PRC Approves USPS Request To Sell ‘Gift Cards’ At Post Offices
The Postal Regulatory Commission approved USPS’ request to market test gift cards. PRC said in its decision that “Based on the record before it, the Commission finds that the proposed Gift Cards product is a postal service and that the market test is consistent with 39 U.S.C.3641. The Postal Service shall file results of market test data collection with the Commission as described in the body of this Order. Read more
All USPS BOG Public Meetings to be available online starting May 10
Beginning May 10, 2011, all open session meetings of the Board of Governors will be available via live audio webcast on www.usps.com. Three hours after the conclusion of the open session meeting, a recorded audio file will be available for listening. In compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, the audio webcast will be open-captioned. The webcast link will remain active on the homepage of www.usps.com through May 13, 2011. After May 13, the recorded audio webcast will be available on www.usps.com/about.
PR note:The meeting below will be the first one available online…
Postal Service Board of Governors to Meet May 10 in Washington, DC
WASHINGTON — The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service will meet in open session May 10 at Postal Service headquarters, 475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW. The public is welcome to observe the meeting beginning at 2 p.m. in the Ben Franklin Room on the 11th floor. The Board is expected to discuss the following items:
Tuesday, May 10, 2 p.m.
1. Approval of minutes of previous meetings
2. Remarks of the Chairman of the Board
3. Remarks of the Postmaster General and CEO
4. Committee reports
5. Quarterly report on financial performance
6. Quarterly report on service performance
7. Tentative agenda for the June 20-21 meeting in Washington, DC
OIG Finds USPS Mystery Shopper Program Compromised
USPS responded by basically saying No harm, no foul. But bonuses were given out based on mystery shopper scores. Some managers had an unfair advantage.
The USPS Office Of Inspector General Released the following audit report:
The Postal Service uses the Mystery Shopper Program as a diagnostic tool to measure conditions that impact customer satisfaction, promote safety, educate customers about products and services, and foster revenue growth. Management includes the program results in the National Performance Assessment (NPA) score, which is part of the Pay for Performance (PFP) evaluation system. The program uses independently contracted individuals to pose as customers (known as mystery shoppers) to evaluate Post Offices. Read more
Postmasters To PRC: USPS Must Comply With Existing Laws On Closing Post Offices
Filed under: post office closings, postal, postal news, Postmasters, usps
Update: Nation’s Postmasters Challenge Proposed Postal Service Regulations- On Thursday, the National Association of Postmasters of the U.S. and the National League of Postmasters filed paperwork with the Postal Regulation Commission that raise serious legal objections to USPS efforts to undercut statutory protections to which communities are entitled during a Post Office discontinuance and a USPS effort to illegally redefine Post Office management. In addition, NAPUS and the NLPM included an expert legal opinion by the former USPS general counsel, which agrees that the USPS is violating the law. The story is included in this week’s edition of the eNAPUS Legislative and Political Bulletin. In addition, the eNAPUS Bulletin includes news relating to how the ongoing congressional budget discussions impacts Postmasters
The National League Of Postmasters and National Association Of Postmasters of the US submitted a letter to Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman Ruth Y. Goldway. The Postmasters are in opposition to USPS’ proposed changes to regulations making it easier to close Post Offices.: Read more
PMG Names Giselle Valera As USPS VP and Managing Director, Global Business
PMG Pat Donahoe yesterday announced the appointment of Giselle Valera as vice president and managing director, Global Business. Her appointment takes effect June 1. She will report to Paul Vogel, president and chief Marketing/Sales officer.
Vice President and Managing Director, Global Business, Giselle Valera
Valera has been acting associate director of Strategic Planning since January. She previously was executive director for Global Finance and Business Analysis. While in that position, she was responsible for helping Global Business operate as a profit center. She also monitored the group’s business performance and oversaw cost management, financial reporting and analysis.
She was involved in many successful filings for Global Business with the Postal Regulatory Commission, including the introduction of new product and service offerings to meet the needs of the growing international mailing and shipping sector.
A former associate partner of IBM Corporation, Valera served as a consultant to USPS for many years. From 2002 to 2006, she worked on several projects for Supply Management, Network Operations and Global Business.
Valera has a master’s in International Affairs from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University.
APWU: Additional Q & A About the Tentative Agreement
Questions have been posed on the APWU’s Facebook page about the Tentative Agreement for a new contract. Below, union officers address some recent questions.
Question: Could new Non-Traditional Full-Time jobs be scheduled six days a week?
Answer: Clerk Craft NTFT assignments could be created as six-day assignments where necessary to create a desirable duty assignment for employees to bid (for example, at a small Post Office that is open six days per week). This type of schedule would not be permitted in a mail processing operation or in any installation that has 200 man-years or more of employment.*
The local union would have the opportunity to work with local management to assure that full-time assignments are maximized while at the same time protecting the desirability of the assignments which are posted.
No current Full-Time Regular employee can ever be involuntarily assigned to a posted duty assignment of six work days.
*Whether a facility qualifies as a 200 man-year office is determined by adding all paid hours for USPS career employees in crafts represented by the APWU, the National Association of Letter Carriers, and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, and dividing by 2,080. If the result is 200 or more, the office qualifies as a 200 man-year office. The measure is based on the 12-months preceding the beginning of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The determination remains in effect throughout the life of the agreement. Paid hours include work hours, overtime, and leave hours.
Question: Are there any changes pertaining to janitorial or custodial Part-Time Regulars being converted to Full-Time Regulars? If so, when will this happen?
Answer: There were no changes involving PTR custodians becoming FTR or vice-versa
source: APWU
Guffey to APWU Members: Don’t Let Anti-Labor Politicians Stop You From Voting
Some very powerful politicians have set their sights on postal employees, APWU President Cliff Guffey has warned, and union members must respond decisively.
“Anti-labor members of Congress have said the union’s tentative Collective Bargaining Agreement [PDF - members only] is too favorable to workers,” the union president noted. “They favor contracting out virtually all of our jobs.
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“I have a simple response,” he said. “I encourage every APWU member to get actively involved in union affairs — and to start by voting on ratification of the tentative Collective Bargaining Agreement. We also must get much more involved in the legislative arena.
“Don’t let these naysayers discourage you from voting.”
At an April 5 hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) and other Republicans repeatedly criticized Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe and members of the USPS Board of Governors for agreeing to the union’s demand during negotiations to retain protection against layoffs. They also said the Postal Service needed more freedom to close postal facilities and cut the workforce.
“This is an attack on our collective bargaining rights,” Guffey said. “The APWU and the Postal Service reached an agreement that would benefit both sides — and now anti-union legislators are attempting to undermine it.”
More Attacks
Influential lawmakers are also proposing legislation that would weaken postal unions by changing our bargaining process, Guffey pointed out. A bill sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) to ease the USPS financial crisis also would require arbitrators to “consider the financial health” of the USPS when contract negotiations reach an impasse. Although the bill (S. 353 [PDF]) has some beneficial provisions, it would give management an unfair advantage in bargaining.
“With governors and state legislatures across the country chipping away at the rights of teachers, nurses, and firefighters to engage in collective bargaining, this issue should not be taken lightly,” Guffey cautioned.
In addition, on March 28, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) introduced an amendment to S. 493, a bill to reauthorize small-business programs, that would dramatically increase the cost of health and life insurance premiums for postal employees, and that would void provisions of the Tentative Agreement. The amendment would set postal contributions to health and life insurance coverage at the same rate other federal employees pay, increasing postal workers’ contributions substantially.
In addition to McCain’s amendment, Sens. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Richard Burr (R-NC) introduced a bill that would deny federal workers hired after 2012 the right to participate in the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). If approved, S. 644 [PDF] would end the defined benefits portion of the FERS program and leave in place only the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). It also would reduce the employers’ pension contributions, and force employees to pay more toward their retirement benefits.
Good News
Fortunately, pro-worker lawmakers also have introduced legislation to help solve the Postal Service’s financial problems, Guffey said. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) has submitted H.R. 1351 [PDF], which would correct the methodology used by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for computing the Postal Service’s pension liabilities. An improper funding formula has led to USPS overpayments into the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) of more than $50 billion and overpayments into the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) of approximately $7 billion.
“I urge APWU members to contact their U.S. representatives and ask them to co-sponsor this important bill,” Guffey said.
“APWU members cannot afford to sit back and watch while others determine our future,” Guffey said. “Every member must get involved.”
USPS and British Royal Mail Team Up to Sell Official Royal Wedding Collectibles
WASHINGTON, April 27, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — When the royal wedding of Prince William of Wales and Catherine Middleton takes place Friday, the U.S. Postal Service and British Royal Mail will help you join in the worldwide celebration. A limited supply of Official Royal Wedding collectibles not for mailing goes on sale tomorrow on the Postal Store, www.usps.com/shop, or by calling 800 782-6724.
The Royal Wedding Presentation Pack is a beautifully illustrated brochure which includes a miniature sheet of The Royal Wedding stamps and features the story of how Prince William and Catherine Middleton met. The color photographs make this a superb keepsake, which sells for $7.95.
Produced by Royal Mail, Great Britain’s postal service, the official Royal Wedding Miniature Sheet features four stamps of two different engagement photographs of the royal couple and displays Prince William’s coat of arms. The stamp images feature two official engagement portraits of the royal couple, taken by world-renowned photographer Mario Testino: a formal image of the pair photographed in the Council Chamber of St. James’s Palace and an informal image showing the couple embracing in the Palace’s Cornwall room. Each sheet costs $6.95.
Also available is the Royal Wedding Digital Color Postmark Souvenir Cover. Created by the Postal Service, the souvenir cover’s postmark features a crown, a furling British flag and the couple’s wedding date, April 29, 2011. Each postmark costs $4.95 and comes on a No. 10 envelope affixed with a Wedding Roses Forever Stamp and two Royal Wedding stamps issued by Royal Mail. Click here for an image of the postmark.
Again, customers can order the Royal Wedding collectible products on The Postal Store website, www.usps.com/shop, or by calling 800 782-6724. Supplies of each item are limited.
To learn more about the Postal Service’s Stamp Program, visit http://beyondtheperf.com.
The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations
2,000 postal employees take $20,000 buyout offers
“More than 2,000 U.S. Postal Service administrators have signed up for an early-out deal that will give them $20,000 in return for leaving their financially struggling employer by the end of next month, a spokesman said Wednesday. Two thousand three employees applied by the Monday deadline, spokesman Mark Saunders said. .Their departures will account for about two-thirds of the 3,155 administrative slots that the Postal Service is cutting under the reorganization. With a reduction-in-force now under way, Vegliante said some employees could be laid off, but that won’t be known until the process ends in early September.”
USPS proposes to move operations from Four Kansas Mail Processing Centers
Postal Service in Kansas to Hold Public Meetings on proposal to move mail processing operations from Hays, Colby, Hutchinson and Independence Customer Service Mail Processing Centers (CSMPC)
HAYS, KS — The U.S. Postal Service will hold a public meeting to discuss its proposal to move some mail processing operations from the Hays Customer Service Mail Processing Center (CSMPC) into the Salina, KS, Customer Service Mail Processing Center.
The meeting will take place at 6 p.m., on Wednesday, May 11 at the Hays High School Lecture Hall, located at 2300 E. 13th St., in Hays.
With the deep decline in mail volume due to current economic conditions and continuing electronic diversion, the Postal Service has an excess of employees and equipment in some mail processing operations. A study was begun last month at the Hays CSMPC to determine the feasibility of consolidating redundant operations to see if any efficiencies and cost savings would be achieved.
Initial study results support consolidating some mail processing operations that are currently being performed at the Hays CSMPC by taking advantage of available processing capacity at the Salina CSMPC in order to increase efficiency and improve productivity.
Business Case:The initial analysis indicates net local savings of $40,000. Hays, KS is one of two studies being investigated for possible consolidation of operations into Salina, KS. Initial indications are that the combined total of savings associated with these consolidations may exceed $139,000 per year.
Public comments must be postmarked by May 26, 2011. Read more