Opinion: Postal supervisors should show how to speed up delivery

Letter carriers in several southeastern Michigan communities are raising the same concerns about a hostile work environment many raised five years ago, in particular that they're being told to speed up, to deliver the mail without overtime. We have an alternative: Supervisors who complain about carriers who can't deliver mail by 5 p.m. should show them — and us — how it can be done by moving more quickly.  |

$250 shot for retirees

Salinas man convicted in 2008 slaying of /postal worker/girlfriend

Burrus Shocked, Disappointed By Retirement of PMG Potter

I have no inside information about the reason for Potter’s decision, and no reason to believe that his retirement was demanded by the Board of Governors; but if it was, the Board has made a terrible mistake. The Postal Service is at a crossroads, and its relevance in American society is being questioned. The U.S. Postal Service needs a leader like John Potter to ensure its continued viability. NALC President on Potter Retirement   |

Potter Quitting the Worst CEO Job in America

At the ripe age of 55, Postmaster General Jack Potter announced his retirement today from the worst CEO job in America. Some will no doubt speculate about the reasons -- a coming change in Congress or perhaps the failure so far to notch any major political victories on such issues as rate increases, five-day delivery or retiree-benefits reform. But I have my own theory.. The job stinks. |

Stealing money from greeting cards gets postal carrier 2 years probation

USPS Recognizes Published Works On History Of American Postal System

Michigan Rep. Seeks Answers From PMG On Proposed Consolidation Of Carrier Operations

New Jersey contractor charged with dumping 32,000 pieces of  mail

High school classmates remember slain post office worker

Truck crashes into post office

 After nearly 10 years as U.S. Postmaster General and CEO of the U.S. Postal Service, John E. Potter today announced that he will retire on Dec. 3, after 32 years of service. The Governors of the Postal Service named Patrick R. Donahoe, currently Deputy Postmaster General and Chief Operating Officer, to succeed Potter . PMG discusses retirement and his successor | Potter to Resign as PMG; Mail Groups OK With Legacy | “Shock and disappointment” as Potter steps down at difficult time for USPS | Letter From PMG To All Postal Employees | Senator Carper Statement  | USPS's Donahoe | Who is the new postmaster general?  |

APWU Grows Impatient With Pace of Contract Talks With USPS

Management negotiators seem to believe delay will maximize the pressure on the union, because of the looming threat of arbitration. How wrong they are!  |

Alabama Postal Clerk arrested after post office fight

They were in a verbal altercation that turned physical,” Billingsley said. “From the investigation, we've been able to determine that they have had some kind of ongoing argument or feud for a year.” He said the fight took place in the post office sorting department Billingsley said the man who was attacked was taken to Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for several abrasions, bruises and cuts to his head. |

Video: Who Knew - Discover some of the most unusual places you can still send mail…

Beechview postal worker avoids theft charges

Salinas postal workers to rally to keep local mail processing plant open

USPS Sets Up PO Box For Condolences To Slain Henning Postal Workers

A special PO Box has been established for those wishing to offer condolences to families of Judy Spray and Paula Robinson.. |

USPS Updates Policy On Workplace Harassment

Henning Post Office Shooting: Employees' Fight For Security Camera Denied- Mary Hammock is appalled at reports that a fake camera was installed at the Henning post office. The same post office where employees Judy Spray and Paula Robinson were found shot and killed Monday morning. A postal union official tells us if employees had their way, a camera would have been installed years ago. John Sharkey is the vice president of the union that represents the Henning post office. He says they've been fighting for years to put a surveillance camera in place. Postal Notes: Tragedy at West Tennessee Post Office hard to fathom | Mobile unit continues postal service tasks outside scene of Henning post office murders   |

We plan to review the requirements for the Postal Service to participate in the Federal Employee Workers’ Compensation Program, problems existing in the program, and the impacts to the Postal Service of the current arrangement. Labor and Management – The Postal Service must ensure its compensation and benefit costs are effectively aligned in anticipation of further reductions in revenue.  |

Republicans Have Little Love For Federal Workers

Just 2 percent of Republicans think federal employees work harder than private sector workers, and almost 6 in 10 think they work less hard. Forty-six percent of Republicans believe federal workers are of a lower quality than the private sector workforce. Democrats are much more sympathetic, with 11 percent believing they work harder than the private sector and almost 1 in 5 believing they're of a higher quality. |

The increase in significant and egregious cases demonstrates OSHA's commitment to aggressively enforcing its standards when employers show indifference to protecting the safety, health and lives of their workers.  In addition, inspectors are issuing a higher percentage of citations for violations that seriously endanger workers or show an employer's willful disregard for their safety. Also, many referrals to other facilities within the same company lead to more significant cases, such as the serious electrical and other hazards found at many U.S. Postal Service facilities across the country. |

The Rural Carrier was stopped partially in the roadway and on the right shoulder in her 2007 Jeep Wrangler, delivering mail. Mrs. Wood, who was unrestrained at the time of the crash, was air lifted to LSU Medical Center in Shreveport with life threatening injuries.  |

Customer: Wilmington’s understaffed main post office is an outrage

On Tuesday, I visited the downtown Wilmington (Delaware) Post Office at 8:30 a.m. There was only one counter person and 20 people waiting in line. This is totally unacceptable service from the United States Postal Service. This is the biggest and busiest post office in the state.  |

OSHA fines USPS $212,500 Electrical Hazards at Huntington, W.Va facility

The willful citations address the facility’s failure to properly train employees, use safety-related work practices when exposed to energized parts and provide proper electrical protective equipment.  |

Affordable Mail Alliance Argues PRC Ruling Allows USPS To Exploit The Unused Rate Authority -  AMA’s members have a substantial economic interest in the CPI price cap formula. The methodology adopted in the OGC letter for computing the Postal Service’s unused rate authority under the CPI cap could subject users of market-dominant products to approximately $360 million per year in extra postage and fees compared with the computation of the price cap formula that AMA and the Postal Service believed was in effect until recently.  Mailers Alliance Fights 'Nonsensical' Price-Cap Ruling  |

A former employee of one of the U.S. post office branches in Granville (NY) pleaded guilty last week in federal court to a misdemeanor charge for stealing more than $3,500 while working at the post office. Federal court records show the window clerk rang up 184 fraudulent "service not rendered" refunds in the post office's computer system over the 13-month period, pocketing $25 or less each time. Tennessee postal worker arrested in connection with $90.000 theft  |

Some Postal Employees Will Get 11 Paid Holidays instead of 10 in 2010

- USPS New Year's Day Holiday 2011 falls on Saturday. Postal Employees with Fri/Sat or Sat/Sun Scheduled Days off will be paid for their designated holiday on Thurs. or Fri. (2010)  |

One reason the U.S. Postal Service is teetering on financial ruin: four in five post offices lose money. And shutting any of the 32,662 outlets down is nearly impossible. As mail volumes fall, the Postal Service "does not have sufficient revenues to cover the growing costs of providing service to new residences and businesses while also maintaining its large network of retail and processing facilities," Phillip Herr, director of physical infrastructure issues for the Government Accountability Office, told a congressional subcommittee last year. An added concern is that the Postal Service can't afford to maintain its deteriorating buildings; an earlier GAO report includes photos of deteriorating facilities, including one Pennsylvania station that suffered a partial roof collapse.  |

[The APWU] Clerk Division officers recently reported on problems union members are facing since management established OASys, the Online Employee Scheduling and Assessment System. Many aspects of this program, which requires employees to schedule typing tests and other exams online, violate our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Members have reported that although they are required to schedule tests online, management often refuses to allow them to use USPS computers for this purpose. Furthermore, many locations are not conducive to testing, due to such problems as faulty keyboards, cramped space, noise, and dirty surroundings.  |

Last month the Washington Post reported: The Postal Service has awarded more than 2,700 contracts to former employees since 1991 and awarded 17 no-bid deals to former executives between 2006 and 2009, according to one of the audits. Most of those executives earned six-figure sums, the report said. One unnamed executive received a $260,000 no-bid deal in July 2009 to train his successor just two months after retiring. The Postal Service  has revised its Management Instructions (MI) on “Contracting With Individuals or Rehiring Into Career Nonbargaining Positions”  effective immediately.   |

In a letter to Wall Street Journal: We operate within legal constraints that hamper our ability to operate efficiently and profitably and therefore are seeking legislative changes that: (1) enable us to alter frequency of delivery; (2) allow us to close unprofitable post offices; (3) restructure the obligation to prefund retiree health benefits, an obligation not required of any other private or government entity; (4) permit us to create and offer products and services beyond mail; (5) assure that arbitrators consider the agency's financial health when agreement cannot be reached with our labor unions; and (6) resolve overfunding of our pension systems.  |

USPS Has Too Many Supervisors And Too Many Employees, Congressman Says -The U.S. Postal Service could cut its workforce by one-third and its supervisory ranks even more, a leading Republican Congressman indicated this week. "The Post Office has 200,000 people who should be retiring," Rep. Darrell Issa said in a speech Wednesday to The Heritage Foundation. USPS had 568,301 employees at the end of August. "When I say retiring I mean we don’t need them. But let’s bear in mind it’s just not the guy at the post office; it’s the thousands of people who are doing maintenance at post offices that we don’t need to have so many of."   |

Potter defends free health insurance for USPS executives

Postmaster General John Potter is standing by his agency’s policy of paying the full cost of health insurance premiums for senior executives. According to a recent audit,  the U.S. Postal Service could save about $577 million in fiscal 2011 if its contribution rate for those employees matched that of the federal government   |

Rough Week for USPS Highlights Importance of Bill to Fix Finances

“The PRC ruling fully justifies the APWU’s objection to the PAEA, and stands as stark evidence that the supporters of the legislation erred in their decision to require the Postal Service to pre-pay billions of dollars in future healthcare costs while severely limiting its opportunity to increase revenue,” he said.  |

Did the PRC’s Decision Send a Message to the USPS?

Will the financially strapped USPS think twice in the future about proposing an exigent rate case increase given the PRC’s resounding consensus? Can PRC Decision Change Postal Practices?  |