postalnews blog

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Postal Service announced that mail volume was down 3.0 percent, or 1.7 billion pieces, for the first quarter of fiscal 2008, according to preliminary financial results presented today to the Postal Service Board of Governors.

First-Class Mail volume decreased 3.9 percent and Standard Mail decreased 2.6 percent in the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2007.

Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President H. Glen Walker attributed the declining mail volume to “disturbing trends” in the overall U.S. economy.

“Unfortunately, two key sectors of the economy — finance and housing — suffered a downturn in the first quarter, and they’re both heavy users of the mail,” said Postmaster General John Potter.

Net income for the first quarter is estimated at $672 million on revenue of $20.4 billion.

“Although revenue is higher than in the same quarter last year, due to the price increase last May, it is $500 million less than expected,” Potter said. “We’re working to offset the disappointing revenue with cost reductions and new strategies for growth.”

Final first-quarter financial results will be released in February.

First Quarter Service Scores

National on-time performance scores for the delivery of First-Class Mail hit all-time first-quarter highs in two of the three categories the Postal Service tracks. National overnight service was 96 percent on-time – a first for three quarters in a row. Two-day service was 93 percent on-time. Three-day performance was 88 percent, a two-point improvement over the same period last year.

“These are excellent service scores for the first quarter,” said Potter, ”especially given winter weather conditions and our busiest mailing season.”

First-Class Mail performance is measured independently by IBM Global Business Services. The process measures First-Class Mail from the time it is deposited into a collection box until it is delivered to a home or business.

Other Board Action

The Board today approved three facility projects: expansion of the processing and distribution centers in West Sacramento, CA, and Providence, RI, and the purchase and renovation of an existing building and site to serve as the Perris, CA, Delivery Distribution Center.

The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service will meet in Washington, DC, at Postal Service Headquarters, 475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, on Nov. 14-15, 2007. The public is welcome to observe the Board’s open session, scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 15 in the Ben Franklin Room on the 11th floor. The Board is expected to discuss the following items:

Thursday, Nov. 15 at 8:30 a.m.

1. Minutes of the previous meeting, Sept. 24-26, 2007.

2. Remarks of the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Board (Jim Miller and Alan Kessler).

3. Remarks of the Postmaster General and CEO John Potter.

4. Committee reports.

5. Quarterly Report on Service Performance (Delores Killette, Consumer Advocate and Vice President).

6. Consideration of Fiscal Year 2007 Audited Financial Statements (Governor Katherine Tobin and Glen Walker, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President).

7. Tentative agenda for the Dec. 10-11, 2007, meeting in Washington, DC.

The free market has spoken! The Cato Institute book “Free the Mails”, which featured an essay by Bush appointed BOG Chairman James C. Miller III advocating the privatization of the US Postal Service, apparently didn’t exactly fly off the shelves when it was published in 1988. A check of the Cato Institute’s online bookstore shows that there are still copies gathering dust there nineteen years later, even though the price has been slashed to just three bucks! And if you think that’s still too much to pay, you can pick up a copy on Amazon for just sixty three cents. It appears that in the marketplace of ideas, postal privatization has been judged practically worthless…

USPS Governor Mickey Barnett earned a brief mention in Sunday’s New York Times coverage of the unfolding scandal invoving the Bush Administration’s attempts to fire US Attorneys who had not been vigorous enough in their pursuit of Democratic politicians. See also the mention in Joe Monahan’s New Mexico Politics blog.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Postal Service™ Board of Governors today authorized the purchase of 5,856 new carrier route vehicles. The vehicles will replace existing Postal Service-owned right-hand drive (RHD) vehicles used on city routes that will then be redeployed to rural routes.

The purchase will conclude a three-part acquisition plan to provide 15,000 Postal Service-owned RHD vehicles to rural routes, a result of an interest arbitration decision involving the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association. The contract is expected to be awarded next month following a competitive evaluation. Deployment of the RHD vehicles to rural routes is set to occur from August 2007 to September 2008. In addition to fulfilling the interest arbitration decision requirements, these RHD vehicles will improve safety by providing easier access to curb line mailboxes and better maneuverability.

In other business, the governors approved an increase in the price of the Breast Cancer Research semipostal stamp from 45-cents to 55-cents, to take effect at the same time as proposed new First-Class Mail rates currently pending before the Postal Regulatory Commission. Semipostal stamps are First-Class Mail postage stamps that are issued and sold by the Postal Service at a price above the First-Class Mail single-piece first-ounce rate to raise funds for designated causes. Since 1998, the Postal Service has raised more than $53 million for breast cancer research through the sale of this semipostal stamp.

Also at today’s meeting, James Miller was reelected chairman and Alan Kessler was reelected vice chairman of the Board. The Board also welcomed Thurgood Marshall, Jr, to his first Board meeting. Marshall was appointed a governor by President Bush on December 15 for a term that expires December 8, 2011.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service will meet in Washington, D.C., at Postal Service Headquarters, 475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, on Jan. 9-10, 2007. The public is welcome to observe the board’s open session, scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 10 in the Ben Franklin Room on the 11th floor. The Board is expected to discuss the following items:

1. Minutes of the previous meeting, Dec. 5-6, 2006.

2. Remarks of Postmaster General and CEO John E. Potter.

3. Committee reports.

4. Consideration of Board Resolution on Capital Funding (Chairman James Miller).

5. Consideration of Annual Report on Government in the Sunshine Act Compliance (Chairman James Miller).

6. Fiscal Year 2006 Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations, including the Preliminary Fiscal Year 2008 Annual Performance Plan – GPRA (Chairman James Miller).

7. Mail Visibility, Seamless Acceptance and Payment (Pritha Mehra, Manager, Marketing Technology and Channel Management and Gary Reblin, Manager, Intelligent Mail, Planning and Standards)

8. Consideration of the Price of Semipostal Stamps (David Failor, Executive Director, Stamp Services).

9. Capital Investment – 5,856 Carrier Route Vehicles (Engineering Vice President Walt O’Tormey).

10. Election of Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors.

11. Tentative Agenda for the March 28-29, 2007, meeting in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 - Technology that successfully boosted postal efficiencies in the processing, distribution, and delivery of letter mail will soon be applied to the sorting of what the Postal Service refers to as “flats” — large envelopes, magazines, catalogs, and circulars.

Known as the Flats Sequencing System (FSS) program, the initiative approved today by the Postal Service Board of Governors allows the agency to move forward with plans to employ sophisticated equipment to sort flat-mail pieces for letter carriers, who now must manually sequence this mail before leaving the office for their routes. “Using technology to sort flat mail into the order of delivery for letter carriers will increase efficiency in the office and allow carriers to begin delivering to their customers earlier in the day,” said Walt O’Tormey, vice president, Engineering. “The Postal Service experienced significant benefits in the 1990s by automating the processing and sequencing of letter mail, and we hope to extend these improvements to the processing of flats.”

The FSS equipment is designed to sequence flat mail at a rate of approximately 16,500 pieces per hour. Scheduled to operate 17 hours per day, each machine will be capable of sequencing 280,500 pieces per day to more than 125,000 delivery addresses. Phase I of the program calls for an initial order of 100 FSS machines to be deployed to 33 postal facilities beginning in the summer of 2008.

A prototype FSS was installed earlier this year at the Indianapolis, IN, Mail Processing Annex, where it was tested sorting mail in delivery sequence for carriers in that area. A full-size pre-production machine will be installed at the Dulles, VA, mail processing facility, where it will operate six days a week for one year (August 2007 to July 2008).

As this test proceeds, the Postal Service will study and measure the system’s effect on downstream transportation, logistics, work methods, and other long lead-time activities required to support deployment in 2008. ”Delivery remains our largest cost, accounting for 43 percent of all expenses,” said O’Tormey. ” That, combined with costs to serve almost two million new addresses each year, means we must pursue every opportunity to improve our efficiency and the service we provide to our customers.”

In other action, the Board of Governors approved a fiscal year 2008 appropriation request totaling $153.4 million. This annual request to Congress, as provided under current law, includes $83.5 million in reimbursement for free services the Postal Service is required to provide, including free mail for blind persons and for overseas voting. This appropriations request also includes reconciliation adjustments for previous years based upon final audited mail volumes, which are $24.9 million for fiscal year 2005 and $16 million for fiscal year 2006. In addition, the request includes $29 million for the latest annual installment from the Revenue Forgone Reform Act of 1993.

Under current law, the Postal Service is also authorized to request partial reimbursement for the costs incurred in providing universal service. However, the Postal Service has not requested funds for this purpose since fiscal year 1982.

Also at its meeting today, the Board approved the Postal Service Fiscal Year 2006 Annual Report. The report, available online later this month, highlights USPS’s “24-Hour Clock” — 700,000 men and women of the Postal Service keeping the mail in constant motion to provide the service that customers depend on and trust.

WASHINGTON – The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service will meet in Washington, DC, at Postal Service Headquarters, 475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, on Dec. 5-6, 2006. The public is welcome to observe the board’s open session, scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 6 in the Ben Franklin Room on the 11th floor. The Board is expected to discuss the following items:

1. Minutes of the previous meeting, Nov. 14-15, 2006.
2. Remarks of Postmaster General and CEO John E. Potter.
3. Committee reports.
4. Consideration of the Postal Service Fiscal Year 2006 Annual Report (Chairman James Miller).
5. Consideration of Final Fiscal Year 2008 Appropriation Request (Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President H. Glen Walker).
6. Capital Investment”: Flats Sequencing System – Phase I Program (Engineering Vice President Walt O’Tormey).
7. Tentative Agenda for the Jan. 9-10, 2007, meeting in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON — The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service will meet in Washington, DC, at Postal Service Headquarters, 475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, on Nov. 14-15, 2006. The public is welcome to observe the board’s open session, scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 15 in the Ben Franklin Room on the 11th floor. The Board is expected to discuss the following items: 

1. Minutes of the previous meeting, Sept. 11-12, 2006.
2. Remarks of Postmaster General and CEO John E. Potter.
3. Committee reports.
4. Quarterly Report on Service Performance (Consumer Advocate and Vice President Delores Killette).
5. Consideration of Fiscal Year 2006 Audited Financial Statements (Chairman James Miller and Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President H. Glen Walker).
6. Tentative Agenda for the December 5-6, 2006, meeting in Washington, D.C.

From Joe Monahan’s New Mexico Politics blog:

Mickey Barnett proved far less controversial to the U.S. Senate than he has to some fellow NM Republicans. His nomination to the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors was approved by the senate before it broke for the August recess. Barnett’s nomination came under fire from ex-State Reps Earlene Roberts and Ron Godbey who wrote letters to senators urging a rejection. But Barnett, a former legislative aide to NM senior GOP senator Pete Domenici, had Pete’s muscle and that was more than enough to insure his confirmation.

Roberts and Godbey cited Barnett’s support of drug decriminalization and his spearheading of the movement to put up candidates against fellow Republicans in the 2004 primary–including them–as reasons he should be rejected.

The attorney-lobbyist and former NM GOP national committeeman was most recently in the blog headlines when it was revealed that he helped give birth, along with Domenici Chief-of-Staff Steve Bell, to the GOP Governor candidacy of John Dendahl because they wanted stronger attacks against Big Bill than initial GOP nominee J.R. Damron was willing to deliver. Bell has denied playing midwife, but Washington sources insist otherwise. Sources close to Governor Big Bill reacted to that news by warning that Senator Domenici could face a Richardson recruited foe in 2008.

Barnett, along with John Dendahl, led the movement to oust Ramsay Gorham from the state GOP chairmanship two years ago, a move that symbolized the divisions in the state’s minority party.

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2006
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