CHICAGO- Direct mail is still a formidable force in the insurance industry. Mintel Comperemedia, a service that provides direct marketing competitive intelligence, reports that insurance companies upheld direct mail volumes throughout 2009, despite budget cuts and the growing strength of social media. Read the rest of this entry »

Memo from Greg Bell, APWU Director of Industrial Relations- click here for the full text of the award in .pdf format.

Re: Award on Subcontracting AOI Installation and Maintenance

Enclosed you will find a copy of a recent national award regarding the APWU’s challenge to management’s subcontracting of Associate Office Infrastructure (AOI) installation and maintenance work. (USPS #Q94T-4Q-C 97031616; 2/11/2010) Arbitrator Das sustained the APWU’s grievance and ruled that management violated Article 32.1.B by not giving the union an opportunity to meet with it regarding AOI installation and maintenance work involving cabling and AOI servers. Das ordered that the Postal Service assign maintenance of “AOI
servers – to the extent they remain in operation – and the LAN cabling within the AOs to the maintenance craft.” In addition he directed that the parties discuss “the possibility of additional LAN maintenance work in the AOs being assigned to the bargaining unit.” With regard to a retroactive remedy, Arbitrator Das ordered that the issue be returned to the parties for discussion of a remedy taking into account the remedy discussion in Das’s 2002 national arbitration award in USPS #Q94V-4Q-C 96044758. Read the rest of this entry »

Ashford University, an online division of Bridgepoint Education Inc, announced that it had entered into “a national alliance agreement” with the United States Postal Service. Under the agreement, “the USPS and its 623,000 employees will receive significant cost savings through the waiver of various fees and a prior learning credit evaluation toward their Ashford University degree program”. The USPS already has similar agreements with other online “universities”, including the University of Phoenix.

Ashford’s operating practices have been under investigation by the Department of Education’s Inspector General for “compensation policies and practices relating to enrollment advisors; calculation of returns of Title IV program funds; timeliness of returns of Title IV program funds; student authorizations to retain credit balances; disbursements of unearned Title IV program funds; and maintenance of supporting documentation for students’ leaves of absence.” Read the rest of this entry »

INDIANAPOLIS – Ricky L. Alsip, 53, of Evansville, Indiana, was sentenced to two years of probation by U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young following his guilty plea to theft of mail by a postal employee. This case was the result of a investigation by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspection General.

Alsip admitted that he had been stealing items from the mail while working as a postal carrier for a period of approximately one year. Alsip estimated that he removed 450 Netflix movies from the mail for use by himself and members of his family during this time period.Alsip also admitted taking other mail items such a magazines and catalogues for his own use.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd S. Shellenbarger, who prosecuted the case for the government, Judge Young also ordered Alsip to make restitution in the amount of $5,413.50 and ordered Alsip to perform 40 hours of community service.

Action Plan for the Future of the U.S. Postal Service

Postmaster General John E. Potter to give briefing

What:

Postmaster General John E. (Jack) Potter is hosting a conference to address the future of the U.S. Postal Service and to announce new business model

Who:

John E. Potter, Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer
Louis J. Giuliano, Chairman, Board of Governors, U.S. Postal Service
Meldon J. Wolfgang, Partner/Managing Director, The Boston Consulting Group
Thomas Dohrmann, Principal, McKinsey & Company

When:

Tuesday, March 2
9 a.m. – 12 noon

Welcome: Chairman Giuliano
Introductory Remarks: PMG Potter
Projecting U.S. Mail Volumes to 2020: Mr. Wolfgang
Options for a Changing Environment: Mr. Dohrmann
Keynote Presentation: PMG Potter

Break

Panel Discussion with Potter, Giuliano, Thurgood Marshall, Jr., Vice Chairman, Board of Governors, Patrick R. Donahoe, Deputy Postmaster General and COO and Robert F. Bernstock, President, Mailing and Shipping Services

Where:

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Conference Center
429 L’Enfant Plaza SW
Washington DC 20024-2111

Background: The Postal Service is facing serious and substantial challenges: declining mail volume, increased use of the Internet for bill payment and presentment, a lingering recession and legislative constraints on how and when we can close Post Offices or what types of products we can sell at retail.

After four months of intense research and discussion, the Postal Service will announce an action plan to address these concerns, as well as a number of steps necessary to close a substantial gap by the year 2020.

The Postal Service has decided on a future path that calls for greater business model flexibility and changes to the way it does business.

CARLSBAD, CA — 02/22/10 — In today’s challenging economy, businesses are looking for an advantage to help them pull out of the recession and avoid losses, layoffs, or worse. Companies are focusing on a single task — increasing sales. To help businesses in Texas learn how to quickly implement powerhouse direct mail marketing campaigns proven to sell, Modern Postcard is providing an exclusive opportunity to learn the tools, tricks and techniques behind capturing better leads for new customers and driving increased revenues. The Direct Mail Crash Course, a national seminar series, will be presented for the first time in Texas in conjunction with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) where attendees will receive new and proven strategies to increase business leads and revenues. Read the rest of this entry »

Acting United States Attorney Robert S. Cessar announced today, February 19, 2010, that John M. Stone, a resident of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to serve 12 months and one day in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and to pay $685.00 in restitution on his conviction of breaking and entering a United States Post Office.

United States District Judge Nora Barry Fischer imposed the sentence on Stone, age 45.

According to information presented to the court during the prior guilty plea proceeding by Assistant United States Attorney Carolyn J. Bloch, Stone, on June 15, 2004, forcibly broke into the United States Post Office located at 115 2nd Street, Neville Island, Pennsylvania, and stole postal money orders totaling $685.00, which he negotiated for the purchase of unlawful drugs.

Mr. Cessar commended the United States Postal Inspection Service for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Stone.

The Justice Department, FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service today announced that the investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks, which killed five individuals and sickened 17 others, has formally concluded.

Earlier today, representatives of the FBI and Justice Department provided a 92-page investigative summary along with attachments to victims of the attacks, relatives of the victims and appropriate committees of Congress. This document sets forth a summary of the evidence developed in the “Amerithrax” investigation, the largest investigation into a bio-weapons attack in U.S. history. As disclosed previously, the Amerithrax investigation found that the late Dr. Bruce Ivins acted alone in planning and executing these attacks.

The investigative summary and the attachments are now accessible to the public and have been posted to the Justice Department Web site at www.usdoj.gov/amerithrax under the Freedom of Information Act. In addition, roughly 2,700 pages of FBI documents related to the Amerithrax case are now accessible to the public and have been posted to the FBI website at http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/amerithrax.htm under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Amerithrax Task Force, which was comprised of roughly 25 to 30 full-time investigators from the FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and other law enforcement agencies, as well as federal prosecutors from the District of Columbia and the Justice Department’s Counterterrorism Section, expended hundreds of thousands of investigator work hours on this case. Their investigative efforts involved more than 10,000 witness interviews on six different continents, the execution of 80 searches and the recovery of more than 6,000 items of potential evidence during the course of the investigation. The case involved the issuance of more than 5,750 grand jury subpoenas and the collection of 5,730 environmental samples from 60 site locations.

From the OIG report released today:

The Postal Service’s total absenteeism rate for major benefits is comparable to the total absenteeism rate of the federal sector, but higher than that of the civilian sector. We identified two potential causes for the difference between the Postal Service and the civilian sector absenteeism rates — the Postal Service offers more leave benefits than the civilian sector and they offer fewer incentives for employees to accumulate leave. In addition, we determined some supervisors were not complying with attendance control procedures related to unscheduled absences. We also determined that CSRS and FERS retirees use comparable amounts of sick leave in the last years before they retire. Read the rest of this entry »

Morristown, Tennessee (PRWEB) February 19, 2010 — A mail carrier represented by East Tennessee attorney Brack Terry of Terry, Terry & Stapleton has won a $120,000 jury verdict in Hamblen County Circuit Court for injuries — severe ringing in her ears — that she suffered after her vehicle was struck as she delivered mail.

The carrier, Frances DeLand of Talbott, was driving a 2003 Ford with a flashing light mounted on top when her vehicle was hit from behind by a 1992 Mazda driven by a Morristown resident. The accident occurred about 1:25 p.m. on Oct. 1, 2007.

This keeps with our philosophy that the amount of medical bills, sometimes used as a barometer to determine the total damages by an insurance company, often has very little relation to how bad a person is injured in many cases.

In September 2008, Terry filed suit (docket No. 08CV172) on behalf of DeLand against the other motorist, alleging careless and reckless driving that resulted in injuries to his client. The lawsuit sought compensation for serious and disabling injuries that impaired DeLand’s capacity for work, as well as pain and suffering, loss of income and medical bills, and her husband’s loss of consortium.

The injury which Ms. Deland suffered was tinnitus, which Terry described as a severe ringing in her ears.

The Morristown motorist was uninsured at the time of the accident. DeLand’s insurer, Allstate Insurance Co., was sued under the state’s uninsured / underinsured statute. In its response, Allstate said it had paid $5,000 to cover DeLand’s medical bills and asked that the payment be deducted from any amount awarded to DeLand.

On Jan. 27, a Hamblen County Circuit Court jury awarded DeLand $120,312. The jury verdict included $25,000 for permanent impairment or disfigurement and $50,000 for Deland’s loss of ability to enjoy life.

“My client got hurt doing her job, suffering permanent injuries, and she deserved compensation. Fortunately, the jury agreed,” Terry said.

Terry said he believed the verdict was the largest ever in Tennessee based solely on the injury of tinnitus.

“It’s important to note that my client had medical bills of only $8,000 and medical equipment expenses of about $12,000,” Terry said. “This keeps with our philosophy that the amount of medical bills, sometimes used as a barometer to determine the total damages by an insurance company, often has very little relation to how bad a person is injured in many cases.”