"...“We’re trying to bring the service standards back to where it needs to be so the public won’t have to come in and wait... and can get their mail in a reasonable time like we used to do it,” said Shelton Thomas, President of the Alabama Postal Workers Union.
The event was a one-day rally, not a strike by postal workers. ...
"
"Postal Service's violation of Article 7 section 3 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)... Conversion Opportunities: The USPS will offer 50 Part-Time Regular employees conversion to full-time positions. Financial Compensation: The USPS will distribute a total of $15 million to Maintenance Craft Part-Time Regular employees, covering the Fiscal Years 2018-2024, which they will pay in two installments. The USPS will make the first payment no later than December 31, 2024. ..."
"... The United States Postal Service announced that First-Class postage, currently at 73 cents, will go up five times through 2027, according to a detailed document submitted this week to the Postal Regulatory Commission. The next price hike is planned for July 2025 and will then repeat “each January and July thereafter” through the end of 2027..."
"...The Postal Service’s surge in mail theft cases contributed to hundreds of millions of dollars in suspected check fraud cases last year, according to a recent Treasury Department analysis.
Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) received more than 15,400 reports of suspected mail theft-related check fraud under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) from more than 840 financial institutions between February and August 2023. ..."
"... The threatening envelopes arrived as election officials across the country prepare for Saturday’s deadline to send the first ballots to overseas and military voters and as states are weeks away from the widespread start of in-person early voting and mail-in balloting.
According to CNN and AP reporting, suspicious envelopes were received by election officials, or intercepted on the way to officials in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Wyoming.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Thursday that his office has been notified by the US Postal Service that a suspicious package was “headed our way...
"
"...The Hanukkah festivities begin on the 25th of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar, a date that falls in late November or, more commonly, in December. In 2024, Hanukkah begins at sundown on Wednesday, Dec. 25, and concludes Thursday, Jan. 2.
Alcalá said he was honored to design the stamp, now available at Post Offices and usps.com. ..."
"...Last month, the Postal Service's new mail trucks, which are built by Oshkosh Defense in South Carolina, started running routes in parts of Georgia, according to the Associated Press. And so far, mail carriers are reportedly raving about them..."
"...The Postal Service will release this year’s first holiday stamps on Saturday, Sept. 14.
The first is the Christmas Madonna and Child stamp, which will feature an oil painting from the workshop of the 17th century Italian artist Giovanni Battista Salvi, known as “Sassoferrato” (1609-1685). ..."
"...Kansas Secretary of State of Scott Schwab is raising concerns over the Postal Service’s mishandling of legally cast primary election ballots. Schwab says he is working to seek assurance that any issues will be rectified for the general election in November. On Monday, Schwab’s office says he sent a letter to the postmaster general outlining his concerns that approximately 1,000 Kansans were either properly postmarked but received by county election officers after the three-day grace period or lacked a required postmark...."
"...The stamp art, evocative of the American flag, is dominated by a vertical blue band bordered on either side by white stripes. Text at the top of the band reads: “12 COLONIES UNITE IN PROTEST.”
The center features the congress’s plea to King George III: “We ask but for Peace, Liberty and Safety.”
The title of the stamp — “FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, 1774” — appears at the bottom. A red stripe with 12 white stars representing the number of Colonies that participated in the Congress delineates the left side. ...
"
"...“And then the floodgates opened, and they started coming,” said Rick, who asked his last name not be used for this story. “I almost was getting one every two or three days.”
To date, he has received nearly 20 packages with similar shirts from people across the United States.
“It’s really creepy,” Rick said. “I feel like I’m in the 'Twilight Zone.'”
On Tuesday, Rick opened the latest package, which contained a shipping label from the TikTok Shop. He believes people are trying to return the jerseys to TikTok’s online store, but TikTok’s QR code in the return information is routing the packages to his home. ..."
"...According to Postal Regulatory Commission data, roughly 83% of first-class mail arrived on time in Kansas and Missouri in the first three months of 2024. That rate was the sixth worst of the 50 postal districts in the country. ...For days, Amy Gholson tracked a shipment of baby turkeys she ordered from an Ohio hatchery. She kept tabs online as the birds began the more than 500-mile trip to her home near St. Charles, Missouri, via the U.S. Postal Service.
The 10 birds needed to arrive in two days to ensure they’d survive the trip. It was late March and temperatures were still low, making the speed of the delivery more crucial than usual. But the baby turkeys, or poults, hadn’t even left Ohio when progress halted."
"...According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Illinois, Philip E. Tucker, 37, pleaded guilty after stealing from the collection box in Granite City, Illinois, on May 6, 2023. ... Prosecutors said theft of mail by a postal employee convictions are punishable up to 5 year’s in prison. Tucker is scheduled for sentencing on Wednesday, December 18 at 10 a.m."
"...ROCKY POINT, NC (WWAY) — On most days, you’ll find Jennifer Chesson cruising Pender County in a 2003 Cadillac hearse. No, she’s not a funeral director, and she’s not making deliveries to the departed. She’s actually hauling mail. “I’ll be at mailboxes, and then cars will start going slow past me and then I’ll look over and there’s a phone. ...Chesson works for the Rocky Point Post Office, delivering USPS packages five days a week."
"...The adjustment is to help cover extra handling costs.
The planned pricing, which was approved by the Postal Service governors on Aug. 8, would affect prices on these commercial and retail domestic competitive parcels: Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail and USPS Ground Advantage. No other products or services would be affected.
Pending favorable review by the Postal Regulatory Commission, the temporary rates would go into effect on Sunday, Oct. 6, and remain in place until Sunday, Jan. 19. ..."
"...the share of scheduled working hours that they are on the job versus on some type of leave—has declined in recent years, says an inspector general audit that calls on management to tighten time and attendance controls. ...“We found progressive corrective action has not been consistent and sick leave, LWOP, and AWOL hours have generally trended upward
,” the report said. Sick leave hours rose from 47.6 million in 2020 to 51.3 million in 2022...In a sample of 400 regular sick leave occurrences of more than three days, management did not have the required medical documentation for 358, or 90 percent. “Supervisors were not always diligent with obtaining documentation from employees when they used sick leave for more than three days. Supervisors acknowledged that they understand the medical documentation requirement; however, they have not been consistent in requesting or requiring employees to submit documentation ... The IG also called for stronger oversight of the roughly 13,000 employees on the “the Zero Hours Dashboard” who had no work hours for 13 or more pay periods"
"...The Postal Service has unveiled a new website that focuses on the stories behind the organization’s stamps, including their history and the creation process.
The Stamps Forever site also features news, designs and products associated with many of the stamps that USPS has released since fall 2023. ..."
"...Lucinda Guest is the latest person to send KMBC a tip about mail troubles.
She’s missing a package with a $33 watch band that never came to her front porch a couple of weeks ago.
After seeking answers from the United States Postal Service, a USPS automated recording eventually told her it was delivered to zip code 64132.
But, that's not Guest’s zip code. ..."
"...SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California woman fed up with her packages getting stolen out of her post office box sent an Apple AirTag to the address and cleverly tracked down the suspected thief, police said.
The woman had had several items stolen from her mailbox at the Los Alamos Post Office already when she thought of the idea, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.
Apple’s $29 AirTags have... All communication with the Find My network is anonymous and encrypted for privacy, Location data and history are never stored on AirTag ...
"
"...On the heels of a summer wave of COVID-19 cases, Americans will be able to get free virus test kits mailed to their homes, starting in late September.
U.S. households will be able to order up to four COVID-19 nasal swab tests when the federal program reopens, according to the website, COVIDtests.gov. The U.S. Health and Human Services agency that oversees the testing has not announced an exact date for ordering to begin.
The tests will detect current virus strains and can be ordered ahead of the holiday season ...
"
