Senator Carper (Delaware) has launched a new page at his official site that includes tracking and comment regarding losses by USPS. His page states…

As we learned this week, the Postal Service is moving forward with cutting hours at post offices and offering retirement incentives for some postal workers across the country. Rather than forcing the Postal Service to continue to rely on these sorts of piecemeal, stopgap measures to cut costs, Congress must work to enact comprehensive reform that provides the tools and resources the Postal Service needs to survive in the 21st Century. The Senate has done this. The ball is in the House’s court. Although the Postal Reform Act of 2011 was passed out of the relevant House committee in October 2011, leaders in the House of Representatives have yet to schedule a vote on the bill. The Senate, however, passed a bipartisan postal reform bill, the 21st Century Postal Service Act, on April 25, 2012.

With each day that the House fails to take action, the Postal Service loses $25 million. Further delays could accelerate an already deteriorating financial situation at the Postal Service that would threaten a mailing industry that employs over 8 million people and generates nearly $1 trillion in economic activity each year. Make no mistake, the Postal Service’s financial problems are dire, but they are solvable if Congress acts to pass comprehensive postal reform legislation.

The Postal Service’s Losses, By the Numbers

$6,500,000,000 Total FY 2012 Postal Service Losses So Far
$500,000,000 What New USPS Cost-Cutting Plan for Post Offices Saves in 1 Year
$25,000,000 What the Postal Service Loses Each Day
16 Days How Long it Currently Takes USPS to lose $500,000,000 – the same amount of savings announced in new USPS plan
$13,000,000,000+ Current Postal Service Debt to U.S. Treasury
143 Days Until USPS has to pay $11.1 billion for future retiree healthcare costs (as of 5/10)
15 Days Since the Senate Passed Comprehensive Postal Reform Legislation (as of 5/10)
211 Days Since the House Reported Its Postal Reform Bill Out of Committee (as of 5/10)
??? Days Until the House Takes Action on Postal Reform Legislation

Visit Senator Carper’s page for more information

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives, on a mostly party-line vote, approved a budget measure Thursday that would require federal employees in both the Civil Service Retirement System and the Federal Employees Retirement System to contribute 5 percent more of salary toward their pensions—in effect, a 5 percent cut in pay phased in for current workers over five years. Click here to read more.

More than 100 U.S. representatives have signed a letter to Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe [PDF], urging him to extend the moratorium on the closure of post offices and mail processing facilities, and asking him to refrain from cutting hours at rural offices.

“We write to urge you to extend the May 15 moratorium on post office and mail processing facility closures until the Congress has completed action on postal reform legislation, including any action that would result in cuts to rural postal services such as cutting back hours at rural facilities,” the May 9 letter said.

The passage of a postal reform bill in the Senate “is evidence that Congress is moving toward putting the United States Postal Service on a path to sustainability,” 107 House members said. “We understand that the USPS cannot sustain itself under its current system, and we agree it is up to Congress to act,” they wrote.

Recently the Postmaster General has said there won’t be a large number of closures as soon as the moratorium expires, but he has not agreed to extend the moratorium.

But postal workers, along with many lawmakers and postal customers, are unwilling to rely on his public reassurances that closures will be handled methodically and will not be disruptive.

“The Postmaster General’s positions and plans have changed many times in the last year, but his strategy has been consistent,” said APWU Executive Vice President Greg Bell. “His goal is to cut jobs, close post offices and mail processing facilities, and dismantle the postal network. We must do everything we can to stop him.

“The Postal Service should drop its plans to cut service, and develop a strategy to expand service and strengthen the USPS,” Bell added.

Forty-seven senators have also asked the Postmaster General to extend the moratorium. The four co-sponsors of a Senate bill asked Donahoe to extend the moratorium until after legislation is enacted. In a letter dated April 30, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) and Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), wrote, “There is considerable concern in the Senate that this approach will unnecessarily degrade the infrastructure which is one of the Postal Service’s most important assets.

“We believe an attempt to proceed with the planned closures — to ‘get in under the wire’ while legislation to the contrary is being considered — would be counterproductive and would violate the clear intent of the Senate.”

On May 2, 43 senators, including 37 Democrats, five Republicans, and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) also asked Donahoe to extend the moratorium on the closing of post offices and mail processing facilities. They wrote [PDF], “We are deeply concerned that the closing of these postal facilities prior to postal reform legislation being enacted would be devastating to communities around the country.”

However, three Republicans — Sen. John McCain (AZ), Sen. Tom Coburn (OK), and Sen. Bob Corker (TN) — have urged Donahoe to proceed with planned closures and other cutbacks. “Despite the Senate’s passage last week of S. 1789, the 21st Century Postal Service Act of 2012, we believe it is very unlikely that both the House and Senate will come to agreement on legislation that reforms the postal system anytime soon and strongly encourage you to move forward with the cost-saving changes you have previously outlined,” they wrote.

The House of Representatives voted for a 5 percent cut in postal and federal workers’ pay on May 10 by approving an increase in employees’ pension contributions. Republican members of the House provided all 218 votes in favor of the measure, while 183 Democrats and 16 Republicans opposed it.

The 2012 Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act, introduced by Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), would phase-in the five percent contribution increases to both the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) over five years.

The bill requires FERS employees to contribute 5.8 percent of each paycheck toward the FERS basic annuity portion of their pensions and requires CSRS employees to contribute 12 percent, yet it does not increase employees’ annuities or provide any additional benefits upon retirement.

The bill would also require new federal employees who are hired after 2012 with fewer than five years of previous federal service to immediately pay 5.8 percent to the FERS plan, with no phase-in.

In addition, the bill would eliminate the FERS Social Security supplement for new employees hired beginning in 2013, which is now paid to FERS employees who voluntarily retire before reaching age 62.

“Once again, Congressional Republicans are insisting on balancing the budget on the backs of public servants who provide important services to the American people,” said APWU President Cliff Guffey.

The bill will next be considered by the U.S. Senate. Members are urged to contact their two U.S. Senators and ask them to oppose this egregious attack on postal and federal employees.

“This bill is reprehensible. I encourage union members to contact their Senators and ask them to remove this provision when it is considered,” the union president said.

“APWU members should also contact the offices of their U.S. representative and ask why supporters of H.R. 5652 voted to cut their pay,” said Legislative and Political Director Myke Reid.

Union members can reach their senators’ and representative’s offices by calling the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121.

To find out how your representative voted, click here.

WASHINGTON — The Postal Service ended its second quarter (Jan. 1 – March 31) with a net loss of $3.2 billion, compared to a net loss of $2.2 billion for the same period last year. Despite ongoing management actions that have grown and improved efficiency, the losses will continue until key provisions of the Postal Service five-year business plan move forward.

Without the impact of the non-controllable costs related to mandated retiree health benefit pre-funding payments and accounting for non-cash adjustments for worker’s compensation, the non-GAAP loss for the quarter was $486 million compared to $469 million for the same period last year as shown in Table I below.

The losses are due primarily to legislative mandates such as the unique mandated pre-funding of retiree health benefits, and prohibiting management from making the needed operational and human resource changes required to address these issues under current laws and contracts. Also contributing to the continuing losses are the declining First-Class Mail and Standard Mail volumes. The Congress must act soon to pass legislation providing the Postal Service with the flexibility and speed needed to make the changes necessary for long-term financial viability.

“We are aggressively pursuing new revenue streams and reducing costs in areas within our control,” said Postmaster General and CEO Patrick Donahoe. ”These actions are not enough to return the Postal Service to profitability. The legislative changes outlined in our business plan will enable us to reduce annual operational expenses by approximately $22.5 billion by 2016 and set the stage for long-term financial stability so we can continue to provide secure, reliable and economical universal service to the American public.”

Postal Service actions to increase revenue continue to pay off in the shipping and package service lines of its business. Revenues related to shipping and packages totaled $3.5 billion, an increase of over 13 percent compared to the same period in the previous year, as volume increased 74 million pieces, or 9 percent.

Despite the growth and success of Postal Service shipping and package products, it was not enough to overcome the decline in Mailing Services. Revenue from Mailing Services, excluding Market Dominant packages, totaled $12.8 billion, a 3 percent decrease compared to the same period last year, on a volume decrease of 1.8 billion pieces. The revenue reduction reflects the continued decline in First-Class Mail as consumers continue to turn to electronic alternatives. The second quarter also saw a decline in Standard Mail, attributable to a decline in direct mail advertising spending across a number of sectors as sales prospecting slowed in certain sectors, advertisers used more selective targeting methods and competition from electronic advertising media increased.

“We expect to retain the ability to continue high quality delivery services to all of our customers, and continue to take all actions necessary to make sure that our employees and suppliers will be paid. Without legislative change, we will not have sufficient cash to pay the $11.1 billion required for retiree health prefunding and may be forced to default on other payments due to the Federal Government,” said Chief Financial Officer Joe Corbett.

The Postal Service’s comprehensive business plan addresses these financial challenges through revenue growth programs, process improvements, eliminating excess mail processing capacity and other actions to address underutilized assets as well as improve operational efficiencies. It includes targeted legislative changes such as giving the Postal Service the ability to transition to a five-day delivery schedule, restructuring the retiree health pre-funding, enabling the Postal Service to sponsor its own health care program that is independent of other federal health insurance programs, and returning nearly $11 billion dollars to the Postal Service from its prior overfunding of the Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS) which would provide vital cash flow to ease the current liquidity crisis.

Other details of the second quarter results compared to the same period last year include:

• Total mail volume of 39.5 billion pieces, a decrease of 1.7 billion pieces, or 4.1%;
• Operating revenue of $16.2 billion, a decrease of $7 million or less than 1 percent;
• Operating expenses of $19.4 billion, an increase of $938 million, or 5.1 percent, driven by expenses related to the legally mandated prefunding of retiree health benefits payments scheduled to be paid in the final quarter of this year;
• Transportation expenses of $1.7 billion, an increase of $126 million, or 8.1 percent, driven by rising fuel costs. Other expenses of $2.3 billion, a decrease of $133 million, or 5.6 percent.

These results bring the year to date net loss to $6.5 billion, compared to $2.6 billion for the same period last year.

Table 1 

Complete financial results are available in the Form 10-Q, available at http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/financials/welcome.htm

In order to better address the many phone and email inquiries that members have about the Post Office Structure Plan and VER related issues, the NAPUS website will add a dedicated link for the POStPlan program. The link will include postings of questions and answers, updates on POStPlan, and detailed information on VERs, incentives and RIF procedures. The page will go live tomorrow afternoon (Friday, May 11, 2012.) Active Postmasters are encouraged to visit the site for updates and information on POStPlan. You may see an answer to your question on the new link, visit http://www.napus.org/.

Charlie Moser
May 10, 2012

May 10, 2012 — Today’s U.S. Postal Service’s announcement about the most recent fiscal quarter reinforces our view of the financial situation facing the USPS and how it can be fixed.

The Postal Service reports that 96 percent of its losses – $3.05 billion out of $3.18 billion – have nothing to do with mail delivery expenses, but rather result from an external political mandate. Since 2007, Congress has compelled the Postal Service to pre-fund future retiree health benefits for 75 years into the future, an obligation that will cost the USPS $11 billion this year. No other public agency or private company in the country is compelled to pre-fund.

Today’s report follows on last quarter’s financial statement by the Postal Service, which also showed that in operational terms the Postal Service is doing quite well – in fact last quarter there was a $200 million profit delivering the mail, with pre-funding accounting for all the losses.

The Postal Service’s own data shows that the first thing Congress needs to do is address this artificial political burden that is driving almost all the red ink. For the first half of this fiscal year, the USPS reports that pre-funding accounts for $6.2 billion of the $6.5 billion in red ink.

It would be absurd to start to dismantle the universal network and degrade service to the American people and America’s businesses – when almost all of the red ink has nothing to do with the costs of those services but stems directly from a burden that Congress imposed and Congress could fix overnight.

The service reductions called for in the Senate bill, and the worse ones called for in the House bill, would not fix the actual financial drain on the Postal Service. Rather, they would worsen things by driving customers away and reducing revenue.

We acknowledge that a thoughtful restructuring of the Postal Service is needed to adapt to the country’s changing needs. For 200 years, the USPS has adapted to an evolving society. Neither of the bills before Congress provides for such a thoughtful or constructive approach.

The Postal Service’s own figures and statement shows that the major cause of the financial problems is not – despite the conventional wisdom – Internet competition. In fact, the USPS today, as last quarter, cited a sharp rise in the shipping of packages ordered online as contributing to the good operational performance. That bodes well for the future, because that part of the business will continue to grow. If Congress will step up and fix the pre-funding problem it created, the USPS can focus on taking full advantage of this and other opportunities to better serve the public.

For 30 years, the Postal Service has not used a dime of taxpayer money, while providing the world’s most efficient and most affordable delivery service.

The APWU is continuing to analyze the Postal Service’s May 9 announcement that it will allow rural post offices to remain open, but with reduced hours.

“We support efforts to preserve service to the American people,” said APWU President Cliff Guffey. “In fact, we believe the long-term survival of the Postal Service depends on expanding service and offering new products.

“We applaud the proposal to allow greater community input on rural postal services and to keep offices open, but we are disappointed by the decision to reduce hours at these offices.

“The outpouring of interest in USPS plans demonstrates the importance of the Postal Service to our nation. It also demonstrates the importance of maintaining the service standards the American people have come to expect.

“Unfortunately, the Postal Service’s latest plan will not solve the USPS financial crisis, and it is important to note that 223 mail processing facilities remain in jeopardy.

“Only Congress can restore financial stability to the USPS by relieving the agency of the unreasonable requirement to pre-fund 75 years worth of healthcare benefits for future retirees in a 10-year period.

“It is imperative that the House act quickly to consider postal reform. We believe the appropriate starting point for discussion is the bill that was approved by the Senate on April 25.

“We urge House leaders to begin debate on the Senate bill.”

As the May 15 expiration of a moratorium on the closure of post offices and mail processing facilities approaches, the APWU is urging the House of Representatives to address postal reform immediately, and to use the Senate bill as a starting point. The USPS’ May 9 announcement about keeping rural offices open isn’t binding and won’t solve the USPS financial crisis, so we must keep fighting, the union says.

The attention of lawmakers, postal workers and customers shifted to the House after the Senate passed a bi-partisan postal bill (S. 1789) on April 25, but, so far, House leaders have displayed no sense of urgency in addressing the issue. As CNN Money reported on April 27, “Aides say Republican leaders don’t feel pressured to take up the House bill right away, because they’re not worried about postal closures.”

But the union, postal customers and many legislators see things differently. “We cannot allow legislative inaction to force the USPS to implement drastic cuts that will destroy the nation’s mail system, damage service, and jeopardize tens of thousands of jobs,” said APWU President Cliff Guffey.

“I encourage all union members to contact their representatives and urge them to consider postal reform legislation immediately. Be sure to ask them to use the Senate bill as a starting point,” he said.

The Senate Bill

“The Senate bill is flawed,” Guffey said, “but it is much better than an earlier version — and it is infinitely better than the bill that was approved by a House Committee last year.

“The improvements to the Senate bill are the result of the efforts of postal workers, customers, and legislators who recognize the importance of the USPS to American life — and have fought to protect it,” he said. “We now must apply the same determination to the House.”

The APWU is seeking several improvements to the Senate bill:

• Strengthen the language that addresses congressional mandates that are bankrupting the USPS;
• Improve the protections of service standards, which are essential to preserving the Postal Service and postal jobs, and
• Eliminate provisions that would have devastating consequences for the thousands of postal and federal employees who were injured on the job and who receive compensation from the Office of Workers Compensation Program (OWCP).

“Despite the weaknesses of the Senate bill, it would provide the USPS with short-term financial relief, and it would allow more community input in the decision-making processing for closing or consolidating post offices and postal facilities,” Guffey said. It also would give the Postal Regulatory Commission authority to reverse USPS decisions on closures and consolidations.

House Bill Would Destroy USPS

H.R. 2309, the bill that was approved by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, would “destroy the Postal Service as we know it,” the union president said. “We must not allow it to serve as the starting point for discussion in the House.”

The bill, which was sponsored by Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA), and Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL), would require the USPS to implement $3 billion worth of cuts in post offices and mail processing facilities in a two-year period, and would slash “door delivery.” The bill also would gut collective bargaining — prohibiting postal unions and the USPS from negotiating protection against layoffs and allowing an appointed board to reject labor contracts it considers too costly.

The APWU enthusiastically supports another House bill, H.R. 1351, introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA). The legislation has 227 co-sponsors, which constitutes a majority of House members, but Rep. Issa has refused to allow a vote on the measure.

May 09 2012

ROCKEFELLER STATEMENT ON NEW POSTAL SERVICE PLAN TO LIMIT HOURS AT ALMOST 500 WV POST OFFICES

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senator Jay Rockefeller today issued the following statement on the U.S. Postal Service’s decision to reduce hours at 13,000 post offices nationwide, and almost 500 in West Virginia.

“On its face, this move looks like an improvement over the previous proposal to flat out close 150 post offices in West Virginia,” said Rockefeller. “But I continue to be very concerned about the Postal Service’s constantly shifting plans and lack of information about how its proposals will impact jobs and services in our state. This new plan will potentially impact far more West Virginians and it fails to take into account the many other options for reducing costs besides cutting postal jobs and services in rural areas like West Virginia.

“The Postal Service must fix its worsening finances, but it doesn’t have do that at the expense of our state’s jobs and services. We need to take responsible steps forward and I intend to have a very candid conversation about this with the Postmaster General during our meeting tomorrow.”

On May 7, Rockefeller sent a letter to the Postmaster General urging the Postal Service to reconsider closing 150 post offices and consolidating mail processing centers in West Virginia as these actions unfairly target jobs and postal services in West Virginia, as well as other rural states. He also asked the Postmaster General to extend the current moratorium on any post office closings and mail processing center consolidations in the state. Click here to view the letter.

On March 20, Rockefeller, Manchin, and five other Senators sent a strongly worded letter to the Postmaster General pressing for details about how the Postal Service is spending its money and identified ways to save billions of dollars and raise new revenue before pushing ahead with drastic cuts to post offices and other facilities. Click here to view the letter.