USPS has awarded contracts to five companies to develop a battery for an electric-powered light delivery vehicle. These vendors will use current vehicles as the base and convert them to electric power. Prototype vehicles from all five companies are scheduled to arrive in August. The Postal Service will spend the next year testing them in and around the Washington, DC, metropolitan area.

Vehicle technology continues to evolve, including the use of alternative fuels. In addition to battery power, USPS is evaluating a number of other fuels including compressed natural gas, propane, E -85, diesel and hydrogen fuel cell. There are plenty of options and finding the best solution will require careful analysis to make sure the best vehicle is selected.

Reducing energy use is one of the Postal Service’s major sustainability goals. Around the country, USPS is making excellent progress to reach that goal compared to a year ago. Fuel consumption for USPS-owned vehicles has decreased 3.7 percent, or 2.6 million gallons.

source: USPS

Union Challenges Existence of Postal Service Financial Crisis

Washington, DC – Underscoring the recklessness of the massive rate increase proposed by the United States Postal Service on July 6, American Postal Workers Union President William Burrus made clear on Friday that his Union does not believe the Service is currently in an unprecedented financial position. He made it clear that the Union will not back away from its contract demands during the current round of negotiations with the Postal Service, despite its supposed financial crisis. This furthers the case against the Postal Service request for a rate hike 10 times the rate of inflation.

“Mail volume is depressed and revenue is down, but we have faced similar circumstances before,” President Burrus said. “The history of the Postal Service is replete with forecasts of doom and gloom.” Click here to read or view President Burrus’ full statement.

A law passed in 2006 limits postal rate increases to the rate of inflation except when “extraordinary or exceptional” circumstances make a larger increase necessary for the Postal Service to continue operating “despite best practices of honest, efficient and economical management.” The Consumer Price Index has gone up less than 1 percent in the past year, the USPS is proposing rate increases of 10 times that rate. The Postal Service claims that its losses result from the “exigent circumstances” of the long-forecast recession and the long-term loss of mail volume to the Internet.

Also opposing the rate increase proposal is the Affordable Mail Alliance, an unprecedented coalition of more than 1,000 postal customers and trade associations representing the majority of the mail sent in the United States, who have joined together to strike down the rate hike. The Postal Service’s projected shortfalls are not the sole result of the recession or the increased use of the Internet, but the Service’s long-standing failure to control its costs. These chronic problems do not qualify as “exigent” circumstances under the law. Until the Postal Service deals with these long-term problems, any demands for above-inflation rate increases – in effect, a new tax on customers – is unwarranted and unproductive, and will likely drive away customers while exacerbating the Postal Service’s problems.

That is the central case put forward in multiple filings by the Affordable Mail Alliance with the Postal Regulatory Commission, the independent body that will decide early next month whether to allow the proposed rate hikes to take effect.

“President Burrus’ statements confirm that the Postal Service’s current condition is not the product of a sudden crisis,” said Jerry Cerasale, Affordable Mail Alliance spokesperson and Senior Vice President, Government Affairs of the Direct Marketing Association. “This is yet more evidence that a rate hike 10 times the rate of inflation is unnecessary and unproductive – for postal customers and the Postal Service itself. Such a rate increase would delay the cost controls and other reforms that are long overdue.”

He added that the Postal Service needs to do what most American businesses have been forced to do in the past few years: to make better and tougher decisions, offer services customers need, address workforce problems, and cut back on needlessly high spending.

More on the Affordable Mail Alliance

The Affordable Mail Alliance is an unprecedented coalition of postal customers who have come together to say “enough is enough” – no more postal rate hikes. 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. It is this cross-section of America that will suffer if USPS raises rates. For further information, please visit www.affordablemailalliance.org or contact Jessica McCreight at jmccreight@SKDKnick.com or 202 464 6900.

Washington, DC – The Affordable Mail Alliance – a growing coalition of 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 – filed comments urging the Postal Regulatory Commission to help rein in the USPS’s excessive costs by denying the proposed rate hike.

“The Post Office needs to reevaluate their approach,” said Jerry Cerasale, Affordable Mail Alliance Spokesperson and Senior Vice President of the Direct Marketing Association. “Instead of trying to keep things afloat with a giant tax on consumers, the USPS should focus on improving management and controlling costs to get out of this mess. To do otherwise is just bad business.”

This is the Alliance’s final legal step before the PRC announces their decision on October 4.

The comments also highlight the Postal Service’s flip-flop on the cause for their request. The USPS previously claimed that such a severe rate increase was needed to alleviate an immediate and unforeseen cash crisis. But at the public hearing held on August 10, a top official admitted that the “crisis” would not prevent them from operating in their current fashion for at least the next year. The Postal Service now claims that the rate increase is needed to prevent a longer-term profit slowdown over the next decade.

“Our comments make the same case that businesses and working families are making all over the country,” said Cerasale. “The Postal Service’s proposed rate hike is unreasonable, unhelpful, and unlawful, and the more than one thousand members of the Alliance are not going to let the Postal Service take advantage of its customers.”

The comments reiterate what the Alliance has argued all along – that the Postal Service has failed to show that it would suffer from its projected losses if it followed “best practices of honest, efficient and economical management,” and has failed to meet the “extraordinary or exceptional” circumstance test of the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. The increase thus should be rejected, especially at this time of economic uncertainty for America.

Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), a key author of the 2006 law, has supported the Alliance’s position. In her statement following the Postal Regulatory Commission hearings, Senator Collins said that the law being cited by the Post Office was intended for use in circumstances such as natural disasters and terrorist attacks. The Post Office’s “failure to sufficiently update its business model,” she said, was not sufficient for special consideration.

Formed in response to the US Postal Service’s July 6th announcement that it would seek to raise rates far beyond those currently allowed by law, the Affordable Mail Alliance grew from a small group of concerned USPS customers to a membership of over a thousand in less than two months. The Alliance has been gaining momentum in the wake of recent Postal Regulatory Commission Hearings, and this most recent action provides a strong argument to the PRC in advance of its coming decision on the issue.

Related link:  Affordable Mail Alliance Document Submitted to PRC

(HOUSTON) – Linda Taylor, 50, of Coldspring, Texas, has been arrested as a result of the return of a one-count indictment charging her with theft of U.S. Mail, United States Attorney Jose Angel Moreno announced today. 

Indicted by a Houston grand jury on Aug. 19, 2010, Taylor surrendered to agents with the United States Postal Service – Office of Inspector General (USPS-OIG) today. Following a hearing before United States Magistrate Judge John Froeschner, Taylor has been ordered released on a $5,000 bond.

The indictment  arose from an investigation conducted by USPS-OIG special agents into a complaint by a Coldspring resident residing along a route serviced by Taylor that an item she had placed as outgoing mail in her curbside mailbox for retrieval by aletter carrier had never been deliveredto the intended recipients. 

Taylor began her employment as a contractor for the USPS in May 2008. If convicted, Taylor faces a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine.

The case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Tammie Y. Moore.   

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence.
A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.

source: United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas

First of Four Unions Begin Negotiations

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Postal Service begins contract negotiations today with the largest of its four unions, the American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO (APWU).

The APWU represents employees who work as clerks, mechanics, vehicle drivers, custodians and some administrative positions. The current contract expires midnight, Nov. 20.

“We have worked successfully with our unions in the past to help transform the Postal Service and we hope to maintain this momentum during these negotiations,” said Anthony Vegliante, Chief Human Resources Officer and executive vice president. “Our goal is to negotiate a contract that’s fair to our customers, fair to our employees and meets our financial and operational needs.”

Three other unions represent most other postal employees. Employees represented by the National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO (NALC) deliver in metropolitan areas; National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (NRLCA) employees deliver primarily in rural and suburban areas; and, employees represented by the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, AFL-CIO (NPMHU) work in mail processing plants and Post Offices.

Union Employees    Contract Expiration
APWU 211,000        midnight, Nov. 20, 2010

NALC 207,000        midnight, Nov. 20, 2011

NRLCA 67,000 career   midnight, Nov. 20, 2010

48,000 non-career

NPMHU 49,000       midnight, Nov. 20, 2011

Contract negotiations for the NRLCA begin September 13. The NALC and NPMHU begin negotiations next year approximately 90-days prior to the contract expiration date.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

For additional background information on labor negotiations and the Postal Service’s workforce, please click on these links: Labor Negotiations and Workforce.

Smith kidnapped and assaulted a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier in November, 2005 while the carrier was on duty. Smith was convicted in December, 2009 after a jury trial.

The United States Postal Inspectors in Memphis, Tennessee conducted the investigation. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tony Arvin.

source:United States Attorney’s Office,Western District of Tennessee

HARRISBURG – Attorney General agents have filed criminal charges against a Westmoreland County business owner accused of misappropriating more than $45,000 from the United States Postal Service (USPS). The money was intended to pay for workers compensation insurance for his employees.

Attorney General Tom Corbett said that Frank Letterine, 49, 5021 Impala Drive, Murrysville, is the owner of Denny’s Trucking, a business that contracts with the Postal Service to transport mail.

Corbett explained that Postal Service contracts provide mail transport companies with money specifically to subsidize the purchase of workers compensation coverage for employees.

According to the criminal complaint, Letterine operated Denny’s Trucking without providing workers compensation coverage from April of 1999 to June of 2009.

Corbett said that during this 10-year period, the Postal Service provided Letterine with $45,479 for the purpose of obtaining workers compensation coverage.

According to the criminal complaint, in 2006 Letterine indicated that the cost for his workers compensation policy would increase by more than $600; and in 2007, by more than$1,000.

Corbett said that as a result, the postal service increased the amount they paid to Letterine for insurance, but he still allegedly did not purchase workers compensation coverage.

Letterine is charged 10 counts of failure to insure and one count of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received. Each charge is a third-degree felony carrying a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

Letterine was preliminarily arraigned before Westmoreland County Magisterial District Judge Charles R. Conway and released on $10,000 unsecured bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 14, 2010.

Letterine will be prosecuted in Westmoreland County by Senior Deputy Attorney General J. Scott Robinette of the Attorney General’s Insurance Fraud Section.

(A person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty.)

Pittsboro, NC (Vocus) August 28, 2010 – She was the only woman, as of 2010, who rose from a clerk in the Georgia Southern College Post Office to Deputy Postmaster General in the United States Postal Service. In an inspiring memoir, MS. DEPUTY POSTMASTER GENERAL, author Jackie A. Strange shares with readers her remarkable achievements and how trusted leadership, courage, and innovations impacted the postal service.

Under physical and mental duress, she achieved unprecedented records and saved billions of dollars for the postal service—the largest non-military job in the world with 800,000 employees and a $32 billion (in 1983 dollars) budget—through innovative programs. Because of her achievements, the Australian Post asked her to come to Australia to help hire women managers. The program was so successful that it spread throughout the Australian government.

In this notable memoir, readers will learn and be motivated by her firm principles – those that helped her weather the storms in life and reach her position. Upon her retirement, she received the highest honor, The Benjamin Franklin Award and $10,000 as the Postmaster General’s Award for Excellence. Furthermore, in an unprecedented move, all postal employees and labor leaders celebrated “Jackie A. Strange Day” on her retirement date.

A celebrated tribute of dedication, determination, and hard work, MS. DEPUTY POSTMASTER GENERAL appeals to a wide audience—inspiring managers and employees, business persons, the reading public and those interested in reaching the apex of one’s career. For more information on this book, log on to Xlibris.com.

MS. DEPUTY POSTMASTER GENERAL * by Jackie A. Strange
How Trusted Leadership, Courage, & Innovations Impacted The Postal Service
Publication Date: August 25, 2010
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For more information on self-publishing or marketing with Xlibris, visit www.Xlibris.com . To receive a free publishing guide, please call (888) 795-4274

Formed in response to the US Postal Service’s July 6th announcement that it would seek to raise rates far beyond those currently allowed by law, the Affordable Mail Alliance has been steadily picking up new members since its inception. Growing from a handful of organizations, these members range from traditional powerhouses like the American Forest and Paper Association to non-profit organizations like the Disabled American Veterans to small local publications like Oklahoma’s Countywide News.

“We are proud of the alliance we have built-over a thousand groups, large and small, from around the country, who have joined together on this issue,”said Tony Conway, Affordable Mail Alliance Spokesperson and Executive Director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers.

The Alliance gained members following recent Postal Regulatory Commission hearings during which the Post Office admitted that it is not facing an immediate cash crisis, as it had previously claimed. The alleged crisis, which the Post Office said would require a severe price increase at ten times the rate currently permissible by law, was contradicted by their own leadership during the hearings. The Post Office now claims that the rate increase is needed to prevent a longer-term profit slowdown over the next decade.

The coalition comprising the Affordable Mail Alliance has argued that emergency provisions included in the postal laws do not apply to the Post Office’s current situation, and that USPS should seek to take more substantial steps within its own organization before raising prices for the millions of consumers the Alliance represents.

Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), a key author of the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, agreed that the proposed increase was unwarranted. In her official comments to the Postal Regulatory Commission, Senator Collins said that the law’s ‘extraordinary or exceptional circumstances’ test has not been met by the USPS, “the provision was not intended to be used under the current circumstances,”but rather in cases such as natural disasters and terrorist attacks. The Post Office’s “failure to sufficiently update its business model,”she said, was not sufficient for special consideration.

The one thousand groups that have now signed on to the Affordable Mail Alliance, based in all regions of the country, provide a picture of broad-based discontent with the Post Office’s proposal.

“There is a reason that a thousand non-profits, local newspapers, successful companies and small businesses from across the country have joined the Affordable Mail Alliance to say enough is enough. We’re tired of being asked to foot the bill for the USPS’s failure to control costs,”said Conway. “The Post Office’s proposed rate hike hurts mail customers and it’s just bad business.”

Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Keith L. Bennett, Special Agent in Charge of the Cincinnati Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); and Elizabeth A. Farcht, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General, Eastern Area Field Office, (USPS-OIG) announced the pleas entered before U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson.

Bassak, 52, of Akron, pleaded guilty to one count of misprision of a felony, or withholding information on a crime. He entered a plea on behalf of his company to one count of bribery of a public official. Bassak faces a sentence of up to three years imprisonment, a fine of up to $250,000 and up to one year of supervised release. The company faces a maximum penalty of at least one and up to five years probation and a possible $500,000 fine.

According to a statement of facts read during the plea hearings, special agents of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General interviewed Bassak in June 2009. Bassak said Postal Service contracting officer Ashvin Shah had solicited bribes from him in return for awarding future Postal Service construction contracts to Meccon Inc. Bassak paid Shah approximately $100,000 over four years.

Bassak is the third company owner to plead guilty in connection with the scheme. Jeffrey G. Baker, of Columbia Station, owner of the Cleveland based Margus Company, pleaded guilty in January. He was sentenced to two years probation and fined $10,000. Michael Murray and his company, the Three R Construction Company of Cincinnati, pleaded guilty in April 2010. Sentencing for Murray and Three R is scheduled for September 3.

Shah committed suicide at his Westerville home in June 2009.

Stewart commended the cooperative investigation by FBI and Postal Service Inspector General special agents, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Dale E. Williams Jr., who is prosecuting the case.