Updated: November 2009
Greetings Fellow Postmasters
I’m writing this while sitting in district court in Columbia waiting to see if I’m selected to serve on jury duty. The person behind me is talking about the money he is losing by being away from work. I’m thinking how fortunate we are to work for the Postal Service so as not to have to worry about things like that.
There are many reasons we should never take our jobs for granted. Here in South Carolina postal jobs are some of the best in the state as the letter carrier here in SC makes the same salary the letter carrier living in New York City.
Yes we are fortunate in many ways to work for the Postal Service, but let’s not fool ourselves into thinking everything is perfect. The Postal Service and the mailing industry face many challenges in the near term that will ultimately affect our jobs as Postmasters.
There are two issues that I’m hearing feed back from Postmasters right now; the first being this year’s NPA payouts. Some of you have run the numbers and realize you are getting little or no raise this year. The primary reason is we all got a zero on our revenue goal. This year Level 20 and below PM’s were given a “POOM area” revenue goal instead of individual office goals as we have had in previous years. I see two flaws in the current NPA system. In the Level 20 and below too much weight is put on the revenue goal. You can run the most efficient post office in the country and still not get a raise for the coming year.
Another change that needs to be made is that we all should have the same weights on how much the corporate and unit scores count toward your individual score. If we have a bad year as a Postal Service it should not hurt one level Postmaster worse than the other because of their level just as we should share in a good year. We all need to be on the same page regardless of level.
I spoke with the League’s Executive Vice-President Jack Jameson at our BBQ in Santee. He was in Washington earlier in the week and assured me progress is being made in both of those areas. It may already be announced by the time this reaches you. NPA is not a perfect system but we can continue to tweak it to make it as fair as possible.
A second concern I am hearing is removing all permit mailers from most rural post offices in the state. Effective November 23, if your office is not on the list of centralized acceptance centers you will no longer be able to accept permit mailings. We have been told this is being done to improve SOX compliance and revenue protection.
As postmasters we have two basic concerns; the first is inconvenience to the customer. The local church that use to bring you that monthly mailing will now have to be directed to another post office. The second concern is taking that revenue away from rural post offices. While it’s true it will not negatively affect your NPA, it makes your post office look like it cost more to operate since you will be working the mail but the revenue will be credited to another post office.
We have not had a district leadership meeting since September due in part to saving money on travel. If you have an issue you want the League to address, please contact me or any member of the Executive board.
I want to send a special thank you to our Sec/Treasure Tiny Willis-Toth and her husband Bill for hosting our 3rd annual BBQ/Oyster Roast at their home in Santee. Bill did his usual fine job in preparing the hog and the oysters were outstanding. Thanks to Tiny and all the ladies that brought homemade desserts. Also thanks to all that brought can goods that were donated to United Ministries.
In your October issue of the “Postmasters Advocate” all Postmasters that are members of the League received a 2010 League Calendar. Don’t throw it away as it contains a lot of valuable information. It list many recurring reports on the days they are due and has a place to write in reports that are unique to our district. We started sending out this calendar in 2003 as a way to say thank you for being a member of the League.
On the state level we also want to thank you for being a part of our League family and wish you and your family a blessed holiday season and a successful year in 2010.
Steve LeNoir
State President
**********************************************************************************************************************************************
Updated: April
Greetings Fellow Postmasters!
As a result of an April meeting at Postal Headquarters with the League and NAPUS we have seen two recent changes to our NPA program.
The first change affects larger post offices that have stations and branches. For NPA purposes, the station and branches will now roll u to the lead finance number. The thinking behind this was the offices would do a better job of sharing resources with each other if they shared the same NPA goals.
The second change involves Level 20 and below postmasters. The revenue goal which used to be at the 5-digit level is now rolled up to the POOM level. At this writing mu POOM area (low country) is -7% below plan. That puts al of us at zero for revenue. We would have to get to -3% to plan to score a one.
League President Charles Mapa spoke at our convention in Charleston and said they will continue to push for the following changes:
1. In Level 16 and below the revenue goal carries a 70% weight for your unit score;
That is too much and the weight needs to be reduced.
2. In Level 18 and below the corporate score is weighed at 30%. The League wants
to make the corporate score the same percentage for all levels.
3. Total operating expense (TOE) save offices with a more mature workforce is not
getting the correct dollar amount for work hours used. We currently have a
system that puts offices into pricing groups instead of drilling down to the 5-digit
level to determine the actual cost of a work hour.
4. The League is also seeking to play a more active role in determine target
indicators and goals. In recent years the goals have been dictated to us with little input from the League or NAPUS.
It is important to note that NPA is not a bonus program. It is the only means that a postmaster can get a raise. Gone are the days of cost of living adjustments and getting yearly raises for time serviced.
District Leadership Meetings
The district continues to hold monthly leadership meetings that the League attends and participates.
District Manager Nick Rinaldi opened the April meeting with the following information:
----The Cap-Metro area is looking at Postmaster sick leave
----Clerks and Postmasters need to follow the mystery shop script
----Financial compliance – district is looking at PS3971 and 3972’s for proper completion
----We are experiencing a problem with parcel post going to Greensboro – only zip 500-
999 are to be sent
----Red “S” program – must have arrival at unit scan to stop the clock
----OIG audits – be aware they are in the field doing financial and operational audits.
If you have an issue or concern you want brought up at these meetings, please contact me or any member of the League’s Executive Board.
SC/NC State Convention
As you will probably read else where in this edition, we had a great state convention in Charleston. A special thanks goes to 3 ladies that put it all together, Julie Garris, Tiny Willis-Toth and Margaret Floyd. Thanks so much to each of you for a job well done.
Also congratulations are in order for our 2009 Postmaster of the year Doug Mixson, PM of Ruffin. Doug goes above and beyond the call of duty daily helping his fellow postmasters, in addition to establishing and maintaining our state website. Doug also served as MC at the convention and did an outstanding job.
During our convention we were pleased to have SC NAPUS state president John McLean speak to our postmasters. John delivered a good message and invited me to reciprocate at their state convention. I attended on May 12 and they were fortunate to have Deputy PMG Pat Donahoe in attendance. I will close with a few highlights from the notes I took during his speech and question and answer period.
-----HQ is looking to close some post offices. They are actively talking w/League and
NAPUS about how they can cover offices with less cost.
-----Loss of convention leave is on the table
-----5-day delivery – If we go down that road we would still maintain 6-day retail and
post office box service. He did say it would likely be a Saturday. No decision has
been made and it would require approval of Congress and BOG.
-----Missent mail – He did not want Postmasters running around with small amounts of
first class or priority mail, common sense must prevail. He said he has given a clear
message to the area VP’s. We cannot afford to pay mileage and use resources for
small amounts of mail. He did point the finger at the plant and said they must be
accountable.
I enjoyed my visit to the NAPUS convention and look forward to working closely with them on Postmaster issues.
If you can attend our national convention in Buffalo/Niagara Falls, please contact me or a member of our board. Hope you will join us.
Steve LeNoir
State President
Updated: February
This article is penned as we are here in Washington, DC, for the League’s annual Legislative Forum. Thanks to the South Carolina Postmasters that used their annual leave to come to Washington to educate the new Congress on postal issues. On February 3 our group descended on Capitol Hill to visit with our SC Representatives. We managed to meet with both Senators and all of our Congressmen. Our state legislative chairman Garvin Daniels recently retired (congratulations Garvin) so past President Terry Housley stepped up to the plate to set up appointments with our SC delegation.
Our visit comes a week after PMG Potter testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee which has oversight of the Postal Service. Rumors are flying over 5-day delivery, closing rural post offices, and if the Postal Service will have difficulty meeting payroll in the future.
During our visit on the hill we decided to focus on 2 issues. Our first issue is asking Congress to adjust our payment schedule in pre-funding our future retiree health benefits. When Postal Reform was passed in 2006 it mandated the Postal Service to pre-fund future retiree health benefits to the tune of $5.5 billion dollars per year over the next 10 years. No other federal agency, state agency or private company is required to pre-fund these benefits. While it makes sense to gradually pre-fund such long term obligations, it makes no sense to maintain such an aggressive payment schedule in the face of the unexpected decline in mail volume.
Our second issue is maintaining rural post offices. At the Jan 28th senate hearing, postal regulatory commission chairman Dan Blair made the statement that Congress should review the restrictions it imposed on the closing of small and rural post offices. This was easy for us to talk about as we could speak from the heart on how important the post office is to the local community and the citizens it services. We sited a study that was done by the Postal Rate Commission on the cost of rural post offices. It revealed that if the postal service were to close the 10,000 smallest post offices (out of 27,000) it would save less than 1% of its total budget.
We were fortunate to have the postmaster general and deputy PMG address our postmasters. PMG Jack Potter told us the state of the postal service was not a product of our doing. No one could have envisioned the dramatic drop in mail volume. We hit peak volume in 2006 at 213 billion pieces. This year forecasters are predicting volume of 189 billion pieces. To make matters worse, out of that volume we are seeing an accelerated decline in first class mail which is our most profitable class of mail. He did say we are doing a good job of increasing our share of the parcel business and should be well positioned to grow once the economy rebounds.
This year we are looking at a deficit of around 6 billion dollars. We currently have cash on hand of 1.4 billion and by law we can borrow no more than 3 billion per year; that leaves a gap of around 1.5 billion. Where is that money going to come from? That’s why it is essential to have our payment schedule to the government adjusted. He asked us as we got to Capitol Hill to make certain that our message to Congress is that we are not asking for a bailout but to simply amortize our payment schedule over a longer period of time.
Deputy PMG Pat Donahoe thanked postmasters for the job they are doing. The area VP’s report to Pat and recently he told them we are making people do ridiculous reports and we need to stop. He took questions from the audience and was asked about the hiring freeze. He stated they just announced cuts at the area and next will be job cuts at the district level. As soon as we complete that process and find landing spots for those displaced employees then we will start posting jobs again later this year.
I want to thank those postmasters that were able to go to Washington this year to lobby our SC representatives on your behalf.
District Leadership Meeting January 21
DM Nick Rinaldi informed us that the area continues to adjust our budget as volume declines. An area of concern is our grievance settlement payouts. We are over our plan in Quarter 1 by $300,000. As a result another layer of reviews has been added. Anything over $300 must be discussed with labor relations and anything over $1,000 goes directly to the DM. We were also told the OIG is investigating voyager credit card abuses in the field. A good portion of the meeting was spent on planning a Cap-Metro project to move the 24 hour clock forward by one hour. This will mainly affect the Level 20 and above where city routes are housed. The goal is to get collection mail to the plant earlier so they can begin and complete their operations one hour earlier. Late arriving mail to our post offices is an ongoing problem and it is hoped that this will help alleviate that problem. Leadership meetings are held on a monthly basis. If you have an issue you want brought forward, please contact me or a member of our executive board.
3-Digit Meetings and State Convention
During the month of March we will hold 4 meetings across the state. Please look for the date and time in this issue of the Sandlapper and we hope to see you there.
Our state convention will be in Charleston on April 27 – 30th. Julie Garris, Tiny Willis-Toth, and Margaret Floyd are working to plan a convention that will be both educational and entertaining. You are granted paid convention leave, so please take advantage of that. I’ve often said you can learn more from talking with your fellow postmasters in the hospitality room than you can in a classroom.
With all the logs, reports and pressure Postmasters are feeling it is easy to become negative. Don’t fall into that trap. Focus on the job security, the good benefits, and the satisfaction of serving our communities.
We hope to see you at your 3-digit meeting and our state convention.
Steve LeNoir, State President
Updated: October 22
What a Difference a Year Makes
In October, 2007, the Dow Jones Industrial average closed above 14,000 to set a new record. Now 12 months later it is around 8,600 at this writing. We have watched our Thrift Savings Plan balances decrease by a whopping 39%. Postal employees that were thinking of retiring or taking the VERA are having second thoughts after looking at their TSP balances. Most financial experts agree that now is not the time to bail out while the market is down. It goes against the theory of buying low and selling high. There have been 31 “bear markets” in recent history (a drop of 20% or more) and 31 recoveries, so hang in there. Keep investing and hopefully in due time you will be rewarded for your discipline.
The Postal Service is also experiencing somewhat of a “bear market.” We are not immune from the ailing economy. Some of our largest mailers like the financial and housing industries have cut back on their mailing and it is affecting our bottom line. For FY 08 mail volume declined 12 percent. While the books on FY 08 are still be audited it looks we will lose between $2.5 and $3 billion for the year. It’s ironic, but had it not been for the new Postal law that many were hailing as the savior of the postal service, we would have made a profit of around $2.5 billion. The new law requires the USPS to prepay future retiree’s health care benefits which costs the Postal Service $5.4 billion this year. In response to the financial crisis the postal service has announced a moratorium on filling EAS vacancies. We all know that policy and the tone of our workplace environment starts at the top and rolls down hill. Postmasters are at the bottom of the hill. Even though we did not cause the current situation we find ourselves in, you can rest assured that every work hour we use and every dollar we spend will come under close scrutiny. I’ve always said we need to run our offices like we owned the business; use the resources you need to provide quality service, but don’t use anymore than necessary. It’s easy to manage when business is growing but managing in an environment of declining volume and decreasing revenue will be a challenge for us all. I’m confident Postmasters will rise to meet the challenge and collectively we will secure a solid future for the Postal Service.
FERS Sick Leave Bill
On July 30 the House of Representatives passed legislation that would allow FERS employees to credit unused sick leave toward their retirement. The provision was attached to an unrelated bill (HR1108) to regulate tobacco products. According to OPM the federal government loses $68 million each year in productivity due to sick leave used by FERS employees close to retirement. The house passed bill would allow FERS employees who retire in the next 3 years to credit 75 percent of their sick leave hours towards retirement. FERS employees retiring later would have all of the unused SL credit towards retirement.
Unfortunately the bill has stalled in the Senate. The legislation is attached to a bill to regulate the tobacco industry. The tobacco bill is very controversial and the President has threatened to veto it. Seems insane the fortunes of FERS SL would rest on the fate of tobacco, but that’s the way Washington works (or doesn’t). With the current problems in the economy that congress is dealing with it is very unlikely this bill will move to the floor for a vote in the Senate. Congressman Jim Moran from Virginia has promised to reintroduce the bill next year when the new congress convenes
District Leadership Meeting
The district leadership team met at the district on October 15. The focus of the meeting was budget strategy for FY 09. The GSCPC was recently given an additional 427,000 work hour cut from the Cap-Metro area. As a cluster for FY09 we received a 6.7% reduction in work hours compared to our FY08 budget. DM Nick Rinaldi stated that service is still our number one priority.
Our revenue goal was increased 3.79% overall for the cluster. But, there is a 1.69% reduction in across the window revenue goal which our Postmasters NPA is based on for our unit score. The majority of the overall revenue increases for our cluster is in commercial and click n ship. We are very competitive in the package business and we need to continue to leverage our pricing advantage. We also learned of changes to the VOE survey for FY 09. There are several new questions but the biggest change for us is when a PM completes the survey, any part referring to your supervisor will now roll up to your individual POOM. The League is invited to attend these meetings on a monthly basis. If you have issues or concerns you want discussed, please contact me or a member of the League’s executive board.
Congratulations in Order
League members should now have received your October issue of the Postmaster’s Advocate. Along with that issue is a FY 2009 calendar that list Postal Service reports and postmaster duties by daily, weekly, monthly and annually. Each month features a photo taken by postmasters. The October winner is our own Kim Deese, PM of Wagner, SC. Kim has also agreed to serve as our chapter photographer. Congrats are also in order for our editor, Julie Garris. The Sandlapper was runner-up in best in the nation category 3. Thanks Julie, we appreciate your hard work! And finally, South Carolina was recognized for having the largest percentage increase in Postmaster members in the nation at 32%. Great job and welcome new members!
Our second annual oyster roast and BBQ will be held on December 6 at the home of Postmaster Tiny Willis-Toth in Santee, SC. Tiny’s husband Bill knows how to BBQ a hog so don’t miss out on this special event. Also please put April 27-30, 2009 on your calendar for our state convention to be held in Charleston, SC
We just completed a successful series of 3-digit area meetings held in 4 parts of the state. Thanks to those who helped setup the meeting and to those that attended. We plan to do them again in March around the state. This will be our last paper before Christmas so on behalf of the League we wish you and your family a blessed Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Steve LeNoir
State President
UPDATED MESSAGE – July, 2008.
Greetings Fellow Postmasters:
Where's The Beef!
We all remember the old Wendy's commercial where the little old lady loudly proclaimed "Where's the beef!" Many postmasters are asking "Where's the Mail!" Year-to-date total mail volume is down 3.1% compared to same period last year. If this trend continues this will be only the seventh year total mail volume has decreased in the last 50 years. Many will argue that we are already in a recession but the fact is the Postal Service is often the first to feel the effects of a down economy as heavy users of the mail, like the housing and credit market, cut back on mailing.
We only need to look to our rural carriers to confirm the downward trend we are experiencing. The average rural carrier nationwide lost around 2 hours during the last mail count. To make matters worse we continue to see erosion in our first class letter volume. First class mail is vital to our overall revenue plan. I ran across an interesting statistic—in 2001 we processed 104 billion pieces of first class mail. In 2007 we processed 94.9 billion pieces.
Where am I going with these depressing figures? As volume drops and revenue streams dry up, Headquarters, the Area and districts are looking to squeeze more cost out of the system. I have been blessed to be with the Postal Service for 30 years. During my career we could always count on mail volume increasing 1—2 % each year - just like clock work; unfortunately those days are gone.
What can we do to improve our lot?
You can only squeeze so much cost out of the system. It's a constant balancing act between service and budget. As Postmasters in charge of retail units, it is important that we maximize our workforce in generating revenue for the Postal Service—from our clerks upselling at the window, to our leads for new business through Carrier Conect, to Postmasters seeking new customers though our Business Connect.
Postmasters understand it is much more pleasant to grow revenue than to cut cost. One area we show great potential is in the parcel delivery and return market. Companies that used to be our competitors are now partnering with us to deliver and pick up their parcels on the "last mile." The last mile is a valuable asset the Postal Service owns. No one can come close to our ability to deliver to 148 million addresses 6 days a week. So it makes good business sense to use the Postal Service as the carrier of choice for residential delivery. Where first class mail used to be our bread and butter, parcel delivery and pickup may be a big part of what allows the Postal Service to be successful in the future.
The new postal reform law has given us some freedoms and flexibility that we did not have in the past. With those freedoms also comes additional accountability and oversight from the Postal Regulatory Commission. We are still in the honeymoon period with the PRC and things have gone fairly smooth to this point. Let's hope that good relationship continues in the future. Postal Reform was complex legislation and it may be years before we know the full effects.
In the final analysis, postmasters will continue to feel pressure to take cost out of the system while revenue remains flat. Run your office like you owned the business. Use the hours and resources you need to provide quality service, but don't use any more than what it takes to get the job done. In small offices your clerks and carriers are your neighbors and friends. It is sometimes difficult to reduce their pay but it is a necessary action that we as postmasters have to make in our current environment.
A recent government survey said that consumer confidence in the economy is at an all time low, but things are not all doom and gloom. The economy will eventually bounce back and mail volume and revenue will pick up when that happens. Don't let these lean times get you down. It is tough out there but do the best you can during the day and when it's time to go home don't take your work with you. It will be waiting for you the next day.
Like many of you I hope to work another 10—12 years before retiring (my wife says 25 years). What will the Postal Service look like then? I wish I could look into a crystal ball and see, but that's not possible. I do have faith however that our leaders will continue to work on ideas and business concepts that will keep the Postal Service relevant well into the future. Tough times? You bet, but Postmasters will continue to be leaders in their respective communities as we move the Postal Service forward and continue our proud tradition of serving the American public.
Sincerely,
Steve Lenoir
SC State Branch President
