The Boston Globe reports the passing of Bob Cannon, USPS spokesperson in Boston, and weekend radio host at Boston’s folk music radio station, WUMB:

To those who listened closely, Bob Cannon used distinctly different voices as spokesman for the US Postal Service in Boston and as host of the “Acoustic Sunrise’’ program on WUMB-FM.

Assured and reassuring, Mr. Cannon talked with reporters about postal matters large and small, from the anthrax scares after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to the time a wild turkey took to pecking at a mail carrier in Newton.

Behind the microphone at WUMB, though, his voice could be “a little halting,’’ said Patricia Monteith, the station’s general manager. “It was because he was thinking very carefully about the next words he was going to say. In a normal conversation, I think because of the job he did at the Postal Service, he spoke with a certain pattern. But on the radio, it was very slow and deliberate.’’

Mr. Cannon, who also formerly produced and hosted the weekly “New England Heritage’’ feature on WUMB, died Friday in Massachusetts General Hospital of multiple myeloma. He was 62 and lived in the Squantum section of Quincy.

via Bob Cannon, WUMB host, Postal Service spokesman – The Boston Globe.

According to Postcom:

The word from several sources is that Korn Ferry is in charge of a search for a new postal senior v.p. to be in charge of governmental and public affairs. It sounds like a re-creation of a position that once had existed within the USPS. It was a good idea then. It would be a good idea now.

via PostCom: Postal News and Information from Around the World.

The USPS currently has a Vice President for Government Relations and Public Policy, Marie Therese Dominguez, who reports directly to the PMG.

A southeast Missouri man who worked for U.S. Postal Service has admitted dumping mail along a river instead of delivering it last year.

Twenty-five-year-old Lance W. Kinder of Oran pleaded guilty in federal Monday to one felony count of delay or destruction of mail.

KFVS-TV reports that an Oran man and his son found the undelivered mail along the Diversion Channel last Thanksgiving. Authorities said there were about 600 to 1,000 pieces of mail that should have been delivered to people in Sikeston, Dexter, Kennett, New Madrid and other Bootheel towns.

via Former Postal Service worker admits dumping mail along SE Missouri river – KTVI.

Texas window clerk Calvin Williams was convicted of stealing funds from the US Postal Service in the course of his job as a window clerk in Springs, and sentenced to a $1400 fine and two years’ probation. Williams appealed on the grounds “that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to convict him of the crime as charged in the indictment”. The Appeals Court disagreed:

Here, the evidence was sufficient to support the verdict. The Government submitted video recordings showing Williams making sales to customers and the corresponding daily reports of Williams's transactions. An investigator testified based on the recordings and reports that when customers paid for stamps in cash, Williams often failed to scan the stamps into the point-of-service (POS) system as required and instead used the "no sale" key to open the cash drawer and complete the transactions. In other words, according to her testimony, he falsely entered stamp purchases as "no sale" or non-revenue transactions. Based on this evidence, a rational juror could conclude that the Government proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Williams made a false entry of stamp purchases.

Williams contends that the specific charge required the Government to establish that he actually made an entry of stamp purchases, i.e., revenue transactions, in the POS system. Williams parses the language in the indictment too narrowly. It was sufficient, and consistent with the charge in the indictment, for the Government to prove that Williams made a false entry of stamp purchases by recording a "no sale" or non-revenue entry into the POS system when, in fact, a customer had made a cash purchase (i.e., a revenue transaction).

Accordingly, the judgment is AFFIRMED.

via Laws, Life, and Legal Matters – Court Cases and Legal Information at Leagle.com – All Federal and State Appeals Court Cases in One Search.

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

The eight people arrested on drug charges after a yearlong Postal Service investigation have been sentenced.

Seven of them worked at the mail distribution center at 2400 Orange Ave., where agents confiscated crack, PCP, prescription painkillers, marijuana and a loaded handgun in June.

The agents, part of the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General, said drug deals occurred at the mail distribution center or were arranged while the employees were on the job. All of them resigned or were fired.

Full story: Cleveland postal workers sentenced on drug charges | cleveland.com.

STAMFORD, Conn., April 19, 2010 – Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI) today announced that it is expanding its collaboration with RISO, Inc., a leader in digital inkjet printing technology, to offer RISO’s ComColor series of full-color inkjet printers to U.S. customers. The ComColor series complements Pitney Bowes’s suite of mail management software, working with a broad array of the company’s products for a complete “print-to-mail” solution in a cut-sheet environment.

The ComColor series helps organizations add value to existing documents by managing the transition from printing in black and white to color. The series is ideal for mid- and high-volume mailers printing transactional or transpromotional documents such as invoices, promotional flyers, postcards, and direct mail.

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Nashville—While prospecting through traditional direct mail channel isn’t getting any easier or cheaper, catalogers have to need to bring in new customers to grow their businesses—everybody knows this. Yet many mailers have pulled back sharply on prospecting.

A panel at the 2010 National Catalog Forum, presented here April 13-15 by the American Catalog Mailers Association, discussed why mailers were not prospecting. The main reason is the poor economy, but most catalogers are also dealing with fewer pages, fewer contacts, and changes in paper to keep costs down.

Full story: Live From the National Catalog Forum: Prospect or Die.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (April 16, 2010) — Hallmark today announces the company’s first postage-paid product, Postage-Paid Postcards. The postcards were developed with the US Postal Service and use a new barcode technology that eliminates the need for consumers to apply a stamp.

Hallmark chose to offer Postage-Paid Postcards when consumers expressed interest in a product that could be easily written and mailed, citing a need for convenience and ease. The 16 postcards are sold in packages of eight different designs that use humor to encourage women facing difficult life circumstances. The postcards are part of a new line of humor products designed to help women encourage each other. Each package retails for $9.99.

“Consumers told us they feel it’s important to send encouragement to friends going through difficult times and the simpler it is to do, the more likely they are to reach out,” notes Cindy Mahoney, Hallmark vice president of product development. “These Postage-Paid Postcards create a convenience we’ve not offered before. All you need to do is fill out the postcard and drop it in the mailbox.”

The Postage-Paid Postcards will be available in Hallmark Gold Crown stores at the end of May.

Washington, DC (PRWEB) April 19, 2010 — In just a few weeks since it launched, a groundbreaking new activist effort, launched via the Facebook platform, has already swelled to over 10,000 supporters calling for the US Postal Service to issue a stamp honoring Dean Martin. (http://Facebook.com/DeanMartinStamp or http://DeanMartinStamp.com )

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The Merit Systems Protection Board appears to have lost patience with the Southeast Area’s handling of a back pay award. The board had ordered the USPS to pay the employee over a year ago, on April 16, 2009. When the employee had not received the payment by July, he filed an enforcement request with the board. The board issued the enforcement order in November. Based on the MSPB order issued this week, the USPS simply ignored the order, since it never notified the board as required, that it had complied.

Despite the clear language of the compliance recommendation, the acknowledgment order, and the appellant’s December 9, 2009 letter, the agency has failed to make a submission to the Board in response to the compliance recommendation. Because of the agency’s failure to make a submission, nothing in the record shows that the agency has provided the appellant with back pay and benefits and interest on back pay as required by the final Board order. Accordingly, the agency is in noncompliance with the final order.
Acting Postal Service Vice President Linda J. Welch is the agency official responsible for compliance in this case.

Given the apparent non-compliance, the board ordered the USPS to comply with the previous orders, and provide proof that it had done so, or it would seek to withhold the salary of the AVP:

As set forth above, the agency has failed to demonstrate compliance with the Board’s final order in this matter. In the July 15, 2009 order acknowledging receipt of the appellant’s petition for enforcement, the administrative judge ordered the agency to submit the name of the official responsible for compliance with the March 12, 2009 order. CF, Tab 2 at 2. The administrative judge repeated that instruction in the November 3, 2009 compliance recommendation. CF, Tab 6 at 6. The agency has failed to identify the official responsible for compliance.

Accordingly, we have determined that Linda J Welch, Acting Vice President, Southeast Area Operations, is the agency official responsible for compliance. If the agency fails to demonstrate compliance, the Board may seek the withholding of the responsible agency official’s pay until the agency demonstrates compliance.

ORDER

The agency is ordered to file evidence and argument demonstrating compliance with the Board’s final order in this case and shall support its assertions of compliance with clear and understandable documentary evidence.

If the agency fails to demonstrate compliance, the responsible agency official may be ordered to appear before the General Counsel of the Merit Systems Protection Board to show cause why the Board should not seek the withholding of her pay pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 1204(e)(2)(a).

Full decision (pdf file)