{"id":9495,"date":"2014-12-20T11:58:01","date_gmt":"2014-12-20T16:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=9495"},"modified":"2014-12-20T11:58:01","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T16:58:01","slug":"usps-tells-customers-get-postal-discounts-at-staples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2014\/12\/20\/usps-tells-customers-get-postal-discounts-at-staples\/","title":{"rendered":"USPS Tells Customers: Get Postal Discounts at Staples"},"content":{"rendered":"

Union Says \u2018Return-to-Sender\u2019<\/h3>\n
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APWU – 12\/19\/2014<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>–\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Postal management has launched a new offensive \u2013 one that clearly reveals the sinister goals of its no-bid deal with Staples.<\/p>\n

The Postal Service has sent a mass mailing to \u201cpostal customers\u201d advertising 20 percent discounts on USPS shipping services.<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>But the coupon glued inside isn\u2019t for use at your neighborhood Post Office.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s for USPS shipping services at Staples. \u201cMail & Ship at Staples 7 Days a Week,\u201d the ad says. \u201cBring this coupon to a participating Staples store.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Slap in the Face<\/strong><\/p>\n

Calling the USPS-sponsored ad a \u201cslap in the face to postal workers\u201d Vince Tarducci, president of the Philly BMC Local, got busy. After discussing the ad with infuriated union members, the local decided to organize a response: \u201cMark their Staples mail, \u2018Return to sender,\u2019 and send it back where it came from,\u201d the local wrote in a flyer for union members.<\/p>\n

APWU President Mark Dimondstein praised the action. \u201cI applaud the Philly BMC Local for taking the initiative to get this started. I urge every local to be on the lookout for the ads and to organize a similar response. I encourage every postal employee to ask their family and friends to do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery union member who receives the ad can take part,\u201d he said. \u201cJust cross out the bar code, write \u2018Return to Sender,\u2019 and drop it off on your way in to work,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear how widespread the Postal Service\u2019s ad campaign on behalf of Staples is. Besides Philadelphia, the union has received reports that the mailer was received in New York City, Connecticut and Utah.<\/p>\n

In Philadelphia, ads were sent in bulk to public schools for distribution to teachers. Locals should remind teachers in their cities and towns of the boycott, Dimondstein said, noting that the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA) have signed on the\u00a0<\/span>Stop Staples<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>campaign.<\/p>\n

No Doubt<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIf there ever was any doubt about the goal of the Postal Service\u2019s dirty deal with Staples, this settles it,\u201d Dimondstein said.\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe USPS is using its resources \u2013 resources it got from postal customers \u2013 to advertise and subsidize a private retailer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intent is clear: to incentivize customers to abandon their neighborhood post offices in favor of Staples,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext management will conduct a study and discover that traffic is down in post offices. And they will say that justifies closing them,\u201d Dimondstein added.<\/p>\n

The union is pursuing the issue at the national level with the USPS Office of Inspector General. The union is also renewing its demands for information about the no-bid deal between the USPS and Staples, which has been cloaked in secrecy from the outset.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Postal Service has taken the Staples fight to another level,\u201d Dimondstein said. \u201cThis ad underscores why we are fighting and why we must continue to fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ask every postal employee to encourage their family and friends to take their business elsewhere until Staples gets out of the postal business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Why We\u2019re Boycotting<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the fall of 2013, the Postal Service and Staples implemented a pilot program that established knock-off post offices in 82 Staples stores. The postal counters are staffed with low-wage Staples employees rather than highly-trained USPS employees.<\/p>\n

After months of protests, the union launched a\u00a0<\/span>Don\u2019t Buy Staples<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>campaign, which was endorsed by the AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, AFSCME, SEIU, the International Association of Firefighters, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, our sister postal unions and many other labor organizations.<\/p>\n

In July, the USPS and Staples discontinued the trial, but replaced it with a modified version of the program, which it plans to expand to all Staples stores.<\/p>\n

The APWU objects to the Staples deal because it privatizes the retail operations of the\u00a0<\/span>public<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>Postal Service; transfers living-wage, union jobs to low-wage jobs, and compromises the safety and security of the mail.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Union Says \u2018Return-to-Sender\u2019 APWU – 12\/19\/2014\u00a0–\u00a0Postal management has launched a new offensive \u2013 one that clearly reveals the sinister goals of its no-bid deal with Staples. The Postal Service has sent a mass mailing to \u201cpostal customers\u201d advertising 20 percent discounts on USPS shipping services.\u00a0But the coupon glued inside isn\u2019t for use at your neighborhood […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9496,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking","category-apwu-news","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9495"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9497,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9495\/revisions\/9497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}