House Oversight Committee Looking Into Postal Service Hatch Act Violation
From the article: "...Although the IG said the Postal Service violated the Hatch Act, it did not recommend any disciplinary action..."
Article Reference: www.fedsmith.com
From the article: "...Although the IG said the Postal Service violated the Hatch Act, it did not recommend any disciplinary action..."
From the article: "...Come Sept. 11, artist Robert S. Davidson intends to argue that the United States Postal Service (USPS) improperly extended those concepts to its benefit by using his sculpted rendering of the iconic work on more than four billion stamps, with roughly a quarter of the prints issued even after the entity had learned it was not the original New York City masterpiece..."
From the article: "...the Postal Service isn't the only one making money when a mail carrier brings a new pair of shoes or a school backpack to your door. Private companies compete fiercely to sell postage, prepare labels and help retailers find the best deals for shipping their products. And several of them argue that a single company, Stamps.com, is getting unusually good deals from the Postal Service, allowing it to undercut the prices of rivals and reap profits that should be going to the government..."
From the article: "...The department's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs instituted a regulation requiring all doctors who want to prescribe any compounded medications containing opioids to file a Letter of Medical Necessity justifying the prescription and explaining why alternate treatments are not feasible..."
From the article: "... issues to include safety and security concerns. Auditors reviewed 51 facilities in the Eastern Area, finding that 32 had building safety and security issues, and the same number had potential OSHA violations..."
From the article: "...Federal authorities say they used their positions at the West Market Post Office to funnel more than 100 kilos of marijuana to three separate drug organizations..."
From the article: "...Islanders pay Hopkins for his deliveries, but he says the postal service contract — worth $80,000 a year — accounted for half his income. And delivering everything together — the mail and other freight items — is the only way to be cost-efficient. He has to pay ferry, fuel, and insurance bills, and hires help to get the mail from Swans’ Island to Frenchboro...."
From the article: "...He's trained to use his postal bag as a defense, but in this case it was no help. "It literally just jumped up at me and lunged at me and grabbed my arm. Knocked me backward onto my butt," said De Lashmit. He says the dog backed off for a moment before it came back and grabbed his leg. "That's when I knew it wasn't just going to be a bite. I knew it was an actual attack," said De Lashmit. He kicked at the dog and managed to get to his feet only to have the dog attack again...."
From the article: "...There are other known "inverted Jenny" stamps from that sheet of 100, but this newly discovered stamp is from the stolen block of four. "After careful expert examination the rarity was determined to be position 76 in the pane of 100 subjects," the Spink USA auction house said in a press release...."
From the article: "...In Alabama, post offices were established in small towns in the early 1800s. The earliest service in a town that still has a post office today was begun in Huntsville in 1811, according to the United States Postal Service...."
From the article: "...The U.S. Postal Service is in dire financial straits. If the price of stamps goes down as scheduled in April, it could cost the already hemorrhaging post office $2 billion per year, according to a statement released by USPS. The planned cost reduction from 49 cents to 47..."
From the article: "...(Disposing of properties below their market value is the subject of a scathing report by reporter Peter Byrne, Going Postal: U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein's husband sells post offices to his friends, cheap., which argues that CBRE, the Postal Service's real estate agent, is helping out its friends and clients with deals on postal property. The USPS Office of Inspector General has also done several audits criticizig the USPS-CBRE contract ..."
From the article: "...Hours later, police were able to speak to the man and determined he did not commit a crime..."
From the article: "...“I do know that the postal authorities that were dealing with him found his behavior to be suspicious and it did not seem to be a normal transaction going on,” said Postal Inspector Blad Rojo. It turned out both envelopes were addressed to the FBI. “That alerted the staff who then called in the FBI..."
From the article: "...The postal worker won $175,000 in an Ohio lottery in 2004. He was taken to court by seven co-workers who claimed he'd cheated them out of winnings using a ticket from the office pool. Kyle was ordered by a judge to split the winnings evenly with the 20 other members of the pool, which comes to about $8,750 each..."
From the article: "...according to historians, underneath the beige paint — and maybe more layers than that — is the 12-foot by 6-foot mural painted by Donald Hall Robertson titled “Lumber Region of Mississippi.” A website dedicated to historic preservation in Mississippi, Misspreservation.com, includes an article about the downtown post office’s mural by local historian Mark Davis..."
From the article: "...The Electronic Mail Improvement Reporting system, or eMIR, was designed to save costs by assigning USPS workers to contact mailers about reported problems and how to fix them, according to the USPS Inspector General's December audit ..."
From the article: "..."We had made special arrangements with the Albert Thomas post office to pick up on Saturday around 1:00 all of the boxes that we had labeled and ready to go," says HOME co-founder Ronnie Duhon..."They were unable to do anything to help us out," he said. 'Can't, don't, not authorized, impossible, those were the words they were using.'"
From the article: "...We’ve seen it reported nationally and here in the Metro, people following delivery trucks and then stealing packages from front porches. The United States Postal Service says the best way to avoid that is to keep up with your package and keep in touch with the post office..."
From the article: "...People earn the right to participate in Social Security by working and contributing. It was never intended to be an investment program. Unlike private retirement plans, its purpose is to provide guaranteed income to seniors, disabled citizens, survivors, and their families. Privatization would severely undermine the system..."
From the article: "... provisions of the Minimizing Excessing MOU will be reactivated and will continue until at least May 20, 2018 with one exception which is covered in the Step 4 Settlement (explained below),” reported President Dimondstein. “Excessing beyond 50 miles is so destructive to our members and devastating to their families, removing this concern for at least the next three years is a positive outcome for all APWU members of all Crafts.”..."
From the article: "...Thieves broke into postal vehicles and stole packages and mail in a recent string of robberies in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood. Police said the thieves broke in while the vehicles were parked and unattended..."
From the article: "...The bill requires postal retirees and their eligible family members to enroll in Medicare Parts B and D in order to continue coverage through the Postal Service Health Benefits Program: A Postal Service Medicare eligible annuitant subject to this section may not continue coverage under the Postal Service Health Benefits Program unless the Postal Service Medicare eligible annuitant enrolls in Medicare part A, Medicare part B, and Medicare part D. If a family member of a Postal Service annuitant who is subject to this section is a Medicare eligible individual, the family member may not be covered under the Postal Service Health Benefits Program as a family member of the Postal Service annuitant unless the family member enrolls in Medicare part A, Medicare part B, and Medicare part D. There is concern in the Federal community that if this bill becomes law, it will be expanded to include all Federal retirees."
From the article: "...Starting next year, all FEHB plans will offer Self Only, Self Plus One, and a Self and Family coverage. Postal employees and annuitants will be able to select Self Plus One coverage during the 2015 Open Season, which will run from Nov. 9 to Dec. 14..."
From the article: "...Shelton Thomas, state president of the Postal Workers Union, said eliminating three clerk positions will result in long waits for customers. “We’re hoping they’ll take a re-look at this entire process,” he said Tuesday..."
From the article: "...Records show Papageorge, 47, is a Charlotte postal manager and makes more than $90,000 a year. Ervin said Papageorge was not getting drugs through mail. "All the business he was conducting as far as the cocaine was coming from his residence. We never got any information about him doing or dealing cocaine while he was at his work," said Ervin. ..."
From the article: "...“Across the country, today’s young workers are being consigned to second- and third-class jobs,” he said. “The Postal Service’s contract proposals would perpetuate the downward spiral, with lower wages and fewer benefits for future career employees, including today’s PSEs. “And under management’s plan, career workers would lose cost-of-living raises and be forced to worry about layoffs, plant closings and higher healthcare costs,” he added..."
From the article: "...Parents say hundreds of SAT tests taken by Virginia students at a high school were lost in the mail, leaving students in a bind...."
From the article: "...The jury heard from a registry clerk who reported she had received on at least one occasion a registry sack that had a hole in in it near the top. A delivery driver also testified about taking bags that appeared to have been cut open..."
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From the article: "... Then the post office job opened up and I applied and I got that and I was there 24 years. ... When I went in there was approximately 250 people in town and when I left there was over 600. So we'd seen good growth in those 20-some years. ..."
From the article: "... A website called Save the Post Office posted an article yesterday about the USPS, how it treats workers, and its deals with Amazon.com. And it raises an interesting issue about whether the Postal Service is giving priority to Amazon packages over its own Priority Mail customers. ..."
From the article: "... "First and foremost," she said in an email, "the Fayetteville Processing and Distribution Center has not closed, so I regret the customer was given incorrect information. I will, however, say that the employee who told him that was likely referring to the change in Service Standard that was first announced in 2012, at the same time as the announcement of the decision to consolidate Fayetteville." ..."
From the article: "...the Postal Service posted a $1.325 billion profit in Controllable Operating Income. That’s compared to a $912 million profit for the same period last year (SPYL). ..."
From the article: "...USPS service standard changes due to its “Network Rationalization Plan” have been in effect since phase 1 started on July 1st 2012, now phase 2 has started on Jan. 5th of this year. These changes are a result of the previous postmaster general’s efforts to close mail processing centers, reduce hours at post offices, eliminate a day of mail delivery, and take away door-to-door delivery. The idea is that reducing services will help USPS’s financial problems, when instead this will more likely drive people away from using first class mail. ..."
From the article: "...Two postal workers say they were robbed early Wednesday morning at a United States Postal Service processing center at 2800 N. Military Trail....."
From the article: "...given that the USPS is in the process of shuttering 82 mail processing centers. The Postal Service lowered delivery standards for letters and first-class mail earlier this year ..."
From the article: "...Tucson business leaders said they are experiencing significant delays in mail delivery since the U.S. Postal Service changed its service standards Jan. 5. ..."
From the article: "...Sadly, the previous Postmaster General chose a path of that undermined the USPS – closing post offices, slashing hours of operations, virtually eliminating overnight delivery of first-class mail, and outsourcing key functions to unqualified private companies...."
From the article: "...chronicle dozens of complaints over misplaced packages, poorly serviced routes and late deliveries. A few residents claim to be so fed up they drive to the post office in West Nyack or at the Palisades Center mall. "There are many issues," Carlin said. ..."