"If things had gone according to plan, postage stamps would cost 2 cents more the day after New Year's. But things aren't exactly going according to plan these days for the U.S. Postal Service, whose business has gone from booming to blown-to-bits in a few short years. Just listen to Postal Service spokesman Greg Frey, a 30-year veteran in Washington, as he explains what's at stake for the venerable agency, which got its start under Benjamin Franklin in 1775: "We have extreme liquidity issues, and in spite of our best efforts to cut costs," Frey said, pausing, "we just are struggling here."   |

Letter Carrier Virgil McClain ends 45 years with U.S. Postal Service

On Jan. 2, 1966, John Virgil McClain made his first postal delivery. At the time, he was just glad to have a job after serving for five years in the U.S. Navy. Nearly 45 years to the day later, he has delivered on every local route and touched the lives of many Upper Deerfield residents and co-workers eager to wish him well upon his retirement from the U.S. Postal Service. |

Burglary suspects arrested after tip from mailman

Damaged, returned cards blamed on cheap envelopes

The U.S. Postal Service has frequently failed to justify millions of dollars worth of "workshare discounts" given to mailers for efficiency reasons and other grounds, a newly released audit by the USPS inspector general has found. USPS OIG: Workshare Discounts Exceeding Avoided Costs (PDF)  |

Postal Worker Loses Lawsuit Claiming USPS Violated Privacy Act And Fraud On the Court - The following is PostalReporter's summary of several cases relating to the same issue.  Darrell Coburn sued the United States Postal Service claiming that the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, was violated when records from the file on his administrative complaint of discrimination were disclosed internally to several management employees. USPS was seeking evidence of a management employee representing a craft employee which is against postal policy. After a bench trial the district court found that the Postal Service did not make any unauthorized disclosure and entered judgment against Coburn. Coburn appealed to the Court of Appeals which upheld the District Court's decision. Coburn filed again arguing that the Postal Service committed fraud by submitting an alleged "bogus" document to the court. |

This software will be utilized across all of the retail Point of Sale platforms. USPS is seeking Software, Software Maintenance, Software Support, and Help Desk Support across the continental United States.  |  

USPS Challenges NALC Arbitration Award – Court Sends Case Back to Arbitrator  - USPS filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to vacate part of an  arbitration decision awarding damages to NALC for Overtime violations. The grievance initially covered 22 days of OT violations but the arbitrator awarded NALC 8 months and 22 days of damages. USPS argued that the "award is not within the arbitrator's authority as defined by the parties' collective bargaining agreement."  |

Union chief blasts new postal delivery scheme used in Brookline, MA
"The president of the union representing Brookline's letter carriers criticized the cutting of Post Office routes as part of a new automated mail-sorting effort that has led to complaints about late mail delivery. Robert A. Lind, president of Branch 34 of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said the implementation of the new flat-sized mail sorting process - and a cut of a dozen mail routes in town - was a purely budget-based decision, and letter carriers are struggling to keep up." Delays caused by elimination of 12 carrier routes | Budget crunching  |

Following a successful transplant in October 2009, McKinney said she was expecting to take 30 days off from her job as a maintenance employee at the Eastgate postal branch. But the postal service would only agree to 14 days, even though her union contract with the American Postal Workers Union allowed for up to six weeks. McKinney fought back with letters and calls. 6News also contacted the postal service on her behalf. Eventually, her employer admitted to making an error and paid her full time off. |

NAPUS: Suspension of Postmaster Convention Leave to Continue

California: Napa postal worker pleads not guilty to theft
USPS driver dies after flatbed trailer hits truck
Ending Denominated Stamps - Courier, Express and Postal Observer

Lake Peekskill NY post office robbed at gunpoint
Henning Residents Anxious for Arrest in Postal Workers' Murders

USPS Announces Changes to Mystery Shopper Program - NAPUS - The Postal Service has announced changes to the Retail Customer Experience Program (RCE), previously known as the Mystery Shopper Program, which will begin in January, 2011.  |

OSHA proposes $238,000 in fines against USPS for electrical hazards at Shrewsbury, MA. mail processing facility

OSHA’s inspection, which began June 29 in response to a worker complaint, found that unqualified employees at the Shrewsbury location were allowed to work on and test energized electrical circuits and equipment. In addition, electrical equipment had not been de-energized prior to maintenance being performed, and employees were not supplied with insulated tools and equipment.  OSHA Proposes $80,000 In Fines Against USPS in Duluth, GA For Repeat And Serious Safety Violations |

USPS Retirements and Staffing Changes Captured Readers' Attention in 2010
Criticism of the U.S. Postal Service's abundance of supervisors, problems with its retirement process, and possible shifts in its workforce were among the items of greatest interest to Dead Tree Edition readers this year.  |

The US Postal Service yesterday filed with PRC its second month preliminary financial report of the 2011 fiscal year (unaudited) . USPS reported a net loss of $456 million for the month of November. This same period last year saw a $255 million net loss. In October USPS saw a net profit of $283 Million. After two months USPS reports a net loss of $173 million for Fiscal Year 2011 (same time last year it was $476 million. full report  |

National Public Radio Audio: Lost Mail Is Auctioned Off At Center In Atlanta
Loudoun County Postal Worker Robbed At Gunpoint

Man Robs Downtown Oklahoma City Post Office

Mail Delivery Sporadic on North Fork as Snow Foils Postal Workers

USPS OIG: So how was your holiday with the USPS?

Two longtime postal workers are retiring

December 27,  2010

A mail carrier hoped an act of goodwill would make a family's holiday a little easier. He thought he was letting a neighbor accept a package for Blancato's family to save them a trip to the post office. Instead, a thief wrongfully signed for and kept a package, and suddenly a kind-hearted move landed a carrier in some trouble. |

My Very Important USPS Package is Doing Laps Around New York City

 A piece of registered mail left Hong Kong on December 7th, and is on its way to Michael in Manhattan. While it has reached the correct city, tracking information shows that the envelope is currently doing laps from Queens to Manhattan.  |

December 19,  2010

President Rolando had the opportunity to raise the issue of U.S. Postal Service finances and how to address the challenges facing the Postal Service and letter carriers.  |

The U.S. Postal Service is updating its regulations concerning Conduct on Postal Property (COPP) to correct or eliminate outdated citations. One is on  "Gambling" -  "Participating in games for money or other personal property, the operation of gambling devices, the conduct of a lottery or pool, or the selling or purchasing of lottery tickets, is prohibited on postal premises."  |

FSS technology also has helped the Northern Virginia District reduce costs. The district has eliminated 150 letter carrier routes, reduced letter carriers’ base delivery time by more than 400,000 hours each year and lowered rural carriers’ delivery time by more than 75,000 hours annually. Reducing routes produced additional savings by making it possible to reassign long life vehicles to rural carrier routes.   |

Forbes: Our nation's postal service must finally focus on the customer to survive. The first goal of any organization--business, government agency, non-profit--is to make sure it is serving its customers. But is this the case with USPS? Long lines, poor service and byzantine rules characterize most Americans' experience with their local Post Offices. Moreover, the USPS has the power to fix these breakdowns--all it has to do is integrate basic business process techniques. .  |

NAPUS President: Washington Post Editorial Misdiagnosed Cause Of USPS Challenges - In a letter to the editor of  the Washington Post,  Robert Rapoza, President of the National Association of Postmasters (NAPUS) wrote: The “Failure to deliver” editorial misdiagnosed the cause of the Postal Service’s challenges and suggested treatment that makes matters worse. Senator Carper Responds To Washington Post’s Editorial On USPS   |

Miami-Dade mail carrier fatally wounded in robbery; suspect on the run

As the U.S. Postal Service keeps racking up massive losses, top executives regularly tout their success in cutting employee work hours. But those cuts so far aren't paying off in cash savings, according to figures from the agency's latest annual report.   |

Postmaster General Potter, a Bronx native, helped keep mail moving for 32 years - His career in the mail trade roughly parallels his father Richard - who began as a Manhattan letter carrier and became a senior executive - "a living encyclopedia of the post office," his son fondly remembers. The PMG-in-Waiting launched his career in 1978 as a $6.97-an-hour distribution clerk in Westchester, tediously keying zip codes into a sorting machine at the rate of one letter a second." It's a good thing I moved up because I don't think I was that good at that job," Potter told The News. "I really did not like that job at all.  |

December 4,  2010

Two Colorado Post Offices drop passport services due to staffing shortages The Breckenridge office suspended passport services indefinitely after losing two of its seven staffers fairly suddenly in the third week of November. With a staffing shortage and a holiday mail rush looking to top that of last year, post office officials said Breckenridge had to cut the service to keep up. The Dillon post office stopped offering passport services permanently as of Oct. 1 due to staffing reductions. “It just came down to, we just don't have enough staff anymore to do it,” Dillon postmaster Rick Sprague said.   |

December 3,  2010

The two who entered guilty pleas today are among eight people indicted separately in September on charges of stealing or otherwise interfering with the U.S. mail. Six of those eight have now pleaded guilty, and one was admitted to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Pre-trial Diversion Program. . |

PRC Seeks Input on Improving Postal Laws of the United States

Alabama Postal Workers, Contractors Plead Guilty To Mail Theft

FedEx Ground To Increase Shipping Rates

Village Still Fighting for Post Office
Mail delivery times later than usual
Solutions for survival are Postal Service's high priority

USPS study gets fiery crowd reaction

PRC OIG Semiannual Report to Congress (not much to report) (PDF