February 2020 Since 2018 Amazon has been building its Delivery Service Partner program. This program outsources package deliveries to entrepreneurs around the country. A consequence of this expansion is the effect on over 800 small logistics companies that have contracted with Amazon in the past. Recently, Amazon has parted company with some logistics companies…
Have You Noticed an Additional Flag at the Post Office? Changes to the United States Code require the U.S. Postal Service to fly the POW/MID (Prisoner of War/Missing in Action flag at post offices every day that the United States flag is flown. Prior to changes made in November of 2019, the US Postal Service…
According to 1/6/2020 USPS Industry Alert, Postmaster General Megan Brennan has agreed to delay her planned retirement date of January 31, 2020 in order to facilitate the search for the new PMG. The Postal Board of Governors is conducting that search, and Chairman Robert M. “Mike” Duncan has expressed that the Board is “grateful to…
Effective January 26, 2020 first class mail costs will increase from $ .50 to $ .55 for the first ounce, with additional ounces being priced at $ .15. Postmaster General Megan Brennan retires on January 31, 2020. Her tenure has been unique in that for much of it there has been no active Board of…
November 2019 The Universal Postal Union (UPU), a world-wide organization created for the purpose of facilitating international mail exchange, agreed in September to allow the United States to set its own inbound postage rates, thereby keeping the US as a member nation. In exchange for an annual contribution of approximately $40 million into the UPU’s…
November 22, 2019 Representative Carolyn Maloney, (NY12) has become the newest chairman of the House Oversight Committee. She had already been serving as acting chair of that committee following the death of former chairman, Representative Elijah Cummings in October. Rep. Maloney defeated Rep. Gerald Connollly in a caucus-wide ballot earlier this week. Rep. Maloney has…
November, 2019 A bill designed to repeal the USPS’s prefunding of retirement benefits and thereby make significant progress in solving its financial difficulties was introduced in the House on April 14, 2019. H.R. 2382, the USPS Fairness Act, is sponsored by Oregon Representative Pete DeFazio and has accumulated bipartisan support from 272 co-sponsors (as of…
(October 2019) A recent effort by the USPS to change mail delivery protocols has met with resistance and legal action by the National Association of Letter Carriers. The Annandale, VA post office was chosen as the test site for the launch of the Consolidated Casing Initiative (the initiative) in May of 2019 with plans to…
October 2019 As part of its exploration into the viability of drones or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for mail delivery, the USPS recently posted a request for Information on the FedBizOps.gov website. USPS is asking for “information from UAS operators and developers interested in providing aircraft and aircraft operations for delivery of mail and to…
The largest ever increase by the USPS in first class postage rates took effect in January 2019 when the price of a Forever stamp went from $.50 to $.55. Shortly thereafter, Doug Carlson went to court to challenge the legality of the increase in Carlson v. The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). In September 2019…