In the commentary, Steve Hutkins is addressing is Post Office Suspension of operations. In this case, there are 454 Post Offices in suspension with no resolution. Some Suspensions have been as long as 5 years. The issue is the Suspension and a potential the policy of a Suspension being used to close a Post Office permanently with no public input. “A Suspension occurs when the Postal Service stops operations at a post office due to an emergency or...
Read More »Post Offices Under Suspension
What happens when the USPS decides to close a Post Office? The closure does not happen over night. A Post Office may close immediately due to an emergency, a suspended lease, less business over time, etc. In any case the USPS follows up. This post by Steve Hutkins is a review of the process and where the USPS is with regard is suspended Post Offices. ________ Lost in Limbo: Post Offices Under Suspension – Save the Post Office, Steve Hutkins...
Read More »Reply to the USPS: The new service standards will cause geographic discrimination
Steve Hutkins at Save the Post Office, “Reply to the USPS: How the new service standards will cause geographic discrimination” The Postal Service’s plan to reduce service standards is now being reviewed by the Postal Regulatory Commission for an Advisory Opinion. On Friday, June 25, the Postal Service and several of the intervenors in the case submitted their Reply Briefs. (You can find the briefs and replies here.) Below is my Reply Brief....
Read More »Postal Service Reform May Slow Delivery of the Mail
Steve Hutkins at Save The Post Office, “How the postal reform bill may help the Postal Service slow down the mail” In August 1970, Title 39, aka the Postal Reorganization Act, created the Postal Service. The first section, 39 U.S. Code § 101, is entitled “Postal Policy.” It’s just over 400 words long, but it is probably the most frequently quoted passage in the history of postal legislation. It’s often cited in litigation, academic articles, and...
Read More »USPS proposal Reduces service standards Causing “undue discrimination”
Steve Hutkins from Save The Post Office, “Why the USPS proposal to reduce service standards will cause “undue discrimination” The Postal Service’s plan to reduce service standards is now being reviewed by the Postal Regulatory Commission for an Advisory Opinion. On Monday, June 21, the Postal Service and several of the intervenors in the case submitted their briefs and statements of position. You can find the briefs here, and the statements of...
Read More »New dashboard on the PRC Advisory Opinion on the change in service standards
Steve Hutkins from Save the Post Office. As you can see, postal service delivery would lengthen from a maximum of 3 – day delivery to 4 and 5-day delivery service for First Class mail and Periodicals. The impact of the changes in delivery would would slow approximately 20.7 billion pieces of First Class Mail, or about 39 percent of FCM volume (see chart below). The Postal Service has requested an Advisory Opinion from the Postal Regulatory...
Read More »What the USPS 10-year plan may have to say about future rate increases
Steve Hutkins at Save The Post Office continues with the documentation of issues and occurrences at the USPO. Steve presents a good take-down of what DeJoy’s plan is going forward. He is predicting a 3.6% increase on top of a CPI increase. There are two alternatives being presented, the Base case and the “Delivering for America” Case. The “Delivering for America” Case uses the new rate authority to make its calculations (Figure 35, p. 51). It...
Read More »Save The Post Office’s Service Performance Dashboard
Steve Hutkins at Save The Post Office Save The Post Office’s Service Performance Dashboard provides easier access to recent performance reports shared by the Postal Service with the Postal Regulatory Commission, Congress, the courts (as part of litigation involving mail delays), and FOIA requests. This capability is not readily available today. NB: This is not an official USPS website. Charted First Class Service Performance March – Dec....
Read More »“Save the Post Office” launches new Service Performance Dashboard
Save The Post Office‘s, Steve Hutkins With all the attention to delivery delays over the past several months and the Postmaster General’s plans to relax delivery standards — as well as calls for more transparency about postal operations — this seems like a good time to launch a Service Performance Dashboard. The Postal Service itself publishes a useful service performance dashboard, but it shows only quarterly performance scores, and it just...
Read More »51st anniversary of the largest wildcat strike in U.S. labor history
Steve Hutkins: This week marks the 51st anniversary of the largest wildcat strike in U.S. labor history: The Great Postal Strike of 1970 March 18th marks the day fifty-one years ago when postal workers walked off the job in New York City in what soon became the largest wildcat strike in U.S. labor history. Last March we posted this article by postal historian Phil Rubio, author of Undelivered: From the Great Postal Strike of 1970 to the...
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