by another truck on the West Side. The postal worker,
who is believed to be a 35-year-old man, was making a U-turn when
his truck was hit by another vehicle, according to Harrison District
police. The impact from the crash possibly caused the man to be
ejected from his truck. He was then apparently hit by another vehicle
passing by.
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Missouri Postmaster On Leave During
Probe Of Alleged Rules Violations
For more than a
month, Jackson postmaster Mike Heuschober has been on administrative
leave while the U.S. Postal Service conducts an investigation of
alleged rules violations. The allegations do not include charges
of criminal misconduct, said Richard Watkins, spokesman for the
Mid America District of the postal service said. "It was an internal
matter in terms of regulations, instructions, processing or mail
delivery," Watkins said.
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North Andover residents say post office
too slow
Vets' mail was in
limbo
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March 28, 2008
FMLA: Here We Go Again
Bush Keeps
Trying to Chip Away at Workers’ Rights-
The headlines last July seemed to say it all: “Labor Department
Study Affirms That FMLA Is Working as Intended.” So union activists
were dismayed when seven months later the Department of Labor proposed
sweeping new regulations for the FMLA. “Business as usual, that’s
the only reasonable explanation,” said APWU Legislative Department
Director Myke Reid of the more-recent news stories. “It seems like
corporate America just won’t give up in its quest to strip workers
of their rights."
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New Campaign
and Improved Tools Target Unscheduled Absences
- New software
will merge ERMS and TACS, creating a more effective tool to pinpoint
recurring patterns of unscheduled absences. Every area in the country
will have the new tool by the end of May.
New PS Form 3971|
NY Metro Area APWU
Joins May Peace Activism In Opposition to War
- The New York Metro
Area local APWU will observe a "2-minute period of silence at 1:00
AM, 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM" during all three shifts on May 1st, 2008
- International Workers Day - to show their opposition to the Iraq
war and occupation and Bush's threats to attack Iran and Syria.
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Postal Carrier Back On Route Day After
Dog Attack
Postal carrier attacked by dog, saved
by elderly woman
Retiring postal worker
ends service at 79
FBI Focusing on 'About Four' Suspects
in 2001 Anthrax Attacks
Mailboxes barricaded for winter
Wyoming: USPS will install cluster
boxes in all new developments
USPS reducing Standard Mail barcode
discount
Postal Bulletin 3/27/08 Issue
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March 27, 2008
Mail handler makes
his stand about doing 'right thing'
Dublin: Postal Service
not meeting demands
Digital Maps for
Valassis
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March 26, 2008
Postal
Service Can't Account for Millions, Audits Say
The U.S. Postal Service can't account
for at least $33.4 million in facilities-repair and vehicle expenses
last year because of weak controls and lax oversight, two reports
from the agency's inspector general's office said. The Postal Service
couldn't assure that any of the $27.6 million in maintenance and
repair expenses at facilities examined by auditors were used for
that purpose, according to one of the reports posted on the agency's
Web site. Some supervisors weren't aware that they were responsible
for overseeing expenses, that audit found. Other employees with
limited knowledge of the repairs certified that they were properly
done by contractors.|
OIG: Review of the Postal Service's Personnel
Security Process (PDF)
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Potential Gap: "Postal
Service HR personnel do not certify or verify whether contract employees
who require basic clearances have met Postal Service security requirements.
Allowing contractors to certify that their employees meet Postal
Service security requirements and relying on the contracting officer,
COR, or designee to verify the data provided by the contractor could
expose Postal Service employees, customers, the mail, and critical
assets to unnecessary risk. Alternatively, certification or verification
by HR or security personnel could help ensure all contract employees
meet security requirements and potentially reduce the risk."
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Postal Employee
Charged With Disclosing Confidential Information
- ..A distribution/window
clerk at the Post Office in Watkins Glen, New York was charged with
"unlawfully disclosing confidential information coming to him in
the course of his employment, namely, the existence of a mail cover,
a confidential investigative technique for law enforcement controlled
by the United States Postal Service, to the subject of the mail
cover."
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Chicago Postal Worker Dies in Bedford Park crash
A U.S. Postal Service
employee died Tuesday night after her truck ran into a tree in Bedford
Park, police said.
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Postal carrier wounded in attempted
robbery on route
County Clerk Steamed At Post Office Over Back-up of Certified Mail
Postal Service wants to ax single parcel rate
Postal Service can be maddening
Ex-letter carrier says he hid 18,000 items
Postal Service Moves to Improve Address
Quality for Mailing Industry
USPS Truck Crashes; Some Mail Destroyed
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March 25, 2008
USPS Emphasizes
Responsible Use Of Sick Leave
Last year, 35,000 employees had at
least 20 unscheduled absences from work. More than 60 percent of
all unscheduled absences are for sickness or injury. Together, they
cost USPS $50 million each pay period. To encourage employees to
bank their sick leave, USPS is launching a campaign featuring employee
testimonials, targeted messages, workroom posters and brochures.
The campaign encourages supervisors to more closely monitor sick
leave patterns and pay attention to the potential for abuse.
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Postal worker pleads guilty to delaying, hiding mail
1-cent postage increase not likely
to make waves
Stamp price hike needn't raise mailing costs
Napa's Post Office in War time
Higher Postage and Lower Response Squeeze Direct Mail
Banking On A Sick Leave Bank
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March 24, 2008
PRC Ruling Exposes
Unhealthy Relationship Between USPS and Influential Mailers -A
recent ruling Postal Regulatory Commission has concluded that a
postage rate increase proposed the USPS includes an excessive “workshare”
discount, APWU President William Burrus said in a recent update
for union members. “The 2008 PRC ruling is Exhibit #1 in exposing
the unhealthy relationship between postal management and influential
large mailers,” he added.
PRC: Postage Hike Exceeds Limit on
Worksharing Discounts
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Man crashes into post office twice in one day
Queen Creek upgrades to postal trucks
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March 23, 2008
Funding Shortfall Causes Iowa Post
Office Closing
During an informational meeting at
the Harper Knights of Columbus Hall, Thursday night, Mark Allen,
manager of postal operations, said that one reason the Post
Office in Harper is being put on emergency suspension is due to
a funding shortfall in the entire United States Postal Service.
Allen said after the meeting he has put 10 post offices on
suspension, and one has reopened. He also said that it is a hard
part of his job to suspend a post office.
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National Level Grievance Filed On The 2008 Mail
Count
"During the February 23
— March 7, 2008, National Mail Count, the Postal Service failed
to ensure an even flow of mail on rural routes as required by
Article 30, Section 1.A, Article 19 and Section 534 of Handbook
P0-603, to the detriment and disadvantage of all bargaining unit
employees."
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Editorial: Important Cases which Impact Disability Retirement
Applications
Residents Blame Post
Office For Jail Time, Late Fees
Dogs becoming real problem for postal carriers
Portland, USPS discuss sale of distribution center
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March 22, 2008
Ex-Postmaster Accused of $100,000-Plus Theft
A felony charge of illegal
conversion of postal funds was filed against Julie Rae Cashmore,
46, of Lakewood, authorities said on Friday. Police said she
resigned in January from her job as postmaster of the Greenhurst
post office, after investigators from the Postal Service
inspector general’s office confronted her about the missing
money. More than $100,000 in proceeds from the sales of stamps,
postage fees and other postal products was stolen over a period
of more than a year, Glen A. Diemer, a special agent with the
inspector general’s office, said in court papers.
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Steven Forte
Named VP New York Metro Area
Former Postal
Worker Implicated In ID Theft Ring
Postal
employee taken to hospital after collision in mail truck
Chicago: USPS mailbox blown up on Northwest Side
PRC verifies USPS rate increases
Man attacked postal
worker, cops say
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March 21, 2008
Editorial: Removal of Stamp Machines A Bad Idea
Removal of the stamp vending
machines is one more reminder that the Postal Service, in many
ways as government-run monopoly, just doesn’t get it when it
comes to serving consumers. When it comes to the U.S. mail, the
customer isn’t always right — but the bureaucracy is.
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Ex-postal worker denies $69,000 disability fraud charges
The indictment alleges that
Schreiber regularly filed false claims related to workers'
compensation payments with the U.S. Department of Labor and lied
to her doctors and the Postal Service about her condition.
Schreiber received $68,726 in benefits to which she was not
entitled and used the mail and wires to carry out the scheme,
the prosecution alleged.
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New Orleans: Gloom of night mail draws complaints
Postal Workers Sickened, Evacuated
Tiny Harper, Iowa, fighting to save post office
Get ready: More US postal changes en route
Postal Service Wins 'Top Perch' Award for CFC
Talks aim to reopen Liberty postal station
Nortel
picks up Postal Service extension
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March 20, 2008
Injured deer wanders in to Westend post office |
March 19, 2008
Texas Post Office Suffers Under Workload
...that
higher-ups in the postal service were underfunding employees at several
locations, causing backed up lines of customers and ever greater stress among
inexperienced employees. "The girl working the counter...the phone was ringing,
there was a long line, someone was trying to make deliveries at the back
door..Ludwick said that understaffing issues have been a problem in Lakehills
and Pipe Creek for a long time, due to high turnover caused by low wages. "They
can't keep anybody, and they're always short-staffed," Ludwick said.
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Comments (29)
Another Postal Worker Celebrates 50 Years
Since 1958 Harold Buschmeyer has been delivering
mail in Bay County. Buschmeyer works out of the Northside Station Post Office in
Panama City. The 80-year old was honored with a proclamation by Panama City
Mayor Scott Clemons declaring Tuesday as Harold Buschmeyer Day in Panama City.
His co-workers also presented him with a crystal eagle in honor of his services
over the years. Bushmeyer says he has no plans whatsoever to retire anytime
soon, saying he'll continue to deliver the mail as long as he's able.
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Comments (34)
Former postal supervisor sentenced
Valpak Helps ‘Stamp
out Hunger’
Thrift Savings Plan Crackdown Is
Working
Letter carrier charged with
throwing away mail
Healdsburg downtown post office
closure resisted
It’s not nice to fool the Postal Service
The Check's (Almost) In The Mail!
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March 18, 2008
Mail delivery doldrums: Makeshift boxes sprout up amid snowbanks
USPS: No material in or on mailboxes without stamps
Postal Service seeks to detain TelAmerica's incoming mail
More than 18,000 sign petition for post office
USPS envelope to honor NFL Star Randy Moss
10-mile trip for mail gets shorter for Davenport dozens
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March 17, 2008
USPS Launch Free Recycling
Through the Mail Program
The “Mail Back” program helps
consumers make more environmentally friendly choices, making it
easier for customers to discard used or obsolete small
electronics in an environmentally responsible way. Customers use
free envelopes found in 1,500 Post Offices to mail back inkjet
cartridges, PDAs, Blackberries, digital cameras, iPods and MP3
players – without having to pay for postage. Postage is paid for
by
Clover Technologies Group.
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Don't Go
Postal
Michigan and Florida Democrats
are wise to steer clear of mail-in ballots. A mail-in vote
is less secure than a ballot cast in person, and both Michigan
and Florida have long histories of both voter fraud and election
official incompetence.|
Mail stolen, dumped in Port Angeles
Residents Angry Post Office Fails To Deliver
Mail survives blaze that gutted
Broadlands post office
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March 16, 2008
USPS Investigating Loss Of More Than 1,000 Missing Absentee
Ballots
- Florida
Postal
officials are investigating the loss of 1,117 absentee ballots
in a hotly contested race for a state House seat. The ballots
for the March 25 primary in the House District 55 race were
delivered to a postal center on Monday, but officials don't know
what happened to them after that. The mailings were meant for
residents who requested absentee ballots. Replacement ballots
have been mailed.|
Spring Brings
Hope for a Sunnier Shipping Climate
USPS keeping
tabs on suspicious mail
Pitney Bowes
Urges Voting by Mail
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March 15, 2008
Editorial: We Pay The Price For A Postal Policy
A U.S. Postal Service policy
requires that Staten Island letter carriers go to
full-service gas stations every other time they fill up the
tanks of their vehicles in order to make sure fluid levels are
checked regularly by station attendants. With some stations
charging 30 cents extra per gallon over self-service prices --
and a fleet of 338 mail delivery vehicles on Staten Island --
the USPS could be paying tens of thousands of dollars more per
year than if letter carriers pumped their own gas and the USPS
checked the oil at its Castleton Corners maintenance yard.
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APWU: Mail Network Protection
Act Steadily Gaining Co-Sponsors
Small Post Offices Priceless To
Their Communities
Company to renovate Palatine P&DC for Installation of FSS
Police: Creative
thief used change-of-address forms to steal IDs
More pressure for do-not-mail
Postal official:
USPS has had no problem with unemployment checks
The Postal Service
In The 21st Century
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March 14, 2008
OIG: USPS
Wasted $17.8 Million Flying Mail On FedEx Planes (PDF)
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OIG concluded that "the Pacific Area incurred about $17.8 million
in unnecessary costs because they used expensive FedEx transportation
to move mail that could have been moved on low-priced surface transportation
or on less costly passenger airlines. The Postal Service also paid
FedEx to sort mail when they could have avoided those costs by sorting
the mail or properly preparing it for transport before giving it
to FedEx."|
Ex-mail clerk gets probation for mail theft
Postmaster quits after pot arrests
Post Retirement
Postal Bulletin 3/13/2008
One Person's Junk Mail...
Connecticut: Postal Service Names Manager
USPS Extends Wireless
Vehicle Management Contract
Postal Service offers
free mail as publicity stunt
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March 13, 2008
Editorial: Slow
delivery
Blogs, e-mails land feds in trouble
Postal system being blamed for late unemployment
checks
What Went Wrong
with the Postal Rate Hike?
Former postmaster
freed after ruling
Postal Worker
wins $2M
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March 12, 2008
New Postal
Shipping Rates Set
"Beginning May 12, shippers using Express
Mail, Priority Mail and certain parcel services will be able to
get discounts for large and medium volume contracts, the agency
said Wednesday. Most of the
newly announced changes apply to businesses, but flat rate prices
for residential and other small customers will still be available,
and they will be eligible for a 3 percent discount for buying postage
online. Under the new rates, the Express Mail flat-rate envelope
will go up a quarter to $16.50.The Priority Mail regular flat-rate
box increases to $9.80 from $8.95, and the price for a Priority
Mail flat-rate envelope increases to $4.80 from $4.60."
USPS to offer price incentives for competitive
products starting in May
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Postal worker charged
in stealing Netflix DVDs
Postal Reform: A
Rate Hike Every May
Forever Stamp Sales
Up Sharply
Nevada postmaster
turns comedian
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March 11, 2008
Postal
Service Freezes Hiring At Headquarters
The U.S. Postal Service is freezing
hiring at its headquarters and headquarters field units because
of projected financial losses. Postal Service spokesman Gerry McKiernan
said the freeze is directly related to rising expenses and expected
financial losses in 2008. The Postal Service expects to lose $600
million in fiscal 2008, one year after it lost $5.1 billion. Vegliante
said the Postal Service will only consider hiring employees who
are vital to continuing successful programs, raising new revenue,
cutting costs or filling other critical needs.
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MSPB Upholds
Firing of Tucson Postal Plant Manager (PDF)
On April 15, 2005, the Postal Service
Removed the EAS-25 Plant Manager from his position based on four
charges : (1) Unacceptable conduct
(two specifications); (2) improper influencing of employees’ testimonies;
(3) appearance of impropriety; and (4) failure to follow proper
procedures (two specifications).
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Congressman Introduces
Bill For USPS to Continue Availability of Stamp Vending Machines
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Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN) introduced a bill "To provide for
the continued availability of automated stamp vending machines at
facilities of the United States Postal Service serving underserved
communities, and for other purposes." Cohen also said that "Such
removal would create longer lines at the Post Office and would adversely
affect senior citizens and the physically challenged. While stamps
may be purchased via the Internet, many people, especially the poor,
do not have easy Internet access."
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89-Year-Old Postal
Worker Honored
Jefferson Lee, 89, was honored Friday
for his 50 years of service as a body and fender repairman for the
U.S. Postal Service.
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MSPB Rejects
Rural Carrier's Claim of Discarding Mail and Resignation Due to
Brain Tumor (PDF)
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March 10, 2008
Legislation would allow more feds to cash
out sick leave at retirement
Rep. James Moran,
D-Va., introduced a bill today "that would provide employees under
the Federal Employees Retirement System with a one-time payment
of up to $10,000 for any remaining sick leave at retirement. The
benefit also would apply to employees covered under the Foreign
Service Pension System and U.S. Postal Service. The bill would enable
the government to pay 15 percent of the hourly rate of a retiree's
final salary for any sick leave balance of more than 500 hours.
Moran said the threshold was put in place to encourage employees
to accrue at least 500 hours, or three months, in case of long-term
illness or disability."
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Contract Officer-In-Charge Accused
of Stealing From Post Office
The busiest little post office in Maine
Mass mailers try to lick postal rates
Iowa: Mail delivery suspended after explosions
Postal Service announces usps.com week
March 9, 2008
Contract Carrier Arrested
After Stolen Mail and Drugs Found in Home
Police said several boxes were discovered containing stolen mail
belonging to local residents, in addition to more items indicating
the sale of meth at the house. The main resident at the address,
Marguerite Marsey, 51, is reportedly a U.S. Postal Service subcontractor
authorized to deliver mail in rural areas. Marsey was seen driving
by the house and was later arrested without incident after deputies
stopped her vehicle. More mail belonging to local residents and
drugs were allegedly found in the vehicle.
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Mail-In Ballots Considered
To Resolve Florida, Michigan Democratic Primary Votes Mess
- Political leaders on Sunday
debated the idea of again holding votes in Michigan and Florida
using a mail-in ballot to resolve the issue of delegates from those
states being barred from participating in the nominating process.
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Postal Service Relents; Church Sign Can Stay
at Coffee Shop
When the U.S. Postal Service told Michael
Snodgrass to remove the church sign above his Damascus coffee shop
or lose the contract postal unit inside, he took action. He plastered
the cafe door with signs alleging religious persecution, gathered
11 pages of signatures in support of the sign and got dozens of
people to complain to the Postal Service.
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Homewood residents still won't have home mail delivery
Festival, Arizona residents irked by mail woes
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March 8, 2008
USPS worker gets award for special delivery
Midpoints: Going Postal
Couple Victimized Hundreds by Stealing Mail
Texas: Neighborhood With No Postal Service
P.O.'d at the P.O.
USPS to announce major shipping news March 11
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March 7, 2008
OPM Submits Proposal
To Create Short-Term Disability Insurance Program
OPM Director Linda M.
Springer today submitted a proposal to both chambers of Congress
to establish a short-term disability insurance program to protect
federal employees who suffer an injury or illness which temporarily
prevents them from performing their normal job duties. OPM would
leverage the purchasing power of the 2.6 million Federal employees
in the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches, as well as
the U.S. Postal Service, to obtain the best coverage at affordable
premiums. Under the proposal, participation would be voluntary and
insurance premiums would be fully paid by the policy holder.
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Health Costs: Bad News / Good News
'Do Not Mail' Proposal Hits Postal Resistance
APWU: Union Activists Urged to Fight Proposals to Gut FMLA
Former New Mexico
postmaster sentenced for taking $16,000
Omaha teenager pleads
guilty to shooting mail carrier
March 6, 2008
Postal Service Feels
Weight Of 'Junk Mail'
... do-not-mail
lists pending in 18 states, including Maryland -- threatens to reduce
deliveries of catalogues and other "junk mail" that make up the
largest volume of postal deliveries. Potter said he wants to explore
the possibility of renting space in the 37,000 post offices across
the country to banks and other commercial interests. He said, however,
that legal restrictions governing federal property could get in
the way of, say, installing a Starbucks in the local post office.
To solve its immediate headaches, the Postal Service will reduce
labor costs by cutting overtime and using more seasonal workers,
Potter said.
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Postal officials routinely OK requests to monitor mail
Detroit letter carrier accused of trashing mail
from his route
Pedestrian struck and killed by postal truck in NYC
These Ads Send a Message — by Mail, Of Course
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March 5, 2008
Postal Supervisor Who
Falsified Time Records Pleads Guilty To Disorderly Conduct
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Supervisor at Lockport’s post office branch has taken a guilty
plea after being accused of falsifying time card records. The
Supervisor pleaded guilty Wednesday in Lockport City Court to
disorderly conduct, a violation. He had faced six misdemeanor
counts of second-degree falsifying business records.
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USPS proposes bundles display addresses face up
Mail theft reported at Sellwood-Westmoreland post office
DMA Report: DM Growth Continues But Slower
UK: We're all poorer for making the Post Office turn a profit
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March 4, 2008
U.S. Economic
Woes Hit USPS (PDF)
eNAPUS - ...the challenge confronting
the USPS is the apparent recession, combined with a steep increase
in fuel costs. During the hearing, PMG Potter told the Subcommittee
that the USPS and the NALC
have agreed to continue discussions about “contract delivery services”
through July, and the moratorium on contracting city delivery
routers would continue through the same period. He also explained
the USPS intends to request proposals to
contract-out bulk mail acceptance
and processing.
Public
mandates, market pressures squeeze Postal Service
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Riskier TSP funds post losses for February
Gunman Robs Post
Office
Letter Carriers Slipping, Tripping in Ice and Snow
Postal worker pleads guilty to stealing cash from mail
Three postal workers dividing $1M lottery prize
Postal Possibilities
Flexible Flyer
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March 3, 2008
US
Postal Service plans $1 billion in cost cutting
The U.S. Postal Service plans $1 billion
in cost reductions this year to reduce a projected $2 billion loss
caused in part by a slowing economy, Postmaster General John Potter
said. "We cannot simply wait for a recovery," Potter said in prepared
testimony for the U.S. House subcommittee on federal workforce,
Postal Service and the District of Columbia. "We are clear in our
resolve that it will not come at the expense of service."
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OPM
losing hope for passage of bill allowing annuitant rehiring
The director of the Office of Personnel
Management is pessimistic about the chances of getting a key staffing
bill passed this year. OPM Director Linda Springer wants agencies
to be able to temporarily rehire retired federal employees at their
full salaries to help train new federal employees and work on pressing
projects. But the American Federation of Government Employees and
the National Treasury Employees Union object to the proposal. They
worry that agencies would plug work-force gaps with retirees instead
of hiring the next generation of employees.
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To Err Is Not
Human for Demoted Postal Supervisor
Court says postal supervisor's demotion
was too harsh. The supervisor incorrectly posted 160 hours of annual
leave for an employee she was supervising. The employee had not
yet earned the leave, never earned it, and later returned the leave
pay to the agency.
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Post employment restrictions for USPS employees
The following information represents
a sampling of the most frequently asked questions regarding the
post-employment restrictions that apply to all former postal employees.
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Indiana prison inmates will repair postal
service transmissions
Indiana inmates will repair transmissions
used on postal vehicles under a contract the state has signed, officials
said. Inmates at the Pendleton Correctional Facility will repair
the transmissions in a contract with Alabama-based Ready-Built Transmission.
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USPS Employee Pleads Guilty to Mail Fraud
Dog attack: Mail carrier gets three new tires
Aliso Viejo residents, officials address proposed postal facility
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March 1, 2008
New England Postal Facilities Help Boost EPA Performance Track Program
USPS pushes back Intelligent Mail barcode implementation
Pipe bomb found in Belchertown mailbox
Comcast will charge you $2 to stop sending you junk mail
Sanitary and safety
issues close Childwold Post Office
Mother and grandmother
retiring from the Elderton Post Office
USPS Seeks to Make
Sticky Note Classification Permanent
Would-be robber
leaves post office empty-handed
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