Retirement COLA announced for 2013

Federal retirement COLA of 1.7 percent announced

From the article: "...Federal retirees will receive an inflation adjustment of 1.7 percent in January, translating to about a $50..."

Article Reference: www.washingtonpost.com
2013 Retirement COLA

PAre USPS goals outsourcing and privatization?

Ignorance, incompetence, favoritism, bullying, and obsession: Just another day at the Post Office

From the article: "...question the very basis of universal service, and they are laser focused on a future model of the United States Postal Service as a privatized entity. What becomes apparent from the 2002 plan, as well as subsequent documents that address the progress of implementing the plan, is that the senior management of the Postal Service saw the future in terms of a greatly reduced network. From the standpoint of retail, Postmaster Jack Potter and then Patrick Donahoe called for the closure of as many as 15,000 post offices. For the mail processing network, the vision suggested that the future was in outsourcing much of the mail processing network through worksharing and similar initiatives...."

Article Reference: www.savethepostoffice.com

U.S. Postal Service Makes It Easier To Recycle Your Old Electronics For Cash At 3,000+ Locations

From the article: "...Going green just got easier thanks to the initiatives of the U.S. Postal Service. If you have old cellphones, PDAs, digital cameras or any other electronic devices lying around and gathering dust, don’t just toss them out. Give USPS..."

Article Reference: www.makeuseof.com

Congressman Henry A. Waxman challenges Closing Of Santa Monica Post Office

Congressman Waxman Writes To Appeal Closing Of Santa Monica Post Office

From the article: "...Congressman Henry A. Waxman this week sent a letter to Shoshana Grove, Secretary of the Postal Regulatory Commission, appealing the decision by the United States Postal Service (USPS) to close the Santa Monica Post Office. In the letter Waxman states that USPS did not follow proper procedure on rules..."

Article Reference: www.smmirror.com
Santa Monica Post Office,

The Postal Regulatory Commission no help in saving mail processing plants

Union loses bid to block mail processing plant consolidations

From the article: "...the Postal Regulatory Commission last week officially dismissed a union complaint seeking to block the U.S. Postal Service’s downsizing of its mail processing plant network...."

Article Reference: federaltimes.com

Retired postal worker wins $18 million lottery jackpot

Ex-postal worker from Cortlandt wins $18 million lottery jackpot

From the article: "...After seeing his winning numbers online one Sunday morning in early July, the 59-year-old Cortlandt resident and retired U.S. Postal Service worker decided not to leave his house for the rest of the weekend so he could safeguard the ticket...."

Article Reference: www.lohud.com

Experts predict USPS will be privatized

Post office considers service cutbacks in TN

From the article: "...Some researchers believe at least partial privatization is inevitable — meaning a shift to shareholder ownership and Wall Street scrutiny, with new management priorities and financial incentives for executives...."

Article Reference: www.tennessean.com

Postmaster General Donahoe: "Congress needs to act responsibly and get on with things so that we can get these things in our rearview mirror,"

U.S. Postal Service loses $5.2 billion, warns of low cash

From the article: "...The U.S. Postal Service's net loss widened to $5.2 billion during the April through June period, and the cash-strapped agency warned on Thursday that without help from the U.S. Congress it will face low cash and be unable to borrow money this fall...."

Article Reference: www.reuters.com

Things that make you go hmm?

Post Office Privatization Is Probably a Huge Real Estate Deal

From the article: "...But the idea raises a question: If Geddes and the AEI are correct and the USPS is such a bottomless money pit, why would anybody want it? Who ever heard of buying a service company with no upside? What's in it for them? Well, real estate, actually, and Geddes and every commenter hints at this. Privatizing the USPS has the potential of being one of history's biggest -- and most profitable -- real estate deals ever. ..."

Article Reference: www.huffingtonpost.com

Postal worker weapons cache discovered

Weapons cache leads to arrest of Kauai postal worker

From the article: "...A 51-year-old U.S. Postal Service worker on Kauai is in federal custody on charges that he possessed a fully automatic rifle and used someone else’s firearms license to order a firearm from the mainland without the other person’s permission. Troy Haruki Hamura, of Lihue, appeared in federal court Thursday afternoon wearing a white prison jump suit...."

Article Reference: www.staradvertiser.com

Postal employee makes it big with unofficial postal clothing line

Former Brooklyn postman makes it big with his unofficial postal service clothing line worn by 30,000 workers

Marty Grace [www.nydailynews.com]

From the article: "...Marty Grace, who quit his 22-year job as a mail carrier in 2007 at a Bedford-Stuyvesant post office, now designs T-shirts, hoodies and polos worn by over 30,000 postal workers around the country who rock “Designs by Marty Grace” on the job as opposed to the drab United States Postal Service uniforms. ..."

Article Reference: www.nydailynews.com
Designs by Marty Grace

Postal worker reports mailed marijuana

Sikeston man accused of receiving marijuana in mail

From the article: "...An observant postal employee led law enforcement to the arrest of a Sikeston man and the discovery of more than two pounds of marijuana. On July 11, a postal worker thought a package was suspicious and reported it to the SEMO Drug Task Force..."

Article Reference: www.semissourian.com

Deteriorating postal service has begun to affect magazines and other periodicals

Will Postal Service follow Pony Express route?

From the article: "...Deteriorating postal service has begun to affect magazines and other periodicals, even newspapers that depend on timely delivery to their customers. In a recent news report, the publisher of a small, rural weekly newspaper in South Dakota said her advertising business had been hurt because it sometimes was delivered a week late, arriving with a more recent edition. ..."

Article Reference: www.standard.net

FedEx Express to remove their drop boxes from Postal Service locations under expired agreement

FedEx Fights UPS to Keep $1 Billion Postal Service Deal

From the article: "...The FedEx Express unit also has around 5,000 drop boxes at Postal Service locations that will be removed under an agreement that expired in June, the company said in the filing. ..."

Article Reference: www.bloomberg.com
FedEx Dropbox

Newly hired rural letter carriers will make 10 percent to 20 percent less than current carriers

New rural carriers will get paid 10 percent to 20 percent less than others

From the article: "...Newly hired rural letter carriers will make 10 percent to 20 percent less than current carriers earn under a new labor pact that will affect 111,000 career and non-career U.S. Postal Service employees...."

Article Reference: www.federaltimes.com

APWU: Plan to replace Postmasters w/ Postmaster Reliefs direct violation of collective bargaining agreement

POStPlan in Direct Conflict With APWU National Agreement

From the article: "...The APWU has put the Postal Service on notice that their plan to replace Postmasters at small, rural post offices with Postmaster Reliefs (PMRs) is a direct violation of our 2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement...."

Article Reference: www.apwu.org

Postal Vision

Postal Vision 2020 v2.0; USPS Strategy Opportunity as a “Platform”

From the article: "...The second Postal Vision conference drew 150 attendees to Washington DC’s L’Enfant Plaza Hotel. This was two Metro stops from the real decision makers, i.e., Congress and the United States Postal Service. No one from Congress could squeeze it in but USPS’ new Digital Solutions President and Strategic Planning Manager were in attendance as well as representatives of the two primary Postal Unions for the two-day duration. The USPS, as the core of this intertwined trillion dollar business directly impacting the employment livelihood of nearly 9 million citizens..."

Article Reference: whattheythink.com

Postmasters lives turned upside down at the whim of the PMG

Rural postmasters face ‘life-changing' decision

From the article: "..."I can't afford to take retirement unless I would have another good job out there," he said in a phone interview. But in an area with one of Ohio's highest unemployment rates, he said, "there's absolutely nothing."

Others are in similar circumstances, he added.

"I've got postmasters calling me, bawling and squalling, actually throwing up," Sampson said. "They haven't slept for a week."..."

Article Reference: www.federaltimes.com

Sen. Tom Carper is using Facebook to get House to save the Postal Service

Carper Using Facebook to Push House on Postal Service Reform Bill

From the article: "...Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) has a new Facebook timeline page up today dubbed "Priority Fail" that tracks how the House has yet to take up a bill that supporters say would reform the struggling U.S. Postal Service. The USPS has lost $1 billion since April when the Senate passed its version of the reform bill, according to Carper. ..."

Article Reference: influencealley.nationaljournal.com

Postal Service still moving forward with plans to close mail processing centers

USPS moving forward with plans to close mail processing centers

From the article: "...The United States Postal Service has announced that it will move forward with plans to close up to 229 mail processing facilities nationwide. ..."

Article Reference: golackawanna.com

Early Retirement Buy Out Incentives Offered to USPS Postal Mail Handlers

Mail Handlers to be offered retirement incentive

From the article: "...Mail Handlers who choose to leave employment with the USPS on or before August 31, 2012 will each receive incentive payments totaling up to fifteen thousand dollars ..."

Article Reference: National Postal Mail Handlers Union
Early retirement incentive, Mail Handler Buyout, Postal Buyout Incentives, Postal Retirement Incentive, Voluntary Early Retirement (VER)

Postal Service to Offer Early Retirement Incentives

Postal Service to announce new downsizing plan Thursday

From the article: "...USPS spokesman Dave Partenheimer declined comment Wednesday on whether the cuts will be accompanied by buyouts or early retirement incentives for affected employees. But the American Postal Workers Union, which represents many plant employees, was notified late Wednesday that the Postal Service is working on an "employee incentive," according to a union spokeswoman...."

Article Reference: www.federaltimes.com

$20,000 buyouts for Postmasters

USPS offers buyouts to postmasters, drops plan to close post offices

From the article: "...Under heavy pressure from Congress, the U.S. Postal Service is shelving plans to close up to 3,700 post offices and instead will offer $20,000 buyouts to 21,000 postmasters as a way to save money. As a result, some 13,000 communities will be able to keep their local post offices, but with reduced customer service hours..."

Article Reference: www.federaltimes.com
buyouts

Republicans will largely ignore S. 1789

GOP lawmaker calls Senate postal bill a '$33 billion bailout'

From the article: "...Bartlett's comments are the latest sign that Republicans will largely ignore the Senate-approved bill, S. 1789, and take up their own bill from House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), possibly as early as next week.
..."

Article Reference: thehill.com
S. 1789