July 31, 2006 - APWU: USPS Lists 139 Facilities As ‘Potential Candidates’ for Consolidation - "The Postal Service was forced to acknowledge in testimony to the Postal Rate Commission (PRC) in July that nearly a year ago it had compiled a list of 139 facilities that were being considered “potential candidates” for consolidation. The USPS provided the list to the PRC on July 25.David Williams, who coordinates the Area Mail Processing program at USPS headquarters, revealed the existence of the list during cross-examination on July 19. He testified that the list of facilities was part of the Evolutionary Network Development (END) initiative, and was generated in September 2005. It identified facilities that postal headquarters wanted regional managers to consider for possible inclusion in the program, he said .” |

July 31, 2006 - American Flat Sorter IDOL

"Sure, you always thought AFSM stood for Automated Flat Sorting Machine. But a new competition announced recently will help us find another kind of AFSM — American Flat Sorter Megastars! The contest is open to all AFSM 100 Ai / ATHS modified sites and awards will be given to the first site to reach AFSM “Idol” status. The highest Ai / ATHS performing site in each area becomes a national finalist. To earn a chance to compete, you’ll need a 16,500 piece average site throughput per hour. Your site also must average 200,000 pieces per machine day and has to sustain this level of performance for three weeks — without exceeding 70 hours average Operation 140 daily per machine. Look for posters explaining the contest and rules in a processing unit near you. Contest ends."  USPS News Link |

July 31, 2006 - Postal Clerk finds roots in father - For the past 50 years, John Hale has been coming through the back door of the Fort Morgan Post Office. Hale was honored July 13 for his 35 years of service with the U.S. Postal Service in Fort Morgan. While Hale has logged 35 years at the local post office, he has been part of the operation since his father, Raymond Hale, worked there as a carrier. Starting when he was about 8 years old, Hale said he would come in with his father, who worked as a rural carrier for 27 years, to the office whenever he could and watch him sort mail.

July 29, 2006  - Ex-Letter Carrier Sentenced for Postal Supervisor's Murder
"Grant Gallaher will spend at least the next 35 years of his life in prison for the April 4 murder of Lori Hayes-Kotter, his supervisor at the Baker City Post Office where he was employed as a letter carrier, and the attempted murder of the postmaster. Gallaher, 41, pleaded guilty Friday in Baker County Circuit Court before Judge Greg Baxter to murder and attempted aggravated murder. Gallaher admitted shooting Hayes-Kotter to death with a .357-caliber Magnum handgun and attempting to use the gun to kill Michael McGuire, Baker City postmaster." |

July 29, 2006 - Postal Service changes in Yakima (Wash.) put on hold - The U.S. Postal Service has delayed a decision on cutting back its Yakima operations in light of congressional skepticism about the purported savings and effect on mail service, postal officials said Friday. Last week, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., included language in an appropriations bill that directs the postal service not to move outgoing mail operations from Yakima to Pasco until an independent review is conducted. The bill has not yet passed the full Senate or House, but Ernie Swanson, a spokesman for the postal service in Seattle, said it's likely to. "So we're holding off," he said. A decision has been delayed indefinitely, he added

July 29, 2006

Trenton APWU Excessing Update
Postal worker forced to disrobe settles lawsuit

Maine post offices sell most cancer-research stamps, win contest

Dog Attacks Have Postal Carriers on Alert
Woman Held for Trial in Postal Worker Stabbing

Man Gets 22 Years In Post Office-Check Scandal
eNAPUS: UPS Vows to Kill Bill Over Single-Piece Parcels (PDF)

Ex-mailman is convicted in Torrance home invasion

July 28, 2006 - eNAPUS: UPS Vows to Kill Bill Over Single-Piece Parcels (PDF) -Ben Franklin would not have signed the U.S. Constitution had he known that it bestowed United Parcel Service with veto authority. Just to make sure such a power was not snuck in, NAPUS scoured the document and its 26 Amendments; we found no UPS veto power. Yet, this week UPS warned Congressional postal reform advocates that it would use its imagined authority to kill H.R. 22, unless a provision that protects rural and residential communities is stripped from the bill. USPS data reveals that residential and rural parcel customers would suffer a 40% rate increase if Congress kowtows to the UPS threat. |

July 28, 2006  - GAO Says USPS Delivery Standards, Reporting Need Improvement - "While the U.S. Postal Service has delivery standards for its major types of mail, some have not been updated in a number of years to reflect changes in how mail is prepared and delivered. For example, the report said USPS does not measure and disclose its delivery performance for most types of mail. Representative measures cover less than one-fifth of mail volume and do not include Standard Mail, bulk First-Class Mail, periodicals and most package services. "According to the deputy postmaster general, some Priority Mail delivery standards call for on-time delivery of Priority Mail in two days, but it is often physically impossible for U.S.P.S. to meet these standards when that requires moving the mail across the country," the report said ." Mail Delivery Standards Called Outdated | GAO 120-page report (PDF) |

July 28, 2006 - White House, Mailer and UPS Demands Threaten Postal Reform (doc) -  Postal reform’s fragile footing in the Congress edged perilously closer to failure this week, due to White House, mailer and UPS pressures that threaten the viability of a final postal overhaul bill.  Administration and mailer insistence on the inclusion of the Senate-passed ratemaking exigency language, along with UPS threats to oppose any bill that doesn’t open-up competition on single-piece parcels, have dramatically complicated the outlook for postal reform, with relatively little time remaining in the session.    

July 28, 2006 - Postal official forced to strip gets trial on lawsuit she filed - A trial began Thursday to decide a lawsuit brought by a female U.S. Postal Service manager who was forced by a male employee to walk naked, do jumping jacks and fondle herself in front of co-workers. The 45-year-old Akron woman has not returned to work since the incident more than three years ago, according to court documents. She claims Lonnie Wilson unlawfully imprisoned her, assaulted her and caused extreme emotional distress.

July 28, 2006 - USPS Awards Lockheed $17.4M Contract - U.S. Postal Systems parcels could get a speedier delivery as Owego's Lockheed Martin's Distribution Technologies unit installs optical character-recognition technology at 19 bulk mailing centers. The company was awarded a $17.4 million contract by the USPS to install the computerized address-reading systems in 38 secondary parcel- sorting systems. Optical character recognition will improve efficiency by eliminating an extra step in parcel processing, reduce manual mail handling and complement the current bar-code technology," said Brian Tanton, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Distribution Systems in Owego. "Our optical recognition systems will support the USPS in achieving its strategic goals through improved read rates and productivity in bulk mail centers. Previously, only barcode-embossed parcels could be automatically sorted

July 28, 2006 - Post offices get forwarded to new addresses - The United States Postal Service has made significant changes to its post offices in Lower Manhattan. Two locations have closed, one has opened and two are expected to open soon, a Postal Service spokesperson said.

July 28, 2006

July 27, 2006 - Clerk Charged with Masterminding Armed Robbery at Post Office

"The feds charged a postal clerk yesterday with masterminding a $65,000 armed heist at the Brooklyn post office where he worked. Clerk Derrek Pannell allegedly shot a videotape of the James E. Davis Post Office on Empire Blvd. before the robbery last November to show his accomplices the locations of the employee entrance and a safe containing the most cash. Pannell, 32, of Queens, and Darren Rucker, 26, of Long Island, bound six employees with plastic ties and forced the manager to open the safe at gunpoint, according to a complaint filed in Brooklyn Federal Court. Investigators suspected the robbery was an inside job because the masked bandits knew the security code needed to unlock the employee entrance and which one of the four safes held the daily receipts." |

July 27, 2006

July 26, 2006 - APWU Launches Ad Campaign To Combat Consolidation

 The APWU is taking its grassroots campaign against USPS “network realignment” to a new level by airing radio and television ads that warn of week-long delays in mail delivery. Broadcast advertising began July 26, with radio and television commercials running in Beaumont (TX), Bloomington (IN), Cumberland (MD), St. Petersburg (FL), and Yakima (WA), cities where APWU activists have already taken steps to inform citizens about the negative effect USPS network consolidation plans will have on mail service for individual postal customers and small businesses. |

July 26, 2006  - Update: Mail Carrier Loses Both Legs -Action News has learned that a postal worker injured by a suspected drunk driver has lost both of her legs.  Doctors had to amputate her legs yesterday She is in critical condition. Mail Carrier Identified. As Larry Pacentrilli tried to stop the bleeding from her legs, postal worker Maureen DePrince, 38, struggled to convey a request." She was saying, ‘Tell my husband and my mother I love them.' I guess she thought she was going to die,” Pacentrilli said.  |

July 25, 2006 - Azeezaly Jaffer Left USPS Under Allegations of Financial, Improper Conduct -"A Postal Inspection Service report dated June 19 includes accusations of Jaffer running up an excessive $8,252 hotel bill at a three-day event in Washington, of bypassing the Postal Service travel agency in order to obtain travel promotional benefits and spending extravagantly on meals and drinks. The report also included allegations of excessive drinking, using crass language in mixed company and commenting on the appearance of female co-workers."|

July 25, 2006 - Postal Boss Acknowledges Philadelphia Problems
District manager now says new processing plant has caused delays -Since the Daily News' July 5 story of political mailings mishandled at the new Southwest Philadelphia mail-processing center, bulk mailers and frustrated citizens have come forward with more horror stories of mail being delivered late or lost altogether. And postal workers say hundreds of job transfers due to automation at the new plant have created chaos there and at post offices throughout the region. But the biggest challenge - or calamity, depending on whom you listen to - has been the elimination and transfer of hundreds of postal jobs. The automated equipment resulted in elimination of more than 600 postal-clerk positions, offset partly by about 100 new mail-handler jobs.  Customers: Help is spotty |

July 25, 2006

July 24, 2006 - Mail Carrier Loses Leg In Hit-And-Run

Police said a mail carrier lost one of her legs Monday when she was struck by a hit-and-run driver in Ventnor. Tabasso said the mail carrier had delivered her mail a few minutes earlier." When I seen two legs going that way, I said, 'Oh my God.' I just started crying," Tabasso said. Police said that just before noon, the driver of a Volkswagen Jetta crashed into the postal service worker while she was unloading mail from her van. Ventnor crash severs postal worker's leg; man charged with DWI |

July 24, 2006 - Letter - Postal Workers Injured on Duty Should Know Their Rights - by Dean Albrecht - It is extremely important that any Injured on Duty (IOD) employee currently in the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program or is going to be thrust in to it know their rights. Do not be intimidated by the Claims Examiner nor the State contracted VR officer. The lack of information being explained to the IOD employee about the VR process by the Claims Examiner and the VR officer is disturbing. ....there is a lot more to inform the affected “Culled” employee. I have spent years in researching this program in anticipation of it being instituted as outlined in the Reorganization Act in which I obtained a copy of in 2003, during one of the many visit to L’Efant Plaza for the Glover settlement. |

July 24, 2006 - Engel demands regional postal service lift embargo on mail to Israel, Lebanon - Rep. Eliot Engel is demanding that regional postal officials lift what he called a ridiculous embargo on outgoing letters and packages headed to Israel and Lebanon.

July 24, 2006 - Post office reports progress - Officials with the U.S. Postal Service say that most problems with slow mail-delivery service in Las Cruces have been corrected since a December report was conducted by the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General.

July 24, 2006 - Peerflix Teams with USPS to Provide Online DVD Tracking  - Peerflix, the leading peer-to-peer (P2P) network that allows members to legally trade DVDs online, today announced a relationship with the U.S. Postal Service allowing Peerflix members to track the shipping status of their DVDs online. Peerflix members, who trade DVDs directly with one another, will be notified each time a DVD is scanned at a U.S. Postal Service location as it travels to their home, in a pioneer application of U.S. Postal Service technology traditionally leveraged by large businesses.

July 23, 2006 - Postal Workers Back Verdict in Lawsuit

Postal workers from Bucks County and communities as far away as Texas and Florida expressed satisfaction after reading a Courier Times story about one of their peers who won a ($500,000) lawsuit in federal court against supervisors in the Langhorne Post Office. Several respondents took time to recount experiences with their bosses they said mirrored what Willingboro resident Willie Brown went through before he lost his job. Many described working conditions that raise questions about how the U.S. Postal Service oversees its managers. “My observation is that the postal service promotes a culture of intimidation and harassment. It appears that supervisors have financial incentives, which lead them to treat employees in a very hostile fashion,”   [Brown's attorney Marc] Weinstein said. Fired Postal Worker Wins Reinstatement, $500,000 |

July 22, 2006  - New Postal Guidelines Delaying Newspaper Deliveries
"Recent changes in the way the Postal Service handles magazines and newspapers have caused delivery delays statewide, particularly to rural areas. New guidelines implemented in early July call for periodicals to be sacked and sent to Denver for sorting before being returned to Steamboat for delivery. That process takes one or two days, which caused the delays. Before the new guidelines, periodicals delivered to post office boxes or via carrier were set aside and handled by local delivery drivers or dropped off at rural post offices. " |

 July 20, 2006 - APWU: Anti-Labor Provisions Threaten Postal Reform
"At a meeting last week attended by key congressional sponsors and White House officials, the administration made clear its demands for support of the legislation: The White House insists that the provisions allowing the unions to defer unresolved collective bargaining issues to binding arbitration be modified to require arbitrators to consider the economic health of the Postal Service in their final decision. An additional point of contention involves placing limits on the USPS' ability to adjust postage rates. At the urging of the large mailers, the administration is demanding that postage-rate increases - with very few exceptions - be limited by increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI)." Summertime Blues for Postal Reform |

July 20, 2006 - Pacific Area VP Iniguez to Head USPS Energy Management Strategies - Deputy Postmaster General Pat Donahoe has announced that Al Iniguez will take on the critical role of leading the Postal Service in developing and implementing national strategies to help manage our rapidly escalating energy costs. Northland District Manager Michael Daley will act as Pacific Area Vice President, overseeing postal operations for California, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa and the trust territories. ” |

July 19, 2006 - Driving Postal Vehicle Without Seatbelt May Get You Fired
At least that is one of the events which lead up the removal of a Warren, Michigan letter carrier after getting injured on the job. David Aleck was removed from his position as letter carrier based on three charges: (1) “failure to perform duties in a safe manner.” He was driving the vehicle without wearing a seat belt and with the door open. Aleck fell from the postal vehicle he was operating, and the vehicle then struck a parked car. The second charge was (2) “failure to immediately report an accident.” The accident occurred at 11:00 a.m., but he did not report it until 12:45 p.m. The third charge was (3) “failure to follow instructions to report to clinic.” Aleck failed to obey the instructions of his supervisor that he report to a medical clinic for an evaluation. MSPB ruled removal was justified and the federal circuit court found no reason to overturn that decision.|

July 19, 2006 - Ask President Burrus : Bidding by Seniority is Outdated
I think people should be qualified for the jobs they are bidding into. I have been doing my job as a DCO for nine years. I have a live record, I am currently qualified, and I have been trained on every aspect of the job. What made my blood BOIL was seeing DCO vacancies awarded to people who are “pending qualification.” What kind of nonsense is this? Only in the Post Office can someone “qualify” for a job they’ve never done before because they have some sort of seniority. Try that in the real world; they wouldn’t even get an interview. This system is outmoded, outdated, and in need of an overhaul. |

July 19, 2006   - Letter Carriers Feeling the Heat
"Traveling their routes in trucks without air conditioning, most carriers have to develop their own ways to cope with weather extremes. They do, however, get advice from the U.S. Postal Service on how to deal with heat waves in the summer and blizzards in the winter, said Shannon LaBruyere, communications specialist for the U.S. Postal Service for the Southeast Michigan Performance Cluster. "The Postal Service tells letter carriers to drink lots of fluids or to take breaks," said Tim Smith, treasurer of the National Association of Letter Carriers, Local 3126, in Madison Heights. "It would be nice if it  provided bottled water on these extremely hot days," said Smith."