"Since the start of the pandemic, the union tells the 'NewsHour,' nearly 200,000 of the roughly 650,000 Postal Service employees have had to quarantine at some point, with more than 90,000 positive cases."
Why the U.S. Postal Service is experiencing delays
A key part of the Biden administration's plan to distribute free COVID tests depends heavily on the United States ...
www.pbs.org
A compelling documentary about the USPS, “The Great Postal Heist," is now available for streaming and DVD at https://cinemalibrestudio.com/the-great-postal-heist/index.html
Over a decade in the making, the film couldn't be more timely.
Check out the trailer. https://vimeo.com/640176387
Another covid test kit sent via USPS Connect, a price category of Parcel Select.
The White House Fact Sheet says, "All orders in the continental United States will be sent through First Class Package Service."
Apparently something changed along the way.
Thank you to the @POTUS Administration and @USPS for this effective process to obtain self test for my family.
Place Your Order for Free At-Home COVID-19 Tests: https://special.usps.com/testkits
#OTD #OTDPostal Jan. 27, 2014: USPS OIG issues white paper on "Providing Non-Bank Financial Services for the Underserved." One in four U.S. households have needs that aren't being met by the traditional financial sector. The post office could help.
https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2015/rarc-wp-14-007_0.pdf
In what may be a first, the USPS is doing "fulfillment" work (packing & labeling) to prepare the covid tests for mailing. Is this a pilot for the USPS expanding into fulfillment services—an idea examined by the OIG in 2014 and 2015?
https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2015/ms-wp-14-003_0_0.pdf
https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2015/ft-wp-15-002_0.pdf
One more covid test kit delivered via USPS Connect. Apparently the bubble wrap and plastic bag make it difficult to put the package in smaller mailboxes and door slots. Still haven't seen a photo of a test kit delivered by something other than Connect.
Covid test kits have started arriving at USPS over the last few days. If you're waiting for yours, be on the look out for a package that looks like this in your mailbox. Small rectangular bubble wrapped item in a plastic bag with this shipping label. SHOULD fit in most mailboxes
#OTD #OTDPostal Jan. 26, 1802, Gideon Granger becomes PMG. He prioritized postal service in the West, offered cheaper rates for newspapers, sub-contracted out rural routes — and pushed a ban prohibiting African-Americans from carrying the mail.
https://todayincthistory.com/2019/01/26/january-26-the-provocative-postmaster-general/
In the film, The Great Postal Heist, Historian Gray Brechin underscores how by mandate the USPS must deliver to addresses (inner city, rural) that the "for-profit" delivery businesses won't, even when it isn’t profitable for the institution.
http://www.TheGreatPostalHeist.com
USPS Connect, a new product being used to deliver at least some of the government's covid tests, is a price category of Parcel Select. The discounted rate is probably about $2 per package (like PS Lightweight), and delivery can be as fast as 1 or 2 days.
https://www.prc.gov/docs/120/120190/Notice%20CP2022-22.pdf
Service Performance Update
Service Performance for First Class Mail has improved significantly since December 2020 but not much, if at all, since October 1, 2021, when the new, slower service standards went into effect. Scores have been well below the 95 percent target that the Postal Service told the PRC it would achieve upon implementation of the new standards.
The weekly performance scores are being submitted as evidence in Pennsylvania v. DeJoy. The most recent report is here. For more performance data, check out our dashboard.
Service Performance Update
Service Performance for First Class Mail has improved significantly since December 2020 but only slightly since October 1, 2021, when the new, slower service standards went into effect. Scores of 89-90 percent are well below the 95 percent target that the Postal Service told the PRC it would achieve upon implementation of the new standards.
The weekly performance scores are being submitted as evidence in Pennsylvania v. DeJoy. The most recent report is here. For more performance data, check out our dashboard.
The Year in Review
How the pandemic could lead to a big USPS price hike
Communities and Postal Workers United (CPWU) Winter 2021 Newsletter
The 2020 Mail Delays: Stats & Charts
Back to the Future: The USPS, PRC and Mailers revisit the meaning of PAEA
The Postal Service wants to slow down the mail, Congress says not so fast
“Save the Post Office” launches new Service Performance Dashboard
This week marks the 51st anniversary of the largest wildcat strike in U.S. labor history: The Great Postal Strike of 1970
What the USPS 10-year plan may have to say about future rate increases
Spring 2021 CPWU Newsletter
New dashboard on the PRC Advisory Opinion on the change in service standards
Mapping out the changes in USPS service standards
A talk with the founder of the “Save the Post Office” website
How the postal reform bill may help the Postal Service slow down the mail
Is ending air mail unfair? Testimony for the PRC’s Advisory Opinion on Changing Service Standards
Postal advocate testifies against reducing USPS service standards
Postal historian asks the PRC to return the Postal Service to a mission of service
Why the USPS proposal to reduce service standards will cause “undue discrimination”
Reply to the USPS: How the new service standards will cause geographic discrimination
Communities and Postal Workers United (CPWU) Summer Newsletter
The 2020 USPS Household Diary Study is out
A tour of the new USPS package sorting machine
Communities and Postal Workers United: Fall 2021 Newsletter
New book examines the attack on the people’s post office and the fight to defend it
Rachel Maddow on the potential demise of DeJoy
Postlandia’s 2022 Calendar of Post Offices and Places
“The Great Postal Heist” to be released on Jan. 25, 2022
First Class: The U.S. Postal Service, Democracy, and the Corporate Threat, the new book by historian Christopher Shaw, is hot off the presses. The book should have a profound impact on shaping the postal narrative.
Listen to interviews with Christopher Shaw on Wisconsin NPR here, WBAI's Leonard Lopate show here, and Sam Seder's Majority Report here. And check out the podcast of Chris talking with Ralph Nader in a City Lights event here. Learn more about the book here.
From the Foreword by Ralph Nader
“The preventable plight of our U.S. Postal Service is an important issue for all Americans. When President Donald J. Trump’s donor and henchman Louis DeJoy became postmaster general in 2020 and proceeded to dismantle the agency, millions of citizens participated in demonstrations that revealed a deep civic commitment to preserving the people’s post office. While DeJoy triggered a crisis that immediately threatened the presidential election process, attacks on the Postal Service have been an ongoing problem for decades. The anti-postal campaigns of corporate interests have remained a continuing source of frustration to those of us who have observed the Postal Service’s decline due to unimaginative management, a deck stacked to favor profit-driven entities such as FedEx and UPS, and unfair financial obligations imposed by Congress.” Read more.
First Class: The U.S. Postal Service, Democracy, and the Corporate Threat, the new book by historian Christopher Shaw, is hot off the presses. The book should have a profound impact on shaping the postal narrative.
Listen to interviews with Christopher Shaw on Wisconsin NPR here, WBAI's Leonard Lopate show here, and Sam Seder's Majority Report here. Learn more about the book here.
From the Foreword by Ralph Nader
“The preventable plight of our U.S. Postal Service is an important issue for all Americans. When President Donald J. Trump’s donor and henchman Louis DeJoy became postmaster general in 2020 and proceeded to dismantle the agency, millions of citizens participated in demonstrations that revealed a deep civic commitment to preserving the people’s post office. While DeJoy triggered a crisis that immediately threatened the presidential election process, attacks on the Postal Service have been an ongoing problem for decades. The anti-postal campaigns of corporate interests have remained a continuing source of frustration to those of us who have observed the Postal Service’s decline due to unimaginative management, a deck stacked to favor profit-driven entities such as FedEx and UPS, and unfair financial obligations imposed by Congress.” Read more.
“The Great Postal Heist” to be released on Jan. 25, 2022
Postlandia’s 2022 Calendar of Post Offices and Places
Why the USPS proposal to reduce service standards will cause “undue discrimination”
Postal historian asks the PRC to return the Postal Service to a mission of service
Postal advocate testifies against reducing USPS service standards
Stop girdling the Post Office
The Year in Review
How the pandemic could lead to a big USPS price hike
Communities and Postal Workers United (CPWU) Winter 2021 Newsletter
The 2020 Mail Delays: Stats & Charts
Back to the Future: The USPS, PRC and Mailers revisit the meaning of PAEA
The Postal Service wants to slow down the mail, Congress says not so fast
“Save the Post Office” launches new Service Performance Dashboard
This week marks the 51st anniversary of the largest wildcat strike in U.S. labor history: The Great Postal Strike of 1970
What the USPS 10-year plan may have to say about future rate increases
Spring 2021 CPWU Newsletter
New dashboard on the PRC Advisory Opinion on the change in service standards
Mapping out the changes in USPS service standards
A talk with the founder of the “Save the Post Office” website
How the postal reform bill may help the Postal Service slow down the mail
Is ending air mail unfair? Testimony for the PRC’s Advisory Opinion on Changing Service Standards
Postal advocate testifies against reducing USPS service standards
Postal historian asks the PRC to return the Postal Service to a mission of service
Why the USPS proposal to reduce service standards will cause “undue discrimination”
Reply to the USPS: How the new service standards will cause geographic discrimination
Communities and Postal Workers United (CPWU) Summer Newsletter
The 2020 USPS Household Diary Study is out
A tour of the new USPS package sorting machine
Communities and Postal Workers United: Fall 2021 Newsletter
New book examines the attack on the people’s post office and the fight to defend it
Rachel Maddow on the potential demise of DeJoy
Postlandia’s 2022 Calendar of Post Offices and Places
“The Great Postal Heist” to be released on Jan. 25, 2022
On this Day in Postal History
#OTD #OTDPostal Jan. 27, 2014: USPS OIG issues white paper on "Providing Non-Bank Financial Services for the Underserved." One in four U.S. households have needs that aren't being met by the traditional financial sector. The post office could help.
https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2015/rarc-wp-14-007_0.pdf
A New Agenda for Postal Reform
Posts by a postmaster: Articles by Mark Jamison
A New Agenda for Postal Reform
Posts by a postmaster: Articles by Mark Jamison
On this Day in Postal History
#OTD #OTDPostal Jan. 27, 2014: USPS OIG issues white paper on "Providing Non-Bank Financial Services for the Underserved." One in four U.S. households have needs that aren't being met by the traditional financial sector. The post office could help.
https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2015/rarc-wp-14-007_0.pdf