Mail carrier improving after wreck
"A postal official initially stated she was surprised Dobre was driving from the passenger side of the vehicle on U.S. 30. Postal officials conceded Thursday that it is a common practice for rural carriers, who use their own vehicles. More than a dozen current and former carriers e-mailed and called the Post-Tribune to say they have asked for postal vehicles equipped with steering wheels on the right for several years, because of the potential safety issue." See also: Carriers: Rural driving technique unsafe Gary (IN) Post Tribune
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Post office: Walk to your mail
"The post office recently told hundreds of city and Oakhill residents they will need to erect mail boxes along the edge of their streets or not receive mail delivery." Ludington (MI) Daily News
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Indiana rural carrier critical after crash
"Police are investigating whether driving on the wrong side of the car contributed to" the crash. A USPS spokesperson "said it is not Post Office policy to allow drivers to operate vehicles from the passenger seat. 'I'm shocked. We in no way condone operating a vehicle that way.'" Gary Post Tribune
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Feds arrest Iowan for mail bombs
"Tomkins is a former substitute letter carrier who worked weekends for the USPS... he was not an employee at the time the devices were sent." Des Moines Register see also the Chicago Sun-TimesComment
Reporter wants to talk to CFC donors
If you've donated via CFC to the Cancer Aid and Research Fund, Children’s Christian Hunger Network, or any of another dozen organizations, a reporter for the St Louis Post-Dispatch would like to talk to you. Click for more information, including the list of charities.
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USPS Promises Inquiry Into Bronx Sorting
"Congressman Jose Serrano, the postal workers union and many Bronx businesses are celebrating a promised investigation into the possibility that the Bronx' mail-sorting operations will be moved to Manhattan." Bronx Times
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UPS, FedEx look to neighborhoods
"The continued boom in online shopping and the rise of at-home work have shifted the businesses of Sandy Springs-based UPS and rival FedEx." Atlanta Journal Constitution
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Catalog mailers file motion to reopen rate case record
for "limited testimony on the avoidable and economically wasteful costs imposed on catalog mailers by unanticipated rate increases for Standard Mail Regular flats." PRC web site (.pdf file)
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Young to Burrus: Keep your advice to yourself
"Burrus has felt the need to criticize the NALC and other postal unions..., branding their leaders as “fools”...he once famously referred to the customers who generate the majority of the Postal Service’s volume—and revenue—as “vermin.” I try to ignore comments like these... But on March 1, Bill Burrus published something so ridiculous and contrary to the interests of city carriers and other postal employees (including his own members) that I must respond." NALC Record
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BOG Chairman Miller Suggested Privatizing USPS in 1988 Postalmag.com notes that in 1988, Miller, then Reagan's OMB Director, gave a speech at the right wing Cato Institute pushing privatization of the US Postal Service. Some excerpts: - "The Postal Service should expand the practice of contracting out rural mail delivery to private carriers" - "... I would agree that the Postal Service should be placed off-budget. But I think we should place the Postal Service off-budget by making it part of the private sector." Cato Institute web site (Adobe .pdf file) Update: Free "Free the Mail"? Almost!Comment
USPS/NALC Negotiations Fail
“I truly regret to inform the membership that the top leadership of the United States Postal Service has flatly rejected NALC’s offer of a strategic partnership to protect the future of the Postal Service. We are shocked by their refusal to work jointly, and now have no choice but to pursue our bargaining goals through interest arbitration.” NALC Bulletin
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Social Security checks late for 300 residents
"Spartanburg Postmaster Dave Becker said the delay stemmed from the failure of a Philadelphia office to mail the checks on time." Spartanburg (SC) Herald-Journal The Owensboro KY Messenger-Inquirer reports in its print edition that residents there are also without checks.
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Commentary: There is a better way
Postcom's Jim O'Brien says admitted inaccuracies in USPS demand assumtions justify lowering catalog rates. "I would favor adjusting the volume assumptions to reflect higher catalog volumes this fall based upon a lower rate... even with a reduced rate, this would yield the exact same revenue". (So... more volume to handle, at "the exact same revenue"? Who pays the added expense if there's no added revenue?)
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Boston Herald
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