August 31, 2004

• Gas pump hints at size of raise in 2005 COLA

• Suspect sought in post office heist, second in one week

• Planters now stand in front of the Morgan Hill Post Office

• Revisiting Postal Reform

• Commentary by Gene Del Polito: Think About It, USPS

• Rep. concerned about prices to mail packages overseas

• When Wallingford got the 'best post office' in the world -The opening of the new Wallingford Post Office was big news in 1945 a time when a first-class letter could be sent for three cents, and a postcard for a penny.

• FBI Checks For Link Between Trucker, Greenville Ricin Case -Trucker Committed Suicide during Investigation into Aurora, ILL. Postal Worker/ Wife's Death . During that search of  the Truck Driver's home, investigators found a stockpile of weapons, explosives, chemicals and the makings of the poison ricin. |

August 30, 2004

• Amtrak Cancels Mail on Passenger Trains |

• Virginia Rep, Postal Reform Panel Member abruptly retires

- Website Says More Officials in Bush Administration will be 'Outed'

• Bush Executive Order: Strengthening the Sharing of Terrorism Information  to Protect Americans - includes USPS and Postal Rate Commission

• Not Always ‘Got Mail’? You’re not alone

• Radiation leak shuts New York City postal facility, surrounding streets

• Army Reservist Returns To Santa Cruz Postal Worker Job

• P-mail: E-mail’s postal service predecessor

• Postal Worker pens poem, hopes for A&W Rootbeer win

• Absentee ballots in Dade County Fla. too big for 37 cent postage

- King County (WA) agrees to pay extra postage for new weighty ballots
• Red Tag Newsletter Sept. 2004
• Switch to 911 address-- or mail won't be delivered
• Canada Post  denies dead man's full mailbox
• Arthur Ashe Commemorative Stamp Unveiled at U.S. Open

• ZIP Code Man puts memory to test

August 29, 2004

• Automation streamlines services and high-tech, but at what cost? With the advent of e-mail, the letter-delivery business is going to disappear, he predicts. FedEx and the US Postal Service are "more and more in the small package business now. We'll see kiosks replacing people

August 27, 2004

• USPS Financials Postal Quarter III FY 2004 (PDF)

• Postal Reform Walk by  APWU PA President Leroy Moyer Nets over $27,000

• New Stamp to Highlight Sickle Cell Disease

• Postal worker charged with illegally collecting unemployment insurance

• Postal carrier delivered from near-death experience

• FedEx Looks to Protect Network From Growing Air Traffic - Fedex's contract to carry Postal Service mail has boosted daytime flights to about 150, compared with about 300 at night

• Postal worker tackles dilapidated mailboxes

• Some residents may receive mail earlier

• Postal Employees Flex  Muscle in Cintas Uniforms Union Settlement

- Press Release from Unite Here

• Police Believe Found Body Is Missing Aurora Postal Worker

• Study finds anthrax retesting unnecessary in postal facilities | USPS Report

• We Have Been Mislead About Postal Reform

• Man Uses Gun With Laser To Rob Postal Driver
• Even Postal Service on RNC Security Duty
• USPS Changes Bulk Mail Drop-off Procedures in NY

•  USPS Changes Bulk Mail Drop-off Procedures in NY During Convention
•  Federal Times: Postal Rate Commission Nominee Opposed
•  Commentary: FSS and DPP- One Year Later

August 26, 2004

• Special Delivery: Post Office Agrees to Rare Land Sale

• Senator Seeks Clarification of Law for Airlines, USPS on  Shipping Chicks

• New USPS System Ranks Air Carrier Routes for Best Value

• Postal worker cited for anti-terror service-Seabron Bowler Jr., a postal worker at the Bulk Mail Center in Allen Park, received the President’s Volunteer Service Award for his commitment and service in the Homeland Security Program. Seabron is believed to be the first USPS employee to receive training with a live nerve agent at the Homeland Security Training Center in Anniston, Ala.

August 25, 2004

• Residents oppose postal facility

• He's at it again ... postman puts out fire

• Alabama Post Office Robbed

• Germantown Post Office employee returns from Iraq

• Postal Service Resumes Mail Service to Iraq

• Hearing set for accused mailbox bomber

• Praise is loud for deaf postal employee

• In Westampton, a concern for history

• Sleet and snow okay, but Charley?
• Postal service reverses change on boxes, routes
• Shippers Absorb Oil Shock

August 24, 2004

• New postmaster delivering tracking technology to office

• Will it stay or will it go now? Confusion over Closure of Calif. Post Office Settled

• Postal Service Selects Auto-trol Technology's KONFIG(R) CM

• Disgraced athlete's stamp withdrawn

• Dog, mailman story with a bit of an odd twist

August 23, 2004

• Religious Discrimination Case Against Union May Have National Implications

•  Postal procurement rules must provide more oversight-Every year, the U.S. Postal Service spends close to $12 billion on goods and services. With that kind of money in play, entire businesses — from supplies to mail transport to construction — revolve around contracts with the Postal Service. As a government entity, the Postal Service has an obligation to make sure that its contracts are in the best interest of the American people. New purchasing rules issued by the Postal Service in June offer some potentially worthwhile improvements. But for the process to work, it needs an external control audit force

• ADVO Expands Advertising Programs in Major Markets

- Advo Lowers 2004 View on Expansion

• Restoration saves mural at Indiana post office

• USPS to Announce Mailing Team's Findings at National Postal Forum

• For 55 years,  Retired Mail Carrier delivered for Seabeck

• New Jersey Letter Carrier Arrested for Debit Card Theft

• Need stamps? Up late? Head to post office

• Pa. doctor loses job amid anthrax probe
• Post office celebrates 200 years
• Sayre postal worker selected for USPS campaign

August 22, 2004

•  Chicago Postal Workers #1 Occupation in  PayDay Loan Defaulters-

 One mail handler called payday loans 'legal robbery'. see 

• NZ mark Olympics with 'action replay stamps | See action replay stamps

• Postal Service, builders OK mail box deal

• Postal Reporter Reader Seeks Help in Protecting Veteran/Military Retiree Rights

• Special Delivery: Mail carrier Ricardo Barron Jr. continues 22-year route

• Commentary: Not Your Father's Post Office- U.S. Postal Service should tread lightly into commercialism. | 

• Kelvin Mack Promoted to Postmaster of Chicago -overseeing approximately 5,200 employees in the Cardiss Collins facility and 49 neighborhood post offices and 24 retail post offices. Previous Positions: Postmaster of Baltimore, Oakland (CA) District Human Resources Manager

August 21, 2004

• Commentary: You, Too, Could Be A Suspected Terrorist

• Custom postage stamps, credit cards debut

• Post office finds more than half of missing mail following crash

• UPS to Drivers: Shut Your Engines-"You will never see a UPS truck idling" at a drop-off point, "even if it's going to be in your driveway for only 30 seconds," spokesman Norman Black said. The driver, he added, "is taught to turn it off."

August 20, 2004

•  Peeking Into Customer Mailboxes

• Kiosks Marketplace: APCs--The end of the line
• Flag from post office returned to ground zero

• Postal worker jailed in bank card theft

• Punta Gorda Mail Carriers  Keep Delivering
• Mail carrier pleads guilty to stealing
• DMA, Postcom Fight Rate Increase for Stickies
• Conservative Groups Oppose PRC Nominee

August 19, 2004

• 2 killed in crash of mail plane

• Franklin post office to extend hours

August 18, 2004

• USPS Struggles With Damaged Florida Facilities

• Fort Smith Ark. Post Office Staying Put

• Former USPS Marketing Contractor Under OIG Investigation

• Post office address rules cause grief

• Address changes trigger anger

• Woman sprays Illinois Mailman with pepper spray

• Norfolk Post Office Getting Anthrax Detection Machines

• Cincinnati Mail Processor Faces Charge of Second-Degree Manslaughter

• Lost in the Mail: Woman gets flag after 56 years of waiting

• UPS' financials for the period ending June 30, 2004

• Congressman's mail order restores boxes
• Postal machines open 24 hours
• Meet eBay's New Postman

• New Procedures in Place to Ensure Military Absentee ballots are counted-Local postmasters will take ballots and sort them for three different USPS gateway cities:

August 17, 2004

• Letter Carriers Get the Job Done

• Work outside the envelope-There's not much rain, sleet or dark of night on Jan Nelson's mail route, but summer heat is definitely a factor.

• What Happens When You Buy a Post Office on eBay

- Buy A Contract Postal Unit On eBay, Get No Training, Run A Scam, Get Arrested

• Blanchard woman goes full circle at USPS

• Selective Rate Discounts To Preserve First Class Mail Volume-was presented by David M. Levy of Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP at the 12th Conference on Postal Delivery and Economics (Rutgers University, CRRI) Cork, Ireland on June 3, 2004. Some of the issues covered in the presentation:
• Paradox of postal ratemaking Paradox of postal ratemaking in in USA
• Threat to USPS from EBPP is similar to intermodal competitive threats faced by other regulated network industries
• Volume-retention discounts, if reasonably calibrated to threat of substitution posed by the Internet, are consistent with established norms for price discrimination by regulated monopolies

August 16, 2004

• Home Depot Signs Agreement to Advertise in USPS MoverSource Program 

• American Canyon CA Post Office to Close

• Jaffer: The Postal Service is ready

• Postal Service Revs Up for Sporty Car Stamps
• UK Postal Office Savings stamps make a comeback
• Fort Myers Post Office Received Considerable Damage

August 13, 2004

• Postal Operations In Central Florida Suspended

• USPS Fined for Missing Vehicle Emissions Test

• Postal Clerk Sentenced for Embezzlement

• Postal workers accused of stealing and junking mail

• Postal Service plans to keep Michigan equipment center

• City Mail Held in Probe- postal inspectors have apparently caught a postal employee stealing mail.
• Package Postmarked in 1948 Waits to be Claimed

• USPS to Adjust Service Due to Republican National Convention-Window Services to Close, PO Box Access Limited, Collections Curtailed at Farley Post Office

August 12, 2004

• CFC rule catches charities by surprise-Since October, the charities have been required to sign a certificate saying they would not knowingly hire people whose names appear on any of several U.S. and international terrorism watch lists. One list is 143 pages of individuals – about 20,000 names and aliases – and organizations. Under the rules for this year’s federal fund drive, participating charities are also required to verify that any employee hired throughout the year is not on the list.

APWU a Sponsor of the 2004 Combined Federal Campaign

• Former Postmaster General Fighting Cancer

• Movies by mail, now playing

• Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) Rule Catches Charities by Surprise

- APWU a Sponsor of the 2004 Combined Federal Campaign

• ABX Air Subsidiary to Manage Indianapolis HASP for US Postal Service

• Canada Post's Chief Executive Quits After Spending Audit

• Postal Worker returns lost dog

• Contract Mail Carrier forced to pay employees back wages

• Court Rules Against Homeless Over General Delivery Services

• Emergency funding requests highlight budget issues

•  Stamp Images to Appear on Fashion Accessories | USPS Release
•  Residents' mail found on street
•  Anthrax detection system slated for regional postal center

•  Postal exchange to become tourist attraction in India?
•  USPS Selects EOS.Web Enterprise
•  PhotoStamps and the INDUCE Act
•  USPS Unveils 2005 Stamp Issue

August 11, 2004

• Revenue Counts but Courtesy comes first at Oakwood Post Office

• Commentary: A  handwritten letter makes my day

• Postal worker ends career on right foot

• Mail carrier is charged in greeting card thefts

• An Original Way to Go Postal || PhotoStamps site

• Neither rain nor snow nor Internet faze postmaster
• Postal worker ends career on right foot

August 10, 2004

• Birds Get Zapped From Post Office

• Dear John Letter: Postal Worker found Not Guilty of Soliciting  Hooker

• Shaming OKd as part of sentence-- Court upholds thief's wearing 'I stole mail' sign. It's OK for a criminal sentence to include shame along with imprisonment, a federal appeals court ruled as it upheld an order requiring a mail thief to stand outside a San Francisco post office wearing a sign declaring, "I stole mail. This is my punishment.''

• USPS, Imagitas Test Catalog Change-of-Address Program

• Stamps of individuality push the envelope

• Small Business Is Big Business at 2004 National Postal Forum

• Man gets 3 years for striking mailman

• Local postal carrier honored
• Suspect in mail truck theft identified
• Postal Service asks for mailbox switch

August 09, 2004

•  The Ins and Outs of Your Social Security Benefit and effects of WEP

- see what happened to one postal retiree's SS amount in EO Forum (post #99)

• Connecticut Letter Carriers say goodbye in moving tribute to fellow carrier

• Statement from NALC President Bill Young on new route evaluation process

• eBay and USPS Co-Branded Boxes Are Available

• Audit Report of Postal Inspection Service's Postal Police Officers-The report presents results of an audit in response to a request by members of Congress to review the Postal Service's decision to eliminate postal police officers at six USPS facilities. 

• Pixy Stix causes post office scare

• Postal clerk will be missed

• Chicago Post office to take name of carrier

• Late Night at the Post Office-It's 11 on a Monday night, but things are bustling at the Bradley Air Mail Facility of the U.S. Post Office in Windsor Locks. At this time of night, when most respectable members of society are safely curled in their beds, the "regulars," as postal worker Pete Sweet calls them, come out to do their mailing, each carrying or wheeling loads of packages to the front counter.

•USPS Artist Turns Childhood Drawings into Multi-Million Dollar Business
David Gonzales worked as an illustrator and graphic designer for the Postal Service, drawing a comic strip, "First Class Mel," for the Oakland, Calif., employee newsletter and worked on bigger projects, such as designing the mural for the Fremont (Calif.) post office. His Homie characters - urban caricatures with names such as Smiley, Spooky and Chula - turned up in clear plastic spheres in grocery store vending machines across the country. Since then, more than 100 million have been sold for 50 cents apiece

August 07, 2004

• Bellmawr post office always on alert for anthrax

• Search stirs anthrax memories

• Woman arrested in theft of mail truck

• Community Delivers for Mailman Injured in Vehicle Accident

• Postal contract station has two drive-up windows
• Same Dog Bites Two Mail Carriers
• Postal officials seek to nip rise in dog bites

August 06, 2004

• Doctor in anthrax probe got patent for surveillance system

• Hoofing It Through 10 Miles With the Mailman
• USPS Proceeds On Drop-Shipment Changes
• Industry Proceeds With International Address Standard

• Elk hunter wins claim against UPS for poor service
• Feds Arrest Man in 2001 Anthrax Probe

August 05, 2004

• LA Hotel Workers Rolling Out Red Carpet for APWU Delegates Later This Month

• Ex-postal worker’s drug conviction reversed:

• FBI Search doctor's homes in anthrax probe:

• Suspicious Letter Found At Brentwood Post Office:

• Postal Worker dies in horseback riding accident
• Swiss Postal  launch wooden commemorative stamp
• Tree comes crashing down on postal worker's car
• Terror Hoax: Baking soda tossed onto postal vehicle

• Postal Workers Could Win New Car for Not Calling In Sick-  Royal Mail is offering British Postal workers who don't take any sick leave for the next six months a chance to win a new car. |

• Mail next-door, but not as neighborly

• City asks Congress to solve ZIP code problems

• Ex-Postal Worker Pelts Letter Carriers With Porcupine Poop--Postal workers in a Grand Rapids, Mich post office faced far more than the usual mail carrier's obstacles when a disgruntled former co-worker burst into their office and poured two 5-gallon buckets of the foul concoction on them. The man, 62-year-old James Beal, pleaded guilty last Tuesday to four counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding a federal officer or employee in the October incident. "He came in with buckets of stuff he got in the woods," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Courtade. "It was full of worms and amoebas and eggs and stuff." Beal's targets were drenched from head to toe, Courtade said. Worries about possible infection led officials to call in a hazardous materials team and to destroy the four victims' clothing. "They were pretty upset," Courtade said. Beal had apparently gone into the woods to get the slurry, which was mostly porcupine feces. "I let my anger with this, sort of, overrule my judgments," Beal told U.S. District Judge Gordon J. Quist. He could face up to 12 years in prison and a large fine when he is sentenced in March. Beal had been fired from his job with the Postal Service. He returned the next day with his buckets and splattered four workers with the disgusting liquid. "I don't know what went through his mind," Courtade said.

August 04, 2004

• Rate Case, Reform Is Top of Mind at MTAC

• USPS Moves to Improve Merlin/CASS Ambiguities

• USPS Set to Implement NCOALink on Oct. 1

• Postal Worker Accused Of Stealing From Senior On Her Route

• Commentary: The Harvest of More Than Low Hanging Fruit

• Man who attacked letter carrier gets 37-month prison sentence

• Letter Carrier Attacked By Dog Speaks Out

• Neither rain, nor 30 years, can keep woman from working at post office

•  Is Snail Mail Doomed? an interesting article from 2002
•  Postal workers hope new machine will cut down on hassle
• Special Delivery

•  Federal Mail Symposium to be held Feb. 8-10, 2005

August 03, 2004

 • Postal Camera Check- An embarrassing security snafu at a post office in Times Square has prompted a citywide check of surveillance cameras at mail facilities throughout the Big Apple.  |

• USPS Study Charts Household Mail Activity-

• Commentary: Federal Spam Law Works Perfectly

• Postal Carriers Spend More Time On Routes To Check Up On Elderly Residents

• USPS VP and Treasurer Named Among Nation's Best in Corporate Finance Field

• Kerry Gets the Union Label

• $50,000 Reward offered in armed robbery of a Memphis, TN post office

• World Trade Center Post Office Reopens After Post-9/11 Repairs

• E-Mail Resistance, DNC Woes Boost Mail’s Fortunes: Study

• Training to deliver at USPS NCED in Norman, OK -In 2003, 64,440 employees received training provided through the center. About 19,000 of those workers visited Norman for  training. The rest received training through distance learning or in field

• Postal facility in Missouri City raises concern-Mayor said in his letter to Rep. Tom DeLay that residents had initially anticipated the new facility would be a store front or full service postal service center. However, he says, it appears that the facility will be used solely as a mail distribution center.

August 02, 2004

• Latest 'Setting the Record Straight' from Azeezaly S. Jaffer

• Airlines adjusting to USPS' new system for allocating domestic air mail

• Ultraviolet Light to Disable Airborne Threats

• Editorial: Postal Reform Anyone?

• Mail Carriers Say Dogs Making Mail Delivery Difficult

August 01, 2004

• Letter Carrier selling Bush/Cheney Bumper Stickers on eBay

• Mail carriers give retirement community stamp of approval

• Stamp of Approval Won't Always Bring the Mail

• Mailboxes are federal property nothing but mail can go in them

• Postal Carrier delivers strummin', bluegrass tunes at shows

• Monmouth, NJ P & DC getting way to detect anthrax

• Cincinnati's main post office getting detector for anthrax

• Rural Carrier reflect on her appointed rounds in Magazine.

• Arcola, VA loses its post office

• Honesdale Postmaster Finds Historical Photos In Safe

• Whoever thought buying stamps could turn into such a chore?

• Judge Approves UPS Excess-Value Insurance Settlement

• Japan Post has 790,000 customers `over the limit'

• A Kansas Postal Worker went blind — and he ended up seeing what's really important-Fifteen years ago Joel Berman was a sober-minded, suits-always executive with USPS who never in his life would have lived in such disarray. Then, unexpectedly, Berman's Coke-bottle eyesight went from bad to horrible