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TOP NEWS STORIES |
Town Protests Post Office Closure
"Today was the last day of the Ripton Post Office, and
the first day of our community protest against its closure. We
gathered at the General Store, as per email and blog planning.
We picked up our mail for the last time, bought coffee and
snacks from Sue and Dick, listened to Bonnie finish her final
sorting, and shared information about the latest developments." -
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House committee approves study on ending Saturday mail
delivery
"The House Appropriations Committee today approved an
amendment offered by Congressman Jack Kingston (R/GA-1) that
would require the United States Postal Service to study the
cost-effectiveness and fuel consumption of a five-day delivery
system and consumer demand of Saturday postal delivery. "I've
been trying to get the postal service to end Saturday delivery
for years," Congressman Kingston said. "It's a perfect example
of government waste that is driving up the price at the pump.
I can't think of the last time I got anything but a bill in
the mail and, frankly, those can wait until Monday. Now my
kids get all of their bills by email. What other way can the
government immediately save 20.8 million gallons of gas
thereby reducing consumption and gas prices?"
Kingston's home state loyalties go to UPS? -
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Over 150 Attend Postal Committee Meeting
"Over 150 local residents attended the AC Postal
Committee's Town Hall meeting on June 19 at Toltec Elementary
School. The attendees were anxious to find out just who is
this enigmatic new group called the Arizona City Postal
Committee and to learn of any new developments relating to the
community's continuing frustration with the local contract
postal facility." -
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Gas Prices Draining Post Office Fuel Budget
"You could possibly be seeing a change when you receive your
mail. Post offices around the Wiregrass are feeling the same
pain at the pump as many of us and some have already gone over
their fuel budget for the year. As many of us are trying to
find ways to cut back just to get another gallon of gas,
businesses around the Wiregrass are doing the same. They are
cutting back and cutting employees. Christine Ziegler,
postmaster in Ozark, AL said, "They're cutting the employees,
which you know means, we have longer lines, they're not
letting us replace people when they retire or when they
transfer." -
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Letter Carrier Sounds Off on Introduction of FSS to Unit
A letter carrier in Northern Virginia who goes by the
screen name FSSbrat has posted accounts in PostalMag.com's
Letter Carriers Forum of the Postal
Service's implementation of FSS (Flats Sequencing System)
into their post office. The carrier describes problems of
compatibility with established work processes and new
FSS work processes that require a daily third bundle. -
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Postal Service Expands Access
"The stations are called Contract Postal Units and were opened
in the city as a response to the population surge in East
Baton Rouge Parish since Hurricane Katrina, said Judith A.
Brining, customer relations coordinator for the U.S. Postal
Service in Baton Rouge. "Like our online services, Contract
Postal Units are just another access channel for our
customers," Brining said." -
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Postal Service Submits Network Plan to Congress (PDF)
"Excerpt (page 38): Under these provisions, the Postal Service
requests authority from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
to offer eligible impacted employees opportunities to apply
for voluntary early retirement. It is the Postal Service's
policy to request such voluntary early retirement authority
from OPM even for impacted employees covered by collective
bargaining agreements that do not contain voluntary early
retirement provisions." (Source: PostCom.org) -
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Chart: Mail Delivery as Economic Bellwether
"Interestingly, volume for the USPS increased during the last
recession. Recently, Emek Basker of the University of Missouri
showed that consumers shop less at Wal-Mart when economic
times are good, and more when they need to stretch their
dollars. That would mean that the products Wal-Mart sells are
"inferior" in economic parlance. It wouldn't be out of the
question if the same holds true for the USPS." -
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Postal Service Consolidating Saturday Operations?
"A U.S. Postal official says processing mail sent in Fort
Smith on Saturdays at its Fayetteville facility isn't the
first step toward moving all Fort Smith processing to
northwest Arkansas.
The practice began Saturday, as part of a nationwide move to
consolidate Saturday operations, said Leisa
Tolliver-Gay, spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service in
Little Rock. Harrison processing is also being moved to
Fayetteville on Saturdays, while Russellville and Jonesboro
Saturday mail will be processed in North Little Rock,
Tolliver-Gay said. Tolliver-Gay said the move is being made
because of low mail volumes on Saturdays, created by the
absence of most business mail." -
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National League of Postmasters: Does Postal Reform Need
Reform? (PDF)
"If the days of increasing mail volumes are over, the
USPS will have to keep its cost increases below the CPI," says
David Straus, a partner with law firm Thompson Coburn LLP and
the postal counsel for American Business Media. "When 80
percent of your costs are labor-related and when Congress
seems to interfere whenever USPS wants to eliminate redundancy
in its physical plants, it will be extremely difficult to live
within the price cap without reducing service. And service
reductions could accelerate volume loss." -
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Petrol Prices Pinching Postal Service
"Soccer moms and commuters aren't the only ones feeling
the bite of rising fuel costs - every time the price of
gasoline goes up a penny it costs the Postal Service $8
million. "We are definitely feeling the pressure," Deputy
Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe told The Associated
Press. Transportation cost the post office $6.5 billion in
2007, $500 million more than the year before."
USPS Considering Bicycle Routes in
Warm-Weather States -
Canada: Rising Gas Prices Threaten Rural Mail
Service -
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Union Campaign Against Violent Stereotype Met With Silence by
Postal Management
"The union has learned that the Postal Service has
designated a franchise business called - you guessed it - Goin'
Postal as a partner in the USPS Approved Shipper Program. The
national union learned about the partnership from local
editors Mike Mazurkiewicz, (Saint Paul's Postmark) and Cathy
Hanson (Minneapolis' Northern Light), who ventured into a Goin'
Postal outlet in their area. When they identified themselves
to a manager as postal workers offended by the company's name,
they were informed that the company plans to open 4,000 stores
nationwide." - GoinPostal.com -
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High gas prices deliver postal woes
"When the cost of gasoline increased from $3.99 a gallon
to $4, the U.S. Postal Service had to pony up an extra $8
million in order to fuel its nationwide fleet of ve |
