In stinging rebuke, NLRB rules USPS-Staples deal violated Federal law

11/17/2016 – On November 8, 2016, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Administrative Law Judge Paul Bogas ruled to uphold all of the charges leveled at the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) Staples Approved Shipper program. The APWU initially filed the complaint on November 13, 2014. The judge ruled the Staples deal was subcontracting within the…

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USPS OIG Blog: Approved Shipper Approval

If you want to expand your business by partnering with someone to sell your products or services in another location, you’d want that person to represent you appropriately and abide by your practices, right? In short, you’d want your partner to uphold your brand. The U.S. Postal Service isn’t any different. Through its Approved Shipper…

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USPS OIG Report: Approved Shippers Pricing and Customer Service

Background The Approved Shipper Program is a component of the Approved Postal Provider® Program, which gives U.S. Postal Service customers expanded access to Postal Service offerings, such as mailing packages and letters, at non-postal locations. In fiscal year (FY) 2015, the Postal Service generated [redacted] from the Approved Shipper Program. As of October 2015, there…

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The USPS “Retail Channel Strategy” – A Blueprint for Privatization of the Postal Service

The following is from a November 24, 2015 update of Docket activity from the National Labor Relations Board relative to USPS Case Number: 05-CA-140963. APWU is barred from sharing this information by an earlier NLRB Motion but, because it is freely available in the public domain at NLRB.gov, the 21st Century Postal Worker will reshare…

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USPS OIG Blog: What do you think was the top postal story of 2014?

The year 2014 was certainly historic on the postal and logistics front. Alibaba entered the U.S. market with a bang, setting a record with the largest ever U.S. initial public offering. For the first time ever, non-mail revenues exceeded mail revenues for postal administrations around the world. Shippers braced for the full effect of dimensional…

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If You’re Looking for an Example of Why People Aren’t Voting Today, Look at the Postal Service

Business at the Postal Service should be booming. It is dying instead. Why? Intentionally short-sighted planning, bills quietly passed in the House without any record, and a shady, long-term forfeit to private industry. Parties aside, Congress is quietly helping to kill a working institution, solely for ideological reasons. And remember: The USPS doesn’t cost taxpayers…

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Postal Service begins expanding into 1500 Staples

(October 29, 2014) The Postal Service announced back in July that it was ending its pilot program to put mini-post offices in Staples stores.  The 82 postal counters it had set up last October would be transitioned to the Approved Shipper program, which has been around for years without causing much controversy.  (The Postal Service explained…

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APWU: Teachers Union to Staples CEO – ‘We’re Not Buying’

Web News Article #: 175-2014 09/24/2014 – The president of the American Federation of Teachers has a message for Staples CEO Ron Sargent: We’re not buying! AFT President Randi Weingarten wrote to Sargent on Sept. 17, “As you know, teachers are critical to your profits. Last year, educators spent over $1.6 billion of their own…

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