Rachel Weingarten thought DYMO’s “nifty new LabelWriter Twin Turbo printer and postage system” might be just what her small business needed, but gave up on it after two hours struggling with the installation.
Web Stamps: A new printer tries - but fails - to take the hassle out of mailings.
Several comments posted in response to the story of Lee Schechinger, the carrier fired for playing the state lottery on his lunch break suggested that there had to be more to the story- and they were right.
According to records of the Iowa Unemployment Insurance Appeals Section, Schechinger had been a full time city carrier until he was fired in April 2005 for “falsification of United States Post Office documentation”. As the result of a “last chance” agreement, he was reinstated. The agreement required that Schechinger “be an exemplary employee and failure to meet any of the requirements as listed in his last chance agreement would result in his discharge”. Schechinger’s subsequent removal for gambling was grieved, and according to the Iowa agency, “the discharge was upheld by the union”.
Iowa Unemployment Insurance Appeals Decisions - SCHECHINGER V. US POSTAL SERVICE
The web’s a wonderful thing- after reading yesterday’s insane story about a rural carrier who got fired for playing the lottery on his lunch break, I did a little news search- and found this press release in a couple of seconds. I’ve removed the names to avoid getting another poor schmuck fired:
xxxxx, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire/ — xxxxx, a postal worker from xxxxx, became the first xxxxx player to win the $100,000 top prize when he successfully matched all xx numbers on Friday.
Last Friday, during his lunch hour, Mr. xxxxx decided to give the new Lottery game a try for the first time. He bought just one ticket, a “xx” at the xxxxx at xxxxx Street in xxxxx.
In xxxxx, xx numbers from a field of xx are computer generated and results of drawings are displayed at five minute intervals on television monitors where tickets are sold. Players try to match from xx numbers, so Mr. xxxxx was going for the biggest prize with his $1 xx play.
Mr. xxxxx randomly marked the xxxxx on his play slip. Five minutes later, he became the first player to win the xxxxx jackpot when all ten numbers he chose appeared on the display monitor. Today, he collected his $100,000 at the Lottery’s xxxxx prize payment center.
Mr. xxxxx has three grown sons, two of them married. He is an employee of the U.S. Postal Service at the xxxxx in xxxxx.”
A search on the individual’s name didn’t reveal any indication that he had subequently been fired. In fact, I haven’t been able to find any news stories telling of a postal employee being fired for buying a lottery ticket on his lunch hour.
While Azeez Jaffer escaped responsibility for $46,256.68 in “questionable expenses”, the USPS fired a rural carrier for winning $1,000 at an instant lottery machine while he was on his lunch break.
(This analysis is excerpted from the official USPS Financial Summary)
July 2006 - FY 2006
Information: For the month, there were the same number of delivery days and business weekdays when compared to same period last year (SPLY). Year-to-date (YTD), there are an equal number of delivery days and business days compared to last year.
Analysis of the Financial and Operating Statements
Revenue - Pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6
For July, Total Revenue was $26 million or 0.5% under plan, and $219 million or 4.1% above SPLY. Commercial Revenue was under plan by $24 million or 0.6% and RetailRevenue was above plan by $4 million or 0.3%. In July, Total Commercial Revenue and Retail Revenue, combined, were $221 million more than SPLY. Most of the increasein revenue to SPLY for July was reflected in Presort First Class and Package Services/Permit Imprint, Permit Imprint and Meter Postage. Combined these revenue sources were $216.6 million above SPLY.
Year-to-date, Total Revenue is $364 million or 0.6% above plan with the largest contributor being Retail Revenue at $541 million or 3.7% more than plan. Year-to-date, Total Revenue is $2.3 billion above SPLY. Primary contributors to the increase over SPLY are Permit Revenue at $1.8 billion more and Other Retail Channels Revenue at $752 million, or 36.8% more than SPLY.
Expenses - Pages 1, 2, 4, 7, 8 and 9
For July, Total Expenses were $21 million above plan. Personnel costs were $1.7 million above plan and non-personnel costs were above plan by $23.4 million or 1.9%.Compared to SPLY, this month’s Total Expenses were increased by $235 million or 4.3%. The non-personnel factors contributing to this increase over SPLY includecontract job cleaners, information technology, vehicle maintenance, and printing costs. The personnel factors contributing to this month’s increase over SPLY includeunemployment compensation and workers compensation costs.
Year-to-date, Total Expenses were $295 million or 0.5% above plan. Personnel costs are $438 million or 0.9% above plan while non-personnel expenses are $101 million or0.8% below plan. The largest contributors to the non-personnel plan underrun are Information Technology at $136 million or 32.0% below plan, Training at $19 million or32% below plan. Year-to-date, Total Expenses are $2.4 billion or 4.3% above SPLY.
Mail Volume and Revenue - Page 3
Total Mail Volume for July FY 2006 was 171 million pieces or 1.1% below same period last year. Four of the eight major mail categories posted below SPLYvolumes for the month. Standard Mail and First-Class Mail volumes combined were 163 million below their July 2005 levels.
Year-to-date, Total Mail Volume is 0.8% or 1.3 billion pieces above SPLY. The Priority Mail category experienced the most significant mail volume increase overSPLY, with a 4.9% or 36 milion piece increase.In July, Priority Mail and Package Services experienced an increase in both revenue and volume when compared to SPLY. Priority Mail’s 1.8 million piece or 2.9%increase over SPLY’s volume yielded a $29 million or 8.8% increase in revenue. Additionally, Package Service’s 3.8 million piece or 4.2% increase in SPLY volumeresulted in a $15.9 million or 10.6% increase in revenue.
Year-to-date, all eight major mail categories experienced a positive increase in revenues when compared to SPLY. Periodicals generated the smallest percentagerevenue increase of 1.0%, which equates to $17.8 million above SPLY. Priority Mail generated the highest revenue percentage increase of 9.3%, which generated$358 million over SPLY.
Capital Investments - Pages 1 and 13
Year-to-date, the Fiscal Year 2006 Capital Commitments through July 2006 are $1,178 million compared to a plan of $1,134 million. This represents a plan overrunof about $44 million.
Year-to-date, Cash Outlays are $1,935 million versus a plan of $1,804 million, representing a $131 million plan overrun.
Workhours - Pages 1, 14 and 15
Total workhours for July 2006 were 259 thousand hours or 0.2% below plan, and 466 thousand hours or 0.4% below July 2005. Although Mail Processingworkhours were 424 thousand hours, or 1.7% above plan, this month’s overrun represents a 2.4%, or 624 thousand hours underrun when compared to SPLY. July’sCustomer Service workhours were 73 thousand hours, or 0.4% below plan and 162 thousand hours or 0.9% under SPLY. Delivery Service’s actual workhours wereslightly above plan by 51 thousand hours, or 0.3%, which yielded a 0.7% increase or 348 thousand hours over SPLY.
Year-to-date, total Workhours for July 2006 were 16 million hours or 1.3% above plan and 3 million hours or 0.2% below SPLY. The most significant plan overrunslie within Mail Processing workhours where 9 million hours were utilized above plan and in Customer Services where an additional 4.3 million hours were utilizedabove plan. Overall, Mail Processing workhours were 2.8 million hours or 1.0% below SPLY; Customer Service workhours were 0.2 million hours or 0.1% belowSPLY, and Deliery Service workhours were 3.4 million hours or 0.6% above SPLY.
I missed this story when it first came out a week ago, but a reader emailed it to me, suggesting it offered an interesting contrast with the handling of the Jaffer affair. George Bush last month granted a presidential pardon to a 54 year old Rhode Island woman who had been convicted in 1984 of falsifying her postal service timecard. In addition to paying back $1,200 in wages, and serving two years probation, she was tagged as a convicted felon.
Twelve hundred dollars. Keep that in mind when you read the OIG report on Azeez Jaffer.
Her presidential pardon proves bittersweet
Does FERS encourage the best and brightest to leave federal service for the private sector?:
The current FERS program likely will result in either the most productive or skilled employees leaving well before 30 years for better paying opportunities. This will likely include contractor jobs where the taxpayers pay more for the same services…
That’s the only conclusion we can draw when a newspaper actually takes the time and effort to editorialize about this:
The Editor’s Blog at the Reading (PA) Eagle says that a local school district “is in a pickle” because of tax bills that have gone missing. The editor’s ’significant other’, a letter carrier, tells him that the likely reason is “that the tax bills lacked a specific apartment number, just the street address … If so, the Postal Service’s policy is to return them to sender, but if there is no return postage guaranteed by the district…well, there is the dead letter bin. Of course, not many folks know about this policy.”
Of course they don’t- because as any postal employee should know, there is no such policy. Tax bills are first class mail. First class mail doesn’t require “return postage”- if a piece is undeliverable, it’s returned to sender without any additional charge.
