FYI: USPS Examination Requirement For Custodial Jobs Suspended Until 2011
“As background, the Service had taken a position (in National case Q98C4QC02005533) that they could ignore or waive the exam at their discretion (for example, in cases of excessing) yet maintain that minimum qualification requirement for members of the Maintenance Craft. As one example of the absurd situation this creates; current maintenance employees could not down grade or be promoted into custodial duty assignments because they were not qualified (in the USPS’ position) due to not having the Test 916 on their record. Our position is the Service can’t have it both ways, either waive the requirement for everyone or it must be enforced across the board and cannot be selectively waived.” (APWU, 2007)
Here is the text of the letter from USPS:
June 25, 2010
MANAGERS, HUMAN RESOURCES (AREA)
SUBJECT: Suspending Examination Requirement for Custodial Jobs
Suspension of the examination requirement for custodial jobs was announced via Vice President Deborah Giannoni-Jackson’s August 6, 2007, memorandum. The examination requirement was then extended to September 30,2010, by a subsequent September 4, 2008, memorandum. This suspension is being extended again, until September 30, 2011 . The reassignment of many career bargaining·unit employees has been greatly expedited by this temporary suspension, thereby supporting our efforts to deal with the impact of automation and changes in the postal business environment.
Career employees reassigned in accordance with Article 12 andlor moving voluntarily to custodial positions should not be given Examination 916, or be required to qualify during this suspension.
These employees must meet all requirements shown on the qualification standard for the position to which they are being reassigned, including satisfactory completion of any prescribed training. Districts may continue to use in-service custodial registers.
This suspension removes work from the process of placing employees into custodial positions to more rapidly make staffing changes in our work place.
Copy of Letter
source: Gary Kloepfer, APWU, Maintenance Division
NAPS Legislative Update: Postal Service Suffers Three Stinging Defeats
Filed under: NAPS, politics, postal, postal news, postal supervisors, usps
by Bruce Moyer, NAPS Legislative Counsel
National Association of Postal Supervisors Legislative & Regulatory Update
Sept. 30, 2010
Postal Service Suffers Three Stinging Defeats
One of the most troubling weeks in Washington for the United States Postal Service is coming to an end, with three major setbacks. The first two came on Capitol Hill, as Congress was departing for its election recess. The third was delivered by the Postal Regulatory Commission, denying the Postal Service’s emergency rate increase request.
Dual setbacks from Congress
The USPS got shredded in the legislative buzz saw twice in the last week, first through Congress’ refusal to provide financial relief to the USPS in a stop-gap government spending measure, then when the House stopped action on legislation to restructure the Postal Service’s retiree health prefunding obligations.
Hyper-partisan pre-election warfare led to both of the legislative setbacks, as Democrats avoided crossing swords with the Republicans, even to contest false Republican charges that the postal restructuring measure would represent a “government bailout.” It was proof that false charges on complicated matters during the “silly season” in Washington can sometimes trump the truth.
Retiree health benefit prefunding restructuring fails
The first legislative defeat occurred in the House last week when legislation (H.R. 5746) that would restructure the Postal Service’s retiree health prefunding payments never made it to a vote in the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee. Congressional observers pointed to the fadeout as sparked by Republican opposition, led by committee ranking Republican Darrell Issa (R-CA) who, in a Washington Times op-ed, called the postal restructuring bill a “government bailout.” NAPS President Louis Atkins was among those who objected to Issa’s use of the term. Atkins in a statement called Issa’s characterization of the restructuring bill “totally inaccurate.” (Click here to read President Atkins’ statement.)
Left out in the cold on the CR
The second legislative setback came on September 29 when the Senate and the House left the Postal Service out of a stopgap funding measure passed to ensure the federal government keeps running for the next two months. The Postal Service had sought postponement of at least $4 Billion of the $5.5 Billion payment due September 30 to prefund its future retiree health obligations. NAPS and other postal groups pushed for inclusion. Last year Congress included the Postal Service in the same short-term funding measure (called a “Continuing Resolution”), but this year no luck, primarily due to Republican opposition in the Senate, claiming that the Postal Service could get by without
PRC says no to exigency rate request
The third setback for the Postal Service came earlier today when the Postal Regulatory Commissionde nied the Postal Service’s request for an emergency postage increase, effective January 2.
Although the PRC in its decision agreed with the Postal Service that the severe recent recession, and the decline in mail volume, qualified as an “extraordinary or exceptional circumstance” under the 2006 postal reform law, the Commission found that the rate increase request “was not due to the recession, or its impact on mail volume, and instead an attempt to address long-term structural problems not caused by the recent recession.” In bitter irony, those structural problems include the burdensome retiree health prefunding payments, which Congress just days before declined to restructure.
What’s Next?
The consequences of these major setbacks are still reverberating, but this much is clear:
The Big Fix. First, Congress is more likely than ever to address a bundle of complex postal issues and craft a “Big Fix” bill next year. Whether that is good or bad remains to seen. Such a comprehensive measure could mandate delivery adjustments, post office closings, expanded USPS product authority, and changes to retiree health benefit prefunding.Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) introduced a comprehensive postal bill (POST Act, S. 3831) just last week that deals with some of these issues. Many of Carper’s proposals mirror legislative requests to Congress made by the Postal Service. Carper is likely to reintroduce the measure in the next Congress, probably in early 2011. NAPS most certainly will be engaged in the debate.
Real Cash Flow Problems. If Congress in 2011 fails again to remove the financial rope around the Postal Service’s neck and declines to restructure the burdensome retiree health benefit payment schedule, the Postal Service will undoubtedly come much closer to experiencing cash flow problems in 2011, problems far greater than it currently faces. It will have exhausted its borrowing authority, even if volume begins to return, and will have nowhere else to return.
Collective Bargaining Repercussions. Pessimistic cash flow forecasts and other signs of problems on the horizon with strengthen Postal Service management’s hand in its contract negotiations with APWU and the rural letter carriers that currently are underway. The unions know that they will need to make painful concessions in pay, benefits, and jobs. The only question is how deep those concessions will be and in what combination. Those contract talks are likely to end up in the hands of an arbitrator next year.
The arbitrator clearly will take the dismal financial condition of the Postal Service into consideration in rendering his decision, regardless whether Congress changes the law to expressly require the arbitrator to do that, a change the Postal Service is seeking. That outcome and the arbitrator’s decision itself will ripple into changes in pay, benefits and jobs for all postal employees, including supervisors.
November Doesn’t Entirely Matter. Finally, these observations are likely to remain accurate whether or not control of the House or the Senate changes hands as a result of the November elections. Only the speed and detail of the coming Congressional debate on a legislative “big fix” is likely to be influenced by which party is in control next year, important considerations nonetheless.
Bruce Moyer
NAPS Legislative Counsel
source: National Association of Postal Supervisors Legislative & Regulatory Update - Sept. 30, 2010
Statement of Postmaster General John Potter on PRC Ruling
Fully Paying Retiree Health Benefit Mandate
We are disappointed to learn that the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) has denied our price filing. But we are encouraged by their acknowledgment and understanding of the larger financial risk we face through the mandated prefunding of Retiree Health Benefits.
Clearly, the Postal Service is a viable business. Maintaining that status requires elimination of several legislatively-imposed constraints that hamper our ability to operate efficiently and profitably.
Specifically: 1) enable us to alter frequency of delivery consistent with use of the mail; 2) allow us to close unprofitable post offices; 3) restructure our obligation under a 2006 law to prefund retiree health benefits, an obligation not applicable to any other private or government entity; 4) permit us to create and offer products and services beyond mail; 5) assure that arbitrators consider the financial health of the Postal Service when agreement cannot be reached with our labor unions; and 6) resolve overfunding of our pension systems. Legislation has been introduced in Congress to address these issues.
We will need to take a much closer look at the ruling from the PRC in order to make an informed decision about what options we have and what may be the best course of action for our customers, our employees, our stakeholders and the American public.
The Postal Service ends the current fiscal year with approximately $2 billion cash and available credit, meeting all our end-of-year financial obligations, including a $5.5 billion payment to the Retiree Health Benefit Fund as required by law.
As we have stated repeatedly throughout the year, the Postal Service sought a deferral of this $5.5 billion payment to minimize the risk of defaulting on our financial obligations in Fiscal Year 2011. Unfortunately, no legislative action has been taken at this time.
The financial risk remains. We will carefully manage every dollar we spend in the upcoming fiscal year. Our current forecast shows that we will not have sufficient cash to make the $5.5 billion payment due on Sept. 30, 2011, and any major disruption, whether in volume loss or unforeseen circumstances, could cause us to default on financial obligations earlier in FY11.
In the midst of financial and regulatory challenges, the Postal Service achieved record productivity gains in 2010 and a reduction of over 100,000 career employees and cost savings of over $10 billion during the last three years.
As always, service to our customers remains our number one priority. No financial challenge or uncertainty will change that. We will continue to work with Congress and our stakeholders to implement necessary changes to ensure a viable Postal Service for decades to come.
John E. Potter
Postmaster General of the United States
CEO of the U.S. Postal Service
DMA Praises PRC Rejection of Postal Rate Hikes as a Job Saving Action
September 30, 2010 — The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) today praised the decision of the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to reject an excessive postal rate hike proposed by the US Postal Service (USPS). DMA led efforts on behalf of its members encouraging the PRC to reject the USPS request for an unlawful and exorbitant rate increase.
The requested rate hike would have increased postal rates by nearly ten times the rate of inflation, requiring customers to pay an additional $3 billion annually for postage, despite the current rate of inflation remaining close to zero. The PRC decision requires the USPS to continue following the current law which limits any postage increase to the rate of inflation.
“Today’s decision is a great victory for businesses and consumers. The US Mail will remain a viable and affordable communications channel. The knowledge that postage rates will not rise faster than inflation is also an important element for the business community already operating in an extremely challenging business environment,” said Lawrence M. Kimmel, DMA’s CEO. “This, however, is only a first step. USPS customers must continue to work together, and with Congress, to help the Postal Service maintain competitiveness in the marketplace.”
USPS must now make critical decisions to cut costs and right-size its network and workforce. As it conducts negotiations with many of its employees, the USPS must not lose sight of the fact that its financial well-being, and that of its customers, depend on immediate and significant cost reductions.
“DMA will work closely with Congress to correct the over-funding of postal pensions so that companies are not taxed to subsidize other government programs,” concluded Kimmel. “We are fighting for reforms that will ensure a viable postal system able to meet the needs of consumers and the business community for generations to come.”
About Direct Marketing Association (DMA)
The Direct Marketing Association (www.the-dma.org) is the leading global trade association of businesses and nonprofit organizations using and supporting multichannel direct marketing tools and techniques. DMA advocates standards for responsible marketing, promotes relevance as the key to reaching consumers with desirable offers, and provides cutting-edge research, education, and networking opportunities to improve results throughout the end-to-end direct marketing process. Founded in 1917, DMA today represents companies from dozens of vertical industries in the US and 48 other nations, including nearly half of the Fortune 100 companies, as well as nonprofit organizations.
Alabama Postal Workers Indicted For Mail Theft, Embezzlement
FEDERAL GRAND JURY RETURNS EIGHT INDICTMENTS FOR MAIL THEFT, EMBEZZLEMENT OR DELAY OF DELIVERY
September 29, 2010
BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury today returned eight indictments charging U.S. Postal Service employees and others with stealing or otherwise interfering with the U.S. mail, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, Sam Montalvo, assistant special agent in charge, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Postal Service, and Frank Dyer, domicile coordinator, U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
In separate indictments filed in U.S. District Court, the grand jury charged five U.S. Postal employees, two employees of postal contract centers, and one individual not affiliated with the Postal Service with either stealing, delaying or destroying mail.
“The United States mail is one of this country’s most respected institutions,” Vance said. “Businesses and citizens, alike, trust and rely on the efficient operation of the mail system. Postal employees and others who abuse this system do the country a great disservice. They will be prosecuted,” she said.
U.S. Postal Service employees indicted today are:
TAMEKA MOORE THOMAS, 36, of Homewood, who worked at the Birmingham Downtown Carrier Facility. MOORE is charged with stealing mail and articles contained therein, from May 2008 to March 26, 2009. Count One charges her with theft of government property; count two charges theft by a Postal Service employee.
ROBIN JOEL BAGLEY, 45, of Birmingham, who worked as a mail handler in the Birmingham Processing and Distribution Center Annex. BAGLEY was charged with delaying mail delivery and theft of mail by a U.S. Postal employee between May 28, 2009, and Oct. 8, 2009.
JANA KAY MUSTGROVE, 31, of Hanceville, who was a mail carrier at the Cullman Post Office. MUSTGROVE was charged with delaying mail delivery and theft by a Postal employee, from December 2008 to June 23, 2009.
JENNIFER SMITH JEFFREYS, 34, of Mount Hope, who worked as a rural carrier associate at the Dansville Post Office. JEFFREYS was charged with delay and destruction of U.S. mail and theft of mail matter by Postal employee from April 10, 2010, to May 29, 2010.
ANGELA DENISE CRUMMIE, 51, of Tuscaloosa, who worked as a Postal carrier at the Eastside Station Post Office in Tuscaloosa. CRUMMIE was charged with delay or destruction of mail and theft of mail by a Postal employee on March 18, 2010.
Two employees of U.S. Postal contract centers, where Postal products are sold inside other retail outlets, were indicted today. They are:
BRENDA ANN POSEY, 48, of Hazelgreen, who worked contract unit in Huntsville. POSEY was charged with theft of Postal Service funds exceeding $1,000, from Jan. 24, 2008, to Sept. 30, 2009.
CAROL POOLE RAMSEY, 51, of Huntsville, who worked at a contract unit in Huntsville. RAMSEY was charged with theft of Postal Service funds exceeding $1,000 between Oct. 28, 2008 to Aug. 26, 2009.
The grand jury also indicted RAYMOND EARL PETTY, 45, of Fairfield, who did not work for the Postal Service or one of its contract centers, on nine counts of possessing personal checks which were stolen from the U.S. mail between Nov. 6, 2008, and April 9, 2009.
Theft of government property is punishable by a maximum 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Theft of mail matter by a Postal employee, delay and destruction of mail, and possession of stolen mail matter are punishable by a maximum five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The government will seek forfeiture in cases involving monetary losses, in addition to required restitution orders for victims of these alleged crimes.
Investigators of the U.S. Postal Office of Inspector General and the Postal Inspection Service investigated the cases. Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank M. Salter is prosecuting them.
Members of the public are reminded that the indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent and it will be the government’s burden to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
Senator Collins Applauds PRC Unanimous Decision To Reject USPS’s Requested Rate Hikes
Filed under: postal news, PRC, press releases, rate increase, usps
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and author of the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, today applauded the Postal Regulatory Commission’s (PRC) unanimous decision to reject the U.S. Postal Service’s requested rate hikes.
“American consumers and businesses that rely on the Postal Service won a major victory today,” said Senator Collins. “I am pleased with this decision, which I argued was required by the language of the 2006 postal reform law.
“By rejecting these proposed rate hikes, the PRC has given the Postal Service an opportunity to improve its operations and thrive. The Postal Service now needs to redouble its efforts to cut costs, develop new services to increase volume, re-invent its business model and work with the Administration to remedy an overpayment to the federal retirement fund. I will continue to press the Administration and Postal Service on these vital reforms,” Senator Collins said.
The Postal Service is the linchpin of a $1 trillion mailing industry that employs approximately 7.5 million Americans in fields as diverse as direct mail, printing, catalog production, paper manufacturing, and financial services.
The 2006 postal reform law that Senator Collins authored allowed for rate increases above the level of inflation “only if the Postal Service could prove ‘extraordinary or exceptional circumstances,’ such as terrorist attacks or natural disasters, have had a profound effect on its operations, well outside normal business cycles,” said Senator Collins.
In its decision released today, the PRC found that the Postal Service failed to prove that its financial condition met the standard of the narrowly worded law.
Senator Collins believes the PRC’s decision will help prevent further declines in mail volumes because unexpectedly higher postage rates would prompt businesses and customers to seek less expensive, digital alternatives. This would have resulted in customers using the Postal Service less, ever-sinking mail volumes and even higher net losses for the Postal Service.
Senator Collins also cited the findings of three recent investigations into Postal Service operations that she requested the Inspector General (IG) conduct. The three probes found stunning evidence of waste, fraud and abuse, especially in the contracting area. All told, the Postal Service could save more than $800 million in 2011 if it implemented all the IG recommendations. Specifically, the IG investigations found that:
• 359 non-competitive contracts were given to former employees, some of whom were hired back to train their replacements at twice their former pay;
• the Postal Service pays 100 percent of health insurance premiums for 835 of its top employees, an expensive perk that occurs at no other federal agency, at an annual cost of $10 million;
• postal employees participate in many of the same health insurance and life insurance programs as federal employees, yet the Postal Services pays a greater share of the premiums;
• the Postal Service’s contract management did not protect the USPS from waste, fraud, and abuse;
• the Postal Service could not even identify how many contracts were awarded without competition, and the IG found that 35 percent of the no-bid contracts lacked justification; and,
• significant savings could be achieved by consolidating the USPS’s area and district field offices.
On July 6, the Postal Service filed its exigent rate case with the PRC, seeking approval for a wide array of rate increases. Today, the Postal Service expects to post a loss of more than $7 billion for fiscal year 2010.
Its requested increases, averaging 4 to 6 percent, would have far exceeded the rate of inflation. For one class of mail, for example, the proposed increase would have been a whopping 23 percent. For catalog mail, the Postal Service proposed a postage hike of more than 5 percent, which owners warned would prompt many catalog businesses to reduce mail usage and direct customers to websites.
Publishers would have responded in a similar way. One national company, which has relied heavily on direct mail, said the proposed increases would have forced it to reduce mail usage by 15 to 20 percent. The rate hikes, had they taken effect, would have made direct mail less of a financially viable, large-volume advertising medium.
Sen. Carper Statement on PRC’s Decision to Deny Latest Postal Rate Increase
WASHINGTON - Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Senate subcommittee with jurisdiction over the U.S. Postal Service, released the following statement in response to the Postal Regulatory Commission’s (PRC) decision to reject the latest postal rate hike:
“I’d like to thank the members of the Postal Regulatory Commission and their staff for their work. I know this was a hard-fought and complicated case so I appreciate the thought and the long hours that went into producing this important decision.
“The Postal Service is clearly in a financial crisis. It lost $4 billion last year and will likely lose as much as $7 billion this year once it closes its books for the fiscal year later today. Postmaster General Potter announced this past spring that, if nothing were done, the Postal Service could accumulate as much as $230 billion or more in losses by 2020. This is clearly an unsustainable path. In fact – if these trends continue and no major changes occur – I understand that the Postal Service will actually run out of cash by the end of fiscal year 2011, just a year from today.
“The rate increase that was denied today would not have fixed the Postal Service’s problems. A number of observers argued that it could actually have made them worse. Regardless, I hope that today’s events will focus the Postal Service, its employees, its customers, and my colleagues in Congress on the need to take dramatic action to arrest the slide the Postal Service is on. Even when our economy has fully recovered from this recession, the Postal Service will still need to deal with the fact that more and more people are turning to electronic communication to keep in touch with friends and family and to conduct their daily business. Postal management has done a tremendous job in recent years cutting costs, becoming more efficient, and reducing its workforce. But despite these efforts, more needs to be done to reduce costs and increase revenue, especially during the labor negotiations currently underway. Perhaps more importantly, Congress needs to clear the way for further progress by passing legislation to free the Postal Service to execute its reform plans.
“If we do nothing, we face a future without the valuable services the Postal Service provides. However, if we act quickly, we can turn things around by passing my recently introduced bill, the Postal Operations Sustainment and Transformation (POST) Act of 2010. This necessary legislation would give the Postal Service the room it needs to manage itself and avoid becoming the latest victim of Congressional gridlock. More specifically, my bill addresses the current budget issues plaguing the Postal Service by proposing a series of provisions including: easing postal employee pension and retiree health costs; addressing postal employee wages and benefits; allowing partnerships with state and local governments; and giving the Postal Service leeway to close post offices, market certain non-postal items, and eliminate Saturday delivery.
“The Postal Service has put forth a plan that shows a commitment to further cost cutting and efforts to make their business relevant during these changing times. Achieving these goals will require a shared sacrifice on the parts of the Postal Service, postal employees, and major postal customers.”
Background: The proposal was a 5.6 percent increase that would have gone into effect in January. The price of a first-class stamp would have increased by two cents from 44 to 46. The Postal Service was anticipating that it would generate $2.3 billion in revenue. It was filed under a process laid out in the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act allowing the Postal Service to increase prices above the CPI rate cap during “extraordinary or exceptional” circumstances. The PRC is denying the request.
A summary of the bill follows:
The POST Act (S. 3831)
There are seven provisions in the bill. All of them are based on the legislative proposals the Postal Service made this past spring.
1. Financial Relief – The heart of the bill attempts to permanently address the pension and retiree health issues that have been a drain on postal finances over the years. The Postal Service currently pays into the old Civil Service Retirement System using a formula that the Postal Service Inspector General, the Postal Regulatory Commission, and at least two outside consulting firms have found unfairly allocates costs related to the former Post Office Department to the Postal Service. If true, this has resulted in the Postal Service overpaying its CSRS obligations over the few decades by between $50 billion and $75 billion. In addition, the Postal Service since FY2007 has been required to pay between $5.5 billion and $5.9 billion a year in an effort to prefund its future retiree health obligations. The bill would give the Postal Service more than $5 billion in breathing room each year by making two changes to current law:
- First, it requires OPM to recalculate the Postal Service’s CSRS obligation in a way that makes the Treasury responsible for pension costs related to pay increases Post Office Department employees working for the Postal Service would have gotten had they stayed on the federal payroll. This was the approach recommended by the IG, the PRC, and the consultants who looked at this issue. The recalculation will result in a finding that the Postal Service has paid about $50 billion more into CSRS that it owed.
- Second, it allows the Postal Service to use its $50 billion in overpayments to make the remaining seven retiree health prefunding payments it owes between now and 2016.
2. Saturday Delivery – The bill would remove the Appropriations rider that currently prevents the Postal Service from moving forward with its proposal to eliminate Saturday delivery. Under the 2006 postal reform legislation, the Postal Service was given the authority to reduce delivery frequency when it felt like it was necessary after taking the proposal to the PRC and receiving an advisory opinion. The Appropriators, however, put language in their bill every year negating this authority. Eliminating that rider would allow the Postal Service to achieve the $3 billion or more a year in savings that the Postal Service believes it could achieve if they eliminated Saturday delivery.
3. Post Office Closings – The bill would eliminate several provisions in law that the Postal Service believes forces it to maintain post offices that are no longer necessary. If the Postal Service is able to close some of these facilities, postal management believes they could began the process of rolling out cheaper, more convenient retail options such as automated kiosks or postal stations located in grocery stores or other places where people go every day.
4. Arbitration – Under current law, the Postal Service is required to pay its employees wages and benefits that are comparable to those paid in the private sector. Arbitrators in labor disputes have made it clear in the past that they think this is a legally binding requirement that should be taken into consideration when they render a decision. At times, arbitrators have awarded postal employees what they believe are comparable pay and benefits without taking the Postal Service’s financial condition into account. Recognizing that this situation cannot continue in a world where the Postal Service operates under a rate cap and faces stiffer competition from electronic communication, Senator Coburn proposed language in the past that would require arbitrators to take the Postal Service’s financial condition into account. The contains a similar provision requiring arbitrators to take the Postal Service’s financial condition into account along with other factors such as the comparability requirement and the details of the rate system.
5. Non-Postal Products – Under current law, the Postal Service is prohibited with a few exceptions from offering “non-postal” products and services, meaning products or services not related to the mail. The bill would revise this prohibition so that the Postal Service can begin offering non-postal products that are in the public interest and make use of the existing postal network.
6. State and Local Governments – Under current law, the Postal Service may partner with federal agencies to offer government services in postal facilities. The bill would allow them to enter into similar partnerships with state and local governments.
7. Wine and Beer – Under current law, the Postal Service is prohibited from mailing alcoholic beverages. UPS and FedEx can, however. The bill includes language putting the Postal Service on equal footing with UPS and FedEx with respect to shipping beer and wine.
Affordable Mail Alliance Commends PRC On Rejection Of Postal Rate Hikes
Filed under: postal, postal news, press releases, rate increase, usps
Washington, DC – The Affordable Mail Alliance – an unprecedented coalition of more than 1,200 non-profits, Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, major trade associations, consumer groups, and citizens representing the vast majority of the mail sent in the United States – said today that the decision of the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to reject the rate hikes proposed by the Postal Service is good for businesses, and will actually benefit the USPS in the long run.
The proposed rate hikes, which were to have taken effect next January, would have added $3 billion annually to the nation’s postal bill even though the rate of inflation is close to zero. The PRC decision reaffirms that the Postal Service must limit rate increases to the rate of inflation, as the law requires.
“The PRC today has helped countless businesses stay competitive and saved tens of thousands of jobs,” said Tony Conway, Affordable Mail Alliance spokesperson and Executive Director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers. “The Commissioners recognized that imposing an additional tax on Postal Service customers is not the way to address its financial troubles. Our members look forward to working with the Postal Service on the long-term restructuring needed to restore the Postal Service to competitiveness.”
While today’s decision will help the Postal Service retain volume and revenue, there is still more work to do. Blue ribbon commissions and government auditors have reported for decades that the Postal Service needs to streamline its inefficiently large network of undersized and obsolete mail processing plants. And although contracts with several major employee groups are up for renegotiation, the unions have signaled that they will strongly resist any major concessions. Additionally, Congress should also take a hard look at the Postal Service’s current obligations for prefunding its retiree health benefits program, a major cost burden. This prepayment schedule is another major contributor to the Postal Service’s financial problems.
“The Affordable Mail Alliance is truly an unprecedented effort with members across the country all of whom deserve thanks for uniting to address this important issue,” Conway said. “We are also grateful for our support from Congress and particularly for the leadership of Sen. Susan Collins, the key author of the 2006 Postal legislation at issue here and a tireless advocate for the future of the Postal Service. We stand ready to move forward in addressing the other issues that are so important to the future of the Postal Service.”
More on the Affordable Mail Alliance
The Affordable Mail Alliance is an unprecedented coalition of postal customers. The coalition includes charities, consumer groups, small business, national retailers, utilities, banks, insurance companies, Fortune 500 companies, and the customers who use the Post Office every day. The members represent many of the Postal Service’s biggest customers-and many of its smallest-and use every major class of mail. For further information, please visit www.affordablemailalliance.org or contact Jessica McCreight at jmccreight@skdknick.com or (202) 464-6900.
Breaking News: Postal Regulatory Commission Denies USPS Rate Increase Request
The Postal Regulatory Commission announced its decision rejecting the requested price hike at a news conference Thursday.
“After careful consideration, the Commission agreed with the Postal Service that the recent severe recession, and the decline in mail volume experienced during the recession, do qualify as an extraordinary or exceptional circumstance under the law. However, the Commission finds that the requested exigent rate adjustments are not due to the recent recession, or its impact on mail volume. Rather, they represent an attempt to address long-term structural problems not caused by the recent recession. The Commission finds, therefore, that the Postal Service has failed to meet its burden under the law and the Commission is unanimous in denying its request for an exigent rate increase..”
The new rates would have taken effect next Jan. 2.
Text of the Postal Regulatory Commission’s press release:
Washington, DC – The Postal Regulatory Commission today issued Order No. 547 in Docket
R2010-4 denying a Postal Service request for an average 5.6 percent rate increase. The Commission
found that the Postal Service failed to justiff rate increases in excess of its statutory CPI price cap.
“The Commission finds that the Postal Service has shown the recent recession to be an exigent
circumstance but it has failed both to quantifo the impact of the recession on its finances and to show
how its rate request relates to the resulting loss of mailvolume; therefore, we unanimously deny its
exigent rate request,” said Chairman Ruth Y. Goldway.
The law requires the Postal Service to demonstrate that any exigent rate adjustments are due to the
identified exceptional circumstances. This prevents a bona fide extraordinary or exceptional
circumstance from being used as a general rate increase mechanism that would circumvent the price
cap system.
The Postal Service’s recent volume losses and multi-billion dollar shortfalls are recognized. However,
Commission analysis confirms that the Postal Service’s cash flow problem is not a result of the
recession and would have occurred whether or not the recession took place. lt is the result of other,
unrelated structural problems and the proposed exigent rate adjustments would neither solve nor
delay those problems.
The Postal Service may be unable to continue to meet a statutory 1O-year payment schedule -
averaging roughly $5.5 billion per year – to create a fund to pay future retiree health benefit
premiums. lt has been unable to fund this obligation from operations, and has instead used up all of
its retained earnings and drawn down from its $15 billion borrowing authority. Even with the
requested increase, the Postal Service would be unable to meet this annual obligation either in 2011,
or in succeeding years.
The Postal Service achieved over $6 billion in cost reductions in 2009. While volume declines
outstripped cost reductions during the actual recession, Postal Service cost containment programs
are producing results and work hours have declined faster than volumes in 2010.
Goldway also said that the USPS could implement a 1.6-2% increase under the normal price cap process.
Statement of PRC Chairman Ruth Goldway
USPS Norman, OK Training Center Hotel Serves public, postal employees
The U.S. Postal Center’s hotel, known as the Norman Hotel and Conference Center, caters to federal employees and large groups, but also is open to the public.
The public gets the same benefits from the array of amenities offered to the trainees, Badaroux said. They include a regulation-size gymnasium with a walking track built above it; a 6,000-foot, fully equipped exercise gym staffed with trainers; an aerobics room; a sauna; a full-service beauty salon; massage services; a billiards room and a game room that includes ping-pong tables and shuffleboard.
Outdoor activities include an Olympic-size salt water swimming pool, two large hot tubs, a fire pit and barbecue area, a chipping range, baseball field, tennis courts and a ropes course. Guests can rent golf clubs, bicycles, helmets or guitars.
Guests also have access to computers, transportation, a clinic staffed by a registered nurse and a combination souvenir/convenience store.
Full story: NewsOK.com