USPSNEWS@WORK

New postal law: A message from the postmaster general

The postal legislation signed into law by President Bush on Dec. 20 will benefit both residential and business customers by ensuring predictable price increases tied to the rate of inflation.

The new law, called the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, is the first major change to the Postal Service since 1971.

The law directs the Department of the Treasury to resume the obligation for military pensions for postal employees, taking the financial burden off the Postal Service. That means our Civil Service and Federal Retirement System obligations are now fully funded. It also abolishes a federally mandated escrow requirement directing that money to pre-fund retiree health benefits. So by 2017, our retiree health benefits will essentially be fully funded. During the next decade, these changes will free the Postal Service of future legacy costs, putting us on firm financial footing for the future.

For our customers, the new law means universal service will be preserved at affordable rates. For mailers it will provide rate predictability, allowing them to plan their budgets more accurately. And for employees it ensures your health and retirement benefits are fully funded.

The new law also divides our products into two broad categories: market-dominant and competitive. Market- dominant products include First-Class Mail, Standard Mail and Periodicals. Future rate increases for these products will be tied to the Consumer Price Index. Competitive products, such as Priority Mail and Express Mail, will enjoy greater pricing flexibility.

The law also reconstitutes the existing Postal Rate Commission (PRC) into a regulatory body with greater authority and responsibility. The PRC has 18 months to develop regulations for both market-dominant and competitive products. The Postal Service is allowed to file one last rate case under the current rule, not later than Dec. 20, 2007. And the current rate case will proceed as scheduled.

The new law comes at a time when we are strong and stable - and it will enable us to build on our successes. Most of the changes are down the road. But one thing won't change - our fundamental commitment to delivering the mail and improving service to the American people.

Employees fight record snow to deliver Christmas cheer

It was supposed to be the biggest mail delivery day of the year. Instead, a different kind of delivery came - a major winter storm deposited up to 4 feet of snow in Colorado and Wyoming in less than 24 hours. The snow crippled transportation, closing airports and interstates.

Mail operations were not immune from the ravages of the storm. Trucks weren't able to bring the mail to processing centers to be sorted. And unplowed streets that were choked with abandoned vehicles made many deliveries impossible.

But once the storm passed, thousands of employees worked together to deliver an estimated 3 million cards and letters and 300,000 parcels before Christmas.

Stories about employees' efforts were reported in hundreds of newspapers, television and radio stories across the nation.

The holiday spirit begins at work: Rochester employees remember their own

Somewhere in Iraq, six servicemen were overwhelmed by the generosity of employees at the Rochester, NY, Processing and Distribution Center.

Two of the servicemen are employed at the Rochester facility. The four others are family

members of Rochester employees.

Mail handler James Watts and Ergonomic Risk Reduction Process and Voluntary Protection Program Coordinator Mary Hutteman organized the gift drive. Working from a list of requests the troops provided, employees at the facility were more than happy to play Santa Claus.

Rochester employees collected 18 boxes containing snacks, stationery, personal hygiene items and duct tape. The tape, used with a strip of gauze, makes a great water- proof Band-Aid.

Still the king

The Associated Press, Concorde Monitor and other media outlets report that this year's Wonders of America stamp set climbed to second place in the most popular stamps, but Elvis is still the king.

Some 124.1 million of the 1993 Elvis Presley stamps were saved by Americans, according to an annual survey of 10,000 households to determine which stamps are most popular. Rising into second spot was the Wonders of America set, with 87.5 million stamps saved.

"Stamp collecting continues as one of the world's most popular educational hobbies that the entire family can enjoy," said Postmaster General Jack Potter.

USPS team to look at asset management

Supply chain management changed how the Postal Service administered contracts - leveraging the size and strength of our organization to get the best deals on a variety of products and services.

Asset management integration is going to do the same thing for managing USPS physical assets.

The program is still in the developmental stage. A recent meeting was held in Washington, DC, and included representatives from Government Relations, Supply Management, Marketing, Information Technology, Finance and Human Resources. Their goal - define and implement the best solutions for effectively managing the Postal Service's many physical assets.

History in the making: Mail History Tracking System debuts

Delivery point sequencing (DPS) revolutionized the way the Postal Service processes letter mail by sorting it into a carrier's line of travel. But even with the best of systems, errors occasionally occur.

Sometimes it's human error, where a mail processing clerk sweeps the mail incorrectly. Other times, it's machine error - where the machine has calculated an incorrect ZIP Code. And, less-than-optimal machine performance affects the quality of the sort.

Because letter carriers don't discover these errors until they're out on the street, service is impacted.

But thanks to the Mail History Tracking System (MHTS), a new Web-based application, the Postal Service can tell if there are errors and, if so, exactly where in each tray the missorted, missequenced and missent letters are located. Within one hour after completing the DPS second pass - the final sortation for DPS mail - MHTS can produce a report that lets maintenance, processing operations and delivery units know the number of errors, if any, and where they are in each letter carrier's tray.

Voter registrar gives Bay-Valley and San Francisco Districts a "thumbs up"

During the campaign season, USPS and the office of the Registrar of Voters (ROV) in Santa Clara County, CA, worked hard to make sure registered voters received their election mailings in plenty of time to become informed and participate in November's polls. After the election, the county's ROV took time to thank the Postal Service - Bay- Valley and San Francisco Districts - for its role in getting the vote out.

In a letter to USPS, Al Salcedo, the ROV's coordinator for the Election Materials Processing Division, praised Postal Service officials in the California county.

The Santa Clara County ROV generated 1.5 million pieces of mail directly related to the General Election of 2006, including sample ballots, absentee ballots and Voter Information Guides.

College football zealots from Boston to Berkeley participated this past season in a five-game USPS promotion for the NetPost CardStore and Customized Postage products. The Postal Service distributed more than 18,000 promotional pieces on the two products to fans who visited the USPS display during the five-game run.

Shown here is Lawrenceville, GA, Letter Carrier Karen Key - the Atlanta District's Customer Connect leader in 2006 - presenting the game ball to officials at the Duke- Georgia Tech game. Key provided a lead that resulted in $243,000 in USPS revenue.

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