What Does The United States Postal Service Do

Overview:

The Usa Postal Service (USPS) is an contained branch of the federal government responsible for providing Postal Service in the Usa. The USPS handles the mailing of letters and packages, sorting and delivering mail, and selling postal products like stamps, mailing supplies and commemoratives. The Postal Service has long been one of the most criticized federal operations, accused of rampant inefficiency and swollen bureaucracy. Over the past several years, the critically ill state of the economy and the widespread use of electronic communication have contributed to putting the agency into financial crisis, equally information technology suffers annual multi-billion-dollar losses. In the past five years, postal service book has declined by more than 43 billion pieces, with unmarried-slice First-Class messages failing by 36%. First-Class Postal service volume has dropped by l% in the past 10 years. Calls for privatizing the Postal service have been uttered time and again, simply they accept withal to gain whatever real traction with lawmakers or the White Firm. The USPS has made a series of proposals to a wary Congress for ways to avert all-out bankruptcy.

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History:

Before mail was delivered daily, citizens depended on friends, merchants, and Native Americans to evangelize messages around the state, and even to Europe. By 1639, the first official postal service in the colonies was developed by the General Court of Massachusetts. Richard Fairbanks' tavern in Boston was chosen as the official repository for mail delivered from or going out to places overseas.

Local authorities developed routes in their areas, and in 1673, Governor Francis Lovelace of New York set up up a monthly mail between New York and Boston. Although the service was brusk-lived, the rider's trail became known as the Onetime Boston Mail service Road, which comprised the current U.S. Road i.

Governor William Penn established Pennsylvania's outset postal service function in 1683. And in the S, private messengers, who were usually slaves, brought messages from plantation to plantation. As this network expanded, so did the routes conveying letters.

Subsequently 1692, a central postal service arrangement was established in the colonies, when Thomas Neale received a 21-year grant from the British Crown. Although Neale never visited America, he appointed Governor Andrew Hamilton of New Jersey as his deputy postmaster general. Neale'south franchise costs were low and all the same he died heavily in debt after passing his post to Andrew Hamilton and Robert West.

The British authorities bought the rights to the North American Postal Service in 1707 and appointed Hamilton's son, John, every bit deputy postmaster general. He was succeeded by John Lloyd of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1721. Alexander Spotswood, former lieutenant governor of Virginia, became deputy postmaster of America and appointed Benjamin Franklin to be deputy postmaster general of Philadelphia in 1737.

Franklin made of import and lasting improvements to the colonial posts, reorganizing service, touring and inspecting post offices to the due north and s, and placing milestones on the postal routes for condom. He established shorter routes and sent postal riders out to carry mail at night on a speed service between Philadelphia and New York. The colonial posts turned their first profit in 1760 under Franklin's leadership.

Franklin was dismissed past the Crown in 1774 for deportment deemed sympathetic to the cause of the colonies. When he left part, mail roads operated from Maine to Florida and from New York to Canada. Postal service was delivered on a regular schedule with posted times.

William Goddard, a printer and paper publisher, ready the Ramble Postal service of inter-colonial mail. It was funded by the colonies using a subscription model, and cyberspace revenues were used to meliorate post. When the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in 1775, Goddard'southward post was flourishing, and 30 post offices were in performance. The Constitutional Postal service set up rules for hiring reputable post riders and how riders were to secure the mail with a lock and key.

Iii weeks after the battles of Lexington and Concord, the 2d Continental Congress met in May 1775 to program for the colonies' defense in the event of a British attack. Delivery of messages and other material was deemed necessary for liberty, and so a committee, chaired by Benjamin Franklin, recommended founding a domestic postal system. After the committee reported back to the Continental Congress in July, the Congress created the position of Postmaster General and named Franklin to the post. Franklin's son-in-law, Richard Bache, was named comptroller, and William Goddard was appointed surveyor.

During the Revolutionary War, the postal organization carried communications between Congress and the armies. Riders were exempted from military duties and then service would not be interrupted. Franklin served as Postmaster General until November 7, 1776, and, as such, is considered the get-go Postmaster General of the U.s.a.. The Postmaster General was part of the presidential cabinet and was the concluding person in the line of succession to the presidency.

In the 19th century, the postal arrangement continued to abound. The Post Office Section, which had been founded to oversee the Mail service, developed new services and established new post routes. As the United States grew dramatically betwixt 1789 and 1861, when the Civil State of war broke out, its population also increased. This meant more mail and fifty-fifty more than post roads. By 1819, the Mail served 22 states and adult faster service. Past 1822, information technology took but 11 days to movement mail between Washington D.C. and Nashville, Tennessee.

By 1828, in that location were 7,530 post offices and 29,956 postal employees, mail contractors and carriers. John McLean of Ohio was the first Postmaster General to refer to the Post Office, or General Post Part, as information technology was sometimes chosen, but the arrangement was not officially established every bit an executive department until June 8, 1872.

By 1831, postal employees accounted for 76% of the civilian federal workforce. States continued to petition Congress for new post routes regardless of their potential for profit. The federal regime struggled with this issue and decided to subsidize postal routes that supported national evolution. Rates were inverse as well. In the past, rates were determined by the number of pages in a letter and the distance it was traveling. Only in 1845, the Mail service began charging based on weight, and whether the letter was going more than or less than 300 miles. This was washed through legislation adopted on March iii, 1863. The act also created three classes of mail: starting time form, 2d class, and tertiary grade.

As engineering science improved, with fast-moving steamboats, mail service began to move faster. In 1815, operators of steamboats had to deliver the letters and packets they carried to local postmasters within 3 hours of docking in daylight, or two hours later sunrise the following day. In the 1820s, more than 200 steamboats were serving river communities in this way. The Postal Service as well contracted three vessels to carry mail. An 1823 law declared waterways to exist post roads.

Mail service reached all the way to California past 1848, with the hopes of delivering mail within three-4 weeks from the time it was sent. Often, this was non the example. Postal service traveled by transport from New York to Panama, and then moved across Panama by canoes earlier it was loaded into another ship that carried information technology to San Francisco. The Panama Railroad made this journey slightly easier by 1855, but it wasn't until September of 1858, when John Butterfield's Overland Mail Company established a 2,800-mile southern stage route between Tipton, Missouri, and San Francisco, that mail began to get in more frequently.

The Railway Post Service (RMS) was created in 1864 to subsidize the railway arrangement. Railways were asked to build special cars to transport postal service in exchange for a authorities subsidy. RMS workers became the fastest mail service sorters in the concern and fabricated it possible for local carriers to evangelize all of the mail at the same time.

Mail was nonetheless delivered to a key location, usually from post office to post office. People could pick upwards their mail or pay two extra cents to have it delivered past local courier. In 1862, Postmaster General Montgomery Blair suggested that the Mail extend free commitment of mail by salaried mail carriers. Congress agreed with this suggestion and signed it into law on March 3, 1863. Income from local stamp was more sufficient to pay all expenses for the new service. Street addresses were added to letters for the showtime time.

On June xxx, 1864, free city delivery was established in 65 cities nationwide, and 685 carriers delivered mail there. By 1880, 104 cities were served by two,628 alphabetic character carriers. And by 1900, 15,322 carriers provided services to 796 cities. In order to receive mail at home, a denizen had to be at home. Otherwise, postal service remained in the carrier'southward satchel to be redelivered later on. In 1912, people were encouraged to provide mail service slots or receptacles, and by March one, 1923, they were required for delivery service.

In the 1890s, the New York Society for Suppression of Vice, spearheaded by Anthony Comstock, helped to brand the mailing of obscene textile illegal. This comprised indecent fabric, too as annihilation involving abortion, contraception, or alcohol. Comstock appointed himself "Special Postmaster" and attempted to enforce these laws using a posse comitatus of RMS workers.

Past the 1930s, letter carriers began delivering to customers at the edges of cities using boxes at the curb line. As Americans began moving increasingly to the suburbs in the 1950s, more and more than curbside mailboxes began to spring upwards. Upwardly until that time, mail carriers worked 52 weeks per year and 9-xi hours per day on average. Many worked Mon through Sat and sometimes on Sun as well. A congressional human activity in 1884 granted them 15 days of leave per year, and in 1888, Congress declared that a day's work would be eight hours, and hours above and across that were to be paid appropriately. The 40-hour work calendar week began in 1935.

Mail carriers walked every bit many as 22 miles a day, carrying up to 50 pounds of mail at a fourth dimension. In that location were sometimes two deliveries per 24-hour interval to residences, and up to four per twenty-four hours at businesses. This was discontinued on Apr 17, 1950. By the mid-1950s, the maximum weight to be carried by a postal worker was reduced to 35 pounds, which is where it remains today.

At the kickoff of the 20th Century, Americans were nonetheless being served by the Postal service Office Department. They lived largely in rural areas and this presented challenges to the Postal Service. By the mid-1960s, the Post Function Department had fiscal issues due to neglect and fragmented control. Facilities, equipment, wages, and management efficiency had to be overhauled. In October 1966, the Chicago Post Office came to a halt as the volume of postal service surpassed workers' ability to sort and deliver it. A 1967 House Appropriations Subcommittee labeled the Postal Service "a race with catastrophe." 5 to 10 million pieces of mail were being sent each day, but systems could not keep upwards.

In 1971, the section was reorganized as a semi-contained agency of the federal regime. Its name was inverse to the U.s.a. Mail service (USPS). New laws as well removed the Postmaster Full general from the line of succession for the presidency.

In the 37 years since the Postal Reorganization Act was signed, technological advances have improved services and operations. Although the volume of mail has connected to grow each year, information technology declined in 1991 for the first time since the Depression. In 1992, the post service created a new organizational structure that replaced five regions and 73 field divisions with 10 areas and 85 districts in an effort to keep rates holding steady.

In 2006, Congress passed and President George West. Bush signed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Human action (pdf). Information technology enacted numerous USPS reforms, including pre-funding retirees' health-care costs, and modifying matters pertaining to budget submission, pension benefits, regulatory activity, rate-setting, Lath of Governor terms, and agency transparency.

In March 2010, and then-Postmaster General John Potter announced a 10-year strategy for the USPS equally a means to avoid a cumulative arrears of $238 billion by 2020. The program included emptying of Sabbatum deliveries, which was touted as a $3 billion per year savings. The plan besides sought relief from pre-funding retiree health benefits, which would save $5.half dozen billion annually. It additionally sought retail partnerships and the right to hire part-time employees.

Postal service volume reached record levels from 1992 to 2000. Although the terrorist attacks on September 11 diminished this volume slightly in 2001, total mail volume dropped by well-nigh five billion pieces in 2002. Two years subsequently mail volume once again increased. Currently the USPS sorts and delivers more than 177 billion pieces of mail annually, which is approximately 40% of the world's total mail volume. In the past five years, mail volume has declined by more than 43 billion pieces, with single-piece Kickoff-Class messages declining past 36%. In the last year alone, Fantabulous Postal service has declined by vi.6%, with USPS processing about 563 one thousand thousand pieces of mail a day. In FY 2011, overall mail service volume had been forecast to fall by 3.5 billion pieces (two%), with a projected 6.5% decrease in Excellent Mail. Outset-Course Postal service is projected to drop to 39 billion pieces annually by 2020. While commercial junk mail, now known every bit "Standard Post," has been experiencing a i.vii% increment in revenue this twelvemonth, it generates only a third as much equally Outset-Class Mail service, and therefore can't brand up for the loss of Get-go-Class concern.

In the fourth quarter of 2011 alone, the USPS suffered a $3.3 billion net loss, and it is expected to lose $10 billion per year if no activity is taken. The agency has asked Congress for permission to shut unprofitable postal facilities, motion from a six-twenty-four hour period to five-day weekly commitment schedule, relax delivery times, and withdraw from federal retirement and health-care plans.

In his FY 2013 budget, President Obama expressed support for the termination of Saturday post deliveries, raising the price of stamps in a higher place the rate of inflation, and relaxation of costly payments to pre-fund hereafter postal worker retirements. As part of that, he proposed the refunding of $10.9 billion to USPS over 2 years from a credit information technology has with the Federal Employee Retirement Organization. USPS claims that the enactment of those proposals would save the bureau $25 billion over the adjacent 11 years.

Obama'south 2013 upkeep backs ending Saturday mail, boosting stamp prices (by Ed

O'Keefe, Washington Mail)

USPS Looks To Congress To Avert Bankruptcy (Lexington Found)

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What information technology Does:

The United States Mail (USPS) is an contained federal agency responsible for providing Postal Service for the Usa. This is washed through collecting stamp for the mailing of messages and packages, sorting and delivering mail and selling mail-related products like commemorative and collectible stamps, too as postal supplies.

The Board of Governors of the USPS sets policy, procedure and postal rates. It has a like role as a corporate lath of directors. Of the 11 lath members, 9 are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. These nine appointed members then select the U.South. Postmaster General, who serves as the board's tenth fellow member. He or she besides oversees the day-to-day activities of the Mail and acts every bit main executive officer. The 10-member board and then nominates a deputy postmaster general who acts as chief operating officeholder and takes the remaining seat on the lath.

Although the USPS is often mistaken for a authorities-endemic corporation like Amtrak, it is legally defined as an "independent establishment of the executive branch." Equally a quasi-government agency, information technology has many special privileges, including sovereign amnesty, eminent domain powers, powers to negotiate postal treaties with strange nations, and an exclusive legal correct to deliver Showtime-Class and Standard Postal service. In 2004, the U.South. Supreme Court ruled that the USPS was not a authorities-endemic corporation and could not be sued under the Sherman Antitrust Human action.

The Postal service's Independent Office of Inspector Full general (OIG) prevents waste, fraud, theft, and misconduct by the Postal Service. In 2004, the responsibilities of this role increased, when allegations of postal employee misconduct were added. Starting in February 2007, bug of embezzlement, record falsification, workers' compensation fraud, contract fraud, and on-duty narcotics violations were referred to the USPS OIG.

The OIG's staff of one,071 members includes special agents (federal law enforcement officers authorized to carry firearms, brand arrests, and investigate federal criminal violations), auditors (professionals trained in government audit and accounting standards), and others. Since it was established, the Part of Inspector General has issued 3,077 audit reports and management advisories accounting for more $three.7 billion in questioned costs, unrecoverable costs, funds put to better use, and acquirement affect. Examples of fraud uncovered by USPS OIG investigations include a trucking contractor defrauding the Postal Service of $1.v million in fuel rebates; a highway road contractor defrauding the Postal service of $120,468 for services non rendered; and a construction contractor charging the Mail $175,630 for work never done.

The Department of Defense and the USPS jointly operate a postal system to deliver mail for the armed forces. This is known as the Army Post Office (for Ground forces and Air Forcefulness postal facilities) and Armada Post Office (for Navy, Marine Corps and Declension Guard postal facilities).

From the Web Site of the USPS

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Current Initiatives

Customer Service

Events Calendar

FAQs

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Services Locator

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Where Does the Money Go:

Co-ordinate to the United States Postal Service USPS FY 2012 Integrated Financial Programme (pdf), the agency's projected operating expenses for FY 2012 are every bit follows:

Bounty and Benefits $51.2 billion

Retiree Wellness Benefits Pre-funding $11.1 billion

Other Non-Personnel Costs $7.3 billion

Transportation $6.3 billion

Depreciation $2.2 billion

Total Operating Expenses $78.1 billion

The USPS also earmarked $.9 billion to Capital letter Commitments projects and $1.1 billion for Capital Greenbacks Outlays—all for facilities, equipment, and infrastructure.

According to Husch Blackwell LLP, a law firm whose specialties include a Mail service contracting practice, virtually $12 billion was spent by USPS outside of the agency in FY 2010, and just over one-half of that—$6.32 billion—went to transportation. About one-half of that figure—$3.ii billion—went to highway transportation, which increased by 5.three% from final twelvemonth every bit the USPS shifted mail from air to surface transportation. USPS spending for supplies and services totaled $2.2 billion. Spending on the agency's roughly 30,000 facilities declined by $86 meg to $one.7 billion.

Based on information compiled from a Freedom of Data Act request, the top v contractors whose services were used by USPS in FY 2010 were:

1. Federal Limited Corporation $i,373,140,689

2. Northrop Grumman $494,601,395

3. Kalitta Air LLC $371,823,791

4. Pat Salmon & Sons Inc. $142,869,164

five. Siemens $134,774,653

Federal Limited has been USPS'due south biggest supplier for eight years in a row. FedEx signed a 7-yr contract with the agency in 2001 to transport its Limited Mail and Priority Mail for USPS. In 2007, the contract was extended until September 2013.

Northrop Grumman, a $30 billion global defense and technology company, is USPS'southward second largest supplier. It provides the bureau with the equipment for the automatic handling of large envelopes, catalogs and magazines. In 2007 it signed an $874.vi million contract with the USPS for 100 units of the so-called FSS automation hardware.

Kalitta Air LLC provides air transportation and mail distribution services, a big portion of which is military mail bound for overseas destinations.

USPS Integrated Financial Plan FY 2012 (pdf)

Elevation 150 USPS Suppliers in 2010 (by David P. Hendel, Husch Blackwell LLP) (pdf)

USPS Suppliers (website page)

"Postal Reform Human action" would as well reform USPS contracting (by David P. Hendel, Husch

Blackwell LLP)

The U.S. Postal service awarded five-year air transportation contracts to 7 rider airlines as of September thirty, 2006. These included American Airlines, American Trans Air, Continental Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Midwest Airlines, Dominicus Country Airlines, and US Airways. In social club to go on the mail service delivered on fourth dimension, the agreements contain on-time delivery requirements and functioning standards. Total value is estimated at approximately $225 1000000. The book of mail service to be transported under the contracts is estimated at approximately 450 one thousand thousand pounds.

Seven Airlines Awarded USPS Contracts (PRNewswire)

In May 2002, the U.Due south. Mail service awarded contracts to Ashland Inc. and Sabre Oxidation Technologies Inc. for anthrax decontamination of the Brentwood postal facility in Washington D.C. and the Trenton processing and distribution centre in Hamilton Township, New Bailiwick of jersey, which had been contaminated in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and their backwash.

USPS Awards Contracts to Rid Facilities of Anthrax (by Sherie Winston, Engineering News-Tape)

Computer Sciences Corporation was awarded a professional services ordering agreement from the USPS in May 1998, to support the development and implementation of enterprise-wide it solutions for administrative functions. The agreement contains a one-year base of operations and two pick periods not to exceed nine years. CSC had $6.6 billion in revenues for the 12 months that ended April 3, 1998. In 2003, CSC's subsidiary DynCorp Technical Services received five-year follow-on awards for two contracts with the USPS. These 2 contracts are valued at over $200 million.

CSC Awarded U.South. Postal service Contract Under Preferred Portfolio Partnering Agreement (PRNewswire)

CSC Subsidiary Wins $200 Million Mail Ship Service Center Contract Extension From U.S. Postal service (CSC)

In September 2006, the Postal Service renewed a contract with ABX Air Inc. for terminal holding services in Indianapolis. The term of the contract was for 4 years and was expected to generate additional acquirement of $17.seven million. ABX has likewise won contracts from the Postal Service to manage its centers in Dallas and Memphis. Each of these contracts has a provision for 2, two-year extensions. ABX operates a fleet of 100 shipping and 18 hubs throughout the U.s.. It reported $1.46 billion in revenue in 2005.

U.Southward. Mail service renews ABX contract (Columbus Business concern First)

The USPS also renewed its contract with Continental Airlines in September 2006, providing a five-year term for $258 million. The airline agreed to carry Priority, Commencement-Class, and Express Mail products in the United State and Puerto Rico. Houston-based Continental, which merged with United in 2012, had carried mail for the USPS for more than than 70 years.

Continental nets $258M U.Due south. Postal Service contract (Houston Business Journal)

In May 2006, the USPS awarded two contracts totaling $ix 1000000 to Lockheed Martin to upgrade and increase the processing capability of the Remote Computer Reader (RCR) arrangement. This will provide additional capacity to handle processing during summit periods.

Lockheed Martin Awarded Contracts to Improve U.S. Mail Mail Processing System (Lockheed Martin press release)

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Controversies:

USPS Official Gives Contracts to Associates

In 2010, subsequently only two years on the task, Robert Bernstock left the U.Due south. Mail (USPS) equally its top marketing practiced, leaving backside a trail of controversies. While serving as president of mailing and shipping services, Bernstock was responsible for improving business organization opportunities for the Mail. Along the fashion, however, he besides violated federal rules time and once again. Bernstock improperly used government staff to manage his personal finances and outside business interests, co-ordinate to the USPS inspector full general. Even afterwards he was warned to terminate doing so, he connected to behave badly. He awarded six non-competitive contracts to associates, including a $1.5 million deal to Goldman Sachs, which was a major investor in Nutrisystem, where Bernstock was a lath member. He also failed to recuse himself from negotiations with Costco—in which he owned $30,000 in stock—to allow the company to sell Christmas stamps in majority. Caught upward in the scandal was Post General Counsel Mary Anne Gibbons, who patently knew of Bernstock'south transgressions but failed to report them to the inspector general.

USPS President Under Fire For Directing Postal Contracts To Former Associates Resigns (PostalReporter News Blog)

Claims Confronting USPS Exec Expose Clash of Public-Private Rules (by Stephen Losey, Federal Times)

Las Vegas Casino Paradigm of Statue of Liberty Mistakenly Used on Postage

When the USPS decided in 2010 to feature the Statue of Liberty on its new "Forever" stamps, it advertently went with the Las Vegas version instead of the New York 1. Postal officials thought they were press an image of the real Statue of Liberty. But a postage stamp collector noticed some oddities with the new postage stamp, such as the rectangular patch on the statue's crown—a feature that simply exists on the replica outside the New York New York casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

By the time the mistake was discovered, the Post had already printed and distributed 1.5 billion of the stamps. "We still love the postage stamp design and would have selected this photograph anyway," USPS spokesman Roy Betts told The New York Times, in an endeavor to rationalize the bureau's blunder.

Wrong Statue of Liberty Featured on USPS Stamps (past Andrea Parrish, NewsyType.com)

This Lady Freedom Is a Las Vegas Teenager (by Kim Severson and Matthew Healey, New York Times)

Images of Statue

Female parent Teresa Stamp Causes Controversy

Admired for her selfless charity work for the poor, Mother Teresa nonetheless became the eye of controversy in 2010 when the USPS tried honoring her with a new stamp. Atheists and other opponents criticized the Postal Service for using an epitome of Mother Teresa, citing the agency'south own regulations almost not portraying religious figures on stamps. "Stamps or stationery items shall not exist issued to honor religious institutions or individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings or beliefs," reads the USPS rule.

USPS spokesman Roy Betts said Female parent Teresa was not honored because of her religion, simply for "her work with the poor and her acts of humanitarian relief." He added, "This has nothing to do with religion or faith." But even the USPS press release noted the nun's "divine inspiration" for her charity work.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation urged its supporters to boycott the postage stamp and write messages to spread the discussion of her "darker side," co-ordinate to Fox News.

The Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative legal defence organisation, rebuked the foundation for its opposition. "Just when you recall the atheists and anti-religionists have run out of things to complain about, they set on Female parent Teresa, ane of the peachy role models of the last century," President Brad Dacus said.

A Postage Stamp for Mother Teresa (by Elizabeth Tenety, Washington Post)

U. Due south. Postal Service Issues Mother Teresa Stamp (by Jim O'Donnel, Pushing the Envelope Web log)

Atheist Group Blasts Postal Service for Mother Teresa Stamp (Play tricks News)

Postmaster General's Generous "Retirement" Package

When Postmaster General John Potter retired in 2010 from the U.S. Mail, he took with him nearly $5.five meg in deferred compensation, retirement benefits, and accrued almanac leave. His generous retirement parcel also included 2 years of outplacement assistance and one yr of healthcare insurance from the USPS.

Potter benefited from a 2006 postal "reform" police force that permitted the agency to compensate pinnacle executives with lucrative pay and benefits packages to assist recruit talented executives.

During the last year of Potter's tenure, the Postal service reported losses totaling $viii.five billion. Those succeeding Potter weren't as likely to be so well compensated. Upon his departure, the USPS lath decided to tie bonuses and salary increases to the agency's financial condition.

Afterwards leaving the Mail, Potter became the CEO and president of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which runs the airports outside D.C. Prior to that, he had no prior aerodrome management experience.

Approachable Postmaster General'southward Gilded Parachute (past Ed O'Keefe, Washington Mail service)

Ex-USPS Exec Jack Potter To Lead Airports Potency (by Ann Marimow, Washington Post)

USPS To Tie Pay, Bonuses To Finances (by Jim McElhatton, Washington Times)

Mail Carriers Pull a "Newman"

Postal carrier Jill Hull of Webberville, Michigan, proceeds national notoriety in 2008 after the Mail caught her storing thousands of pieces of mail. Instead of delivering well-nigh 10,000 letters and packages, some dating back to 2005, Hull had stuck them in a storage locker. Commentators immediately compared the behavior to that of the ne'er-do-well character Newman on the television comedy Seinfeld.

Hull was non the start postal service carrier to shirk on his or her duties. According to the Mail there were 333 "Newman" cases (mail stolen, delayed, or destroyed by employees or contractors) in 2008. Hull faced up to a yr in jail and $100,000 in fines. She pleaded guilty, saying she stashed the mail because she couldn't go along up with her route, and in May 2009 received probation.

Detroit Postal service Carrier Pulls "a Newman" (by Andrew Greiner, NBC New York)

"Newman" Weighs In On Rumored Postal service Changes (Gothamist)

Newman (Wikipedia)

Postal Workers Behaving Badly (past Ed O'Keefe, Washington Postal service)

U.S. Mail service Confuses Wyoming with Colorado

In June 2008, a new stamp from the USPS intended to honor the state of Colorado was found to depict a well-known mountain in Wyoming. Artist Tom Engeman said the drawing was not based on a item mountain, but was meant to be generic. The stamp was one of 50 meant to commemorate each of the fifty states.

Exclusive: Wyoming Mountain Depicted On Colorado Postage stamp? (ABC 7 News Denver)

MAD TV Skit Draws Protests & Cancellations from USPS

Even though USPS executives protested and canceled $200,000 worth of USPS ads that were to run on Fob, MADtv aired a controversial segment that featured iii postal workers arguing over who had the all-time reason to get on a killing spree. Although the USPS feared citizens would go along copycat shooting sprees in mail service offices, no one was hurt in the aftermath of the skit.

MadTV "Postal Workers Gone Postal" (YouTube)

Federal Approximate Orders Church-Run Post Offices to Terminate Promoting Religion

In April 2007, a federal approximate in Hartford, CT, ruled that, in guild to maintain separation of church and land, religion had no place in mail service offices run by churches and other private contractors. A church-run post office in Manchester and five,200 other facilities were ordered to stop promoting religion through pamphlets, displays, or other materials. The judge also ordered that these facilities be monitored to make certain they were complying with this guild.

Guess: Keep Organized religion Out of Post Offices Run By Churches, Contractors (Associated Press)

Ohio Development Removes USPS-Mandated Mailboxes

In June 2005, controversy nearly what type of mail boxes residents could have at a housing evolution intensified when the Lorain (Ohio) Engineering science Section removed 104 boxes that had been installed by the U.Southward. Post. The USPS immediately ordered them to be returned, saying they were federal property and could not legally exist removed.

USPS Spent $38 One thousand thousand Sponsoring a Pro Cycling Team

Between 1996 and 2004, the USPS sponsored a professional cycling squad led by Lance Armstrong. According to an inspect performed past the Mail's inspector full general, although the Postal Service claimed that the deal had generated $18 1000000 in revenue, only $698,000 could be verified.

Postal Service to End Sponsorship of the Team Led by Lance Armstrong (by Richard Sandomir, New York Times)

North Carolina Human being Sues USPS for Curtailing His Religious Freedom

In April 2003, a Lenoir, Due north Carolina, human sued the U.S. Mail, charging information technology with violating his family'southward religious freedom. He contended that USPS regulations on mail shipped to troops in the Eye E favored the Islamic faith, and thereby infringed his rights. He had attempted to send a Bible study, Christian comic books, and the book God's Promises for Your Every Need to his son Daniel R. Moody, a National Guardsman deployed to Kuwait as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The younger Moody had requested the materials, but ran into difficulty when the U.S. Community Service stopped the items, saying they violated policy which states: "Any matter containing religious materials contrary to Islamic faith or depicting nude or seminude persons, pornographic or sexual items, or non-authorized political materials is prohibited." The regulation also bans pork products and alcohol.

Two Pension Funding Issues Left Unsettled by 2003 USPS Law

In 2003, the Postal Civil Service Retirement System Funding Reform Human action suggested several ways to deal with declining revenue and decreased mail. Even so, two alimony funding bug were left unsettled by the neb'south passage. The first was what to do with the "savings" to USPS from the reductions in its payments to the Civil Service Retirement Fund allowed by the law. From 2006 on, the law provided that funds be held in escrow, awaiting further Congressional activity. Controversy came from the fact that the money would non be used to deliver mail or back up the system. Removing escrow would accept added $3 billion to the federal authorities'due south budget, which created an uproar. USPS suggested setting upwardly a carve up fund for retiree health benefits.

The second effect concerned a provision of the 2003 law that transferred responsibility from the Treasury to USPS for paying retirement benefits earned by postal employees when they are members of the armed forces, which represented a $27 billion obligation. USPS is the simply agency or department that has been exempted past the Treasury, which pays for these benefits for all other federal employees.

In 2010, a USPS Inspector General (IG) report claimed that the Office of Personnel Direction forced USPS to pay an unfairly large share of the Civil Service Retirement System alimony costs of veteran postal workers. The overpayment reportedly began in the 1970s and had reached a cumulative total of $75 billion through 2009. The IG recommended that the U.Southward. Treasury credit $75 billion to the Postal Service, with most of the coin to fully fund retiree health benefits. The proposed FY 2012 budget assigns $11 billion relief to the USPS in the class of a relaxed schedule of retiree health benefits payments and repayment over thirty years of USPS federal retirement fund overpayments. The USPS claims information technology cannot afford to pay the roughly $five.5 billion in retirement and wellness-care costs that are now due past constabulary.

In 2011, the USPS halted its pension fund contributions for employees covered under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) every bit a cost-cutting measure, claiming it tin can afford to practise so because information technology has a $half dozen.nine billion surplus in employer contributions in the FERS pension business relationship. The payments amounted to $115 million every ii weeks, and suspending them will reportedly free upward $800 million this fiscal year.

Alimony Bug Cloud Postal Reform Contend (by Nye Stevens, Congressional Inquiry Service) (pdf)

Postal Service suspends payments to retirement fund (by Joe Davidson, Washington Mail service)

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Suggested Reforms:

Saving the USPS from Financial Collapse

Since the U.South. Mail (USPS) reached a disquisitional land in 2011 with its ruby ink, Washington has had no shortage of reform proposals to consider for saving the agency from bankruptcy. One of the more dramatic plans, offered past Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Connecticut), called for closing three,700 mail service offices, ending Saturday mail delivery, and reducing the agency's workforce past 220,000 employees over 4 years.

A point of contention not tackled by Lieberman was what, if anything, Congress should do about the mandate it placed on the USPS in 2006, when a new law demanded the bureau prefund its retiree health benefits for the side by side 75 years. The requirement has forced the Postal Service to put bated $5.five billion annually for 10 years.

In his reform proposal, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California), chairman of the House Government Oversight Committee, wanted to permit the USPS to default on its retiree health fund obligation. Issa also chosen for creating a commission to oversee a dramatic restructuring of the bureau. Liberals vehemently opposed Issa'southward bill, claiming it contained language that could take stripped postal workers of their commonage bargaining rights. Issa offered another USPS reform program that dealt specifically with the special postage rate given to nonprofits. The neb proposed a gradual lowering of the discount on nonprofits' stamp rates equally a way to generate more revenue for the Postal Service.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) objected to the thought of closing thousands of post offices, proverb such a move would be devastating to rural communities. She proposed reforming the retiree prefunding mandate, while maintaining Sat mail delivery and not endmost small postal offices.

Yet another reform program, past Sen. Tom Carper (D-Delaware), would take immune the USPS to stop Sat service (which Postal Service executives want) and utilise projected overpayments into the federal retirement system to satisfy its prefunding requirement on health benefits.

Post Role Wrangling Could Be Preview of Federal Deficit Debate (by Deirdre Shesgreen, The CT Mirror)

Issa'southward Mail Reform Bill Includes Subconscious Union Busting (past Pat Garofalo, Think Progress)

Amongst Pension Cuts at USPS, Issa Introduces Postal Reform Human activity (by Kenneth Corbin,

EcommerceBytes.com)

Nonprofits at Risk of Losing Mail Discounts with USPS Reform Beak (past Eryn Lord's day, Christian Post Reporter)

USPS Reform May Be on the Way, Merely Is It Too Belatedly? (Washington Post)

Postmaster General Outlines Postal Service's New Reality (U.S. Postal Service)

Post Office Reform (Center for Fiscal Responsibility)

Postal Service Overhaul

In 2004, a long-awaited proposal to reorganize the Postal Service met with opposition when businesses objected to a provision backed by the largest postal workers union. The law, backed by Rep. John M. McHugh (R-New York), would modify the way the Postal Service sets mail rates and attempt to separate the agency's Showtime-Class Postal service monopoly from its competitive services, such every bit package delivery. A presidential commission reported that without an overhaul, the Postal Service faces an e'er-worsening fiscal crisis because of declining alphabetic character mail service revenue.

The pecker ran into trouble over a section dealing with discounts the Postal Service offers mailers who presort and put bar codes on mail service before sending it. This saves the Mail service money, but labor unions wanted to limit the discounts to just the amount the USPS would relieve. As written, it would mean higher rates for all retailers.

Writers of the reform bill had trouble drafting a version that pleased all sides. The Postal Service, nonprofit mailers, package delivery companies and labor unions have struggled over the result for the better function of a decade, and McHugh has been at the forefront most of that fourth dimension through his chairmanship of postal-related panels.

The controversy arose before the bill really became available. The House Government Reform Committee released a "discussion draft" just two days before the scheduled vote in committee, a period one official called besides short to allow a full fence. The official said the section on postal discounts, known as workshare discounts, could heighten postal rates by as much every bit $50 1000000 a year.

A postal reform bill had also gained momentum in the Senate. That bill, drafted by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and others, replaced the Postal Rate Commission with a Postal Regulatory Commission that would have broader oversight authority. The proposal also generally express postal rate increases for first-class mail to the consumer price index and created a separate fund for acquirement generated past the Postal service'due south competitive products.

Every bit lawmakers began taking upwards postal overhaul bills, several involvement groups—including commercial mailers, postal competitors, consumer groups and labor organizations—watched closely and prepared to redouble their lobbying efforts for postal reorganization nigh a decade in the making.

A reject in mail book and a steady ascension in delivery points and expenses volition cause postal price increases and major job losses nationwide if the commitment service is non reformed, according to a group pushing for modify. Maine would lose an estimated iii,500 to vii,000 jobs, depending on whether the driblet in volume proves to be 10% or 20%, the Envelope Manufacturers Association argued in its study. According to the association study, some of the threatened organizations include the Postal service, which is the seventh largest employer in Maine, with more than than 4,400 workers, as well as paper manufacturers, printers, and itemize companies.

Finally, on December 20, 2006, a decade of legislative wrangling came to an end when President George W. Bush signed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Human activity of 2006 (pdf). The measure out provided the Postal Service with the fiscal and structural flexibility information technology needed to compete in the Information Age. With First-Class Postal service being steadily siphoned away by email and other electronic communication, the USPS needed the liberty to react to market conditions, develop new products and services, and arrange its business model in guild to survive.

Although the postal workers union objected strenuously to ane provision—requiring injured postal employees to wait iii days before beginning Continuation of Pay benefits—the matrimony played a crucial role in developing many of its most important provisions. The law was the first noun overhaul of the Mail service since the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970.

Postal Reform beak hits snag; lawmakers scramble to rewrite it (PostalReporter.com)

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Debate:

Should the Postal service Be Privatized?

Practically since the beginning of the Postal Service, there has been a contentious fence about USPS'south monopoly on the sorting and delivery of postal service across the state. While government postal systems around the earth have faced increasing competition from delivery services such every bit Federal Express, DHL, and United Packet Service, the USPS has remained the carrier of choice for the federal regime. Every bit a federal department, the USPS can ready postal rates and raise them equally information technology sees fit with little or no contest to encounter the needs of the average consumer. Current debate has centered on whether the country would exist better served past privatizing the USPS.

History:

During the years 1839-1851, the USPS faced its kickoff serious challenge to its monopoly. A number of congressmen feared the Mail was on the verge of an involuntary privatization. Because the monopoly profits garnered by the post office were of import to politically powerful interest groups, the federal regime did not allow the USPS to be privatized. In order to reduce competition, withal, rates were dropped drastically and diverse reforms were adopted.

For many years, the Mail service'southward monopoly ability allowed information technology to earn huge profits, or "rents," on important routes. Simply unlike in other countries, the USPS returned most no revenue to the general fund. Instead, it reported losses; big profits were distributed internally. The Mail service as well distributed these revenues to groups with political power in social club to buy influence and favors.

The Mail service'due south large hidden profits caused postal rates to rise relative to the cost of transportation. Private competitors, even as far back equally the mid-19th century, delivered mail service efficiently, and at lower rates. Congress was forced to lower rates again and again to stay competitive.

Further hurting the Postal Service'south bottom-lines were two additional factors:

USPS was inadvertently subsidizing the transportation industry since it was paying up to 16 times the rate of regular freight to motion post around the land by steamship and railroad. This was non investigated or addressed.
Postal Service workers were paid far more marketplace wages. In the 19th century, postmasters were offered a portion of the gross receipt at their post offices and the ability to "frank" mail (send items through the postal service with simply a signature instead of postage). Franking was sometimes more valuable than the Postmaster General's salary since this privilege could be "sold" to powerful individuals for political or personal gain. It is estimated that deputy postmasters and other government officials franked betwixt one and one.v million letters and documents per year.

The most controversial challenge to the monopoly of the Mail came from Lysander Spooner, who formed the American Letter Visitor to evangelize mail between New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore to challenge the USPS' monopoly. The Articles of Confederation of 1778 had vested the Congress with the "sole and exclusive correct [of] … establishing and regulating post offices." The Constitution had merely granted "the power to establish postal service offices and post roads." This language led many, including Justice Joseph Story, to dubiety whether the power the Constitution gave to set posts and post roads was intended to be exclusive. Spooner used his ain money to buy newspaper advertisements urging cooperation from the federal government to bring the matter before the Supreme Courtroom. The Postmaster General was unwilling to cooperate, though, and Spooner was driven out of business when the government seized his mail.

Today:

According to the Government Accountability Part, "The monopoly was created past Congress equally a acquirement protection measure for the Postal Service'due south predecessor to enable it to fulfill its mission. Information technology is to foreclose private competitors from engaging in an action known every bit 'cream-skimming,' i.due east., offer service on low-cost routes at prices below those of the Post, while leaving the USPS with high-cost routes." The law that prohibits anyone except the USPS from placing mail service in a individual mailbox was besides passed for the purpose of preventing loss of revenue to the post office.

Besides the prevention of revenue loss, the 1934 legislation was passed for another reason. "Congress sought to subtract the quantity of extraneous thing being placed in postal service boxes." Until 1979, competition in all letter post was prohibited. However, faced with imminent legislation to exempt "urgent" letter mail from the monopoly, the Postal service Role decided on its own to exempt "extremely urgent" letters. Competition in "extremely urgent letters" was allowed under sure weather condition: The individual carrier must charge at least $3 or twice the U.South. postage, whichever is greater (other stipulations, such as maximum commitment time, practical as well); or, alternatively, it may exist delivered for free. This is where carriers such as FedEx compete by offering overnight delivery, as well equally where bike messengers compete for intra-city postal service.

Nevertheless, the private carrier of the urgent letters must non utilize the standardized mailboxes marked "US Mail service." Hence, private carriers of urgent letters must deliver packages direct to the recipient, leave them in the open about the recipient'southward front door or place them in a special box dedicated solely to that carrier (a technique commonly used by small courier and messenger services). Co-ordinate to the American Enterprise Constitute, the United States is the only country that has such a mailbox monopoly.

Since the post monopoly only applies to non-urgent letter mail, the USPS is losing a significant amount of business to their competitors in other services, who offer lower rates. For example, FedEx and others accept captured 90% of the overnight mail business organization.

Should the The states Mail Be Eliminated? (Buy Like Buffett)

Pro:

The mail service role is cleaved and can't exist stock-still, say those who believe privatization is the best move for the USPS. Considering of its position equally an untouchable monopoly that is subsidized by the federal government no matter how poor its performance, the USPS has no real reason to want to amend. Requite individual manufacture a chance to sort information technology out, or effigy out how to offer more services at a more competitive rate, say privatization proponents.

Also, because the federal regime has traditionally been slow to counter challenges from private post carriers, the post office has lagged one step behind the business concern earth, which is nimbler and more capable of making the necessary changes to remain competitive. In contrast, the reactionary stance of the USPS only makes it have to continually lower its prices in order to stay competitive. This results in an endless cycle of less coin coming in, which forces cuts in services and personnel and results in longer lines and greater irritation for consumers, who then look for other options.

Many on the political right who advocate laissez-faire capitalism are critical of USPS'due south monopoly. Economists have argued that having laws that brand it illegal for anyone else to carry mail decreases competition and instead raises prices. Because the USPS is a huge organization, many say their scale alone should make it possible to drib the cost of stamps, not raise them on a consistent basis. Lastly, some say that the USPS has an unfair reward and should be bailiwick to the same rules as private carriers, such every bit paying taxes, following country and local regulations, and being discipline to antitrust laws.

Privatize This (by Sam Ryan, National Review)

Burrus Testifies Before Senate: USPS on Path to Privatization (American Postal Workers Wedlock)

Con:

Critics of privatizing the USPS ofttimes cite the worry of increased prices and less centralizing or standardization for postal service commitment. Another big worry is the fate of rural citizens, who depend on the mail for their master source of information. Those against privatizing the Postal Service debate that living in thinly populated areas means that transportation costs must be expanded to see delivery demands. Often, urban areas like the Northeast stop up subsidizing more rural areas because they bring in more than revenue when factored against transportation costs. If the Postal Service were run by private corporations, they could make up one's mind not to provide post to those areas or to provide fewer overall services. That would leave the burden on districts that may non be able to afford their own mail role, and thus limit access to data.

The Postal Service argues that their monopoly is necessary to fulfill its mission "to provide for an economically sound postal organisation that could beget to evangelize messages between any ii locations, however remote." If private carriers were allowed to compete, they say, the postal service office would non be able to deliver post to every American at the aforementioned cost. The department too stresses that e-mail will provide plenty of a striking to their bottom line to make talk of privatization unnecessary and irrelevant going forward.

Postmaster General says service is improving; Privatize USPS for 21st Century, Panelists say (Cato Found)

Union President Condemns USPS Plans to Privatize AMCs (American Postal Workers Wedlock)

Citizens Against Privatizing the The states Mail service

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Sometime Directors:

A listing of erstwhile postmasters general tin exist institute here.

John Potter

The son of a twoscore-year Postal Service veteran, John East. Potter served as the 72nd Postmaster General and Main Executive Function of the United states of america Postal Service starting time on June 1, 2001. He stepped down from the position in Dec 2010.

Potter earned a degree in economic science from Fordham Academy. His master's degree is in direction from the Sloan Fellows Program at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Potter began as a distribution clerk in Westchester, New York, in 1978 and has served as master operating officer, vice president of labor relations, and in a number of other senior operational positions both at headquarters and in the field.

In April 2002, Potter submitted the USPS Transformation Plan to Congress to help address bug within the USPS threatening fiscal and commercial viability, specially those of technology. This became the fractional ground for the Postal Reform and Accountability Act in belatedly 2006.

Potter had served on the Postal service Lath of Governors and was vice chairman of the International Mail service Corporation, an association of 23 national posts in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. He also served as chairman of the Kahala Posts Group, an Asia-Pacific alliance that includes the U.s., Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea.

Potter is currently President and CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, a position he has held since July eighteen, 2011.

Postmaster General John Potter leads a weep for retrenchment (by Ed O'Keefe,

Washington Post)

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