Finds It Unbelievbable That USPS Covers 100 Percent Of Health Insurance For 835 Top Execs
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Postal Service pays 100 percent of health insurance premiums for 835 of its top employees, an expensive perk that occurs at no other federal agency, Senator Susan Collins, Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, confirmed Friday.
The additional information comes one day after Senator Collins released the findings of three investigations of the Postal Service (USPS) by the Postal Inspector General (IG), which she had requested to determine whether the agency could realize additional efficiencies and cost savings in three areas: employee benefits, purchasing policies, and the area and district field office structure.
Upon further questioning of the IG’s office on Friday, Senator Collins learned that as of June 4, 2010, the USPS was paying 100 percent of health benefit premiums for 835 employees. The perk covers employees in the following categories: Postal Career Executives, Executive & Administrative, Other Executives levels, Postal Regulatory Commission, and Office of Inspector General Directors. She also confirmed that no other federal agency pays 100 percent of employee health insurance premiums.
“It is unbelievable to me that the Postal Service – awash in red ink and asking for huge postal rate hikes, service reductions and relief from its financial obligations – is paying the full health care premiums for its top executives,” said Senator Collins, whose committee has oversight jurisdiction of the Postal Service.
The findings of the audits released yesterday illustrated stunning evidence of contract mismanagement, ethical lapses, financial waste, and excessive executive perks that cost the Postal Service more than $800 million a year in unnecessary costs.
Among the disturbing deficiencies uncovered by the IG are that:
· the USPS awarded 359 contracts to former Postal Service executives without competition. In three cases that the IG examined most closely, the former employees were hired at nearly twice their former pay to advise new executives, a practice which the IG found raised serious ethical concerns and hurts employee morale;
·the Postal Service pays 100 percent of its senior executives’ health benefits, a perk that is not provided to comparable employees in any federal agency;
·postal employees participate in many of the same health insurance and life insurance programs as federal employees, yet the Postal Services pays a greater share of the premiums;
·the Postal Service’s contract management did not protect the USPS from waste, fraud, and abuse;
·the Postal Service could not even identify how many contracts were awarded without competition, and the IG found that 35 percent of the no-bid contracts lacked justification; and
·significant savings could be achieved by consolidating the USPS’s area and district field offices.
Archive: Postal Execs Compensation & Perks Reported Last Year
All our politicians are very quick to mention that postal employees pay less for health care premiums than other federal employees. They always fail to mention that there is no locality pay for postal workers. As a postal worker I would be very happy to pay the extra 6% for health care in return for the extra 23% of my base pay for living in New York that other federal workers recieve.
Granted, in the overall scheme of things I am still a newcomer to the post office. I have only been there 7 years. When I first started, I LOVED my job. In the last year, however, that has all changed. I dread going to work to face the abuse, the stupidity and the overall atmosphere of the post office-and where does that come from? Not my co-workers, but the management. 3 of our area leaders just got busted for playing golf on company time-did they lose their jobs? NO! Another supervisor blatantly admitted to making up a LOW and placing in an employee’s file-and he will probably get promoted for that! Now, on a positive note, the post office is still the best paying job out there,(trust me on this, I’ve had a lot of other jobs) but must we use all that extra pay on coping methods just so we can continue to show up for work each day? When are the folks in Washington going to wise up? Get rid of Saturday delivery? MAYBE! But get rid of the excess baggage in upper management and all the waste that goes along with it FIRST and then we’ll talk!
This story just goes to show that oversight agencies – OIG, and oversight congressional committees are worth a damn. Workers and Unions have been screeming for years to these deaf and hard of hearingoversight agencies/commitees without any success. They are only touching the tip of the iceburg at the USPS. This aint nothing but a dog a pony show! They will only delve so deep into the fraud, waste, and abuse just to get their name in the paper, since the USPS is headline news at the moment. If anyone was sincerely concerned at the current moment, they would investigate the OIG and the Congressional Committee for not discovering these overt criminal acts years ago. It isn’t like no one ever told them about it.
Bravo, Senator Collins! I do so appreciate your going to bat for us, we have been saying this for years. Being one of the many victims of this ill-conceived excessing, it absolutely enrages me to see the number of supervisors increasing. And doing what? Walking around with clipboards, playing on the computer, etc. Way too many chiefs compared to the number of Indians. I am hopeful that you will be able to do something to correct this…it’s high time!
The Fish Rots From The Head Down !!!
gee we the employees that actual work to move the mail have only been telling our congressmen and women and senators this for about 20 years now ?
but they dont believe us they have to spend years in debate to figure it out in an election year huh???idiots all of them
while our health care premiums continue to rise everyyear since i became a regular carrier they are getting it all for free to do nothing all day long
I assume this is coming to Senator Collins attention now because the PO is asking for concessions and she is trying to get to the bottom of it. Yes it has been happening for years but now has reached critical levels such as with the rest of the economy. And just like every other large corporation, company etc, crooks are oozing out of the wood work. They have been there for years on the cash feeding frenzy. The really sad part is so many employees knew it, saw it, some spoke up, some didnt. No one really listened and it took alot of red tape to get to the top of the matter. Lack of communication has always been a major problem with the PO.
The managers hired to do a job do not fully understand their job description. I feel there should be some transparency with that. I feel supervisors, managers, postmasters should have a required “continued learning” process like MD’s and the health care field. If you want to go up the ladder, prove yourself! The PO has some really, really great workers who can make a difference in leadership but are not willing to corrupt their work ethics by joining the current ranks of management. Most of us just dont understand this “breed” of contemptuous leadership. But we stay employed because we enjoy the benefits of our job. Kudos to you Senator Collins, get to the real meat of the matter, and please make the necessary adjustments, its obvious now isnt it?
How dishonest, and unfair, they make all the money, do none of the work (they don’t touch the mail) and we are paying 100% of their health costs, what a rip off make them pay this money back . We are losing money, we cannot afford to keep paying for their perks and closing down facilities
Talk about mismangment in Washington D.C. I find is ratter mind blowing that Senator Collins is finding out about this TYPE of audit after all of these years. How long has she been in Washington D. C. with her coming from the great state of Vermont. I have been with the postal service almost 24 years. Since 1986, PMG’s and their senior management has been coming up with lets try this or that and see if it sticks to the wall. Every time they try something new it be -comes and out right failure. Why has PMG Potter been at the helm of the USPS for such a long period of time? With the quarter reports reflecting losses in the billions of dollars.
Why hasn’t the White House fire the PMG by now ?
SO MUCH FOR THE OVERSIGHT JURISDICTION COMMITEE FOR THE USPS
ESPECIALLY FOR SENATOR TOM CARPER OF DELAWARE WITH HIS POST ACT FOR 2010. ANOTHER LETS SEE IF THIS WILL STICK TO THE WALL,BS. THEN WE CAN TURN THE BIILLION INTO TRILLONS.
Bravo! Except the health premiums paid to Postal Employees are negotiated by contract. … and that is going up a bit due to our union understanding health costs.
Look deeper into managements excesses and you will discover offensives punishable by jail and fines. Its time to fire the PMG and his staff.
Remember when we used to get $2 each from the USPS at Christmas towards a party/Xmas dinner? more like we paid for it! Then it went down to stink-in popcorn, hell the last few years we don’t even get the freaking popcorn!! but I would be willing to bet that Management and for-sure HEADQUARTERS gets $$$$$$$$ for CHRISTMAS!! in the name of Performance!! what a JOKE! we do all the work and they get the money for the parties!! WHAT”S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE???
You move on, What are you afraid of??? The TRUTH!!!
Every time management accross the country has any kind of meeting they always have catered food .Another expense that adds to the list of perks.When they relocate to another area,same thing-put it on the bill! Free food all the time,with nothing accomplished in their so called meetings.Look how fat Potter is!
Move along now,nothing to see here.
What else is new?? I hope that idiot Congressman or woman Issa and Casper reads these findings from OIG.. 800 million dollars of benefits and contracts. WOW!!! That money could’ve been used to let my union brothers and sisters retire early… Please Mr. Buress and the rest of the clerks and rural carriers union.. DO NOT BACK DOWN FROM FAT ASS POTTER!!! We have the information and figures.. Get and go after everything your members are asking for. The Mailhandlers and letter carriers are next year. We will not cave in!!! They have the money to pay us and to keep the Postal Service running strong for years!!! Vote Democrat my brothers and sisters!!! Republicans hate the middle class..
How is it that almost every Senior Manager gets a Company (P,O,) Car? Why can’t they use their own car like the rest of us, and get reimbursed for mileage? That right there would save a ton of money!! Also why are they throwing away good shelves, cabinets,chairs,desk?? I mean to Waste Management, we pay them to haul it away and they get to collect from the good scrap metal, or what ever they are doing with this GOOD stuff, that should never have been thrown in the first place.. OH YEAH!! what about all of the (60 inch) flat screen TVS they have all over the P&DC’S (at least 20 in each facility) that are just a WASTE!! Maybe they should sell raffle tickets to employees for $20 each to win the TVS to at least try to get some of their money back!! WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK OF THIS IDEA?? FELLOW CO-WORKERS?? If you agree, lets do something about it…
WE NEED NEW LEADERSHIP!!! “A New PostmasterGeneral” and a TOTAL CLEAN SWEEP @ HEADQUARTERS!! Put them all in JAIL!!
I say bust Potter down to carrying the mail. He can’t run the big house, maybe he could service the little houses. Remember, we aren’t anthing more than overpaid newspaper carriers, so maybe he qualifies.He could show us how to do the job and in less time, and less money. Show us the way I say.
Corruption from the top to the bottom. I’ve been complaining for YEARS that even in our own little l0 employee office that there is not enough work for the postmaster let alone his “supervisor”. THERE IS NOTHING FOR THEM TO DO.
They are constantly goofing off. When one of them is “off”. They call in a cute little 204B who doesn’t KNOW how to do anything! They do this for appearance sake.
They constantly stand around talking/eating/laughing. Nice people, but come on, nickle and diming the carriers but wasting 75000 on an unnecessary postion.
and??? what are they going to do about it? nothing
I have been writing to all sorts of people about the waste in my facility. NO ONE will listen. You now have my e-mail address Sen. Collins, please write to me and I will shed some light on about one million dollars worth of waste! Does any one in the Post Office really care to do anything about it? I doubt anything happens to the upper ranks getting their perks. Just business as usual.
And Potter continues to blame the Unions for the high cost of running the Postal Service. He should be fired or forced to resign with no other compenstation. That will send a message to everyone that the Postal Service is on the mend and not on death row
In any other big corporation the top executive would have been fired long ago for such misconduct, mishandling, and inefficiency. why have these executives been allowed to remain at their post and continue to screw up the system?
Senators pointing out waste, fraud, and abuse.
What’s wrong Senator? You don’t like the competition??
Gee Senator if this was to be “ground breaking”, earth shattering”, “SHOCKING” news…..it isn’t! Those of us “employees” that actually work, actually touch the mail…should really “keep” our perk of having more of our healthcare paid than other federal workers. And if you doubt I actually work, come on down to Florida…will be more than happy to have you on my route…be sure to wear some good “sneakers”, and bring LOTS of water…gets a tad hot down here at times….LOL
After 30 years of mis-management, the OIG’s now come forward with this report. Bet nobody loses their job and nobody faces charges for blatant thievery!!!
Thank you for making this information available to us. The USPS has been closing facilities all across the country and have reduced the customer service that residents of our country have been accustomed to having. Our founding fathers founded the postal service as a service to the people, not as a profit making company. Back in those days, they had the right idea of community and costomer service, but people that are running the Postal Service now have lost any concept of customer service. Post offices accross the country are short staffing their window services because the postal service seems to want to destroy the USPS instead of encourage residents to continue to use this organization that was created for them for their communication needs. I hope that shedding light on this issue will help save the USPS from continuing to negatively affect the residents and communities of this country through continuing to close facilities and continuing to reduce job availablility in those areas. Thank you Senator Collins, and I hope the you continue to work toward correcting the shocking policies and procedures used by the the Postal Service Executives.
It’s about freaking time. Now…..what’s going to be done about it??? The “little” employees have been complaining about this for years and their complaints just fell on deaf ears. Reduce…cut…eliminate “White Collar” executives and employees at Headquarters and the District/Area offices NOW!!!!
so its no surprise that the oig is right up the po’s butt and supv are allowed to get away with just about anything????? keep digging.. you will find more dirt on these guys.. and cant wait to hear potter say he had no idea what was going on..haha.. kinda like the perk he got on his mortgage???????
So what else is new?
dig deeper and find more corruption at the top…yet they blame all the financial problems on the workers….
justice when? Never!