"...the plea agreement states that because Galapo has accepted responsibility for her actions and saved the government the time and expense of a trial by pleading guilty, probation will be recommended to the judge..."
"...Guidelines don't include a time frame for implementing the consolidation of any given mail processing facility that's on the chopping block. Because of that, any feasibility study that was done to determine if the facility should be closed could be outdated by the time USPS actually starts the closing process...."
"...“He alleges a “coordinated effort at the top to really nail me,” despite the lack of property damage, injury or intent to do either with his protest. The letters Hughes carried may still reach Congress, with the help of a 70-year-old man named Joe Lane. Beginning on June 10, the Connecticut-based thriller writer will walk the halls of Capitol office buildings hand-delivering Hughes’ letters to members of Congress. ... urgent need to reform our campaign finance laws. ..."
"...The decision to defer the next phase of the initiative was based upon operational considerations, and was made to ensure that the Postal Service will continue to provide prompt, reliable and predictable service consistent with the published service standards. The planned consolidation activities will resume in 2016..."
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| How does the Postal Service reward workers? |
"...With the exception of the Houston P&DC and Queens P&DC, the USPS has suspended all remaining closures and consolidations to a date to be determined. ..."
"...The USPS "also chose to not refurbish the vehicles, which would have cost about $3.5 billion." The latter option would have added as much as 15 years to the life of the vehicles...."
"...Postal Management scuttled the prospect of reaching a deal before the deadline by insisting on a permanent, new lower pay scale and reduced benefits for future career employees as well as givebacks in pay and benefits for current career workers..."
"...The Postal Service has released its service performance reports for the second quarter of the fiscal year, January 1 to March 31, 2015. They show that it's not just your imagination — the mail has been slowing down, and in some cases, by a lot. The reports can be found on the..."
"..."We remain committed both to reversing this decision, preventing further closures, and to ensuring that Connecticut residents do not experience delays in mail delivery," the statement reads...."
"...“We will not be closing that facility this year,” said Ruiz. “The center will still be used for all incoming mail to Petaluma, as well as all parcels. No jobs will be lost.” ..."
"...Tony Boyd, president of the union's local chapter said he knows two postal employees are on administrative leave after he and a union steward brought irregularities in postal employees "ring times" to the attention of the local postmaster and regional director...."
"...Everything from the bogus figures in the reports – that haven’t changed since they were first issued two to three (some four) years ago – is wrong. The numbers weren’t correct then, and couldn’t possibly be correct now. The misrepresented findings are clearly “rationalized.”
Management is using AMPs to rationalize their actions, with little basis in fact. They are moving equipment, knowing there is no place to reassign all of the impacted employees. Postal workers are constantly bombarded with realigned schedules and tour changes.
A few years back, management decided to practically eliminate Tour 2 in most plants, and forced employees on standby time, so work could be saved for the evening. Now, we have “four walls,” 24-hour clock, and employees are being moved back on Tour 2 with plans to work around the clock. Go figure...."
"...there was no one available to cancel their return so that it is postmarked on April 15. According to one witness, some people were ringing a bell and banging on the counter at the customer service desk. ..."
"...Hughes wrote about the planned gyrocopter flight on his website, The Democracy Club:
"...A spokesperson for the USPS Southern Area provided the following response to our inquiry about the OIG audit report on the Dallas, TX MTESC: "You asked whether shippers or other customers should know anything about this matter. I would like to stress that this was a localized event, limited to the Dallas MTESC, and is not representative of the country as a whole. ..."
"...Postal Service compensation, established through union negotiations, is not always competitive..."
"...Police say the men identified themselves as postal workers. After the victim opened her front door, the men reportedly forced their way into the apartment. That's when one of two men threw the woman to the ground and pointed a gun at her. ..."
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| U.S. Postal Service image |
A federal statute that restricts mailboxes to properly paid U.S. Mail. In 1934, Congress enacted a law known as the “mailbox restriction” that prohibits anyone from placing mailable matter without postage into any mailbox.
"...From top to bottom, the management culture of the Postal Service is seriously problematic, and it has rightly come in for significant criticism. I’ve discussed the issue in several posts, here and here, and there are no end of articles about the subject, like this one by Jess Stoner that details the abuses that everyday postal workers encounter from local managers. Steven Musacco's "Beyond Going Postal: Shifting from Workplace Tragedies and Toxic Work Environments to a Safe and Healthy Organization describes the long history of a failing postal management culture..."
"... According to the Secret Services, an envelope sent to the White House has been tested positive for cyanide. ..."
"... There is still a little time before the Flandro Drive Processing Plant closes for good. Mayor Blad listed the phone numbers and addresses that residents can call or write to appeal to them to change the post office’s mind.
"... Salmon Cos. of North Little Rock, the mail hauler long known as Pat Salmon & Sons, was the third-largest contractor ..."
"...Within an hour of FOX31 Denver discovering a hidden camera, which was positioned to capture and record the license plates and facial features of customers leaving a Golden Post Office, the device was ..."
"...What America needs is real postal reform and we need Congress to act now. We need Congress to stop cuts to service, closures and consolidation of processing facilities and restore the overnight service standard. Congress must repeal the mandate to pre-fund future retiree health benefits and return pension over-payments back to the USPS. Reform must include maintaining six-day delivery as well as home delivery. Postal reform must preserve the collective-bargaining process. Collective-bargaining has been in effect since the creation of USPS and ensures good, working-class jobs that support thousands of American workers and their families. ..."
"... The Articles of Confederation, which preceded the Constitution, also made it clear that the government “shall also have the sole and exclusive right and power of … establishing or regulating post offices from one State to another, throughout all the United States, and exacting such postage on the papers passing through the same as may be requisite to defray the expenses of the said office.” ..."
"...will affect 105 clerks, 70 mail handlers and 25 maintenance workers. Some employees will remain in Roanoke, where packages and express and priority mail will still be handled...."
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| Image via petapixel.com |
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| Photo courtesy of uncustomary.org |
"...The Redding plant, whose date keeps getting pushed back, is now scheduled to close April 18...."
"...The building will remain open, housing garage facilities, bulk mail receiving and a retail postal location. What's changing is that most of the sorting would be moved to Pittsburgh or Rochester, N.Y., Kelly said. ..."
"...Delancey said the outage is not the result of a cyber attack. She could not immediately provide details on the hardware installation that triggered the problems. The Postal Service fell victim to a cyber attack last year..."
"...Delivery trucks will then run to Toledo’s main post office, Mr. Van Allen said, and from there the mail will be transferred into other trucks for local delivery as occurred before. Toledo’s main post office will still need truck drivers, mail handlers, retail clerks, and custodial staff, he said. ..."
"...The proposal is for some 180,000 “next-generation delivery vehicles,” which would over time replace the 163,000 right-hand-drive, light-duty mail-delivery trucks now in use. The service says the trucks would ideally cost between $25,000 and $35,000. ..."
"...'They take care of the customer. They are two of the most pleasant people I ever met. They greet everybody. They're friendly and very knowledgeable. If they don't know the answer, they go get it. They don't leave a customer upset. They take care of the problems. I don't have to worry about the window with those two and Judy Hooper and Paul Russomanno.' ..."
"...“Research shows that consumers value the physical mail-piece as a record-keeping tool and reminder to pay,” the report said. “In general, customers value having options for bill delivery and payment.” ..."
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| Bubby Everson wants mail |
"... Over the past four decades, many feds have come to see Republicans as anti-government, anti-bureaucrats out to get them, and you can see why. On the other hand, it seems that Democratic politicians have realized they have a permanent hall pass with many feds, and most unions. They can support sequestration and three years of a pay freeze then ..."
"...The Postal Service saw an operating profit of $1.1 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2015, fueled by record numbers of package deliveries, according to financial information released by the agency Feb. 6. ..."
"...If you’ve recently suspected that letters and bills have been bit slower in arriving in your mailbox, you’re not imagining it...."
"...The USPS inspector general says, in an Oct. 6 memo, that the Postal Service hasn't analyzed the impact of closing and consolidating processing plants or informed stakeholders of changes to the consolidation plan. ..."
"...The amendment she introduced and joined 12 other senators in authoring would also re-establish overnight delivery standards for first-class mail. ..."
"...When the U.S. Postal Service announced it would shutter 82 mail processing facilities in 2015, it planned to start closing many of the plants in January. But for at least 10 of the facilities, USPS has now moved back that timetable to April or later. ..."
"...It happens to be the first invoice I pay every month, and according to my records, it had been mailed Jan. 2. In a phone call to the headquarters in Great Falls, they said they had received my check a day after they had mailed me the notice. Where had this check been for 10 days?..."
"...The buildings largely house private businesses, but the U.S. Postal Service is also headquartered at L'Enfant Plaza...."
"...the following efforts: Establish annualized work hours, as opposed to a standard 40-hour workweek. Create work or job sharing processes, allowing more collaboration between employees and the ability for some employees to cover absences of others. Allow employes to self-schedule or trade shifts. Establish a roster of supplemental employees, or recalled retirees, to be used during peak times of year and absences. Allow employees to maintain reduced work hours in order to deal with issues in their personal life. ..."
"...failed to unknot her hair quickly enough during the appointment she had while wearing her U.S. Postal Service uniform..."
"...Houston post office employees say they are not getting paid on time. It's happening at a Houston mail processing facility that has been the center of customer complaints about slow mail delivery. ..."
"...On Jan. 4, the U.S. Postal Service postmaster general virtually eliminated the overnight delivery standard for first class mail...."
"...Charles Jackson and Kendrick Watkins were convicted in August of robbing the truck in Conley shortly before Christmas in 2013, the time of year when postal volume is at its highest. They conspired with a third defendant, former postal employee Latonya Evans, to plan the robbery; Evans gave Jackson and Watkins non-public information to help them commit the crime...."
"...The Postal Service said it could not complete the statutorily required analyses because it had not yet finalized its new processing guidelines, which will scale back delivery standards starting on Monday. The agency does not plan to update its impact studies before the consolidation plan begins, Ninivaggi said. ..."
The postal service is warning customers to be on the alert for a malicious email. The email contains a link, that when opened, will install a virus that can steal any personal information found on your computer. Do not open the email, simply delete it.
The following is the alert posted by the Postal Service:
"BEWARE OF SPAM!
BOGUS E-MAILS SENT TO POSTAL CUSTOMERS
Some postal customers are receiving bogus e-mails about a package delivery or online postage
charges. The e-mails contain a link or attachment that, when opened, installs a malicious virus
that can steal personal information from your PC.
The e-mails claim to be from the U.S. Postal Service and contain fraudulent information about
an
attempted or intercepted package delivery or online postage charges. You are instructed to
click on a link
, open the attachment, or print the label.
But Postal Inspectors warn: D
on't
do it
!
Like most viruses sent by e-mail, clicking on the link or opening the attachment will activate a
virus that can steal information—
su
ch as your user name, password, and financial account
information.
What to do? Simply delete the message without taking any further action. The Postal Inspection
Service is working hard to resolve the issue and shut down the malicious program.
If you have questions about a delivery or wish to report spam, please call 1-
800
-
ASK
-USPS or
email
spam@uspis.gov . "
"...An audit published earlier this year by the Postal Service said that mail delivery after 5 p.m. is becoming an increasing problem in some parts of the country and cited staffing shortages as the main reason...."
"...Police said the shooter was a man between 35 and 40 years old, wearing a Dallas Cowboys jacket, and driving a gray or silver 2002 Chrysler Town & Country minivan with Tennessee license plate 633-YKY...."
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| Congressman Jason Chaffetz |
"...When the lawmakers at last week’s meeting told Carper it was too late to move forward with such a sweeping bill and said they should instead focus on preventing the facility closures, an aide said Carper rejected the proposal...."
"...After the 2010 ruling, the Postal Service engaged in its “normal pattern” of “delay and obfuscate,” asserting that no monetary remedy was appropriate and refusing to supply the union with information necessary to determine a monetary remedy, Raymer said...."
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| Example |
"...In the report, Panzar found that if the Postal Service would completely abandon mail processing, there will be an overall loss in both efficiency and profits. "The Postal Service is made worse off..."
"...The institute’s analysis concluded that the “USPS figures on ‘savings’ do not account for the substantial adverse employment and economic impacts on Arizona or the lost tax revenues to the federal, or state and local governments.”..."
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| C-SPAN2 |
"..."There is no reason that the USPS cannot delay its consolidations to provide time for the public to see and comment on the service standard worksheets," the senators wrote in the letter. "It is only fair to allow the process to unfold in this way, and the USPS gains little by deciding to continue the consolidation process on its current, arbitrary timeline." ..."
"...“According to the USPS, this chain of events wasn’t a mistake. It was a policy,” the television report noted. “Employees are routinely instructed not to call 911, but to alert a supervisor first.” The Postal Service’s written policy says, “Only the Postal Police are to initiate the 911 procedure.”..."
"...The suit complains that the Postal Service has failed to comply with federal historic preservation laws prior to entering into a contract for sale of the building. The National Trust’s complaint is..."
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| Stop Staples |
"... Unfortunately, it appears the breach was worse than originally thought. Apparently, information regarding OWCP records that were shared with the Department of Labor exposed medical records, bank account and routing information for tens of thousands of employees and retirees. The Postal Service plans to issue follow-up letters to those impacted by the latest findings shortly.
..."
"...Donahoe pushed to close smaller, less trafficked post offices and mail distribution centers. He enticed older postal employees to retire by offering buyouts to tens of thousands of them (postal employment has dropped from 620,000 to 490,000 on this watch)..."
"...MacGregor said a contractor was repairing a piece of machinery that loads packages onto a conveyor belt when a hydraulic line burst, causing the machine to fall onto him. Officials compared the machine the victim was working on to a dump truck...."
"...Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe will retire Feb. 1 ...The board named Postal Service veteran Megan Brennan as the new postmaster general...."
"...Postmaster General Donahoe says he'll retire Feb. 1 after leading troubled agency for 4 years...."
"...According to the postal service, the plant consolidations would most affect first-class mail. Personal letters, bills and greeting cards..."
"...The American Postal Workers Union have sent an official complaint to the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that it was illegally kept in the dark about the major data breach revealed this week. Postal Service workers found out that hackers had stolen 800,000 employees personal data, including Social Security numbers, at the same time as the rest of the country, and their union leaders are not happy about it...."
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| USPS Employee Data Breach |
"...Phase 2 was originally scheduled to begin February 1, 2014 with the adoption of First Class service standards that would eliminate the intra ‐ plant overnight commitment for collection mail (a mailer presort delivery option would be preserved)...."
"...Clifton Knight of Hartford was charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell and possession of over 4 ounces of marijuana after authorities intercepted two packages containing a total of 12 pounds of marijuana being sent through the United States Postal Service..."
"...Postal workers petitioned legislators to fight facility closures, and the moratorium was requested by Congress and granted, Todd said. But the decision-making ultimately falls with USPS leadership in Washington, D.C., and it is moving forward...."
"...Some standard mail has been increased from three to four days. Besides the changes to the delivery standards, the report also describes changes to operations that USPS has made since 2012, such as shutting down several processing facilities and shifting long-distance transportation of some mail from air transportation to surface transportation, and how these changes have affected the delivery time. ..."
"...We are asking all members of Congress to join with a majority of the Senate and over 160 House members in urging the Appropriations Committee to place a 1-year moratorium on this wrong-headed scheme by the PMG to drastically slow down Americas mail. While our lawmakers are home, we need to deliver the message that Congress can and must act to stop these imminent, reckless, and irreversible cuts to America’s mail!..."
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| Click above to enlarge |
Many people, over time, forget about updating their important beneficiary forms. Everyone should visit your postal records and verify that your beneficiary forms are up to date. If not, we suggest that you submit you do so as soon as possible.
If you do not have a valid beneficiary form on file, benefits will be paid in the order of precedence as noted on the beneficiary form—check each form for the exact wording that would apply. For example, this is the order of precedence from the TSP-3, Thrift Savings Plan Designation of Beneficiary:
1. To your widow or widower.
2. If none, to your child or children equally, and descendants of deceased children by representation.
3. If none, to your parents equally or to the surviving parent.
4. If none, to the appointed executor or administrator of your estate.
5. If none, to your next of kin who is entitled to your estate under the laws of the state in which you resided at the time of your death.
Source: liteblue.usps.gov
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| Read More on Staples |
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| Stop Purposely Delaying the Mail! |
Feel free to cut, copy and paste the 2014 North Pole Christmas Postmark and Cancellation for your Christmas letters and other Christmas craft ideas. Merry Christmas! Visit the 2014 North Pole Postmark site.
"Designed to show primary grade pupils how the United States post office system operates. Follows both a city and a rural mailman on their appointed rounds and explains graphically to children how postmen sort mail and deliver it. Also the great social responsibility of Uncle Sam's letter carriers."
Public domain film from the Prelinger Archive, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied.
The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).
"...The APWU and USPS have agreed on a “pecking order” for filling newly created positions in POStPlan Installations. A recent arbitration award will result in the creation of 9,000 new Clerk Craft jobs in six-hour and four-hour offices affected by the POStPlan. The pecking order is based on the arbitration award and the subsequent Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). ..."
"...The National Postal Mail Handlers Union has initiated a Step 4 grievance concerning violations arising from the Postal Service's plans to close or consolidate approximately 82 facilities starting in January 2015. In particular, the NPMHU believes that the Postal Service's decision to close or consolidate these facilities is a violation of Handbook P0-408, Area Mail Processing (AMP) Guidelines, which is incorporated into the National Agreement through Article 19...."
"...The crime was quick as two men, one of whom was armed, approached the letter carrier and demanded the keys to open mailboxes in apartment complexes...."
"...Many employees of the U.S. Postal Service are getting quite a surprise right now: notices that they owe taxes that were supposed to be taken out of paychecks but weren’t...."
"...By definition, persons who have been issued a concealed carry permit have been authorized to carry a handgun for lawful protection almost everywhere in a state. They do not become more dangerous when they set foot in a post office. Nor does the licensed carry of a firearm impose any greater risk than does carrying in other public places...."
"...The USPS expressly reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to reject any or all expressions of interest or offers to purchase the property (the “Property”), and/or terminate discussions with any entity at any time with or without notice. The USPS shall have no legal commitment or obligation to any entity reviewing the marketing materials or making an offer to purchase the Property unless and until written agreement(s) for the purchase of the Property have been fully executed, delivered and approved by the USPS, and any conditions to the USPS's obligations have been satisfied or waived...."
"...Issa said last week that Senate Democrats might be willing to deal on postal reform if they lose control of the chamber in November. But for now, he added that he didn’t think that his favored proposal would even make it through the House, despite estimating that 90 percent of GOP lawmakers supported it.
“Zero Democrats are willing to do it,” Issa said. “And candidly, 90 percent of Republicans doesn’t get us to 218.”..."
"...said Osburn is assigned to the Rose City Park Post Office, did not have a dedicated route, and is not a full-time employee...."
"...BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The man who killed two former co-workers and then himself at a UPS shipping center Tuesday had told some people that he was having problems at work but never suggested the situation might turn violent, his pastor said...."
"...The APWU has won a major victory on staffing in post offices affected by the “POStPlan” – a victory that will result in the creation of at least 9,000 new Clerk Craft jobs within 90 days.
In a ruling dated Sept. 5, Arbitrator Stephen B. Goldberg concluded that jobs in four- and six-hour post offices must be assigned to clerks – not Part-Time Postmasters or Postmaster Reliefs (PMRs). A Sept. 22 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) outlines procedures for implementing the award.
The ruling and MOU establish a minimum of 3,000 new Level 6 career jobs in six-hour offices and Level 18 offices. Positions in the six-hour offices must be staffed with full-time employees. The ruling and MOU also establish more than 6,000 new Level 6 non-career jobs in four-hour offices, to be filled by Postal Support Employees (PSEs). The union expects thousands of additional new career jobs to be created as the process unfolds...."
"...Last night, our U.S. Postal Service mail arrived at 6:30 pm. A few nights earlier, it arrived after 8 pm. Several WSB readers have e-mailed mentioning the same thing, and wondering why they’re getting deliveries so much later than before. ..."
"...The U.S. Postal Service announced Thursday that it’s postponing plans to discontinue home delivery service to 533 addresses in Lead and 218 in Deadwood, switching to centralized mailbox locations next month...."
"..."I'm doing this not just for myself, I'm doing it for my family, I'm doing it for my neighbors, and I'm doing it for my city," said concerned Erie resident, Jason Brendel, of a petition he's helping spotlight online. "Because I believe that the more people we have working, the better."
The petition has hundreds of signatures, and simply asks for support in keeping the post office open. The petition can be viewed HERE in Erie. ..."