"..."I don't know what we would do if (my husband) has to move up to Columbus or Louisville -- somewhere where we have to sell our house and move away. We have three boys in school, and both of our families are here," Beckerich said...."
Postal news for those interested in the mailing industry, postal employees, stamp collecting, etc...
This site is not affiliated with the U.S. Postal Service
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Postal decisions ripping families apart
Monday, November 28, 2011
Postal Execs Earnings Increase While Attacking the Worker
"...Since executive salaries were frozen in 2010, the jump in the number of executives earning more than Cabinet secretaries was the result of performance-based bonuses. Last week, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe defended the bonuses, saying they were awarded under the agency's pay-for-performance system ..."
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Holidays tough on postal workers worried about plant closing
"...could lose their jobs if the facility closes. The uncertainty is causing a lot of anxiety for employees there during the holiday season. ..."
Friday, November 25, 2011
Postal Service’s Operation Santa program
"...to maintain the trust of its customers and to safeguard the mail, Post Offices must follow certain guidelines that are designed to protect the children who write the letters...."
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Slowing down the destruction of the Postal Service
"...This month, USPS issued a notice to all Area Vice Presidents, directing them to temporarily suspend all Delivery Unit Optimization (DUO) implementations and post office closings beginning November 19, 2011 through January 2, 2012. ..."
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Growth in the Postal Service’s packages and Standard Mail
"...Shipping Services revenue, which includes Priority Mail and Express Mail, increased $530 million in 2011 (6.3 percent)...."
Friday, November 11, 2011
Unacceptable for the USPS to offer less than complete information
"...In her letter, Norton said, "Through their own due diligence, or perhaps by speaking to USPS employees, some of my constituents were able to get the relevant information, while your office indicated nothing about the possibility of an expiring lease to my staff. It is unacceptable for the USPS to offer less than complete information at a time when Americans throughout the country are worried about the closing of their neighborhood post offices."..."
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Postal Service wants to close New Orleans Mail Processing Facility
"...Dozens of workers are expected to picket against a proposal to close the main processing center in New Orleans...."
Saturday, November 5, 2011
The U.S. Postal Service has issued a moratorium on closings
"...The U.S. Postal Service has issued a moratorium on closings that will allow the post office in..."
Monday, October 31, 2011
2011 Postal Service Holiday Period Mailing Deadlines
"...The Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box (12 inches x 12" x 5 1/2") offers a $2 discount to APO/FPO destinations and ships for just $12.95. Customers can access shipping information by adding delivery confirmation..."
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Postal employee facing prison for stealing
"...A former postal worker is facing the prospect of years in federal prison after being convicted of using counterfeit money..."
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Buyouts: Post office needs money to buy out employees
"...The post office needs money to buy out those 220,000 employees. It thought it would get it from over-payments to its pension plan, but that has been ruled as money that cannot be pried out of the federal retirement system...."
Monday, October 24, 2011
Most Expensive Zip Codes in America
"...thanks to posh pads and ranches belonging to the likes of comedian Jerry Seinfeld and former Goldman Sachs CEO ..."
Postal Service delivers for FedEx with SmartPost
"...One beneficiary will be the beleaguered U.S. Postal Service, which partners with FedEx for FedEx SmartPost deliveries. With SmartPost, FedEx delivers to post offices, which in turn make final delivery to residential customers.
Read more: http://www.portfolio.com/business-news/reuters/2011/10/24/fedex-sees-record-holiday-volume-adding-workers#ixzz1biRY36rL
..."
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Drug distribution network used Postal Service
"...According to the indictment, the Puerto Rican-based leaders of this narcotics distribution organization would send the cocaine in packages through the Postal Service to..."
Monday, October 17, 2011
'Privateers' prepare to plunder postal service
"...privateers have turned their guns on the U.S. Postal Service, charging it with inefficiency while trying their damndest to hamper it legislatively. The USPS was created in the original U.S. Constitution..."
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Letter Carriers pose for calendar to help the Muscular Dystrophy Association
"...letter carriers are featured in two separate $10 calendars. The proceeds will go to the Muscular Dystrophy Association and to Committee on Letter Carrier Political Education - the political action committee of the National Association of Letter Carriers. ..."
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Postal Destruction Bill Heads to Floor
"...No-layoff clauses are prospectively barred in Postal Service collective bargaining agreements. For employees who might lose their job, they will receive a hiring preference at Postal Service contractors. Postal employees would be subject to the same Reduction-in-Force authority as the rest of the federal workforce...."
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Are Postal Service problems a manufactured crisis?
"...Union leaders and consumer advocates like Ralph Nader insist this is all a "manufactured crisis" to drive down wages and break the unions. At least two recent postal audits seem to back up those claims ..."
Friday, September 30, 2011
Postal Service early retirements like auto industry could save USPS
"...Carper says one thing the Postal Service wants to do to cut costs is offer eligible workers early retirement, similar to what's been done in the auto industry...."
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Issa accepted money from unions, then turns against them
"...Issa is one of the wealthiest members of Congress, worth between $300 million and $450 million, according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics.
..."
Monday, September 26, 2011
U.S. Postage Stamps to Honor Living People for the First Time in History
"...The U.S. Postal Service announced Monday that it is ending its longstanding rule that stamps cannot feature people who are still alive..."
Congressional plans to cut service, plants and employees are suicide for Postal Service
"...Nader said such a move, along with the prospect of postal rate increases, would prompt a “suicidal” further decline.
“What is the sense in closing such a large number of post offices and cutting back on the service and the sense of community to millions of U.S. citizens in exchange for such a pittance of cost savings..."
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Postal Bill Would Authorize Layoffs, Force Out Senior Employees First
"...Prior to the vote, Rep. Issa amended the bill, which he first introduced on June 23, to include numerous provisions that are even more controversial than those contained in the original version: The amended version includes a provision to grant authority to a newly-established control board to carry out layoffs, in spite of any provisions in collective bargaining agreements that might limit them. In addition, it says that employees who are eligible for retirement must be laid off before employees who are ineligible, and dictates that retirement-eligible employees with the longest service must be separated first. The new language also forbids the payment of severance pay..."
Friday, September 23, 2011
Give more incentives for employees to retire, says Sen. Carper
"...Sen. Carper suggested that Congress give the Postal Service the means to "give more incentives for employees to retire."..."
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
How do unions fare in contract negotiations in other industries?
"...GM's factory workers will get a $5,000 contract signing bonus after ratification of contract..."
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Postal Service may offer early retirement and buyouts
"...The administration isn't calling for a reduction of workers; it instead wants the agency to offer early retirement and buyouts..."
Postal Service help on the way
"...increasing postage rates and dropping a day of delivery — likely Saturday...."
Monday, September 19, 2011
Fixing the Postal Service and lowering the Federal deficit at the same time
"...The White House said its proposals would provide USPS with more than $20 billion in savings in the next few years and cut the federal deficit by more than $18 billion over the next decade...."
More Reading: H.R. 1351 Fact Sheet [PDF]
NPMHU, APWU, and NALC nationwide television advertisement
"...seek to enlighten the public that it is far more than declining mail volume that has created this postal financial crisis – and to reinforce the message that Congress helped create this problem, and that Congress can take action now to fix it...."
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Huntsville Mail Processing on the chopping block
"...HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- In a change from an announcement just two months ago, the Postal Service said Thursday it is considering moving all of the operations at the Wall Triana mail facility to Birmingham...."
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Proposed post office closures concern residents who lack Web access
"...In a city with one of the nation's highest unemployment and poverty rates, many residents rely on post office branches for money orders and to mail bills because they lack Internet access, officials say...."
Florida's oldest working post office could be axed
"...Florida's oldest working post office has creaked in the wind in summer, smelled of orange blossoms in winter and transacted business in three different centuries. Since 1882..."
Friday, September 16, 2011
Huntsville, Alabama: Huge Economic Growth Area Could be Stripped of Mail Processing Facility
"...The U.S. Postal Service could close five mail processing facilities in Alabama, including the one in Huntsville that already is being downsized..."
Postal Service wants to shutter California Mail Processing Facilities
"...Processing facilities in Eureka, Petaluma, Stockton, Burlingame and Redding are on the list. Others are: Bakersfield, Herb Peck annex in Los Angeles, City of Industry, Long Beach, San Diego, Modesto, Pasadena, San Bernardino and Van Nuys. The USPS is..."
North Alabama may take huge hit in postal closures
"...will be reviewed over the next three months for possible closing.
They are in Anniston, Dothan, Huntsville, Mobile and Tuscaloosa...."
Postal Service to Lower Service Standards in Order to Close Mail Processing Facilities
"...The financially troubled Postal Service said Thursday it might close more than 250 mail processing facilities across the country and plans to reduce service standards for first-class mail in an effort to cut costs...."
H.R. 1351 - Best Bill to Save the Postal Service
"...To amend the provisions of title 5, United States Code, relating to the methodology for calculating the amount of any Postal surplus or supplemental liability under the Civil Service Retirement System, and for other purposes...."
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Postal Announcement relating to Area Mail Processing Feasibility Study List expected Sept. 15, 2011
Area Mail Processing Feasibility Study List (September 14, 2011)
On September 15, 2011, the U.S. Postal Service has reported it will release to the media an announcement identifying a list of Area Mail Processing Feasibility Studies for approximately 400 plants nationwide in an effort to shutter or consolidate approximately 300 plants across the nation. The 21st Century Postal Worker has released the Area Mail Processing Feasibility Study List on their site.
Saturday is Passport Day at a Post Office near you
"...On Saturday, September 17 only, apply for your U.S. passport at a Regional Passport Agency without an appointment. You will be able to apply for standard processing (4-6 weeks) or pay an additional $60 for Expedited processing (2-3 weeks, door-to-door). Passport Day in the USA also means passport-themed events for adults and children at Regional Passport Agencies and many passport Acceptance Facilities across the country in communities like yours. If you’ve been waiting to get your passport, this is the time!..."
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
H. R. 1351: Restore the USPS budget to financial soundness with zero taxpayer involvement
"...House Resolution 1351 provides light at the end of the tunnel. It would allow an internal transfer of pension surpluses, surpluses of $75 billion, to be transferred to meet the obligation of the 2006 congressional law..."
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air and Lithium batteries
"...new limits that would have taken effect Oct. 3 for U.S. mail containing equipment with lithium metal or lithium-ion batteries that is bound for international, APO, FPO, or DPO locations are now on hold. ..."
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Tuesday's hearing on the Postal Service’s financial crisis
"...one of the four postal unions, denounced the post office’s proposal to lay off 120,000 workers. The agency has asked Congress to pass a special law overturning no-layoff provisions in its union contracts...."
Monday, September 5, 2011
PMG Donahoe goes to congress for authority
"...the Postal Service wants congressional authority to break its agreements with labor unions so it can lay off about 120,000 workers. The Service also hopes to ..."
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Collective Bargaining Begins between the National Postal Mail Handlers Union and the USPS
"...The National Postal Mail Handlers Union bargaining team met with representatives of the U.S. Postal Service on August 30, 2011 to mark the official start of the collective bargaining process for a successor agreement to..."
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
FYI: Severance pay for usps employees
"...Any career Postal Service employee who is involuntarily separated and who has been employed continuously by the Postal Service and/or other federal agency for at least 12 consecutive months (without a break in service of 3 or more consecutive days) immediately prior to the separation is eligible for severance pay, except..."
Mail Carrier Robbery Attempt
"...suspect then jumped into the truck and began fighting with the mailman over the package...."
Monday, August 29, 2011
Define: Postalgeddon
1. The figurative last battle between the labor movement, who are fighting for just wages and benefits for the American working-class versus the current day Robber Barons, who wish to dismantle the U.S. Postal Service in an alleged attempt to lower the wages of the American working-class for profit.
Post Office been here before, but survived the doom and gloom of postalgeddon
"...if you figure for inflation and convert those 1975 numbers to 2011 dollars. The 1974 deficit of $2.3 billion would come to $9.7 billion in today’s dollars — over a billion dollars more than the $8.5 billion the Postal Service lost in fiscal year 2010. Yet somehow the Postal Service survived without closing all those post offices...."
Saturday, August 27, 2011
USPS not utilizing labor contract provisions to reduce employees
What Postal Service can’t win from labor unions it hopes to get from Congress
"...the Postal Service doesn’t need to cut staff by circumventing agreements because it has thousands of career and non-career employees who are not covered by the no-layoff provisions. A spokesman for the letter carriers said his union alone has between 17,000 and 30,000 career employee members who are not covered...."
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Postal Employee Layoff Protections -vs- Strikes
"...Many of the gains that postal workers received – including the right to collective bargaining – arose in the wake of a 1970 strike which started in New York and spread to the rest of the country...."