govexec.com: The U.S. Postal Service is not realizing the savings it projected when it slowed mail delivery and closed facilities, according to a new audit, which also found the mailing agency was struggling to meet its new standards. USPS said when it virtually eliminated overnight mail while shifting much of its two-day service to a three-day window in 2014 it … Read More
USPS-APWU arbitration decision puts moratorium on plant consolidations and outsourcing retail
he Postal Service and the American Postal Workers Union have a new contract.  Last week, the arbitrator on the case, Stephen Goldberg, issued his decision and award, thus ending a two-year dispute. The new contract provides protections against layoffs for all career employees (who were on the rolls as of July 8), puts limits on more subcontracting, and converts many noncareer employees in maintenance and motor … Read More
What’s up with the cost savings for phase 2 of Network Rationalization?
For over three years, the Postal Service has been saying that phase 2 of its Network Rationalization plan would save $750 million annually, but now that many of the plant consolidations have been fully or partly implemented, it appears that the initiative may not be saving anything like that. In fact, phase 2 may be losing money. As reported … Read More
OIG recommends halt to Phase II Network Rationalization until USPS service performance improves
The USPS Office of Inspector General has just issued a management alert about the timeliness of mail processing after the changes in service standards went into effect on January 5, 2015. The OIG says that the changes were expected to affect about 14 billion pieces of total mail volume, and up to 16 percent of First-Class Mail. Â As discussed in … Read More
The true cost for restoring service standards and why the Postal Service can afford it
A couple of weeks ago, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced that it would cost the Postal Service $1 billion to comply with an amendment requiring the Postal Service to revert to the service standards for First Class mail and periodicals that were in effect on July 1, 2012.  The amendment was proposed by Representative Chaka Fattah and approved by the … Read More
APWU takes PRC to court over service standards
The American Postal Workers Union has taken the Postal Regulatory Commission to court over its decision to dismiss the union’s complaint that the Postal Service is failing to meet its service standards. As explained on the USPS website, these service standards, as set forth under 39 C.F.R. § 121.1, state how long it will take the mail to be delivered, … Read More
The PRC’s Advisory Opinion on Network Rationalization: Death Knell for the Postal Service?
When the Postal Regulatory Commission issued its advisory opinion on the Retail Access Optimization Initiative (RAOI) last year, it said the plan to close 3,700 post offices wouldn’t optimize anything. On Friday of last week, the PRC issued its advisory opinion on Mail Processing Network Rationalization (MPNR), and while it doesn’t come right out and say so, the Commission suggests that … Read More
The Hail Mary is an incomplete: The PRC denies the APWU motion to stop the change in service standards
The Postal Regulatory Commission has denied the APWU’s motion for an emergency order directing the Postal Service not to implement its proposed changes in service standards on July 2. Next week, then, overnight delivery will end for Inter-SCF mail (that's mail that needs to travel from between processing facilities). The PRC press release is here, and the order is here. … Read More
The union throws the Commission a Hail Mary on the change in service standards
Sometime this week, the Postal Regulatory Commission will issue a ruling on the APWU’s Motion for an Emergency Order, which seeks to prevent the Postal Service from implementing a change in service standards for First Class mail on July 1. If the PRC does not issue an order to stop the Postal Service, overnight delivery will come to an end for Inter-SCF … Read More
Busy week at the PRC: The union complains, the Postal Service shares numbers, and the senator sends a letter
It was a busy week at the Postal Regulatory Commission. On Wednesday and Thursday, the Commission heard cross-examination from witnesses challenging the Postal Service’s Network Rationalization plan to close over 200 processing plants. The APWU has also filed a complaint about the plan as well as a motion for an emergency order seeking to prevent the Postal Service from implementing the service … Read More
Network Consolidation: New plan, same old story
On Monday the Postal Service will make the changes in service standards official by publishing the Final Rule in the Federal Register. As we’ve been told since September, delivery of First-Class mail and periodicals will be slowing down — but not as soon as initially planned.  [UPDATE: The Final Rule was not published until later in the week.  An Advance … Read More
Final Rule to Revise USPS Service Standards
[from a USPS Industry Alert] Today the Postal Service sent the final rule to revise service standards for market-dominant mail products to the Federal Register. The final rule will be posted on our “Information for Mailers” webpage at http://about.usps.com/news/facility-studies/welcome.htm by COB Monday, May 21. Highlights excerpted from the final rule are provided below. Highlights The Postal Service is adopting new rules for market-dominant … Read More
Revised Network Rationalization: Map & user-friendly list
Yesterday the Postal Service released a revision of its Network Rationalization plan to consolidate over two hundred mail processing facilities. When the plan was originally announced on December 5, there were 252 facilities on the list. After the AMP (Area Mail Processing) studies were completed, a new list was released on Feb. 27, with 223 facilities approved for consolidation. The … Read More
Revised Estimates for Network Rationalization: Where have all the savings gone?
The Network Rationalization plan to consolidate some 260 mail processing plants may be running into problems. Not all the plants were approved for consolidation, so this week the Postal Service submitted revised estimates to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). The total cost saving estimate has dropped from about $2.1 billion to $1.6 billion. That’s about half of what the Postal … Read More
The Case Against Consolidation: Rebuttal testimony challenges Network Rationalization
While the week’s postal news was dominated by the Senate vote on postal reform, something else important was going on. Opponents of the Postal Service’s plan to consolidate the processing network submitted their rebuttal testimony to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). This testimony — along with that of two independent experts brought in by the Commission — paints a vivid … Read More
How Network Rationalization speeds up Standard Mail and hastens the demise of First-Class
Sometime over the next few days, the Postal Service is expected to publish the final rule implementing the service standard changes that are the foundation for the Network Rationalization plan to consolidate over 220 mail processing plants. First-Class Mail that is currently delivered overnight will be delivered in two days, and much of the mail delivered in two days will … Read More
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