While Congress might be having trouble scheduling, debating and passing numerous pieces of legislation, it seems one of the few bills that has not suffered are the resolutions to rename postal facilities. These resolutions have been on the rise for more than 13 years. In the 105th Congress spanning 1997 to 1998, there were 9 resolutions. In the 108th Congress from 2003 to 2004 there were 117. In the years 2007 to 2008 there were 169. There have been 111 in the current Congress. 1997-1998 9 1999-2000 46 2001-2002 92 2003-2004 117 2005-2006 135 2007-2008 169 2009-2010 111* *So far…
Browsing: Postal Service
It’s down-to-the-wire time again for the U.S. Postal Service as it seeks congressional help in dodging much of a $5.5 billion payment due next Thursday into its retiree health benefit fund. “We’re in discussions with committee staff,” USPS spokesman Gerry McKiernan said today. While a continuing budget resolution is a likely vehicle for a partial waiver, he said, “there’s nothing definitive yet.” Last month, the Postal Service warned of a cash crunch if it had to make the full payment, which is required under the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. Under similar circumstances last year, Congress allowed the Postal…
Unenthusiastic about the U.S. Postal Service’s proposal for five-day-a-week mail service? Consider the possibility of every-other-day delivery. That’s today’s deep thought, courtesy of the USPS’ inspector general’s blog. We won’t even begin to list the politically influential groups that would pounce on the idea if the Postal Service sought to pursue it, but for the sake of argument, here goes: As the IG notes, a study earlier this year predicted that the average amount of daily mail per “delivery point” will fall from 3.8 pieces to 2.8 pieces by 2020. If that prediction holds good, then more households will receive…
Members of of the U.S. Postal Service’s largest union will take a break Tuesday from their national convention in Detroit to rally in support of continued six-day-a week mail service. In a news release, the American Postal Workers Union said that more than 3,000 members will gather at a downtown park where President William Burrus and others will deliver “a spirited denunciation” of USPS plans to end most Saturday delivery. The Rev. Jesse Jackson will also speak, according to a union spokesman. That plan, which is supposed to take effect Oct. 1 if Congress doesn’t block it, is what the…
“These citations and the sizable fines proposed here reflect the Postal Service’s ongoing knowledge of and failure to address conditions that exposed its workers to the severe and potentially deadly hazards of electric shock, arc fires and arc blasts,” Occupational Safety and Health Administration chief David Michaels said in a Friday news release.
“These citations and the sizable fines proposed here reflect the Postal Service’s ongoing knowledge of and failure to address conditions that exposed its workers to the severe and potentially deadly hazards of electric shock, arc fires and arc blasts,” Occupational Safety and Health Administration chief David Michaels said in a Friday news release.
“We think we’re picking up revenues and transactions that we otherwise would not have gotten,” said Michael Plunkett, the Postal Service’s manager of retail partners.
Know a GI in Iraq or Afghanistan who’s hurting for a smoke? Beginning Aug. 27, the U.S. Postal Service will once again allow customers to mail cigarettes and other tobacco products abroad to soldiers, Marines and other service members. The Associated Press reports that after a law kicked in June 29 that sought to keep minors from ordering cigarettes, the Postal Service originally only allowed care packages with tobacco to be mailed via Express Mail. The problem was, Express Mail can’t be sent to some overseas locations like Iraq and Afghanistan, leaving soldiers out of luck. But in two weeks,…
The U.S. Postal Service today turned to a department veteran to take charge of its troubled mailing and shipping services division. Paul Vogel, who had retired as the Postal Service’s senior vice president and managing director of global business in January 2009, will be the next president of mailing and shipping services as of Aug. 16. The last president, Robert Bernstock, resigned June 4, shortly before the release of an inspector general report that found he steered multiple no-bid contracts to friends and used postal staff and resources to manage his personal businesses. The Postal Service is touting Vogel’s previous…
I’ll be appearing on News Channel 8’s Federal News Tonight this evening to discuss the U.S. Postal Service’s inability to rein in contracting abuses and other misconduct by former executive Robert Bernstock. Tune in between 7:40 and 7:55 p.m. to catch my interview.
The scandal involving former U.S. Postal Service executive Robert Bernstock has yielded what appear to be some big changes to the rules governing sole-source contracts. Postal Service spokeswoman Joanne Veto just sent me some amended contracting rules that were published this week in response to the Office of Inspector General’s investigation: • First, most postal executives will no longer be able to approve their own department’s sole-source contracts worth more than $1 million. From now on, seven-figure deals awarded noncompetitively must be approved by Vice President for Supply Management Susan Brownell. Under the old rules, all noncompetitive contracts worth more…