WASHINGTON , April 29, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service will meet May 10 in open session at Postal Service headquarters, 475 L’ Enfant Plaza , SW, Washington, DC. The public is welcome to observe the meeting beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the Ben Franklin Room on the 11th floor. The Board is expected to discuss the following items:

1. Call to order and remarks of the Chairman of the Board
2. Remarks of the Postmaster General and CEO
3. Approval of minutes of previous meetings
4. Committee reports
5. Quarterly report on financial performance
6. Quarterly service performance report
7. Tentative agenda for the June 18 meeting
8. Adjourn

Open session meetings of the Board of Governors are available on live audio webcasts at http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/bog/welcome.htm. Three hours after the conclusion of the open session meeting, a recorded audio file will be available for listening. In compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, the audio webcast will be open-captioned.

CFO Briefing
Following the Board’s open meeting on May 10, Postmaster General & CEO Patrick Donahoe and Chief Financial Officer Joe Corbett will host a telephone/web conference call to discuss the financial results in more detail. The call will begin at 11:00 a.m. ET and is open to the news media and all other interested parties.

To attend by phone with audio only: dial 866-966-6305 (meeting ID: 2207587).  

To attend the web conference and join with audio:
1) Browse to http://meetingplace4.usps.gov/join.asp?2207587
2) After the MeetingPlace window is open, click the Phone icon (under the Participant List or in the upper right-hand corner).
3) Click Connect Me, validate or update your phone number and click Connect Me again.
4) When the system calls you, press 1 to join.

The briefing will also be available on live audio webcast (listen only) at:
http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/cfo/welcome.htm.

The White House has announced the nomination of D. Michael Bennett as a member of the Board of Governors of the US Postal Service. Bennett is a former executive of Northrup Grumman, one of the USPS’s biggest contractors, and one which is currently involved in a litigation with the USPS over the failed FSS automation program. More recently, Mr. Bennett has been an executive at BAE Systems, a worldwide arms manufacturer, and one of the US government’s biggest contractors.

Here is the official announcement:

D. Michael Bennett, Nominee for Governor, Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service

D. Michael Bennett is Senior Vice President of Information Management and Chief Information Officer of BAE Systems, a position he has held since 2010. Previously, Mr. Bennett was Vice President and General Manager of the Enterprise Solutions Business Area of BAE System’s Information Solutions Line of Business. He worked at Northrup Grumman, ultimately becoming Vice President for Contracts, Pricing, Procurement and Risk Management for Northrop’s Information Technology Sector in 1999. From 1980 to 1999, Mr. Bennett practiced law in various positions with Northrup Grumman, EDS Corporation, and the U.S. Department of Commerce. He serves on the Board of Visitors of the Howard University School of Business, Vice President of Duke University Alumni Association Board of Directors, and Chair of the Manna Ventures Board of Directors. In 2012, he received the Minority Business Leader Award from the Washington Business Journal. Mr. Bennett received a B.A. from Duke University and a J.D. from The George Washington University Law School.

Statement From the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors:

“The Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service met April 9th and discussed the Continuing Resolution recently passed by Congress to fund government operations. By including restrictive language in the Continuing Resolution, Congress has prohibited implementation of a new national delivery schedule for mail and packages, which would consist of package delivery Monday through Saturday and mail delivery Monday through Friday, and which would have taken effect the week of August 5, 2013.

“Although disappointed with this Congressional action, the Board will follow the law and has directed the Postal Service to delay implementation of its new delivery schedule until legislation is passed that provides the Postal Service with the authority to implement a financially appropriate and responsible delivery schedule. The Board believes that Congress has left it with no choice but to delay this implementation at this time. The Board also wants to ensure that customers of the Postal Service are not unduly burdened by ongoing uncertainties and are able to adjust their business plans accordingly.

“The Board continues to support the transition to a new national delivery schedule. Such a transition will generate approximately $2 billion in annual cost savings and is a necessary part of a larger five-year business plan to restore the Postal Service to long-term financial stability. According to numerous polls, this new delivery schedule is widely supported by the American public. Our new delivery schedule is also supported by the Administration and some members of Congress.

“To restore the Postal Service to long-term financial stability, the Postal Service requires the flexibility to reduce costs and generate new revenues to close an ever widening budgetary gap. It is not possible for the Postal Service to meet significant cost reduction goals without changing its delivery schedule – any rational analysis of our current financial condition and business options leads to this conclusion. Delaying responsible changes to the Postal Service business model only increases the potential that the Postal Service may become a burden to the American taxpayer, which is avoidable.

“Given these extreme circumstances and the worsening financial condition of the Postal Service, the Board has directed management to seek a reopening of negotiations with the postal unions and consultations with management associations to lower total workforce costs, and to take administrative actions necessary to reduce costs. The Board has also asked management to evaluate further options to increase revenue, including an exigent rate increase to raise revenues across current Postal Service product categories and products not currently covering their costs.

“The Board continues to support the Postal Service’s five-year business plan and the legislative goals identified in that plan which will return the Postal Service to financial solvency. The Board additionally urges Congress to quickly pass comprehensive postal legislation, including provisions that would affirmatively provide the Postal Service with the ability to establish an appropriate national delivery schedule.”

• Postal Service Ends First Quarter with $1.3 Billion Loss
• Board Directed Accelerated Operational and Other Cost-Cutting Actions Moving Forward 
• Postal Reform Legislation Urgently Needed to Complete USPS’s Return to Profitability

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service ended the first three months of its 2013 fiscal year (Oct. 1 – Dec. 31, 2012) with a net loss of $1.3 billion. Continued growth in Shipping and Package revenue (+4.7%) and increased efficiency helped mitigate but could not fully offset the financial effects of continued First-Class Mail volume declines and costs that are beyond Postal Service management control. As a result, the Postal Service recently announced it would move forward with accelerated cost-cutting actions necessary to help maintain liquidity because Congress has not passed comprehensive postal reform legislation. Read the rest of this entry »

Update: According to the Associated Press, the announcement will be the end of regular Saturday mail deliveries.

Last month the USPS Bord of Governors directed the Postmaster General to accelerate the restructuring of USPS operations in response to the service’s precarious financial situation. The PMG has scheduled a press conference at USPS Headquarters for Wednesday at 10 AM EST to make a major announcement regarding those restructuring plans.

WASHINGTON , Jan. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service will meet Feb. 8 in open session at Postal Service headquarters, 475 L’ Enfant Plaza , SW, Washington, DC. The public is welcome to observe the meeting beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the Ben Franklin Room on the 11th floor. The Board is expected to discuss the following items:

1. Call to order and remarks of the Chairman of the Board
2. Remarks of the Postmaster General and CEO
3. Approval of prior minutes
4. Committee appointments and reports
5. Quarterly report on financial performance
6. Quarterly service performance report
7. Tentative agenda for the April 9 meeting
8. Adjourn

Open session meetings of the Board of Governors are available on live audio webcasts at http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/bog/welcome.htm. Three hours after the conclusion of the open session meeting, a recorded audio file will be available for listening. In compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, the audio webcast will be open-captioned.

CFO Briefing

Following the Board’s open meeting on Feb. 8, Postmaster General & CEO Patrick Donahoe and Chief Financial Officer Joe Corbett will host a telephone/web conference call to discuss the financial results in more detail. The call will begin at 11:30 a.m. ET and is open to the news media and all other interested parties.

To attend by phone with audio only: dial 866-966-6305 (meeting ID: 4002211).  

To attend the web conference and join with audio:

1. Browse to http://meetingplace4.usps.gov/join.asp?4002211
2. After the MeetingPlace window is open, click the Phone icon (under the Participant List or in the upper right-hand corner).
3. Click Connect Me, validate or update your phone number and click Connect Me again.
4. When the system calls you, press 1 to join.

The briefing will also be available on live audio webcast (listen only) at:
http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/cfo/welcome.htm.

PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1za72)
 

WASHINGTON , Jan. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Postal Service Board of Governors met last week to discuss a wide range of accelerated cost cutting and revenue generating measures in the face of an unprecedented set of financial challenges, heightened by the inability of Congress to pass comprehensive postal legislation. Citing the fact that the Postal Service cannot wait indefinitely for legislation, the USPS Board of Governors has directed management to accelerate the restructure of Postal Service operations to further reduce costs in order to strengthen Postal Service finances. Specifically, the Board approved restructuring initiatives and also instructed the Postal Service to revise its 2012 five-year comprehensive plan to account for current financial and liquidity conditions.

The Postal Service is currently implementing major cost reduction efforts throughout its retail, delivery and mail processing operations. Since 2006, the Postal Service has reduced its annual cost base by approximately $15 billion and reduced the size of its career workforce by 168,000 or 24 percent. During these unprecedented cost cutting initiatives, the Postal Service continued to deliver record levels of service to its customers.

Despite achieving record growth in its package business and stabilization of other revenues, the Postal Service continues to operate with an inflexible business model that hinders its ability to be self-sufficient. In Fiscal Year 2012, the Postal Service was forced to default on $11.1 billion in mandated payments to the U.S. Treasury, which contributed to a recorded loss of $15.9 billion.

The Postal Service continues to seek legislation to provide it with greater flexibility to control costs and generate new revenue, and encourages the 113th Congress to make postal reform legislation an urgent priority.

At today’s meeting of the USPS Board of Governors, the panel elected Mickey D. Barnett of New Mexico as its new chairman. Barnett is a lobbyist for the payday loan industry, Indian casinos and drug legalization. He’s also a major figure on the far right of the New Mexico Republican Party, and was involved in the US Attorney’s scandal during the George W. Bush Administration. While Barnett is a Republican, stocking the USPS leadership with lobbyists and failed politicians is a bipartisan effort: Barnett replaces Democrat Thurgood Marshall, who, notwithstanding his distinguished name, is also a lobbyist, and an executive with the controversial private prison company, Corrections Corporation of America.

Replacing Barnett in the Vice-Chairman’s seat will be James Bilbray, a Nevada politician and crony of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. When Reid was elected to the Senate in 1986, Bilbray won his former House seat. He lost it eight years later after it was revealed that he had sponsored legislation that would give one of his aides a multi-million dollar windfall.

Needless to say, there’s nothing in the resumes of any of these individuals that suggests they have any business running a huge, important business like the US Postal Service.

Just imagine what the USPS could be like if Congress and the White House stopped a) bleeding money from it in order to make the deficit look a bit smaller and b) using it as a halfway house for failed politicians, cronies and lobbyists…

Dream on!

CFO Briefing Follows Open Session Meeting

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service will meet Nov. 15 in open session at Postal Service headquarters, 475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington, DC. The public is welcome to observe the meeting beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the Ben Franklin Room on the 11th floor. The Board is expected to discuss the following items: Read the rest of this entry »

Linn’s Stamp News reporter Bill McAllister reports that the US Postal Service has deleted a statement on its web site that said that it would be honoring living persons on future stamps. The Postmaster General had announced last September that the USPS was changing its policy of only honoring individuals who had been dead for at least five years.

The change apparently didn’t sit well with members of the USPS Board of Governors- Linn’s reported last month that at least one BOG member, James Miller, opposed the idea, and that questions had been raised by two other members.