"...The Postal Service is marking USPS Ethics Awareness Week by reminding employees that they can have second jobs, but there are certain types of employment that are not permitted.
Employees cannot engage in any outside work that conflicts with or affects their postal duties.
Ethics regulations also prohibit employees from: ...
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"...The Postal Service has provided a tentative date to the APWU for the pay increases due under the National Agreement. As outlined in the July/August issue of The American Postal Worker magazine, the period from the start of the National Agreement to when the pay rates are reflected in paychecks is called the “stopgap” period. The stopgap period is the time from the date the first pay increase was to be effective until it is reflected in the employee’s pay.
The tentative date for the stopgap programming of the pay and COLA increases due the APWU under the terms of the 2024-2027 National Agreement has been set. The pay increases will be reflected beginning in pay period 19-2025 (begins August 23, 2025) and will show in pay checks dated September 12, 2025. The $811 COLA will be effective pay period 20-2025 (begins September 6, 2025) and will show in pay checks dated September 26, 2025. These are tentative dates. If something changes, the Postal Service will notify the APWU and Industrial Relations will notify the field.
To be clear, this is not the retroactive pay. It is only when the new pay rates will start to be paid. ..."
"...Ernst has called the EV initiative a “boondoggle” and “a textbook example of waste,” citing delays, high costs and concerns over cold-weather performance.
“You always evaluate the programs, see if they are working. But the rate at which the company that’s providing those vehicles is able to produce them, they are so far behind schedule, they will never be able to fulfill that contract,” Ernst said during a recent appearance at the Iowa State Fair, referring to Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense.
“For now,” she added, “gas-powered vehicles — use some ethanol in them — I think is wonderful.”
Corn-based ethanol is a boon to Iowa’s farmers, but the effort to reverse course has other Republican support. ...
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"Initial testing of the powder indicates it was boric acid, officials said. ..."In the majority of my experience, most of these incidents turn out to be nothing. However, this matter is not going to be taken lightly," said Christoper Raia, the FBI assistant director in charge of the FBI's New York field office, who noted that "sending threatening letters of this nature, whether real or a hoax, is a crime." Initial testing of the powder indicates it was boric acid, which is commonly used in pesticides and other chemicals and is harmful if eaten, officials told WABC...."
"Republican U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner saying it went "beyond mere incompetence" and calling for firings. ...According to the audit, the St. Louis Processing and Distribution Center had more than 2.5 million delayed pieces of mail between June 3-4, "the largest delayed mail volume since our field operations reviews began in 2021."
The audit of the distribution centers revealed deficiencies in all of the areas it reviewed that effect operations efficiency, including delayed mail, package scanning, arrow keys, carrier separations and transfers, property conditions and package separations. It also found security issues at both centers. ...
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"...There are rules about where you can go and who can go with you..."
"...Earlier this summer, the cost of a Forever stamp rose five cents, marking the largest price increase the U.S. has seen on first-class mail.
You may want to stock up now, especially with additional price hikes already on the horizon.
The latest increase, which took effect on July 13, marked a 7.4 percent bump on first-class mail stamps alone. At 78 cents a piece, it may not feel like very long until they reach $1.
The July price hike is the seventh since 2021 — there were two rate increases in 2023 and 2024. Since 2014, stamps have gone up nearly 30 cents each. ..."
"Total operating revenue was $18.8 billion, essentially flat...Total volume was 25.8 billion pieces, down 2.8 percent...operating expenses were $22 billion for the quarter, an increase of 2.9 percent ...Net loss for the quarter totaled $3.1 billion, compared with a net loss of $2.5 billion for the same quarter last year."
"...ever wondered why some letters arrive in a couple of days while others seem to take forever, you're not alone. Maps showing United States Postal Service (USPS) First-Class Mail delivery times across the U.S. reveal just how much location matters.
Whether you're sending a birthday card across town or important documents across the country, the delivery timeline for First-Class Mail can stretch from as few as two days to as many as five. ..."
"...In a recent national arbitration award, Arbitrator Linda Byars rejected management’s claim that our dispute over Contract Postal Units wasn’t required to be placed on the national arbitration docket using the date the original grievance was appealed in accordance with the parties’ 2004 MOU “Re: Review of Pre-1998 Grievances Referred or Appealed to the National Level.” She specifically ruled that the grievance should be placed on the national arbitration docket with the original appeal date of March 16, 1995, rather than the date of our subsequent appeal to arbitration involving the same grievance. ..."
"...Postal Realty Trust has carved out a niche by investing in US post offices — despite concern that mail delivery won’t long survive in its current form. ..."
"...The intent of the change is that postal employees receive consistent information and retirement processing nationwide. The settlement provides that local management must arrange reasonably private space for employees who wish to have individual retirement counseling on the clock. The employee is also entitled to have their spouse and/or advisor present during this process. In addition, employees who cannot begin or complete the process of obtaining counseling from HRSSC without assistance have to be offered assistance by local management. Whether an employee is unable to start or complete the retirement counseling will be determined jointly by local management and the local union on a case-by-case basis. ..."
"...Blalock said the post office has been facing staffing issues since that, unable to keep a staff member for any extended period of time. Hasenyager has lived in East Lynne for seven years, and she agreed that the fire started the problems. “It wasn’t even, like, physical damage, it was just smoke damage. So we’re like, ‘What is the hold up for so long?’” Hasenyager said. “Then after that, that’s when it seemed like they could never really get a good ..."
"...MEMPHIS, Tenn.– The man that was caught robbing a USPS postal worker at gunpoint on camera was arrested by Memphis Police.
Police have identified Ronnie Moore, 20, as the person that committed the crime. ..."
"...UPS Ground Saver, formerly known as UPS SurePost, is focused on providing low-cost shipping in exchange for slower delivery speeds. The offering used to frequently hand off millions of packages to the U.S. Postal Service before UPS this year opted to keep the volume in-house due to cost and reliability concerns. ..."
"...USPS has updated Postal Service Uniform Guidelines, a pictorial guidebook that managers, supervisors and employees can use to ensure uniforms are worn properly. ..."
"A US Postal Service state-of-the-art sorting and delivery center opened in Huntington Station in Suffolk County last week as part of a $40 billion nationwide modernization effort aimed at dragging the country’s aging mail system into the 21st century. ...Inside the Huntington Station facility, sleek new machines can sort 6,000 packages in under two hours — a job that used to take five hours. Carriers also can now make up to 500 stops a day thanks to newly optimized routes, earlier dispatch times..."
"...Numerous independent postal units are closing down after receiving notice from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), according to local reports.
Contract postal units (CPUs) are independent businesses under contract to the USPS to provide postal products and services to the public.
Such contracts can be terminated with 120 days notice from the USPS..."