USPSNEWS@WORK
People power: PostalPEOPLE is
sharing its services nationwide
The Postal Service has reached a milestone in its efforts
to streamline Human Resources (HR) operations - all
performance clusters (PCs) are now supported by
PostalPEOPLE shared services.
With the integration of all 80 PCs and the Inspection
Service into the system, 700,000 career employees can tap
into the expertise offered by the Human Resources Shared
Service Center in Greensboro, NC, to handle benefits,
retirement, separation and management hiring.
Headquarters and the remaining postal facilities will be
added to this initial phase in the PostalPEOPLE rollout in
coming months.
"Just like we've made it quick, easy and convenient for
customers to use our products and services online,
employees can handle their HR transactions online as
well," says Chief Human Resources Officer Tony Vegliante.
With millions of personnel transactions conducted each
year, PostalPEOPLE is helping to increase efficiency and
reduce costs.
September's mission — Avoid infectious
diseases
 Viruses, bacteria and
parasites now have an
implacable foe - you.
That's because September is National Preparedness Month. The
federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is running its
"An Ounce of Prevention
Keeps the Germs Away"
campaign. The message
is simple: The battleground for the war against
infectious diseases is your .
The CDC reports that the spread of germs at and
in the workplace has a significant impact:
• More than 160,000 people in the United States die
yearly from an infectious disease.
• About 10 million adults in the United States could not
work during 2002 due to health problems.
To download the CDC's Seven Keys to a Safer, Healthier
, go to http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/op/_resources/OOP
Brochure 12.20.05.pdf.
PMG delivers first and 1 billionth
Highlights to National Postal Museum
 PMG Jack Potter (left) with Highlights
for Children, Inc., Chief Executive
Officer Kent Johnson at the celebration
of the 1 billionth delivered copy of
Highlights for Children magazine.
For more than six
decades, the Postal
Service has worked with
Highlights for Children,
Inc., to help children
become their best selves.
This achievement was
celebrated recently as
both organizations presented the National Postal
Museum with one of the
very first copies of the
magazine - printed in June 1946 - and a copy from the
1 billionth print run this summer.
The two magazines will be preserved at the museum,
where they will complement the existing anthology of significant postal history, publications and philatelic collections.
With more than 2 million subscribers, Highlights for Children provides a monthly collection of letters, drawings,
questions and poems submitted by its readers. Each issue
delivered by a letter carrier helps encourage a child to develop a lifelong love of reading and learning.
"Reaching this milestone has been a true partnership
between Highlights for Children, Inc., and the U.S. Postal
Service," said Kent Johnson, Highlights for Children chief
executive officer.
After Katrina, USPS employees deliver
the promise of a brighter day
 Rural Carrier Associate Elise Gipson,
outside the Buras, LA, Post Office that
was destroyed one year ago by
Hurricane Katrina.
It was one year ago
last month that Hurricane
Katrina made landfall in
Plaquemines Parish,
pummeling the community with 125 mile-per-hour
winds and signaling the
start of the most destructive hurricane ever to hit
the Gulf Coast.
Buras, LA, Rural Carrier Associate Elise Gipson delivers the mail to Plaquemines Parish. Like the bright strobe
light on the roof of her jeep, Gipson is a beacon of hope to
her community. "We started delivering in May, and once
they saw the blinking light, they started replacing their mailboxes from one end of the parish to the other like crazy,"
she says. "They knew it meant things were going to get
better. One man was so excited he put up flowers at the
mailbox."
As a lifetime resident of the small community, Gipson
had plenty of experience with storms and she evacuated in
time. Since returning, Gipson - like her neighbors and co-
workers - copes each day with the challenge of trying to
return to a normal life after experiencing firsthand such
wide-spread devastation. Wind, tidal surge and mud
caused the roof and walls of Gipson's to partially
collapse.
"We're glad she's delivering mail for us," says customer
Nicole Bourgeos. "We look forward to her little white jeep
coming down the road."
Carrier Pickup is off the charts
Carrier Pickup recently made its 40 millionth pickup at
LensWorld.com's main office in Hoboken, NJ.
LensWorld.com has been in business for five years now.
It fulfills contact lens prescriptions through its Web site and
ships them using the Postal Service's domestic and international expedited services. And each day, for five years,
LensWorld.com owner Kevin Walsh was going into the
local Post Office with satchels full of outgoing packages.
Customer Service Supervisor Dennis Haggerty was the
first to speak to Walsh about Carrier Pickup. "I told him that
we could pick up his packages at no extra charge and his
eyes bugged out," said Dennis. "I walked him through the
Web site and he started requesting pickups the next day."
Walsh is seeing clearly how Carrier Pickup saves both
time and money. "Now, I just give my packages to my carrier and he takes care of the rest."
Richard Potter dies at 79: PMG's father
was career USPS employee
Richard "Dick" Potter, a 40-year postal veteran and
father of Postmaster General John E. Potter, died recently
at 79. Dick began his Postal Service career as a letter carrier and worked in several stations in Manhattan, retiring in
1985 as Director of Station Operations for the New York
Post Office, with responsibility for some of the most complicated delivery zones in the nation. Other survivors include
his wife Maureen; sons Richard, Christopher, Brian, and
Brendan; daughter Mary Anne Gassert; and 14 grandchildren. He is also survived by his sister, Anna Nestor, and his
brother, James.
In lieu of flowers, donations in the name of Richard
Potter may be sent to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation
for Research, 710 W. 168 St., New York, NY 10032-3726.
USPS National Emergency Hotline
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