PRESS RELEASE April 29, 2013 – New York City The Postal Service is under siege — New York City post offices put up for sale, Postmaster Donahoe’s failed attempt to cutback mail delivery to five days, and the rush to close mail processing plants throughout the nation. These cutbacks in services have the biggest impact on people who most depend … Read More
What’s up in the Heights? The Postal Service relocates a post office, forgets to tell anyone
Over the past few weeks, there have been several meetings in New York City about the Postal Service’s plans to close historic post offices and move retail services to smaller spaces. Not many people attended the first of them — about the Bronx General Post Office — because it was held in the morning and with little advance notice. … Read More
Postal Vision 2020 looks at the future of “postal services” and sees privatization
The third annual Postal Vision 2020 conference will take place this week in Washington, DC. The conference brings together speakers from a variety of backgrounds for what the Postal Vision website describes as a “provocative, candid conversation about what Americans should have in the way of ‘postal services’ in 2020 and beyond and who should provide them.” More about postal privatization: … Read More
Twenty Minutes at the PRC: Postal workers protest the plant consolidations
Last week postal workers took the fight to stop the consolidation of mail processing plants to the nation’s capital. On Wednesday, April 10, employees representing several communities and APWU locals traveled to Washington, DC, to meet with their elected officials and protest the Postal Service’s decision to accelerate the consolidation of 55 mail processing plants that had been scheduled for 2014. … Read More
Binding the nation together: Berkeley and the Bronx join forces to save the post office
For our Founding Fathers, post offices and post roads played an essential role in “binding our nation together.” Congress reaffirmed that vision when it passed the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970: “The Postal Service shall have as its basic function the obligation to provide postal services to bind the Nation together.” The leaders of the Postal Service appear to have … Read More
USPS BOG backs off five-day delivery, may seek exigent rate increase
The USPS Board of Governors announced today that it has decided not to go forward with the plan to end Saturday delivery on August 5, 2013. The press release is here. The Board acknowledged that the Continuing Resolution passed recently by Congress means that the Postal Service must continue delivering the mail six days a week. Apparently a recent analysis from … Read More
Mid-Hudson APWU Local files a Complaint with the PRC to halt the plant consolidations
The Mid-Hudson Local of the APWU filed a Complaint today with the Postal Regulatory Commission requesting that the Commission order the Postal Service not to proceed with the consolidation of 55 mail processing plants that were previously scheduled for 2014. The Mid-Hudson P&D in Newburgh, New York, is one of those plants. The Complaint's full title summarizes its theme: "Complaint … Read More
The Postmaster General clears up some mixed messages
Postmaster General Donahoe gave one of his State of the Postal Service talks earlier this week. The PMG wanted clear up what he characterized as “mixed messages." Apparently there are folks out there — the media, the unions, postal workers, someone — saying things that are incorrect and misinformed. Fortunately, the PMG was ready and willing to straighten out his … Read More
We just want our mail: A maximum degree of no postal services in Francitas
Francitas is a small town in south Texas. It’s had a post office since 1911, but no longer. The Postal Service isn’t interested in providing Francitas with a post office anymore, nor with much else either. Since 2011, the town has been hit with two final determinations to close the post office, had the hours reduced to two a day … Read More
Privatizing the post office: The NAPA/Pitney Bowes study on reinventing the retail network
About three weeks from now, postal insiders and innovative outsiders will convene in Washington DC for the PostalVision 2020/3.0 conference to discuss the future of the Postal Service. Called “Positioning America for the New Millennium,” the event will focus on “a constructive approach to re-inventing today’s broken Postal Service model for future generations.” Among the headliners speaking at the event … Read More
