While the United Parcel Service is busy looking for innovative ways to make its retail stores more profitable, the Postal Service can only think about more junk mail. Rather than seeing value in its own network of brick-and-mortar post offices, the Postal Service is cutting the hours at 13,000 small offices, replacing historic downtown post offices with retail counters in … Read More
Dateline Danville VA: The VP visits, the USPS cuts hours at the PO
On Tuesday of this week, Vice President Biden told a largely African American audience in Danville, Virginia, that Mitt Romney wanted to put them "back in chains" by "unchaining Wall Street." Republicans jumped on the VP for playing the race card, Romney called the remark "reckless," and the story was all over the national news. There's another story coming … Read More
The Road to POStPlan: Breaking down the postmaster retirement numbers
Yesterday the Postal Service provided an update on how many postmasters have chosen to retire thanks to the $20,000 incentive offer. Nearly 3,800 retired as of July 31, and about 300 will be retiring at the end of August and September, bringing the total to 4,100. (The numbers are here.) The Postal Service did not provide a list of the … Read More
Discontinuances discontinued: Where have all the closures gone?
The Postal Service may be taking a new line on downsizing its retail network.  Instead of big plans and long lists of potential closures, the Postal Service is apparently adopting a more incremental approach. After years of talking about closing thousands of post offices — after all the announcements of new initiatives, after all the town meetings, advisory opinions, appeals, … Read More
Double Trouble: DUOed & lease expiring
There are two signs your post office may be in danger of closing: The Postal Service is moving the carriers to another facility — that’s called Delivery Unit Optimization (DUO) — or the lease is set to expire over the coming months. You’ve got double trouble if both of those things are happening.  It could be that the Postal Service … Read More
Knife in the back: More tales of emergency suspensions
Tomorrow will be the last day for the Southboro Station post office in West Palm Beach, Florida. The Postal Service is closing the office as an “emergency suspension” due to a “lease expiration.” USPS Handbook PO-101 says the Postal Service has 90 days to find another location or to proceed with a formal discontinuance study, but according to the Palm … Read More
Eureka! The Postal Service finds gold in California
The Postal Service has been actively selling off historic post office buildings for over a year now. About forty have been sold or put up for sale. They’re scattered around the country, but for some reason more than a third of them are in California. Last week news came out that one of the most beautiful post offices in the … Read More
The National Trust joins the fight to save the post office
[view:slideshow=panel_pane_1] THE NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION has named the Historic Post Office Building to its annual list of the 11 most endangered places. The Trust has a story, a slideshow, a feature on the post office in Geneva, Illinois, and a press release (which has the most details). The Chicago Tribune also has a story, and the Associated Press has another. … Read More
The GAO report on post office closings: Congress gets what it asks for—more misinformation
Last week the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued its second report this month about the Postal Service. This one is about post office closings (GAO-12-433), and it’s apparently intended to give lawmakers information that will help them craft postal legislation. The cover letter for the report is addressed to Senator Tom Carper and Representative Darrell Issa, the two lawmakers … Read More
Questions for Mr. Hammond: The Senate considers a nomination to the PRC
Tomorrow the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will hold a hearing on the nomination of Tony Hammond as a Commissioner on the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). The senators are likely to use the opportunity not only to explore Hammond’s positions on a number of key issues but also to express their own views, as Senators are wont to … Read More
Where’s the emergency? Suspended post offices in 2011 & a list of leases ending soon
There’s a moratorium on closing post offices until May 15, but it doesn’t apply to “emergency suspensions,” as we learned at a meeting of the Postal Regulatory Commission earlier this week. That means any post office with a lease expiring soon is in danger, and there are 1,400 of them with leases that end during the moratorium. A list is … Read More
Week in Review: More news, more of the same
Time for another “Week in Review” already? Seems like only yesterday we were talking about more post offices closing, angry citizens speaking out at public meetings, appeal cases at the PRC, and off-base articles in the mainstream media. This week, it’s more of the same. Occupy the Post Office: This year December 19th will be the busiest day during the … Read More
Week in Review: AMPs, 10-K, PRC, CBRE, VPO, GAO & OWS
It was another busy week in Postal World — post offices keep closing, plant consolidation plans keep rolling on, the GAO keeps coming up with studies, and the PRC struggles to keep up with the appeals and Advisory Opinion. Here are just some of the highlights: Hearing in Harlem: The New York Metro Area APWU announced that on Tuesday, Nov. 22, … Read More
Dismantling the Public Realm: Post Offices for Sale
In July the Postal Service outsourced its real estate and property management business to CB Richard Ellis, the world’s largest commercial real estate company.  Today the USPS-CBRE website is up and running, showing off some 90 post office buildings as well as 36 land parcels, all for sale.  The Postal Service must be in a big hurry to dismantle … Read More