A couple of days ago, residents of Vermont — and apparently other states across the country as well — received a letter from the Postal Service requesting that they convert from mailboxes at the side of their door to a mailbox along the road. The letter cites the advantages of curbline delivery — the postman doesn't have to deal with … Read More
The Postal Service shares some lists: Closures, Suspensions, VPOs, CPUs, and Retail Channels
Yesterday the Postal Service provided the Postal Regulatory Commission with some lists and other material for the annual compliance report. They include the post offices that were closed and suspended during fiscal year 2012 (October 1, 2011 to September 30, 2012), as well as information about retail revenue sources and Contract Postal Units (CPUs) and Village Post Offices (VPOs). You … Read More
Killing the Post Office Softly: POStPlan implementation almost halfway done
The Postal Service has already held over 5,400 community meetings for POStPlan, and it has scheduled another 860 for the rest of January and the first week of February. Within a few weeks, some 6,340 post offices will see their hours reduced to six, four, even two hours a day. That’s nearly half of the 13,000 post offices on the … Read More
At what price profit? The battle for the soul of the Postal Service
BY MARK JAMISON The new year has begun, and the country is still waiting for Congress to address the problems facing the Postal Service. In the meantime, the Postmaster General blames the crisis on congressional inaction and the diversion of first class mail to the Internet. His solution is to cut services to the public, eliminate jobs, and dismantle the infrastructure … Read More
Murderous Reform: A Plan to Privatize Postal Profits at Public Expense
BY GRAY BRECHIN The National Academy of Public Administration has released a “Work-in-Progress” report entitled “Restructuring the U.S. Postal System: The Case for a Hybrid Public-Private Postal System.” The Academy is now embarking on a study of this proposal, which would privatize a large portion of the country’s postal system. The Academy’s study is billed as an “Independent Review of a … Read More
Constructively closed: The emergency suspensions continue
The Postal Service continues to close post offices by emergency suspension over problems renegotiating leases. Many of the problems are caused by the Postal Service. A suspension is an easy way to close a post office — it avoids a lengthy discontinuance process and the possibility of an appeal to the Postal Regulatory Commission, and it makes it look like the closure … Read More
How the Postal Service began prefunding retiree health care and fell into a deep hole
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has just issued a new report (GAO-13-112) on the Postal Service’s retiree heath care fund. It’s called “Status, Financial Outlook, and Alternative Approaches to Fund Retiree Health Benefits.” As the title suggests, the report is about the current condition of the Retiree Health Benefits Fund (RHBF), projections about the Postal Service’s health care liability in … Read More
Sources on the Retiree Health Care Fund
GAO Report: "Transformation Challenges Present Significant Risks" (April 4, 2001) GAO Report: "Moving Forward on Financial and Transformation Challenges" (May 13, 2002) GAO Report: "Review of the Office of Personnel Management’s Analysis of the United States Postal Service’s Funding of Civil Service Retirement System Costs" (Jan. 30, 2003) "Comments of the EMA Foundation Institute for Postal Studies" (Feb. 12, 2003) CRS … Read More
