“The Great Postal Heist” to be released on Jan. 25, 2022
It is broadly known that current Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has significant conflicts of interest due to his and his family’s investments in a number of companies closely tied to the U.S. Postal Service. Established by the U.S. Constitution, the once-venerated agency has been systematically dismantled and privatized by lobbyists and politicians ... Read More
Postlandia’s 2022 Calendar of Post Offices and Places
Evan Kalish has photographed more than 10,000 post offices all across America. Back for its sixth year, the 2022 “Postlandia Calendar of Post Offices and Places” celebrates a dozen new photogenic and historic post offices from around the United States. This year’s selections include one-of-a-kind post offices in California, New ... Read More
Rachel Maddow on the potential demise of DeJoy
On her show on Nov. 19, Rachel Maddow focused on President Biden’s changes to the USPS Board of Governors “that apparently are finally going to clear the way to getting rid of that guy,” Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. She also talked with Illinois Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi about his hope that ... Read More
New book examines the attack on the people’s post office and the fight to defend it
First Class: The U.S. Postal Service, Democracy, and the Corporate Threat, the new book by historian Christopher Shaw, is hot off the presses. Shaw’s examination of the essential role of the Post Office in American society should have a profound impact on shaping the postal narrative and the direction of ... Read More
Communities and Postal Workers United: Fall 2021 Newsletter
The Fall 2021 newsletter from Communities and Postal Workers United has articles calling on the 21 Attorneys General who oppose slowing down the mail to file for an injunction; the APWU rally to “Dump DeJoy, Bounce Bloom” on Sept. 23; Chicago letter carriers stand against late start times and delivery ... Read More
A tour of the new USPS package sorting machine
BY TIM BOND As part of its Delivering for America plan, the Postal Service has promised to “procure and deploy more than 185 new package sorters.” This statement has remained somewhat vague in the messaging materials, but the Postal Service recently invited the media to the Seattle Processing & Distribution ... Read More
The 2020 USPS Household Diary Study is out
The new Household Diary Study is out. From the Executive Summary: “The Household Diary Study survey, fielded continuously since 1987, aims to collect information on household use of the mail and how that use changes over time. The survey collects household information on demographics, lifestyle, attitudes toward mail and advertising, ... Read More
Communities and Postal Workers United (CPWU) Summer Newsletter
The Summer 2021 newsletter from Communities and Postal Workers United (CPWU) focuses on the Postal Service’s plans to close 18 mail processing plants in November and the fight to stop these consolidations. Read the newsletter ... Read More
Reply to the USPS: How the new service standards will cause geographic discrimination
By Steve Hutkins The Postal Service’s plan to reduce service standards is now being reviewed by the Postal Regulatory Commission for an Advisory Opinion. On Friday, June 25, the Postal Service and several of the intervenors in the case submitted their Reply Briefs. (You can find the briefs and replies ... Read More
Why the USPS proposal to reduce service standards will cause “undue discrimination”
By Steve Hutkins The Postal Service’s plan to reduce service standards is now being reviewed by the Postal Regulatory Commission for an Advisory Opinion. On Monday, June 21, the Postal Service and several of the intervenors in the case submitted their briefs and statements of position. You can find the ... Read More
Postal historian asks the PRC to return the Postal Service to a mission of service
Editor’s note: Philip F. Rubio is Professor of History, at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and the author of two books about the Postal Service, There’s Always Work at the Post Office: African American Postal Workers and the Fight for Jobs, Justice, and Equality and Undelivered: From the ... Read More
Postal advocate testifies against reducing USPS service standards
By Douglas Carlson Editor’s note: The Postal Service’s plan to reduce service standards is now being reviewed by the Postal Regulatory Commission for an Advisory Opinion. The Postal Service presented five witnesses to make its case. Last week, four witnesses submitted rebuttal testimony. Below is the rebuttal testimony of long-time ... Read More
Is ending air mail unfair? Testimony for the PRC’s Advisory Opinion on Changing Service Standards
Steve Hutkins The Postal Service ended Airmail as a separate class of U.S. mail on May 1, 1977, almost sixty years after it had been established. By 1974 the Postal Service was using airplanes to transport nearly 30 percent of First Class mail— over 15 billion pieces — and there ... Read More
How the postal reform bill may help the Postal Service slow down the mail
Steve Hutkins In August 1970, Title 39, aka the Postal Reorganization Act, created the Postal Service. The first section, 39 U.S. Code § 101, is entitled “Postal Policy.” It’s just over 400 words long, but it is probably the most frequently quoted passage in the history of postal legislation. It’s ... Read More
A talk with the founder of the “Save the Post Office” website
The administrator and founder of the “Save the Post Office” website, Steve Hutkins, joins Bob Levi on NAPS Chat to discuss the website’s purpose and impact. Bob and Steve also talk about the Postal Service’s on-time performance problems and the plan to downgrade service standards, now being reviewed by the ... Read More
Mapping out the changes in USPS service standards
By Steve Hutkins The Postal Service has requested an Advisory Opinion from the Postal Regulatory Commission concerning its plan to relax service standards on First Class mail and Periodicals. Much of the mail that is now expected to be delivered in 2 days would shift to a 3-day standard, and ... Read More
New dashboard on the PRC Advisory Opinion on the change in service standards
The Postal Service has requested an Advisory Opinion from the Postal Regulatory Commission concerning its plan to relax service standards on First Class mail and Periodicals. We started a new website page that provides easy access to the PRC’s docket (N2021-1), as well as some charts, tables, and blog posts ... Read More
Spring 2021 CPWU Newsletter
The Spring 2021 Newsletter from Communities and Postal Workers United (CPWU) has articles about Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s ten-year plan, ironically named “Delivering for America”; the “People’s Postal Agenda” discussed at the online conference put on by the Grand Alliance to Save the Public Postal Service; Charlotte postal workers protesting ... Read More
What the USPS 10-year plan may have to say about future rate increases
The mailers were probably disappointed that the Postal Service’s new 10-year plan released yesterday, “Delivering for America,” did not reveal how big of a rate increase the Postal Service intends to make using the new authority it was granted by the Postal Regulatory Commission. While they wait in suspense, here’s ... Read More
This week marks the 51st anniversary of the largest wildcat strike in U.S. labor history: The Great Postal Strike of 1970
March 18th marks the day fifty-one years ago when postal workers walked off the job in New York City in what soon became the largest wildcat strike in U.S. labor history. Last March we posted this article by postal historian Phil Rubio, author of Undelivered: From the Great Postal Strike of 1970 ... Read More
