September 03, 2010

Affordable Mail Alliance: Don’t Allow the USPS to Continue Costly Business Practices
Businesses and Non-profits cannot afford to Pay for the Postal Service’s Excessive Costs

Washington, DC – The Affordable Mail Alliance – a growing coalition of non-profits, Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, major trade associations, consumer groups, and citizens representing the vast majority of the mail sent in the United States – filed comments urging the Postal Regulatory Commission to help rein in the USPS’s excessive costs by denying the proposed rate hike.

“The Post Office needs to reevaluate their approach,” said Jerry Cerasale, Affordable Mail Alliance Spokesperson and Senior Vice President of the Direct Marketing Association. “Instead of trying to keep things afloat with a giant tax on consumers, the USPS should focus on improving management and controlling costs to get out of this mess. To do otherwise is just bad business.”

This is the Alliance’s final legal step before the PRC announces their decision on October 4.

The comments also highlight the Postal Service’s flip-flop on the cause for their request. The USPS previously claimed that such a severe rate increase was needed to alleviate an immediate and unforeseen cash crisis. But at the public hearing held on August 10, a top official admitted that the “crisis” would not prevent them from operating in their current fashion for at least the next year. The Postal Service now claims that the rate increase is needed to prevent a longer-term profit slowdown over the next decade.

“Our comments make the same case that businesses and working families are making all over the country,” said Cerasale. “The Postal Service’s proposed rate hike is unreasonable, unhelpful, and unlawful, and the more than one thousand members of the Alliance are not going to let the Postal Service take advantage of its customers.”

The comments reiterate what the Alliance has argued all along – that the Postal Service has failed to show that it would suffer from its projected losses if it followed “best practices of honest, efficient and economical management,” and has failed to meet the “extraordinary or exceptional” circumstance test of the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. The increase thus should be rejected, especially at this time of economic uncertainty for America.

Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), a key author of the 2006 law, has supported the Alliance’s position. In her statement following the Postal Regulatory Commission hearings, Senator Collins said that the law being cited by the Post Office was intended for use in circumstances such as natural disasters and terrorist attacks. The Post Office’s “failure to sufficiently update its business model,” she said, was not sufficient for special consideration.

Formed in response to the US Postal Service’s July 6th announcement that it would seek to raise rates far beyond those currently allowed by law, the Affordable Mail Alliance grew from a small group of concerned USPS customers to a membership of over a thousand in less than two months. The Alliance has been gaining momentum in the wake of recent Postal Regulatory Commission Hearings, and this most recent action provides a strong argument to the PRC in advance of its coming decision on the issue.

More on the Affordable Mail Alliance
The Affordable Mail Alliance is an unprecedented coalition of postal customers who have come together to say “enough is enough” – no more postal rate hikes. The coalition includes charities, consumer groups, small business, national retailers, utilities, banks, insurance companies, Fortune 500 companies, and the customers who use the Post Office every day. The members represent many of the Postal Service’s biggest customers—and many of its smallest—and use every major class of mail. It is this cross-section of America that will suffer if USPS raises rates. For further information, please visit www.affordablemailalliance.org or contact Jessica McCreight at jmccreight@SKDKnick.com or 202 464 6900.

MURDER  BY PROXY: HOW AMERICA WENT POSTAL

Postal Workers in Florida Can See New Documentary Murder by Proxy: How America Went Postal on a Big Screen

Los Angeles, CA – August 30, 2010. A new documentary on violence in the USPS, Murder by Proxy: How America Went Postal, will be screened at two Florida film festivals this September. The film was written/produced/directed by Emil Chiaberi and produced by Oscar and Emmy winner James Moll.

Murder by Proxy will be shown at the CENFLO film festival on September 3rd at 2:55pm, At the West Orange 5, Theaters, 1575 Maguire Road Ocoee, FL. Two more screenings will take place on September 6th and 9th at Nomadic Tendencies (US branch of Strasburg International Film Festival) located at Muvico Baywalk 20, 151 2nd Ave N, St Petersburg 33701.

In July “Murder By Proxy” was screened for survivors of the 1991 postal massacre in Royal Oak, Michigan, where it was received with a strong reaction from Royal Oak postal workers. Inquiries have been pouring in from USPS employees from different parts of the country asking when they can see the film in their area. Now Florida postal workers who are based in or around St. Petersburg and Ocoee will get the chance to see the film on a big screen.

Murder by Proxy: How America Went Postal is the first documentary to examine the phenomenon of workplace massacre through the lens of the growing socio-economic strains that have swept over this country—beginning in the Reagan era and extending to the present. In the face of an ever changing economy, the film follows the plight of one of America’s working class heroes’, Charlie Withers, a 39 yr. veteran letter carrier from Royal Oak, MI, the home of the films focused incident.

The analysis of work conditions at USPS is central to the film, which sheds light on the toxic postal culture through the prism of catalyst and accountability. And for good reason: the modern, stress-driven, homicidal rampage was born in the postal system—forever changing the meaning of the phrase “going postal”. The USPS presents an ideal case study because it’s been a breeding ground for the same volatile conditions that are now found in most US work environments. “In many ways, the story of work related postal violence chronicles the erosion of America’s working class”, says director Emil Chiaberi.

Today, the USPS is under intense pressure to reduce spending. As a result, workers are once again experiencing the same volatile conditions that led to the 1991 Royal Oak shooting and other related episodes of violence. “It seems like we’ve learned little from the past,” says Charlie Withers, whose investigation of the hostile conditions in Royal Oak’s Post Office resulted in Congressional hearings. He adds: “I think this film is very timely…hopefully, it can help prevent future tragedies.” With the grassroots uprising of support, already formed by responses pouring from the postal unions, workers are eager to help educate those ignorant or dismissive of the destructive effects of volatile management practices. There is a drought of corporate responsibility for this workforce, as lives are sacrificed and the postal service becomes an increasingly exasperated and toxic culture of greed, and violence.

Following the September screenings in Florida and Germany MURDER BY PROXY: How America Went Postal will be shown in several domestic and international Film Festivals. Please visit our website form more information.

ABOUT MURDER BY PROXY: How America Went Postal

Written/Produced/Directed: Emil Chiaberi
Produced by James Moll
Edited by David A. Davidson

Running time: 76 minutes
Language: English
Release date: 2010
Official Website: www.murderbyproxyfilm.com - view trailer at website

ABOUT EMIL CHIABERI

Emil Chiaberi grew up in the Soviet Union and now lives and works in the United States as a filmmaker and CEO of an emerging biomedical company. From serving in the Soviet Army to managing a 100+ employee business, his array of personal and business experiences have made him a keen observer of the connections between cultural phenomenon, psycho-spiritual crises and their relationship to social violence. Emil’s first film, Murder by Proxy, explores these connections.

ABOUT JAMES MOLL

Oscar and Emmy winning filmmaker James Moll has been producing and directing non-fiction films for more than ten years. Moll’s feature documentary credits include Running the Sahara, Inheritance, Price for Peace, and The Last Days, which chronicles the lives of five Hungarian Holocaust survivors.

In addition to his work as a filmmaker, Moll established and operated The Shoah Foundation (currently the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education) with Steven Spielberg for the express purpose of videotaping Holocaust survivor testimonies around the world.

What:
The U.S. Postal Service will pay tribute to Mother Teresa, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work. Noted for her compassion toward the poor and suffering, Mother Teresa, a diminutive Roman Catholic nun and honorary U.S. citizen, served the sick and destitute of India and the world for nearly 50 years.

Who:
James H. Bilbray, member, Board of Governors, U.S. Postal Service John E. Potter, postmaster general and chief executive officer, U.S. Postal Service Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio of the United States The Most Reverend Barry C. Knestout, auxiliary bishop, Washington, D.C. Reverend Monsignor Walter R. Rossi, rector, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Sister Leticia, provincial superior, Missionaries of Charity Mitzi Betman, vice president, Corporate Communications, U.S. Postal Service Thomas Blackshear II, artist, Mother Teresa stamp

When:
Sunday, Sept. 5, 2010, 3:15 p.m.

Where:
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
Great Upper Church
400 Michigan Avenue, SE
Washington, D.C. 20017-1566

Background:
Mother Teresa, an ethnic Albanian, was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on Aug. 26, 1910, in Skopje in what is now the Republic of Macedonia. Drawn to the religious life as a young girl, she left her home at the age of 18 to serve as a Roman Catholic missionary in India. “By then I realized my vocation was towards the poor,” she later said. “From then on, I have never had the least doubt of my decision.” Having adopted the name of Sister Mary Teresa, she arrived in India in 1929 and underwent initial training in religious life at a convent in Darjeeling, north of Calcutta. Two years later, she took temporary vows as a nun before transferring to a convent in Calcutta. She became known as Mother Teresa in 1937, when she took her final vows.

The stamp features a portrait of Mother Teresa painted by award-winning artist Thomas Blackshear II of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Literate by Choice

Just like you are doing right now reading is a thinking process to interpret words to gain meaning about a topic. Writers write to provoke change using their persuasive language to get their point across and convince others of their point of view. The larger the audience the greater the opportunity the writer has to influence public opinion. There are enough books about the Postal Service to easily compile a heritage (“A”) list to better understand the sacrifices of our predecessors. And a required reference (“B”) list to help us understand past, present and future operational risk management.

True professionals gather, analyze, and implement lessons learned to provoke critical thinking on the front lines, or in a support role to achieve the competitive industry advantage. The first step is to read, then discuss our readings with each other. We glance at the side of a cereal box, review the narrative on the movie case, look at the newspaper, and translate the directions on how to put something together. We can find out what impacts our mail business everyday through this form of comprehension too. I offer the following brief summaries and recommend the following titles as requisite reading.

Title: The Role of the United States Postal Service in Public safety and Security; Implications of Relaxing the MailBox Monopoly.

There are 46,000 Zip Codes! Universal service is critical to binding the nation together in the timeliest and efficient manner possible. We are an essential part of the National Response Framework; we participate as an Emergency Support Function, play a vital role in the Cities Readiness Initiative, and take part in the Department of Homeland Security National Infrastructure Protection Plan. “We Deliver” and must look for other opportunities for business and revenue growth which will help keep universal service of the “most trusted” government agency alive and well in the 21st century.

Title: Going Postal (Pinnacle true crime)

Visit 12 states with “isolated incidents?” from 1983 to 1996. The GAO issued recommendations for changes including one that suggested the USPS “Select and train managers who can serve as facilitators/counselors and who have the skills experience, and interest to treat employees with respect and dignity, positively motivate employees, recognize and reward employees for good work, promote teamwork, and deal effectively with poor performers.” Statistics report a higher rate of taxi drivers and liquor store clerks murdered on the job. “They didn’t bother to mention that cabbies and clerks weren’t being slaughtered by fellow cabbies and clerks.” Data also details post offices don’t have a high rate of homicide, but they have an exceptionally high rate of employees who kill coworkers.

Titles: Deep Inside LiteBlue & Thinking Inside the LiteBlue Box

A deck plate perspective and representative sample of workplace leaders with an industrial age mentality utilizing a confrontational style of leadership and independently choosing to show limited technical expertise. An absence of postal pride leads to a decline in business performance standards. Two manuscripts loaded with hot minute topics impacting teamwork on the workroom floor. Proof there is a desperate need to drive fear out of the organization.

Title: Preserving the People’s Post Office

This book should be obligatory reading for all postal employees aspiring to management, or leadership positions with USPS. Nothing is more important than understanding where the numbers come from and how to keep them alive through employee cooperation, teamwork, participation and treating others with dignity and respect. It builds a compelling case for “never privatizing” the USPS.

Title: Any Mail for Me?

This is a superb story about five thousand years of mail for kids of all ages. Back-in-the-day messages were tattooed on shaved scalps of slaves whose hair was allowed to grow before being sent on an errand to deliver the message. Today, thousands of century’s later mail is the best way to talk to anyone else without knowing what was said. It is much more personal than email and word of mouth.

Title: The Last Monopoly: Privatizing the Postal Service for the Information Age

This is a very good topic for discussion about the notion among postal employees. There is a lot of information for privatizing the United States Postal Service and getting rid of the monopoly. “Employee owners approach their jobs with a far different attitude than most working people. They feel personally responsible for their company’s performance, they are loyal to their company, and they are responsive to their needs. That situation, in turn, creates a productive sense of teamwork between management and non-managerial employees.” That’s what the author said.

Title: The Tainted Eagle

A transparent story with actual documentation displayed inside. A letter carrier shop steward that communicated, investigated, represented, and followed up union business for the membership. He exhausted the entire system and was engaged in a very long contest for justice which was even minimized by people who should have been on his side. Read this book to see what he has done, and continue to follow his story to see what he is doing today.

Title: Beyond Going Postal: Shifting from Workplace Tragedies and Toxic Work Environments to a Safe and Healthy Organization

We all want to run our business more efficiently so it’s time to bring in one particular expert who can help! This is a real modern day account of the cultural reality inside the United States Postal Service in the year 2010. It depicts the reality of a leadership tone that has a significant influence on productivity in the postal work environment. It doesn’t matter if you are a craft employee, resource worker, supervisor, manager, or labor leader. You will relate to this bottom up perspective from an author who walks the talk, been there, done that, and got 20/20 hindsight to prove it.

Title: There’s Always Work at the Post Office: African American Postal Workers and the Fight for Jobs, Justice and Equality

If we don’t fight for change it won’t happen as apparent from this very well researched book. In 1961 President Kennedy said “Let the public service be a proud and lively career.” The author does a superb job presenting an important history lesson for all of us. Find out about the history of 9 postal unions; NALC, UFPC, NPMHU, NAPOGSME, NFPOMVED, NASDM, NPU, NA, NRLCA. You’ll have to dive into this book to get the real lowdown. Recall the 1970 strike with the euphemism for the strike weapon being “imposition of economic sanctions.” Learn about the wildcat powder keg, collective begging, and review the contributions of APWU Moe Biller and William Burrus.

Those titles are just a few of the many available to all who care about their working environment and the arduous conditions associated with delivering the mail. Knowing what has occurred in the past prevents all of us from repeating the same mistakes. The choice to read will motivate us to represent the serious philosophical spirit of those who have gone before us. We don’t want to be illiterate by choice.

Ronald Williams, Jr.
Postal Employee

Copyright 2010 R. Williams, Jr. and Postal Employee Network

LOS ALTOS, CA (KGO) — A USPS truck set on fire and melted after its driver turned on the ignition in Los Altos on Thursday afternoon. The letter carrier escaped not injured.

Investigators are trying to determine if the truck was parked over a broken gas main along La Barranca Road.

Read Full Story: Peninsula News

Postal Service Ends Third Quarter with $3.5 Billion Loss
Cash Shortfall Likely in 2011; Customer Service Scores Remain High

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service ended the third quarter of fiscal year 2010 (April 1 – June 30) with a net loss of $3.5 billion, compared with a net loss of $2.4 billion for the same quarter last year. Third-quarter mail volume totaled 40.9 billion pieces – down approximately 700 million pieces, or 1.7 percent, compared to a year ago.

Complete USPS third-quarter results include operating revenue of $16 billion, some $294 million less than the same period last year, and operating expenses of $19.5 billion, an increase of $789 million, or 4.2 percent, over the third quarter last year.

The increase in operating expenses was attributable largely to higher workers’ compensation expenses due to a non-cash fair value adjustment and higher retiree health benefits expenses. Lower interest rates adversely affected the workers’ compensation liability, resulting in a $2 billion expense for the quarter – $870 million higher than the same quarter last year.

A significant portion of USPS losses in the past few years has been due to an unprecedented decline in mail volume – down by more than 20 percent since 2007. The replacement of letter mail and business-transactions mail by electronic alternatives continues to cause downward pressure on mail volume.

The organization’s financial situation is compounded by its obligation to pay $5.4 billion to $5.8 billion annually to prefund retiree health benefits. This requirement, established in the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA), is an obligation unique to the Postal Service.

Liquidity remains a major concern as the end of the fiscal year approaches. Although cash flow appears to be sufficient for 2010 operations, it is uncertain whether cash flow, together with maximum available borrowing of $3 billion, will be enough to fund the Congressionally-mandated $5.5 billion payment to the Retiree Health Benefit Fund on September 30 and retain sufficient liquidity into 2011, according to Joseph R. Corbett, the Postal Service’s Chief Financial Officer.

“Given current trends, we will not be able to pay all 2011 obligations,” said Corbett. “Despite ongoing aggressive cost reductions totaling over $10 billion in the last three years, it is clear that a liquidity problem is looming and must be addressed through fundamental changes requiring legislation and changes to contracts”

The Postal Service has incurred net losses in 14 of the last 16 fiscal quarters. The fiscal 2010 year-to-date net loss is $5.4 billion, compared to a loss in the same period last year of $4.7 billion.

Postmaster General John Potter noted that despite the cost-cutting, the Postal Service has continued to maintain a high level of customer service. The third-quarter service score for overnight single-piece First-Class Mail was 96.7 percent on-time, an improvement of 0.4 percent from the same period last year.

“Our dedication to customer service remains a top priority,” Potter said. “We continue to provide dependable customer service even as we focus on reducing costs. With the dedicated efforts of our entire organization, we are well on track to achieve approximately $3 billion in total cost reductions in 2010,” said Potter.

Cost reductions center on initiatives to improve efficiency and match work hours to reduced mail volume. Other savings are coming from consolidating excess capacity in mail processing and transportation networks, realigning carrier routes, delaying construction of new postal facilities and a variety of other initiatives.

Work hours were reduced by 63 million in the first three quarters of fiscal 2010, or 6.6 percent compared to the first three quarters of 2009. That is the equivalent of about 36,000 full-time employees.

“Securing the fiscal stability of the Postal Service will require continued efforts in all of these areas, as well as further review of retiree health benefit prefunding,” said Potter. “It also will require that the Postal Service gain flexibility within the law to move toward five-day delivery, to adjust our network as needed, to develop new products the market demands, and to work with our unions to meet the challenges ahead.”

Details are contained in the Postal Service Form 10-Q report that will be available Aug. 9, 2010, at http://www.usps.com/financials/ (click Form 10-Q under Quarter Reports).

The following is excerpts from DR. MICHAEL J. RILEY’s testimony before the PRC on behalf of the NALC. Dr. Riley was CFO of USPS from August 1993 to July 1998.

PURPOSE OF TESTIMONY

The purpose of my testimony is evaluate whether the Postal Service’s proposal to eliminate Saturday delivery is necessary and whether it is consistent with good management practices. I conclude, for the reasons explained below, that it is neither. In my view, the Postal Service’s long-term financial health depends not on reducing the frequency of delivery but on its making its services more available to consumers.

ELIMINATING SATURDAY DELIVERY IS NOT NECESSARY

In support of its proposal to eliminate Saturday delivery, the Postal Service’s current CFO, Joseph Corbett, asserts that a change to five-day delivery is “necessary and unavoidable.” (USPS-T-2, at p.2). He asserts that the Postal Service is now in “dire financial condition,” (id. at p.3) and that eliminating Saturday street delivery is needed to help “close the gap” between the Postal Service’s costs and revenues (id. at p.14). In fact, the Postal Service’s  costs and revenues are not fundamentally misaligned and no radical change like ending Saturday delivery is necessary.

The financial challenge now facing the Postal Service stems from two principal sources. First is the requirement in the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (“PAEA”), P.L. 109-435, that the Postal Service spend billions to pre-fund its retiree health care obligations — an unfair requirement that Congress can and should change. Second is the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression, which continues to depress mail volume.

The statutory obligation to pre-fund retiree health obligations — which no other business or government agency bears — added $12.4 billion in costs to the Postal Service’s balance sheet from FY2007 to FY2009. See NALC-LR-N2010-1/6 (USPS Annual Report), at p. 48. During those same three years, the Postal Service had a cumulative net operating loss of approximately $11.8 billion. See id. at 2. Thus, without the unique burden imposed by the PAEA’s pre-funding requirement, everything else equal, the Postal Service would have enjoyed a cumulative profit during those years. And such profit would undoubtedly have been even greater had the recession not dragged down economic activity and mail volume with it.

The Postal Service’s present financial situation is also a result of its having been unfairly overcharged $75 billion in retiree pension costs, as explained in the January 10, 2010 report of the Postal Service’s Inspector General (IG). See NALC-LR-N2010-1/10. Were the Postal Service credited with the amount by which it was overcharged, that would be enough to pre-fund all of the Postal Service’s retiree health obligations and have more than enough left over to pay off the Postal Service’s debt.

Moreover, I would argue, the Postal Service’s current financial situation is in part self-inflicted, to the extent that postal management failed until just recently to seek rate increases  that would generate additional revenue. Successful service businesses raise prices as needed to maintain financial health.

The Postal Service acknowledges in its latest annual report that its current prices are a comparative “bargain”: in 2009, first-class mail in the US was 44 cents, but was 47 cents in Canada, 64 cents in Great Britain, 77 cents in Germany, 78 cents in France, 83 cents in Japan and $1.25 in Norway. (See NALC-LR-N2010-1/6, at p.1) That American mail is now relatively cheap means that even with a rate increase it would remain reasonably priced.

The PAEA allows for reasonable price increases beyond the inflation cap when made necessary due to “extraordinary or exceptional circumstances.” See PAEA Section 201. I believe that faced with the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, the Postal Service could make a credible case that these are “extraordinary or exceptional circumstances.” Indeed, I understand that on July 6, 2010, the Postal Service filed with the Commission a request for an exigent rate increase in which it argues that such “extraordinary or exceptional circumstances” now exist. See Docket # R2010-4.

A reasonable rate increase would undoubtedly help close the current gap between the Postal Service’s revenues and costs. Commission Chairman Goldway correctly noted in her April 22, 2010 testimony before the U.S. Senate that the demand for mailing services is largely price inelastic. This means that there would most likely be a substantial increase in revenue and in added profit from a reasonable price increase. Large mailers provide the majority of postal revenue and their behavior is such that they adopt to price increases with minor changes in volume. Even for those services that are slightly demand price elastic, there is a significant positive contribution.

As a rule of thumb during my time as CFO of the Postal Service, we assumed that a 10% price increase for market-dominated products (also known as “mailing services”) would yield a net revenue gain of about 9%, since it would reduce volume by about 2% and costs by about 1%. So a 10% increase on FY 2009’s $56.9 billion in market-dominated products, see NALC-LR-N2010-1/6, at p.82, would likely have produced approximately $5.1 billion in additional revenue. It would have improved the Postal Service’s bottom line by more than the $3.1 billion in net annual savings that the Postal Service says it would achieve by eliminating Saturday delivery. See USPS-T-2, at 16. It would also have made FY 2009 a profitable year for the Postal Service even with the PAEA pre-funding payment made that year and despite the recessionary drop off in economic activity.

I understand that in its recently filed exigent rate case, the Postal Service is seeking an aggregate rate increase of approximately 5.6%, which it estimates would yield a net increase in annual contribution of $3 billion. See Statement of Joseph Corbett, Docket No. R2010-4 (July 6, 2010), at p.19. Such an increase in annual contribution would be about what the Postal Service says it would save from eliminating Saturday delivery.

ELIMINATING SATURDAY DELIVERY WOULD
HURT THE POSTAL SERVICE IN THE LONG-RUN

Eliminating Saturday delivery is not only unnecessary, but would be a grave error that would hurt the Postal Service in the long-run.

The proposal to eliminate Saturday delivery reflects Postal management’s view that it must react to financial challenges with relentless cost-cutting. But no service business achieves success by a single-minded focus on cost. Of course, constraining costs is important and the Postal Service should continue to explore ways to further automate or streamline its  operations, so as to maintain productivity growth. But it should not engage in cost-cutting that eliminates valuable services to its customers.

The CEO of Coca-Cola once said that his company’s goal was that no one in the world should be more than five minutes away from a cold Coke. To achieve success as a consumer-oriented business, the Postal Service too should focus on making its products and services more available to its customers, not less. Dropping Saturday delivery would create a hole in the Postal Service’s current operations that would make customers have to wait a day longer, or more, to get their mail. It would also, for example, force customers who work during the week and who are not home to accept packages have to spend part of Saturday waiting in the pick-up line at the post office. It would inevitably cause customers to look to alternatives.

Eliminating Saturday delivery would also do harm to the Postal Service in less tangible, but no less significant ways. The Postal Service correctly describes letter carriers as “excellent ambassadors in promoting the agency’s image,” (USPS-T-1, at p.3), yet eliminating Saturday delivery would mean that many customers who work during the week would no longer have the chance to see and speak to their letter carrier.

Reducing the frequency of service would also send a signal to customers that their needs and preferences no longer matter to the Postal Service. It would reinforce the negative stereotype of the Postal Service as an inefficient government entity rather than a vital service oriented enterprise. Such a negative stereotype would not only dampen the public’s demand for postal services but would erode its support for the Postal Service as an institution.

Saturday delivery provides the Postal Service a competitive advantage over its package-delivery rivals. Rather than eliminating Saturday delivery, the Postal Service should be touting it. But the Postal Service has to a large extent failed to exploit this advantage. Most  businesses with a competitive advantage use advertising to remind individuals of the benefits of their service. Yet the Postal Service does little advertising to explain the advantages of Saturday delivery to its customers.

THE POSTAL SERVICE SHOULD ADOPT A CONSUMER-ORIENTED STRATEGY

When I was CFO of the Postal Service, we adopted a business strategy that put an emphasis on the individual customer. We recognized that the preferences of the individual customer is what drives mail volume and that what was important to the individual customer were things like convenience, courtesy, safety, security of the mail and consistency of delivery. And we tried to make it easier, not harder, for consumers to use our services. Just one example: in 1993, the Postal Service began accepting payment by credit card and customers responded enthusiastically.

Our focus on the customer in those years paid rich dividends. Mail volume rose nicely despite the advent of the Internet. From FY 1995 through FY 1998, the Postal Service posted billions in profits. During that period, the Postal Service was able to pay off its debt and triple its capital spending. Indeed, many in the mailing community expressed the view that the Postal Service was earning too much money and that the profits were excessive. After my tenure, new Postal management promised to solve that problem, and solve it they did. Billiondollar profits were soon replaced by billion-dollar losses.

Rather than continue its failed approach of focusing single-mindedly on costcutting, the Postal Service should focus again on strengthening its relationship with consumers, because that undoubtedly is where long-term success lies.

We live in an era where service companies are increasing days and hours of operation to appeal to their customers. The Postal Service should take the same approach. For  example, as Chairman Goldway has suggested, the Postal Service should consider having a network of post offices in key locations that are open more hours, and even on Sundays, and should maintain at least one 24/7 post office in every big city.

Yet the Postal Service has been going in the opposite direction, apparently ignoring the desires of its customers. For example, while the Postal Service increased the number of collection boxes in the 1990s, it began eliminating them in the following decade. It eliminated 24,000 such “blue boxes” in 2009 alone. Individual customers cannot help but notice these changes and see that the Postal Service is making it more difficult for them to use the postal system.

Reducing the frequency of mail delivery would mark yet another retreat by the Postal Service from the consumer market. Unfortunately, it would give customers yet another reason to abandon the mail and to seek out alternatives.

CONCLUSION

Contrary to the Postal Service’s assertions, eliminating Saturday delivery is not necessary to improving its finances. In my opinion, what the Postal Service needs is a reasonable price increase for market-dominated products, relief from the PAEA’s unfair retiree health pre-funding requirement and a revival of the economy. Indeed, going to five-day delivery is not only unnecessary but would be harmful to the long-term health of the Postal Service. To be a successful service-oriented enterprise, the Postal Service must focus on making its services more, not less, available to its customers.

Self-proclaimed local white supremacist leader Brian Moudry apparently doesn’t care much for his mailman either.

Federal postal inspectors paid Moudry, 33, a visit after he allegedly threatened to plant a bomb in a letter carrier’s truck on Saturday morning.

According to a police report, Moudry’s postal problems stemmed from his having stopped his mail delivery and then becoming upset when he could not figure out how to start it again.

“Apparently, he got the runaround when he went (to the post office) and he took it out on the poor postal carrier,” said Deputy Police Chief Mike Trafton.

A 33-year-old mail carrier was outside Moudry’s South Reed Street home while making his rounds. Moudry confronted him, the police report said, demanding to know, “Where’s my (expletive) mail?”

The carrier informed Moudry that he would have to go to the post office to pick it up. Moudry reportedly replied, “I already went there and they said I will get my (expletive) mail.”

When the carrier, who is black, repeated himself, Moudry told him, “I’ll put a bomb in your (expletive) truck when you get back,” police said.

Read complete story at Sun-Times Media – scroll down for article.

July 19, 2010

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
It’s Time to Fight Back

It is time for poor and Middle-class workers to start fighting back. The corporate community has become increasingly prone to take shortcuts on safety, create hostile work environments, undercutting and even stealing wages from gainfully employed workers in the name of grossly obscene profits.

These unconscionable practices in the name of ever more profits are not only having a negative impact on the quality of life of the poor and middle-class, but often, literally, sacrifice their very lives, as we’ve seen in an increasing number of cases, as in the coal mine disaster in Kentucky that took the lives of 29 coal miners, and the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico less than a month later, that took the lives of 11 oil workers. Both of these “accidents” were avoidable, and due to reckless penny-pinching by the corporations.

What the corporate community is calling “unfortunate accidents” are not accidents at all. They’re actually the corporate community’s reckless response to the new global economy – and it’s having a devastating impact on the American middle-class standard of living, and an even worse impact on the poor.

What we once thought of as American corporations have now become international in scope. They have no loyalty to any one nation, nor any respect for any geographical boundary. They’re now competing with countries that pay their workers less per week than many American workers spend on lunch per day. As a result, the American middle-class standard of living has become a liability and is under an aggressive assault by both the corporate and governmental establishment.

Something has to be done, so in response to this attack on our quality of life I’ve recently become associated with three gentlemen who share my belief that it is essential that the middle-class beat back this assault by every means at our disposal. These gentlemen include the following:

• Lewis Maltby: Attorney, author (Can They Do That?), and former president of the worker’s Rights Division of the ACLU. Lew is also current president of the National Workrights Institute.
• Dr. Steve Musacco: Therapist, author (Beyond Going Postal), occupational psychologist, and 30-year veteran of the postal service, retired. Steve was involved in the development and implementation of both the Voice of the Employee Program and the Employee Assistance Program for the U.S. Postal Service.
• Rick Owens: Publisher of the Postal Employee Network. Rick’s publication reaches the workforce of the postal service’s 600,000 employees.
• My name is Eric Wattree. I’m an author (A Message From the Hood), and I write a political column called Beneath the Spin. My column is carried in the Los Angeles Sentinel, New York’s Black Star News, and several other publications in America’s heartland. I’m also a staff writer for Veterans Today – a publication that is global in scope.

We’ve come together to establish a non-partisan organization called CARMA (Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse). We’re currently in the process of developing a database to increase our numbers. We intend to consolidate and flex the political clout of poor and middle-class workers in a way that will be impossible for politicians, unions, and the corporate media to ignore. We also intend to use our clout to address the reckless assault on the poor and middle-class through both political action, and in the courts.

We intend to take no prisoners, nor give any group a pass based on political concerns, be they corporations, unions, or politicians. So we urge every American worker to become part of this important effort to defend poor and middle-class workers. If maintaining or enhancing your standard of living is important to you, please contact the e-mail address below and become a part of our database. If you’re already a part of our database, please distribute this message to your family, friends, and neighbors.

We don’t need one voice speaking for millions; we need millions speaking with one voice.

Eric L. Wattree|Wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com

Sunday Funnies Comic Strips Debut on Stamps

COLUMBUS, OH — The U.S. Postal Service celebrated five newspaper comic strips by dedicating the Sunday Funnies stamps today. The 44-cent First-Class stamps honor comic strips: Archie, Beetle Bailey, Dennis the Menace, Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes. The strips, as well as their characters, may have changed over the years, yet each remains an enduring classic.

”Like stamps, comic strips often tell a story through humor, adventure, fantasy and sometimes even drama,” said U.S. Postal Service Eastern Area Vice President Megan Brennan. “Today, we are gathered to commemorate five of our country’s most beloved comic strips and dedicate an amazing stamp pane that represents a unique part of American culture.”

Brennan dedicated the stamps at The Ohio State University, home of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. Joining in the dedication were The Ohio State University Executive Vice President and Provost Joseph Alutto and The Ohio State University Libraries Director Carol Pitts Diedrichs. Special guests included Beetle Bailey creator Mort Walker; Garfield creator Jim Davis; Dennis the Menace artists Marcus Hamilton and Ron Ferdinand; Archie Comics newspaper strip writer Craig Goldman; and, Calvin and Hobbes Editor Lee Salem.

Art director Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, MD, selected the images appearing on the stamps.

The Archie stamp features Archie sharing a chocolate shake with brunette Veronica Lodge on his right and blonde Betty Cooper on his left. Offering an idealized portrait of American adolescence, Archie existed only in comic-book form before debuting in newspapers in 1946. A typical small-town teenager with a knack for goofing things up, 17-year-old Archie Andrews is often torn between haughty Veronica and sweet Betty.

The Beetle Bailey stamp features Beetle, smiling calmly while Sarge loses his cool. A military strip with universal appeal, Beetle Bailey first appeared in September 1950. Possibly the laziest man in the army, Private Beetle Bailey is an expert at sleeping and avoiding work. His chronic indolence antagonizes Sergeant Orville P. Snorkel, who is tough on his men but calls them “my boys.”

The Calvin and Hobbes stamp captures the precocious six-year-old and his tiger pal making scary — and ridiculous — faces. Calvin and Hobbes explores the fantasy life of six-year-old Calvin and his tiger, Hobbes. The inseparable friends ponder the mysteries of the world and test the fortitude of Calvin’s parents, who never know where their son’s imagination will take him. The strip ran from November 1985 to December 1995.

The Dennis the Menace stamp features five-year-old Dennis dressed in red coveralls and striped shirt running off to some new adventure. Dennis the Menace follows the antics of Dennis Mitchell, a good-hearted but mischievous little boy who is perpetually “five-ana-half” years old. His curiosity tests the patience of his loving parents and neighbors, guaranteeing that their lives are anything but dull. The comic debuted in March 1951 as a single-panel gag.

The Garfield stamp features the crabby tabby standing back to back with Odie, a carefree, energetic dog. Garfield first waddled onto the comics page in June 1978. Self-centered and cynical, Garfield hates Mondays and loves lasagna. He lives with Jon Arbuckle, a bumbling bachelor with a fatally flawed fashion sense, and Odie, a dopey-but-devoted dog.

Ordering First-Day-of-Issue Postmarks

Customers have 60 days to obtain first-day-of-issue postmarks by mail. They may purchase new stamps at Post Offices, at The Postal Store website at www.usps.com/shop, or by calling 800-STAMP-24. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes to themselves or others, and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

Sunday Funnies Stamp
850 Twin Rivers Drive, Retail – Rm. 416
Columbus, OH 43216-9653

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by Sept. 17, 2010.

Ordering First-Day Covers

Stamp Fulfillment Services also offers first-day covers for new stamp issues and Postal Service stationery items postmarked with the official first-day-of-issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the quarterly USA Philatelic catalog. Customers may request a free catalog by calling 800-STAMP-24 or writing to:

Information Fulfillment
Dept. #6270
U.S. Postal Service
PO Box 219014
Kansas City, MO 64121-9014

Philatelic Products

There are five philatelic products available for this stamp issue at this link:

• 465563, First-Day Cover Set of 5, $4.10.
• 465568, Digital Color Postmark Set of 5, $7.50.
• 465584, Uncut Press Sheet, $79.20.
• 465591, Ceremony Program, $6.95.
• 465599, Cancellation Keepsake (Pane of 20 & Digital