Press release from Senator Bob Corker (R-TN):

May 3 2012 -

WASHINGTON – Noting the unlikelihood that Congress will reach an agreement on postal system reforms anytime soon and that the postal service is on track to lose $21 billion annually by 2016 without changes to its business model, U.S. Senators Bob Corker, John McCain, and Tom Coburn today wrote to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe urging him to “move forward with cost-saving changes.”

“As Senators committed to fiscal responsibility and preventing future taxpayer-funded bailouts, we support your efforts to put the USPS on a sustainable financial path for the future,” Corker, McCain and Coburn wrote to Donahoe.

Full text of the letter follows and is attached below. Read the rest of this entry »

By Reed Anfinson

President of the National Newspaper Association And Publisher of the Swift County (MN) Monitor-News

Now that U.S. Senate has passed a bill, S 1789, to reform the ailing U.S. Postal Service, critics are trying to disable the bill on its way to the House of Representatives. Business Week recently catalogued unhappy stakeholders, including postal unions, postal management and some Republicans who wrongly think the bill burdens taxpayers.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA, whose own bill awaits action in the House, blasted “special interests.” But Business Week says, “Considering how many people are unhappy with the bill, it isn’t clear which special interests Issa is referring to.”

Some see the Senate bill as the inevitable product of the sausage machine. But it is neither a budget buster nor processed meat. It is the expression of a better vision of the Postal Service.

If you consider that survival of the service means maintaining the circulatory system for a $1.1 trillion mailing industry – or in other words, making sure cash, greeting cards, packages and newspapers and magazines arrive on time, the Senate bill is good medicine.

Consider some of the alternative fixes.

Issa’s bill would let USPS immediately end Saturday mail, close half the mail processing centers and thousands of post offices, and put a new board of political appointees in charge. The new board would be expected to trim workers’ benefits and maybe wages, and direct the Postmaster General to favor profit over service.

At the other extreme might be Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, who wanted to keep everything open. Labor unions backing him say that USPS will heal as the economy heals. Then there is the White House’s notion: to raise postage rates.

For Sens. Susan Collins, R-ME, and Joe Lieberman, I-CT, neither extreme is suited to long-term survival of USPS. Read the rest of this entry »

From USPS News Link:

Shipping services are growing. Chief Marketing/Sales Officer Paul Vogel says this growth is helping to bring more revenue to the Postal Service.

“Through March, USPS shipping services revenue is up 20 percent and volume has increased 54 percent,” says Vogel in the latest edition of his “Growth and Revenue” series.

Vogel says customers appreciate the value and choices USPS offers, including Priority Mail flat-rate and regional services, First-Class Mail packages and returns. Vogel also spotlights convenience. “Nothing can be more convenient than shipping from the comfort of one’s home or business,” he says.

During the video, Vogel and Beth Fluto, manager of Digital Media, discuss improvements in Click-N-Ship, the Postal Service’s Web-based self-help tool for residential and small business customers. “The application generated close to a half billion dollars last year and is the top revenue-producing application on usps.com,” says Fluto. “More than 700,000 customers use this application each month.”

Fluto says the new application is cleaner, more streamlined and matches the overall look of usps.com. “But most important, it’s easier and faster for customers to manage and ship their domestic and international packages,” she says.

From the National Postal Mail Handlers Union

As we approach the deadline of May 15, 2012 on the Postal Service’s self-imposed moratorium on closings and consolidations, there is much uncertainty as to what happens next.

The Postal Service has indicated that there will be “no wholesale big changes” on May 15. That is a quote from the PMG.

There may be some closings and/or consolidations over the next couple of months, but the Postal Service has indicated that it will not make any changes during the Fall mailing season. We also do not yet have an accurate listing of plants that may still be on the chopping block, but we’ve asked for that information, and will circulate it once it is finalized.

Indications are that the latest list of 250 or so closings will be pared down to somewhere in the neighborhood of 120. This means that many of the plants that were on the original list of 250 may now be spared (at least for now). We expect that many of those 120 plants would be smaller facilities, but we just don’t know yet.

What about an early out? That too is still up in the air, as the Postal Service does not appear ready to make a final decision on its Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) until the agency knows which plants may close or be consolidated, and how many employees that may affect. And, as always, the Postal Service has to negotiate about the VERA with the Union before it can be implemented.

Please stay tuned, and continue to check our web site for the latest information. In other words, when we know something, you will know something.