Bush to sign new law Wednesday that changes postal operations

WASHINGTON --New postal reform legislation that passed Congress calls for the first major changes in decades on how the post office works. Few Americans are likely to notice the difference.

While the measure affects the spending of billions of dollars, the mail will keep flowing, the letter carriers will keep making their rounds and the price of stamps, like just about everything else, will keep rising, but perhaps more slowly.

Sen. Susan Collins, who sponsored the bill, was scheduled to attend President Bush's signing ceremony on Wednesday. Collins, a Maine Republican, said the new law "will ensure the continuation of universal postal service at an affordable rate."

The public will notice little immediate impact, Postmaster General John Potter said in an interview.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2006/12/20/bush_to_sign_new_law_wednesday_that_changes_postal_operations/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Maine+news

The unions don't appear to be in favor of these changes.

government employee or agent to open and/or confiscate anyone's mail anytime, for any reason or no reason at all.

Can you tell I don't trust these people?

put in the mail.

Although I will tell you that our postal workers take excellent care of our soldiers overseas and make sure that their packages arrive in a timely fashion, and intact.

The U.S. post office also has a special package now for families/friends sending things to soldiers, with a flat shipping rate of $8.00 for Priority Mail. Very nice indeed.

And Burrus called "insulting" a provision in the measure requiring a three-day wait before a worker can apply for compensation for on-the-job injuries.

William H. Young, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, called passage of the measure "bittersweet."

He praised the bill for preserving union bargaining rights and helping the post office financially, but said the waiting period for injury compensation "really sticks in my craw."

"Frankly, it's insulting," Young said.

Burrus argues that the bill tilts too heavily toward the interests of large business mailers, a concern shared by consumer advocate Ralph Nader.

:scared:

I drop it at the elections office.

paper ballot.

Just you watch.

That's what the bastards want to do, as well as "privatize" whatever else they can get away with.

seems ti beagainst the postal employees, and that's having to wait 3 days before filing for compensation for an injury on the job. I don't understand the logic in that one. All the other changes I read about make sense, and don't seem to harm the public either. Maybe this is a surprise, and it's actually some decent legislation for a change.

I think it's so postal managers can claim injuries suffered by employees on the job cannot be conclusively proven to be suffered on the job; i.e., further activity not associated with work-related functions could have caused the injury associated with the claim.

It would be just like postal managers to take that attitude.

It took three years to get disability retirement. I was lucky, some were on their seventh year of struggling with the post office. I even got SS Disability on my first try. Good documentation and a helpful attitude goes a long way.

Which is good. They have the resources, there are just too many inefficiencies.

As for the rest of the bill, I don't know whether it's good or bad.

:P

they just went up in the spring, wasn't it? do they consider that 'more slowly'?

on edit: they do alot of driving in that outfit.

Gee, I figured there would be a catch.:eyes: And it figures that Mr. Cheap Labor
himself would sneak something like this through.

...another failed horse-show executive in charge, this time of the Post Office. Watch out, the mail is about to get Katrina'd!

Except that now "certain" letters will be opened and censored, but the crackerjack team at the USPS will lick them all back closed and you will never ever know what happened. :)

(the following sung to the tune of "life during war time by The Talking Heads)

They read your emails, they read your mail, they read the thoughts in your head.

When I think to myself am I really thinking to myself, do they read the dreams in my bed?

I write some notes, I take some notes, with invisible ink.

Do I need to burn it? Do I need to eat it? Or drown it in the...sink?

This ain't no party, this ain't no rave club, this ain't no screwing around. No time for living, or even normal living, I ain't got time for that now...

Heard about New York, Heard about D.C., Heard about Shanksville, P.A.

I changed my habits so many times now I don't even know what to say...

My memories; do I save them...in photos, disks or on line pics?

Or do I forget that my past ever existed, had I lived it or is that just a risk?

Crimes of thought, crimes of love, crimes of living in here.

Pass me another drink, I have to escape, there's just not enough beer.

I watch my back, I peek out my windows, you can't tell who is out there.

I write my sisters, are they part of it? That's more than I can...bear.

This ain't no party This ain't no rave club
This ain't no screwing around.

this ain't no Hush club or CBGB's I ain't got time for that now...

It IS insulting! If we're injured, we have to get yelled at for not being able to do the work if we're hurt?

THREE WORDS: HOSTILE. WORK. ENVIRONMENT.

best deal ever. I don't know how they do it. And those beautiful stamps they keep coming up with. I saved some of those Greta Garbo .37 ones. They are so cool.

Carper is one of my senators here in Delaware. He's also vice-chair of the DLC. AND he co-sponsored the bankruptcy bill as well as voted with Republicans on the recent "torture bill". Because he's usually a blatant big business supporter, I question everything he "hail"s and "sponsor"s. I'm betting they're finally setting up the USPS for privatization to compete with UPS and Fed Ex. Here are more of the bill's details:

Carper lauds postal service overhaul
By AARON NATHANS, The News Journal

Posted Thursday, December 21, 2006 at 1:11 pm
Sen. Tom Carper hailed the passage of the overhaul of the U.S. Postal Service, saying it would help keep prices stable and allow businesses to better plan for the future.

President Bush signed the legislation into law on Wednesday, requiring price increases to stay below inflation for the next 10 years. The law also moves the burden for paying the pensions of its military veterans-turned-postal workers to the U.S. Treasury, helping the postal service to regain its financial footing, Carper said.

Carper was the bill’s lead Democratic sponsor.

The new law also gives the postal service the ability to offer discounts and promotional rates.

...to corporations I assume...

The postal service is facing a decrease in demand, due to new communications technologies like e-mail, fax machines and cell phones, Carper said. The result, he said, has been a dramatic increase in the price of mail. The new law, he said, will ensure the long-term viability of the postal service.

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061221/NEWS/61221017/1006/NEWS