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5 Day Delivery May Lead To Layoffs
As the decline of mail volume has continued to decrease the Postal Service has proposed the eliminate Saturday delivery. The elimination of a delivery day may mean layoffs. According to an article from GovernmentExecutive.com, Jordan Small, USPS acting vice president acknowledges the possibility.
The following is taken from GovernmentExecutive.com
"If Congress eliminates Saturday mail delivery to help the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service, then layoffs are a possibility, a top USPS official acknowledged to House lawmakers on Thursday.
"I can't say or guarantee that there wouldn't be layoffs," said Jordan Small, USPS acting vice president, during a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Federal Workforce, Postal Service and District of Columbia Subcommittee. Small added that he hoped personnel cuts could be made through attrition and the service's temporary workforce, which handles many of USPS' Saturday deliveries."
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July 31, 2009
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Amendments to USPS Bailout Approved
PostCom.org posted the approved amendments too the Postal Service Health Benefits Funding Reform Act.
The following excerpt is from PostCom.org:
The following amendments were adopted to S. 1507 Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Funding Reform Act of 2009 on July 29, 2009 at the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Government Affairs bill mark-up business meeting.
Coburn # 1 Would require any binding arbitration in the negotiation of postal contracts to take the financial health of the Postal Service into account.
Coburn #3 Would prohibit the Postal Service from issuing bonuses in any year that it reports a yearend net loss.
Collins #2 Would require GAO to expedite the reporting requirements for its study of USPS's options and strategies for the long-term structural and operational USPS reforms. The Postal Enhancement and Accountability Act of 2006 requires that GAO conduct this study by 2011. This amendment would require that the study be complete by March 31, 2010, so that USPS can benefit from this study sooner.
Collins #3 Would limit USPS's total outstanding debt to $15 billion, as required under current law. The underlying bill would allow USPS to borrow an additional $2 billion in fiscal years 2009 and 2010 (increases annual borrowing from $3 billion to $5 billion), but exempts the $2 billion from being applied to USPS's total debt ceiling of $15 billion. This amendment would require that any additional amount of the additional $2 billion USPS borrows apply to the $15 billion debt ceiling.
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July 29, 2009
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USPS OIG Poll Results Not Surprising
The Office of The Inspector Generals Blog recently issued polls about ways to improve the Postal Service. The following are the results.
Which of these most common ideas do you think is the most important means to improving the Postal Service:
Cut management or supervisory positions (48%, 1,022 Votes)
Reduce administrative infrastructure (14%, 288 Votes)
Reduce delivery days (12%, 251 Votes)
Improve current product offerings (2%, 37 Votes)
Introduce non-traditional postal services (4%, 77 Votes)
Enhance retirement incentives (19%, 391 Votes)
Other idea not above (1%, 44 Votes)
Total Voters: 2,110
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Which items do you think warrant further attention?
Replace walking routes with more efficient delivery option (31%, 460 Votes)
Charge fees for new delivery points (3%, 38 Votes)
Charge fees for extended holding periods (10%, 155 Votes)
Develop a web-based digital mail service (20%, 305 Votes)
Provide banking services through small offices (17%, 248 Votes)
Other idea not above (19%, 296 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,502
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July 26, 2009
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Emergency Rate Increases
According to a post in the Dead Tree Edition blog, postal officials may be looking into raising postal rates next year.
The following is taken from that post:
"Various scenarios have been bandied about, including one that would raise the price of the 44-cent First Class stamp to 50 cents and other rates by similar amounts. But after several meetings with postal officials, the Direct Marketing Association is telling some members that the Postal Service is more likely to seek an "exigent increase" of only 2% to 3%, including only one cent for the First Class stamp, to help shrink its multi-billion-dollar losses."
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July 26, 2009
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Reassigned Jobs as Far as 330 Miles Away
As the Postal Service continues to consolidate its work operations, the first impacted are clerks. Clerks positions are converted over to other work assignments, some of which will be converted over to the carrier craft. Those that are not are facing a dillemia.
In Cleveland some displaced clerks are being reassigned to positions some 330 miles away, according to an article in the OHIO REAL-TIME NEWS. Could the same happen to carriers dispalced by route consolidations?
The following is an excerpt from that article:
"More than 150 post office employees in Cleveland were handed the dreaded news Thursday -- not quite pink slips, but new job assignments up to 330 miles from home.
The U.S. Postal Service can't lay workers off under contracts with its employee unions. So when it cuts staff, as the Cleveland area is doing because the amount of mail is dropping, the contracts kick off a complicated shuffle of workers to fill open positions, first within the region, and then farther away as needed."
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July 26, 2009
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Emergency Aid For USPS Proposed in Senate
The fiscal down turn has hit the Postal Service just as much as any other for profit business. Over the last year the mail volume has dropped dramatically. Therefore, the Postal Service is taking steps to try to stay on step with the down turn. However, Emergency Aid for the Postal Service was introduced to the senate.
The following is an excerpt from eNAPUS:
"Like H.R. 22, a similar (but not identical) measure moving through the House of Representatives, Carper's bill restructures the Postal Service’s obligation to pay its retiree health benefit payments, generating significant savings to the Postal Service over the next several years. The Carper bill also gives USPS more borrowing authority to meet its financial obligations and get through this current fiscal year and next."
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July, 26, 2009
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Customers Petition to Keep Letter Carrier
The sweeping changes in routes happening across the country not only effect letter carriers, it effects the customers. Many customers who have had the same letter carrier for years will now see a new face delivering their mail.
Some customers aren't taking it very well. In an article from the LancasterOnline, some customers are petitioning to keep their mail man. The following is an excerpt from the article.
"The business people in Lititz have their own clock.
His name is Barry.
Every day, at the same time, Barry Lavender, a mustachioed dynamo, strides into their shop or deli or place of business with a cheerful greeting and their mail.
"He's right as rain," said Kim Berry, owner of the Curiosity Shoppe on East Main Street.
"He hearkens back to a time when people took the time to get to know other people and to do their job to make a difference," said Matt Shaub, a Lititz resident who sees Lavender on his daily routine. "You don't find people like that anymore."
So when they learned Lavender, "their" mailman, was going to be moved from his longtime route, they staged a petition drive, collecting more than 50 signatures and pleading to keep him there.
It didn't work."
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July 4, 2009
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Postal Relief Bill Passed
The NAPUS Bulletin reported that on "Wednesday, the House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, the Postal Service and the District of Columbia approved, by unanimous voice vote, a version of H.R. 22 that would permit the USPS, for 3 years, to borrow funds from its Retiree Health Benefits Fund to pay current retiree health premiums."
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(.pdf file)
June 26, 2009
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