April 2008 COLA Update Released on May 14

COLA Update: APRIL INFLATION UP 0.7 PERCENT

"...The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) increased 0.7 percent in April 2008 according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS). Released on May 14..."   

Reference: www.narfe.org

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TSP and Taxes

TSP and Taxes

"...Do you know the circumstances under which you can withdraw funds from your Thrift Savings Plan account without a tax penalty? Are your heirs..."    

Source: www.govexec.com

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Memorial Day

Veterans talk about holiday's significance

"..."They wanted to amputate my legs, but I wouldn't let 'em. I still have the letter to prove it," said the 77-year-old retired postal worker...."    

Source: www.ocala.com

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Corporate cherry-picking isn't delivering the goods

"...of public service privatisation and commercialisation. Not for them the pickled nostrums of the past: if the corporate world could deliver the goods, it had to be given the freest of reins. The farce of their claims couldn't have been more clearly demonstrated than in the liberalisation and creeping privatisation of Britain's postal service...."

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

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New USPS Processing and Distribution Center Construction in Nashville

Postal Service to build massive center near airport

Nashville Post (subscription) -

"... Panattoni Development Co. will oversee construction and is working with the USPS on traffic studies of the area. The new facility is likely to employ more ...
The US Postal Service plans to build a 626000-square-foot processing and distribution center near Nashville International Airport..."

Reference: www.nashvillepost.com

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TSP Investing

Who's Investing What, and Where?

"...Do you ever ask, or wonder, how your coworkers invest in the TSP?..."

Reference: www.federalnewsradio.com

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Potter at the National Postal Forum

Postmaster General Embraces Change

"...Potter spoke about new technologies that are providing these solutions — Intelligent Mail Barcode and the Flat Sequencing System (FSS). FSS is new technology that will speed the sorting and delivery of large envelopes, catalogs and magazines, quadrupling productivity. FSS machines also will be able to read the Intelligent Mail Barcode, allowing mailers and the Postal Service to track mail throughout the sortation process, improving service and reducing costs to mailers and consumers...."

Reference: www.usps.com

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Mail Network Protection Act

Support for Mail Network Protection Act Tops 100

"...The legislation, introduced last November by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), would require the Postal Service to bargain with postal unions before it engages in significant contracting-out and protect inexpensive, trustworthy mail service for the American public..."

Reference: www.apwu.org

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Advanced Facer Canceller Systems 200 (AFCS 200)

Siemens wins $245M contract from US Postal Service

"...from the United States Postal Service (USPS) for 550 Advanced Facer Canceller Systems (AFCS) 200 to replace and modernize its existing fleet of AFCS. The AFCS currently being used has been in service for almost 20 years and is used by the Postal Service(TM) to cancel First-Class mail...."

Reference: siemens.com

More Related Resources: Siemens Postal Automation

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Federal Worker COLA -v- Retiree COLA

You Can't Take It With You

"...The horse race between a pay raise for workers and a COLA (cost of living adjustment) for retirees has some working feds thinking..."

Reference: www.federalnewsradio.com

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Baxter The Postal Cat Needs Home

Holland cat up for adoption after joyride under postal truck's hood

"...Baxter is in need of a good home, but keep him away from postal trucks...."

Reference: www.wzzm13.com

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TSP Rewards the Patient Investor

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TSP posts positive returns as interfund transfers drop

"..."Those people who stuck it out [and did not made withdrawals], they probably have come back to pretty much flat," FRTIB Chairman Andrew Saul said, suggesting that positive returns could begin to compensate for the market's decline earlier in the year..."

Reference: www.govexec.com

Resources: TSP investors should understand the concept of Dollar Cost Averaging.


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Netflix offers service alternative to Post Office shipping of DVD

Netflix to Sell a Device for Instantly Watching Movies on TV Sets

"...Netflix, which pioneered the business of offering DVD movie rentals by mail, is now offering its 8.2 million subscribers an option to watch movies easily on their televisions without involving the post office..."

Reference: www.nytimes.com

Other Resources: Netflix Ready Device

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Halma Post Office Closure

Minn. - Sen. Coleman fights to save Halma P.O.

"...has sent a letter to the U.S. Postmaster General to call attention to the closing of small-town post offices in Minnesota and the dwindling number of qualified postmasters in the region..."

Reference: www.grandforksherald.com

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More Post Office Closures

Some peeved by post office plans

"...“The boundaries you talked about far exceed Rockaway Beach — are you telling us you’re going to take our post office out of our city?” resident and business owner Carol Szabo asked...."

Reference: www.bransondailynews.com

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Encoding Center Closing

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Selma Postal Encoding Center Closing

"...About one hundred full-time workers will be offered transfers, while about three hundred part-time workers will loose their jobs..."

Reference: www.cbs47.tv

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Postal Service Faces Challenges

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Economy and Internet challenge U.S. Postal Service

"...This year, the Service expects about 10 percent growth in Priority Mail, Express Mail and related products that compete with Fedex Corp, United Parcel Service and other companies, Donahoe said. ..."

Reference: www.reuters.com

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PRICHARD, AL. -- Prichard postal worker shot

"...shot in the chest with a pellet gun while delivering the mail. Postal worker stated that he felt a sharp pain to his chest, it was later discovered he had sustained a minor injury to the chests and was not transported to a hospital..."

Reference: www.myfoxgulfcoast.com

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Postal Service remote-encoding center to close

Postal service to close East Pittsburgh facility

"..."We've closed 47 of these centers across the country already. Pittsburgh is one of the last eight of these sites," said Tad Kelly, a postal service spokesman for the Pittsburgh region..."

Reference: www.pittsburghlive.com

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Anger Over TV Series Titled Going Postal: 15 Shocking Acts of Violence

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William Burrus, President of the American Postal Workers Union recently wrote an article stating that the E! Television Series Is Offensive to Postal Workers. “The title of the series is an affront to more than 700,000 hard-working postal employees who are stigmatized by the cruel stereotype that suggests that postal workers are violent sociopaths,” APWU President William Burrus wrote in a letter to Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO of Comcast [PDF], which owns E! “Of course, statistics show that postal employees are no more likely to engage in acts of violence than the public at large,” the union president said.

NOTE: We at The Postal Newsgroup understand this is television and the American people are intelligent enough not to lump all posties into the category of crazy. You can bet there will be as many postal employees watching this program as anyone else. I have my DVR programmed in that direction already! On that note, we thank Mr. Burrus for standing up for postal employees as he should, while at the same time we thank E! for the insight into these horrific events. Maybe this will help us identify the signs of people that are over the edge ...in all walks of life.

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