Postal Service provides an implementation update on the S&DC plan
A couple of weeks ago, the Postal Service shared a presentation with the management associations and unions showing the implementation status of the Sorting & Delivery Center plan as of May 4, 2023. According to the presentation, 18 S&DCs will be launched in June and September of this year. With ... Read More
The Post Office Can Bring People-Centered Public Banking to Every ZIP Code
Inequality.org: The need for a public banking option is urgent. Nearly 10 million households, a disproportionate number of whom are people of color, are unbanked or underbanked in the United States. Unbanked or underbanked households must pay expensive fees for non-bank financial services to access their own money for paying bills, cashing ... Read More
Postal Service creates a dashboard on post office suspensions, but it’s not for the public
The USPS OIG has released a report about the Postal Service’s handling of post office suspensions, and in particular the problem of suspensions that don’t get resolved within a reasonable period of time. Among the IG’s findings is that the system used for tracking suspensions has “data reliability issues.” To ... Read More
Postal Service announces plans to remove & relocate processing equipment
The Postal Service has informed the unions that it’s implementing a plan “to remove and/or relocate an undefined number” of sorting machines and other types of mail process equipment, starting in August 2023 and continuing into fiscal year 2024. The Postal Service is asking for volunteer maintenance personnel to perform ... Read More
DeJoy says USPS regulator’s network consolidation probe puts financial targets in ‘jeopardy’
Federal News Network: Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is telling lawmakers that the Postal Service, facing larger financial losses than expected this year, can still achieve its long-term financial goals — if its regulator and Congress don’t interfere with plans to overhaul its delivery network. “We need to move, and we ... Read More
PMG DeJoy trashes PRC at House hearing, says it “actively participated in the destruction” of the Postal Service
At today’s hearing of the Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce, Congresswoman Summer Lee (PA-12) asked the Postmaster General some excellent questions about the Postal Service’s plan to consolidate carriers into Sorting and Delivery Centers. Lee observed that the plan “will certainly have major effects on local communities,” ... Read More
Mailers defend the PRC’s public inquiry into Delivering for America
On April 20, the Postal Regulatory Commission opened a Public Inquiry docket to examine the Postal Service’s Delivering for America plan, particularly the initiative to relocate carriers from post offices to large Sorting & Delivery Centers. On May 5, the Postal Service filed a motion arguing that the PRC should ... Read More
The USPS is challenging the PRC’s authority to open a public inquiry on the DFA plan
The Postal Service has just filed a motion with the Postal Regulatory Commission challenging the Commission’s authority to open a public inquiry docket on the Delivering for America plan. “The Postal Service … respectfully requests that the Commission reconsider and withdraw Order No. 6488 [which opened the docket], as it ... Read More
A Thousand Post Office Suspensions in Review
By Steve Hutkins In February 2022 the Postal Regulatory Commission opened a Public Inquiry docket to address the issue of post offices that have been under emergency suspension for an extended period of time without being resolved by reopening them or closing them permanently. Such suspensions become de facto discontinuances ... Read More
Two-Thirds of Rural Mail Carriers Are Being Hit With A Massive Pay Cut Calculated By An Algorithm
Aaron Gordon, Vice: “It’s crazy to me,” a rural carrier in Maryland who asked to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation told Motherboard. His annual salary was slashed by $9,000 and he has to work an extra day for every two-week pay period. “I’ll be working more and making less all ... Read More
The bank crisis is the latest argument to expand Postal Service banking
APWU President Mark Dimondstein: The recent bank crisis set off by the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank has exposed a reality about how U.S. banking really works. The system’s very existence — for example, insuring deposits, loan guarantees and setting interest rates — depends entirely on the federal government. Since ... Read More
PRC Initiates Public Inquiry Proceeding to Gather Information on Changes to the Postal Network
PRC Press Release: The Postal Regulatory Commission today established Public Inquiry Docket No. PI2023-4 (PI2023-4) to provide a forum to gather information, provide transparency, and learn more about the Postal Service’s Delivering for America strategic initiatives that may have a significant impact on the postal community. In the PI2023-4 docket, the ... Read More
GAO says Action Needed to Improve Credibility of USPS Cost Assumptions for Next Generation Delivery Vehicles
GAO: The United States Postal Service’s (USPS) cost estimate for acquiring the next generation delivery vehicle followed most leading practices for a comprehensive, well documented, and accurate estimate. However, USPS did not fully use practices related to credibility from GAO’s Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide, such as including a sensitivity ... Read More
APWU to hold Post Office rally on May 1 in Spokane WA
Save Our Postal Workers is holding a rally at the Riverside Station Post Office, 904 W Riverside Ave., Spokane, WA 99204 May 01, 2023 • 11:30am If you or anyone you know has had a delay in mail services, come rally and tell de joy what you think!! Join the ... Read More
U.S. Postal Service squeezes the free press
Seattle Times: The U.S. Postal Service is increasing rates again, and it’s targeting newspapers and other periodicals for extra-high rates. It’s outrageous that the Postal Service, which was created in part to support the free press, is helping kill it. The Postal Service has proposed increasing rates across the board, pending ... Read More
PRC report on the feasibility of restoring service standards of 2012 and 2021
As part of the 2022 Appropriations Act, Congress directed the Postal Regulatory Commission “to analyze the feasibility of restoring service standards for market-dominant products that were in effect on July 1, 2012, including an examination of the resources and structural and operational changes needed, and the impacts on market growth ... Read More
Postal workers to rally at USPS Governors’ meeting on May 9
Postal workers will hold a rally on Tuesday, May 9th, 11 am – 5 pm, at USPS Headquarters, 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Washington, DC 20260. Workers will protest consolidations, mail delays, short staffing, office closures and more ... Read More
GAO: Electric Vehicle Infrastructure: USPS Should Plan for Potential Workplace Charging
GAO: The United States Postal Service’s (USPS) facilities, such as post offices, could potentially provide the public and postal employees with electric vehicle chargers. For example, publicly-accessible chargers could serve community members without a charger at their home. Additionally, five of the 13 stakeholders GAO interviewed said employees would most ... Read More
Beacon Post Office To Stay Open – BUT Carriers Being Re-Routed To Newburgh To Pick Up Mail
A little Beacon Blog: The Beacon Post Office is not closing – as of now – despite rumors and two local publications misunderstanding the information (WRRV and ALBB) and who have both issued corrections. However, with the flurry of articles concerning the posts offices in the Mid Hudson area that ... Read More
EVs and S&DCs: USPS says you can’t have one without the other
The Postal Service is using the very popular plan to buy electric vehicles to justify its very unpopular plan to relocate carriers to Sorting & Delivery Centers. In press releases, news articles, and presentations to business mailers, the two plans are being yoked together, as if you can’t have one ... Read More
