“The Postal Service spent nearly $50 million this past fiscal year to replace equipment that was never returned,” said David Williams, vice president, Network Operations. “This is a serious issue. We are in a financial crisis and simply cannot afford this type of unnecessary expense. The equipment is federal property and we want it back.”

The amnesty period to return mail transport equipment, or MTE, will run from Nov. 12-26, 2011. Anyone possessing Postal Service MTE is strongly encouraged to return it during this time period and no questions will be asked.

During the amnesty period, small amounts of equipment can be dropped off at local Post Offices or nearby mail processing and distribution centers. Arrangements can be made for the Postal Service to pick up large amounts of equipment and/or pallets by sending an email to hqmte@usps.gov, and including “Equipment Pickup Request” in the subject line and company name, address where the equipment is located, type of mail transport equipment and quantity, and contact information in the message.

There also is a mail transport equipment recovery hotline (1-866-330-3404) that can be used to report the misuse of equipment, such as hoarding or recycling.

As information, the following message is printed clearly on all U.S. Postal Service equipment:

WARNING: Maximum penalty for theft or misuse of postal property, $1,000 fine and 3 year’s imprisonment (Title 18 USC 1707).” Chapter 58 of the Postal Operations Manual (POM) and Title 18 Section 1707 of the Federal Criminal Code contain the policy and laws regulating use of all mail transport equipment.

About the USPS
A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $67 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 29th in the 2010 Fortune 500. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency six consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.

Source: USPS.

Related articles

• USPS announces holiday shipping deadlines (abclocal.go.com)
• Postal Service rescue plan offered by senators (money.cnn.com)
• “United States Postal Service – We are here to Stay” (charnstrom.wordpress.com)

Greetings!

 Postmaster General Pat Donahoe issued a letter and video today (10/28/2011) to assure mailers that the Postal Service is not going out of business or be privatized. The Postal Service plays a vital role in America’s economy and society. This past year USPS delivered 167.6 billion pieces of mail and sustains a $1 trillion mailing industry that employs 8 million people.

This communication will bring you the up-to-date steps the Postal Service is taking on the legislative, network optimization and wages and benefits fronts to ensure the financial health of USPS now and in years to come. The PMG continues to urge Congress to allow the move from six-day delivery schedule to five days per week. On the retail front, the USPS is studying whether to close up to 3,700 retail facilities, and we continue to consolidate delivery routes. USPS is also developing a proposal to adjust service standards and Critical Entry Times for First-Class and Periodicals to allow the streamlining of the mail processing network.

This is a very important message that needs to be shared with your members and co-workers. Please feel free to distribute and post on your website. 

Please click to view the video and letter. Also, the video can be downloaded for your convenience.

Susan M. LaChance

Vice President

Consumer and Industry Affairs

Related articles

• What to do with the postal service (features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com)
• Small town post offices may close, residents feel some sense of community to go too ()
• More on Direct Mail and the USPS (outwardmediablog.wordpress.com)

The USPS had early opportunities to jump in and probably take over the scene, which became chaotic over time and is now a mess. In fact, many people have abandoned email because of spam and other problems.

The biggest problem with email is fraud. Hardly a week goes by that I don’t get some message telling me that my password needs fixing at some bank I never heard of. I assume that someone spams the entire country with this message, and a few of the actual customers of the small bank get the fake memo and stupidly follow its instructions. This should be a case for the FBI, but there is zero evidence that any law enforcement agency is doing much about this scheme or any number of other schemes. I would guess that there are hundreds of thousands of these things.

Some time back, I began collecting Nigerian scam letters, and I still follow the progress of the concept. The letters are sent to everyone in the known universe. They tell you that you somehow won, inherited, or were gifted millions of dollars by some long lost relative, an eccentric banker, or a dead widow who appreciated what you did in life.

If you don’t get one like that, then you get one that is purportedly from a famous exile who is trying to flee the country with ill-gotten goods and wants you to help. For being so kind to help, you’ll get a few million dollars as a fee. There is often a lot of creativity in these notes, and it has been documented that a lot of people have been fleeced in one way or another.

They get your money by insisting you pay some insurance costs or pay some bogus fees or whatever, and then when they get your confidential banking information, they drain your account.

If the USPS had oversight over all email in one way or another, these illegal schemes could be considered mail fraud and something might be done about them, since the requirements for prosecution are less stringent than what the FBI might need.

The USPS has always gotten a bad rap, but still provides one of the best physical mail systems in the world. For 44 cents, you can send an ounce of mail cross country to be hand delivered. I mean, just think about that process.

I think the opportunity for the USPS peaked when Hotmail appeared on the scene as a free email service. The Post Office should have cloned the idea as many others did. Or it could have partnered with Hotmail or perhaps Yahoo.

In the process, we all could have obtained standardized email addressing and formatting. Right now, there is no standard for email. You can kind of deconstruct some addresses, but if someone is using a weird nickname, then you’ll never figure it out.

For corporate email, you might find 20 variations. These include firstnamelastname@, firstinitiallastname@, lastname@, firstname@ firstname.lastname@, lastnamefirstinitial@, etc.

At one point, before the Internet took over the place, the various features of X.400 and X.500 were being established within corporations to standardize many aspects of electronic messages, but this suddenly failed during the dotcom era.

I do not think it is too late for the USPS to introduce a spam-free email system for the public at large. Although, horrible stories about government intrusions have made the public paranoid, so the time might not be right. Over the years, though, the USPS has done a better job of not>/i>opening your mail than snoops within a corporation.

It’s something to think about.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) says its Montreal local will begin a 24 hour strike at 11:30 pm Sunday night (last night).  This will affect mail delivery in Montreal and the surrounding areas.

The rotating strike in Hamilton ended at midnight last night.  Mail delivery in the Hamilton area will be affected Monday (today).  It is business as usual everywhere else in the Canada Post network.

In the meantime, CPC’s negotiating team is reviewing the latest offer put forward by the CUPW and is seeking clarity on several points proposed by the union.  Negotiations between CPC and the CUPW continued through the weekend.

CPC updates can be found at infopost.ca/customer

CUPW updates can be found at www.cupw.ca

Latest update from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) ……

From the CUPW (June 2, 2011) …..

The strike will begin at 11:59 pm EDT in Winnipeg.  The Winnipeg local will be on strike for 24 hours, after which the strike will continue in other locations to be announced later.

The purpose of this strike activity is to encourage Canada Post Corporation (CPC) to abandon their proposals for significant concessions and instead negotiate solutions to the very real problems that are being experienced by 48,000 postal workers.

Winnipeg has been chosen as the location for the first strike activity because it was the first city to be impacted by CPC’s modernization program.  The results have been a sharp deterioration of service to the public as well as a host of health and safety problems experienced by postal workers due to the new work methods and equipment

CUPW has negotiations demands designed to resolve these problems and we want CPC to address them.

CPC updates can be found at infopost.ca/customer

We will continue to update our news blog with up to the minute information.  Thank you for taking the time to read this - I hope it’s useful.  And as always, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly at 800-466-6245 x12 (or via e-mail) if I can be of further assistance.  Have a great day!

Mark Bouman, VP Sales & Marketing

International Mail Service Inc

Still gathering details on this, but strike action is planned for Thursday night.  More information from Canada Post follows.

From Canada Post 5/30/11 …..

Canada Post Corporation (CPC) received notice that the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) intends to begin strike activities at 11:59 EDT on June 2, 2011.  In the event of a strike, CPC will not operate – mail and parcels will not be delivered.

Contingency plans are in place to ensure the security of our facilities and safety of any items that remain in the mail stream during a work disruption.  Plans are also in place to ensure that CPC returns to normal operations as soon as possible following any work disruption.

Despite this development, talks are continuing between CPC and the CUPW in an effort to reach a settlement.

CPC updates can be found at infopost.ca/customer

Eric S Crusius, Esq.

At the Edge of the Precipice.

The two sides of the budget battle are no closer to a deal now even though the Government is less than 48 hours from running out of funding.  At midnight this Friday, we could witness the first Government shutdown since 1995-1996.  However, this shutdown would be in stark contrast to the 1995-1996 shutdown because contractors carry out many more governmental functions now than they did fifteen years ago.

If you are looking for the section of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) that outlines what happens in the event of a shutdown, you will not find one.  While some sections offer clues as to what may happen, there is no concrete guidance available.  Keeping that in mind, there are things contractors can do to prepare themselves for a shutdown.

Visit Centre Knowledge to continue reading.

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March 28, 2011

SPECIAL EDITION

PMG ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF NEW DEPUTY POSTMASTER GENERAL

The Postmaster General today announced the appointment of Ronald A. Stroman as Deputy Postmaster General (DPMG). Stroman, who most recently served as staff director, Committee on Oversight and Government Relations at the U.S. House of Representatives, will bring more than 30 years of professional experience in government, legislative affairs and leadership when he joins USPS as DPMG April 4.

For Complete story follow the link below

http://www.usps.com/communications/pccinsider/2011/sped_0328.htm

LinkedIn for Professionals: Why this Webinar will help YOU!

Join our subject matter expert David Flora as he makes the case for managers to join the 70 million professional profiles on the most powerful professional networks. 

LinkedIn not only connects you with other industry professionals you have met over the years, but also can be a savvy way of broadcasting your professional expertise to the clients and customers you serve.  Like any other information tool, there are pitfalls to avoid, P’s and Q’s to be minded and situations to avoid, but harnessing the mindshare of the various discussion groups gives you instant access to your peers who solve the same problems you do every day.

 When: TOMORROW-Thursday, March 24, 2011 1:00 PM-2:00 PM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).

Where: (877) 336-5673 code: 632896 and Live Meeting Link

Note: The GMT offset above does not reflect daylight saving time adjustments.

 For Audio: (877) 336-5673 code: 632896

Live Meeting Link:  https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/pbi/join?id=MSMA&role=attend&pw=EDUCATION

Live Meeting ID: MSMA

Live Meeting Attendee Entry Code: EDUCATION

 Please note: if you have never used Live Meeting, sign on to the web portion of our meeting at least 15 minutes prior to our start time as you will need to download software to run the application