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Future Seminars:
| Year |
Date |
Location |
Hotel Rate |
| 2014 |
March 9-12 |
Marriott Crystal Gateway-Arlington, VA |
$249-Single/Double/Jr. Suite |
| 2015 |
March 8-11 |
Marriott Crystal Gateway-Arlington, VA |
$259-Single/Double/Jr. Suit |
NAPS 2013 Legislative Agenda
1. Modernize the Postal Service
The Postal Service faces financial insolvency later this year unless Congress passes legislation that modernizes the Postal
Service and addresses its structural and financial problems. NAPS supports legislation that modernizes the Postal Service
and suspends the crippling retiree health prefunding requirement responsible for the vast majority of the Postal Service’s
financial losses. NAPS also supports initiatives that would preserve current USPS service standards and provide greater flexibility
to the Postal Service to price its products and sell non-postal products and services consistent with the public interest.
NAPS supports H.R. 630, S. 316 and H. Res. 30.
2. Achieve Balanced Deficit Reduction; Oppose Further Cuts in Federal and Postal Pay and Benefits
The President and Congress must govern responsibly and reduce the towering debt that threatens America’s future prosperity.
NAPS believes that sensible and fair deficit reduction relies on a balanced approach of spending reductions and revenue increases.
Federal and postal employees and retirees already have contributed $103 billion toward deficit reduction through pay freezes
and reductions in retirement benefits. It’s time to ask all Americans to help their country and pay their fair share.
3. Expand MSPB Appeal Rights to All EAS Personnel in the Postal Service
Approximately 7,500 Postal Service employees covered by the Executive-Administrative Schedule do not possess the right
to appeal adverse personnel actions to the U.S. Merit System Protection Board, despite the availability of such appeal rights
to all other EAS-covered employees. Congress intended to extend such appeal rights in a 1987 law, but federal court and MSPB
interpretations of the law have ruled otherwise. NAPS supports clarification of the law to extend MSPB appeal rights to all
EAS personnel. Doing so will provide a neutral forum that provides fairness and due process to all EAS employees.
http://www.naps.org/images/uploads/NAPSIssueBriefComposite2013.pdf
Things To Know About the Postal Service
No taxpayer dollars support the United States Postal Service.
The U.S. Postal Service is self-funded and does not rely on taxpayer dollars.
The Postal Service operates as a commercial entity and is expected to cover its costs. Congress reorganized the Post Office Department in
1970 and created the U.S. Postal Service as an independent agency of the executive branch. The Postal Service has not received
taxpayer dollars to fund operations since 1982. Its revenues, which amounted to $67 billion in 2012, rely on the sale of postage
and mail products. Annual increases in postage rates cannot exceed inflation.
The Postal Service is
one of our most trusted and important government agencies. We provide universal service six days a week to every
corner of America,
no matter how small or remote. Americans pay for postal service at a cost
far less than anywhere
else in the industrialized world. The Postal Service supports millions of jobs in virtually every other sector of our economy. Eight
percent of America’s GNP is linked directly to postal activity. It also provides decent-paying jobs to some 500,000 Americans and is the largest employer
of veterans.
Postal jobs contribute to the economic vitality
of your Congressional District and our state.
PREFUNDING
For years, some have been suggesting that the Postal Service is going
bankrupt because of the internet. That is inaccurate. Yes, the Postal Service is suffering from a financial crisis – a liquidity
crunch. The recession caused mail volume to drop significantly, and profitable First-Class Mail volume has slowly fallen due to email. But the largest cause of the Postal
Service’s financial problems has been Congress itself – and the failure of Congress to solve problems it has created.
At the insistence of the Bush Administration, Congress in 2006 passed
legislation
that required the Postal Service to prefund, over a 10-year period, 75 years of future retiree health benefits.
This massive and unprecedented burden—
$5.5 billion a year—is responsible for most of the financial losses
posted by the Postal Service.
In Quarters 3 and 4 of last year, 100% of the Postal Service’s losses were due to the prefunding requirement.
BAND AIDS on MAILBOXES
Instead of correcting the prefunding burden, Congress has forced the Postal
Service to apply band aid measures that have substantially slowed down mail delivery. As a result, mail service to your constituents
has eroded in ways that have: reduced overnight delivery, created later mail delivery, reduced retail unit hours, and blocked the overhaul of the aging USPS vehicular
fleet.
DECREASE IN PROCESSING LOCATIONS
Reduced overnight delivery.
The Postal Service has substantially reduced costs and excess
capacity by consolidating hundreds of mail processing facilities where mail
is sorted for delivery.
These consolidations have required mail to be transported greater distances to be processed. Greater travel takes more time, eliminating overnight delivery
in more areas.
Further reductions in service could occur if more processing plants are consolidated.
CARRIERS AT NIGHT
Late mail delivery. In some cases, greater mail travel time has resulted
in later delivery of mail
by letter carriers. Carriers are increasingly delivering mail during evening hours. This situation has not been well-received by business and
residential customers who need their mail delivered during normal daytime hours.
The situation also has created safety risks for carriers. A letter carrier
in the Washington, D.C. area
was recently murdered while on his route during the evening hours. Other assaults, including shootings and robberies of postal employees, have become more prevalent
during early evening
darkness, especially in the winter months.
SMALL RURAL POST OFFICE
Reductions in Retail Unit Hours. The Postal Service deflected
Congressional concern over the proposed closures of small, rural post offices by switching gears and reducing the hours of operation of thousands of post offices and replacing
postmasters and career employees with non-career workers. Savings from these measures have been marginal in relation to the total size of the Postal Service budget. The loss of good
will and diminished presence in communities has been harmful to the Postal Service.
USPS and UPS
Outsourcing That Threatens Service Quality.
The Postal Service
is relying more and more on
contractors to transport mail, work in postal retail units, and perform other work. For example, the Postal Service recently announced a six-month pilot testing the
transportation
and processing of “Non-Machineable Outside Parcels” by United
Parcel Service. Under the pilot, the Postal Service will be responsible only for sale and delivery of the package, while processing and transportation will move to UPS. We’re
concerned that moves like this can lead to privatization of the Postal Service, which will threaten universal service.
FLAMING POSTAL TRUCK
A Crisis in the USPS Vehicular Fleet. The Postal Service maintains the
largest commercial fleet
in the world, with nearly 200,000 vehicles. But the Postal vehicle fleet is inefficient and
outdated, with the vast majority of vehicles now reaching the end of their
24-year operational lives
and in need of replacement. Fires in postal trucks even occur. Because of the liquidity crunch, the Postal Service has lacked the capital to refresh its fleet, including
moving to more fuel-efficient
and alternative energy-powered vehicles.
INNOVATIVE MAIL SERVICES
In addition, current law bars the Postal
Service from offering innovative products and services. It is against the law for us to notarize or make copies of documents in post offices;
to cash checks; to
deliver wine or beer; or to engage in e-commerce activities. According to the Postal Service Inspector General, the Postal Service could generate nearly
$9 billion a year
by providing financial services -- particularly to the underserved.
TAKE ACTION
We need Congress to take action that restores
financial stability and provides the tools that the Postal Service needs to grow revenue.
The best approach lies in the Senate postal
reform bill, S. 1486, which awaits floor action. The Senate bill is superior to the House postal measure, H.R. 2748, which also
awaits
floor action. The Senate bill would fix the prefunding problem, restore financial stability and help the Postal Service to
grow.
There are other bills in the House that are preferable to HR. 2748, and we
ask for support
in cosponsoring them.
Encourage floor action on S. 1486 so that the bill can be amended,
approved and sent to the House. And please cosponsor S. 686, providing MSPB
appeal rights to
all Postal Service mid-level management employees.
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