Postal Service

  • The Postal Service's mail delivery vehicles are in dire need of replacement, but the agency doesn't have enough money to buy a new fleet. In a new report, the USPS Inspector General said the agency's current fleet will only allow it to sustain delivery operations through fiscal 2017.

    June 17, 2014
  • The Postal Service's latest financial results are no better than any of their recent numbers. But they might not be as bad as they look. Different interpretations of those numbers cause some leaders to think the Postal Service has a faster route back to profitability than Congress does. Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, told In Depth with Francis Rose nobody argues about the numbers themselves. It's more about how you read them.

    June 02, 2014
  • The Postal Service Inspector General recommended that USPS make changes to its decades-old benefit programs that cost the agency millions.

    May 29, 2014
  • What if you could sign up for Social Security at Sears or file your taxes at Walmart? That hasn't yet but the Postal Service has a plan to open up offices in Staples stores nationwide, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey. People employed by Staples, not the U.S. government, would sell stamps, handle package, sort mail, etc. So, what could go wrong?

    May 09, 2014
  • An aging workforce and how to backfill retirements is a common issue for agencies across government. The Postal Service has developed the Corporate Succession Planning Program to cultivate executives who can move into the leadership positions that open when employees retire. Lori Nelson, director in the Postal Service Office of Inspector General' Office of Audit, tells In Depth with Francis Rose the demographic problem the Postal Service faces.

    May 07, 2014
  • Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller and Federal Times Senior Writer Andy Medici will discuss OMB's budget guidance memo, and OPM Director Katherine Archuleta will give us an update on Public Service Recognition Week. May 7, 2014

    May 07, 2014
  • The federal workforce is filled with success stories. Those range from a physicist at the Commerce Department who won the Nobel Prize in 2012 to the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration who rose through the OIG ranks after serving 26 years in the Secret Service. Janet Kopenhaven, Washington representative of Federally Employed Women, tells In Depth with Francis Rose about how the Federal-Postal Coalition is starting a new campaign to specifically highlight women and their success stories.

    May 06, 2014
  • The Federal-Postal Coalition is launching a campaign to attract new federal employees that are still in elementary school. Janet Kopenhaver, the Washington representative for Federally Employed Women, explains to In Depth with Francis Rose how the Coalition is marketing agency positions that people dream of having starting when they're little kids.

    April 08, 2014
  • The Republican-controlled House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is starting over on postal reform legislation and taking as its template a surprising source — the White House's fiscal 2015 budget request. Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) told members of the committee and the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget that he intends to "embrace to the greatest extent possible" the entire slate of legislative proposals for overhauling the Postal Service included in the President's budget request.

    April 08, 2014
  • Nearly 250,000 letter carriers will get handheld devices that let them track packages in real time. It's part of a major technology upgrade at the Postal Service that the agency hopes will give it an edge over competitors like UPS and FedEx. Chief Information Officer Jim Cochrane has called the deal a "billion-dollar bet on the future of the shipping business." He joined Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp to explain the new device that enhances delivery infrastructure.

    April 03, 2014
  • Financial advisor Arthur Stein will answer your calls and emails about the TSP. Also, Nicole Blake Johnson and Andy Medici of the Federal Times will discuss a possible downsizing of the U.S. Postal Service. March 26, 2014

    March 26, 2014
  • The Postal Service's financial problems are the subject of several bills on Capitol Hill to give them more flexibility for making benefits payments, changing their benefits structures, changing their business model and obligations and other options. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, talked to In Depth with Francis Rose at his office on Capitol Hill yesterday about the problems the Postal Service is facing. In our Congressional Spotlight, Francis Rose asked him what he thinks the Postal Service's business operation looks like several years in the future.

    March 26, 2014
  • The Twin Cities area of Western North Dakota has a lot in common with mid-town Manhattan.

    March 21, 2014
  • In this week's edition of Inside the Reporter's Notebook: USPS' cloud exchange is almost ready to fly; GSA faces a flood of contract protests; and technology chairs shuffle at DHS and GSA.

    March 14, 2014