Interesting statement by Darrell Issa regarding the APWU’s commercial defending the USPS. Issa claims that the USPS is taxpayer funded because of tax exemptions it receives. By that logic, of course, the oil companies (and just about every other corporation or individual in the US) would also be considered taxpayer funded…

Darrel Issa press release:

WASHINGTON- Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa in a letter to the American Postal Worker Union (APWU) asks the union to cancel a misleading ad campaign that falsely claims the United States Postal Service (USPS) does not receive taxpayer support when it does, in fact, receive hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money through preferential tax treatment and other benefits.

“A December 2007 report from the Federal Trade Commission includes a long list of implicit subsidies the Postal Service receives that are not available to private companies,” said Issa in the letter to APWU President Cliff Guffey. The letter notes that “the Postal Service is exempt from, among other items, federal, state, and local income tax, all state and local taxes (including property tax), and vehicle registration and titling fees.”

The letter also notes that USPS has access to borrowing directly from the United States Treasury at very low rates. As of the end of Fiscal Year 2010, the Postal Service had $4.1 billion in debt with an interest rate below 0.3% as well as an additional short-term revolving credit line of $3.4 billion at an interest rate of 0.206%.

Noting that these subsidies are worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually, Issa asked the union not to mislead the American people.

“While you and I have significant differences of opinion on how the Postal Service should be reformed, I believe we must be clear about the underlying facts. I ask you not to engage in a campaign to mislead the American people.”

Issa, the author of the only legislation introduced this Congress which would return the Postal Service to solvency, has also called on the Postal Service and their allies to recognize that the decline in revenue is permanent, driven by the transition to electronic, paperless technology and not temporarily by the recession. Issa debunked these myths and others in a “Myth vs. Fact” paper published last week.

via Issa to Postal Union: Stop Misleading Ads on Postal Service.

The following letter has been sent to Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), chairman of the House Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee:

Dear Representative Emerson,

On behalf of the organizations that represent the employees of the US Postal Service, we support your provision on six-day mail delivery contained in HR 2434 (Financial Services and Appropriations Act of Fiscal Year 2012). We believe that any attempt to strike that language from your bill fails to recognize:

1. There will be a loss of 80,000 or more jobs if Saturday delivery is eliminated.
2. The Congress has a 30 year unblemished, bipartisan history of supporting six days of delivery and universal service, from President Reagan to President Obama.
3. Tens of millions of businesses and constituents will be disadvantaged by the loss of Saturday delivery. A disproportionate number of those who are disadvantaged live in rural America, or are the elderly, underprivileged and handicapped, whose lives depend on the USPS for prescription drugs, not to mention the millions of businesses who receive movies and parcels on Saturday.
4. There is considerable dispute about the “savings” attributed to lowering service to five days a week. The independent Postal Regulatory Commission found that the US Postal Service’s analysis was fundamentally flawed, underestimating the amount of revenue and business lost by the USPS, and that 25% of First Class and Priority Mail would be delayed two days.

We urge you and the Rules Committee to protect six-day delivery.

Sincerely,

American Postal Workers Union
National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association
National Association of Letter Carriers
National Postal Mail Handlers Union

PDF version.

From USPS News Link:

Small businesses in Austin, TX, and Raleigh, NC, looking for an affordable, effective direct mail solution need search no further. Now available is a pilot test of the Postal Service’s “Direct Mail Hub,” an online platform designed to educate small businesses on direct mail and help them generate mailings from start-to-finish.

With the Direct Mail Hub, small businesses will have access to a third–party provided tool — DirectMail2Go — to create personalized mailpieces. DirectMail2Go gives customers access to templates, mailing lists, printing, postage and mailing, all with one streamlined platform. It also has the flexibility to incorporate company logos and photos uploaded by the user.

“This platform is built to appeal to small businesses that haven’t used direct mail in the past because they considered it too complicated or time-consuming,” said Tom Foti, manager, Marketing Mail.

Mailings can be sent as First-Class Mail and Standard Mail cards, letters and flats. Examples include postcards announcing exclusive sales, letters that preview new products or upcoming events, loyalty mailings that encourage repeat purchases, invitations to a free consultation, or a coupon offer or cash-back certificate.

Another third-party provided tool — Direct Mail Quotes — will become a part of on the Direct Mail Hub in August. Direct Mail Quotes matches a small business customer’s particular mailing needs to a supplier network of mail service providers.

Also available on the Direct Mail Hub is a “Learn More Center,” which provides marketing tips and techniques, research and an electronic form to request a starter kit featuring samples and direct mail success stories. Full details are available at uspsdmhub.com.

To jump-start awareness of the Direct Mail Hub, the Postal Service is launching an integrating marketing campaign targeted to small businesses in Austin and Raleigh. The campaign encourages them to visit the Direct Mail Hub and consider the value of direct mail in their marketing efforts. USPS representatives are planning other outreach activities as well.

via USPS News Link – July 12, 2011.

The following information was released by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania:

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced the filing today in U.S. District Court in Williamsport of an Information against a former employee of the United States Postal Service, who, during a three month period in 2010, on several occasions failed to deliver the mail entrusted to him.

According to United States Attorney Peter J. Smith, Robert Hogan, age 40, formerly of Shamokin, Pennsylvania, is charged with allegedly failing to deliver or return to the post office at the conclusion of his route in Shamokin commercial circulars which several businesses paid to have delivered to postal patrons. These incidents occurred from July 2010 through September 2010. Hogan no longer is employed by the United States Postal Service.

If convicted of the offense, Hogan could be imprisoned for up to one (1) year and fined $25,000. An arraignment date will be set in the future by the district court.

The United States Postal Inspection Service investigated this case. Prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Frederick E. Martin.

In remarks that attracted little attention at the time, Postmaster General Pat Donahoe told attendees at the National Catalog Forum on June 21 that he expects to cut the number of post offices nearly in half by 2018:

What’s more, Donahoe predicted nearly half of the roughly 32,000 postal facilities currently in the U.S. will be closed in the next six or seven years.

via multichannelmerchant.com.

The PMG’s remarks were cited in documents filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission by the two national postmasters’ organizations. The groups are asking the PRC to stop the USPS from making changes to regulations that would allow it more flexibility in closing post offices.

DPMG Ron Stroman has selected Tom Day to be the Postal Service’s new chief Sustainability officer. The appointment is effective July 11.

Day currently is senior plant manager for the Southern Maryland P&DC. Previously, he was senior vice president of Intelligent Mail and Address Quality. Day’s other leadership roles include senior vice president of Government Relations and vice president, Engineering. He also served as manager of the Triboro and Southeast New England districts.

The third generation USPS employee and graduate of West Point and Stanford began his career in 1984 as a management associate in the Northeast Region. In his new role as chief Sustainability officer, Day will oversee the Postal Service’s efforts to conserve energy, reduce waste and lower its carbon footprint.

Day’s appointment comes at the same time USPS released its fiscal year 2010 Annual Sustainability Report (Link, 6/28). According to the report, USPS has exceeded a number of its sustainability goals — including a nearly 30 percent reduction in facility energy use, a 33 percent reduction of supplies purchases and a 133 percent increase in alternative fuel use.

“With the help of 400 green teams created to identify low- and no-cost conservation projects, we reduced energy and water use in 2010, saving more than $5 million,” said Day. “We also reduced waste to landfills and recycled 222,000 tons of material in 2010, which saved $9 million in landfill fees and generated $13 million in revenue.”

via USPS News Link – July 8, 2011.

The APWU will launch a television ad campaign on July 11, with spots airing on CNN, MSNBC, and FOX, President Cliff Guffey has announced.

This APWU TV ad will air on CNN, MSNBC and Fox in the coming weeks.

Read the rest of this entry »

In a move to further right-size complement levels to better match workload, the Pacific Area is offering a voluntary early retirement (VER) to carriers and clerks working at select impacted sites and at non-impacted offices within a 50-mile radius of the impacted sites. Following is the timeline:

• July 19-22, 2011— Annuity estimates and VER offer mailings to VER-eligible employees
• July 25-August 26, 2011— Window period for employees to consider VER offer
• August 26, 2011 — Decision-to-retire irrevocable date for VER
• September 30, 2011— VER effective date. Note: If eligible, employees may choose to retire early on August 31, 2011.

Should the number of employees electing to take the VER exceed the number of impacted employees at the select sites, first consideration will be given to the impacted employees. Additional VER applications will be approved on a first-come, first-serve basis as determined by the earliest date of receipt of Acknowledgement of Irrevocability & Application for Immediate Retirement (VER).

These changes are part of the Pacific Area’s efforts to streamline operations, increase efficiencies and reduce costs in support of the USPS action plan to ensure a strong, viable organization now and in the future.

For more information, contact your district Human Resources office.

Pacific Area VER Timeline July 2011

From the Canadian Union of Postal Workers:

Canada Post claimed its mail volumes dropped significantly during the Canadian Union of Postal Workers’ rotating strikes. That was the excuse it gave for shutting down delivery and imposing a nationwide lockout. But now piles of backlogged mail are awaiting delivery.

The Canadian Postal Service Charter sets out government expectations for delivery standards. According to those standards, Canada Post must deliver lettermail within specific timelines. However, letter carriers are not being allowed to meet delivery standards for all of the addresses on their routes. Postal workers are also reporting they are being forced to deliver out-of-date flyers rather than bills and cheques, setting themselves up to be blamed by an angry public. Reports are reaching CUPW from all over – large urban centres as well as smaller communities – about Canada Post management’s ongoing disruption of postal service.

The CUPW is concerned that decisions made by Canada Post senior management to first lock out and then delay delivery will be blamed on postal workers. This pattern of behaviour on the part of Canada Post management leads to the question: is Canada Post deliberately creating a crisis?

via CUPW – 2011-07-06 – Is Canada Post creating a crisis?.

In a filing with the Postal Regulatory Commission, the USPS has announced the resignation of Alan Kessler from the agency’s Board of Governors effective July 31. Kessler, a Democrat, was appointed to the BOG by President Clinton in 2000, and reappointed by President Obama in 2009. His current term ends in 2015.

Kessler is a partner in the Philadelphia law firm Duane Morris LLP. In February, the Philadelphia Inquirer ran a story noting Kessler’s role as lead counsel in a lawsuit defending the Philadelphia Housing Authority. The suit has now dragged on for 14 years. In just the last two years, the PHA has paid almost $300 thousand in legal fees:

Most of the outside legal fees have been paid to attorneys now with the firm of Duane Morris L.L.P. Lead counsel in the case, Alan C. Kessler, referred all questions to PHA. Kessler also worked on the case when it was handled by the now-defunct firm of Wolf Block. A veteran partner can earn in excess of $400 an hour, though some firms give PHA a discount rate because it is a government agency.

An estimate of PHA’s actual costs can be derived from the lengthy court filings. Extrapolating from Community Legal Services billings, it appears the PHA will face a total bill of around $1 million.