PMG: What can USPS do to maintain and grow the mail’s value?
GROWING THE MAIL – PMG PROMOTES NEW IDEAS, ‘RELENTLESS’ CUSTOMER SERVICE
What can the Postal Service do to maintain and grow the mail’s value?
PMG Pat Donahoe offers some suggestions in his latest video to employees. He says that delivery is “at the heart of what we do,” adding USPS will continue its “relentless” pursuit of excellent customer service.
Donahoe believes innovation also is a vital part of the Postal Service’s future. He says he will pursue the continued introduction of new products and services that are simple, secure and valued by customers. He calls on employees and customers alike to search for ideas — some of which could combine technology and the value of the mail — that will create a “powerful engine to grow our business and to grow the mailing industry.”
Marketing the mail is an important priority, says Donahoe. Pointing to the success of the Priority Mail Flat Rate advertising campaign, he says USPS will launch a major ad campaign in September focused on the value of the mail in today’s world.
The PMG says he is challenging the mailing industry to give the Postal Service ideas that will make the mail simpler and more convenient to use. But he also urges employees to share their ideas for growing the mail. And he asks employees to encourage customers to take advantage of new services like Every Door Direct Mail (Link, 4/18) and strategies combining advertising mail with emerging digital technologies like Quick Response barcodes (Link, 5/24).
“Think about customers who would be able to jump in and use these new services,” says Donahoe. “What we’ll find is that there are people out there who are very interested in using the mail to grow their businesses.
source: USPS
USPS Expands Greeting Card Line
The Postal Service has added nearly 200 selections to its Greeting Card Program this month.
The Postal Service’s Greeting Card Program, available at 1,500 participating Post Offices nationwide, has added nearly 200 selections to its product line this month.
Now it’s easier and more affordable than ever for customers to find the perfect card. From fancy to inexpensive, the new “value line” of greeting cards are priced as low as $2 and range to $3.75, a lower overall average price than previous lines.
To ensure customer convenience, retail associates at participating Post Offices are working with Hallmark retail merchandisers to organize card displays in “good, better and best” pricing tiers.
Just in time for Father’s Day, graduations and summer weddings, the new line of cards combines selection with convenience by allowing customers to purchase, stamp and mail their greeting cards while conducting other postal business.
USPS launched its Greeting Card Program in October, 2009, at 500 Post Offices. According to Hallmark, Americans bought 7 billion cards last year.
source: USPS
Arbitrator Rules USPS Violated Contract By Subcontracting Installation Of Postal Equipment
Filed under: APWU, automation, maintenance, postal, postal news, usps
From Gary Kloepfer. Assistant Director, American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO
This is a summary of Regular Panel Arbitrator Leroy R. Bartman in case H00T-1H-C-03081013 regarding the Postal Service’s purchase of a Low Cost Tray Sorter which was installed by the manufacturer. The arbitrator ruled the Postal Service violated the Collective Bargaining Agreement and ordered the bargaining unit to be whole. Read more
Postal Service sends out 2,400 Reduction-in-force notices
Federal Times – More than 2,400 U.S. Postal Service management-level employees could lose their jobs or end up in new positions under a reduction in force set to conclude by early September. The RIF is part of a nationwide reorganization aimed at streamlining the ranks of postmasters, front-line supervisors and administrators by 7,500 positions.
Federal Times -Postal Service sends out 2,400 RIF notices
Impact of USPS Administrative job cuts varies by organization
At Federal Times’ request, the Postal Service provided a breakout of the impact on area offices, district offices and headquarters and HQ-related field units… The chart includes the initial number of positions, the projected level after the redesign takes effect and the difference between the two figures. Asked why HQ and its field units are taking the smallest share of the cuts percentage-wise…”
Impact of USPS Administrative job cuts varies by organization
USPS Award 11 Contracts For Logistical Services, Maintenance and Electrical Products
CSC Wins $42 Million U.S. Postal Service Logistics Contract
FALLS CHURCH, Va. – CSC (NYSE: CSC) announced today that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) awarded the company a contract to provide management, operational and logistical support for its mail transport repair facility located near Los Angeles, Calif. The contract, which has a three-year base and two two-year options, has an estimated total seven-year value of $41.74 million. CSC won the contract during the company’s fiscal 2011 fourth quarter.
Under the terms of the contract, CSC will provide program management, information systems support and logistical services at the 189,000 square foot facility, where more than 50 million pieces of mail transport equipment are processed annually. CSC employees will receive, examine, route, repair or recycle/dispose of mail transport equipment and will work to continuously improve equipment processing, repair and distribution functions. Since 1999, CSC has provided management and logistical support for eight different USPS Mail Transport Equipment Service Center facilities across America.
“This award reflects the U.S. Postal Service’s ongoing confidence in CSC’s ability to improve performance and durability while ensuring the rapid deployment of high-quality mail transport equipment,” said Alan Weakley, president of CSC North American Public Sector’s Applied Technology Group. “In this time of high-performance expectations combined with ever-shrinking budgets, we bring practical, experience-driven solutions to reduce costs and ensure clients meet their mission-critical requirements.”
source: CSC
USPS also awarded ten (10) contracts for MRO; Building & Equipment Maintenance, Electrical, Industrial and Custodial Products to the following companies:
Contracts awarded for the Building & Equipment Maintenance Products Category:
• MSC Industrial Supply
• Lawson Products, Inc,
• Noble Supply & Logistics
• W.W. Grainger, Inc.
Contracts awarded for the Custodial Products Category:
• MSC Industrial Supply
• Network Services Company
• Staples
• W.W. Grainger, Inc.
Contracts awarded for the Industrial Products Category:
• MSC Industrial Supply
• Noble Supply & Logistics
• W.W. Grainger, Inc.
• Saf-T-Gard International Inc
Contracts awarded for the Electrical Products Category:
• MSC Industrial Supply
• Graybar Electric Company
• WESCO Distribution
• General Supply and Services, Inc
Editorial: USPS Memorial Day
Filed under: Articles, postal, postal employees, postal news, stamps, usps
From birth dates to death dates when we think of Memorial Day most of us think about our military veterans who have given their lives in defense of America. Of equal importance is the Workers Memorial Day celebrated one month earlier. Today, I would ask that you also think about this day with high regard for all postal employees. Read more
Texas letter carrier gets prison and must pay $244,320 for theft of mail
Dallas, Texas letter carrier pleaded guilty to 86 Treasury checks from the mail at the Juanita Craft Station, with an intended loss of of $323,742.
The following is a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas:
DALLAS, Texas — At a sentencing hearing held yesterday afternoon, Tobian McRuffin, of Glenn Heights, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis to 37 months in prison, following his guilty plea in January 2011 to one count of theft of mail matter by a postal service employee, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Judge Solis also ordered that McRuffin pay $244,320 in restitution and surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on June 15, 2011.
McRuffin’s co-defendant, Roscoe Hill, aka “Peco,” of Dallas, pleaded guilty in January 2011 to one count of possessing stolen mail. He remains on bond; a sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to plea documents filed in the case, in April 2008, while he worked for the U.S. Postal Service as a letter carrier out of the Juanita Craft Postal Station in Dallas, McRuffin stole three U.S. Treasury checks from the mail. Also, in April 2008, Hill possessed eight U.S. Treasury checks, totaling more than $38,000, which he knew had been stolen from the U.S. mail.
According to testimony at yesterday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Solis held McRuffin responsible for stealing 86 Treasury checks from the mail at the Juanita Craft Station, with an intended loss of $323,742.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Service – Office of the Inspector General.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen P. Fahey was in charge of the prosecution.
Former Oklahoma Postmaster Gets Prison And Ordered To Pay USPS $643,604 For Embezzlement
Former Elgin, OK Postmaster must pay the U.S. Postal Service $643,604.49 and IRS $129,061.66 for a total of $771,666.15. The former Postmaster was sentenced to 37
months in federal prison for theft of public funds from the United States Postal Service and for filing a false tax return.
The following is a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma:
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – Today, JAMES E. DRAHEIM, 63, from Elgin, Oklahoma, was sentenced by United States District Judge Timothy D. DeGiusti to serve 37 months in federal prison for theft of public funds from the United States Postal Service and for filing a false tax return, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. In addition, Judge DeGiusti ordered Draheim to serve two years of supervised release following his prison term and pay restitution of $643,604.49 the Postal Service and $129,061.66 to the IRS.
Draheim was employed as the Postmaster in Elgin, Oklahoma, and from October 2005 through September 2009 used his position of trust to embezzle from the United States Postal Service.
Specifically, Draheim took money paid by postal customers for bulk mailings, failed to credit the customer’s account for the full amount of the check, and then embezzled the difference by purchasing money orders in his own name which he then used for his own personal benefit.
Draheim pled guilty on September 28, 2010, to theft of public funds and filing a false tax return for the 2008 tax year.
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General and the Criminal Investigative Division of the Internal Revenue Service.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Vicki Zemp Behenna.
OPM Memo: Recredit of Sick Leave for Re-employed FERS Retirees
The following is a Memo released by the Office Of Personnel Management (OPM)
Recredit of Sick Leave for Re-employed FERS Annuitants Who Retire Between October 28, 2009, and December 31, 2013
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management has been asked whether employees covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) who retire between October 28, 2009, and December 31, 2013, with 50 percent of their sick leave having been credited toward their FERS annuity computation, could have the remaining 50 percent of their sick leave recredited to their sick leave account if they return to Federal service as reemployed annuitants. The answer is yes. Agencies should recredit reemployed annuitants the 50 percent of sick leave that was not used in their FERS annuity computation. For employees who retire or die in service on or after January 1, 2014, all unused sick leave to the employees’ credit will be creditable for annuity computation purposes. Further, for FERS employees who retire on or after January 1, 2014, 100 percent of their sick leave will be used in the annuity computation, consequently, no sick leave will remain for recredit should the retirees later return to Federal service.
Agencies must take action to identify FERS employees who initially retired on or after October 28, 2009, and who have since returned to Federal service as reemployed annuitants, to ensure that the employees have received recredit of the 50 percent of sick leave that was not used in the computation of their annuities.
Background
Section 1901 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (Public Law 111-84, October 28, 2009) amended 5 U.S.C. 8415 to provide that employees covered by FERS who retire on an immediate annuity, or die while in active employment leaving a survivor or survivors, between October 28, 2009 (the date of enactment of the statute), and December 31, 2013, will receive credit for 50 percent of their unused sick leave towards their total creditable service for annuity computation purposes.
Additional Information
For additional information, please refer to Benefits Administration Letter Number 11- 102, Guidance on National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 Provisions on Sick Leave for FERS Retirees.
Agency Human Resources (HR) Directors may also contact their assigned OPM Human Capital Officers. Reemployed annuitants should contact their agency human resources or benefits offices for assistance.
From: Charles D. Grimes III
Acting Associate Director