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TOP NEWS STORIES |
Tracking HR 173: Proposed House Bill Supporting Six-Day Delivery Gaining
Cosponsors
With 435 members in the House of Representatives, 218 votes
are needed to pass a bill in the House. The number of cosponsors for HR 173
is now 195, and more cosponsors are added almost daily. HR 173
"urges the U.S. Postal Service to take all appropriate
measures to ensure the continuation of its six-day mail
delivery service." Though not a final say on the matter, HR
173 indicates considerable political weight behind efforts to keep six-day
delivery. -
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USPS made $76M profit (before $458M retiree health charge
turned it into a loss)
"The US Postal Service would have shown a net profit of $76
million in April had it not been for the $458 million charge
for future retiree health benefits (RHBTF) imposed by
Congress. Unaudited financial results released yesterday show
that for the fiscal year to date, the USPS has lost $2.3
billion. Without the RHBTF charge, the USPS would be showing a
net profit of over $1 billion, despite the continuing decline
in mail volume." - Postal Service reports
$382M April net loss -
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Postal Rates Headed Higher -- Again
"Come January, mailers will have to pony up more for
postage. In the cards: A 2 cent hike in the price of
first-class stamps -- to 46 cents each -- and up to a 5% boost
in postage for magazines, catalogs and bulk mail. The U.S.
Postal Service (USPS) realizes that raising rates will
accelerate the shift by businesses and other mailers to e-mail
and nudge businesses to increase their targeted Web
advertising efforts." -
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APWU Urges PRC to Save
Saturday Delivery at Memphis Field Hearing
"APWU Assistant Clerk Craft Director Mike Morris explained
that by abolishing Saturday delivery, private couriers would
fill the void in the more profitable locations, leaving the
Postal Service to serve rural and poor communities, without
the financial benefit of providing service to more lucrative
areas. As an example, he explained that while more affluent
parts of Memphis would likely fare well under a private
delivery system, poorer communities would most assuredly
become underserved." - News Video: Post
Office Contemplates End to Saturday Service -
News Video: Postal Service Meets in Memphis -
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Highlights of Dallas Field Hearing on Five-Day Delivery
(UPDATED: Newspaper Publisher Responds, Makes Case For
Private Carrier Workforce if USPS Ends Saturday Delivery)
Several witnesses from the private-sector stated, that if
given a choice, they would rather have five-day delivery than a postal
rate increase beyond CPI. After their testimony, Postal
Regulatory
Commission Chairman Ruth Goldway delivered some bad news. She
told them they may not have a choice anyway as the USPS is
contemplating both a rate increase and reduction to
five-day delivery during the same time frame in 2011. -
Video: Newspaper owner says he will develop
private carrier workforce and compete with the USPS for volume
(at 4:07) -
Many protest proposal to end Saturday mail
delivery at postal hearing in Dallas -
Regulator Says No-Mail Saturdays Not Done
Deal -
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20,000 Pieces of Undelivered Mail Found in Mailman's Philly
Home
"Checks, bills and even a college acceptance letter from 2007
were among 20,000 letters found inside the garage of a
Philadelphia postal carrier. When the mailman missed several
days of work in April, postal officials went to his Port
Richmond home and found tubs and tubs of undelivered and
unopened mail. The postal worker, who has yet to be
identified, worked out of the Bustleton station in Northeast
Philadelphia." -
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Postmaster General John Potter leads a cry for retrenchment
"Potter expects that unions will make concessions during
negotiations this year, but William Burrus, president of the
American Postal Workers Union, warned otherwise. "I'm not
going to make any concessions," Burrus said. "He's trying to
deny services to the American public through the service
reductions. All of this is designed to accelerate significant
savings and become a delivery arm of major mailers." -
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FSS Machines Shuffled Again -- But Do They Work?
"The U.S. Postal Service announced yesterday that it is
putting Flats Sequencing System into five new locations but
has still not revealed whether the machines work as intended.
San Diego will get two machines, while one each will go to
Brooklyn, Cleveland, Dallas, and Pittsburgh. Palatine, IL will
get an additional machine. Carol Stream, IL; Denver;
Indianapolis; Middlesex-Essex, MA; Providence, RI; and
Sacramento, CA will each lose a machine." -
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USPS Reports $1.6 Billion Quarter Loss
"The U.S. Postal Service, which has said it may lose $7
billion this year, narrowed its fiscal second quarter loss to
$1.6 billion. The net loss in the quarter ended March 31
shrank from $1.9 billion a year earlier, the agency said today
in Washington. Mail volume dropped 6.3 percent in the past six
months, Chief Financial Officer Joseph Corbett said at the
Postal Service’s board meeting. The Postal Service, which cut
work hours 7.5 percent in the period, has asked Congress for
permission to cut Saturday delivery to save money, a proposal
being reviewed by the Postal Regulatory Commission." -
USPS Reports Continuing Losses, But Levels of
Service Remain Stable -
Postal Service profits, volume continue to
drop -
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NALC and USPS Reach Agreement on Next Phase of Joint Alternate
Route Adjustment Process
"President Rolando announced May 4 that the NALC and the
Postal Service have reached an agreement on the next phase of
a Joint Alternate Route Adjustment Process. However, the
agreement makes it clear that finalizing a number of
incomplete revisits of 2009 MIARAP adjustments must be given
priority over the evaluation and adjustment of routes/zones
under the new JARAP." -
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Inside Edition Investigates Postal Sex Offenders
"It's a sight you see on the streets of every neighborhood in
America - the mailman coming up to the end of your driveway or
your front door to deliver the mail. You might think it would
be impossible or even against the law for a mailman, an
employee of the federal government, to be a sex offender. But
it's not. Lisa Guerrero has an INSIDE EDITION investigation
which may leave you outraged." - 2006:
Hey Mr. Mailman on Geraldo - Inside
Edition finds more than a hundred sex offenders working in
hotels - USPS Statement -
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