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Open Seasons
Open Seasons are just around the
corner!
Federal Employee Health Benefits
(FEHB) runs from Nov. 14 to Dec. 13 at 5:00 P.M.
CT. During FEHB Open Season, employees have the opportunity to enroll
or make changes to their existing plan.
Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
runs from Nov. 14 to Dec. 31 at 5:00 P.M.
CT. With FSA, employees can set aside money for medical and dental deductibles,
co-pays and more - tax free.
Annual Leave Exchange (ALE) runs
from Nov. 15 to Dec. 15 at 11:59 P.M.
CT. ALE provides an option for eligible employees to receive a lump sum
payment in exchange for a portion of annual leave that would otherwise
be advanced at the beginning of the 2006 leave year.
And the Thrift Savings Plan? Open
all year around!
When Open Seasons begin, use PostalEASE
to make any elections. Have your employee ID and USPS PIN handy. PostalEASE
is available at Employee Self Service kiosks, on the Postal Service Intranet
and on LiteBlue, or you can use PostalEASE by calling 877-477-3273,
(877-4PS-EASE) toll-free.
One-year EAS compensation packages developed
Pay consultations between the Postal
Service and the National Association of Postmasters of the United States
(NAPUS) and the National League of Postmasters (League) have concluded,
resulting in a 1-year compensation package that will remain in effect
through fiscal year (FY) 2006. In addition, pay consultations with the
National Association of Postal Supervisors (NAPS) have concluded covering
the same time frame.
Under the current Pay-for-Performance
Program retained for FY 2006, postmasters and supervisors are measured
on their individual contributions using a performance matrix that will
make them eligible for pay increases of up to 12 percent.
Salary ranges will increase 2.25
percent for EAS 11 and above EAS postmasters and supervisors. Additional
information soon will be provided to the field on the final EAS compensation
package.
Headquarters/area office pay for performance extended
to FY 2006
Salary ranges for Headquarters and
area office EAS employees will increase 2.25 percent for EAS-11 and above,
with the same pay provisions as field EAS and postmasters. The performance
pay matrix remains the same as used in FY 2004 and 2005. Details will
be provided to each officer shortly.
Premium Forwarding Service peak sign-up season
 The
Connecticut District used PFS handouts, posters and customer letters
to promote the new service.
Leaves are falling and "snowbird" season
approaches - the perfect time to sign up customers for Premium Forwarding
Service (PFS).
PFS - a 2-year experiment launched
in August - ships mail to residential customers who are away from their
main address for 2 weeks to up to 1 year.
Connecticut District Manager Gerry
Ahern used several methods to announce PFS to postmasters and station
managers so they could promote it to customers as another temporary
forwarding option. The Connecticut District has enrolled 386 customers
- accounting for almost half of PFS revenue-to-date for the Northeast
Area.
More than 6,900 customers nationwide
have chosen PFS since its kickoff. The average customer signs up for
about 7 weeks of service.
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Mail services re-established for all New Orleans
ZIP Codes
 Letter
Carrier Brenda Branch makes deliveries along Royal Street in New Orleans'
French Quarter.
Mail services have been re-established for every
New Orleans ZIP Code.
Mail delivery resumed in the French
Quarter and parts of the New Orleans business district. Carriers are
making street deliveries where accessible, and over-the-counter service
is available for all others.
For details of New Orleans service,
go to www.usps.com; click on About USPS & News;
then Postal News; then Go under Mail Service Updates.
The direct Web site address is http://www.usps.com/communications/news/serviceupdates.htm.
Meanwhile, with the city of Houston
ending its temporary housing operations for hurricane evacuees at the
George R. Brown Convention Center, USPS has discontinued the temporary
ZIP Codes for mail addressed to residents displaced by the hurricanes.
Evacuees are reminded to file change-of-address forms for their new
temporary or permanent forwarding address if they haven't already done
so.
A Postal Service thank you
USPS has expressed its thanks
to uniform manufacturers and distributors across the country - Ames
Uniforms, Arslan Uniforms, Brocato Uniforms, Brookfield Uniforms, Elbeco,
Fechheimer Brothers and Muscatello Uniforms - who donated uniforms to
our offices and employees affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The
Uniform Program also wishes to thank all employees who helped from the
Southeast and Southwest Area district and local offices, as well as
the American Postal Workers Union and the National Association of Letter
Carriers for coordinating the collection and distribution of the donated
uniforms.
PostalPEOPLE helps HR self service evolve
Kathryn
Mackey demonstrates personnel kiosk features to a St. Paul, MN, employee.
Northland District is one of the pilot performance clusters in the
PostalPEOPLE initiative.
There's an evolution going on at the Postal Service.
Human Resources (HR) is evolving - getting rid of outdated, paper-driven
systems that create more work for everyone.
PostalPEOPLE will bring most
other personnel tasks up to the same standard by streamlining, standardizing
and automating transactions - letting you take charge of HR needs
yourself - when and where you want.
To visit PostalPEOPLE on the
Postal Service Intranet (http://blue.usps.gov) and LiteBlue
(http://liteblue.usps.gov), click on Inside USPS,
then PostalPEOPLE/ Human Capital Enterprise/HR Shared Service.
You'll need your employee ID number found on your earnings statement
and your USPS PIN to access LiteBlue.
Supply chain management impact tops $2.15 billion
 The
impact supply chain management (SCM) has had on the Postal Service
has been tremendous - more than $780 million in FY 2005. Since 2000,
cumulative SCM impact helped reduced costs and increase savings by
more than $2.15 billion!
SCM best practices such as strategic
sourcing, early supplier involvement, cross-functional integration,
continuous process improvement, strategic cost management and technology
innovation are used to determine SCM impact. Results from these best
practices directly support the Postal Service's Transformation
Plan objectives to reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction.
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