Video from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ recent town meeting on the US Postal Service:

Nov. 15, 2011 — For the first time since the recession began in 2007, this year’s Postal Service loss was largely driven by the continued impact of the worst recession in 80 years and the effect of Internet technology—above and beyond the crushing and unique burden of the congressional mandate to pre-fund future retiree health benefits.

This mandate accounted for 100 percent of the losses over the previous four years.

That does not change what has to be done.

Congress must alleviate the pre-funding burden and the Postal Service and its stakeholders must work relentlessly to reinvent the Post Office for the 21st century.

Today we are working with the Postal Service at the bargaining table on doing just that.

via Latest News | NALC statement on Postal Service losses.

Postal Employee Saves Co-Worker’s Life | Video | wltx.com.

According to Federal Times, our representatives in Washington have come to yet another hard fought compromise on the USPS- they’ve agreed to wait another month before doing anything. The paper says a deal has been struck to allow the federal government (including the USPS) to exist for another couple of weeks while they figure out how they can make the most of the crisis they have created. That’s their job now, apparently.

The agreement would:

Defer a legally required $5.5 billion “prepayment” by the U.S. Postal Service for retiree health care, this time until Dec. 16. That payment was originally due Sept. 30; USPS officials say they don’t have the money to cover it.

So, in a nutshell, Congress has decided to defer for a few days the unique obligation that Congress placed on the USPS, knowing that the USPS has no way of satisfying that obligation, solely because of restrictions Congress has placed on the USPS.

Democracy in action!

via Congress strikes 2012 budget deal for some agencies – FederalTimes.com.

You can’t blame all of the USPS’s problems on the Republicans- according to Postcom, the Department of Justice has ruled that the USPS needs to continue overfunding its Federal Employee Retirement System account. The USPS had stopped making payments based on undisputed data showing that the account had already been overfunded by $6.9 billion. Bipartisan legislation in the Senate would have returned the money to the USPS- now the Obama Administration is telling the USPS to keep the cash flowing, regardless- makes you wonder whose side they’re on!

The US Postal Service announced today that it ended the 2011 fiscal year with a $5.1 billion loss. The numbers reflect actual operating revenue and expenses, and do not include the accounting gimmickry Congress and the Bush Administration imposed on the USPS in the 2006 PAEA law. (That law required the USPS to pay the Treasury $5.5 billion a year for a so-called “trust fund”. Because the USPS is “off budget”, and the trust fund is “on budget”, the USPS’s contributions artificially decrease the federal budget deficit by that amount each year. Republican Congressmen have used the deficit impact to falsely claim that allowing the USPS to use its own revenue to pay its expenses would be a “taxpayer bailout”.)

Here’s the USPS Press Release announcing the fiscal year results:

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service ended its 2011 fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2010 – Sept. 30, 2011) with a net loss of $5.1 billion. The year-end loss would have been approximately $10.6 billion had it not been for passage of legislation that postponed a congressionally mandated payment of $5.5 billion to pre-fund retiree health benefits.

Total 2011 mail volume declined by 3 billion pieces, or 1.7 percent, from 2010. The Postal Service’s largest and most profitable product, First-Class Mail, continued its year-over-year decline, from $34.2 billion in 2010 to $32.2 billion in 2011 (5.8 percent), which dwarfed continued growth in its more competitive products, packages and Standard Mail.

USPS Shipping Services revenue, which includes Priority Mail and Express Mail, increased $530 million in 2011 (6.3 percent). The increase in Shipping Services revenue was driven by strong growth in the Parcel Select and Parcel Return Services, due to increased mailings of packages, as customers continued to use the Internet more often to purchase products. Revenue from Standard Mail increased by $495 million (2.9 percent) on a volume increase of 2 billion Read the rest of this entry »

New York City, November 15, 2011 – The Executive Board of the New York Metro Area Postal Union, APWU, AFL-CIO unanimously passed a resolution in support of Occupy Wall Street and to condemn the eviction of the 99% from Zuccotti Park (Liberty Square). The union, which is the largest local in the American Postal Workers Union, believes that it is imperative that everyone take a stand in support of Occupy Wall Street and the right of the 99% to exercise its constitutionally protected right to free speech and the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The New York Metro Area Postal Union sees that Occupy Wall Street has been a beacon in the struggle that all working people are facing in the unrelenting attacks from Wall Street and, therefore, Occupy Wall Street must be defended.

Postal workers and the public that we serve are fighting to Save America’s Postal Service and prevent the closing of thousands of post offices and hundreds of mail processing facilities which will impact tremendously on the people who depend upon the Postal Service the most, the elderly, the disabled, the poor and small business owners. This is just one struggle in a myriad of attacks on working people that Occupy Wall Street has been able to bring into focus so everyone can see. An injury to one is an injury to all.

Occupy Wall Street is the vanguard of the movement of people who are seeking justice and accountability, it is more than just one physical space; it is an idea that can’t be stopped.

We are the 99%.

From Postcom:

Word has it that the Postal Service is moving rapidly to announcing an eMailbox service of its own. In addition to the recent IG report on the matter, the jungle drums have been beating away in the background, suggesting that an announcement is imminent.

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

EquaShip, America’s new fourth parcel carrier catering to small- and medium-sized business shippers, today announced a three-way partnership to add discounted USPS Priority Mail, Express Mail and international products to its breadth of offerings.

EquaShip’s unprecedented partnership with Online Shipping Insurance Services, Inc. (InsureShip), which is backed by The Underwriters at Lloyds, now bundles Priority Mail with $100 of real, honest, regulated insurance for parcels, called EquaSurance™.

EquaShip offers small- to medium-sized business (SMB) shippers easy access to savings from 26 percent to 88 percent compared to FedEx, UPS and DHL rates. The newly-added USPS products are designed to give customers one-stop shopping for the lowest cost method of shipping any parcel, anywhere, fully insured, through the http://www.EquaShip.com website.

EquaSurance coverage on every parcel significantly reduces the impact to merchants’ customer service departments when packages are lost or damaged in transit. Bad marks from disappointed customers can lower merchants’ rankings and diminish and their sales through online marketplaces like eBay and Amazon. With complete end-to-end tracking and real insurance on every package merchants can cement customer loyalty by speedily replacing merchandise, with full confidence that they will be reimbursed.

“More than two-thirds of all e-commerce shipments—which are predominantly residential and weighing less than four pounds—are shipped by USPS today,” said EquaShip CEO Ron Wiener. “Higher-priced carriers like UPS and FedEx attract some lightweight parcel shippers through their built-in $100 of declared value coverage, which USPS Priority Mail does not include.”

Through EquaShip.com, they can now buy the same proven Priority Mail service with $100 of real insurance coverage included, and reach all mailboxes in the USA—including PO Boxes and APO/FPO military addresses—that FedEx and UPS cannot. Additional coverage is only $0.50 per $100 of content value, which is one-third less than the major carriers charge for their less beneficial “Declared Value” coverage.

EquaShip.com’s discounts off USPS retail prices are up to 14.8 percent on Priority Mail, 21 percent on Express Mail, and 8 percent on Priority/Express Mail International. Customers can save up to 37 percent over retail USPS Priority Mail with $100 of declared value coverage by buying their postage through EquaShip.com—and take advantage of the superior benefits of real insurance.

“In this age of ‘free shipping’ offers it is hypercritical for merchants to shave every last penny off their shipping bills,” said Colby Clark, managing partner of Express1, an authorized reseller of USPS postage. “EquaShip enables these cost-sensitive shippers to have real insurance that has previously been unaffordable or simply unavailable, without raising the costs of their lightweight Priority Mail parcels.”

EquaSurance is “merchant’s insurance” designed specifically for online sellers, distributors and manufacturers who ship new, invoiced products to their customers. Unlike the “Declared Value” coverage offered by other major carriers, EquaSurance covers packages all the way to the consumers’ hands, without many of exclusions, restrictions and limitations that often void or reduce claim values.

“Over time, most merchants have been made wary of buying Declared Value coverage from the major carriers because of their dreadfully low claims-to-premiums ratios,” said Walt Moscoso, vice president of sales at InsureShip. “In our experience, shippers often choose to absorb the merchandise losses rather than pay expensive DV premiums. We are thrilled to pioneer this concept of ‘universal health care’ parcel insurance with EquaShip.”

ABOUT EQUASHIP

EquaShip™ is a new kind of parcel delivery service designed specifically for small and medium-sized business shippers. With transparent “all-in” pricing, EquaShip gives shippers access to great service at prices typically 26 percent to 88 percent below FedEx, UPS and DHL retail rates.

EquaShip provides fully-integrated track-and-trace, $100 of EquaSurance™ real, honest insurance coverage included with every package, and superior customer care, all with no hidden assessorial fees, special software or contracted volume commitments. EquaShip also offers discounts of up to 21 percent on USPS expedited services, also bundled with $100 of EquaSurance coverage.

Ed Schultz talked to USPS letter carrier and Rep. Joe Walsh constituent Melissa Rakestraw about her encounter with Walsh at a recent meeting he had where he basically melted down and started screaming at Rakestraw and some of the others who were unfortunate enough to be attending that event.

via Ed Schultz Talks to USPS Letter Carrier Who Was Screamed at By Rep. Joe Walsh | Video Cafe.