GREENBELT, MD. — Prosecutors say a former postmaster has pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $60,000 in stamps from the post office where he worked.

Fifty-six-year-old Gilbert Ennis of Lanham entered the plea Tuesday. He will be sentenced Dec. 6 and has agreed to pay restitution from his federal retirement account.

According to his plea agreement, on Nov. 23, Ennis reported an armed gunman had entered the post office when he was working there alone, demanded he open the safe and ordered Ennis into a bathroom.

Ennis told authorities that a box in the safe that held more than $50,000 in stamps was stolen.

Investigators found the box in Ennis’ car and that nearly $2,000 worth of stamps were missing from his drawer.

via Ex-postmaster pleads guilty to stamps theft | Washington Examiner.

Jerry D. Lane, the former USPS Vice President for the Capitol Metro Area, was found guilty on misdemeanor assault charges in Loudoun County, Virginia District Court on Thursday, and was fined $300. Lane was arrested on June 1 after police were called to the postal service’s Dulles Processing and Distribution Center. The Washington Post reported at the time that “Lane, based in Gaithersburg, visited the Dulles Processing and Distribution Center in Sterling on June 1 and allegedly argued with the center’s manager, Kathleen J. Michaels. The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office responded to a 911 call at the building about 2 p.m., spokesman Kraig Troxell said. Michaels filed misdemeanor assault charges June 3, and Lane was issued a summons to appear in Loudoun General District Court… Postal Service spokesman Gerald McKiernan said Lane “separated” from the agency June 3, but he would not say whether Lane was fired or had resigned, citing personnel policy and privacy concerns. The Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General has launched an internal investigation, said Dan Mihalko, a spokesman for the office.”

Cambridge, MA (PRWEB) August 31, 2010

Over the past few years the U.S. Postal Service® has been experiencing financial turmoil as a result of the declining trend in mail volume and subsequent loss of revenue. And those trends and losses will continue for the rest of 2010 and into the future.

To combat these losses, the United States Postal Service® has rolled out Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) services designed to streamline and improve the mailstream itself – and the way mailers communicate with them. The USPS is ‘encouraging’ mailers to start using electronic documentation (eDoc) and IMb services via the Business Customer Gateway/PostalOne!® system.

Currently, the Intelligent Mail Full-Service option is the way mailers get the best postage discounts. And, beginning in May 2011, mailers will at least have to be using the Basic option (printing an IMb on their letters and flats) in order to keep receiving automation discounts on their mail.

IMb services promise efficiencies that will help the Postal Service and mailers better manage their operations and finances. And this is just one of the many advantages of Intelligent Mail® discussed in Window Book’s new white paper, titled, “Intelligent Mail Full-Service: Critical Steps to Understanding and Implementing”.

This free, informative, 29-page report specifically talks about the different Intelligent Mail barcode services, how critical it is for mailers to implement Intelligent Mail Full-Service in their operation, what it will do for them and the postal industry, and how to get going with this service.

Jeffery Peoples, Window Book’s CEO said, “Other mailers are converting to Intelligent Mail Full-Service and eventually you will have to also if you want to stay competitive in the mailing business. You really don’t have any choice but to get on board with Intelligent Mail Full-Service for as much of your mail as you can – as soon as you practically can.”

“Intelligent Mail® Full-Service: Critical Steps to Understanding and Implementing” is available for free download at: http://www.windowbook.com/lp/intelligent-mail.

Postal Workers in Florida Can See New Documentary Murder by Proxy: How America Went Postal on a Big Screen

Los Angeles, CA – August 30, 2010. A new documentary on violence in the USPS, Murder by Proxy: How America Went Postal, will be screened at two Florida film festivals this September.

The film was written/produced/directed by Emil Chiaberi and produced by Oscar and Emmy winner James Moll.

Murder by Proxy will be shown at the CENFLO film festival on September 3rd at 2:55pm, At the West Orange 5, Theaters, 1575 Maguire Road Ocoee, FL. Two more screenings will take place on September 6th and 9th at Nomadic Tendencies (US branch of Strasburg International Film Festival) located at Muvico Baywalk 20, 151 2nd Ave N, St Petersburg 33701.

In July “Murder By Proxy” was screened for survivors of the 1991 postal massacre in Royal Oak, Michigan, where it was received with a strong reaction from Royal Oak postal workers. Inquiries have been pouring in from USPS employees from different parts of the country asking when they can see the film in their area. Now Florida postal workers who are based in or around St. Petersburg and Ocoee will get the chance to see the film on a big screen.

Murder by Proxy: How America Went Postal is the first documentary to examine the phenomenon of workplace massacre through the lens of the growing socio-economic strains that have swept over this country—beginning in the Reagan era and extending to the present. In the face of an ever changing economy, the film follows the plight of one of America’s working class heroes’, Charlie Withers, a 39 yr. veteran letter carrier from Royal Oak, MI, the home of the films focused incident.

The analysis of work conditions at USPS is central to the film, which sheds light on the toxic postal culture through the prism of catalyst and accountability. And for good reason: the modern, stress-driven, homicidal rampage was born in the postal system—forever changing the meaning of the phrase “going postal”. The USPS presents an ideal case study because it’s been a breeding ground for the same volatile conditions that are now found in most US work environments. “In
many ways, the story of work related postal violence chronicles the erosion of America’s working class”, says director Emil Chiaberi.

Today, the USPS is under intense pressure to reduce spending. As a result, workers are once again experiencing the same volatile conditions that led to the 1991 Royal Oak shooting and other related episodes of violence. “It seems like we’ve learned little from the past,” says Charlie Withers, whose investigation of the hostile conditions in Royal Oak’s Post Office resulted in Congressional hearings. He adds: “I think this film is very timely…hopefully, it can help prevent future tragedies.” With the grassroots uprising of support, already formed by responses pouring from the postal unions, workers are eager to help educate those ignorant or dismissive of the destructive effects of volatile management practices. There is a drought of corporate responsibility for this workforce, as lives are sacrificed and the postal service becomes an increasingly exasperated and toxic culture of greed, and violence.

Following the September screenings in Florida and Germany MURDER BY PROXY: How America Went Postal will be shown in several domestic and international Film Festivals. Please visit our website form more information.

ABOUT MURDER BY PROXY: How America Went Postal
Written/Produced/Directed: Emil Chiaberi
Produced by James Moll
Edited by David A. Davidson
Running time: 76 minutes
Language: English
Release date: 2010
Official Website: www.murderbyproxyfilm.com

ABOUT EMIL CHIABERI
Emil Chiaberi grew up in the Soviet Union and now lives and works in the United States as a
filmmaker and CEO of an emerging biomedical company. From serving in the Soviet Army to
managing a 100+ employee business, his array of personal and business experiences have made
him a keen observer of the connections between cultural phenomenon, psycho-spiritual crises
and their relationship to social violence. Emil’s first film, Murder by Proxy, explores these
connections.

ABOUT JAMES MOLL
Oscar and Emmy winning filmmaker James Moll has been producing and directing non-fiction
films for more than ten years. Moll’s feature documentary credits include Running the Sahara,
Inheritance, Price for Peace, and The Last Days, which chronicles the lives of five Hungarian
Holocaust survivors.
In addition to his work as a filmmaker, Moll established and operated The Shoah Foundation
(currently the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education) with Steven
Spielberg for the express purpose of videotaping Holocaust survivor testimonies around the
world.

HARRISBURG – Attorney General agents have filed criminal charges against a Westmoreland County business owner accused of misappropriating more than $45,000 from the United States Postal Service (USPS). The money was intended to pay for workers compensation insurance for his employees.

Attorney General Tom Corbett said that Frank Letterine, 49, 5021 Impala Drive, Murrysville, is the owner of Denny’s Trucking, a business that contracts with the Postal Service to transport mail.

Corbett explained that Postal Service contracts provide mail transport companies with money specifically to subsidize the purchase of workers compensation coverage for employees.

According to the criminal complaint, Letterine operated Denny’s Trucking without providing workers compensation coverage from April of 1999 to June of 2009.

Corbett said that during this 10-year period, the Postal Service provided Letterine with $45,479 for the purpose of obtaining workers compensation coverage.

According to the criminal complaint, in 2006 Letterine indicated that the cost for his workers compensation policy would increase by more than $600; and in 2007, by more than$1,000.

Corbett said that as a result, the postal service increased the amount they paid to Letterine for insurance, but he still allegedly did not purchase workers compensation coverage.

Letterine is charged 10 counts of failure to insure and one count of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received. Each charge is a third-degree felony carrying a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

Letterine was preliminarily arraigned before Westmoreland County Magisterial District Judge Charles R. Conway and released on $10,000 unsecured bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 14, 2010.

Letterine will be prosecuted in Westmoreland County by Senior Deputy Attorney General J. Scott Robinette of the Attorney General’s Insurance Fraud Section.

via Press: The Attorney General’s Press Office – Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General.

From the League of Postmaster’s President’s Message:

Delivery Unit Optimization (DUO) is being implemented at break neck speed and by Tuesday a new Power Point presentation will be on the web site. Review it, learn it and train other Postmasters on it. There are many impacts with DUO; pay, Postmaster level and the future of some Post Offices are at stake. In its original design DUO was to maximize the use of clerk resources with a secondary benefit of better use of existing building space. We want to make sure that as it rolls out across the country it does not mutate into another program that does not benefit Postmasters, the Postal Service or its customers and further jeopardizes universal service.

via National League of Postmasters – Presidents Message.

Pittsboro, NC (Vocus) August 28, 2010

She was the only woman, as of 2010, who rose from a clerk in the Georgia Southern College Post Office to Deputy Postmaster General in the United States Postal Service. In an inspiring memoir, MS. DEPUTY POSTMASTER GENERAL, author Jackie A. Strange shares with readers her remarkable achievements and how trusted leadership, courage, and innovations impacted the postal service.

Under physical and mental duress, she achieved unprecedented records and saved billions of dollars for the postal service—the largest non-military job in the world with 800,000 employees and a $32 billion (in 1983 dollars) budget—through innovative programs. Because of her achievements, the Australian Post asked her to come to Australia to help hire women managers. The program was so successful that it spread throughout the Australian government.

In this notable memoir, readers will learn and be motivated by her firm principles – those that helped her weather the storms in life and reach her position. Upon her retirement, she received the highest honor, The Benjamin Franklin Award and $10,000 as the Postmaster General’s Award for Excellence. Furthermore, in an unprecedented move, all postal employees and labor leaders celebrated “Jackie A. Strange Day” on her retirement date.

A celebrated tribute of dedication, determination, and hard work, MS. DEPUTY POSTMASTER GENERAL appeals to a wide audience—inspiring managers and employees, business persons, the reading public and those interested in reaching the apex of one’s career. For more information on this book, log on to Xlibris.com.

The former postmaster of the Birmingham post office was sentenced Friday to one year of probation on a federal embezzlement charge.

Trudy Wright also was ordered by a federal judge in Toledo to pay $1,000 in restitution to the U.S. Postal Service.

Wright had served as the postmaster in Birmingham until the post office there was destroyed in a March 2009 fire that also destroyed Boccardi’s Pizza & Pasta, which had been housed in the building.

Wright was removed from her position as a postal service employee in November 2009 and was indicted on the embezzlement charge in March of this year.

The Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General said that Wright wrote an illegal money order worth $1,000 without paying for it in March 2009 and used the money to pay for personal expenses.

Full story: The Chronicle-Telegram – Lorain County’s leading news source.

The League and NAPUS have jointly asked USPS Inspector General David Williams to investigate the alleged manipulation of the Pay for Performance program. PFP replaced cost of living adjustments and “step” increases for postmasters and supervisors, and was originally supposed to have been based on meeting individual and organization-wide goals.

The organizations say they have tried to work with the USPS to resolve the many complaints that have been filed since the PFP ratings were published in February, but to no avail. The National Association of Postal Supervisors has filed a similar equest with the OIG.

August 27, 2010

DMM Advisory

Pricing — keeping you informed about the prices and mailing standards of the United States Postal Service

IMb™ Services Update

New FAST Help Desk (August 30, 2010): As announced in the Facility Access and Shipment Tracking (FAST®) 14.3.0 Release Notes (August 15, 2010), the Postal Service™ will launch the new FAST Help Desk effective Monday, August 30. The FAST Help Desk will be available to assist with application and operation-related issues by:

• Email at FAST@usps.gov.
• Telephone at 877-569-6614. The FAST Help Desk telephone number efficiently directs calls through a new IVR network to ensure prompt routing of customer inquiries.

The FAST Help Desk hours of operation will be Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. CT. Telephone support will be available outside of these hours including weekends and holidays.

If the Help Desk is unable to provide an immediate resolution, a Remedy Ticket will be activated and escalated to the appropriate postal functional entity. All FAST Remedy Tickets will follow the established Issue Resolution Process.

The FAST Welcome pages have been updated to reflect the new FAST Help Desk contact information.

The Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) is available on Postal Explorer (pe.usps.com). To subscribe to the DMM Advisory, send an e-mail to dmmadvisory@usps.com. Simply indicate “subscribe” in the subject line.