Here’s a strange one- the “Consumers Postal Council”, which is actually a front for the radical libertarian Lexington Institute, has something nice to say about the US Postal Service! Normally Lexington’s “reports” just keep repeating the mantra that the private sector could deliver the mail faster and cheaper. The fact that privatized posts tend to have higher costs and poorer service than the USPS doesn’t shake the faith of these true believers.

So it was startling to see an item on the “Postal Consumers Council” web site demonstrating that the USPS has by far the most productive work force in the world! There’s no indication why the group suddenly changed its attitude toward the USPS. Maybe the Chief Ideologue left early for the holiday weekend, or perhaps last week’s Rapture had something to do with it?

The productivity of national posts, as expressed by the number of business and personal letters per postal worker, varies widely, while the U.S. Postal Service averages more than twice the letter productivity of number two Korea Post.

The United States leads the category by a wide margin, with nearly 250,000 letters per postal worker in 2008, among the countries in the Consumer Postal Council’s Index of Postal Freedom. That’s nearly 140,000 letters per worker (full-time and part-time) more than the next country, South Korea.

via Market Comparisons > Market Comparison #2.

From the Canadian Union of Postal Workers:

Today it was confirmed that none of the CPC negotiators are prepared to explain how they determined that our demands would result in the creation of 3,000 jobs and cost $1.4 Billion. It has been confirmed however that CPC’s figures were based on many false assumptions.

via CUPW – May 27, 2011 – Negotiations Alert: National Negotiating Committee and National Executive Board to Meet Over the Weekend.

A month after a strike vote put Canada’s postal service on notice, management and postal workers went public with the state of their negotiations.

In a word, they’re not good but they are still talking.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers voted in favour of striking if a collective agreement with Canada Post was not reached by May 24. Their previous contract expired on Jan. 31.

The two sides remained at the table yesterday but the union rattled a few sabres to sharpen its edge in talks.

If a strike is called, the union must give 72 hours notice.

More: Canada Post, union still talking but rhetoric heats up – Winnipeg Free Press.

CHICAGO, IL – May 26, 2011 – The month of May starts the busiest time of the year for changing residences. As people look to the Internet to update their street addresses, rather than visit a local post office, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) warns consumers of an online scam involving websites claiming to change your address and charging a hefty fee to do so.

The scam begins with a consumer searching the internet for a change of address form and being directed to websites, such as www.change-address-online.com. This website is in no way affiliated with the US Postal Service, and should be avoided, according to the BBB. The website asks consumers to fill in the requested addresses, and then credit card information. After providing the credit card information, consumers find their address has not been updated, yet they are charged between 20 and 40 dollars. Read the rest of this entry »