From the San Jose Mercury News: "Residents are pushing back against a proposal to close Santa Clara's historic downtown post office — part of the U.S. Postal Service's effort to cut costs — and move services to a building 2 miles away. "In advance of what could be a testy meeting between residents and postal officials Monday evening, the Franklin … Read More
Escondido fighting post office closure, meeting gets rowdy
Residents of Escondido, California, are fighting the proposed closure of their post office, and apparently things got a little rowdy at a meeting with postal officials last week. The lease expired recently on the building, and the Postal Service wants to use this as an opportunity to close the office to save some money. Escondido Mayor Sam Abed recently wrote … Read More
Postal Service rejects FOIA request on post office details
The post office in Lecompton, Kansas, is on the POStPlan list, and it had its hours reduced to four a day. Two mail routes that had been working out of the office were also transferred to another facility. The mayor filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for information about the revenues and expenses at the post office, … Read More
Lady Justice turns a blind eye: The PRC dismisses the Freistatt appeal as “untimely”
BY MARK JAMISON “The government of the United States has been emphatically termed a government of laws, and not of men. It will certainly cease to deserve this high appellation if the laws furnish no remedy for the violation of a vested legal right.” — John Marshall “The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.” — … Read More
A few modest proposals concerning the rules on post office closures and appeals
BY MARK JAMISON The Postal Regulatory Commission recently dismissed two appeals on post office closings — Freistatt, Missouri, and the Franklin Station in Somerset County, New Jersey. Both appeals were dismissed because they were filed late – in both cases, less than a week after the deadline. There’s no question that the PRC has rules of procedure that it must … Read More
Shades of deception: The PMG testifies to the Senate
BY MARK JAMISON The Senate held another hearing on the Postal Service on Thursday, September 19. The hearing was titled: “Outside the Box: Reforming and Renewing the Postal Service, Part I – Maintaining Services, Reducing Costs and Increasing Revenue Through Innovation and Modernization.” Part II, scheduled for today, Thursday, September 26, promises to address workforce issues. The first hearing didn’t … Read More
USPS August financial statement: Without RHBF prefunding, YTD $182 million profit
The Postal Service’s August financial report came out yesterday. With just one month left in the fiscal year, it looks as though 2013 will mark a turnaround in the fiscal condition of the Postal Service. Revenues are up 1.4 percent over the same period last year (i.e., eleven months, October – August), and they are 2 percent better than expected … Read More
Postmaster General pledges no post office closures during postal reform but closes post offices anyway
On September 19, Postmaster General Donahoe testified to the Senate Homeland Security Committee about the state of the Postal Service and the dire need for legislation. During his testimony, the PMG made a pledge not to close post offices or processing plants while Congress debated postal reform. It’s not a pledge the PMG is likely to keep. In fact, he … Read More
What we have here is a failure to communicate: Learning from Jekyll Island
BY MARK JAMISON On September 12, we reported this story on Jekyll Island, Georgia, where the Postal Service apparently attempted to end delivery service for the island’s residents and businesses in exchange for maintaining a post office. The island is owned by the state and administered by the Jekyll Island Authority. The attorney for JIA in charge of negotiations with … Read More
Opponents of Bronx Post Office Closure to Rally and Possibly Sue
From DNAInfo New York: "The campaign to stop the sale of the historic Bronx General Post Office is moving to the streets and the courts, advocates say, after federal regulators rejected an appeal of the proposed sale of the building. "On Saturday, local residents, postal workers and allies from as far away as California will meet at Lincoln Hospital and then march … Read More
Businessweek: Saving the U.S. Postal Service’s New Deal Masterpieces
Businessweek's Devin Leonard has a story about the sale of historic post offices, like the Bronx GPO. It begins like this: "Walking into New York’s stately General Post Office in the Bronx, the first thing you notice are the murals. In 1938 the Roosevelt administration commissioned artist Ben Shahn to paint the walls of the cavernous lobby with 13 larger-than-life … Read More
“Makes no sense at all”: Ewa Beach Post Office headed for closure
The Postal Service has announced plans to close the Ewa Station post office on Renton Road in Ewa Beach, West Oahu, Hawaii. In its “proposal to close,” the Postal Service gives two reasons: There are alternate sites within a short radius, and “over the past several years, this office has experienced low or declining revenue and/or volume.” It should come as … Read More
Postal Service closes Stamford CT post office: A “relocation” with no new location
The Postal Service is closing the historic 1916 post office in Stamford, Connecticut, on Friday — without ever having conducted a discontinuance study. That’s because the Postal Service classified the closing as a “relocation” rather than a “discontinuance.” Relocation decisions are covered by a different set of postal regulations, which are much less stringent than the regulations for closures, and … Read More
Princeton’s Palmer Square post office goes on the market
From Pinceton's Town Topics: "It’s official: The building that has housed the Princeton post office on Palmer Square since 1934 is for sale. A sign advertising the availability of the 11,500-square-foot building on the green was scheduled to be posted on Tuesday. Numerous entities have shown interest in the prized piece of real estate. Among the bidders for the … Read More
Democracy rests finally upon us: Saving the Bronx General Post Office
On Saturday, September 21, there will be “Day of Action to Save the Post Office” in the Bronx, New York. The event begins with an “Emergency Meeting to Save the Post Office” at 11:00 a.m. at the Lincoln Hospital Auditorium, 234 East 149th Street. Then at 12:30 there will be a march to the Bronx General Post Office for a “Community … Read More
Going Postal: The husband of US Senator Dianne Feinstein has been selling post offices to his friends, cheap
The East Bay Express is running an article today that's an slightly edited version of the first chapter of Peter Byrne's "Going Postal: The husband of US Senator Dianne Feinstein has been selling post offices to his friends, cheap." Byrne's year-long investigation uncovered evidence of multiple conflicts of interest and problems with post office sales supervised by Blum's company, including: • CBRE … Read More
