Quincy Herald-Whig | Illinois

Nadine O’Brien’s dream job cost her two knees and three years of pain.

Arthritis set in after 30 years of walking mail routes on uneven sidewalks and porch stairs. Still, that pain never stifled her smile or her good attitude as she delivered mail to her customers. She enjoys bringing them Christmas presents in December. She passes out post-holiday credit card bills as cheerfully as she can in January.

O’Brien, 52, considers the regulars on her route an extended part of her family. Those patrons — and her eagerness to work — have encouraged her as she’s recovered from a double-knee replacement.

Read more: Knee replacements – Quincy Herald-Whig | Illinois & Missouri News, Sports.

MINNEAPOLIS—Earlier today in federal court, a former U.S. postal carrier was sentenced for stealing from the mail he delivered. United States District Court Judge John R. Tunheim sentenced Giang Nguyen, age 49, of Superior, Wisconsin, to two years of probation, along with payment of restitution, and 100 hours of community service on one count of theft of mail by a postal employee. Nguyen was charged via an Information on September 6, 2012, and pleaded guilty on September 26, 2012.

Following today’s sentencing, Pete Gately, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Postal Service-Office of Inspector General (“USPS-OIG”), said, “The majority of U.S. Postal Service employees are dedicated public servants who take great pride in ensuring the sanctity and security of the U.S. Mail. Unfortunately, Giang Nguyen betrayed the trust placed in him, and his actions resulted in deserved consequences for violating that trust. Today’s outcome demonstrates the ongoing commitment of the USPS-OIG and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to vigorously investigate and prosecute those matters. The public can remain confident that the USPS-OIG will continue to ensure the security of their mail.”

In his plea agreement, Nguyen admitted that from March 2010 to January 7, 2011, he removed applications for Menards rebate checks, the actual rebate checks, and Menards Big Game Money Cards from the mail he was entrusted to deliver. During this period, Nguyen was employed by the Duluth Post Office. Nguyen used the rebate checks and Big Game Money Cards that he stole to make purchases at Menards. He also altered the stolen rebate check applications so that Menards would issue the checks to him, rather than the customers on his route. In total, Nguyen stole at least 77 pieces of mail intended for Menards and residents on his route. Through his activity, Nguyen stole at least $1,456.75.

This case was the result of an investigation by the U.S. Postal Service-Office of Inspector General. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John E. Kokkinen and Lola Velazquez-Aguilu.

From USPS News Link:

Technology finally has caught on to the value of the mail, with four mobile apps that let users mail custom cards and letters directly from their devices.

Cards, Felt, Ink Cards and Lettrs are four apps with a similar premise — each uses technology to produce hard-copy mail. Each app also allows users to customize a card or letter using a variety of template, text and photo options.

Once users have completed their pieces, each service prints and mails the card or letter for a flat fee.

The Cards app, first offered by Apple in 2011, is available for iPhones, iPads and the iPod Touch. Customers can use photos stored on their devices to create a custom photo card. Each card produced using this app costs $2.99 to design and send within the U.S. International pieces cost $4.99. Users are notified when their items are delivered.

The Felt app is available only for iPads. Like Cards, it offers a variety of card templates and styles, but allows users to draft a note with a pen tool that replicates handwriting. The cards are printed, sealed and stamped for $3.99 each.

The Ink Cards app is currently available for iPads, iPhones and Android devices. It specializes in high-quality photo cards that cost $1.99, including postage, to create and deliver.

The Lettrs app gives users the ability to send a letter using the app’s online technology. Customers have three stationery options for their letters: A $2 recycled paper letter, a $4 letter on parchment paper, or an $8 letter that delivers a message on scented linen paper with a wax seal.

From Save the Berkeley Post Office via Youtube:

Across the country, over 3700 post offices are at the risk of closure, including many historic buildings with New Deal public art.

George W. Bush signed legislation in 2006 that destroyed the financial stability of the Postal Service and laid the groundwork for its privatization. The Post Office is being required to pay its pension fund 75 years in advance, which needs to be stopped. Without this requirement, the post office is actually making a profit.

C.B. Richard Ellis (CBRE) chaired by Richard Blum has an exclusive contract to sell USPS properties. Billionaire Blum is a UC regent and is married to Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Sign an online petition at: http://www.savethepostoffice.com

We are in immediate need of legal fees to stop the imminent sale of the Berkeley Post Office.

Please click on the link below and donate what you can. GO TO http://www.nationalpostofficecollabor… then click on DONATE OR MAIL A CHECK TO: National Post Office Collaborate P.O. Box 1234, Berkeley, CA 94701 Save the Berkeley Post Office Committee EMail: savetheberkeleypostoffice@gmail.com WEB:
savethebpo.com

FACEBOOK: Save the Berkeley Post Office

Freddie Gorman (April 11, 1939 — June 13, 2006), who wrote the original lyric to “Please Mr. Postman”, was a retired letter carrier in Detroit MI both before and after the hit song.

Post Office Graphic in the video is the work of Jos Sances and Art Hazelwood.

YOUNGTOWN, Ariz. -A campaign by the post office to fight hunger may have accidentally led to a bomb scare in Youngtown.Someone thought they spotted a suspicious package at the post office near 111th Avenue and Peoria.The discovery was made around 11:20 a.m. on Sunday.

Read more: Food donation mistaken as suspicious package at post office.

WASHINGTON – Today, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Ranking Member Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) released the following reactions to the announcement that the U.S. Postal Service lost $1.9 billion in the second quarter of fiscal year 2013:

“Today’s announcement that the U.S. Postal Service lost $1.9 billion in the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2013 shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone,” said Chairman Carper. “While this quarter’s losses are less compared to the $3.2 billion lost this time last year, a $1.9 billion dollar loss is nothing to celebrate. The reality is that any financial loss at this rate is unsustainable and threatens the Postal Service’s long-term viability. As I’ve said time and time again, Congress and the Administration need to come to agreement on comprehensive legislation that reforms, right-sizes and modernizes this American institution. Although the Postal Service has seen an increase in revenue from package delivery – which is encouraging news — much more must be done to make its outdated business model financially viable long term. It is critical that we complete the difficult work ahead of us and find a solution to the Postal Service’s serious but solvable financial crisis as soon as possible – and today’s financial report should underscore that sense of urgency. We can’t afford to wait any longer.”

“Today’s announcement clearly demonstrates why postal reform is imperative. Unfortunately, this $1.9 billion loss in the second quarter of this fiscal year is only a small fraction of the $15.8 billion the Postal Service has lost since last year,” Dr. Coburn said. “While reform is necessary, the Postal Service should not wait on a parochial-minded Congress and must immediately take steps within its control to secure additional revenue and achieve cost savings, including potential action to secure additional revenue through price increases. I will continue to support giving the Postal Service the independence it needs to ensure its long-term viability.”

London, April 29th, 2013 – Globally, postal services play a key role in providing access to basic communication and transaction services. The worldwide postal infrastructure has been shrinking for over two decades, in terms of both outlets and numbers of full-time staff. At the end of 2011, the total number of post offices stood at 662,701, of which 439,376 were staffed by officials of the designated operator and 223,325 were managed by people from outside the designated operator.

The traditional letter post service is under pressure from new technology, including the internet and (increasingly mobile) telephone services. Rising numbers of consumers and businesses are sending and receiving bills and invoices via the internet and making payments online or by telephone, instead of using post office services. The substitution of paper-based bills and statements, and bill payments by check, has been a key phenomenon for over 10 years.

With the decline in mail volume, post offices are looking at opportunities to support themselves and compete with other operators, both in the postal and financial sectors. Operators are becoming increasingly involved in providing or expanding their range of financial services, either to increase revenue or due to pressure from governments to increase access to basic financial services. With millions of people regularly visiting and using post offices, postal operators are looking to make additional use of their extensive retail presence and trusted brands. In 2011, financial services accounted for 11.7% of postal operator’s total income.

The financial services sector represents a significant opportunity for much-needed additional revenue for postal operators, either directly or through alliances with financial institutions. Many postal operators are also being urged to offer basic financial services such as payments, savings and microfinance to combat social and financial exclusion, particularly in poorer countries, or to better serve more remote geographical areas and isolated social groups. There is a significant potential for partnerships between postal operators and financial institutions, even in markets where postal operators and postal banks already offer a range of financial services. Alliances such as these could produce major financial rewards and deliver social dividends. For instance major banks in the UK such as Bank of Ireland, Barclays, Halifax, HSBC and Lloyds have formed partnerships with the UK Post Office to offer financial services.
Read more:
2020 Foresight Report: Post Office Financial Services

Among the pundits weighing in on yesterday’s USPS financial report was Slate’s Matthew Yglesias. He’s billed as the web site’s “business and economics correspondent”, so you’d think he’d be fairly good at arithmetic, but I have my doubts…

Here’s some of Matthew’s take on yesterday’s report:

This issue of the payments to retirees is interesting. I’ve heard plausible defenses of it, but at the same time it’s true that private-sector firms don’t account in this way. That said, if you add a $1.3 billion first-quarter loss to a $1.9 billion second-quarter loss, then it looks pretty clear that the USPS would be losing money even without the question of the $5.5 billion.

If you didn’t know better, you would probably come away from reading Matthew’s piece with the impression that the USPS has already lost $3.2 billion, on top of the $5.5 billion it’s supposed to come up with on October 1.

It hasn’t.

Let’s see if we can help Matthew out here. First of all, the USPS’s PAEA pre-funding obligation for this fiscal year is $5.6 billion. Even though the USPS doesn’t have $5.6 billion lying around to send the Treasury, it does take a charge on its books each quarter for one fourth of that amount. This is pretty simple math- if half the fiscal year has passed, then the USPS has already booked pre-funding charges totaling $2.8 billion as of yesterday’s Q2 report.

Now take a look at the year to date “loss” the USPS reported yesterday- it comes to $3.130 billion. That means that without the pre-funding requirement, the USPS YTD loss would be $330 million.

So yes, Matthew, the USPS would still be losing money this year without the pre-funding. But why didn’t you bother doing the math and explaining exactly what that loss would be? Why did you instead leave the impression that the USPS is losing billions even without pre-funding? Why didn’t you mention that 89% of this year’s loss is due to pre-funding? Why didn’t you explain that the USPS has already stashed away $44 billion in past profits to meet the PAEA requirements?

You do know all of that, don’t you?

Slate: USPS losses mount..

May 10, 2013—Statement from Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, about the USPS financial report today.

The Postal Service’s financial report—which included the first revenue increase in five years—reflects an improving financial picture as the economy gradually improves.

Operating revenue in the most recent fiscal quarter was $121 million higher than the same period a year ago, while expenses fell by $1.2 billion.

This positive trend undermines the doom-and-gloom scenarios postal critics cite—and it shows the folly of reducing services to Americans, as the postmaster general seeks to do.

As Chief Financial Officer Jim Corbett stated, increases of 2.4 percent increase in advertising revenue from mail and a striking 9.3 percent jump in revenue from package deliveries—an increase of $267 million—largely offset a 2.7 percent decline in first class mail revenue.

Friday’s report shows the absurdity of taking the radical step of degrading the postal network by eliminating Saturday delivery. This would cost the USPS its competitive advantage, drive customers away, reduce revenue and make the Postal Service less able to adapt to an evolving society.

The report also shows the urgency of fixing the congressional mandate that the USPS pre-fund future retiree health benefits decades in advance. Pre-funding—which no other agency or company is required to do—accounts for 90 percent of this year’s red ink, according to the USPS report.

The sharp rise in Postal Service package deliveries, which reflects the opportunities offered by the Internet, outpaced the two major private competitors, the CFO reported.

This was accomplished with the smallest USPS career workforce since 1966, the USPS said, because of record worker efficiency.

The report shows the USPS moving sharply towards breaking even, despite a still struggling economy. The agency reported a $200 million operating loss in the first half of fiscal 2013; in the full fiscal year of 2011 it had a $5.1 billion operating loss, and $4.8 billion in fiscal 2012. Instead of the postmaster general’s “shrink to survive” strategy—which will only begin a death spiral for the USPS—what is needed is a dynamic business plan for the future to take advantage of the many opportunities for growth, including in the exploding package delivery market.

The US Postal Service today announced a second quarter “loss” of $1.9 billion. Most of the “loss”, $1.4 billion, results from bookkeeping entries required by the 2006 PAEA law, not actual cash expenses.  While the USPS has previously sought to have Congress modify the politically inspired PAEA retiree health benefit payment schedule, it now seems to have settled on a strategy that would allow it to eliminate Federal Employee Health Benefit coverage for current employees and retirees, slashing billions from its expenses. Here’s the USPS press release: Read the rest of this entry »