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24-hour clock — keep the mail moving on time

When we keep the mail moving, we give our customers the service they depend on. The 24-hour clock serves our customers better, and it also makes everyone's job easier.

Meeting our 24-hour clock commitments helps the next shift - or the next plant or Post Office further along the mailstream - meet its deadlines too. It all adds up to smoother mail operations.

Like clockwork, 24 hours a day. Know your role in the 24-hour clock.

Giordano named vice president of Public Affairs and Communications

Joanne Giordano.Postmaster General Jack Potter has announced the appointment of Joanne Giordano as vice president of Public Affairs and Communications. Giordano most recently served as senior advisor to the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she spearheaded a campaign to brand U.S. foreign assistance as coming "from the American people." She joined USAID in 2001 as head of Public Affairs, developing and directing all internal and external communications to support the agency's mission and operations in more than 100 countries.

Before her work at USAID, Giordano was senior vice president of Communications at America's Promise - The Alliance for Youth, founded by General Colin Powell. She also spent 11 years with communications consulting firm Burson-Marsteller in its New York and Singapore offices, rising from account representative to vice president and leaving the firm in 2001 as Global Client Leader.

"During her time at Burson-Marsteller, Joanne was instrumental in generating a great deal of positive publicity for USPS during our 1992 Olympic sponsorship," Potter said. "So she is no stranger to the Postal Service."

 

Financial analyst helps save USPS $34 million

Picture of Mike  CotterNetwork Operations Financial Analyst Mike Cotter's persistence paid off, saving USPS more than $34 million in tax payments.

Network Operations Financial Analyst Mike Cotter single- handedly reviewed several offshore exemptions and excise tax payment issues revolving around our FedEx air contracts. He felt that the FedEx contract should receive the same deductions for offshore product that commercial air was receiving.

So Cotter developed several models using invoice data to calculate prior tax years and another model to address future tax exemptions. This information was submitted to be credited against USPS' quarterly excise tax payments.

In early 2006, the Internal Revenue Service opened an inquiry to gain a better understanding of the tax credit, validate the amounts and understand how the tax code supported the application of the credits.

The result? The IRS approved the offshore excise tax exemptions. The total savings for 5 years is estimated at more than $34 million.

Postal reform: A message to employees from the postmaster general

As you know, the U.S. Senate and House approved postal reform legislation - the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 - on Saturday, Dec. 9. The legislation now needs the president's signature before being enacted into law.

A key provision of the legislation moves the obligation for additional retiree benefits afforded veterans participating in the Civil Service Retirement System from USPS to the Treasury. This change, combined with elimination of the escrow funding requirements, results in a benefit worth about $30 billion to the Postal Service and rate payers. And it puts us on a path to fully fund retiree health benefits.

I would single out the extraordinary efforts of Senators Susan Collins, Joseph Lieberman and Thomas Carper, and Representatives Thomas Davis, Henry Waxman, John McHugh and Danny Davis to make reform a reality.

New safe driving course to debut in 2007

Picture of Safety InstructorA driving safety instructor takes his turn at delivering to a curb-box on the newly designed delivery skills course.

USPS has one of the largest vehicle fleets in the world, and we want to maintain it with the best- qualified, best-trained drivers in the world. That's why we're launching a new driver safety program early next year, based on the new Handbook EL-804, Safe Driver Program.

The program features a newly designed 8-hour classroom course on postal driving requirements with a computer-based pass/fail test at its conclusion. In addition, it uses the National Safety Council - Defensive Driver Training 6-hour classroom course and also focuses on improved vehicle familiarization training.

Transferring what employees know in their head to practical street knowledge is the goal of the newly designed skills courses - and there's one each for delivery vehicles and large trucks. There's even a re-designed road test at the end of the course.

USPS in top 30 of Forbes list

It's the holidays, and making it on the "nice" list is a high priority for many. A recent article posted on Forbes.com featured the results of consulting firm Reputation Institute's international survey of 30,000 people about how they viewed 600 of the world's biggest businesses.

Guess who received a top ranking for "Most Reputable" U.S. businesses?

That's right! The Postal Service finished in the Top 30. USPS was one of only seven transportation and logistics companies to make it and one of only two postal administrations in the whole world on the list. The Postal Service earned a 67.25 rating, finishing just behind Pricewaterhouse Cooper.

Three-million-package month for Carrier Pickup

Picture of Sonia Carter Pearl, MS, Rural Carrier Sonia Carter picks up packages from an Unwind.com employee. More than 3 million Carrier Pickup packages entered our system in November.

November was the second record-breaking month in a row for Carrier Pickup - soaring past October's all-time high of 2.8 million packages - to finish above the 3 million mark for the first time.

New enhancements such as Delivery Confirmation for APOs and FPOs and the recently launched Shipment Confirmation Acceptance Notice (SCAN) are making it more convenient than ever for shippers this holiday season.

Just ask CEO Toby Shenefelt of Unwind.com, an Internet supplier of relaxation and stress relief items. "When we were told about Carrier Pickup with SCAN, I couldn't wait to sign up," says Shenefelt. "Now, when a customer calls about an item, I can give the tracking number and tell him or her exactly when it was shipped and give an estimated delivery date. With Carrier Pickup and SCAN, businesses like ours will be knocking on your door."

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