07/01/2017 - (This article first appeared in the July-August 2017 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine)

By Executive Vice President Debby Szeredy

Picture this scenario… your manager posts a formal notification stating the USPS’ intention to move your post office to an industrial park, or a carrier annex, or some other inconvenient and out-of-way location.

Maybe the posting says days and hours of operation will be cut, or the office will close indefinitely (suspended), or it will be closed and consolidated with an office in another neighborhood or town, or your office will be shuttered permanently. Perhaps the Postal Service proposes to substitute the closing office with a village post office or rural letter carriers or a retailer selling stamps.

07/01/2015 -

(This article first appeared in the July-August 2015 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

In April, the USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a scathing report on the Postal Service’s transactions with CBRE, which serves as its exclusive agent for real estate transactions.

The report recommends that the USPS terminate its contract with CBRE, the world’s largest real estate company. The OIG also referred numerous USPS-CBRE transactions to its Office of Investigations for possible criminal charges.

The report points out that USPS management permits CBRE to represent both the Postal Service and the businesses and individuals that are buying and leasing property from the USPS.

06/01/2015 -

(This article first appeared in the July-August 2015 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

“When USPS management sells these priceless public properties to private interests at a discount, they are privatizing a national treasure,” said APWU President Mark Dimondstein.

The Postal Service not only takes these assets away from the people they belong to, but often sells them to individuals who work against the best interest of the public: bigwig developers who are only interested in their own profit.

01/16/2015 - The video linked below is a good example of how to spread the message that service standard changes and the closure of mail processing facilities will create hardships for individual customers and small businesses. 

10/14/2014 - Management’s drive to sell historic post offices has met resistance in many communities, but none has been more creative – or relentless – than those of Berkeley, CA, where residents have fought the sale of the Main Post Office since 2012.

On Sept. 30, the Berkeley City Council approved a new zoning ordinance that restricts the use of property in the Civic Center Historic District. The new law will make it virtually impossible for the USPS to sell the office to a commercial company.

09/10/2014 - An impassioned community turned out in force on Aug. 27 to a public hearing sponsored by the USPS about plans to “relocate” the College Station Post Office in Central Harlem. The message from participants was unanimous, said Flo Summergrad, a member of New York Metro Area Postal Union: We need College Station open and here.