The Wall Street Journal reports that the US Postal Service is “looking to downsize its real-estate portfolio”, and quotes Tom Samra, USPS vice president for facilities: “We’ll be putting buildings on the market and terminating leases, where possible.”

To coordinate the downsizing, the USPS has contracted with CB Richard Ellis Group for help in coordinating the selling of properties:

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–July 20, 2011–

CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG) today announced that the United States Postal Service (USPS) has awarded CB Richard Ellis a contract to serve as its exclusive provider of strategic corporate real estate solutions nationally. CB Richard Ellis will provide transaction management services for USPS, including leasing and disposition. USPS’s portfolio consists of approximately 35,000 facilities, totaling over 300 million sq. ft.

Historically, USPS has worked with multiple real estate service providers, including CB Richard Ellis since 1997. The new contract with CB Richard Ellis enables USPS to consolidate these activities with one service provider.

CB Richard Ellis’ Brian Murphy led the USPS pursuit team, partnering with the Washington, D.C.-based Public Institutions team as well as professionals in the Denver and New York markets. John Chichester will serve as the Alliance Director for the account.

From the US Postal Service’s Inspector General:

The Cost Structure of the Postal Service: Facts, Trends, and Policy Implications, a recently released white paper by the OIG’s Risk Analysis Research Center, examines significant trends and cost drivers for the major cost categories of the U.S. Postal Service, which include labor, non-labor and capital.

The paper also presents insights with implications for the ongoing policy debate about the future of the Postal Service in the wake of new legislative requirements and record losses in volume and revenue. From exploring the factors driving up labor costs, such as benefits and workers compensation liability, to the challenges in the areas of non-labor costs such as fuel contract management, to current limitations in investing in the future, this paper examines a range of interesting topics impacting the Postal Service and the entire postal “ecosystem”.

Having sustained financial losses totaling $20 billion over the last four years, the Postal Service is at a critical juncture in its history, this paper provides an overview of what is driving the organization’s unsustainable trajectory.

The Cost Structure of the Postal Service: Facts, Trends, and Policy Implications

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe talks about cost-saving efforts and the future of the U.S. Postal Service.

WASHINGTON, July 18, 2011 — In a move to raise awareness of its stamp program and to reach diverse audiences and people of all ages, the Postal Service is offering a sneak peek at some of the stamps that will be issued in 2012, beginning today through social media sites.

Customers may preview the stamps on Facebook at facebook.com/USPSStamps, through Twitter @USPSstamps or on the website Beyond the Perf at www.beyondtheperf.com/2012-preview. Beyond the Perf is the Postal Service’s online site for the back story on upcoming stamp subjects, first-day-of-issue events and other philatelic news.

“Stamps reflect our American culture, icons and lifestyles,” said Postal Service Executive Director of Stamp Services Stephen Kearney. “We have stamps with nearly every topic imaginable. By providing a sneak peek at next year’s stamps, we’re helping customers find stamps that they’re interested in and excited about. Social media is a great way to do that — and to make it easier for people to share the news about stamps of interest with their friends.”

Kearney said select stamps from the 2012 commemorative program will be previewed one at a time beginning today.

Cherry Blossom Centennial Forever stamps

The first 2012 stamps to be previewed in the social media sneak peak — the Cherry Blossom Centennial Forever stamps — celebrate the 100th anniversary of the gift of 3,020 Japanese cherry trees from the city of Tokyo to Washington, D.C. The gift honored the friendship between America and Japan, a close relationship that continues to this day.

In this unusual design, two stamps form the left and right halves of a single, panoramic view of cherry trees blooming around the Tidal Basin in the nation’s capital. In the stamp on the left, blossoming trees arch over a family on a stroll and two girls dressed in bright kimonos. The Washington Monument is seen in the background. In the stamp on the right, the Jefferson Memorial is the backdrop for sightseers under a canopy of pink blooms. Artist Paul Rogers of Pasadena, CA, worked with art director Phil Jordan of Falls Church, VA, to create the two stamp designs.

Each spring in the nation’s capital, the blossoming of the cherry trees is celebrated with a festival that includes a parade and a host of concerts, exhibitions, and events all intended to echo the spirit of Japan’s gift of friendship.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

According to a post on 21cpw.com, the APWU has placed its Philadelphia Local in trusteeship after the local president allegedly changed the locks at the local’s office, and attempted to block other officers from performing their union functions:

Trustee Meeting

TrusteeMeeting.pdf (application/pdf Object).

The APWU has launched the second phase of its advertising campaign with a radio spot, President Cliff Guffey has announced. The radio ad began airing July 18 and will run for three weeks on news and/or talk stations in Washington DC and other markets.

The radio spot compliments a television ad that began airing on CNN, MSNBC and FOX News on July 11.

The union’s 30-second ad describes the enormity of the job postal workers do, and ends with a simple question and response: Ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? Not a single cent.

“The campaign is designed to inform the American people about the work our members perform and to dispel the persistent myth that the Postal Service is funded by taxpayers,” Guffey said.

In addition to the television and radio ads, the union co-sponsored a print advertisement in support of six-day delivery [PDF] in Congressional Quarterly, The Hill, and Roll Call on July 15 and 18. The three Washington DC-based publications are widely-read by members of Congress. The APWU co-sponsored the ad with the National Association of Letter Carriers, the National Rural Letter Carriers Association and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union.

The print ad was developed in response to an effort by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) to delete the requirement for six-day mail delivery from a House appropriations bill.

APWU Ad Campaign Phase2

From USPS NewsLink:

In a move to raise awareness of the stamp program and to send a message to younger and more media-diverse audiences, the Postal Service is using social media websites to preview its 2012 stamp program.

Employees who are Facebook fans or Twitter followers can begin looking at the 2012 commemorative Forever stamps later this month. Sign up as a Facebook friend at www.facebook.com/USPSStamps. And follow USPS on “Twitter@USPSstamps.”

Meanwhile, employees also can go to Beyond the Perf — the Postal Service’s website that provides background on upcoming stamp subjects — to see the preview.

“Stamps reflect our American culture, icons and lifestyles,” said Executive Director, Stamp Services, Steve Kearney. “We have stamps on almost every topic imaginable. By providing this sneak peek, we’re hoping that people will be able to find stamps they’re interested in and excited about, and then spread the news to their friends.”

The 2012 stamps will appear — one day at a time, five days per week — on the social media sites. The first sneak peek for 2012 is the Cherry Blossom Centennial Forever stamps, celebrating the friendship between America and Japan. In this unique design, two stamps form the left and right halves of a single, panoramic view of cherry trees bordering the Tidal Basin in the nation’s capital. Japan gave more than 3,000 cherry trees to the U.S. a century ago.

Washington D.C.- Congressman Steve King (R-IA) announces that he, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), have requested a meeting with Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe to discuss the Postal Service’s plan to move the operations of the Sioux City Processing and Distribution Facility to a facility in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The lawmakers are requesting a face-to-face meeting with the Postmaster General to discuss the Postal Service’s failure to respond to concerns the lawmakers and the community have expressed about the Sioux City AMP decision. King, Grassley and Harkin made this request by letter to the Postmaster General.

Statement from Congressman Steve King:

"For months, Siouxlanders have been asking the Postal Service for critical information regarding the decision to close Sioux City’s mail processing center. Nearly a month ago, I joined our senators in asking the Postal Service to allow the community the opportunity to provide informed input about the plan to close the facility and to meet with city officials to discuss possible alternatives to closure. We also asked that a new decision be made in light of the community’s input. To date we’ve received no response from the Postmaster General, so I look forward to asking him these questions in person," King said.

Statement from Senator Chuck Grassley:

"A meeting would help to establish accountability, which has been lacking in the way the Postal Service handled its decision making about the Sioux City center. The Postal Service holds a public trust, and the public deserves a response, in this case through their elected representatives," Grassley said.

Statement from Senator Tom Harkin:

"It is imperative we meet with the Postmaster General. I have had concerns that the Postal Service has been more interested in checking a box in terms of receiving public input than in truly hearing from the community and addressing citizens’ concerns.

"This is a significant matter to Sioux City and western Iowa. Many important questions have remained unanswered and I am committed to ensuring Iowans’ voices are heard before the USPS makes such a critical decision impacting the communities, businesses and jobs in Western Iowa," Harkin said.

The US Postal Service’s Inspector General claims that the USPS could save more than $4.5 billion a year by eliminating door to door delivery: Read the rest of this entry »

Earlier today Darrell Issa claimed that an APWU commercial that reminds Americans that the US Postal Service does not receive taxpayer funds. Issa said that the ad was misleading because of tax exemptions the USPS enjoys, and cited an FTC report that put a dollar figure on the value of those exemptions. As we’ve pointed out, equating tax exemptions and credits with “taxpayer support” would mean that oil companies are also “taxpayer supported”, along with churches, farmers, and anyone else that gets to deduct anything from their tax liability.

Now it turns out that Issa cherry picked numbers from the FTC report to make his rather weak case, ignoring additional costs that the USPS is burdened with. The story debunking Issa’s claims comes from a surprising source- none other than Fox News, normally an organization that can be relied on to faithfully parrot the Republican Party line:

Indeed, the FTC report estimated that federally imposed restraints on the Postal Service — as of fiscal 2006 — cost between $330 million and $782 million annually, while the special benefits were worth between $39 million and $117 million.

And of course, those “federally imposed restraints” don’t include the $5.5 billion “trust fund” payments the USPS has had to loan back to the Treasury every year since 2006.

via Postal Union Refuses to Pull Ad After Issa Calls Funding Claim ‘Misleading’ – FoxNews.com.