Postal Service Advised to Steer Customers Online
By Neil Roland
April 25 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Postal Service could save millions of dollars by diverting customers from postoffice counters to the Internet or telephone when they request that their mail be held or redelivered, an internal audit said.
Such services generate no revenue for the government agency while requiring 6.9 percent of the annual time of postal clerks, according to the report, filed by the Postal Service’s inspector general. The agency should install computers and telephone lines in post office lobbies so customers can order mail services without going to the counter, the report said.
The report, posted this week on the Postal Service Website, comes as the agency is trying to cope with a possible$2 billion loss this year after a $5.1 billion deficit last year. Agency officials cited in the report said they would try to come up with a plan by June to promote use of the Internet and telephone.
The report said the Postal Service also should set up parcel kiosks at post offices for customers who get a high volume of mail but often aren’t home. In each of two years cited in the report, more than 70 million parcels couldn’t be delivered on the first attempt. With kiosks, carriers could instruct customers to pick up items from lockboxes.
The Postal Service also should borrow an idea from FedEx Corp. and let customers designate evening delivery times when they will be home so they don’t have to pick up packages at the post office, the report said.
Raising Awareness
Auditors recommended that the Postal Service use itsforms and pamphlets to tell customers they can hold mail or request redelivery online or by phone. The agency also should post signs in post office lobbies, advertise on television and use Web banners to inform customers, the report said.
Postal clerks’ responses to over-the-counter customer requests for services that didn’t generate any revenue for the agency cost the Postal Service $238.5 million from 2005through mid-2007, the report said. That figure was computed using the average $38.71-an-hour pay rate for clerks during the period.
The Postal Service has previously announced plans to try to divert 4 percent of revenue each year from the postoffice counter to self-service venues including the Internet and kiosks. Those plans apply to revenue-producing items such as stamps.
Online and phone requests for non-revenue-generating services accounted for only 5.4 percent of all such transactions from 2005 to 2007, the report said.
Postal Service spokesman David Partenheimer declined to comment.
Commission Initiates Public Outreach on Universal Postal Service Study
The Postal Regulatory Commission today established Docket No. PI2008-3 and invited public comment on universal postal service and the postal monopoly in the United States. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) requires the Commission to submit a report to the President and Congress on “universal postal service and the postal monopoly in the United States, including the monopoly on the delivery of mail and on access to mailboxes”. The report is to be submitted not later than December 19, 2008.
In preparing its report, the PAEA requires the PRC to “consult with the Postal Service and other Federal agencies, users of the mails, enterprises in the private sector engaged in the delivery of the mail, and the general public”. Further, the legislation requires the Commission to address in its report any written comments that it receives. As part of its effort to fulfill these obligations, the Commission is initiating this docket to solicit comments on universal postal service and the postal monopoly.
Initial comments are due 60 days after publication of the notice in the Federal Register. Reply comments are due 90 days after publication of this notice in this Federal Register. All comments and suggestions received will be available for review on the Commission’s website at www.prc.gov.
In addition to this solicitation of comments, the Commission intends to hold several public hearings at locations outside of Washington, D.C., in order to hear from a broad cross section of the mailing public. The dates and locations for those hearings are as follows:
May 21, 2008 (2 pm):
Flagstaff City Hall
211 West Aspen Avenue
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
June 5, 2008 (10 am):
City Hall/Court House Building
City Council Chambers, 3rd Floor
15 Kellogg Boulevard
St. Paul, MN 55102
June 19, 2008 (2 pm):
City Hall
1 Junkins Avenue
Portsmouth, NH 03801
Additionally, the Commission intends to sponsor an open workshop in Washington, D.C. during May 2008, to receive public comment.
Further details on the field hearings and other steps to be taken in this docket will be posted on the Commission’s website at www.prc.gov.
Postal Service Lax on Worker Credit-Card Oversight, Audit Says
By Neil Roland
April 17 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Postal Service doesn’t provide effective oversight of government-issued credit cards that are used by employees for postal-vehicle services, exposing tens of millions of dollars to waste, abuse and possible fraud, auditors said.
The federal agency failed to confirm $13.7 million in vehicle fuel purchases and maintenance and repairs in fiscal 2007, and a number of other transactions were marked as verified when they hadn’t been, a report on the Postal Service inspector general’s Web site indicates.
Many Postal Service managers lacked proper training, didn’t ensure the security of the Voyager Cards, failed to maintain current employee PIN lists and didn’t keep proper documents , according to the report, which was dated March 21 and posted today.
“While we did not identify any fraudulent Voyager Card transactions, the Postal Service sites were at greater risk of fraud, waste and abuse because required internal controls for the Voyager Card Program were not in place,” the 31-page report said.
Since January 2000, the Postal Service has had a contract with U.S. Bancorp, the sixth-biggest commercial bank in the U.S., for the cards. The agency issued about 250,000 Voyager cards in the U.S. as of 2006; last year, there were about 9.3 million Voyager card transactions, for a total of $389.3 million, the report said.
Postal Service management agreed with the findings and directed subordinates to tighten oversight of the Voyager Card program, the report said. Postal Service spokesman David Partenheimer had no immediate comment. U.S. Bancorp spokesman Steve Dale declined to comment.
The findings come as the Postal Service, a government agency required by law to set rates to cover costs, tries to cope with a possible $2 billion loss this year after a$5.1 billion deficit last year. Postmaster General Chief Executive John Potter said last month he’s trying to find ways to cut $2 billion in costs. First-class stamps will rise a penny to 42 cents on May 12.
Mailhandler pleads guilty to stealing merchandise from mail
The U.S. Department of Justice’s U.S. Attorney’s office for Connecticut issued the following press release:
Nora R. Dannehy, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ANTHONY HARLEY, 45, of Bridgeport, pleaded guilty today before United States Magistrate Judge Joan G. Margolis in New Haven to one count of obstruction of the mails.
According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, on July 19, 2004, while working as a full-time mail handler with the United States Postal Service at the Stamford Mail Processing Plant, HARLEY took two separate pieces of mail not addressed to him. One piece of mail contained black Teva sneakers and the second piece of mail contained a pair of Steiner binoculars. After taking the mail, HARLEY placed both items in his personal knapsack so that he could take them for his own use and benefit.
HARLEY is scheduled to be sentenced on July 2, 2008, at which time he faces a maximum term of imprisonment of six months and a fine of up to $5,000.
This matter was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Douglas P. Morabito.
Companies ignoring consumers marketing preferences face prison warns DMA
Press release:
Marketers now face prison if they consistently ignore the wishes of consumers who do not wish to be contacted for marketing purposes.
The CPUT Regulations include 31 banned practices that will always be considered to be unfair. One of these is ‘making persistent and unwanted solicitations by telephone, fax, email or other remote media except in circumstances and to the extent justified to enforce a contractual obligation’. Breaching this banned practice is a criminal offence and carries with it a maximum fine of £5000 currently and or a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years.
The term ‘other remote media’ has yet to be defined, but there is the argument that this could include direct mail sent through the post. If this is so, the Mailing Preference Service will have legislative backing providing greater protection for its subscribers.
Janine Paterson, Legal and Public Affairs Advisor at the DMA, warns: “Companies ignoring the TPS and persistently calling numbers registered on the scheme have got away lightly. Now however they could face prison if they continually call numbers against the consumer’s wishes. The DMA welcomes this new legislation and is advising members on this and other elements of CPUT Regulations and the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations. ”