Recently, there have been reports of people placing non-mail items that did not bear U.S. postage in local mailboxes. The U.S. Postal Service recognizes customers may place non-mail items into mailboxes as a convenient way of “dropping something off,” but those items may cause a smaller mailbox to become full. When a mailbox is full, Postal Service regulations say the letter carrier cannot place mail in the box.

Additionally, the Postal Service has received complaints of flyers without paid postage being placed in mailboxes. Though many may be unaware, it is important to know that this type of activity is illegal by federal law. It may seem to be an easy way to advertise, but only U.S. Mail delivered by authorized personnel may be placed in mailboxes.

“We know many customers might not object to having a particular item placed in their mailbox from time to time, but the reasons for restricting use of mailboxes is really two-fold,” said Postmaster Keith Jackson. “First, if there is not enough room in a mailbox due to unauthorized items, the Postal Service can’t deliver the customer’s mail. Secondly, the Postal Service wants to ensure the integrity of our customer’s mailbox. That’s why only Postal Service personnel are authorized to place mail in or remove mail from mailboxes. In fact, U.S. Postal Inspectors advise customers to report people going mailbox to mailbox who are not postal employees. It could be someone completely unaware of the statute placing advertisements, but it could also be someone trying to steal mail.”

“We recognize that, from time to time, the statute and the Postal regulations may cause conflict with some customers,” the Postmaster continued. “When all factors are brought to their attention, however, we hope that the great majority of the public would agree that restricting mailboxes to U.S. Mail not only ensures customers receive their mail, but it also increases the security of the service.”

The Postmaster noted an exception to the general rule: newspapers can be placed in mailboxes only on Sunday; a non-delivery day for the Postal Service. He additionally noted that a newspaper receptacle can be mounted on rural or curbside mailbox post or support.

Where can employees go — anytime, anywhere — to look at their official records?

The Official Personnel Folder (OPF) contains documents, including appointment, compensation, benefits, administrative and payroll records. USPS may use these records to review employee qualifications, status, eligibility, rights and benefits. They’re also used to track length of service and other information USPS needs to provide personnel services.

Before 2008, employees had to meet with their district personnel offices to review their folders. Now, OPF documents are available online and have become “eOPFs.” Employees can go to LiteBlue at any time to review their files. Each eOPF is a secure and encrypted file, available only to employees by using their employee ID number and USPS PIN, and to HR professionals with an official need to view them.

USPS always has encouraged employees to check their records for accuracy. Employees should review their eOPFs to make sure documents are up-to-date. Accurate records will make processing personnel actions such as transfers, promotions or retirements easier. Employees who need to change, remove or add documents must complete a PS Form 8043 and submit it to their district HR Generalist.

Disciplinary documents only can be removed according to provisions of collective bargaining agreements, the ELM 650 appeals process or as a result of an EEO or Merit System Protection Board decision. Documents placed in an eOPF by another federal agency cannot be removed.

Employees who cannot access their eOPFs using LiteBlue should notify their area Human Resources analyst, district HR Local Services, or HQ Corporate Personnel.

Source: USPS

Please Note: Postal Employee Network cannot answer questions regarding your personnel folder or its contents.

Sick leave is a job benefit, not a privilege

While managers may have the legal right to use sick leave restriction letters ["How to fight sick leave abuse," Ask the Lawyer column, April 19 issue], I could find no guidelines during my career on what constitutes sick leave abuse. There was no usable definition of what constitutes incapacity.

Is a headache sufficient reason to take sick leave? What about depression and other gray areas? Simply having a chronic condition may be reason for days off.

Having to submit to interrogation by a manager who may already be hostile toward an employee for absences is demeaning and rife with potential for abuse by the manager.

Not all conditions require a visit to the doctor, so requiring this documentation is not an effective way to respond to sick leave abuse.

Managers are not doctors and are not qualified to make decisions about what constitutes incapacity, especially in the absence of agency guidelines.

Managers are not employment lawyers and are not qualified to make judgments about what constitutes abuse.

Read More

The “Have You Seen Me?” program distributes photos of missing children through direct-mail advertisements, newspaper inserts, and on the Internet.

Valassis distributes pictures and information of missing children to more than 100 million households each week, Chairman, President, and CEO Alan F. Schultz said.

Journal Inquirer

This marks the third time the Postal Service has been overcharged. In 2002 it was determined the Postal Service would overfund CSRS by $78 billion. Legislation in 2003 corrected this overfunding. Then it was determined the Postal Service was overcharged $27 billion for CSRS military service credits. In 2006 these funds were returned to the Postal Service by Congress, and the surplus was used to fund retiree health care liabilities.

This study, The Postal Service’s Share of CSRS Pension Responsibility, undertaken in conjunction with the Hay Group, is the third paper sponsored by the OIG that delves into the financial entanglements between the Postal Service and the federal government — generally at the expense of the Postal Service. The latest study describes the inequitable allocation of CSRS costs between the federal government and the Postal Service. The other two reports focus on the Postal Service’s congressionally-mandated retiree health care prefunding payments (Estimates of Postal Service Liability for Retiree Health Care Benefits), and the Postal Service’s interaction with the federal budget (Federal Budget Treatment of the Postal Service).

In this newly released paper, the OIG and Hay Group’s analysis demonstrates that the method used to determine how CSRS pension costs for postal employees with service before 1971 are split between the Postal Service and the federal government is inequitable. As a result, the Postal Service was overcharged by $75 billion for payments to CSRS retirees from 1972 to 2009. The OIG suggests that this amount be returned to the Postal Service’s CSRS pension fund. Any excess above what is needed to fund CSRS liabilities could then be transferred to the Postal Service’s retiree health care fund, which would fully fund its health care liability and eliminate the need for further congressionally-required payments to the fund. All of the Postal Service’s current pension and health care obligations to its employees would then be fully funded.

The report further illustrates the inequity in the methodology used to determine the Postal Service’s contribution to the CSRS fund. Key findings from the report:

• Hay Group demonstrates that the method of splitting CSRS pension costs for postal employees with service before 1971 between the Postal Service and the federal government is inequitable, because the Postal Service is made responsible for all salary increases after 1971.
• In effect, OPM calculates the federal government’s share for these employees as if they retired in 1971 at their much lower 1971 salaries. An allocation methodology that burdens the Postal Service with all post-1971 pay increases is not reasonable.
• As an example, Hay Group shows that the Postal Service could be charged 70 percent instead of 50 percent of the pension costs for employees who worked half their careers with the Post Office Department and half with the Postal Service.
• Because of the inequitable split, the Postal Service was overcharged $75 billion from 1972 to 2009.

The report also offers solutions:

• Fixing the split by using a more equitable years-of-service approach would leave the Postal Service with $75 billion more in assets as of the end of 2009. The CSRS pension fund is currently underfunded by $10 billion, so the resulting pension surplus would equal $65 billion.
• The $65 billion pension surplus could be added to $35 billion already set aside in the retiree health benefits fund for a total retiree health fund balance of $100 billion.
• A fund balance of $100 billion is more than enough to fully fund accrued retiree health benefit liabilities of $87 billion. No further payments to the fund would be needed to cover this liability.
• The current annual payments of more than $5 billion mandated by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) could end.
• Payments for the premiums of current retirees could start to come from the fund immediately.
• The annual evaluation of the Postal Service’s retiree health benefit assets and liabilities would continue, and the Postal Service could be assessed if there were any unfunded liability.

This report takes on increasing significance as the Postal Service faces a challenging future. When the Postal Service was established, it was intended to be self-sufficient. Clearly delineating and separating the Postal Service’s responsibilities from those of the federal government will help in determining the true costs of funding postal operations. Citizens and businesses should pay no less and no more than what is required to fund the Postal Service’s operations.

Earth Day 2009

April 22, 2009

U.S. Postal Service Celebrates Earth Day
Employees Recycle Thousands of Pounds of Small Electronics

WASHINGTON — Postmaster General John Potter today launched a campaign to increase awareness and create results for energy conservation at a “Turning Over a Green Leaf” event in celebration of Earth Day.

Building on its history of environmental innovation, and its goal of reducing energy use 30 percent by 2015, the Postal Service is working to create a culture of conservation among its 646,000 employees in its 34,000 facilities and among its suppliers and partners in the mailing industry.

Employees exhibited “green” initiatives, including the Postal Service’s Green web site, a carbon and lifestyle calculator, an office supplies swap web site, energy-saving tips, and Cradle to Cradle-certified “green” packaging and shipping supplies.

A small electronics recycling center was set up to enable employees to recycle cell phones, laptops, BlackBerry devices and MP3 players, with the goal of doubling the 6,000 pounds of materials recycled at last year’s event.

Outside corporate headquarters, Potter contrasted the old — an antique delivery bicycle and a 1929 Model AA Ford delivery vehicle — with the new, four battery-powered vehicles from Chrysler’s ENVI organization and a GM hydrogen fuel-cell truck. The all-electric minivans could be tested as early as this summer as a possible replacement for traditional Postal Service fuel delivery vehicles.

“We continue to look for energy-efficient replacement vehicles for our aging fleet,” said Postal Service vice president of Sustainability, Sam Pulcrano, “as we explore ways to reduce our transportation-related carbon emissions.”

“The Postal Service is a recognized environmental innovator and leader, and Chrysler is excited at the prospect of continuing our relationship by working to deliver alternative energy postal delivery vehicles in the future,” said Lou Rhodes, vice president, Advance Vehicle Engineering and president of ENVI, Chrysler LLC.

The Postal Service has been honored with more than 70 major environmental awards, including the 2009 Climate Action Champion award, and 39 White House Closing the Circle awards for environmental stewardship.

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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/welcome.htm

2009 Food Drive

NALC announced that the nation’s largest food drive to combat hunger will be conducted this year on Saturday, May 9. On that day, letter carriers will collect non-perishable donations from homes as they deliver mail along their postal routes.

The 17th annual NALC National Food Drive to “Stamp Out Hunger” is the largest one-day food drive in the nation. Carriers collected a record 73.1 million pounds of food in last year’s drive. The drive is held annually on the second Saturday in May in over 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Donations will be collected by more than 1,400 local branches of the 300,000-member postal union and delivered to food banks, pantries and shelters that serve the communities where they are collected. Assisting in the effort are rural letter carriers and other postal employees, as well as members of other unions and thousands of civic volunteers.

NALC President William H. Young emphasized that as successful as the food drive has been in the past, it simply must be even better this year.

“Millions and millions of families are suffering – struggling to make ends meet and put food on the table,” Young said. “More than ever food banks, pantries and shelters need our help this year. As families count on them for support, they’re counting on us and we must not back off on our commitment.”

Young also noted that donations are particularly critical at this time since most school lunch programs are suspended during the summer months and millions of children must find alternate sources of nutrition.

In New York City and Chicago, where transportation limitations preclude mailbox pickup, citizens are being asked to take donations to their local post offices between May 4 and 9.

Persons who have any questions about the drive at their location should ask their letter carrier or contact their local post office.

Over 125 million postcards, sponsored by the Campbell Soup Company and the U.S. Postal Service’s Priority Mail, will be mailed to postal customers to remind them of the drive.

Public Service Announcements featuring movie and television stars David Arquette and Courteney Cox, as well as the Harlem Globetrotters, are being made available throughout the country. Valpak Direct Marketing Systems is focusing 40 million of its envelopes on encouraging food donations and Valassis is having 85 million of its mail-delivered Red Plum wraps include promotions for the drive.

Other co-sponsors of the drive with the letter carriers’ union are Feeding America, formerly known as America’s Second Harvest, the nation’s food bank network; the United Way of America and its local United Ways; and the AFL-CIO.  Read More

MUNCIE, IN – A contract mail carrier and members of his family have been charged with stealing cash and gift cards from holiday and birthday cards sent through the U.S. Postal Service.

Investigators from the Postal Office of Inspector General sought warrants Monday in Delaware Circuit Court 4 for Robert M. Skeen, 38, his sister, Angela E. Skeen, 34, and their mother, Deborah C. Skeen, 57, who all live in the 1900 block of North Manring Avenue, on charges of theft and receiving stolen property.

Robert Skeen allegedly used his access as a contract carrier for the Postal Service to steal money and gift cards to places such as Walmart and Buffalo Wild Wings that were sent through the mail. Investigators found mail that Skeen had rifled through – including sympathy cards – in his trash. Read more

CHAPEL HILL, NC — A Chapel Hill mail carrier has been awarded for more than 60 years of service.

It was 1946 when Rudy Tempesta got out of the military and World War II and started carrying mail for the U.S. Post Office.

“I was driving a tin Lizzy. it’s like a station wagon but it had wood all around and I got to work in the post office in the empire state building which was great to me,” Tempesta said.
At 83, Tempesta has been awarded twice into the Million Mile Club, meaning he’s gone more than 30 years without and accident.

“I’ve gotten one 32 years ago and now I got this 2 million mile one and it’s good to know you got to drive safe,” Tempesta said. “It’s like I said before this is a college town don’t let the girls distract you.” Read more