Reducing hours at post offices: A history of transparency problems

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POStPlan, the Postal Service’s plan to reduce hours at 13,000 post offices, was not invented out of thin air.  The Postal Service has been reducing hours at post offices for many years.  But try getting any information from the Postal Service about the scope or effects of those reductions. In 2004, the GAO issued a report about efforts to optimize … Read More

The Hail Mary is an incomplete: The PRC denies the APWU motion to stop the change in service standards

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The Postal Regulatory Commission has denied the APWU’s motion for an emergency order directing the Postal Service not to implement its proposed changes in service standards on July 2.  Next week, then, overnight delivery will end for Inter-SCF mail (that's mail that needs to travel from between processing facilities).  The PRC press release is here, and the order is here. … Read More

Thousands of postmasters head for the exit, others play musical chairs

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Some preliminary numbers are circulating on how the Special Incentive Offers are going.  About 45,000 mail handlers were offered $15,000 to retire, and as of June 22, the original deadline, 2,800 had decided to accept (2,500 optional and 260 VER).   The response is somewhat less than projections based on previous offers.  It’s a different story for postmasters, however, and … Read More

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  Preserving the People's Post Office: A Postmaster's View    

The union throws the Commission a Hail Mary on the change in service standards

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Sometime this week, the Postal Regulatory Commission will issue a ruling on the APWU’s Motion for an Emergency Order, which seeks to prevent the Postal Service from implementing a change in service standards for First Class mail on July 1. If the PRC does not issue an order to stop the Postal Service, overnight delivery will come to an end for Inter-SCF … Read More

Opportunity knocks: The Postal Service invites postmasters to replace themselves

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The Postal Service has notified postmasters considering retirement that they’re welcome to apply for a job as a Postmaster Relief (PMR).  It’s “an opportunity to continue to serve postal customers” — and an opportunity to earn $11.76 an hour. Who could pass up an opportunity like that?  Who wouldn’t want to give up a good-paying full-time job, transition into retirement a … Read More

Turning up the heat: The DC Hunger Strike

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ENDORSE THE HUNGER STRIKE HERE Endorsement List & Flyer On June 25th, a band of protestors will travel to Washington DC to stage a four-day hunger strike calling attention to the Postal Service’s plans to reduce service and cut jobs.  That’s just days before the Postal Service implements the change in service standards that will end overnight delivery for about … Read More

Busy week at the PRC: The union complains, the Postal Service shares numbers, and the senator sends a letter

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It was a busy week at the Postal Regulatory Commission.  On Wednesday and Thursday, the Commission heard cross-examination from witnesses challenging the Postal Service’s Network Rationalization plan to close over 200 processing plants.  The APWU has also filed a complaint about the plan as well as a motion for an emergency order seeking to prevent the Postal Service from implementing the service … Read More

Hunger strike

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June 25th – June 28th Washington, DC,  and across the USA  

Historic Post Offices: An Inventory of the Legacy

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Last week the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the Historic Post Office Building to its annual list of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. The historic post office faces an “uncertain future,” observes the National Trust in its press release.  The Postal Service has been closing post offices at an unprecedented pace, announcing one downsizing plan after another, and … Read More

Free the Post Office

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BY MARK JAMISON The United States Postal Service has abandoned the American people.  At the direction of its Board of Governors and through the efforts of its primary officer, the Postmaster General, it has abandoned its mission of service and its basic responsibilities to the citizens of this country. In place of an uplifting vision of binding the nation together, … Read More

The National Trust joins the fight to save the post office

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[view:slideshow=panel_pane_1]   THE NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION has named the Historic Post Office Building to its annual list of the 11 most endangered places.  The Trust has a story, a slideshow, a feature on the post office in Geneva, Illinois, and a press release (which has the most details).  The Chicago Tribune also has a story, and the Associated Press has another. … Read More

The PRC wants your opinion on POStPlan, but does the Postal Service want the PRC’s?

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Yesterday the Postal Regulatory Commission put out a press release announcing that it has established the docket (N2012-2) for its Advisory Opinion on POStPlan, the Postal Service’s plan to cut hours at 13,000 post offices. The Chairman of the PRC, Ruth Goldway, encourages postal customers “to become familiar with the new proposal and to let the Commission know of their … Read More

POStPlan: Estimating post office revenues

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The Postal Service does not give out much information about the revenues post offices bring in, but it has provided enough data to enable one to make estimates.  So we’ve done a little figuring and made a table with estimated revenues for FY 2011 for all 17,700 post offices on the POStPlan list. You can view a spreadsheet here (good for an overview) … Read More