Friday, December 28, 2012

'Going Postal' a term that continues

In school shootings, clues from the days of 'going postal'

From the article: "...The phrase was born from a series of postal shootings in 1983 that continued, almost annually, until 1997, including one in 1991 in Ridgewood, in which an ex-postal worker named Joseph M. Harris murdered his ex-supervisor, her boyfriend and two co-workers. The wave of Post Office shootings were “aimed more at supervisors and fellow employees who were perceived by the assailants as cruel or unfair,” Don Lasseter, the author of “Going Postal,” said..."


Article Reference: www.dailyrecord.com

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Stolen from a post office in December 1941, Christmas cards delivered

WWII Christmas Cards From Nazi Soldiers Delivered To Family Members In Germany 71 Years Later

From the article: "...Stolen from a post office in December 1941, 86 WWII Christmas cards from Nazi soldiers stationed on the British island of Jersey were recovered by the Jersey Archive in 2006...."


Article Reference: www.huffingtonpost.com

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Postal truck burns

USPS truck catches fire; some mail destroyed

From the article: "...Flames ruined the mail in the front of the truck near the driver's seat, but packages..."


Article Reference: www.sentinelandenterprise.com

Monday, December 17, 2012

Post Office Robbed

$25,000 reward offered in Harford post office robbery Wednesday

From the article: "...According to a follow up news release from Hopkins issued Thursday, witnesses told police a white male entered the post office and posed as a customer. As the postal worker opened the cash register, the man pulled out a handgun. He then reached over the counter and removed an undisclosed amount of cash from the register...."


Article Reference: baltimoresun.com

Monday to be busiest shipping day at Postal Service

Postal Service will see busiest shipping day of holiday season Monday

From the article: "...Monday will be the biggest shipping day for the postal service, with 658 million pieces of mail being mailed nationwide, 140 million more than usual...."


Article Reference: www.caller.com

Friday, December 14, 2012

Another diatribe on postal privatization

Confronting Extinction: Lessons From the U.S. Mail

From the article: "...What then, does the USPS do that is essential to the functioning of modern society? While it certainly employs a lot of people who need jobs in post offices and on the street, the basic answer is "nothing." Instead, the U.S. mail provides a diminishing service to an ever-declining number of people who have not yet fully joined the modern world...."

Article Reference: www.huffingtonpost.co

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Rally to tell Richard Blum and Senator Feinstein Our Post Offices are not for sale!

Stop Selling Our Post Offices!

From the article: "...Tuesday, December 4th The Save Our Post Office Coalition of SF, Save the Berkeley Post Office Committee, Berkeley-East Bay Gray Panthers, SF Gray Panthers, The Living New Deal, Grandmothers Against War, joined retired and current postal workers to tell Richard Blum, CBRE, Inc.” Stop selling our post offices.” Occupy SF & Occupy Oakland camped out over night in front of his SF financial district office, 909 Montgomery, with tables of information on CBRE and Blum. ..."


Article Reference: www.indybay.org

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Postal Employee Shot

Postal Worker Shot While Delivering Mail In Cahokia

From the article: "...Police are investigating after a postal worker was shot in Cahokia, Illinois...."


Article Reference: kplr11.com

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Postal Service staffing shortages causing mail delays (Postal Service spokesman Harry Spratlin)

Expect Delays In Mail Service This Holiday Season

From the article: "...According to Spratlin, it has been difficult for letter carriers to start their routes on-time due to the large volume of holiday mail and staffing shortages...."


Article Reference: www2.wspa.com

Postal Service buyout has 23,600 employees leaving

23,600 postal employees take buyout

From the article: "...Postmaster General Pat Donahoe wants to cut that workforce to 402,000 by 2016. This year alone, about 4,200 postmasters left with the encouragement of a $20,000 incentive, while almost 3,000 mail handlers accepted $15,000 buyouts to retire or quit...."


Article Reference: www.federaltimes.com

Friday, December 7, 2012

State University fires postal supervisor after opening suspicious package

ETSU fires postal supervisor after opening student package

From the article: "...reportedly opened a suspicious package that came into the campus post office Nov. 19 and then called campus police, who notified the First District Drug Task Force...."


Article Reference: www.tricities.com

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Mail arrives a little late

Late delivery: postcard sent during WWII arrives at NY home

From the article: "...A postcard mailed nearly 70 years ago has finally arrived at the former upstate New York home of the couple who sent it...."


Article Reference: www.nypost.com

Friday, November 30, 2012

Lady Bird Johnson souvenir Forever stamps sheet

Lady Bird Johnson Forever Stamp Sheet Dedicated Today

From the article: "...The achievements of Lady Bird Johnson were commemorated today with the dedication of the Lady Bird Johnson souvenir Forever stamps sheet...."


Article Reference: www.sacbee.com

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Mailbox thrown into moving vehicle

Mailbox thrown at moving vehicle in Guilford County; roof crushed

From the article: "...man was driving under the bridge when a steel mailbox and an 8x8 piece of wood hit the vehicle..."


Article Reference: www.wxii12.com

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Postal execs get pay boost

Even as Post Office Loses Money, Execs Boost Pay

From the article: "... announced by the U.S. Postal Service on Thursday, all but one of the top five executives for the nation's mail service had an overall compensation increase this year, records show..."


Article Reference: reason.com

Friday, November 16, 2012

Waco postal worker is an artist

Postal worker doubles as Hermès scarf illustrator

From the article: "...A 69-year-old post office worker who renders paintings for silk scarves that retail for over $300? Yep...."


Article Reference: aarp.org
Kermit Oliver

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Postal Service officers get outrageous salaries while agency loses record amount

USPS Execs Get Illegally High Salaries Admid $11.6 Bil Loss

From the article: "...It turns out that at least three USPS officers made more than the legal compensation limit for their respective work category, according to the agency’s inspector general. In a report made public this month, the Postal Service watchdog reveals that one of the officers, identified as the president of digital solutions, made a whopping $306,250 last year. This exceeds even the “critical position” cap set by the federal law...."


Article Reference: www.themoralliberal.com

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

BIRMINGHAM, Al: Hand sorting Jefferson County mail due to machine errors

USPS sorting Jeffco absentee ballot mail manually after equipment errors

From the article: "...BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) - Postal Service workers in Jefferson County are now sorting absentee ballot mail by hand after CBS42 brought errors to the organization's attention...."


Article Reference: www.cbs42.com

Thursday, November 1, 2012

The ultimate privatization of the Postal Service

How the Postal Service foundered: Parceling out the responsibility

From the article: "...The PMG and the BOG have displayed outright disregard for the advice of their regulator and total contempt for providing service to the American public. They have put the postal ship on a course that will inevitably result in fewer jobs, decreased service, and ultimately privatization. Ignoring the public interest..."


Article Reference: www.savethepostoffice.com

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

FedEx to hire seasonal workers

FedEx to add 20,000 seasonal workers, sees shipping up 13 pct

From the article: "...FedEx can add the same number of seasonal workers as last year because it has been hiring staff throughout 2012, especially at the Ground and SmartPost divisions that will handle the bulk of the holiday volume, said T. Michael Glenn, executive vice president of market development and corporate communications...."


Article Reference: www.reuters.com
SmartPost

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

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

Sunday, October 7, 2012

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

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

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

Monday, September 24, 2012

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,

Monday, September 17, 2012

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