Post Notes

Whoa!

2008-02-23T07:34:00.006-05:00

The Postal Service's recent announcement of another rate increase has started (expectedly) to incite complaints from the public, as though nothing else is going up in price.

The one-penny rate hike, effective May 12, represents "the second increase in about a year", whines The Messenger, a newspaper in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

The Messenger in an editorial in today's edition says:

"Never mind that inflation in general may not reflect the Postal Service's expenses. And never mind that the new system does not provide the incentives for efficiency that existed in the past.

And concludes: "It may be time for Congress to revisit the issue, asking whether it has been made too easy for the Postal Service to put its stamp of approval on rate increases."

Wonder who's out there miseducating a Midwestern paper and prompting calls for Congress to kick the postal reform tires?

Fuelish Surcharges

2008-01-23T17:53:00.000-05:00

The PAEA permits the Postal Service to escape the law's inflation-linked limit on USPS shipping prices if "extraordinary or exceptional circumstances" come about -- but that would take something nearly cataclysmic, like a dramatic and unexpected surge in fuel prices, perhaps brought about by a geopolitical crisis in the Middle East.

The drip-drip-drip in incremental hikes in prices at the pump, on the other hand, won't give the USPS a reprieve.

Compare that with the variety of surcharges that FedEx, UPS and DHL regularly pass-on to their customers, including a fuel surcharge pegged to rising fuel prices.

The Motley Fool focused on the impact of these extra charges and highlighted the difference they make in shipping a package via USPS versus its competitors. It also noted that FedEx and UPS and FedEx last year raised their rates an average of 4.9% for their ground and express services.

The Postal Service has a pretty nifty set of tools on its website to help consumers get a handle on how much they'll save and avoid those nasty surcharges by shipping with the Blue Eagle, versus UPS and FedEx. The site also provides You-Tube-like-video from small biz owners testifying to the savings they reaped through partnering with USPS. Smart marketing, USPS.

Slip-Sliding Away?

2008-01-22T21:55:00.000-05:00

As the U.S. economy continues to unravel, the looming question for the U.S. Postal Service is how significantly a recession could rock mailer spending -- and ultimately the state of USPS finances.

Especially in the first full year of operations under the new postal law and PRC rules, which generally limit postal price hikes in mailing services (which constitute 90 percent of postal revenues) to inflationary changes, regardless whether USPS revenues go up or down.

The first indication of how bad a bite the economic downturn may take out of USPS revenues will be revealed next Wednesday, January 30, at the next meeting of the USPS Board of Governors.

That will come when USPS Chief Financial Officer H. Glen Walker reports on the financial results of the most recent quarter (October - December, 2007). That period historically represents the largest quarter of USPS receipts, due to holiday-related mail volume, both in first-class and advertising mail.

Retailer data on 2007 holiday sales show that the period was a setback for many merchants, with 2007 the weakest year since 2002. Since then, consumer spending has remained sluggish, and could continue at a dismal pace into 2009, experts say. Consumer spending is a bellweather for the economy and generally reflects the direction of advertising spending using the mail, and upon which postal revenues are increasingly reliant.

Bigger than a Bread Box

2008-01-20T12:55:00.000-05:00

OK, it may not be sexy. But it's an important start.

The first actions by the Postal Service exercising its broader product and pricing flexibility under the new postal reform law have been announced by USPS.

They occurred in connection with filing notifications by USPS with the Postal Regulatory Commission.

Effective March 3, USPS will offer a new, larger Priority Mail Flat Rate Box, that will help customers to ship 50 percent more than with the current box. It will be offered at a discount to overseas military addresses — another postal first for the armed forces.

The Postal Service also announced a new Sunday and holiday delivery price for Express Mail.

For further details and prices, read here.

Justice Dealt Following Attack on Postal Supervisor

2008-01-20T12:20:00.000-05:00

Add this to the annals of postal violence.

A January 17 press release by the U.S. Attorney for Maryland announced the sentencing of two USPS employees, resulting from their violent attack upon their supervisor at the Postal Service Incoming Mail Facility in Linthicum, Maryland.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office:

"U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson sentenced John Bermudez, Jr., age 31, of Brooklyn, Maryland today to 10 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for assault of a government official and sentenced his brother, Gregory Bermudez, age 28, of Millersville, Maryland to eight months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, on the same charge, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. John Bermudez was convicted by a federal jury on August 2, 2007 after a three day trial and Gregory Bermudez pleaded guilty on July 26, 2007.

According to the guilty plea, testimony at trial and other court documents, Gregory Bermudez and John Bermudez, Jr., worked at the United States Postal Service Incoming Mail Facility (IMF) in Linthicum, Maryland. On February 8, 2006 at the IMF a supervisor instructed John Bermudez to stop playing cards and return to work. Both defendants argued with the supervisor, who sought the assistance of the manager of the work floor. When the manager responded he discovered the defendants in a heated argument with another employee. Unable to regain control of the work floor, the manager informed the defendants that he was calling the police and turned to walk away. The defendants followed the manager and, as the manager approached the phone, Gregory Bermudez struck him from behind with his fist. The victim fell to the ground and both defendants punched and kicked him as he lay on the ground. The defendants then left the facility through the loading dock area."

BMC Outsourcing RFP On the Way

2008-01-20T11:08:00.000-05:00

The Postal Service expects next month to request proposals on how to contract-out some Bulk Mail Center activities, according to APWU.

APWU reports on its website that its national officers learned of the BMC outsourcing plans during a USPS “pre-decisional briefing” on developments associated with the Request for Information (RFI) Concerning a Time-Definite Surface Network issued by USPS last July.

That document, according to USPS, sought to “identify interested organizations with the capability to implement a time-definite mail distribution and transportation network."

In the RFI, the Postal Service invited private sector companies to indicate whether they were interested in helping to build and operate a private, sub-contracted national or regional network of facilities to support the distribution and transportation of Standard, Periodical and Package mail. Responses were due by September 24.

It appears now, nearly five months later, that USPS received a sufficient positive response from logistics operators to proceed to the next step: solicitating actual proposals on how to outsource some BMC activities.

The Postal Service's interest in privatizing portions of the mail distribution and transportation network represents one of its major cost-containment strategies, according to its updated Transformation Plan.

Attempting to tamp down job anxiety about the impact of potential BMC outsourcing, APWU President William Burrus said, "“While we expect changes to the BMC network and to the employee complement, we do not anticipate that they will result in a significant reduction in the number of USPS employees.” Burrus also held open the possibility of “in-sourcing” some functions that are currently performed by non-USPS employees.

More DNM Shots in Concord

2008-01-20T10:32:00.000-05:00

The Postal Service has fired back at the claims of Do Not Mail advocates in New Hampshire, where the state legislature is considering a Do Not Mail bill, HB 1506. (Earlier posts on the bill are here and here.)

The Concord Monitor, the state capital's newspaper, on Friday printed the reply of Joanne Giordano, USPS vice president for public affairs and communications, to a January 11 Monitor op-ed by ForestEthics legislative consultant Steven Krieger and George DeWolf, the activist-constituent who requested the bill from its sponsor, New Hampshire lawmaker Susi Nord.

Giordano alleged that the Krieger-Wolf commentary contained "a number of inaccurate, misleading and misinformed statements that need to be addressed. Primary among them is the fact that consumers have several options to help manage the amount and type of mail that enters their home."

Pointing to the relationship between advertising mail and jobs, Giordano also said:

"In 2006, advertising mail brought more than $3.8 billion in increased sales to New Hampshire's economy and played a critical role in the success of New Hampshire businesses, large and small.

It's also important to understand that according to the nation's environmental watchdog, the Environmental Protection Agency, only 2.4 percent of materials found in landfills across the country is attributed to advertising mail."

On Thursday, January 24, the Commerce Committee of the New Hampshire House of Representatives will resume its hearing on Nord's DNM bill. The Committee suspended its January 10 hearing and agreed to pick up two weeks later when too many witnesses -- especially opponents -- appeared to testify.

HIPAA Hubbub

2008-01-19T19:31:00.000-05:00

NALC President Bill Young has followed through on his threat.

Verbal shots between Young, the USPS Board of Governors, and the Postal Service's Office of Inspector General have escalated into a lawsuit brought last week by the NALC -- and its ally for the moment, APWU -- challenging the USPS Office of Inspector General's practice of surreptitiously obtaining the medical files of USPS employees who, the IG believes, may be fraudulently receiving workers' compensation benefits, abusing sick leave, or otherwise engaging in medical fraud.

When President Young, in his President's Message in the NALC's Postal Record, brought the matter to the attention of NALC members in December, he promised them, "I have directed NALC's attorneys to pursue this matter relentlessly through litigation."

The NALC/APWU lawsuit, filed in a Manhattan federal court on January 17 against the Postal Service and the Office of Inspector General, contests the IG's activities in asking doctors and hospitals treating postal employees involved in workers' compensation claims to quietly turn over the employees' medical records to assist the IG's investigation of the underlying claim and potential fraud.

Despite the Inspector General's broad statutory authority to investigate "fraud, waste and misconduct" throughout USPS, the NALC/APWU lawsuit calls the IG's actions an "unwarranted intrusion by government agencies into the privacy of their employees' medical information, an intrusion that exceeds the agencies' statutory authority and violates federal law, regulations, and the United States Constitution."

President Young, more hyperbolically in his Postal Record editorial, likened the IG's actions to recent news reports of "[u]nauthorized surveillance, illegal searches, suspension of civil liberties, illegal beatings -- all the way from wiretaps to water-boarding." The "Bad Cop" thing, as Mr. Young calls it.

Several initial observations on the lawsuit and underlying controversy:

* Interestingly, the NALC-APWU lawsuit never mentions the alleged reason -- the investigation of OWCP abuse by postal employees -- as the motivator for the IG's interest in USPS employee medical files. Neither do the press releases of NALC or APWU heralding the lawsuit. Hmmmm. Referring to potential fraud by their own members probably doesn't favor the optics of the unions' claims.

Even President Young, in his December editorial, acknowledged in his typically straight-forward fashion: "Now we are not stupid. With 800,000 USPS employees, there are bound to be some bad apples. Even among our own 225,000 city letter carriers, there will be some who do not deserve to wear the uniform."

* Second, why didn't the postal employees whose medical files were allegedly hijacked by the IG race up the courthouse steps to press their alleged rights? Why did the unions have to step up and file this lawsuit? Do they even have the legal standing to press this action?

* Third, in support of their lawsuit, the unions cite the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA. That law, as APWU points out in its press release, was intended to protect the privacy rights of Americans in their medical records. It generally prohibits health care providers from disclosing the medical records of their patients to third parties without patient consent. But HIPAA hardly provides iron-clad privacy protection, and there are exceptions to the HIPPA Privacy Rule. One exception, for example, permits health care officials to disclose a patient's medical records to "health oversight agencies" without the consent of the patient, when the health oversight agency is pursuing a legally authorized investigation, including into workers' compensation benefits.

* Fourth, the heart of the unions' lawsuit relies on its premise that the USPS Office of Inspector General is not a "health oversight agency." Is it?

In the OIG's standard letter of request to a health care provider for a USPS employee's medical records (included as Exhibit A of the complaint in the unions' lawsuit), the OIG asserts: "The Office of Inspector General is a health oversight agency because it oversees through our investigations a government health program in which health information is necessary to determine eligibilty or compliance."

The Department of Health and Human Service's own guidance on the HIPAA Privacy Rule states: "The Privacy Rule permits covered entities to disclose protected health information to workers' compensation insurers, State administrators, employers, and other persons or entities involved in workers' compensation systems, without the individual's authorization ..."

* Finally, the USPS IG, in cataloging on its website the types of hotline complaints it welcomes, includes the following workers' compensation (OWCP) activities, including:

OWCP Fraud (employee): Fraud committed by an USPS employee in connection with an OWCP claim.

OWCP Fraud (medical provider): Fraud committed by a medical provider (including physicians, durable medical equipment vendors, pharmacies, hospitals, laboratories) involving an OWCP claim (billing the USPS for unnecessary medical services or medical services that were never rendered).

OWCP Processing (management’s failure involving processing paperwork): Complaint involving the process in which the USPS handled an OWCP claim or that there are fundamental flaws involving the process in which the USPS handles OWCP claims.

The NALC-APWU lawsuit has been assigned to federal district judge Denny Chin. Judge Chin was nominated to the federal bench in 1994 by President Clinton. He has handled his share of controverisal cases during his judicial tenure. In 2006, he attracted attention when he dismissed a lawsuit brought by a Florida man against the company behind the Atkins diet. In a footnote, Judge Chin dished advice when he wrote that he has had success with his own “much simpler diet, which can be described in four words: Run more, eat less.”

The FTC and the "M" Word

2008-01-15T17:22:00.000-05:00

The Federal Trade Commission has issued its much-awaited, Congressionally mandated study on the USPS's mail monopoly, identifying the federal and state laws that apply differently to the Postal Service compared to its competitors, and what measures should be adopted to end such differences, including regulatory action by the PRC.

While there is certain to be further commentary here and elsewhere in the coming days, a quick read of the study report shows that its conclusions are provocative, with morsels of support for everyone -- USPS and its competitors -- to satisfy each side's policy biases.

The study concludes that:

* Because of its status as a governmental institution and its universal service obligation, the Postal Service is burdened with a unique "net competitive disadvantage versus private carriers."

* From a market-wide perspective, the federally-imposed restrictions that impose economic burdens on the USPS and the implicit subsidies that provide the USPS an economic advantage should be viewed as "two distortions that compound each other and negatively affect the provision of competitive mail products."

* Congress should consider whether to reduce the constraints on the USPS's competitive products operations, to assist USPS in its management of labor costs and configuration of its network. At the same time, the PRC should consider requiring USPS to account for its implicit subsidies when making pricing and production decisions.

* Worksharing and recent PRC regulations requiring contribution to institutional costs may reduce any advantage the USPS' postal monopoly provides in its delivery of competitive products.

* In the longer term, Congress should consider action that further eliminates the legal differences between the USPS and its competitors, including:

-- Relaxing the current mailbox monopoly to allow consumers to choose to have private carriers deliver competitive products to their mailboxes would create net benefits for consumers;

-- Narrowing the postal monopoly to allow greater competition while still maintaining universal service; and

-- Establishing the USPS' competitive products division as a separate corporate entity -- with either private or governmental ownership.

The two Democrat members of the five-member FTC -- Pamela Jones Harbour and Jon Liebowitz -- in a concurring statement, criticized the report for its review of alternative business models that exceeded, they say, the mandate of the study and relied on inconclusive information.

Mail-In Voters: A New Force?

2008-01-14T09:21:00.001-05:00

Today's New York Times picks up the story thread reported here last week: the significant impact that voting-by-mail could have on the results of Presidential primaries in a number of states, and especially in California on Super Tuesday, February 5. California election officials estimate half of the state's 15.5 million voters may vote by mail.

The early-voting dynamic of VBM has forced the Presidential candidates to adjust their campaign strategies, the Times notes, recognizing that many voters could be making their candidate selections over their kitchen tables now, not weeks from now in a voting booth. This has prompted the campaigns of the Presidential contenders to devote greater spending on phone banks, mailings and other tactics to specifically target these voters.

Voting by mail could shape the results in primary-significant states beyond California, including Florida and New Jersey.

The Times reports that "Officials in Florida, where the primary is January 29, report an increase in requests for absentee ballots, attributing it largely to the closeness of the races in both parties. About 42 percent of Democrats and 47 percent of Republicans in the state have requested absentee ballots."

Officials in New Jersey, which moved its primary to February 5 from March, also anticipate large numbers of mail-in voters, averting the potential of bad weather and capitalizing on the convenience of voting by mail.

Thirty-one states allow some form of voting-by-mail. Several states have changed their laws to "no excuse" voting, permitting allow voters to cast ballots by mail for any reason, as opposed to limiting it to sickness or absence from one's residence on Election Day.

The Times notes VBM's appeal, pointing to its convenience and alignment with on-the-go lifestyles of many Americans. But VBM is not without its critics, according to the paper, who claim that circumstances could change precipitously by the time of election day, pointing to the impact of Hillary's weepy moment two days before the New Hampshire primary.

Colorado, Washington Face Big VBM Decisions

2008-01-14T09:20:00.000-05:00

The Colorado state Legislature, which opened its 120-day session last week, is likely to decide in the near future whether the state will move to an all-mail ballot by the time of the August primary and November general elections.

And in Washington state, where an increasing number of counties have adopted all-mail voting, its most populous county -- King County, with 900,000 voters -- may put off a move to all-mail elections until 2009

The Colorado Legislature is likely to see bills concerning the implementation of all-mail voting during the first two weeks of the session, the Fort Collins Colorodan says.

The combination of the Colorado Secretary of State's decertification of three of four electronic voting systems used throughout the state and a new statewide voter registration system that is not ready has created a "state of emergency" over the conduct of elections, according to Larimer County's Clerk, its top voting official. (For background on the state's election mess, see my earlier post.)

The Colorado County Clerks Association and some legislative leaders are pushing for a law allowing an all-mail election for 2008, but the proposal faces stiff opposition from local voting activists and some clerks, most notably Denver elections officials, according to the Rocky Mountain News.

Even proponents of voting-by-mail wonder whether the state could be successfully up-and-running with an all-mail voting system by late summer, or whether the situation could turn out giving VBM a black eye.

Meanwhile, in Washington state, its most populous county -- King County, with 900,000 voters -- may put off a move to all-mail elections until 2009, because of delays in obtaining high-volume tabulation equipment, the Seattle Times reports. The County Council voted in 2006 to switch to all-mail voting in 2007 or 2008, but only after an election superintendent is hired, the elections office completes a "culture change" and management-training program, and the council adopts a plan for ballot drop boxes and regional voting centers. The superintendent position is vacant, and a recruitment process is under way.

A Postal Divide?

2008-01-13T10:38:00.000-05:00

Will consolidation of postal facilities in the name of cost-containment and service efficiency actually erode postal service as a universal service?

Will it unleash the same "we-them" forces that exist within the digital divide?

Mark Hare, a local columnist for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, in Rochester, New York, in an op-ed looks at the potential consolidation and closure of several postal stations in Rochester, and asks whether the plan will end up hurting Rochester's urban poor.

The consolidation plan -- the "Rochester Metropolitan Facilities Unitary Plan" -- will be the subject of discussion this Thursday at a USPS-sponsored community meeting in Rochester.

Hare writes: "I think it's pretty clear there will be fewer retail outlets in the city, and that many of those folks who really do need the Post Office will not have transportation to the community meeting."

He quotes Gene Sydor, the station manager at the downtown post office on Cumberland Street, on the import of USPS presence in the a poor neighborhood.

"Last year at this station," Sydor says, "we sold 23,000 money orders." There is a population in poor neighborhoods that has no access to checking accounts. "There are people who use this as a bank," he says. When the S.S.I. disability checks come out, "the line is through the building," he says, with people cashing checks and buying money orders to pay bills — rather than using pricier check-cashing establishments. These are the same people who need to purchase stamps in person to put their bills in the mail."

The Real Indiana

2008-01-12T01:39:00.001-05:00

When you think of Indiana, what comes to mind: a plow or a machine press?

Some folks in Indiana are steamed that the Postal Service, in its depiction of the Hoosier State in the upcoming Flags of Our Nation stamp series, has decided to feature a farm tractor pulling a chisel plow through a field with a cityscape in the distance.

The Fort Wayne Daily News editorializes: "The Hoosier state hosts the nation’s 15th-largest economy, but only the 28th-largest agricultural sector. Indiana’s share of U.S. agriculture has declined from 2 percent in 1997 to 1.4 percent in 2006 ... A better representation of Indiana would be from manufacturing, which is 33.4 percent of Indiana’s GDP, compared to just 15.6 percent in the U.S. We rank first in the nation for specializing in manufacturing."

Farming? Manufacturing? Come on, folks! For most of us, neither of these come to mind when we think of Indiana. It's this.

USPS Career Workforce Numbers Decline

2008-01-12T00:57:00.000-05:00

Postal Service employment statistics showed a continuing decline in the career workforce at the end of 2007, according to postalnews blog, in numbers it gleaned from the just-issued USPS 2007 Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations. But a significant bump upwards occurred in the numbers of casual and transitional employees.

The USPS ended the year with 681,013 career employees, down 1.9% from the prior year.

The decrease of 13,329 career jobs was offset by the addition of 21,537 casual workers, and 11,801 transitional employees.

By craft, clerks and nurses saw the largest decline, down 4.5%, for a loss of 9,515 jobs.

City carriers were also down from the prior year, by 1.9%, or 4,367 employees.

Rural carriers increased by 1.8%, and mail handlers were up 0.7%.

Field supervisors and managers declined by 1.6%, or 533 jobs, while Headquarters added 103 positions, for an increase of 3.7%.

Field support positions also increased, up 3.8%, or 276 additional career positions.

New Hampshire Panel Mulls Do Not Mail

2008-01-11T01:57:00.000-05:00

The Commerce Committee of the New Hampshire House of Representatives heard testimony from five witnesses Thursday on HB 1506, a bill to establish a state Do Not Mail registry. (For an earlier post on this bill, read here.)

According to observers, Commerce Committee members attending the hearing were sharply negative about the bill, questioning its viability and emphasizing its negative economic impact.

Because of the requests of additional witnesses to testify, the Committee announced that it would resume the hearing in two weeks, on Thursday, January 24.

Witnesses who testified on Thursday included: Rep. Susi Nord (D), the bill's sponsor; Rep. Jane Beaulieu (D); Rep. Neal Kurk (R); George DeWolf, the activist-constituent who requested the bill from Rep. Nord; David Paige from NAPUS (his testimony is here); and Robert Baker, a rural letter carrier.

The bill will likely be assigned to a subcommittee after the Jan. 24 hearing.

Kiwi Woman Stung By Postal Plea

2008-01-11T00:49:00.000-05:00

To prune or post, that's the dilemma facing a New Zealand woman, Athena Ellis, who said the local postman put a note in her mailbox on Monday asking her to cut the lavender surrounding the mailbox.

Why? Because the "postie" was afraid of getting stung.

The New Zealand Press reports that the nation's postal service may stop delivering Ms. Ellis' mail unless she prunes the lavender around her letterbox that is attracting bees and creating a "hazard".

"It's so nice to have flowers, and I can't control nature. I can't say, `Go away, you naughty bees'," Ellis fretted.

Ellis said she would be reluctant to cut back the lavender, but would have to if there was no alternative.

Those are the momentous decisions facing New Zealanders these days. Meanwhile, back in the United States, rumors began to circulate that Do Not Mail extremists have secretly begun dropping lavender seeds around mailboxes here.

McNulty Announces GPO/WEP Hearing

2008-01-10T03:00:00.000-05:00

Congressman Michael R. McNulty (D-NY), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Social Security of the Committee on Ways and Means, has announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing to examine the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision.

While these provisions were intended to help equalize the treatment of workers across employment sectors, many of the approximately one million individuals whose benefits are affected by these provisions believe the GPO and WEP are unfair.

The hearing will take place on Wednesday, January 16, 2008, in the main committee hearing room, 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 10:00 a.m.

The Subcommittee announcement of the hearing is here.

Don't Look Away From New Hampshire

2008-01-08T09:47:00.001-05:00

Though the eyes of America may shift away from New Hampshire after today's Presidential primary, postal eyes will remain focused on the Granite State, especially on Thursday.

That's the day that another pernicious Do Not Mail bill will receive a hearing before the Commerce Committee of the New Hampshire state legislature.

The bill, HB 1506, directs the New Hampshire Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau of the Department of Justice to establish and operate a registry of state residents who do not wish to receive direct mail solicitations.

A handful of witnesses from postal employee organizations and postal industry-related groups are slated to testify against the bill.

At least eight states are considering bills that would create state-run Do Not Mail registries -- seven states carried over legislation from their 2007 session, along with the New Hampshire bill.

The Mail Moves America coalition website provides a good run-down on state-by-state Do Not Mail legislative activity. Postal analyst Alan Robinson also has provided some commentary on the devastating economic impact of DNM.

TSP to Plan Participants: Stop Day Trading!

2008-01-08T09:05:00.000-05:00

An interim rule of the Thrift Savings Plan went into effect yesterday, limiting the number of inter-fund transfers that postal and federal employees and retirees may carry out during the course of a year -- a move designed to deter plan participants from aggressively playing the market through their plan accounts.

The restrictions will be officially announced in the annual TSP participant statement mailing which is scheduled for February 2008. The TSP says it expects the rule to take permanent effect in April 2008.

In explaining the move, the TSP announced, "In recent months, it has become clear that a relatively small number of Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) investors (less than 3,000 of our 3.8 million participants) are engaging in excessive frequent trading. Because this activity is clearly accelerating, and in light of the detrimental effect on fund performance and transaction costs, at its November 2007 meeting, the members of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board authorized the Executive Director to put in place restrictions on interfund transfers."

(Steve Barr provides an excellent overview of the recent changes and the current state of the TSP in today's Federal Diary column.)

According to Fedsmith.com, the TSP's new rule "will restrict TSP participants to only two interfund transfers (account rebalancings) per calendar month but would also allow subsequent unlimited interfund transfers into the very safe and conservative G Fund.

The interim regulation gives the TSP Executive Director the right to request that the frequent traders stop their trading practices right away. And, if they don't, the TSP will restrict the frequent traders to having to request transferring money between funds by using regular mail service."

Regular mail service, huh? That's one more creative way to increase USPS mail volume!

Remember this Number: 94%

2008-01-07T23:09:00.000-05:00

That's the percentage of Americans polled in a recent nationwide survey who had a favorable impression of the United States Postal Service.

Ninety-four percent.

The Postal Service, in an Associated Press poll conducted in mid-December, outranked all other major federal governmental institutions in the impression that Americans had of the organizations.

Fifty-eight percent of the respondents said they had a "very favorable" impression of the Postal Service. In comparison, 27% said they had the same impression of the Supreme Court and only 11% held the same regard for Congress.

Does Mail-In Balloting Restrict Voting Rights?

2008-01-07T21:35:00.000-05:00

The use of mail-in ballots has grown rapidly in California in recent years, and analysts predict it could hit a record in 2008, the International Herald Tribune reports.

In 2000, about one-fourth of the ballots cast in California in the presidential election came by mail. That grew to 33 percent in 2004. This year, analysts and campaign officials say it could be more than half.

Some 4 million voters in the state are enrolled as "permanent absentee voters," meaning early ballots for the primaries will automatically go to their homes.

At the same time, in the name of efficiency and cost savings, California's move to greater voting by mail has also caused an additional consequence: counties have reduced the number of polling places, stretching the distance to the polls for some voters.

Take Napa County for example. More than forty percent of the Napa County polling places used in the 2004 presidential election are history.

Does this consequence restrict voting rights? The Napa Valley Register doesn't think so. In an editorial, it said:

"In November, Registrar of Voters John Tuteur sent out letters informing 12,000 registered voters that their options have been narrowed: They can vote by mail, use a vote-by-mail ballot and drop it off at the nearest remaining polling place, or come down to the elections office to cast their ballots in person.

Some voters have expressed concern that this shift jeopardizes their voting rights. The convenience of voting down the street from one’s home in Calistoga -- where four of six voting precincts were eliminated, including those at a couple of mobile home parks — has narrowed.

In our view, the decision should not limit voter’s rights in any way. Other areas have seen greater voter participation because of the growing vote-by-mail trend, and we hope to see the same phenomenon here."

An All-Mail Vote in Colorado?

2008-01-07T20:03:00.000-05:00

State leaders in Colorado are mulling over the possibility of conducting November's elections partially or entirely by mail, as the result of the state's decertification last month of electronic voting in 54 of the counties in the state.

Colorado officials will need to make a decision pretty quickly, with dwindling options and little time to prepare for a major change, the New York Times reports.

Mail-in ballots have been optional across Colorado since 1992, and about 30 percent of the statewide vote in the last few elections has come in by mail.

All of the arguments for and against all-mail voting are playing out in Colorado, but under the pressure of a timeclock. Most election clerks tend to favor voting-by-mail, while political officials are not so sure.

Kathryn Young, the Colorado Springs City Clerk told KKTV in Colorado Springs, that an all mail in ballot election would turn more votes. "I think there's a little more control over the process of a mail in ballot election", Young said. Plus it's cheaper and perhaps more thorough.

"A horde of “unsophisticated” voters stuffing the ballot box looms within the realm of possibilities if voters are forced to use mail-in ballots this November", Mesa County Commissioner Steve Acquafresca told the Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction.

Currently, 29 states allow some option of mail-in absentee voting that does not require the voter to explain the request for a mail ballot, according to Electionline.org.

The Federal Government also mandated that a statewide Voter Registration Database be implemented two years ago. but Colorado still hasn't complied.

Is Colorado up to the task?

Big Mo + VBM = Obama Win in California?

2008-01-06T11:01:00.000-05:00

Can the combination of momentum and voting-by-mail combine in California to move the state's Democratic primary votes to Sen. Barrack Obama?

Any California registered voter may vote by absentee ballot. You do not have to be "absent" or "out of town on election day" to vote by mail in California. You may vote an absentee ballot just because you want to. (For further information, read here.)

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that more than 44 percent of California's 16 million registered voters are expected to vote by mail. Ballots are scheduled to arrive in voters mailboxes early next week. California is among two dozen states holding its primary on Super Tuesday, February 5.

Most mail-in voters submit their ballots in either the first week after they receive them or the week before the election, analysts say, so an Obama victory in Iowa -- and potentially one in New Hampsire -- along with the media buzz could be a boon to Obama in the Golden State.

FedEx Drivers Leverage IRS Inquiry

2008-01-05T22:05:00.000-05:00

FedEx Corp. contract drivers suing the company for pay and benefits have asked federal judges to consider an Internal Revenue Service preliminary decision that they may be regarded as full-time employees for 2002 tax purposes. (For more on the IRS decision, read here.)

FedEx said in an SEC filing last month that it might have to pay $319 million in taxes and penalties plus interest for 2002 for misclassifying the contractors.

The IRS is reviewing calendar years 2004 through 2006 for similar issues, FedEx said.

The drivers want to use the IRS decision as leverage in a national class action lawsuit seeking hundreds of millions of dollars, claiming the company exerts control over them as if they were full-time workers without paying full-time benefits.

I Get a Kick Out of You

2007-12-29T09:25:00.000-05:00

Old Blue Eyes will be commemorated on a postage stamp next spring, the Postal Service says in conjunction with its announcement heralding the lineup of its 2008 stamps.

Will USPS schedule the stamp's release event to coincide with the calendar of Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY), of the south Bronx, Sinatra's most ardent fan in Congress?

As the New York Times once noted, "Anyone who knows Jose E. Serrano even slightly knows he is an ardent fan of Frank Sinatra. In fact, Mr. Serrano learned English from the Sinatra 78's his father brought home when he was growing up in Puerto Rico in the late 1940's, and he entertained childhood dreams of being a nightclub singer. "

Serrano also has something to do with stamps: he chairs the House appropriations subcommittee that oversees the budget of the Postal Service: the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government.

In fact, as reported here, Serrano used his power to plug a provision in the omnibus appropriations bill for FY08 that blocks the Postal Service from moving forward on its plan in his district to consolidate the Bronx Postal distribution center operations into the Manhattan-based Morgan Postal Distribution Facility until Congress and the Government Accountability Office are satisfied that the consolidation is merited.

Serrano didn't quietly carry out the AMP blockade; he belted it out like a Sinatra standard in a press release his office released even before the ink on the omnibus funding bill was dry.

“I felt strongly that the consolidation and shuttering of the Bronx postal distribution facilities was the wrong idea,” Serrano said. “From my post on the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Postal Service’s budget, I was able to block the Postal Service from moving forward on this misguided plan. I felt that the plan’s savings were minimal and the cost to postal workers in my district was too high. I feel strongly that we should put people ahead of profits.”

FedEx to Its Drivers: Stop by the IRS on Your Way Home

2007-12-22T14:09:00.000-05:00

According to news reports, FedEx Corp. has disclosed that it has received an IRS challenge to its business model for contracting with independent drivers for the company's FedEx Ground division.

FedEx said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that the IRS "has tentatively concluded" through a 2002 audit that contract drivers with FedEx Ground should have been classified as company employees.

The IRS decision is the latest in a series of attacks on FedEx Ground's system for contracting with independent pickup and delivery drivers who own and maintain their own trucks while lacking access to work benefits provided for company employees.

Roadmap to the Future

2007-12-22T13:53:00.000-05:00

The Postal Service’s self-described “roadmap to the future” is spelled out in its update to its Strategic Transformation Plan (2006-2010), which the USPS has just released.

The sixty-two page document reaffirms many of the same goals that were embraced in the original Transformation Plan published by the Postal Service five years ago.

While the fundamental goal of universal service has remained, some of the major routes the Postal Service will use to get to that goal have changed. Here's a run-down of the major themes of the updated Transformation Plan:

Pricing and Product Flexibility. Under the new law, the Postal Service will be able to generate a profit and plow those earnings back into the business. To generate sufficient revenue, the Service also will have greater flexibility to create new products and more easily set prices. This will demand a whole new understanding of mail and shipping market segments and their costs and profitability. The dynamics and adaptability of pricing will require creative thinking and agility in ways to which the Postal Service has not entirely been accustomed in the past.

Intelligent Mail. The introduction of intelligent mail barcodes for mailpieces and containers will take the Postal Service into a new era. “Total Mail Visibility” is the USPS vision for the IM-based world. The new IM barcode contains triple the information of previous barcodes, permitting tracking of individual mailpieces at all steps in the process, from creation by the mailer, to its deposit with the Postal Service, through transportation and processing, right up to delivery. This provides tremendous value to USPS and its customers.

Service Standards and Measurement. As required by the PAEA, the Postal Service has embarked on a path to measure service performance for all classes of mail according to defined standards. The journey began last year with USPS revisions to standards for all mailing service, and its pending proposal to the PRC to create a new, hybrid measurement system, expanding EXFC to all 3-digit areas and blending EXFC data and Product Tracking System data with IM-based data.

Cost Containment through Process and Network Improvements. The USPS anticipates that two-thirds of the $1 billion in savings it seeks in 2008 will come from process improvements, especially through the new Flats Sequencing System. Additional savings will be captured through other initiatives, including changes to the postal network and more effective use of part-time and temporary employees, supported by the new labor contracts. Noticeably, the Transformation Plan does not refer to the contracting-out of delivery routes, but this remains a potential route that USPS officials believe will drive down labor costs.

Enhanced Sustainability. Aiming to create a “conservation culture”, the Postal Service – as well as its high-volume customers – are increasingly recognizing that enhancement of the value of mail means include greater attention to recycling, reducing waste and trimming energy use. “Going green” means integrating conservation into every phase of day-to-day operations and engaging all employees to take ownership and responsibility.

Congress to USPS: OK, We'll Pay Up (Again)

2007-12-22T13:32:00.000-05:00

Congress this week provided $29 million in funding to the Treasury Department to satisfy the annual revenue forgone payment to the Postal Service. The funding is contained in the $555 billion omnibus government funding measure and referenced in the Congressional joint explanatory statement on the measure. Were Congress to step away from continuing to provide these funds, it would pose substantial budget implications for the Postal Service.

The Revenue Forgone Reform Act of 1993 provides for a $29 million annual payment over 42 years to the Postal Service to pay off a $1.2 billion debt Congress created by mandating preferred postage rates to nonprofits and others in the early 1990s.

Postal employee groups urged Congress to make the annual revenue forgone payment, especially after the House earlier this year had refrained from including payment funding in its original appropriation measure.

Congress Blocks Seven AMP Consolidations

2007-12-20T13:36:00.000-05:00

In one of its final acts before adjourning for the year, Congress directed a halt to Area Mail Processing consolidations in seven locations and criticized the Postal Service for its handling of its network realignment effort.

The setback to the USPS infrastructure initiative is included in the FY 2008 omnibus government funding legislation, adopted by the House and Senate. The funding measure is expected to be signed by the President.

The roadblock to AMP consolidation effort is contained in the joint explanatory statement of the omnibus funding measure. Congress questioned the wisdom of further AMP consolidations, basing its judgment on Government Accountability Office testimony to Congress delivered in July, faulting AMP consolidations as based on inadequate criteria, inconsistent data and insufficient stakeholder input.

The Postal Service already has canceled scores of AMP study efforts in locations around the country over the past year.

Congress this week directed the Postal Service to suspend consolidation efforts in the following locations: Sioux City, Iowa; Aberdeen, South Dakota, Bronx, New York; Pasadena, California, Canton, Ohio; Detroit/Flint, Michigan; and Alexandria, Louisiana.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) took credit for blocking the Sioux City AMP and Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY) for stalling the Bronx consolidation.

Congress instructed USPS to hold up efforts in the seven areas until the Government Accountability Office completed in evaluations in 2008 on USPS guidance on communications with the public on AMP consolidation (due to be issued by USPS in March), and the USPS Facilities Plan, detailing overall network realignment strategy (due to be issued by USPS in June).

Congress also called upon USPS to devote greater resources to facilities improvements in Puerto Rico, as well as in Indio, California, and noted continued concerns over mail service delays in Chicago. It directed USPS to work with Chicago officials and implement management reforms to improve service and delivery.

Just Like Old Times

2007-12-19T11:34:00.000-05:00

"Break out the holly, as well as the last-minute holiday cards," the Washington Post tartly observes.

Due to the prodigious attention to constituent service by District of Columbia Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the nation's capital has received an early Christmas present: the restoration of the Washington, D.C., postmark.

It means that WASHINGTON, DC will replace the SUBURBAN MD and SOUTHERN MD postmarks for at least 90 percent of the stamped mail originating in the District.

USPS Governors Approve Bank of America NSA, Based on Advances to Intelligent Mail Barcode

2007-12-17T23:36:00.000-05:00

The USPS Board of Governors on December 17 issued its decision approving a controversial Negotiated Service Agreement with Bank of America Corporation. The NSA will provide discounts to BAC on First-Class Mail and Standard Mail letters, in return for BAC’s expanded use of Intelligent Mail Barcode technology.

The Postal Regulatory Commission, in its decision reviewing the proposed BAC Negotiated Service Agreement, recommended adoption of the NSA by a 4-1 vote, despite noting that the Postal Service could lose as much as $45 million under the proposed agreement.

The Board of Governors, in its decision to move ahead with the NSA, criticized the PRC’s estimation of reduced revenues, and emphasized the importance of broadened use of the Intelligent Mail Barcode. The Governors noted: “BAC’s adoption of the IMB will not only create momentum for the use of this technology among other members of the mailing industry, but given BAC’s substantial size, its use by BAC will create incentives for the suppliers of the mailing industry to make adjustments to their products to support the new technology. Thus, we believe BAC’s early adoption of this groundbreaking technology will enable the Postal Service to meet its objectives of widespread use of the IMB technology rapidly and consistently with recent pronouncements to achieve implementation by 2009.”

Opting Out of Catalogs

2007-12-17T13:40:00.000-05:00

Since the launch of Catalogchoice.org in October, the website claims to have signed up nearly a quarter-million consumers who have declined to receive about 2.6 million catalogs.

Catalog Choice is a sponsored project of the Ecology Center, a Berkley, California-based nonprofit.

According to the Kansas City Star, "Analysts say that many merchants are monitoring the web site, weighing whether it might benefit them. Fifty already have opened accounts in active support of the movement, including catalog giants L.L. Bean, Lands' End, Brookstone and Tiffany & Co.

Al Bessin, a consulting partner with Lenser, which advises the catalog industry, said that higher paper and postal costs — and a drop in response rates — make the old approach of mailing thousands of phone-book thick catalogs to everyone a waste of time and money.

The question now for catalog companies, Bessin said, is how to "put your best foot forward" and reach consumers whose behavior will be triggered to go online or to the mall to buy an item they see in a catalog."

Mail Moves America Launches Website

2007-12-16T13:02:00.000-05:00

Mail Moves America, the coalition of postal and printing industry organizations fighting efforts to establish Do Not Mail registries, has created a new website. It’s got lots of good information on the Do Not Mail issue. Check it out here.

The Postal Minimum Wage and the German Monkey Wrench

2007-12-15T14:53:00.000-05:00

How do you outsmart the competition in a privatized postal world?

Hijack your competitors' labor costs.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats and their Social Democrat coalition partners threw a monkey wrench into the free market of Germany's increasingly-privatized postal landscape when they recently steered a bill through the lower house of the German parliament that mandate minimum wages for all 200,000 postal workers of between 8 euros ($11.75) and 9.80 euros an hour, effective Jan. 1.

The government bill has been criticized by opposition lawmakers and mail carriers as a measure to protect Deutsche Post AG once it loses its exclusive license to deliver mail on Jan. 1. Deutsche Post has said it expects the loss of its letter-carrying monopoly to trim earnings at its mail division by as much as 20 percent by 2009. The government owns more than 30 percent of Deutsche Post through its KfW banking group.

The legislation is based on a contract brokered earlier this year by some mail carrier groups. Minimum wages currently only apply in Germany to the building industry and to some cleaners.

``You aren't protecting employees with this bill, you're protecting the monopoly of Deutsche Post,'' Free Democrat leader Guido Westerwelle said in a speech to the Bundestag. A sum of 9.80 euros would be ``the highest minimum wage in the world,'' he said.

According to Bloomberg.com, mail-service companies that say they'll need to fire staff if the measure becomes law. Berlin-based Axel Springer AG, Europe's biggest newspaper publisher, says it will stop funding its Pin Group mail services unit because the minimum wage makes it no longer viable. TNT NV, Europe's second-biggest express-delivery company, says it may leave Germany if the rules come into place that hurt competition, particularly over minimum wages and tax exemptions.

The decision by the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament in Berlin, still has to be approved by the veto- wielding upper house to become law. The upper chamber, or Bundesrat, comprising lawmakers from Germany's 16 states, is scheduled to vote on the matter on Dec. 20.

From PAEA to Paymea

2007-12-10T14:13:00.000-05:00

Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary Roger Kodat, one of the Bush Administration's trusted, key players in the campaign to secure passage of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, is leaving government service to return to the private sector.

The affable and always-accessible Mr. Kodat, according to postcom.org, will glide through the revolving door to assist Wall Street financial powerhose JP Morgan Chase market its treasry products to the federal government.

Rurals' Labor Agreement Validated

2007-12-06T01:59:00.000-05:00

The judgment of leaders of the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association and the USPS in reaching a collective bargaining agreement last summer has been upheld by a three-member arbitration panel.

The arbitration decision validates the four-year contract (from Nov. 20, 2006 to Nov. 20, 2010), affecting approximately 68,000 career employees and 55,000 non-career employees who deliver mail to residences and businesses on rural delivery routes. It also means that all four of the Postal Service’s largest bargaining units are now under contract through at least Nov. 20, 2010.

PRC Invites Comments on USPS Proposed Measurement Systems

2007-12-06T01:23:00.000-05:00

The Postal Regulatory Commission today invited interested parties (through a "Notice Of Request For Comments On Service Performance Measurement Systems For Market Dominant Products") to comment on the Postal Service's proposed service performance measurement systems for assessing the service performance of various market dominant products.

The USPS proposed measurement approaches include using an expanded version of its External First-Class measurement system to measure single-piece First-Class Mail, Delivery Confirmation for parcels, and a hybrid system for presort letters and flats that rely on Intelligent Mail Barcode scans and independent third-party reporters.

Comments are due January 7, 2008.

More Red and Less Royal Green

2007-12-05T00:51:00.000-05:00

Labor costs account for nearly 80 percent of the U.S. Postal Service's expenses.

Under the new business model created by PAEA, where costs become even more sharply scrutinized, the terms of postal worker compensation will be in sharper focus -- and likely dispute.

For a potential look at the future, examine what's happening in Britain's postal system -- Royal Mail -- which has announced substantial cuts to the future pensions of current postal workers. "The current cost of providing future service pensions is not sustainable," the Royal Mail said in announcing the cuts.

According to the BBC, pension adjustments to the Royal Mail represent the largest curtailment to a pension scheme in the entirety of the United Kingdom, in which existing members, not just new joiners, have been told by their employer that they must accept changes which will see them worse off.

Earlier this month the Royal Mail sent a 44-page booklet to every employee spelling out the impending changes.

They are:

for a "career average" scheme to replace the current final salary version from 1 April next year

for the standard retirement age to rise from 60 to 65 in 2010, though only for service after that date

for new recruits, from January 2008, to be offered a separate "money purchase" scheme altogether

for staff to keep contributing at 6% of salaries a year.

Comments, please?

Watching How the Brown Stuff Moves

2007-12-04T01:30:00.000-05:00

Today's Federal Register has an interesting item concerning the daytimers of certain PRC members: "On Tuesday, December 4, and Wednesday, December 5, 2007, Postal Regulatory Commissioners and advisory staff members will tour the United Parcel Service facility in Louisville, Kentucky and meet with company officials. The purpose of the tour is to observe company operations."

Blowing the Mail

2007-12-02T12:29:00.000-05:00

Truffaut's film Stolen Kisses (1968) depicts the Parisian pneumatic postal system in a memorable montage of scenes.

It's emblematic of the extent -- especially in Europe -- to which pneumatic mail a century ago was the proto-technology of the postal system in urban areas. Not only across the pond,but here in the U.S. as well.

Henry Nass, in an op-ed in today's New York Times, recounts the wonder of New York City’s now-defunct 27-mile underground first-class mail network that was fueled by pressurized air and two-foot-long canisters from Manhattan’s General Post Office to postal branches around the city.

Pneumatic mail in the Big Apple carried about about a third of the city's mail volume and continued until 1953, when in typical fashion a political fight over the post office's lease with the company that ran the network triggered a decision that was too expensive to blow the mail and that it was more efficient to use trucks.

Nass writes, "This alternative to highway transport should be brought back, especially for shuttle routes between airports and downtown central offices, and updated with new technologies. If we had a pneumatic tube system between the airports and the city's general post office in Midtown Manhattan, we could reduce the number of diesel-burning, mail-carrying 18-wheelers on the city's streets."

The Last Taboo?

2007-12-02T01:00:00.000-05:00

My parents have made a big decision this holiday season. They've decided to switch from hand-addressing their Christmas cards to using computer-generated address labels. Their decision was scientific. They did a survey of the Christmas cards they received last year, and found that a "significant number" of their friends had switched to the printed label.

But in the scale of change, their decision is incremental and still within the communication mainstream. According to today's Journal News, "E-mailing holiday cards at Christmas and Hanukkah may be the last taboo when it comes to electronic communications. The number of electronic cards, or e-cards, is a fraction of the 6 billion paper cards sent year-round in the United States, including Christmas, which generates the most cards, according to the Greeting Card Association."