Washington, DC – The Postal Regulatory Commission today ordered the Postal Service to terminate two nonpostal services and issued guidelines for the sale of licensed CDs and DVDs by the Postal Service. Order No. 392 is available on the Commission’s website, www.prc.gov, and has been submitted to the Federal Register.

This action is a follow-up to Order No. 154, which implemented section 404(e) of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) requiring the Commission to define and rule on the continuance of nonpostal services offered by the Postal Service as of January 1, 2006.

The Commission ordered the termination of these two nonpostal services:

Licensing of Postal Service trademarks to enable third parties to sell “USPS-brand” mailing and shipping products related to Postal Service operations (USPS may continue to license its trademarks for display on other brands of products), and Performing warranty repairs on equipment owned by third parties because the service was not being offered on January 1, 2006.

In addition, the Commission ruled that the Postal Service may continue to sell CDs and DVDs, but only if: They are licensed and comply with the Postal Service’s “Officially Licensed Retail Program,” or Nonlicensed CDs and DVDs related to stamps, postal themes and postal events may be sold as part of the Philatelic Sales program, a nonpostal service, if packaged with philatelic materials.

In Order No. 154, the Commission authorized the continuance of 14 nonpostal services, determined that certain revenue generating activities were not services and therefore not subject to review, and also determined, pursuant to the PAEA, that six activities, for the first time, met the definition of a postal service.

Washington, DC – The Postal Regulatory Commission today extended by 30 days the initial comment and reply periods in its Investigation of Suspended Post Offices, Docket PI2010-1.

Initial comments are now due by February 16, 2010; and reply comments are due by March 18, 2010.

Order no. 389 is available on the Commission’s website, www.prc.gov, and has been submitted to the Federal Register. The Commission welcomes comments from the public.

“The Commission is extending its deadlines in response to a request by the Public Representative and to ensure full opportunity for postal customers to register their concerns whether small post offices are being closed without due process,” said Chairman Ruth Y. Goldway.

Docket PI2010-1 was initiated following the receipt of information from the Postal Service indicating that 97 post offices had been suspended under emergency suspension procedures during the past five years solely because of lease expirations. Of these 97 offices, 25 subsequently were closed; five are pending closure; two were reopened; and 65 remain in suspension.
The Docket provides for a public inquiry to develop information on the status of the suspended offices and the Postal Service’s practice of suspending offices for extended periods without affording the public the rights guaranteed by law.

A list of the 97 suspended offices is attached. Further information on these offices is contained in the Postal Service filing, which is available here.

WASHINGTON – Chairman Edolphus “Ed” Towns today requested an investigation into an incident involving significant delays in the delivery of pension checks in New York. The Chairman is calling on David Williams, the United States Postal Service Inspector General, to investigate the thousands of pension checks that were placed in the mail on December 30, 2009 and should have been delivered on December 31, 2009 or January 2, 2010.

“The delivery delays have caused hardships for seniors who depend on their pension check to help make ends meet,” said Chairman Towns. “I intend to follow this investigation and I will get to the bottom of this incident.”

Chairman Towns asked the IG to provide a report to the Committee on their investigation by January 27, 2010.

Text of the letter is below.

###

January 13, 2010
Mr. David Williams
Inspector General
U.S. Postal Service
1735 North Lynn Street
Washington, DC 22209-2020

Dear Mr. Williams,

I am writing to ask that you investigate an incident involving significant delays in the delivery of pension checks in New York. The Office of the State Comptroller of New York, by all accounts, properly entered mail into the postal system on December 30, 2009. This mail contained 60,000 pension checks which I understand should have been delivered on December 31, 2009 or January 1, 2010. Instead, thousands of the checks were misplaced and sent to other states, and the Postal Service only started delivering the misplaced checks to New York residents on January 11, 2010. The Postal Service is still trying to determine the location of some of the checks.

The delay has caused distress and hardship to thousands of senior citizens in New York and other states. The Comptroller has had to reissue thousands of checks and has been flooded with calls from retirees upset about the delay in receiving their anticipated pension payments.

I request that you investigate this incident and report to the Committee on:

1. The extent of the delays in delivery of the pension checks, including the number of checks that were delayed and the length of the delays.

2. The cause or causes of these delays.

3. Steps that the Postal Service is taking to resolve any outstanding problems with delivery of the affected checks.

4. Corrective measures that the Postal Service has implemented or will implement to ensure that such an incident does not occur again.

5. Recommendations for further actions to prevent such incidents in the future.

I request that you provide a report to the Committee on these issues by January 27, 2010.

Sincerely,

Edolphus Towns
Chairman

WASHINGTON — It took seven months to hit the 1 billion mark, but only four more weeks to hit 3 billion. That’s the number of Intelligent Mail Full Service mailpieces processed by the U.S. Postal Service since the program’s implementation last May.

The milestone mailing entered the postal distribution network the week of Jan. 4, and the actual number was confirmed yesterday.

The number of Intelligent Mail Full Service mailers increased to 171, a 60 percent increase from mid-December. To date, Intelligent Mail Full Service has generated $1 billion in revenue.

“The month of December has been one of exceptional participation and performance,” said Tom Day, senior vice president, Intelligent Mail and Address Quality. “The PostalOne! system handled more than twice the previous peak of eDoc postage statements and did so with 98 percent being processed in 30 minutes or less. Mailers are realizing the benefits of Full Service Intelligent Mail, and are doing so in a stable operating environment.”

For more information about Intelligent Mail Full Service, visit ribbs.usps.gov.

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ — Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), the world’s largest online movie rental service, today announced agreements with five global consumer electronics companies that will introduce Netflix ready devices later this year. The partners include Funai, which distributes the Philips, Magnavox, Sylvania and Emerson brands in the United States, Panasonic, Sanyo, Sharp and Toshiba. Each company will introduce Blu-ray disc players or digital televisions that will instantly stream thousands of movies and TV episodes from Netflix that can be watched instantly in the comfort of the living room.

Netflix announced the partnerships at the annual Consumer Electronics Show here, representing the continued rapid integration of Netflix streaming functionality into leading consumer electronics devices.

For only $8.99 a month, Netflix members can instantly watch unlimited movies and TV episodes streamed to their TVs and computers via an ever-growing list of Netflix ready devices, and can receive unlimited DVDs delivered quickly to their homes by the U.S. Postal Service.

The partners announced today join some of the world’s leading consumer electronics companies that currently market Netflix ready Blu-ray disc players from Best Buy’s Insignia brand, LG Electronics, Samsung and Sony. Microsoft and Sony market the Xbox 360 and PlayStation3, respectively, both of which instantly stream movies and TV episodes from Netflix. Netflix members can instantly watch movies and TV episodes on the stand-alone Roku and on new TiVo digital video recorders (DVRs). And watching movies and TV episodes instantly from Netflix without an external device is possible on current and future model televisions from Insignia, LG Electronics, Samsung, Sony and VIZIO.

“Ever since Netflix began instantly streaming movies and TV episodes to personal computers in January 2007 we’ve said we want to be ubiquitous on whatever device gets the Internet to the TV,” said Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings. “We’ve made incredible progress toward this goal over the last year and we’ve rapidly established Netflix as a must-have service for Internet connected consumer electronics devices. The important companies and brands we’ve announced today join a roster of world-class CE companies that have partnered with Netflix.

“We look forward to adding even more partners this year, and we expect instant streaming of movies from Netflix to be available on more than one hundred different partner products in 2010,” said Mr. Hastings.

39 CFR Part 111
Restricting the Mailing of Replica or Inert Explosive Devices

ACTION: Proposed rule; revised.

SUMMARY: The Postal Service proposes to revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) to clarify that a proposed new standard to allow for the mailing of replica or inert explosive devices, such as grenades, be sent by Registered MailTM only.

DATES: Submit comments on or before February 4, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Mail or deliver written comments to the Manager, Mailing
Standards, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW., Room 3436,
Washington, DC 20260–3436. You may inspect and photocopy all written comments at USPS Headquarters Library, 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW., 11th Floor N, Washington, DC between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

E-mail comments, containing the name and address of the commenter, may be sent to: MailingStandards@usps.gov, with a subject line of ‘‘Inert Munitions’’
Faxed comments are not accepted.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Mary J. Collins 202–268–5440 or Evans
King, 202–268–4982.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Postal Service published a Federal Register proposed rule (73 FR 12321) on March 7, 2008 to prohibit replica and inert munitions from the mail. Upon further review and in consideration of respondents’ comments, we are revising our proposal to:

1. More specifically identify these items as ‘‘replica or inert explosive devices’’ rather than ‘‘replica or inert munitions’’ and, 2. Identify a process for mailing such items rather than prohibiting them from the mail altogether.

In the past, postal operations have been disrupted and facilities have been evacuated when replica or inert explosive devices have been discovered in the mail. Such evacuations result in unnecessary expense and loss of productivity to the Postal Service and can jeopardize USPS® service commitments. We believe this revised proposed rule will minimize the chances of operational disruptions caused by replica or inert explosive devices and at the same time allow mailers to continue to use the mail for shipping these items.

Comments Received

All comments received in response to the original proposed rule were in opposition to the proposal, falling into four major categories. Comments are summarized and presented below followed by our responses:

Comment: The Postal Service proposal is vague and overly broad when identifying all replica or inert ‘‘munitions’’ as being prohibited from mailing.

The Postal Service agrees that the language in the rule could be more descriptive. We have, therefore, termed these articles as ‘‘inert or replica explosive devices’’ to distinguish them from inert munitions, such as empty shell casings and the like. In the revised proposed rule, replica or inert items that clearly look like a bomb or an explosive device, to an untrained observer, must be presented for mailing in accordance with the proposed standards in this document. This proposed rule is
intended to discourage indiscriminate mailing of articles that appear to be explosive devices.

Comment: Respondents dispute whether there really is a problem of inert munitions in the mail.

In the past three years, the Postal Service has recorded numerous incidents involving the discovery of mail that exhibited characteristics of possible explosives. Postal facilities have been evacuated due to these occurrences. Postal Inspectors or local emergency first responders were contacted and required to respond to each of these occurrences.

Comment: The proposal is in violation of the Second Amendment.

We no longer propose to prohibit the mailing of items currently allowed by law to be mailed. In this revised proposed rule we are limiting the mailing of articles that have the appearance of real explosive devices. This revised proposed rule requires customers to present packages containing replica or inert explosive devices at a retail counter and that they be sent via Registered Mail. This process will ensure that packages containing these items remain separate and easily identifiable during the mailing process.

Comment: The Postal Service lacks the authority to ban mailing of this matter.

While the Postal Service does not necessarily agree with the legal arguments presented by certain respondents in response to its prior proposed rule, in reconsideration, we elieve we can achieve the goal of reducing operational interruptions and maintaining the safety of the mail and postal employees by limiting the mailing process of replica or inert explosive devices rather than prohibiting them from being mailed.

Although we are exempt from the notice and comment requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. of 553 (b), (c)] regarding proposed rulemaking by 39 U.S.C. 410(a), we invite public comments on the following proposed revisions to Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM), incorporated by reference in the Code of Federal Regulations. See 39 CFR 111.1.

Accordingly, 39 CFR part 111 is proposed to be amended as follows:
PART 111—[AMENDED]

2. Revise the following sections of Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) as follows:
* * * * *
600 Basic Standards for All Mailing Services
601 Mailability
* * * * *
11.0 Other Restricted and Nonmailable Matter
* * * * *
11.5 Replica or Inert Explosive Devices [Renumber current 11.5 through 11.20 as 11.6 through 11.21. Insert new 11.5 to read as follows:]

Replica or inert devices that bear a realistic appearance to explosive devices such as simulated grenades, but that are not dangerous, are permitted in the mail when all of the following conditions are met:

a. The package is presented by the mailer at a retail counter.
b. Registered Mail is used. Registered Mail service is only available for items mailed as either First-Class Mail or Priority Mail.
c. The address side of the package is labeled with ‘‘REPLICA EXPLOSIVE’’ using at least 20 point type or letters at least 1⁄4″ high.
* * * * *
We will publish an appropriate amendment to 39 CFR part 111 to reflect these changes if our proposal is adopted.

Neva R. Watson,
Attorney, Legislative.

Board of Governors; Sunshine Act Meeting

TIMES AND DATES: 3:30 p.m., Monday, January 11, 2010; and 7:30 a.m.,
Tuesday, January 12, 2010.

PLACE: Newport Beach, California, at the Fairmont Hotel, 4500 MacArthur Boulevard.

STATUS: (Closed)

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED:

Monday, January 11, at 3:30 p.m. (Closed)

1. Strategic Issues.
2. Financial Matters.
3. Pricing.
4. Personnel Matters and Compensation Issues.
5. Governors’ Executive Session–Discussion of prior agenda items and
Board Governance.

Tuesday, January 12, at 7:30 a.m. (Closed)

1. Continuation of Monday’s agenda.

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION: Julie S. Moore, Secretary of the Board, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW., Washington, DC 20260-1000. Telephone (202) 268-4800.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced today that AUDRY MAE SIMMONS, 57, of Sacramento, pleaded guilty today to embezzlement and theft charges before United States Magistrate Judge Dale A. Drozd.

This case is the product of an investigation by the United States Postal Service’s Office of the Inspector General.

According to Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Rodriguez, who is prosecuting the case, between November 1, 2008 and January 16, 2009, SIMMONS stole the cash reserve of the Perkins Station Post Office, located at 9500 Kiefer Blvd., in Sacramento. The cash reserve was entrusted to SIMMONS in order for her to provide change to counter postal clerks she supervised. SIMMONS incrementally stole the cash reserve, totaling $3,999.50, and then falsified documents to cover her theft and embezzlement. This morning SIMMONS admitted that from early November 2008 through January 2009 she used the U.S. currency in the cash reserve to make personal expenditures and to pay non-governmental expenses. SIMMONS had been employed by the U.S. Post Office since October 1986 and, at the time of her theft, SIMMONS was the Customer Services Supervisor of Sacramento’s Perkins Station Post Office.

SIMMONS was convicted of one misdemeanor count of theft and one misdemeanor count of embezzlement of postal funds during the performance of her duties. She is scheduled to be sentenced on March 2, 2010. The maximum penalty for each offense is one year in prison, a one-year term of supervised release, and a fine of up to $100,000. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables and any applicable statutory sentencing factors.

Organizations Investing in Improved Mailing Accuracy Stand to Benefit from Upcoming Changes to Postal Rate Structures

LANHAM, Md., January 04, 2010 – Pitney Bowes Business Insight, the leading global provider of location and communication intelligence solutions, today released the results of its mailing address quality survey. The survey findings, consisting of responses from major high-volume mailers, revealed that while companies are concerned with address quality, many are not yet prepared to receive the cost-saving benefits related to USPS rate changes for the proper management of returned mail and address updates.

The survey, conducted by Pitney Bowes Business Insight, evaluated how companies are managing address updates and returned mail. The USPS® Move Update Standard aims to reduce the volume of undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) mail, which according to the USPS, costs about $1.6 billion to process. The latest standards became effective November 23, 2008, requiring businesses to update their bulk-mailing lists for both First-Class Mail® and Standard Mail® within 95 days of the mailing date. Effective January 4, 2010, companies whose mailings are not compliant will be subject to an additional postage of $0.07 per assessed piece.

Key survey findings include:

• Sixty-four percent of respondents said they use the National Change of Address (NCOALink®) method to identify address changes to help reduce undeliverable mailpieces before they enter the mailstream;
• Fifty-four percent rely on Address Change Service (ACS™) to ensure that the new address information is returned to the mailer. However, only about half of the companies surveyed reported that they thoroughly analyze the ACS™ notices received, potentially missing out on key information about the UAA mailpieces;
• When mail is returned from NCOALink® or ACS™ due to incorrect addressing, 33 percent said they rely on manually updating the addresses, the most costly method. Only slightly more respondents (39 percent) say they have an automated process to deal with returned mail from NCOALink® or ACS™;
• Forty-six percent of respondents consider handling return mail a manually intensive process and 22 percent believe that having multiple databases requiring updates is also a key constraint;
• When it comes to updating addresses in environments that include customer consent as requirements (by legal or business rules), respondents primarily relied on sending consent letters (22 percent) or e-mail confirmations for verification. Of note, the 22 percent of respondents who selected “other” methods for updating addresses, suspect that they do not have an adequate process in place and some rely on their clients to make the updates; and
• For Move Update processing, about half of the respondents indicated they use an “on premise” solution rather than a hosted or Software as a Service (SaaS) offering.

“The results of the Pitney Bowes Business Insight survey indicate that mailers have the opportunity to enhance their best practices for updating address changes, but many have not yet made the investment,” said Matt McPartlin, director of product management, Pitney Bowes Business Insight. “With the upcoming changes to postal rate structures in the Move Update Standard, mailers that take steps to improve their address database management today will benefit from greater cost-savings and better overall customer communications in the long run.”

The survey conducted exclusively by Pitney Bowes Business Insight queried more than 50 North American executives and IT managers who conduct high-volume mailings in industries including insurance, financial services, communications or utilities, government, service bureaus and others.

For complete survey results please contact Anna Dreyser or Jenny Ng at PBBI@schwartz-pr.com.

The US Postal Service ended the calendar year with 599,655 career employees, a drop of 57,118, or 8.7% from the same period last year. Decreases were steepest in mail processing operations (-13.7%), and customer service positions at post offices (-14.5%). Those operations had been the target of early retirement offers earlier in the year. Delivery operations saw much lower attrition, with city delivery staffing down -5.2%, and rurals down -1.7%. Headquarters saw an increase of 138 positions, or +4.9%. That increase, however, was more than offset by a decrease of 327, or -25% for employees at Area offices. Those figures reflect the fact that some former area positions now report directly to HQ, as well as reductions in authorized staffing at the Areas, and the elimination of the New York Metro Area office.

By employee type, the largest reduction came in the clerk craft, down 29,234 employees, or -15.3%. Mailhandlers were down by 5,145, or -9.4%; city carriers -10,597, or -5.1%, supervisors and managers -3,313 or 10.4%; and professional, administrative and technical employees -1,564 or -19.8%.

The numbers reflect actual employees on the rolls (not authorized positions) as of the beginning of pay period 26. They don’t reflect retirements that occurred at the beginning of this month.