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“Attempted Unknown” is a weekly video podcast hosted by Tim, a mail carrier for the US Postal Service. Each week Tim brings us his unique ideas, stories and photos from his mail route, found objects, and documentary subjects.

From the APWU Industrial Relations web site:

(Oct. 25, 2006) The APWU initiated a national dispute over the Postal Service’s announcement of revisions to the AS-805 handbook governing Information Security. The revised handbook restricts employees from bringing personal information resources (e.g. laptops, notebooks, PDAs, handheld computers and USB port devices such as flash memory sticks) into postal facilities. The union is concerned that the new restrictions may adversely impact the union’s ability to perform its duties.

click here to read the APWU letter outlining the dispute.

The US Postal Service yesterday filed its reply brief in the END Plant Consolidation case being considered by the Postal Rate Commission. The agency repeated its contention that “The Commission is not tasked by § 3661 to second-guess the judgment of postal management in proposing the service changes in question. Nor is it the Commission’s task under § 3661 to determine whether some alternative objectives would be “better” for the Postal Service to pursue.”, and argued that any opinion the PRC renders will be “advisory only”.

Best line in the brief has to be the footnote on page 3. After pointing out the many layers of existing oversight the USPS operates under, the brief notes that ‘At page 74, the OCA [Office of the Consumer Advocate] refers to a need for “continued surveillance” of postal management.’ The footnote asks “Can postal rendition be far behind?”

USPS N2006-1 Reply Brief
USPS N2006-1 Initial Brief
Complete Listing of Briefs filed

In his weekly Hotline column, NAPUS National Executive Director Ken Engstrom complains that “Customers and mailers know about proposed rates and changes before we do”, and points to the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers website as an example.

From WDTV Bridgeport, WV: 

(Double click play button to view video)

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An article in Aviation Daily says that Southwest Airlines’ freight revenues in the third quarter were down $30 million “partly because the airline will not renew its contract with the U.S. Postal Service”. But the airline apparently doesn’t feel that’s a bad thing- the article quotes Southwest CEO Gary Kelly as saying that the USPS is a “difficult customer”, that it “had a list of demands that would have impacted the integrity of our operation”. Servicing the USPS, according to Kelly, “would have resulted in a significant amount of investment for low yields”, so the company is seeking other commercial customers. Another factor cited by Kelly was the shift of postal business to FedEx, UPS, and ground transportation.

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is holding a public forum on Monday, October 30, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the Ronald Reagan Building/ International Trade Center at 13th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, DC. According to the GSA press release:

The Forum is being conducted to consider concerns that have been raised about six murals in the Ariel Rios Federal Building, located adjacent to the Reagan Building. The objections to the murals focus on their depiction of Native Americans in scenes related to the delivery of the U.S. Mail on the American Frontier. These murals were painted for the Ariel Rios Building at the time of its construction in 1934 to house the headquarters of the U.S. Postal Service. It now serves as part of the headquarters complex for the Environmental Protection Agency.

GSA Press Release

Murals, morals, and the “Dangers of the Mails”

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