#OTD #OTDPostal Jan. 24, 1862, Edith Wharton is born in New York City. She was honored on a stamp in 1980. Her novel "Ethan Frome," based on her years living in Lenox MA (her home there is now a museum), begins at the post office in the fictitious town of Starkfield MA.
People are already receiving their covid test kits. Apparently the fulfillment process of packing and addressing was ready to go when the website went online, and First Class takes just 3 or 4 days to deliver. But at 2 million a day it will take several weeks to deliver them all.
@savethepo I've seen people posting photos that they've already received theirs -- very quick work, much faster than the 7-14 days promised.
The covid test kits will be packed up and labeled by postal workers, many of them temporary employees hired for the holidays, at 43 USPS facilities, over a 75-day period (about 2 million packages per day).
Biden Administration Taps USPS and Postal Workers for Distribution of
As the Biden Administration announces program to mail COVID tests via USPS to every American household that requests one, APWU workers will be key.
www.apwu.org
For Q1FY22 (Oct-Dec 2021), on-time service performance for First Class mail was 89.8% — 5% below the target under the new, slower service standards that went into effect Oct 1, but package delivery did very well during the holidays, with 94% on time.
https://postalpro.usps.com/node/10554
Correction: It's not 500 million packages. It's 500 million tests, four per address, so it's 125 million packages. WaPo says USPS plans to deliver 2 million a day for about two months. During Nov 8 - Dec 31, 2021, USPS delivered 1.245 billion packages — about 24 million a day.
"Test kits shipped within the contiguous United States will be delivered via first-class package services." 500 million FC packages is a lot. In FY2021, @USPS delivered 2 billion FC packages, at an average cost of $3.60.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/21/usps-coronavirus-test-kits/?tid=ss_tw
#OTD #OTDPostal Jan. 23, 1986, USPS issues its first commemorative booklet, which honored Stamp Collecting. A technical challenge, it was described as “the finest, most complex printing job to come out of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing” in years. https://info.mysticstamp.com/this-day-in-history-january-23-1986-2/
"Rising workforce quarantines and isolations have already affected mail service. On-time delivery rates for first-class mail fell to 84.5 percent the week of Jan. 14, the agency’s worst score since the pandemic began and well below its 95 percent target."
http://www.savethepostoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/171-1.pdf
"Test kits shipped within the contiguous United States will be delivered via first-class package services." 500 million FC packages is a lot. In FY2021, @USPS delivered 2 billion FC packages, at an average cost of $3.60.
Biden plan to ship 500 million coronavirus test kits transforms Postal Service into relief agency
USPS has added thousands of seasonal employees and converted more than 40 facilities to house, process and ship the tests.
www.washingtonpost.com
#OTD #OTDPostal Jan. 22, 1969, Nixon appoints Winton Red Blount as PMG. He transitions the Post Office from Cabinet-level department to government-owned, self-supporting corporation. “It was quite a wrench," he joked. "One day I was a Cabinet officer; the next I was a has-been."
That's an irrelevant observation. Institutional costs are not supposed to be proportional to revenues. By definition, these are costs that aren't caused by particular products, and any method used to allocate them "is by its very nature arbitrary." https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2015/rarc-wp-12-008_0.pdf
"USPS determined packages accounted for 39 percent of institutional costs even though they were 44 percent of revenues. Yet, packages are bulkier and more expensive to deliver than mail." @PaulSteidler, https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/590614-biden-stiff-arms-progressives-on-the-postal-service
Roadblocks getting covid tests via @USPS: People are being told that orders were already placed for their address, or tests can't be delivered to PO boxes, mobile home parks, boats or rural addresses, or because they run small businesses from their homes.
Why some people are having problems ordering free Covid tests
Thousands of readers have contacted CNN since the federal site, covidtests.gov, opened. The majority said the ordering...
us.cnn.com
In case you missed during previews and festivals, “The Great Postal Heist” will be released this week via DVD and video on demand.
“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...
www.savethepostoffice.com
Chris Hedges talks with Christopher W. Shaw, author of First Class: The US Postal Service, Democracy, and The Corporate Threat, about the corporate assault on the U.S. Postal Service.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ4SGXGAsVw
#OTD #OTDPostal Jan. 21, 1992, Stamp commemorates W.E.B. Du Bois, one of the most influential African-Americans of the 19th and 20th centuries. Jan. 21, 1994, Post Office issues a stamp honoring legendary broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow.
https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/the-black-experience-shaping-education/web-du-bois
'He Has Made Things Worse': Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) hammers PMG DeJoy for mail delays and urges the Senate to confirm Biden appointees to the @USPS Board of Governors. https://youtu.be/ao87wW1ZBS4 via @YouTube