WASHINGTON — A recognized sustainability leader and innovator, the U.S. Postal Service continued a 50-year tradition today with the issuance of its latest social awareness stamp: Go Green. The sheet of Forever stamps features 16 actions anyone can take to make a positive impact on the environment.

The stamps and philatelic products can be ordered online at usps.com/green.

The first-day-of-issue dedication ceremony for the Go Green stamps took place at Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School and adjoining Savoy Elementary School, steps from the largest green garden in the Washington, DC, public school system.

“We’re creating a culture of conservation at the Postal Service that will have a lasting impact in our workplace and our communities,” said Ronald A. Stroman, Deputy Postmaster General. “The Go Green stamps carry 16 simple, green messages that have the power to help make the world a better place for us and future generations.”

Joining Stroman at the ceremony were Lisa P. Jackson, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator; Alexandra Pardo, Thurgood Marshall academic director; Patrick Pope, Savoy principal and Emil Dzuray, USPS Acting Chief Sustainability Officer. William McDonough, cofounder and principal of MBDC, creators of the Cradle to Cradle certification program, participated as an honored guest.

"With these Go Green stamps, the Postal Service is reminding us of the important steps we can take each day to have an impact on the world around us," said Jackson. "These stamps demonstrate individual actions — from saving energy or water to reducing waste — that add up to a big difference for our health and our environment."

In a crowd-pleasing finale, the event closed with the arrival of a three-wheeled electric mail delivery vehicle, which delivered ceremonial, indigenous trees for both schools — symbolic of USPS delivering a greener America.

USPS is the only mailing and shipping company in the world whose stamp products and shipping supplies have earned Cradle to Cradle Certification, meaning they meet established standards for human and environmental health and recyclability.

USPS has been environmentally friendly since 1899 when it tested the first electric vehicle in Buffalo, NY. Today, the agency operates more than 44,000 alternative fuel capable mail delivery vehicles across the country, including ethanol, biodiesel, compressed natural gas and electric. Since 2005, USPS has increased its use of alternative fuels 133 percent, and since 2003, has reduced its facility energy use 28 percent. The Postal Service chose the Go Green stamps as this year’s social awareness stamps to help raise awareness about helping the environment.

To learn more about USPS sustainability initiatives, visit the USPS green newsroom and usps.com/green.

How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark

Customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at local Post Office facilities, at the Postal Store website at www.usps.com/shop, or by calling 800-STAMP-24. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in larger envelopes addressed to:

Go Green Stamp

Special Cancellations

PO Box 92282

Washington, DC 20090-2282

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by June 14, 2011.

How to Order First-Day Covers

USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services also offers first-day covers for new stamp issues and Postal Service stationery items postmarked with the official first-day-of-issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the quarterly USA Philatelic Catalog. Customers may request a free catalog by calling 800-STAMP-24 or writing to:

Information Fulfillment

Dept. 6270

U.S. Postal Service

PO Box 219014

Kansas City, MO 64121-9014

via USPS News Release: Postal Service Delivers a Greener America.

CALGARY — Canada’s unionized postal employees will complete a strike vote today as they negotiate with Canada Post over a new contract.The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has been holding strike votes since March 25 as the union decides on potential job action. A strike or company lockout could become reality at midnight on May 24.“We’ll know how strong the strike mandate is next week,” said Denis Lemelin, CUPW president. “The goal is always the same — to achieve a collective agreement.”The last Canada-wide postal strike was in 1997.

via Postal workers measure strike mandate: Calgary Herald.

April 15, 2011

Something is wrong with this picture. The union agrees to reduce wages in the amount of 24% and we declare victory. Over a career, each employee will receive more than $200,000 less in wages and retirement and we call that a win.

And what will postal management do with this windfall ($3.4 billion)? Will they pay on the Congressionally imposed health fund? Will they pay back the money borrowed so they will have room to borrow more? Will they invest in safety so they will not have to harass injured employees? No, you guessed it. They will increase the rate discounts, the very same rates that the Rate Commission found exceed the cost avoided at the previous salary.

If that is a win, I hope you retire before we suffer a slight loss.

In solidarity,

Bill Burrus

via Editorials » William Burrus Souvenir Journal.

From Clint Burleson, President of the Olympia WA Local, APWU

Massive Losses for APWU in Tentative Agreement

More than a week after we reported that the USPS’s main business customer support site had been infected by malware, the postal service is still struggling to get the site back online. Although Google is no longer flagging RIBBS.USPS.GOV with its “This site may harm your computer” warning, the site, which was returned to limited service on Wednesday, has been taken down again. The page currently is displaying this message:

Attention RIBBS Web Site Users

The RIBBS application remains offline to address a reported security issue. It will be restored to service as quickly as possible. We regret the inconvenience this has caused. If you have a critical need to retrieve information typically accessed via RIBBS, please send an email to ribbs@usps.gov for assistance.

Postal Affairs Blog has posted the following message from USPS:

The Postal Service has disabled RIBBS® on Friday April 15 EST.

During the restore and validation process of RIBBS functional activities, an unexpected file was detected. In order to protect the RIBBS environment and our customers we have taken the system offline. In analyzing the contents of the unexpected file it was concluded the best option is to recreate the RIBBS software and hardware platforms. Due to the extent of the restoration process we do not anticipate RIBBS to be operable until Thursday, April 21st.

We are implementing contingency processes to fulfill data to users on physical media . Users will be contacted by the respective program help desks with additional information.

Feel free to contact the helpdesks through ribbs@usps.gov if you have any questions.

We will provide our next update on Wednesday, April 20th unless we have new information to report prior to that.

Thanks you for your patience and understanding.

USPS’s RIBBS Customer service site compromised by malware – postalnews blog.

Postal worker in deep doo-doo after using yard as toilet | Weird | Southeast Portland News.

Quick- where is this famous statue located? If you said New York Harbor, you’re not even close. The Liberty Forever stamp, issued this past December, actually features an image of the replica Statue of Liberty located outside the New York-New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Linn’s Stamp News revealed the mistake on the cover of its April 25 edition. Linn’s notes differences between the original statue and the one pictured on the stamp. The image was licensed from Getty Images, and the keyword information attached to the photograph includes “Replica Statue Of Liberty – Las Vegas”. Apparently the folks who designed the stamp missed that part, because the press release that announced the stamp says “Lady Liberty, as the Statue of Liberty is affectionately known, is shown in a close-up photograph of her head and crown taken by Raimund Linke. The statue, located on Liberty Island in New York Harbor…”

In response to Congressional inquiries and complaints from employees, the USPS Inspector General investigated charges that supervisors falsified time and attendance records to reduce employees’ paid work hours.

The report issued last week found that supervisors did improperly modify the records, but says that the lack of documentation makes it impossible to determine whether the deletions were justified. The report doesn’t recommend discipline or criminal charges, suggesting that management improve its training and controls over time and attendance:

Management controls over time and attendance at the locations included in our audit were not adequate to ensure employees’ workhours were reported accurately. As a result, we could not determine with certainty the reasons supervisors altered employee time and attendance records. Specifically, we found that Postal Service supervisors did not complete the required Postal Service (PS) Form 1017-A, Time Disallowance Record, or PS Form 3971, Request for or Notification of Absence, from the Enterprise Resource Management System (eRMS). We also found questionable deletions of clock rings by supervisors in the Dover, NH; Gastonia, NC; and Parkville, MO Post Offices. In addition, supervisors did not follow procedures for documenting employees’ out-of-schedule changes in TACS. Furthermore, we found supervisors at the Parkville, MO Post Office improperly charged safety talks and informational meetings to operation code 782, Training.

We recommend the vice president, Controller:

1. Establish and implement controls in the Time and Attendance Collection System to document supervisors’ justification of changes to employees’ time.

We recommend the vice president, Delivery and Post Office Operations:

2. Issue supplemental guidance emphasizing the importance of completing Postal Service Form 1017-A, Time Disallowance Record, and PS Form 3971, Request for or Notification of Absence.
3. Establish a review and approval process to ensure time disallowances are appropriate and documented as required.
4. Establish periodic monitoring of clock ring deletions to ensure employee workhours are recorded accurately.
5. Provide periodic refresher training to managers, postmasters, supervisors, and acting supervisors on the Time and Attendance Collection System.
6. Issue supplemental guidance to supervisors and managers regarding the appropriate use of operation codes associated with recording safety talks and informational meetings in the Time and Attendance Collection System.

USPS OIG Audit Report – Allegations of Inaccurate Time and Attendance Records

Update: Dead Tree Edition has published a correction.

Dead Tree Edition has an article about the Congressional franking privilege, and the unfair advantage it gives Members of Congress at election time. Unfortunately, the central premise of the piece, that franking is a “freebie” subsidized by USPS customers, is incorrect. The author writes:

Congress provides no compensation to the Postal Service for franked mail. That means that either other mailers pay for all those newsletters in the form of higher postage rates or that USPS goes further into the red.

In fact Congress does pay for franked mail. As a 2007 Congressional Research Service report on franking said: “Congress pays the U.S. Postal Service for franked mail through annual appropriations for the legislative branch.” (A copy of the report appears below.)

This is similar to the way the USPS is paid for official mail sent by federal agencies- money is appropriated to the agencies, not directly to the USPS. The agencies then use the appropriated funds to purchase postage from the USPS the same as any other mailer.

The article gives the impression that congressmen and senators can send as much mail as they like to their constituents “as election time rolls around”, but the fact is that each member has a set amount to spend for postage, and each house sets limits on what can be sent in the period leading up to elections:

Senators are prohibited from sending mass mailings fewer than 60 days prior to any primary election in which they are a candidate, as well as 60 days prior to any general election, regardless of whether or not they are a candidate. House Members are prohibited from sending mass mailings fewer than 90 days prior to any general or primary election in which they are a candidate, and are prohibited from sending unsolicited mass mailings outside their district.

Does franking provide an unfair advantage to incumbent members of Congress? Absolutely- but it’s not as cut and dried as the Dead Tree article suggests, and it’s not paid for by USPS customers- as the required endorsement on franked mass mailings says, it’s “Prepared, Published, and Mailed at Taxpayer Expense.”

Congressional Franking Privilege: Background and Current Legislation