Top News from the Postal and Rural Carrier World
“The news that we heard today from leadership at the U.S. Postal Service’s Processing and Distribution Center at Hares Corner is certainly welcome, and I share the feeling of relief with the hundreds of Hares Corner employees and the thousands of Postal Service customers in Delaware who depend on this facility. When it was announced [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 8:27 pm
Perhaps neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays its couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds, but the U.S. Postal Service’s downsizing plan is threatening the integrity of California’s upcoming elections, the state’s top elections official said Wednesday. Beleaguered after years of falling revenue, the Postal Service has proposed [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 8:02 pm
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. is requesting the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General complete an independent review of a study that recommended the consolidation of a processing facility in Scranton with one in Lehigh Valley. The potential closing of the Scranton facility puts about 300 local jobs in danger. via Casey requests independent [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 7:58 pm
The most recent letter was discovered Wednesday in a Senate state office, according to Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance W. Gainer. The letters have tested negative for harmful substances and there have been no injuries, he said. Gainer and House Sergeant at Arms Paul D. Irving informed all congressional offices via e-mail Wednesday to treat [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 7:52 pm
“We will not be consolidating Hares Corner with South Jersey or Philadelphia. That proposal’s completely off the table because as far as this study’s concerned they decided that was not the best way to go,” Minor tells WDEL. A proposal issued several months ago had pinpointed the Hares Corner facility for closure though Minor says [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 7:44 pm
via Ben Franklin Opposes Post Office Closings – YouTube.
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 7:42 pm
Last year it was a resolution to write more letters and cards to the people in my life that mean something to me and while I didn’t do it as much as I wanted to I did try and I am doing it again this year and years to come. I can’t tell you how [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 7:20 pm
A Postal Service workers union representative tells WSLS, that union leaders were told in a meeting this evening, that the Postal Service will close the Roanoke mail processing center later this year. via Roanoke mail processing center to close, union rep tells reporters | WSLS 10.
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 7:17 pm
On top of that, some assignments – fighting in a war is one – don’t count toward the five years. That means some employees who also are in the military could be missing in action from their civilian jobs for a really long time and not be fired. At least in theory. The U.S. Postal [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 7:16 pm
The president of the Cincinnati Postal Workers Union announced Wednesday the Cincinnati Mail Processing Center in Queensgate will not close. Michael Funk was called into a meeting late Wednesday afternoon with the post master. He and other union members were told the center would stay open. via Postal center will not close.
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 7:14 pm
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service jointly announced Wednesday that a Danville man who shot at a postal worker in 2009 was sentenced today to 10 years in prison. U.S. Senior District Court Judge Jennifer B. Coffman also ordered 39-year-old Juan Warner to pay $3,849.52 [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 7:13 pm
USPS recommends closing Tulsa postal center – FOX23 News.
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 7:11 pm
As the Postal Service prepares to announce which mail processing facilities will face consolidation beginning in mid-May, the APWU is fighting back. The union is continuing to oppose USPS plans to slash service, eliminate 35,000 jobs, and destroy the mail distribution network. “APWU members have done an outstanding job of expressing our concerns to members [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 2:00 pm
U.S. Senators Barbara A. Mikulski and Ben Cardin (both D-Md.) announced they have joined 25 other senators in calling for significant improvements in a bill to modernize the U.S. Postal Service. In a letter to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs and Subcommittee on Federal financial Management, Government Information and International Security, [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 1:57 pm
News reporter John Moore spent the last month assessing what the loss of post offices means in northern New York, and the reasons for the Postal Service’s difficulties. What emerged is a more complex picture of the Postal Service’s woes, one that is not consistent with the popular image of wasteful government spending or a [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 1:08 pm
USPS provides the relocation file, NCOA (National Change of Address) to American companies for updating purposes. The database is sourced from citizen’s requests to the USPS to forward mail and contains more than 160 million change of address records in the last four years. For European companies who would like to send mailings to the [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 12:43 pm
Budget scoring is part of a broader process to keep federal spending in check. The Congressional Budget Office CBO assigns scores to bills to show how they will affect the federal budget deficit. Unlike most sports, a high budget score is usually considered bad. Even though Congress placed the Postal Service off budget in 1989 [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 12:17 pm
The stolen returns are all made out to addresses where the addressee does not actually live. Addresses like the one Cornelia Washington lives. “We received a check for someone named Courtney, but there is no one named Courtney at our residence,” said Washington. Her mail carrier failed to catch the $4,500 IRS check she found [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 11:24 am
Doc is sympathetic to the U.S. Postal Service woes. After all, mail volume is down and getting worse and not likely to come back. Let’s face it, we live in an era of electronic communications. But the USPS still provides important services, and I hate to see them react to a downturn in revenue by [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 11:21 am
If you are a Federal worker who was hurt on the job and continues to have residuals of the injury, the Office of Workers’ Compensation Program has a mechanism to help make you whole again – the Schedule Award. An injured worker may be eligible upon suffering a permanent impairment, which is defined as permanent [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 10:27 am
Thats why many insiders believe that the next step is for Congress to go after current workers, both CSRS and FERS. Forcing them to pay more — up to 4 percent for FERS employees and 8 percent total for CSRS employees under one plan — would produce immediate results. And it might be a blessing [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 10:14 am
As hopes grow that the US Congress might consider the major difficulties at the US Postal Service soon, USPS issued a revision to its business plan on Friday, with its costs predicted to outpace revenues “at an alarming rate”. Price increases and job losses form the heart of the plan, with USPS insisting that cost [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 10:12 am
The battle lines have been drawn in an unusual public records spat between a state agency responsible for upholding election laws and the U.S. Postal Service. The U.S. Department of Justice yesterday asked a federal court to dismiss a California Fair Political Practices Commission lawsuit accusing the U.S. Postal Service of withholding records. via Feds ask judge to [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 10:09 am
Rep. Don Young is certain a controversial bill that would end the bypass mail program in Alaska lacks support on Capitol Hill and will fail, but that doesn’t stop him from being frustrated by his fellow lawmakers’ lack of knowledge about Alaska. “We don’t have roads. It’s hard for them to get that through their [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 10:08 am
Zach Smith loves his magazines. The musician with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra subscribes to a variety of weeklies, as well as monthlies such as Bon Appetit and Smithsonian. But last fall, he noticed the weekly delivery of The New Yorker to his Mt. Lebanon home was becoming erratic: “In the good old days, I’d get [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 10:07 am
This can never be shared enough: Postal Facts about the USPS Financial Crisis by the NALC !! The Truth about the Postal Service and the Need for Congressional Action http://www.nalc.org/PostalFacts/pdf/TP.BranchP.0711.pdf
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 10:05 am
What’s a postal carrier supposed to do on President’s Day, a day with no deliveries? In La Crosse, carriers got together for a day full of bowling; 115 carriers signed up for the Fourth Annual La Crosse Area Postal Credit Union Bowl-A-Thon. “It all started as a way to have fun for postal workers after [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 10:04 am
Whether or not it would achieve what the USPS hopes, it probably doesn’t matter given that asking Congress for greater operational flexibility is like asking a two year old to stop playing with their food. That’s why the focus should be on completely transitioning the USPS from a government-run business to a privately-run business (or [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 10:03 am
People who choose to not pay union dues are known as freeloaders, free riders, or scabs. Whatever the appropriate adjective they are also equal beneficiaries of grievance payouts because a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) law requires unions to represent all bargaining unit workers regardless of their membership. That rule on the street is known [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 9:59 am
A group of 855 enlisted African-American women and officers played an important role in maintaining troop morale during World War II. These pioneering women belonged to the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion which was part of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). Segregation was endemic throughout the United States Army when President Roosevelt asked Congress [...]
Posted on 22 February 2012 | 9:56 am