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News from Postalblog
PMG Potter Names
New Chief Postal Inspector And Finance VP
Arbitrator Reassigns
Postal Supervisor For Violating Workplace Violence Policy
NALC Branch VP: Limited Duty
Carriers Suffer The Ultimate Harm
Gamefly Accuses
USPS Of Preferential Treatment For Netflix and Blockbuster
USPS Seeks
Suppliers For Electric Vehicle Conversion of LLVs
USPS Seeking Contractor To
Create New ID Cards For Postal Employees
USPS Cancels
Associate Supervisor Program
San Francisco
Passes First ‘Do Not Mail’ Resolution in Nation
Oakland APWU
Urges Congress To Investigate The Postal Service
PMG Potter Says
Reducing Delivery From Six to Five Days Could Save USPS $3.5
Billion Annually
USPS Closing Six Districts, Eliminating 1,400 EAS Positions
And Offering Early Retirement
USPS To ‘Outsource’ Change-of-Address Program?
Postmaster Setting Unrealistic
Expectations May Serve As Grounds To File EEO Complaint
USPS OIG’S Review Of Postal Managers
Unnecessary Purchases
Statement of
NALC President On Compliance with National Agreement
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Let Let me make the following clear to one and all, including
Postal Service management at headquarters and in the field,
and all letter carriers, at every level in the union and in
every post office: No one, at any level, has any authority
to amend or violate the national contract, period.
PMG Potter
memo on honoring contract (PDF).
It is up to each one of us to make sure that the changes we
bring to the organization are changes for the better,” Potter
recently wrote. Respecting and protecting the provisions of
the collective-bargaining agreements will help us to do that
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NALC: There Are No Plans
To Eliminate Six-Day Delivery
USPS: Declining Mail Volume Leads to Route Adjustments
Report: Employment
of Veterans in the U.S. Postal Service - FY 2007
PRC Annual Report:
Postal Execs Compensation
USPS Says It
Needs To Eliminate 9,200 City Carrier Routes in FY 2009
Postmaster, Supervisor Groups
Reject Pay Freeze (PDF)
Tight Times Strain Postmasters
USPS, APWU Reach Tentative Agreement On Four-Day Workweeks
USPS Wants Commercial Outdoor Advertising On Its Property
USPS to Implement
Two Tour Initiative Nationwide
Re: Postal Employees Ordered to Stop Offering
First-Class Mail
PMG Urges Leaders of Employee Organizations To Work With USPS
Flashback: Postal 1992 VER Cost $1.01 Billion
USPS To Launch
Nationwide Program To Track Revenue Performance Of Window
Clerks
Postmaster General
Cautions of Perfect Economic Storm
Connecticut
Congressman Presses Postal Service for Answers Regarding Meriden
Route Changes
Appeals Court Upholds Firing
Of Postal Carrier For Unsafe Driving
GAO: New Delivery Performance
Measures Could Enhance Postal Managers’ Pay for Performance
Program
Postal Manager Demoted Over Violation of NALC Contract?
Postal Worker's Self-Defense Claim Can't Save Job
NAPS Challenges USPS Network Plan, Questions USPS Outsourcing
USPS Posts $1.1 Billion Loss For Third Quarter
House Passes FERS Sick Leave Legislation
GAO: Data Needed
to Assess the Effectiveness of USPS Outsourcing
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Watchdogs
question US Post Office outsourcing system
USPS Names Two
Postal Execs To New VP Slots
USPS Releases
Details Of Voluntary Early Retirement Offer
Burrus: Employees Would Be Best Served by Postponing Early-Out
Decisions
NALC: Young Urges Congress to Reject Study
for 5-Day Delivery
USPS Early Out Offer Excludes ETs - No Cash Incentives
PMG Potter Announces
Reorganization At USPS Headquarters
House Committee
Approves Study On Ending Saturday Mail Delivery
EEOC: Postal Worker Was Not Provided
Smoke-Free Vehicle
ASFM-100 Work Awarded Back to Clerk Craft at Trenton P&DC
Court of Appeals Keeps Alive 14-Year-Old Lawsuit Against NALC
Postal Service Selects First-Ever Vice President of Sustainability
Video: Postal Workers Protest Terrorism On The Job
EEOC Rules USPS Must Process
Class Action Complaint For Rehab Postal Employees
OPM Submits
Proposal To Create Short-Term Disability Insurance Program
To Err Is Not Human for Demoted
Postal Supervisor
USPS Resolves
Dispute With Unions Over Computer Security Rules
USPS Selects Former Halliburton
Executive As New CIO
Big Pay Increases Approved For Top Postal Service Officers
USPS Retail Cost Cutting (PDF)
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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Flat
Sequencing System (FSS) Strategy
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September 30, 2009
Senate Approves Short-Term Relief for USPS
The Senate approved an appropriations bill Sept. 30 that
includes emergency financial relief for the Postal Service. The
Fiscal Year 2010 funding measure (H.R. 2918) passed by a vote of
62-38. The postal provision gives the USPS one year of financial
relief, allowing it to make a reduced payment to the Postal
Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund for future-retiree health
benefits. Instead of making a scheduled $5.4 billion payment
before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, the Postal
Service had to pay only $1.4 billion.
Senate Passes Bill With Postal Financial
Relief -The measure, approved by a 62-38 vote that sends it to President
Obama's desk..
President
Signs Postal Reprieve Bill, Health Care Mark-Up Continues
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APWU
President William Burrus Announces Retirement
President Burrus
announced he will retire at the end of his term in 2010.
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USPS Lost
$721 Million In August 2009–Over $6 Billion YTD
The U.S. Postal Service filed its
July 2009 (unaudited) preliminary financial report yesterday
with the Postal Regulatory Commission. USPS reported a net
income loss of $721 million (July 2009 was $865 million). The
year-to-date deficit currently stands at approximately $6.3
billion.
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Mailman loses both legs after car slams
into him during work
He was sorting his mail, getting
ready for the next drop and when the accident occurred, she hit
him from behind," said Chambers.|
USPS Steps Up Mail-Processing
Consolidation
The U.S. Postal Service has
announced the possible closing or downsizing of 15 processing
and distribution centers in the past two weeks, part of a newly
aggressive effort to rationalize its mail-processing network.
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Binghamton postal workers given little time to decide on filing
for early retirement
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Employees at the Binghamton mail processing plant got final word
at 4 p.m. Friday that some operations would be consolidated and
moved to Syracuse, a union official said." By the time the
meeting was over, they had 15 minutes to submit their
paperwork," he said.|
Mail set to take the long way home
A
Postal Service cost-cutting tactic will move the processing of
some Las Vegas mail to Phoenix
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Feds
as a Political Force
Bakersfield: Rural Carrier Pleads Guilty To Mail Theft
US
Official Spent 6 Days in Cuba to Talk Postal Service, Ties
USPS OIG Report:
Denver Sunday Mail Processing Operations (PDF)
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September 29, 2009
OIG: Any USPS
Silly Workplace Rules?
What Postal Service workplace rules
are hindering you from doing your job? Are there rules or
processes in place that no longer apply or need to be changed to
meet today’s business needs? |
Post office wrong target for conservatives
Xerox and the Future of Mail
Police
Shoot, Kill Guard Dog That Cornered Mailman
Rockford letter carrier delivers heroic effort
Post office driver injured in Vineland crash
Pols pushing to save seven Bronx branches
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September 28, 2009
Health premiums up 8.8% in 2010
Federal employees’ health insurance
premiums will increase by 8.8 percent on average in January,
according to the Office of Personnel Management.
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Woman who killed mail carrier released from prison
Bronx Community Awaits Word on Post Office's Fate
USPS branch closures unlikely to affect direct mailers
Mail carrier delivers life-saving help
Online services let cities bypass the mailbox
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September 27, 2009
Saturday Delivery Getting
The Sack After 2010 Elections
Postal officials see axing mail
pickup and delivery and other postal services on Saturdays as
being least disruptive to operations. Saturday mail volume is
lower than that of other days -- around 11% of a typical week’s
total. However, postal officials haven’t ruled out restoring
full mail service on Saturdays during the year-end holiday
season, which brings heavy volume.
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Editorial:
Route Adjustments In Slow Times
As the current round of route
adjustments nears completion (the last adjustments were put in
place by September 19), we have preliminary totals on the
impact. In the Bay-Valley District, about 260 routes were
abolished-including auxiliaries. Adding in the 140 routes
abolished this spring, that's 400 routes altogether, close to
12% of the total for the District. Nationally, we were told
almost 10,000 routes were eliminated, not counting the impact on
T-6 assignments. This has had a major effect on our delivery
units, not to mention the changes to individual routes. It is
easy to feel the frustration of letter carriers who had changes
of 50% or more to their route--or who lost their route
altogether! (Some carriers lost routes during both adjustments).
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Mailman's ZZZZZIP code
US Postal Service carrier Keith
Goode enraged Upper East Side residents recently after he
plopped down on a stoop in the middle of his route and fell
asleep.
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Federal Disability Retirement Laws, Medical
Conditions and The Intersecting Complications with OWCP, Social
Security and FERS and CSRS
The Fight Over Flexible Spending Account
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September 26, 2009
PRC chairman seeks national conversation
on "The Future Of Mail"
Postal service to relocate mail processing to Syracuse from Binghamton
Racine: USPS fights city assessment, owes county
Mailman's tip leads
to 3 arrests in Hartsdale home burglaries
Forest Park postal worker charged
in 5th sexual assault
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September 25, 2009
Postal Relief? How About No More
Congressional Thievery?
Postal carrier pleads guilty to
stealing mail from customers
The End of the Monopoly
OWCP Recipients Cannot Keep Retirement Incentive
NAPS Legislative & Regulatory Update
September 24, 2009
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September 24, 2009
House-Senate Panel Approves Measure to Keep
Financially Troubled USPS Afloat
- The financially struggling Postal Service would be allowed to
cover a budget shortfall by reducing its annual payment to a health
care fund for retirees by $4 billion. Under current law, the Postal
Service is required to transfer $5.4 billion to the Retiree Health
Benefits Fund by Sept. 30, but Postal officials say they don't have
enough money to make the payment."
House Grants
Postal Service 1-Year Reprieve – Senate to Act Next Week (PDF)
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Grassley proposal would end federal health
benefits plan
The provision, offered by ranking member
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, would force civil servants to leave
the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and purchase insurance
through the state-based health exchanges that are a centerpiece
of the health reform bill. Employees would move to the exchanges
beginning in 2013. |
Locals say letter
carrier is no cat thief
New Jersey : Secretary to USPS district manager
stole employee incentive gift cards
Postal workers protest South Florida Post
Office closings
Congress Targets FSA Tax Break
Pit bull bites mail carrier, causes 'pretty deep'
wounds
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September 23, 2009
Postal
route changes hit five valley cities
Shifts ahead
at suburban postal centers
Jobs to change in Palatine, but details not final,
USPS says
Snail mail sings songs of America's past
Man's body found by postal worker
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September 22, 2009
Union, Management
Reach Settlement on Individual Retirement Counseling
- The APWU and Postal
Service reached a settlement on Sept. 21 reaffirming management’s
responsibility to provide individual retirement counseling to APWU-represented
employees. he settlement stipulates that local management must arrange
reasonably private space for employees who wish to receive individual
retirement counseling on the clock. Employees are permitted to have
their spouse and/or advisor present during counseling.
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OIG :
Should the Postal Service Eliminate Sunday Mail Processing Operations?
- The reality
of the current situation is that in many areas the Postal Service
has an excess of equipment, staff, and facilities to process a declining
volume of mail. With mail volume declining, should the Postal Service
reduce mail processing operation to 6 days a week, rather than the
traditional 7 days, and allow employees to have Sunday off?
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PMG Potter to Speak at National Press Club
Postal
worker helps track down hit-and-run suspect
Catalogers: Postal Battle Not Just About Rates
Junk mail delivers a sense of satisfaction
Former postal worker admits to stealing more than $30,000 in
Netflix DVDs
USPS manuals available online - Postal Operations Manual
(POM), Interim Internal Purchasing Guidelines (IIPG), Administrative
Support Manual (ASM)
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September 21, 2009
Can the Flats Sequencing System be Fixed?
It may be time for the U.S. Postal
Service to go back to the drawing board on the Flats Sequencing
System, which faces trouble on two fronts. USPS is pressing
ahead with installation of the football-field-sized FSS
machines, even though the system recently fell short of
standards for the second time in an acceptance test. But then
there's the second problem with FSS: Not only is it not yet
living up to its design, but the design may already be obsolete.
Will FSS
discounts fall flat?
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Postal
Supervisor admits swiping Best Buy rewards, buying $200k in
goods
- A Postal supervisor has
admitted taking nearly 16,000 Best Buy reward certificates and
using them to buy almost $200,000 in merchandise. Best Buy staff noticed
Parkes repeatedly bought popular items, including seven 37-inch
LCD televisions, four 42-inch LCD televisions, six 42-inch
plasma televisions, 11 PlayStation 3s and 37 iPods.
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USPS OIG: Boston Airport Mail Center Outsourcing Report (PDF)
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September 20, 2009
Letter: Problems at Post Office Start At The Top
Does the post office need to go to
a five-day delivery schedule to survive? Possibly, but before
that, they should be looking at reorganizing from the top down.
Big bonuses (even though they are not called “bonuses” anymore),
sweetheart real estate deals and other perks for managers could
be eliminated. Moving expenses, real estate commissions and time
off to move are all paid for by the Postal Service for its
managers who move on to higher- paying positions. Recently, a
station manager position (in Fargo) was vacated due to a
retirement. The current postmaster stated that there wasn’t even
four hours of work for the position. However, he filled the
$80,000/year position anyway. When pressed as to why, his reply
was, “We just want to hang on to what we have.” And this is just
locally, imagine nationally.
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Former contract mail
carrier given 30 months probation for mail theft
Post office could
shift Salinas mail processing to San Jose
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September 18, 2009
USPS OIG: Audit Report – Flats Sequencing System: First Article
Retest Results (PDF)
Although FSS machine performance
improved since the original FAT test, the system failed to meet key SOW performance parameters. Although the FSS
did not meet some key performance parameters, management
concluded that the system’s progress from the first FAT test
warranted continuing with the next phase of installations and
acceptance tests for production systems. However, until a system
outside of the Dulles Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC)
demonstrates operational stability and achieves the minimum
performance requirements under field acceptance test conditions,
we believe deploying FSS machines to additional sites is
premature. We recommend the Vice President, Engineering:
1. Install and test only one additional Flats Sequencing System
until the system
demonstrates operational stability and successfully passes the
field acceptance test.
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PMG Potter: Six-Day Mail Delivery Doesn't Make Sense
Potter
also says he is considering shutting down more facilities - If nothing else, service should shift to five days per week.
I've been out there advocating that. We can think about changing
the rules about retail sales in our locations as well. There
will probably be other changes, too. Remember, it wasn't until
Abraham Lincoln that we had regular rural delivery. It wasn't
until catalogs that we had free rural delivery. And it wasn't
until the 1930s that the Postal Service regularly delivered
packages over 4 pounds.
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$100,000 Reward Offered for Mail Bomb Arrest
35 Jackson Jobs Saved
For Now
Deja vu all over again for Industry
(CA) mail processing center
Minneapolis Postal Worker Admits to Stealing Mail
More on Postal Work Stoppage Operation Graphic Hand 1970
PRC approves first class mail incentive program
Insurance is no guarantee that a
shipping service will pay a claim
USPS add FFVs to its fleet
US, Cuba Mull Direct Postal Service
Former postmaster sentenced to 18 months in prison
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September 17, 2009
Mail Handlers
Union Prevails in National RI-399 Arbitration
APWU APPEAL DENIED
IN ALL RESPECTS -
In a national award rendered on September 7, 2009, National Arbitrator
Joseph M. Sharnoff determined that certain assignments on
the Small Parcel and Bundle Sorter (SPBS) machines were properly
assigned by the USPS to the Mail Handler Craft.
To read the pdf version of the award, click here
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Update: Ohio Letter Carrier dies of head wound
A 53-year-old Cleveland postal carrier
died Thursday night after being shot in the head earlier in the
day as he delivered mail.
Postal Worker Shot in Ohio
-Eyewitnesses tell Fox 8 News that they noticed the gunman lurking
behind the postal worker for some time before the shooting. The
culprit, however, managed to successfully flee the scene.
Slain mail carrier Daniel Kondas remembered
as friendly, responsible |
Police: Robbery
behind shooting of mail carrier
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NALC Outraged
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Postal employees paid to do nothing story
is not going away
Off
camera, several employees of the Postal Service, who did not want
to be identified, said they use most of the time to sleep. And they
said that if they spend eight hours in the room, they only get to
leave twice - once for lunch and one more time for a break.
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A Light at the end of the Tunnel
There is now growing evidence that
we have passed the bottom in two of the Postal Service's key businesses,
delivering advertising and parcels.
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Saturday yard sale to benefit postal
worker with cancer
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September 16, 2009
PMG Addresses Current
Climate, Lays Foundation for Future Growth
Potter cited
three key areas in which the Postal Service is seeking legislation:
(1) Changes to the accelerated payment schedule to pre-fund retiree
health benefits statutorily mandated by the Postal Accountability
and Enhancement Act of 2006. (2) Ability to adjust the capacity
of the Postal Service's network to bring it in line with reduced
mail use. Eliminating Saturday delivery could save the Postal Service
as much as $3.5 billion a year. (3) Flexibility to expand product
offerings into new areas that leverage the Postal Service's unmatched
scope, reach and presence of its distribution, transportation and
retail networks to achieve their full revenue potential.
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Florida Carrier Charged with Mail
Theft
APWU: Obama Addresses Labor Federation
Mailer gets 52 months for scamming USPS out of $350,000
Postal worker admits theft of more than $150,000
Post Office Picketer in Green Bay
82-Year-Old Slams SUV Into Post Office
Tony
Thornton, 49, 'Punching Postman'
Postal
Museum Rental Violated Policy
Letter to US President and Congress in Support
of USPS
Postal Service cutbacks threaten Glade Park service
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September 15, 2009
House Passes HR 22,Bill Now Moves to
Senate
The House of Representatives voted
388-32 on Sept. 15 to approve a measure that would provide the
Postal Service relief for one year from a requirement to prefund
retiree healthcare benefits from its operating budget.
House (finally) approves H.R. 22 - The House voted Tuesday to let the
struggling U.S. Postal Service cover a budget shortfall by
reducing its annual payment to a health care fund for retirees
by $4 billion
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NALC:
Retirement counseling settlement allows counseling on the clock
NALC and the Postal Service have
reached a settlement of a national level dispute over
management’s responsibility to provide retirement counseling to
letter carriers. NALC had protested the discontinuance of the
practice of providing in-person counseling to letter carriers on
postal premises.
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Retiree COLA : A One-Shot, $150 Payment?
USPS wins domain name dispute for USPS.mobi
Shot Postal Worker Thrilled To Resume Route
House may vote on postal relief bill Today
Lynch Decides Not to run for Kennedy's Senate seat
Postal Service plans to alter Montana mail sorting
OIG Kicks Off
Workers' Comp Fraud Campaign |
OIG's “Unable to Work . . .”
Ex-W.Va. postmaster pleads guilty to theft
charge
APWU: Advocates of Postal ‘Reform’ Attempt
to Misdirect the Public’s Attention
USPS National Payroll
Hours Summary Report (PDF)
Jackson Delivery and
Distribution Center Processing Operations Moving to Lansing
Postal Service to
probe Dexter dog spray case
LETTER: A
postal plea
PHOTOS: Naples residents rally to save downtown post office
September 14, 2009
USPS May Excess Over 300 Postal Clerks From San Francisco
Performance Cluster
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"This
is to advise you of the intent of the San Francisco Performance
Cluster to utilize the provisions of Article 12.5.C.5 to
involuntarily reassign 150 full-time level 6 clerks from the
craft and/or installation at the San Francisco bid cluster based
on the AMC/ISC realignment. This impact is in addition to the
impact from the tour realignment and manual decentralization and
the impact. There are 136 full-time clerks who are still pending
involuntary reassignment based on these earlier impacts."
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Time running Out To Pass Any Measure For
5-Day Delivery
Postal Service officials have been
pleading with Congress to approve five-day mail delivery to
reduce operating expenses. The outlook is dismal. When many
Americans are waiting anxiously for their Social Security or
unemployment checks to arrive in the mail, cutting back mail
service doesn’t seem like a popular idea to many lawmakers. No one has even introduced
legislation to enact five-day delivery. In fact, one pending
House resolution, HRes 173, expresses the sense of the House
that the Postal Service should do everything possible to ensure
six-day delivery.
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Maine: Dexter postal
worker pepper-sprays dog, child
a 5-pound Chihuahua, began to bark
Saturday morning, and when 7-year-old Kelsey Wintle looked
outside to see why, she saw a female postal worker
pepper-spraying her puppy. The girl ran outside and grabbed her
dog, but in the process was sprayed in the face by the
57-year-old letter carrier.
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September 13, 2009
'Lost'
in the mail
West Side uproar over 'canceled'
carrier - Postal worker Hazel Garrow has been delivering
mail on West 87th Street between Central Park West and Columbus
Avenue for almost four years, and has captured the hearts
of the big-city block with irresistible small-town charm.
But she may not be delivering it for a long.The Postal Service
is planning to transfer the nine-year vet by the end of the
week as part of cost-cutting measures to make routes “more
efficient in response to the dramatic volume declines,” said
spokeswoman Doreen Reid-DeMeo.
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Re-creating delivery of mail
by balloon
Plea deal likely to keep Loveland ex-postal worker in federal
prison
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September 12, 2009
PRC Schedules
Field Hearings On USPS Plans To Close Stations And Branches
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This notice informs the public of the Commission’s intention
to hold public field hearings to supplement the record in
this proceeding. The first field hearing will take place on
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at the Independence (Ohio) Civic
Center. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. and to
conclude at 4 p.m.
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House Republican
Conference Attacks USPS/HR22
NALC: On September 11, 2009,
in anticipation of floor action on H.R. 22, leaders of the
House Republican Conference (HRC) issued a one page brief
entitled “What Every Member Needs to Know About the Postal
Service Relief Act (H.R. 22)” that is filled with the same
kind of inaccurate and misleading information about the Postal
Service featured in a similar ‘One Page’ brief issued in August.
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Wisconsin
post office outfits colleagues for free
The idea behind the Postal Clothing Closet is that employees
find their situations changing all the time. They retire,
get promoted, change jobs and gain and lose weight...some
postal employees have a difficult time affording new duds
in USPS blue, especially considering full uniforms can cost
more than $500 apiece and only certain full-time workers receive
a clothing allowance. So an uniform exchange program was born.
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Maryland:
Former post office clerk gets 3 years in prison for embezzlement
Postal Inspectors Follow Leads in Visalia
Mail Bomb
Cyclist critically injured after collision
with mail truck
Postal carriers sentenced in prescription
drug case
Health care foes: Leave the USPS alone!
Postal Service sticks employees in a closet
- and pays them
Postal Service
delivers big business
Lawmakers must help revive a mail service
on life support
Can the Postal Service Still Deliver?
Former Loveland
mailman agrees to plea deal in local case
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September 11, 2009
What To Do
About Proposed Closures Of Richmond (CA) Post Offices
From PR Reader- Letter To PMG: As a resident of the
City of Richmond, California, I write to you in protest of
the Bay Valley District’s plans to consolidate and/or close
the Mira Vista, Richmond Station A and Point Richmond Post
Office stations in Richmond, California. The impact
would be significant within the community as it would cause
increased traffic and longer lines at existing offices, as
well as create a financial hardship to the employees, residents
and local businesses. Where many people now walk to their
local post offices, they will in the future have to make that
trip by automobile. Further, figures have been provided to
this office that indicates that although the projection of
profits in fiscal year 2009 is down, the impacted stations
are clearly profitable.
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APWU: House
to Vote Soon on Postal Relief Bill
The House of Representatives is expected to vote soon - perhaps
as early as Tuesday, Sept. 15 - on legislation that would
provide the USPS with short-term relief from severe financial
difficulties. The measure is a substitute for H.R. 22, which
would have allowed the USPS to pay for the benefits from the
Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund (PSRHBF) for three
years. While the substitute
bill provides less relief than the original version of H.R.
22, its enactment would help the USPS survive the most devastating
economic downturn since the Great Depression.
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Consolidation
Study Ends on Lexington Post Office Branch
Postal
worker killed in Juarez served with National Guard
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September 10, 2009
USPS: Legislative
Relief or Bust?
The USPS fiscal year closes Sept. 30, which is when a $5.4
billion health-care retiree payment comes due. If the pending
legislation is not passed, USPS probably can’t make this payment.
What happends then? “We don’t know of any repercussions,”
says Joseph Corbett, executive vice president and chief financial
offer for the USPS. “We’re still very hopeful with working
with Congress and the administration to not reach that point.
With no legislation, he notes, “we would literally run out
of cash” if required to pay the $5.4 billion health-care retiree
benefits on Sept. 30. “We continue to work feverishly with
the administration and with Congress and are making all efforts
with the goal of passing something before the end of the fiscal
year.
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APWU: Retirement, Separation Incentive Interpretations Document
Updated
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The union has
updated a document that offers explanations of the Aug. 24,
2009, Memorandum of Understanding offering incentives to USPS
employees who retire or separate in the coming months. The
union's
"Interpretations
- Incentive Memorandum" [PDF]
now offers additional information about eligibility, deadlines,
and more.
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OIG Recommends Outsourcing Custodial Maintenance In Larger
Post Offices Nationwide -
If management reduced cleaning frequencies and eliminated
the duplication of cleaning and policing activities, these
sites could save $848 million over 10 years, while maintaining
an acceptable standard of cleanliness and safety. By continuing
to restrict contracted custodial services to small facilities,
the Postal Service will incur an additional $148 million in
costs over the next 10 years for cleaning services. We previously
reported that the Postal Service has an opportunity to negotiate
removal of this restriction in the new collective bargaining
agreement. Savings would be realized as positions become available
through attrition. We acknowledge that the Postal Service
needs the cooperation and agreement of the APWU to achieve
these savings.
Hourly rates for full-time Postal Service custodial employees
nationwide are $21 higher than current contractual custodian
rates.
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USPS considering closing Green Bay P&DC
FedEx to Use USPS Parcel Return Service
End of
local postmark would also mean loss of jobs
Postal Worker
indicted on OWCP fraud charges
Federal
Employee Unions Could Help Lynch in Contest for Kennedy's
Senate Seat
Q&A on Postmasters Change in Status From
Exempt to Non-exempt Under FLSA (PDF)
Two arrested in Orlando for postal fraud
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September 9, 2009
Post Office in Boston University's
GSU set to close
Racine: Postal employees, area residents picket Downtown post
office
Postal Service delivered mail bomb that injured Visalia office
worker
USPS OIG: Nationwide
Wage Uniformity Part 2
Moving to Cleveland: More Part-Time Workers Needed in USPS
Contract Postal
Employee Convicted For Stealing Mail
Man admits selling stolen stamps
CSC Wins $46 Million USPS Contract to Manage
and Operate Detroit Service
Pickets protest plan to close Ohio post
offices
Moving Flats
in Alabama
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September 8, 2009
USPS: 63%
of mail is advertising
Save the Postal Service
U.S. Postal
Service Could Deliver America the Electric Car
Postal vehicle seen
bearing Obama health-care signs at Louisville parade
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September 7, 2009
Postal Service
deems Louisville parade political signs a mistake
The two vehicles, driven by postal service and RTD employees,
bore posters that read “health care can't wait” and “no more
business as usual.” Both also had banners supporting the FL-CIO
— and the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would create
a new system for organizing unions. Al Desarro said the employee
driving the truck saw other vehicles with similar signs at
the parade and didn't realize it wasn't allowed by the U.S.
Postal Service, which is self-funded. He said the employee
will be “counseled” about the infraction.
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USPS, Charlotte APWU Reach $1.7 Million Settlement Agreement
For Casual Grievances
-The Postal Service agrees to pay the affected employees of
the Charlotte (North Carolina) Area Local APWU a total of
$1,700,000.00. The affected employees named by the Union will
split the monetary remedy in equal proportions.
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Paid to do
nothing
11,000-plus postal workers idle at any given time -
The U.S. Postal Service spends more than a million dollars
each week to pay thousands of employees to sit in empty rooms
and do nothing. It’s a practice called “standby time,” and
it has existed for years — but postal employees say it was
rarely used until this year. Now, postal officials say, the
agency is averaging about 45,000 hours of standby time every
week — the equivalent of having 1,125 full-time employees
sitting idle, at a cost of more than $50 million per year.
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As 99th Birthday Approaches, Postal
Worker Reflects on Life of Work, Faith
-What's remarkable about Mazerine Wingate isn't that he will
turn 99 this month. It's that he still drives his 1989 Buick
to his job at the Lexington Park Post Office six days a week.
Wingate is a custodian and typically works from 8 a.m. to
noon Monday through Saturday. He's always on time. He cleans
windows and takes out trash; when it snows, he shovels.
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Postal
carrier honored for 30 years of accident-free service
Who'd miss Saturday mail?
What's the hurry? Businesses learning to live without expedited
deliveries
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September 5, 2009
USPS May Excess
Up To 323 Letter Carriers In Los Angeles Performance Cluster
- the Pacific Area
will withhold up to 315 full-time residual vacancies and 8
part-time flexible opportunities in the clerk, carrier, mail
handler and custodial craft in offices and plants within a
500 mile radius of the impacted sites. The impacts have been
adjusted for the recent VER. Additional adjustments will be
made for attrition at the time of placement if appropriate.
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The Unofficial Guide to Flats Sequencing
The U.S. Postal Service is a bit schizophrenic when it comes
to talking about the Flats Sequencing System. It has provided
lots of information about the new technology but not answered
some basic questions that have been kicking around for a couple
of years.
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USPS: Early Out Incentive Offer Won't Affect Customer Service
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September 4, 2009
APWU: Effective
Dates of Retirement, Separation Limited
The USPS and APWU have agreed that employees who as of Aug.
24 had a scheduled retirement date of Sept. 30 or earlier
will be permitted to retire or separate on the date they selected,
and will be eligible to receive the $15,000 incentive negotiated
by the union and management. All other employees not identified
above who elect to retire or separate in order to receive
the incentive will be assigned a retirement or separation
date of Oct. 31 or Nov. 30.
Questions
and Answers On Incentive Program
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USPS Sacramento
District To Excess 107 Letter Carriers
The impacted employees will be notified by separate letter
of their involuntary reassignments. The final reassignment
date would normally be no earlier than February 15, 2009.
However, given the continuing loss of workload and the current
financial condition of the Postal Service, it may be necessary
to reassign some or all of the impacted carriers in advance
of that date.
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Letter Harriers:
Post office transfers workers to seven hour commutes
Five New York City letter slingers face crazy commutes of
up to seven hours a day after being transferred in July to
remote Long Island outposts like Montauk and Shelter Island.
They just want to make it impossible for these poor people
to get to work so they'll quit," said a co-worker.
The Distance
One Will Go to Keep a Job
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How USPS
Could Bypass Congress on Saturday Delivery
... maybe it’s time for postal officials to send Congress
a veiled ultimatum: If you don’t end the silly retiree-benefits
shell game, USPS will go “off budget” and eliminate Saturday
delivery. The threat of having a truly independent Postal
Service that could make unpopular changes in their districts
would definitely get the politicians’ attention.
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GSA Delivers
Federal Shipping Contract to UPS
The U.S. General Services Administration announced it has
awarded a contract for express and ground domestic delivery
services to United Parcel Service. The contract aims to save
taxpayers more than a billion dollars over the next five years.
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APWU: Union Develops Action Plan to Oppose Closures
APWU Vice President Cliff Guffey and Assistant Clerk Craft
Director Mike Morris have developed an action plan to assist
locals fighting the closure of stations and branches. The
action plan includes sample letters to legislators, an itemization
of information locals should request from management, a guide
for challenging improper Contract Postal Units, and other
material.
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Contract
Mail Carrier Doing More than Just Delivering Packages
Investigators say a mail carrier was stealing prescription
drugs from the mail, snorting drugs while on the job and carrying
a gun.
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New Direct Mail to Web API Integrates Social Media Features
Postal
service workers to picket Tuesday
Post office closings would disrupt lives, Nashville customers
say
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September 3, 2009
Retirement,
Separation Incentives: Unanswered Questions, Excluded Employees
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Burrus: I have been informed that employees who have contacted
Shared Services for information about the incentives beings
offered to employees who retire or separate have received
information that conflicts with the Memorandum of Understanding
signed by the APWU and the USPS on Aug. 24.
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Post Office’s
Trimmed Hit List Shows Cost-Cut Roadblocks
The agency, which already raised postal rates this year, doesn’t
know how much it would save from reducing the number of facilities
and hasn’t determined how many it will close, Frey said. The
agency said yesterday it has saved more than $6 billion this
year through such steps as trimming more than 100 million
work-hours and almost 12,000 carrier routes, closing six administrative
offices and freezing hiring and executive salaries.
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Largest Health Care Fraud Case in History Case Impacted 10,000
Postal Employees on Workers' Compensation -
"Health
care fraud has a significant financial impact on the Postal
Service. This case alone impacted more than 10,000 postal
employees on workers' compensation who were treated with these
drugs," said Joseph Finn, Special Agent in Charge for the
Postal Service's Office of Inspector General. "Last year the
Postal Service paid more than $1 billion in workers' compensation
benefits to postal employees injured on the job."
Letter Carrier Selected as ‘National Hero’ for Rescuing Elderly
Man in House Fire
Managing the Workforce
Jury indicts 2 Postal Service workers
FERS Flu Cure
a Dead Duck?
Mailbox on Wrong
Side of Road Poses Danger
University takes
junk out of dorm room mail
What They Think:
USPS 'Summer Sale' Effect Minimal So Far
Mental evaluation
ordered for postal worker
Getting a bill
in the mail will now cost you
Sen. Lieberman: I’ll Try To Save Post Offices
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September 2, 2009
USPS Reports
Loss Of $865 Million In July 2009
The U.S. Postal Service filed its July 2009 (unaudited) preliminary
financial report yesterday with the Postal Regulatory Commission.
USPS reported a net income loss of $865 million (Junel 2009
was $1.3 billion). The year-to-date deficit currently stands
at approximately $5.6 billion. Mail volume was down across
all classes with an overall total decrease of 13.7%. The Postal
Service continues to reduce its workhours with Mail Processing
and Customer Services/Retail showing the highest reduction
of 14.4% and 12.2% respectively. The U.S. Postal Service said
it “expects to lose more than $7 billion by the end of the
fiscal year.
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USPS Cuts
Closure List Of Stations And Branches From 677 to 413
Yesterday USPS filed papers with
PRC
which stated that the updated list will reflect that
over 750
stations and branches were identified by the pre-screening
process as discontinuance study candidates. Today USPS announced
that only that 413
retail stations and branches remain under consideration for
possible consolidation. In addition, the list released today
differs from the list given to Unions last week. What's Going
On?
Results of
Prescreening of Postal Facilities Under Examination for Closure
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3617 Facilities Under Review by Finance Number
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USPS closing some offices early this weekend
Postal employees picket in Toledo
Trucker gets probation for stealing 35G from USPS
USPS OIG Report: Federal Budget Treatment of the Postal Service
(PDF)
USPS OIG Report: Electrification of Delivery Vehicles (PDF)
Delaware: Frederica postal worker credited with saving customer's
life
The Singing Postman remembers his route fondly
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September 1, 2009
Deputy PMG Outlines
USPS Early Out Incentive Option
In
this week’s Field Updates, DPMG and COO Pat Donahoe outlines
the 2009 Early Out Incentive Option and discusses the issues
employees should consider before accepting the offer. Interested
employees must take action to let USPS know they want to be
part of this incentive. Most employees must opt in by Sept.
25, 2009. |Comments (92)
USPS NATIONAL PAYROLL
HOURS SUMMARY REPORT
Postal Worker pushed into retirement is narrator of 'Stock
Shock' movie
Letter Carrier Hospitalized After Dog Attack
Latest USPS Facility Closures
Attention USPS: Why not deliver mail three days a week?
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