No surprise that Fox News would rate the USPS as one of the top 5 “business blunders” of 2010. The item does at least point out that Congress is a big part of the problem- but it doesn’t mention that $8 billion of the USPS’s $8.5 billion deficit last year was due to Congressional mandates, not the “outdated procedures, infrastructure and staffing” that Fox blames:

5. United States Postal Service: A Failure of Management –It might seem unfair to start the list with a government bureaucracy. However, the USPS is that rare government bureaucracy that performs a valuable business service (as opposed to an administrative service) for everyone and doesn’t receive any tax revenue to operate. In other words, the USPS is supposed to function like a business.

Facing both technological and competitive obstacles, the USPS lost $8.5 billion in 2010. Part of the problem is that the USPS has 535 CEOs, otherwise known as Congress, who stymie any serious structural reform. But the USPS is also burdened with outdated procedures, infrastructure and staffing that fail to focus on real customer needs.

via FoxNews.com – Top 5 Business Blunders of 2010.

Some credit is due Philadelphia Inquirer’s Maria Panaritis for at least mentioning the USPS’s health benefit trust fund issue in her column about the agency’s finances. Unfortunately she gets it backwards:

And government-mandated payments toward retirees’ health benefits are in jeopardy in 2011 as postal officials scrounge for money.

Maria- the payments aren’t in jeopardy- the Postal Service is in jeopardy because of the payments! The casual reader might get the impression that this is one of those cases where a company has a massive unfunded pension liability, when the truth is that the USPS has stashed more cash away for its pension obligations than the rest of the federal government combined!

The columnist also trots out the discredited $238 billion deficit warning- a number that assumes that not only will Congress do nothing, but that the USPS will also not continue the cost cutting actions it has already undertaken.

Retiree health benefits come up again later in the column:

The Postal Service is negotiating contracts with one of its major unions and has a $5.5 billion retiree health-benefits bill coming due late next year.

That implies that the “bill” is for current retiree’s benefits- it isn’t. The USPS has no problem paying for current retirees’ health benefits, or for their pension benefits. Curiously, the USPS PR person quoted extensively in the column doesn’t seem to have explained that to Maria…

via It Check’s not in the mail for Postal Service | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/31/2010.

The Postal Service has issued a solicitation for the Next Generation Retail System Software (Next Gen RSS). This software will be utilized across all of the retail Point of Sale platforms. USPS is seeking Software, Software Maintenance, Software Support, and Help Desk Support across the continental United States. This is a competitive solicitation with prequalified suppliers. The award is subject to funding availability and the proposal received.

via Next Generation Retail Software System – Federal Business Opportunities: Opportunities.

A former US Postal Service employee pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Napa County Superior Court to a felony grand theft charge, court documents show.

Grace Oca, 44, of Vallejo, is suspected of taking $16,744 in cash from the Napa’s main post office between Feb. 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010, according to court documents.

The Napa County district attorney’s office charged Oca with one count of grand theft on Sept. 16.

She was booked into the Napa County Jail on Tuesday and released the same day on her own recognizance.

Napa County Superior Court Judge Monique Langhorne-Johnson scheduled the next hearing for Jan. 20.

via Napa Valley Register: Ex Postal Service worker pleads not guilty to theft.

A Portland Maine Press-Herald editorial reveals the startling news that making stamps last forever won’t solve all the USPS’s problems. (Where they got the idea that anyone thought that in the first place remains a mystery). The newspaper also mentions something that a few conspiracy minded bloggers (and at least one West Virginia newspaper) suggested when the first Forever stamp was introduced- that it is a sinister plot to sneak price increases past unsuspecting customers:

For the customer, that means that not having to buy 1- and 2-cent stamps every time the price goes up. It also means that price increases will not only be inevitable, but also easier to slip by without as much notice from the public.

Perhaps the editors of the Press-Herald (like a certain former President) have never visited a Wal-Mart or a supermarket where products have barcodes instead of price tags? Aren’t we always being lectured about the need to operate the USPS “like a business”? (And did that West Virginia newspaper editor ever find his roll of scotch tape?)

via Our View: New stamps won’t make postal problems disappear | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 — The U.S. Department of Justice’s U.S. Attorney’s office for Northern District of Alabama issued the following press release:

A federal grand jury today indicted a Madison man for stealing mail while he worked for the U.S. Postal Service, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and Postal Inspection Service Inspector/Domicile Coordinator Frank Dyer.

The one-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges MARK SHAWN STACY, 41, with stealing letters and packages entrusted to him to deliver while he worked as a mail clerk at the Huntsville Downtown Post Office between Feb. 1 and Feb. 15, 2010.

“The ability to safely and efficiently deliver products and correspondence through the Postal system is fundamental to our economy and way of life,” Vance said. “The United States Postal Service has been entrusted with this vital task, and when a Postal employee violates that trust, it must be met with appropriate sanctions. Americans rely on the integrity of the mail system. That integrity must be maintained,” she said.

The maximum sentence for Theft of Mail Matter by a Postal Employee is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Special agents with the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General investigated the matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney Terence M. O’Rourke is prosecuting the case.

PUTNAM VALLEY — Sheriff’s investigators and inspectors with the U.S. Postal Service were knocking on doors around the Lake Peekskill post office and interviewing witnesses Wednesday after an armed man held up the post office, escaping with an undisclosed amount of cash.

No one was injured in the 9:30 a.m. robbery at the post office at 132 Lake Drive, said Chief Investigator A. Gerald Schramek of the Sheriff’s Office.

The robber entered the building across from the Lake Deli and Market, approached a clerk and demanded money, police said. When the clerk handed over cash from a register, the thief then displayed a handgun and ordered the clerk to open a safe where there was more money, police said.

Full story: Lake Peekskill post office robbed at gunpoint | LoHud.com | The Journal News.

DULUTH, Ga. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is proposing $80,000 in penalties against the U.S. Postal Service for safety violations found during an inspection at its facility on Boggs Road in Duluth.

The Postal Service is being cited with five repeat violations carrying proposed penalties of $75,000. The violations include deficiencies involving lockout/tagout to prevent accidental start-up of machinery; permitting material to be stored in front of the electrical and circuit breaker panel; having unused openings on electrical, fire and receptacle boxes; using flexible cords instead of fixed wiring; and missing the electrical strain prevention clamp on the dock lights. A repeat violation is issued when an employer previously has been cited for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years.

The Postal Service is also being cited with two serious violations with proposed penalties of $5,000 for failing to mark exits visibly and having broken dock lights that exposed electrical wiring. A serious citation is issued when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

“This inspection points to the need for employers to develop, implement and maintain programs that ensure hazards such as were noted here are corrected, and that employee exposure to these hazards is eliminated,” said Bill Fulcher, director of OSHA’s Atlanta-East Area Office.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations and proposed penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The site was inspected by staff from OSHA’s Atlanta-East Area Office, 2183 Northlake Parkway, Building 7, Suite 110, Tucker, GA 30084; telephone 770-493-6644. To report workplace incidents, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, call OSHA’s toll-free hotline at 800-321-6742.

From Fox 13 News, Memphis:

HENNING, Tenn. – It’s been more than two months since two post office workers were found shot to death in Henning, Tennessee and residents are demanding answers. No arrests have been made and postal inspectors are still tight lipped.

“Why would they kill somebody at the post office? What happened? I want to know why and who did it.”

“For it to be going on this long and they ain’t found no body, I just can’t believe that because somebody knows something.”

On October 18th in Henning, two postal employees, 33-year old Paula Robinson and 59-year old Judy Spray, were brutally murdered. Since that day there have been countless press conferences, and the United States Postal Inspection Service has offered a $50,000 reward to catch the killer or killers. But, investigators have offered little, if any, information to the public.

No arrests have been made. For over two months questions have been asked if there is any security footage to go on.

Wednesday the post office was still closed and the flag was still at half mast. While workers were renovating the interior of the building while outside, yellow tape still cordons off the post office.

Full story: Henning Residents Anxious for Arrest in Postal Workers’ Murders | MyFox Memphis | Fox 13 News.

A recent federal indictment alleges that a former employee of the United States Postal Service (“USPS”) stole cash and gift cards from the mail over a ten-month period. The indictment, filed on December 7, 2010, charges Christina M. Steiner, age 35, of Forest Lake, with one count of theft of mail by a postal employee. The indictment was unsealed earlier today, following Steiner’s initial appearance in federal court in the District of Minnesota.

Steiner purportedly stole between $600 and $800 in cash and gift cards from the mail entrusted to her as an employee of the Forest Lake Post Office. According to the indictment, the thefts occurred between December of 2009 and September 18, 2010. Steiner no longer works for the U.S. Postal Service.

If convicted, Steiner faces a potential maximum penalty of five years in prison. All sentences will be determined by a federal district court judge.

This case is the result of an investigation by the USPS-Office of Inspector General. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura M. Provinzino.