The Key West Citizen reported last week that a “23-year U.S. Postal Service veteran” was given a seven day suspension for advising customers to write to their congresswoman about “long lines and delays”. APWU local President Jack Baldwin was said to have asked customers if they liked waiting in line, and suggested they contact their congresswoman, “because this is how it is going to be. We’re only allowed three people out here.”

Baldwin admits that he made the comment. The letter Baldwin received advising him of the suspension doesn’t dispute the long wait times, but says he shouldn’t have reminded customers of the problem:

Customers are well aware of the wait time they experience at the post office. Your comments to customers on Oct. 19, 2009, served no purpose but to bring attention to the wait time. Your advice to the customers that they should call their congressman again served no purpose whatsoever.

Problems in the Keys attracted attention in September after a Federal Times article noted that “The three post offices in Key West, Fla., employ 27 people. But under a schedule recently drafted by postal supervisors, 15 of them would spend at least part of their week on standby time.” The practice of having employees sit in a room on standby ended, according to a local union official, because “once people learned it was happening, those waiting in line would call the postmaster and ask whether there was anyone in the standby room who could come out and help them.”

Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has sided with the employees in the dispute, accusing the postal service of underestimating its staffing requirements. Her spokesman said last week that “The congresswoman has on several occasions asked the post office to revise its process for conducting staffing assessments. For instance, post office personnel will travel to Key West during the slow month of August and report that there is not enough traffic at the post office to warrant additional staff. Clearly,the population in the Keys fluctuates considerably between August and December. As such, the congresswoman has called on USPS to conduct their assessments during more seasonally appropriate times.”

Ros-Lehtinen, in a statement to the Key West Citizen, defended the suspended APWU president, saying ““I have worked with Jack Baldwin for many years and he has always proven himself to be a hard-working and dedicated individual.” The Citizen says postal service officials declined to comment on the matter.

2009 Stamp Yearbook on Sale Now

WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The 2009 Stamp Yearbook is now on sale at selected Post Offices around the country and online. Loaded with colorful graphics, illustrations and photography, this amazing compendium of stamps, stamp art, stories and behind-the-scenes details highlights the Postal Service’s stamp offerings for 2009. Stamp themes this past year included subjects as diverse as American history, pop culture, heroes, natural and man-made wonders.

“For stamp aficionados, philatelists and those on your gift list who appreciate sophisticated collectible Americana, the 2009 Stamp Yearbook from the Postal Service makes a terrific gift,” suggests David Failor, manager of the Postal Service’s philatelic programs.

“Stamps are a celebration of the American experience,” notes Failor, “and this book is sure to be a gift that will be treasured for many years.”

The 64-page yearbook features:

• Full-length stories on each stamp issuance of 2009
• Short vignettes about each, and
• A compelling array of artist profiles, timelines and quotes.

The 2009 Stamp Yearbook, priced at $59.95, includes 61 collectible stamps. It is available in selected Post Offices and online at usps.com/shop. It can also be ordered by calling 1-800-STAMP-24.

Another great gift that would appeal to stamp collectors is The Postal Service Guide to U.S. Stamps, 36th Edition. Updated annually, this official publication is a fully illustrated, four-color guide to U.S. stamps. It provides comprehensive information about every U.S. stamp issued from 1847 to the present, including the complete 2009 stamp program with first-day-of-issue details, stamp collecting tips, a glossary of philatelic terms and other information. The Postal Service Guide to U.S. Stamps, 36th Edition, is priced at $19.95.

These two beautiful books and many other wonderful gifts on stamp collecting, Americana, philatelic-themed collectibles and stationery can be purchased online at usps.com/shop.

SOURCE U.S. Postal Service

The office of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., issued the following news release:

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Congressman Dan Maffei today called on the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to consider local impacts, including pedestrian access and neighborhood benefits, when evaluating a consolidation plan that affects post offices in Central New York. The USPS is considering closing two post offices in the Syracuse area – the Elmwood Post Office on South Avenue in Syracuse, and the North Main Street Post Office in North Syracuse.

Senator Gillibrand and Congressman Maffei raised concerns that the plan to close these branches could have potentially harmful economic and environmental consequences. Both facilities are in heavily traversed areas where many patrons walk to and from their post office, providing access to citizens in surrounding low-income and elderly communities. The office in North Syracuse has been a part of the community for more than 100 years. Both postal facilities also make a profit, with the North Syracuse facility making more than $300,000 and the Elmwood office making more than $130,000 this year.

Senator Gillibrand said, “It is unacceptable for the USPS to close two critical post offices in Central New York, which are vital to the local neighborhoods. If the point of consolidation is to save money, then why is the USPS considering closing two postal facilities which actually make a profit. Closing these post offices could have harmful economic and environmental consequences on our communities.”

Congressman Maffei said, “I’m please to join forces with Senator Gillibrand to fight to keep our local post offices open. This is an extremely important issue for our community- that is why I’ve been working on this for months and will continue to pursue all possible opportunities to keep our Elmwood and North Syracuse post offices open for business.”

Syracuse Mayor Matthew J. Driscoll said, “The Elmwood post office is a strategically located lifeline for many residents on the Southside. Losing mailing, delivery and financial services such as stamps, post office boxes and money orders would create a hardship for residents in this area.”

Village of North Syracuse Mayor John Heindorf said, “The Post Office in the Village of North Syracuse has been in operation since 1887 and serves not only the 7,000 residents in the village, but an additional 14,000 residents outside the confines of the village that reside in the same 13212 zip code. All of these people and businesses have depended heavily on the North Syracuse Post Office throughout the years. Closing this post office would be a severe blow for everyone.

In their letter to John E. Potter, Postmaster General and Chief Executive Office of the USPS, Senator Gillibrand and Congressman Maffei wrote, “Closing these branches will not only lead to less patrons using the services of the United States Postal Service (USPS), but would have potentially harmful consequences from both an economic and environmental standpoint on our communities. As the USPS explores ways to trim costs by consolidating branches, it would be impractical to consider these offices as they both make a profit. … We appreciate the need for the postal service to re-evaluate programs in light of the current economy. However, we believe there are ways to cut costs without reducing or denying service to our constituents.”

The USPS held public hearings on Nov. 6 concerning the possible closures. Maureen Marion, a local representative for the Postal Service, told the Syracuse Post-Standard that the decision likely will not be made until 2010. According to the Post-Standard, residents in North Syracuse and Syracuse have collected more than 2,400 signatures on petitions to keep the post offices open.

CANTON, Mass. (November 24, 2009) — On the eve of the holiday season, Dunkin’ Donuts, America’s all-day, every day stop for coffee and baked goods, is delivering a very special gift to the men and women who deliver our holiday cards, catalogs and presents. On Wednesday, November 25, Dunkin’ Donuts will serve free coffee to any United States Postal Service (USPS) letter carrier. Any USPS letter carrier that is wearing an official uniform or shows their union card identification can visit participating Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants throughout the country for a free coffee, any size. No additional purchase is necessary.

“The United States Postal Service letter carriers serve tirelessly throughout the holiday season, and we wanted to recognize their hard work during this very busy time of year,” said John Costello, Dunkin’ Brands’ Chief Global Customer and Marketing Officer. “We invite letter carriers to kick off the season with a free cup of coffee at their local Dunkin’ Donuts restaurant, and to know that we are there to help keep them running through snow or rain or gloom of night.”

The Florida Keys’ congresswoman has protested staffing reductions at Key West post offices, which have resulted in long lines and waits of 30 to 60 minutes for service.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros- Lehtinen and her staff have met with U.S. Postal Service (USPS) representatives and asked them to end the mandatory staffing reductions. Key West post offices have lost 10 postal clerk positions in the past year, said Kathryn dePoo, vice president of the local chapter of the American Postal Workers Union.

Required staffing reductions eliminated four positions, while another six recently retired, and Postal Service policies and reductions prohibit their replacement, dePoo said.

“The congresswoman made it clear to USPS officials that their decision to eliminate six full-time clerk positions has had a very negative effect on customer service at this locale,” Ros-Lehtinen’s press secretary, Alex Cruz, said in a press release this week. “She also believes that the mandatory staffing shortages … are causing great havoc amongst Key West residents and is not producing the desired results the postal service is seeking.”

Ros-Lehtinen said her office has heard from Key West residents and business owners, who are complaining about standing in line at the post office for 30 minutes to one hour. These wait times likely will increase during the holidays and the approaching tourist season as increasingly more people send and receive packages. “Most of the persons standing in line are doing work related to their businesses, and these unnecessary delays cost them time and money,” Ros- Lehtinen said.

It is common for members of Congress to intervene with federal and quasi-federal agencies on behalf of their constituents, said Ros-Lehtinen’s spokeswoman, Christine DelPortillo.

“The congresswoman has on several occasions asked the post office to revise its process for conducting staffing assessments. For instance, post office personnel will travel to Key West during the slow month of August and report that there is not enough traffic at the post office to warrant additional staff,” DelPortilla said. “Clearly,the population in the Keys fluctuates considerably between August and December. As such, the congresswoman has called on USPS to conduct their assessments during more seasonally appropriate times.”

DePoo said people regularly walk out of the post office when they see how long the lines are. She added that local post office officials no longer have enough employees to use standby rooms.

Such a room was used last month in officials’ efforts to prove that the same amount of work could be done by fewer people. They would instruct employees to sit in a standby room, where they were not allowed to eat, drink, watch television, talk on the phone or read anything but post office instructional material.

Local officials ended the practice, dePoo said, because once people learned it was happening, those waiting in line would call the postmaster and ask whether there was anyone in the standby room who could come out and help them.

“Now that these other six people retired, there’s no one to put in the standby room anyway,” dePoo said, adding that Ros-Lehtinen’s continued involvement already seems to be getting attention.

The postmaster on Whitehead Street has been allowing three clerks to work the “window” positions rather than two, the number the USPS dictated after it applied its staffing formulas.

“The problem is, their computers underestimate the time it takes us to complete various tasks,” dePoo said, explaining that new requirements for sending packages overseas require clerks to enter in all the information the sender writes on the mailing slip.

“This is a downward spiral,” she said. “If you don’t take care of your customer base, they walk out. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.” She added that the national mail volume was down this year compared with last year.

“We’re only down 9 percent but we’ve lost way more than 10 percent of our staff,” she said. “How are people justifying that?”

DePoo encouraged anyone who is frustrated by the long lines at the post office to contact Ros-Lehtinen’s office at 305-668-2285 or the local postmaster at 305-294-9539.

mbolen@keysnews.com

Letters to the Editor
Key West Citizen
Friday, November 20, 2009

Key West Post Office Unfairly Understaffed

This upcoming holiday season, thousands of gift parcels will be sent to various homes and business throughout the Florida Keys. To ensure the timely delivery of these items, the men and women of the Key West post office will work extended hours during the week and on holidays. I would like to praise this tremendous workforce for their commitment and dedication to our Keys community.

Yet despite such a stellar record of service, customers of the Key West Post office often face long lines and excessive wait times as a result of mandatory staffing shortages implemented by the U.S. Postal Service. These staffing shortages are intended to demonstrate that additional personnel can be reduced at the Key West branch without disrupting customer service. Clearly, such a plan is not producing the desired result. And for several years, USPS administrators have failed to adequately assess the staffing needs at the Key West Post Office. A staffing assessment, conducted in 2006, did not take into account the fluctuating population in the Keys due to tourists and seasonal residents. Nor did it fully consider increased demand during the holiday months.

As your elected Representative in Congress, I will continue to work closely with Keys residents, post office personnel, and with various local and Federal officials to ensure that the Key West post office is spared from unfair staffing shortages. It is imperative that our local post office receives the funding it requires, the staff it needs, and the recognition for outstanding service it deserves.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Florida’s 18th District

The latest tentative sign of economic recovery? Credit card direct mail volume is back on the rise. Mintel Comperemedia, a service that provides direct marketing competitive intelligence, says issuers sent 180 million credit card offers to US consumers last month. This is the highest monthly total tracked since December 2008 and it’s the first significant rise in mail volume all year.

October 2009’s number represents a 34% increase over the 134 million credit card offers sent during September 2009. In the face of tight credit markets, increasing government scrutiny, and high unemployment and consumer debt, card issuers have drastically reduced marketing direct mail efforts since the middle of last year.

Andrew Davidson, SVP of Mintel Comperemedia, comments:

“Credit card mail volume is still down significantly from a year ago, but October’s sharp increase is an excellent sign for the industry. With recent green shoots of economic recovery, card issuers feel more confident about the future. I anticipate that this winter will mark the start of a turnaround in credit card direct marketing that will be sustained through 2010. This could very well be the beginning of the end for credit card direct mail declines.”

Mintel Comperemedia reports that October’s month-to-month increase in credit card direct mail is the highest recorded since February 2004. Andrew Davidson adds that “this is significant because direct mail rebounded from the 2001 recession in early 2004. Then of course, we saw mail volume reach unprecedented peaks in 2005/2006.”

This past month, Chase and American Express sent the most credit card offers. Each issuer had its most active mail month this year, as Chase more than doubled mail volume from September 2009 and American Express sent nearly 40% more offers. US Bank and HSBC (October’s seventh and eighth top mailers, respectively) likewise had their greatest mail months of 2009 to date.

“Some credit card issuers seem to be holding back on direct mail in preparation for the next wave of CARD Act implementations. Once these issuers establish their marketing strategies, I expect they’ll return to the mailbox. This will help drive increases in credit card direct mail next year.”

Visit Mintel Comperemedia’s new blog for the latest direct marketing trend analysis: www.comperemedia.com/blog/

The U.S. Postal Service today updated the list of retail stations and branches that remain under review for possible consolidation, with only 241 offices still under review.

Unlike most federal agencies, America’s national mail system receives no tax subsidy for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. The Postal Service reported a loss of $3.8 billion at the end of its 2009 fiscal year in October.

“To shore up its finances, the Postal Service is looking at every aspect of its business to economize. Reducing over-capacity in retail and delivery operations is a smart business move. Every effort is being made to maintain and improve customer access to postal services,” said Steven J. Forte, senior vice president, Operations.

Today’s announcement updates a review process begun earlier this summer that initially examined about 3,300 stations and branches in urban and suburban areas across the country, focusing on facilities in relatively close proximity to one another. The process is to determine where consolidations might be feasible without compromising customer access to postal services.

With over 36,000 Post Offices, stations, branches, contract and community post offices, the Postal Service has the largest retail network in the United States. An additional 56,000 locations such as supermarkets, drug stores, and other retailers sell postage and selected postal services. Nearly 18,000 ATMs dispense sheets of stamps. But customers do not have to visit a physical building to purchase products and services; postage can be bought at usps.com and printed on personal computers.

As part of this process, the Postal Service has filed periodic updates with the Postal Regulatory Commission, identifying the retail stations and branches that remain under consideration. The filing does not represent a final decision on consolidation. To date, no facility-specific final decisions have been made as a result of this initiative.

New initiatives also are being undertaken to build revenue, including Flat Rate Priority Mail pricing. If it fits in the box, it ships for one low price regardless of U.S. destination or weight. Another recent revenue building initiative introduced greeting cards to 500 select Post Offices.

LOUISVILLE, KY – U.S. Attorney Candace G. Hill of the Western District of Kentucky announced today that a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Joseph Bourg, age 44, of Louisville, Kentucky, in Jefferson County, on charges of theft of mail matter.

The Indictment alleges that between 2008 through August of 2009, Bourg rifled through the mail and stole controlled substances, trading cards, DVDs, and other items from mail letters, cards and packages. Complaints were made that several items had not reached their intended recipients. During their investigation, investigators observed Bourg take a package from the post office. A search warrant was executed on his home where investigators discovered additional packages and items which Bourg admitted to taking from the mail.

In the event of a conviction, the maximum potential penalties are 17 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and supervised release for a period of up to 3 years.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lettricea Jefferson-Webb, and it was investigated by the United States Postal Service, Office of the Inspector General, Veteran’s Administration Office of Inspector General and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Bourg is scheduled to appear for arraignment before the United States Magistrate Judge on December 22, 2009, at 9:30 a.m., in Louisville, Kentucky.

Some post offices may be closed on the Friday after Thanksgiving- here’s a press release issued by one district in California:

Some of the Post Offices in the U.S. Postal Service’s Sierra Coastal District will be closed for retail services on Friday, Nov. 27. Regular mail delivery will be unaffected by this temporary change. However, in the cities and towns listed, there will be no outgoing mail collected from either the blue mail collection boxes or the Post Office lobbies and access to P.O. Boxes will be unavailable.

Notification of the adjusted hours is posted at each Post Office that will be closed or closing early, along with the location of the nearest access to Postal products and services. Customers may also call 1-800-ASK-USPS or visit www.usps.com for information about specific Post Offices.

Court Rules Patent Claims from Stamps.com Suit are Invalid

PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 16 /PRNewswire/ — Endicia, the leading Internet postage provider, today announced that the United States District Court for the Central District of California has granted summary judgment to Endicia on all claims asserted against it by Stamps.com, Inc., in a case in Los Angeles. Judge Otis D. Wright II, in a 32 page order, found that Endicia had proven, by clear and convincing evidence, that all 15 patent claims from the eight Stamps.com patents in the suit are invalid. The case was filed by Stamps.com in November 2006.

“We are pleased with the court’s decision, which validates what we have believed all along,” said Harry Whitehouse, founder and chief development officer for Endicia, an Internet postage provider with more than 25 years of experience in the postal industry. “We remain focused on staying at the forefront of new technologies and bringing valuable, innovative solutions to business partners and customers.”