Postal Service says it’s immune from local traffic laws

Yahoo News ^ | 1 February 2013 | Jason Sickles

[Erik Latranyi]

A government lawyer’s attempt to get dismissed nearly $700 in traffic tickets given to the U.S. Postal Service is being met with a hearty and humorous, Heck no.

In a Jan. 22 letter sent to both the city of East Cleveland, Ohio, and the company that operates the city's photo-enforcement program, Postal Service attorney Jennifer S. Breslin says two school-zone speeding citations and five red-light infractions by postal trucks in December should be ignored.

“In providing mail service across the country, the Postal Service attempts to work within local and state laws and regulations, when feasible,” wrote Breslin, after reminding “To Whom It May Concern” that postal workers promptly deliver over 200 billion pieces of mail annually.

“However, as you are probably aware, the Postal Service enjoys federal immunity from state and local regulation,” she continued.

[CatherineofAragon]

I think our little post office must be, if not a rarity, somewhat unusual. I live in a little rural village in Virginia, and I know the PO employees. They’re all white conservatives, and very hardworking. Mail volume might be down, but this area is growing fast (too fast if you ask me), and the carriers have plenty of work to do....there’s no time for goldbricking.

[JoeProBono]

[muawiyah]

Stamped mail receptacle, metered mail receptacle, relay box.

[JoeProBono]

[ASA Vet]

Most shocking thing I ever found in a collection box.

3 foot live snake.

It was a harmless species. I didn't see the kids who put it there, but they were likely watching.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Ha! If I had to deliver mail in East Cleveland, I wouldn’t stop at stop sign either! And,,, I’d be heavily armed at all times! A “city” to be avoided!

[WhiskeyX]

The following is just a small sample of the available news on this topic:

Feds: Berwyn Mailman Stole Charity Donations
By Casey Cora, August 16, 2012
Former mail carrier swiped nearly $275,00 worth of donations mailed to a local charity, authorities say.
http://oakpark.patch.com/articles/berywn-mail-fraud-charity-donations-stolen

Feds bust Sacramento mail carrier in stolen drugs probe
Published on Mar 10, 2012
SACRAMENTO - A postal worker suspected of stealing prescription drugs from Sacramento military veterans has been arrested following a year-long investigation.
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP5LH_L14p0

Stolen postal packages
Published on Jul 25, 2012
Police believe postal carrier stole express mail packages containing narcotics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh1pRkSvNfY

The mailman stole my newspaper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPVHH42sIK0

Bothell mailman stole gift cards, gets probation
By VANESSA HO, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF
Updated 12:38 pm, Tuesday, June 14, 2011
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Bothell-mailman-stole-gift-cards-gets-probation-1423747.php

Mailman Accussed Of Stealing From Route
Uploaded on Jul 18, 2009
Mailman accused of taking giftcards from people on his route
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3oV4oELfp0

Mailman steals money from mailboxes .
Published on Jun 19, 2009
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM9sSIG-ddQ

May 13, 2009
Mailman Stole Stamps for Mortgage
http://www.courtnewsreport.com/archives/008778.html

[New Jersey Realist]

I’m pretty sure they are immune! Next time you see a mail truck try to find the license. They don’t have one.

[muawiyah]

320,000,000 people in this country and 200,000,000,000 pieces of mail ~ with 500,000 (or fewer) postal workers and there are going to be some stories but USPS has a worldwide reputation or mail integrity.

Let you in on a little secret EVERY INTELLIGENCE agency on the planet gets their mail delivered here from any and all sources. They go to substantial expense to do that ~

[muawiyah]

All postal vehicles have a license plate or two. It's required. However, they issue their own plates and their own numbers. They do not use state plates except special circumstances ~ like running about in South Philly or Wise County Virginia ~ and some places in North Carolina ~ you wouldn't want to give yourself away with a gub'mnt plate.

Look for the inspection sticker ~ it ain't there either.

Department of Defense doesn't hang plates on tanks either.

[New Jersey Realist]

All I see on NJ postal vehicles is a number - no NJ state plate.

[muawiyah]

postal vehicles do not use state plates. there is a us gub'mnt plate, and there have been just po plates ~

USPS owns delivery vehicles, 5 ton trucks, VTRs, seized vehicles, plain old passenger cars and other vehicles of all types ~ i've used a non federal state plate on a vehicle where it was important it not be identified as a government car ~ lest a postal employee be misidentified as a 'revenooer' and get shot at!

For all you guys out there who think Washington actually put down the Whiskey Rebellion, you are wrong ~ he simply started a war neither he nor any other President could ever win. it's still on

[muawiyah]

they also stencil numbers on vehicles ~ particularly if they don’t have plates. those plates last forever though so there’s no sense not using them if you’ve got them.

[WhiskeyX]

You are both engaging in hyperbole. USPS does lose a lot of mail with misdeliveries, and the USPS has thieves working for it as the links prove. USPS also has a great many honest and hardworking employees. It’s true a lost wallet is safe in the post office. Family and friends working at the post office talk about these things quite often. One of the family lost his wallet with $700 in it when it somehow fell into a batch of mail. The USPS workers at the sort facility found and returned it. Nonetheless, crooked postmasters and letter carriers were fired for major crimes, as the $250,000 theft of charity monies demonstrates.

The reputation of the USPS is not in trouble so much by the few felons who have worked for it as it is the spectacularly incompetent management. Ever since the management and supervisors began to be paid better compensation and bonuses for so-called improvements in productivity reports and annual projections, the work environment became extremely toxic and the true productivity has plummeted. The USPS had wasted vast sums of monies on automation, and the automation was incompetently planned and implented. The end result has been ever increasing costs for postage, ever decreasing mail volumes due to higher postage and technological alternatives, massive misdeliveries of mailpieces due to improper sorting by misused automation methods, managerial gaming of the bonuses through abuse of the labor force, and sheer arrogance and stupidity against workers and postal customers. The U.S. Post Office more than a century ago with the technologies of its day picked up and delivered mail up to six times per day. Now the USPS is not competent emough to deliver mail a thousand feet away from its own front doors in 3 to 5 days.

One of the great jokes is how the U.S. Post Office misdelivered an entire post office. A new post office was to be built in Frankfort, Kentucky. It was one of those post offices designed to be a landmark built in beautiful marble. Unfortunately, the U.S. Post Office misdelivered the marble construction materials for the Frankfort, Kentucky Post Office to West Frankfort, Illinois instead. To remedy the problem and avoid shipping two marble post offices to West Frankfort, Illinois, the U.S. Post Office shipped the marble construction materials designed for the new West Frankfort, Illinois to Frankfort, Kentucky. Ever since I heard that story from the U.S. Post Office managemen, I always have to smile when someone gets defensive about whether or not the USPS misdelivers mail.

There are a great many great people who exercise the patience of saints while dealing with an increasingly dysfunctional USPS management. They deserve much better, and many of these folks are heroes. Unfortunately for your desire to defend their reputations, thre are a few hieves, some poor excuses for postal workers, and too many supervisory and management people who are grossly incompetent, lacking in commonsense, and lacking in common decency. This problem was recently highlighted in a news story about a USPS letter carrier who stepped over the body of a customer onhis front porch to deliver the mail in the mailbox beside the front door. The customer had suffered a medical emergency the night before and collapsed unconcious on the steps at his front door while trying to get help. The man was still alive the next day when the letter carrier stepped over him without bothering to help or reporting the emergency. If the letter carrier had used commonsense and common decency, the paramedics could have saved his life.

The USPS has some very great people working for it, but they cannot do their jobs properly because their management cannot handle the responsibilities.

[Jet Jaguar]

Bump