WASHINGTON — Postal Service customers will be able ship a box for overnight delivery anywhere in the country for one price regardless of weight (up to 70 lbs) starting Jan. 22, 2012. That’s when the Express Mail Flat Rate Box debuts and new Shipping Services prices take effect.

“The introduction of the Express Mail Flat Rate Box leverages the success of our Priority Mail Flat Rate advertising campaign and further positions the Postal Service as the best value in the shipping business,” said Paul Vogel, president and chief marketing/sales officer. The new box, priced at $39.95, for domestic mailing, will be available for customers who need overnight service for items larger than what can be placed in an Express Mail Flat Rate Envelope.

Other Express Mail changes include lower retail prices for half- and one-pound packages and commercial packages to local and close-in areas. The new retail price for the Express Mail Flat Rate Envelope is $18.95.

The overall price change for all Shipping Services is 4.6 percent, with Priority Mail prices increasing an average 3.1 percent and Express Mail prices increasing an average 3.3 percent. The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) will review the prices before they become effective Jan. 22, 2012, the same day Postal Service Mailing Services prices take effect. Today’s Shipping Services price filing will be available on the PRC website at www.prc.gov and the new Mailing Services prices are available at http://pe.usps.com.

New domestic retail pricing for Priority Mail Flat Rate products include:

• Small box — $5.35
• Medium box — $11.35
• Large box — $15.45
• Large APO/FPO/DPO box — $13.45
• Regular envelope — $5.15
• Legal-size and Padded envelope — $5.30

Commercial base Priority Mail pricing will offer an average 6.8 percent discount off retail prices for customers using online and other authorized postage payment methods. A new, larger Regional Rate Box C (12” x 12” x 15”) will be added to the existing two sizes. If any of the three Regional Rate Boxes is entered at retail, a 75-cent additional charge will be applied.

Also new for 2012 is Package Intercept for commercial mailers, available through a customer interface on Business Customer Gateway. For $10.95 plus Priority Mail postage, customers can request mail be intercepted before final delivery is attempted to the initial delivery address. The shipment can be returned to sender, held for pick up at a Post Office, or redirected to an alternate address. Intercepted packages are shipped using Priority Mail.

First-Class Package Service (formerly known as First-Class Mail commercial parcels and now a Shipping Services product) will see an overall price increase of 3.7 percent. The Intelligent Mail package barcode will provide free visibility to these parcels.

Prices will also be adjusted for other Shipping Services products and services, including Parcel Select, Parcel Return Service, International Mail, Premium Forwarding Service and Post Office Box Service.

via Postal Service Announces Shipping Prices for 2012.

The National Association of Letter Carriers issued the following clarification on the new health insurance initiative NALC President Fred Rolando mentioned in his remarks at the National Press Club yesterday:

Update on health benefits bargaining: Some media reports have inadequately described our position on health benefits. NALC has made no agreements with the Postal Service on health care for active members or retirees, either within or outside of FEHBP. We have agreed to seriously explore mutually acceptable ways to deliver high-quality health benefits at a lower cost both to the Postal Service and to its employees. No agreement will be made that does not have the support of the NALC’s membership.

via Latest News | President Rolando speaks at National Press Club.

… and there were also protesters outside:

post office | Occupy Wall Street | Occupy DC | The Daily Caller.

Greg Bell
APWU Executive Vice President

(This article was first published in the November/December 2011 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

Postal workers are under constant attack by the forces of privatization. Unfortunately, this group includes the Postmaster General, members of the Board of Governors, some members of Congress and others.

Privatization is a clear and present danger — facility by facility, operation by operation, and job by job.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the Postmaster General for the recognition that he has earned — as an advocate of privatization of postal services.

Like so many postal workers, I am outraged that the PMG submitted legislative proposals to Congress in August that would abrogate our contract — less than four months after he signed it.

The Postal Service’s proposals seek to eliminate our protection against layoffs, and were accompanied by the announcement that the USPS planned to reduce the workforce by 220,000, and would need to lay off approximately 120,000 workers to reach that goal. The PMG also proposed to remove postal workers from the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program and federal retirement programs – which would provide a major pathway toward privatization of the Postal Service.

Yet earlier this year, the Postal Service, postal unions and management associations all recognized that we should focus our efforts on legislation that would allow the Postal Service to apply billions of dollars in pension overpayments to the congressional mandate that requires the USPS to prefund 75 years of healthcare benefits for future retirees in a 10-year period.

So what happened?

Issa’s Bill

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is what happened.

In June 2011, Rep. Issa introduced a bill (H.R 2309) that constitutes an irresponsible attack on postal workers and the Postal Service. The bill was designed to drastically reduce service to the American people by establishing a commission that would order billions of dollars worth of post office closures and facility closures within two years. This bill would enhance further contracting out of mail processing and retail services to the private sector.

The bill also would create a “solvency authority” with the power to unilaterally modify collective bargaining agreements any time the USPS defaults on “any obligation to the federal government for more than 30 days.” In addition, the board would be empowered to cut wages, abolish benefits, and end our protection against layoffs.

Furthermore, at the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreements, it would increase employees’ costs for healthcare coverage and life insurance; eliminate the right to bargain over these benefits, and allow the USPS to end Saturday delivery.
Downhill on Issa’s Bandwagon

So what about the Postmaster General? Somewhere along the road, it appears he made a right turn — downhill on Issa’ bandwagon.

The PMG’s treacherous actions against postal workers and their unions didn’t end with the proposals announced in August.

On Sept. 21, a House subcommittee approved Rep. Issa’s Postal “Destruction” Act, and on Oct. 13, the full Committee on Oversight and Government Reform passed the bill. Before each vote, Rep. Issa amended the bill to include additional provisions that are even more outrageous than those contained in the original legislation.

Unfortunately, the PMG’s fingerprints are all over the bill — which is designed to restrict collective bargaining and dismantle the United States Postal Service so that it will be ripe for privatization.

In addition to establishing a control board to carry out layoffs, the amended bill would prohibit the union and the Postal Service from negotiating protections against layoffs in the future.

The bill also would negatively affect workers who are injured on duty. It includes a provision that would cut the monthly compensation of totally disabled employees from 66.66 percent to 50 percent once they meet the age and service requirements for retirement. It also would force disabled employees to retire as soon as they are eligible.

Our Work

We have our work cut out for us. We must ensure that Congress rejects H.R. 2309.

Despite the PMG’s treachery, we must focus our efforts on saving America’s Postal Service. The first order of business is getting Congress to correct the requirement to pre-fund the healthcare benefits of future retirees, which forces the USPS to fund a 75-year liability in a period of just 10 years. The USPS must be allowed to use the billions of dollars in pension overpayments to meet its financial obligations.

Massive job cuts, reductions in service, extensive closures of post offices and mail processing facilities, and tampering with collective bargaining are unnecessary and unjustified.

Click here for news about the Sept. 27, 2011 Save America’s Postal Service rallies. Watch Fighting For Our Lives on YouTube

Sept. 27 Rallies

I would like to thank everyone who participated in the rallies on Sept. 27 to Save America’s Postal Service, especially those officers, stewards and activists who worked so hard on such short notice to organize the events. There were close to 500 rallies on the same day — at least one in nearly every congressional district in the country.

This is the first time that the four unions, the APWU, the National Association of Letter Carriers, National Postal Mail Handlers Union and National Rural Letter Carriers Association, joined together for a common cause. If we are to be successful, it cannot be the last. Even the National Association of Postal Supervisors went on record in support of the rallies.

Thanks to your efforts, more than 220 U.S. representatives are co-sponsoring H.R. 1351, the bill introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) that would allow the USPS to use pension fund overpayments to offset future retiree health care fund liabilities. Unfortunately, having a majority of representatives co-sponsor a bill is not a guarantee that it will pass – or even come up for a vote.

We are fighting for our lives, against those who would destroy us. It is crucial that APWU members stay active and participate.