The Postal Service cooperates with the Department of Treasury in the U.S. Savings Bond Program. The plan permits employees to authorize withholdings from their salary to purchase bonds.
The PMG serves as chairperson for an annual bond drive and designates a vice president as vice–chairperson. The vice–chairperson selects a national coordinator and functional coordinators to conduct the drive. The drive is conducted primarily via direct mail to employees.
The drive is conducted throughout the Postal Service to encourage employee participation in the Savings Bond Program through payroll allotments. All employees except those serving in time–limited or intermittent appointments receive complete information and have an opportunity to participate in the plan, or to increase their present allotments. This decision must be the employee’s alone without pressure or coercion, either direct or implied.
Supplies for the drive are provided by the Department of Treasury.
Employees are reminded regularly of the financial advantages of bond investments. Imminent retirees are advised of the advantages of exchanging Series E for Series H bonds. All new employees must be told about the advantages of the program. During their orientation, each employee is given the opportunity to enroll in the payroll savings plan.
Employees complete PS Form 1192, U.S. Savings Bond Authorization for Purchase and Request for Change, to authorize deductions by pay period and to change deductions or bond denominations. During the annual Savings Bond Drive, the completed form is sent to the Eagan Accounting Service Center (ASC) for data entry. At all other times, authorization forms requiring data entry are forwarded to the local distributed data entry/data recording (DDE/DR) site.
An employee may revoke the authorization at any time by requesting revocation in writing to the payroll office. Discontinuance is effective the first pay period beginning after the receipt of the written revocation by the payroll office.
The Eagan ASC issues and mails bonds when deductions are sufficient to pay for them. Bonds in denominations of $100 or more are dated the first day of the month in which the end of a pay period falls and when at least half of the purchase price is accumulated. The ASC also refunds withheld deductions insufficient to purchase a bond if the employee is separated from service or cancels withholding authorization.
Bond allotment records contain personal information about employees. Therefore, these records must be handled and disclosed only as stipulated in the Privacy Act and implementing instructions. Allotment records and related correspondence are maintained in the privacy system under USPS 050.020, Finance Records — Payroll System.
The Eagan ASC provides reports showing the number of employees currently enrolled by performance cluster and area, and percentage of participation. No lists or reports are to be created or maintained that contain the names and/or titles of participants or nonparticipants in the bond program.
