"...Customers can sign up for a six-month trial for free, unlimited deliveries. Otherwise, there is a $4.99 per store fee. There’s no minimum purchase and Google says it will not raise item prices. Orders can be placed online or via mobile apps...."
"...assault on government control last attempted by private carriers in the mid-1840s, the Postal Service's detractors have mounted a new, more promising offensive in the present era. To their credit, they have enjoyed some success by redefining the terms of engagement, and by reconstituting the nature and mission of the US postal system from its historical role as a civil service entity to a Frankenstein-like corporate/government hybrid with most of the downsides, and few of the advantages of both...."
"...KENNESAW, Ga. -- A package handler decked out "Rambo-style," with an assault rifle and bullets strapped to his chest, opened fire on fellow employees at a FedEx facility in suburban Atlanta early Tuesday, wounding six people -- three critically -- before killing himself...."
 |
| Exam 955 |
"...Aleman contacted his lawyer, whose office is on the route that should have received the post cards. The lawyer and his secretary said they never received the card, Aleman said. Aleman tried a second mailing to a different route March 10. It went to 647 addresses..."
"...An investigation into the northern California crash between a FedEx truck and bus that killed 10 people last week has turned up "no evidence" of a pre-collision fire, contrary to a witness report, authorities said on Sunday...."
"...Juan Valdez, 45, was busted Thursday on a slew of charges. He's accused of moving drugs through express mail wrapped in children's bedding. He used various locations, including Bronx day care centers, to stash the drugs, cops said...."
"...“We had a situation where the USPS wanted to change delivery standards for certain types of mail and delay them, and they asked us about it and it was determined that most thought it needed more study. But the Postal Service issued an announcement that they were going to go national with this program anyway,” Goldway told attendees..."
"...Also, the truck was already on fire before the deadly crash, witnesses told two California TV stations. Bonnie and Joe Duran, who were driving in a Nissan Altima in front of the bus, told KNBC-TV Los Angeles they saw flames behind the cab of the truck before it crossed the median..."
"... the Postal Service is extending what was a three-day delivery expectation to a four-day delivery expectation. This change is designed to allow a more balanced distribution of DSCF Standard Mail across delivery days...."
"...At least 10 people are dead after a FedEx truck slammed into a charter bus full of high schoolers in Northern California on Thursday afternoon. The investigation is underway as to what caused the fatal accident...."
"...At least nine people died Thursday when a bus carrying Los Angeles-area high school students for a tour of Humboldt State University was struck head-on by a FedEx truck..."
"...The civic group mailed out over 1,000 copies of the magazine but many were never delivered or destroyed. They want postal service officials to investigate...."
"...Attorney General Eric Holder told a Senate committee on Thursday that there is a “shocking” number of people who are using the U.S. Postal Service to send illegal drugs around the country...."
"...For weeks, streets near the Post Office’s East 36th Street truck facility have been clogged with delivery trucks that have no official place to park after the cash-strapped agency rented some of its garage space to another delivery agency...."
"...A March 28 agreement with the USPS [PDF] outlines the procedure for the conversion of Maintenance Craft Postal Support Employees to career, Maintenance Craft Director Steve Raymer has announced...."
 |
| Karah Adams |
"...USPS will not offer early retirement or buyout incentives, Patrick Donahoe said at the National Postal Forum, instead relying exclusively on not filling positions after employees separate from the agency. ..."
Fact Check: How accurate are statements by the PMG and the Post Office as a whole? You decide. The article referenced above claims the USPS will be reducing employee numbers by "relying exclusively on not filling positions after employees separate from the agency." So in a fact check on this statement we find this announcement not long after the aforementioned article: Post Office Hiring in Memphis. An additional check on the USPS careers site identifies hiring in many crafts, albeit it is obvious the postal service is attempting to shift to a more non-career workforce to replace employees. Giving the PMG partial credit in his statement, the article does mention '2015', so maybe beefing up the workforce in '2014' will lend accuracy to the statement of reductions in '2015'. (LOL)
"...Former US President Jimmy Carter has said he hand-writes letters to foreign and US leaders in an effort to evade what he described as pervasive US electronic surveillance...."
The U.S. Mail is the most secure communication standard that exist. Sanctity of the mail is taken very seriously by postal employees.
 |
| Photo Courtesy of Etsy |
To this day, you still hear customers grumbling during 'after hours' stops to local Post Office lobbies, complaining about the absence of a stamp vending machine. Many are actually angry that when at the spur of the moment they want to make a quick run to the local Post Office after hours to mail a quick letter or birthday card only to find they now have to go to a 'convenience store' to buy a book of stamps, stand in line, fight the traffic, only to have to return to the Post Office to mail the letter because the Postal Service has not only removed the stamp machines, but have also removed the majority of the freestanding blue boxes where people could quickly mail letters. As one customer remarked, "It's like the U.S. Postal Service is purposely attempting to anger us so we become frustrated with the lack of convenience so that we are forced to turn to private retail businesses to pick up a stamp. It just seems the Postal Service should now be called the U.S. Postal Disservice! Why would a business want to turn customers away from a business model that worked so well at one time and is still needed and desired just as much today? It just doesn't make sense."
This Article is From: The Postal Newsgroup
"...The bill does not allow the Postal Service to break off from the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program as the Postal Service had suggested previously...."
"...accident Friday afternoon in southeast Houston involving a United States Postal Service truck and..."
"...The Postal Service pays Brian McCarthy Family LTD $30,916.87 annually to lease a 1,500-interior-square-foot property inside the McCarthy Flowers building, according to a spreadsheet provided by the agency. The lease agreement lasts through May 2023. ..."
"..."This proves, more than ever," said APWU President Mark Dimondstein, "that it’s a bad idea to turn public services over to a private company that can close stores at will, with no public input and no public comment. "Staples currently has a no-bid, sweetheart deal to operate postal counters — staffed by poorly trained, low-wage, high-turnover employees — at more than 80 of its stores," he said. "The U.S. Postmaster General has said he plans to expand this “pilot plan” to 1,500 U.S. Staples’ stores. And bills pending in Congress would make it easier to close and sell off U.S. Post Offices," he added. ..."
"...Their plan would require eligible retirees to use Medicare as their primary health care provider. ..."
 |
| America Loves The Postal Service 'As Is' |
"...Because Quad ships so many pieces of direct mail and publications, over the years it has created such a tight relationship with the U.S. Postal Service that Quad in some ways effectively acts as an extension of the Post Office. Quad pre-sort magazines and catalogs, which creates efficiencies for the Post Office "mail-stream" and entitles Quad to bulk mailing discounts...."
"...(February 24, 2014) All excessing related to Area Mail Processing events has been place on an indefinite hold. The Postal Service is releasing the residual vacancies withheld for placement of employees who were potentially impacted by AMP events...."
"...A single letter stamp, currently 63 cents, would rise to $1 per stamp on March 31 (85 cents if you buy in bulk, 75 cents if you use a meter machine, and under 70 for large-volume mailers). And within five years, everyone would have to walk to a “community mailbox” to pick up their mail...."
"..."This is a very serious issue," Mikulski wrote in her letter. "Constituents report that they are waiting for prescription medications which are a week overdue." Hours later, other Maryland lawmakers, including Sen. Ben Cardin and Reps. Chris Van Hollen, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger and John Delaney, as well as Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents the District of Columbia as a delegate in Congress, signed a similar letter to Donahoe...."
"... post office in Yeadon on January 22nd and then robbed the Darby branch with a gun on the same day. Investigators were able to track Thomas down because of the mask he was wearing, one that resembled bumbling Police Inspector Clouseau from the 'Pink Panther' series. ..."
"...“CBRE conflicts of interest could lead to financial loss to the Postal Service and decrease public trust in the Postal Service’s brand,” the Postal Service Inspector General’s office said Wednesday in a “management alert” that strongly recommends that the arrangement be scrapped...."
"...In an effort make up for missed operational days last week due to the winter storm, the USPS is opening up 27 offices across the metro Atlanta area on Monday...."
"...Investigators did not cite a motive for the bombing. They said they were running tests on the explosive materials, which appear to have been planted rather than delivered by a mail or package service...."
"...Investigators looking into the mail bomb that killed a retired lawyer at his Tennessee home Monday, and his wife days later, may have found a clue amid the debris: a note officials believe was attached to the bomb...." Police find note attached to mail bomb that killed Tennessee lawyer, wife
"...On the Setzers' quiet rural street, neighbors were terrified about whether a bomb might arrive in their mailbox. Some told WZTV that officers went house-to-house Monday night to check mailboxes for devices...."
"...In one case a Maple Heights man had more than 50 pounds of marijuana mailed to an office space he rented in Beachwood and to his home. Postal inspectors also..."
U.S. Postal Service Announces Giant Ammo Purchase
 |
| GameFly |
"...There is no word on when — or if — the committee will reconvene to finish consideration of the legislation, S. 1486. Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee meeting, Jan. 29, 2014 Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee meeting, Jan. 29, 2014 “The bill would be devastating for postal workers and the people of the country..."
"...Since 2000, the Postal Service has shed 300,000 career jobs — a drop of almost 40 percent. The Postal Service eliminated 37,400 jobs in fiscal 2013 alone. And it’s not going to get any better. Over the next few years, postal jobs are going to keep disappearing — at a faster rate than in any other sector of the labor force. According to the Occupational Outlooks Handbook just put out by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, by 2022 the number of clerks, mail processing workers, and letter carriers will decline another 28 percent — 139,000 more jobs gone...."
 |
| Keith Jardine [myspace photo] |
"...the postponement of the implementation date for the revised service standards for market-dominant mail products that were scheduled to take effect on February 1, 2014, as part of the Network Rationalization initiative. The new implementation date will be announced by the Postal Service in the Federal Register at least 90 days before it takes effect...."
In an article from the American Postal Workers Union, "The Postal Service announced in the Federal Register on Jan. 24 that it is postponing Phase 2 of its latest mail processing consolidation plan, which was slated to begin on Feb. 1. The USPS is also delaying implementation of changes to service standards that would have further slowed the mail, to the detriment of customers and postal workers."
Mail processing facility closures were contingent upon revisions to mail service standards changes. The postponement of service standard changes are a major victory for the citizens of the United States of America, employees of the Postal Service and mailers alike. It is obvious that the citizens of this country have spoken loudly and want to save the timely delivery and universal mail service to all patrons. To have purposely slowed the mail in this country would have been a disservice to everyone and would have only led to the possible destruction of the Postal Service as well as a move toward privatization which we all realize would lead to exorbitant rate increases for first-class mail. This decision may be a realization that our government is actually listening to the desires of the citizens of this great country and will preserve an institution that is vital to the infrastructure of our country. We applaud the intelligent decision to, at least, temporarily put a halt to the destruction of the United States Postal Service and the network as we know it today. The Postal Service is like the United States Military, as it was not designed to be a 'for profit' entity, but was constructed to provide an efficient and effective service to its citizens.
Is the Postal Service becoming too dependent on a management program that has been discounted by some as a proven failure? It appears they are employing 'Six Sigma' heavily[1], but history and the S&P 500 may be proof as to why the Postal Service may be investing in the wrong direction with Six Sigma. Read more on the process and you decide.
"...In fact, of 58 large companies that have announced Six Sigma programs, 91 percent have trailed the S&P 500 since, according to an analysis by Charles Holland of consulting firm Qualpro (which espouses a competing quality-improvement process). ..."
Link Appreciation Return: http://postalaffairsblog.intelisent.com/six-sigma-postal-service-touting-program-of-failure-to-managers/
"...documents released this week to the PRC indicate that the plan may have another purpose — preparing the way for ending Saturday delivery. In the Request, the Postal Service explains the rationale for the plan this way: “By changing the service standard for DSCF Standard Mail..."
"... While an individual mailer dropping off a postcard may not be affected by this proposal, most large mailers would feel the delay. The revised delivery schedule would impact about 32 percent of overall mail, or 62 percent of standard mail. The Postal Service called its plan “load leveling..."
"...The revisions would change the service standard (a) from three days to four days for Standard Mail pieces that..."
"... USPS, said employees can request access to two types of applications: packages and products that are licensed, such as Microsoft’s Visio, and Web-based applications such as USPS’ eCareer and its time and attendance system...."
"...“My understanding is the Post Office has been declining to deliver these packages and sending them back to shippers, and it seems to be getting more and more acute,” Stanford said. “I’ve heard gut-wrenching stories of people waiting on critical packages lost in limbo. How can we improve this? Right now it’s just unacceptable. It’s not servicing the residents of our community.”..."
"...the USPS’s shipping and package services grew to $12.5 billion in fiscal year 2013, representing approximately 19% of its revenues. The USPS said package volume grew by 210 million pieces (6%), and that fiscal year revenues increased $923 million...."
 |
| Military Vets in the U.S. Postal Service |
"...It means working to ensure that the post office continues to be a good place to work — with job security, decent wages, and good benefits — and remembering that the post office provides jobs to thousands of veterans, minorities, the disabled, and women. It means doing your postal business at your local post office, not some Village Post Office or the postal counter in Staples, and it means challenging workshare discounts, outsourcing, and all the other forms of piecemeal privatization. ..."
"...Allison says over the past few months, even more zip codes have been added to the Birmingham plant. "During the time of the post office right now we've been doing some consolidations. So we've consolidated Huntsville plant into the Birmingham plant here. ..."
Reference: http://www.animalnewyork.com/2013/watch-ups-tetris-24-hour-holiday-delivery-time-lapse/
"...pulled a knife on two women who were closing up a Washington Heights post office Tuesday, law enforcement officials say. Sable fled with about $2,000 and was arrested several hours later...."
"...If the Postal Service can't handle the higher volume, it will have long term financial implications as well since potential patrons could choose another delivery source, the report says...."
"...For the first time ever, post offices in Dallas, Forth Worth, and Arlington were open and processing mail on a Sunday...."
"...Postal Service spokesman George Flood says employees were evacuated when the fire began in a mail processing machine at the New Jersey International & Network Distribution Center..."
"...U.S. Postal Service spokesman Ernie Swanson said Ketchikan's sorting equipment gave out and it's not practical to replace it right now...."
"... The result is that my office has received numerous complaints from local governments and businesses concerned about timely delivery of bills and receipt of payments for taxes, utilities, goods, and services.” “I would urge you to review the decision to fly Ketchikan-bound mail hundreds of miles from Ketchikan to Juneau and back to Ketchikan..."
"...The USPS is expecting a higher than normal mail volume on Mondays during the holidays “Normally, we do not cancel and process mail on Sundays, but we are expecting our local mail volume to increase from about..."
"...sent a couple clerks from Juneau to help ease staffing problems at the Skagway post office...."
"...provisions in the 2013 Postal Reform Act that would restructure its health care plan, shift to a six-day package / five-day mail delivery model..."
"...The plant closures have resulted in increased travel times, with mail taking longer to get to local post offices and pushing back carrier start times from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. Once the mail arrives at local offices, there are now fewer clerks to sort the mail to routes and fewer carriers to cover existing and vacant routes, resulting in many carriers working shifts of more than 12 hours, and well into the evening hours...."
"...darkness and later starts – because of slower processing due to facility consolidations – means carriers are on the streets well after dark. “There were several carriers still on the street after 10 o’clock ..."
"...“Our trucks have been late from Birmingham,” Cheatham said. “The Postal Service has consolidated Huntsville and Tuscaloosa in Birmingham, and they haven’t been able to work all the load.” As of 10:45 a.m. Thursday, Cheatham said the Alexander City Post Office had yet to receive its Birmingham mail shipment. ..."
"...A U.S. Postal Service mail carrier was shot and killed Saturday night while on his rounds..."
"...A Texas actress accused of mailing ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has reached a plea deal with federal..."
 |
| USPS.com |
"...The dispute caps more than a year of friction between the Postal Service and the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee, named by the postmaster general to help make sure that the American experience is properly portrayed. ..."
 |
| www.amazon.com |
for your younger children. A great learning toy! Enjoy the thrill of receiving personal mail every day with this wooden mailbox activity set. With 6 letters and 6 removable stamps, it’s fun to sort the mail into the mailbox, and then open the door with the wooden key for special delivery.
..."
"...The Postal Service has an operating profit through the first three quarters of fiscal 2013. The agency — which gets no taxpayer money, instead generating its own revenue by selling stamps — has earned $330 million more this year than..."
This Article is From: www.mydesert.com
"...The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) expects to ship 15 billion pieces of mail and packages between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve. USPS management claims this will be a record. The number represents a surge of 12% from last year...."
"...According to the inspector general, the Postal Service failed to identify fuel overpayments by contractors on Highway Contract Routes (HCR), which covers more than 17,000 drivers...."
This Article is From: freebeacon.com
"...Qualified employee selections will be made during this period for the 10/15 – 10/30 job postings. Job applicants will be informed in the usual manner if they were or were not selected for the position. On November 29, 2013, VER applicants complete the Acknowledgement of Irrevocability and Application for Immediate Retirement, and send to the HRSSC (Human Resources Shared Service Center) per instructions provided in the offering packet. After your forms are received at the HRSSC (must be received no later than 8:30 PM EST on November 29, 2013) you will be mailed additional forms required to complete the retirement process and information needed to schedule your retirement information session. Proof of mailing is recommended (for example, delivery confirmation) when submitting your application within seven (7) days of the irrevocability date. ..."
This information is From: LiteBlue at https://liteblue.usps.gov/humanresources/organizationalchanges/oc_2013_consolidationclosing_aag.shtml?
"... in light of the rumored Feinstein & Blum U.S. Postal Service deal — were apparently made in vain. Therefore, I will now urge my grandchildren to comprehensively study just one book, How to Win Friends & Influence People
"...Feel free to copy our 2013 North Pole Postmark and Christmas Cancellation for your..."
This Article is From: northpolepostmarkcancellation2013.blogspot.com
 |
| Going Postal... (Amazon) |
National award-winning investigative journalist Peter Byrne reports that the husband of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California has been selling post offices at bargain basement prices—often to his own business partners. Richard C. Blum is the chairman of CBRE Group Inc., the largest commercial real estate firm in the world. In 2011, the Postal Service awarded Blum's company an exclusive contract to sell off postal real estate in cities and towns across America. Byrne's in-depth investigation details the many apparent conflicts of interests driving the CBRE deals. It brings to light a scathing government audit of Blum's contract that is being ignored by the Obama administration. The investigation reveals how Senator Feinstein pressured the Postmaster General to stop a postal construction project, and to favor the interests of a developer working with her husband's firm. Byrne explains why the Post Office is not really broke and how powerful forces on Capitol Hill are angling to franchise the U.S. Mail monopoly. We learn that the post office executives in charge of Blum's contract have been up to a financial shenanigans of their own. This is first class investigative reporting on a vital issue of the day that you will not find anywhere else...."
"...The Postal Service announced that it has additionally printed 100 additional sheets of stamps of the recently issued Inverted Jenny stamp but with the plane flying right-side up. These very limited edition stamps were circulated with the recent issue of the most famous “misprinted” stamp. Customers who have recently purchased the new Inverted Jenny stamp could have a very limited edition of the famous stamp...."
"...pulled a gun on a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier and threatened to shoot him for walking in “his alley.” Police recovered the gun used in that incident, tested it and identified it as the gun used in the woman’s shooting...."
This Article is From: www.ohio.com
"...A recent article in the Huffington Post discusses an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) plan, written in 2011. According to the article, the AEI plan is to make USPS look worse than it is. It should appear like “the USPS is obsolete and doomed..."
This Article is From: www.theepochtimes.com
 |
| 2013 Holiday Mailing Dates (USPS) |
"...Mark Dimondstein was elected the new president of the American Postal Workers Union in a hotly-contested race that ended Oct. 7. His “Members First” team won most of the offices they sought, defeating incumbents. ..."
This Article is From: www.apwu.org
"...Going Postal: U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein’s Husband Sells Post Offices to His Friends, Cheap. In his letter, Nader highlights a number of troubling issues raised by Byrne, including that in the first two years of CBRE’s contract with USPS, it sold 52 postal properties at $66 million less than their assessed value...."
This Article is From: www.corporatecrimereporter.com
"...The US Postal Service has issued a contract to FedCentric Technologies LLC to deliver a High Density Supercomputing (HDSC©) solution including Silicon Graphics International high density hardware platforms and FedCentric Technologies products & professional services to provide high availability and expanded functionality to the Transactional Record Processor (TRP) system...."
This Article is From: www.prnewswire.com
"...The government itself wasn't enough. Now, led by Darrell Issa, the right wants to go after your mail delivery ..."
This Article is From: www.salon.com
"...charged with killing two Tennessee postal workers had to be physically restrained and removed from a Memphis courtroom after..."
This Article is From: abcnews.go.com
"...Offices of the USPS are also operating normally, despite the federal government shutdown...."
This Article is From: www.staceypageonline.com
"... However, the Office of Personnel Management is concerned about how the Postal Service's planned exit would affect the FEHBP, which OPM manages. Jonathan Foley, OPM's director of planning and policy analysis, said the overall impact would be about a 2 percent increase in costs per enrollee. But he testified Postal Service's withdrawal from the federal health system would have a larger impact on those plans with a heavy presence of postal employees. ..."
This Article is From: www.federalnewsradio.com
"...Although delivering mail may not turn a profit, it is a valuable public service. The Postal Service delivers 40 percent of the world’s cards and letters, according to the Center for American Progress. Sending letters, though less common today, is far from obsolete. Spending a small amount of tax money to keep the postal service afloat is not automatically a bad idea...."
This Article is From: washingtontimes.com
"... ongoing cutbacks at the U.S. Postal Service have been delaying the arrival of the paper in subscribers' mailboxes by as much as several days...."
This Article is From: www.watershedpost.com
"...The United States Postal Service said Wednesday that it has proposed increasing the price of first-class mail to 49 cents from 46 cents, beginning in January..."
This Article is From: www.nbcnews.com
"... the gallery’s 12,000 square feet are devoted to a single object that seems on the brink of extinction: the postage stamp. ..."
This Article is From: www.nytimes.com
What is going on with the U.S. Postal Service? Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe says By mid-October 2013, the Postal Service projects it will have a cash balance on hand of approximately five days of average daily expenses. The aforementioned article claims the Postal Service will be broke by November 2013, yet in one of many examples, evidence seems to run counter to that claim. Specifically, while the USPS is shuttering and consolidating mail processing facilities across the nation, they are at the same time allocating money to renovate and even expand others. For example, Korte is to begin $42 Million design-build construction For a USPS Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC) in Houston. This is after claiming the urgent need to close or consolidate facilities due to excess floor space and mail processing equipment sitting idle too much. This tends to give more validity to the perception that the USPS has manufactured a crisis to assist in lowering wages and benefits of workers, thus making it easier to privatize profitable portions of the USPS.
This Article is From: Postal Newsgroup
 |
| Tim Costello |
"...Under the standard federal package, employees can retire early if they are at least 50 years old with a minimum of 20 years’ service or at any age with at least 25 years’ service...."
This Article is From: federaltimes.com