tagged w/ US Postal Service
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US vacating air base in Pakistan used by drones
Cuts to first-class mail to slow delivery in 2012
Italy PM Monti unveils sweeping austerity packageUS vacating air base in Pakistan used by drones
Cuts to first-class mail to slow... more
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Who decided the Postal Service should be run like a business? Not, I suspect, Benjamin Franklin, who thought it a terrific way to promote literacy, commerce, and a sense of common identity in our young nation. Nor either, I suspect, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who should fear such demands could be put on their organizations next.Who decided the Postal Service should be run like a business? Not, I suspect, Benjamin... more
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They’ve got until October, then the US Postal service expects to run out of money. This video shows Congress trying to find out “Where have all the letters gone?”They’ve got until October, then the US Postal service expects to run out of... more
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The U.S. Postal Service plays two roles in America: an agency that keeps rural areas linked to the rest of the nation, and one that loses a lot of money.
Now, with the red ink showing no sign of stopping, the postal service is hoping to ramp up a cost-cutting program that is already eliciting yelps of pain around the country. Beginning in March, the agency will start the process of closing as many as 2,000 post offices, on top of the 491 it said it would close starting at the end of last year. In addition, it is reviewing another 16,000—half of the nation's existing post offices—that are operating at a deficit, and lobbying Congress to allow it to change the law so it can close the most unprofitable among them. The law currently allows the postal service to close post offices only for maintenance problems, lease expirations or other reasons that don't include profitability.
The news is crushing in many remote communities where the post office is often the heart of the town and the closest link to the rest of the country. Shuttering them, critics say, also puts an enormous burden on people, particularly on the elderly, who find it difficult to travel out of town.
The postal service argues that its network of some 32,000 brick-and-mortar post offices, many built in the horse-and-buggy days, is outmoded in an era when people are more mobile, often pay bills online and text or email rather than put pen to paper. It also wants post offices to be profitable to help it overcome record $8.5 billion in losses in fiscal year 2010.
A disproportionate number of the thousands of post offices under review are in rural or smaller suburban areas, though the postal service declined to provide any estimate on how many beyond those slated to begin closure in March might ultimately close or which ones are being targeted. "We want to make the smartest decisions possible with the smallest impact on communities," Dean Granholm, vice president for delivery and post office operations, said in an interview. He said the agency is identifying locations that are operating at a deficit and looking "for the opportunity to start the process of closing."
In addition to reducing employees—it has cut staffing by a third since 1999— the postal service has sought for years to deal with financial woes by raising rates or cutting services, such as a proposal to drop Saturday delivery. It has also talked in the past about closing a much smaller number of post offices. But while closures have been "on the table" in the past, this push is the agency's most serious yet, Mr. Granholm said, and is drawing widespread interest from a cost-cutting Congress. Still, shutting down post offices is often politically unpopular: elected officials in several communities have already written the Postal Regulatory Commission protesting planned closures.
Eighty-three specific post offices were approved for closing during the three months ending Nov. 15, more closings than in any quarter in the agency's history, according to the postal service. In addition, 408 post offices where service has been suspended for various reasons won't reopen amid the fiscal crisis, Mr. Granholm said.
Some of those suspensions are being contested by the Postal Regulatory Commission, independent from the postal service and reporting to Congress, which is investigating whether the postal service has been illegally using reasons such as lease expirations to close small, underused branches. The agency has denied wrongdoing.
While paring down is a common survival tactic for organizations these days, efforts by the postal service to do so routinely raise alarms because many citizens see post offices as an essential public service. Postal service dates to the founding fathers, with Benjamin Franklin serving as the first U.S. postmaster general and the Constitution explicitly authorizing Congress to establish post offices. Critics in Washington argue the postal service should reduce what they say is too much spending on employee benefits before resorting to closures.
As closure notices go up, citizens are rallying around their post offices in Millville, W.V., Hamilton, Tenn., Prairie City, S.D., and elsewhere, fearing not only a loss of convenience but a death knell for their small towns.
"It ain't right doing this to our community," says Delmer Clark, a 70-year-old retired coal miner in Eastern Kentucky's Appalachian Mountains, in the no-stoplight town of Holmes Mill. The post office here is set to close next month after more than 100 years. About the size of a garage, it has long been a part of the town's identity, and the pending closing is fueling local suspicion that public officials don't care about them. The local school closed years ago and reliable cable, Internet and cellphone reception has yet to arrive, residents say. "When they close the post office, they probably won't even come up here anymore and clean the roads," says Mr. Clark.
"It will hurt us real bad," says Esther Sizemore, a 62-year-old retired school-bus driver. Not owning a computer, and aching from hip arthritis that makes driving significant distances difficult, Ms. Sizemore drives down the street to the post office to mail her handmade quilts, trade news with friends and pick up packages, since she does her shopping by catalog. She also feels her mail is safer using a post office box; mail thefts have been a problem in the area, says Deputy Winston Yeary, of the Harlan County Sheriff's Department.
The Holmes Mill post office is closing in a consolidation set to claim more than 30 small Kentucky post offices this year, according to local postal officials. It's in the red, costing the postal service $12,748 in fiscal year 2010, according to the agency.
Residents will still have home delivery, and can use the post office and maintain P.O. boxes in the next town, but some locals fear the drive: The 12-mile roundtrip is on a winding mountain road bordering a steep drop-off to the river and named "Coal Miner's Highway" for the coal trucks that take much of the road.
Some lawmakers say closing post offices is the wrong answer. Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) says the agency should instead cut waste in its ranks. Although the postal service has cut its work force through attrition in recent years, it is still weighed down by overly generous employee benefits, she says.
Postal workers pay "significantly" lower premiums for their health and life insurance plans than other government employees because of union agreements, according to a September study sponsored by the Office of Inspector General. The report said the postal service could save $700 million this year alone by asking employees to pay more. The report, however, also said the postal service's contribution into employee benefits has started to decline, and that more reductions are planned as a result of recent union agreements.
"One of my frustrations is that the first approach the post office seems to take is to reduce service…when instead it needs to tackle a benefit structure that is too expensive, and it needs to look for ways to stay in business and deal with the digital age," says Sen. Collins.
Communities that lose post offices will still get deliveries, either at homes or at clusters of mailboxes set up in town, and there are multiple options for getting postal services, including stamps by mail, said Mr. Granholm of the postal service. Also, he says, many rural dwellers already travel to nearby cities for groceries and other services. "Why can't they go there for the post office?" he says.
More at
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704881304576094000352599050.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStoriesThe U.S. Postal Service plays two roles in America: an agency that keeps rural areas... more
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This blog appeared a few weeks ago. All proceeds from the sale of these stamps goes to rescue cats and dogsThis blog appeared a few weeks ago. All proceeds from the sale of these stamps goes to... more
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careng
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1 year ago
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The Freedom From Religion Foundation is taking heat for opposing a new US Postal Service commemorative stamp featuring Mother Theresa. According to the foundation, Mother Teresa fails to meet the postal criteria for such stamps.
It is against postal regulations to honor religious institutions or individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings or beliefs. The stamp is an affront to the separation of church and state and offensive to secular sensibilities.
http://www.examiner.com/x-10853-Portland-Humanist-Examiner~y2010m1d28-Religion-Mother-Teresa-stamps-offend-secular-sensibilitiesThe Freedom From Religion Foundation is taking heat for opposing a new US Postal... more
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The Simpsons have reached a new status after the US Postal Service issued a set of five stamps featuring the famous family.
Sideshow Bob himself (Actor Kelsey Grammer), who played Bob in the show, unveiled the stamps along with creator Matt Groening, who drew the characters for the special stamp release.The Simpsons have reached a new status after the US Postal Service issued a set of... more
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WASHINGTON – Postmaster General John Potter said Wednesday the financially strapped U.S. Postal Service will run out of money this year without help from Congress.
The only lingering question, Potter told a House subcommittee, is which bills will get paid and which will not. He did say ensuring the payment of workers' salaries comes first. But Potter also said other bills may have to wait.WASHINGTON – Postmaster General John Potter said Wednesday the financially... more
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...using the zazzle personalised stamp service.
Maybe he can sue for copyright infringement to pay for his court costs.
d...using the zazzle personalised stamp service.
Maybe he can sue for copyright... more
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Diplomatic Security Arrests a U.S. Postal Worker for Embezzling Passport Application Fees
January 30, 2009
Diplomatic Security
Washington, DC
Arnaldo Cortes-Mestres Arrested in Puerto Rico
Special agents from the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), in conjunction with the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG), arrested United States Postal Worker Arnaldo Cortes-Mestres in Puerto Rico on January 22, 2009, for the embezzlement of passport application fees.
According to the U.S. Postal Service OIG, from May 22 to July 27, 2007, while working as a postal clerk in the branch in Cabo Rojo, Arnaldo Cortes-Mestres received more than forty U.S. passport applications and renewals, along with the required processing fees totaling over $6,000. He is accused of converting those funds for his own use or exchanging that money for other funds or property without authorization. The U.S. Postal Service OIG says Cortes-Mestres failed to account for and turn over those funds to proper officers.Diplomatic Security Arrests a U.S. Postal Worker for Embezzling Passport Application... more
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Former NBA player Corie Blount was charged with felony drug possession after authorities saw him pick up a package they knew contained marijuana, then found more marijuana at his home.Former NBA player Corie Blount was charged with felony drug possession after... more
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Mail Man(Woman) Bailout???
Things are looking bleak for the U.S. Postal Service.
It projects that it will deliver 9 billion -- that's with a "b" -- fewer pieces of mail in fiscal year 2008 than it did the year before. That drop is about 10 times greater than the 902 million decline in deliveries between 2006 and 2007.
This drastic plunge can be traced to the surge in e-mail, the nation's general economic malaise and the Wall Street meltdown.
"A lot of advertising mail volume is from financial institutions and the housing industry," said Gerald McKiernan, a USPS spokesman. "That accounts for a lot of that loss."
Postal officials expect the service to lose $2.3 billion in fiscal year 2008. The loss was even steeper -- $5.14 billion -- in 2007, which was the first year USPS was required to make a payment into the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund.
The dire financial situation prompted William Burrus, president of the American Postal Workers Union, to warn that the Postal Service itself is in danger of dying.
In an open letter to Postmaster General John Potter, Burrus wrote that a "half-century of service qualifies me as a knowledgeable observer of our revered institution. Throughout these many years, I have never seen the level of uncertainty now confronting us. Without significant adjustment to its business strategies, the Postal Service will not survive as a government institution and a public service."
In an interview, he insisted that is not hyperbole.
Referring to Potter, Burrus said, "On his watch, unless something dramatic happens, he's going to see the demise of an historic institution . . . I'm serious. It's not scare tactics."
Of course, it's hard to imagine Congress allowing the Postal Service -- the one tangible sign of government service people see everyday -- to die.
It's a point William H. Young, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, is quick to make: "I think the Postal Service is a valued treasure to the American public, and I think Congress will do whatever they need to do to make sure that the Postal Service survives."
Potter was not available for comment.
Mail Man(Woman) Bailout???
Things are looking bleak for the U.S. Postal... more
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In an effort to improve electronics recycling in the United States, the U.S. Postal Service is developing a free national collection program for small electronic items.
The program, now in a pilot stage, provides courtesy envelopes with pre-paid postage for patrons to deposit their unwanted digital cameras, printer cartridges, MP3 players, cell phones, and PDAs. International recycling company Clover Technologies Group processes the devices in its U.S. and Mexican facilities and then refurbishes and resells them if possible.
Now limited to select cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles, the program may expand nationwide in the fall, and it eventually may accept a wider range of devices.
The program would be a de facto national electronic recycling program, the first for the United States. As the only industrialized nation not to ratify the 1989 Basel Convention, which requires its signatories to notify developing nations of incoming hazardous waste shipments, many environmentalists have criticized the country for its lack of action to reduce the international spread of electronic garbage, known as e-waste.
Americans discard at least 2 million tons of household electronics each year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Less than 20 percent of that e-waste is recycled, although state-led initiatives are beginning to improve this recycling rate. Once recycled, however, e-waste is frequently sold to brokers who ship it to the developing world, where it is often dismantled with little regard for worker safety, then burned in the open air or dumped into bodies of water.
In an effort to improve electronics recycling in the United States, the U.S. Postal... more
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Ol Blue Eyes can now do stamps his way to. The US Postal Service has just unveiled a commemorative stamp of Frank Sinatra.Ol Blue Eyes can now do stamps his way to. The US Postal Service has just... more
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