National Assoc. of Postal Supervisors - 2012 Legislative Briefing

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2012 Legislative Briefng

National Association of Postal Supervisors



National Associationof Postal Supervisors

R epResenting neaRly 30,000 active and RetiRed

postal supeRvisoRs, manageRs and postmasteRs

and the laRgeR postal community of

moRe than thRee million voting postal families



NAPS 2012 Legislative Briefng 1

The National Association o Postal Supervisors urges

Congress to address two broad, important issues.

First, NAPS urges urge Congress to enact comprehen-

sive legislation that xes the Postal Service’s nancial

crisis and creates a oundation or modernization.

Second, NAPS urges Congress to resist pressure to re-

quire postal employees and retirees to pay more or

smaller retirement and health benets, given the sacric-

es they have already made on behal o decit reduction.

1. Enact Sensible Postal Reorm That RestoresUSPS Financial Stability

Congress clearly must act to cure the problems caused

by the 2006 postal law that have contributed to the Postal

Service’s massive losses in recent years. The nancial

crisis aficting the Postal Service was largely caused by

Congress and its burdensome 10-year schedule o retiree

health preunding payments; it is up to Congress to x

that preunding obligation.

I Congress ails to act, the Postal Service will lurch

closer to insolvency. The Postal Service now proposes

to achieve $20 billion in cost savings by 2015 that will

dramatically impact mail service, closing over 250 mail

processing plants and thousands o post oces. These

actions will slow the mail, diminish the presence o the

Postal Service in thousands o communities, and enlarge

the likelihood o even greater nancial losses. The na-

tion’s recovering economy will be damaged by the loss o

tens o thousands o jobs associated with these process-

ing plant and post oce closures, as well as many times

more jobs in the larger mailing community.

NAPS advocates ve key postal reorms that would:

• Reduce or Eliminate the Retiree Health PrefundingRequirement

• Return Pension Overfunding to the Postal Service and

Use the Proceeds to Provide Retirement Incentives

• Preserve 1-3 Day Delivery Standards and Overnight

Local Delivery

• Rightsize the Mail Processing and Transportation

Networks

• Authorize the Postal Service to Offer New Business

Products

2. Oppose Cuts in Postal Retirement and

Health Benefts

Numerous proposals are pending in the Congress that

would require postal employees and retirees to pay more

or less in connection with their retirement and health

care benets.

A key ingredient in attracting and retaining a high-qual-

ity workorce lies in providing competitive compensa-

tion, including good retirement and health care benets.

These proposals will substantially diminish the value o

attractive compensation packages that postal workers

receive. Cutting retirement and health care benets will

undercut the productivity o the Postal Service and un-

dermine its ability to attract and retain the best and the

brightest employees.

Postal employees and retirees are willing to contribute

their fair share toward decit reduction. But dispropor -

tionate sacrice is not only unair, it is wrong. NAPS and

its members vigorously oppose proposals that would bal-

ance the nation’s nancial ledger on the backs o postal

and ederal workers and retirees.

NAPS Legislative Issues BriefngExecutive Summary



2 NAPS 2012 Legislative Briefng

IntroductionThe Postal Service holds a cherished place in our coun-

try’s history, and serves a uniquely valuable role in our

nation’s economy. Financed only by postage and not

taxpayer unds, the Postal Service operates at the center

o a $1 trillion mailing industry that employs nearly 8.7

million people, the majority o them in the private sec-

tor. Last year 557,000 Postal Service employees worked

to ensure the delivery o 168 billion pieces o mail to

more than 150 million households and businesses in

the United States, oten at record-breaking perormance

levels. The annual number o addresses serviced by

the Postal Service increased by more than 636,000 last

year alone.

Nonetheless, the Postal Service aces a real and grow-

ing crisis. Its nances have deteriorated over the past

ve years, creating $25.4 billion in cumulative losses

between FY 2007 and FY 2011. The Postal Service is

approaching its $15 billion debt limit. The popular, but

not entirely accurate, explanation or the Postal Service’s

problems is the rise o electronic communication and the

eroding impact o the internet upon mail. While the trend

toward digital communication is playing an increasing

role, its impact has been modest compared to other ac-

tors. The deep economic recession and the retiree health

preunding payments that began in 2007 have been ar

more devastating to the Postal Service than the internet.

Without doubt, the oremost cause o the nancial crisis

aficting the Postal Service has been the 10-year series

o retiree health preunding payments required o the

Postal Service by Congress, as established by the 2006

postal law. But for those overly aggressive payments, the

Postal Service would have remained in the black in three

o the last ve years.

Congress clearly must act to cure the problems caused

by the 2006 postal law that have contributed to the Postal

Service’s massive losses in recent years. The nancial

crisis aficting the Postal Service was largely caused by

Congress; it is up to Congress to x it.

The nation can wait no longer. I Congress ails to act,the Postal Service will slide closer to insolvency.

The Postal Service currently proposes to achieve $20 bil-

lion in cost savings by 2015, in part by closing 223 mail

processing plants and thousands o post oces. These

actions will slow the mail, diminish the presence o the

Postal Service in thousands o communities, and enlarge

the likelihood o even greater nancial losses. The na-

tion’s recovering economy will be aggravated by the loss

o tens o thousands o jobs created by these processing

plant and post oce closures.

The National Association o Postal Supervisors, in its

role representing nearly 30,000 postal supervisors, man-

agers and postmasters (both current and retired), under-

stands the severe challenges the Postal Service aces.

NAPS members manage and direct the processing and

delivery o mail at mail processing acilities and post o-

ces, as well as oversee maintenance and support ser-

vices throughout the Postal Service.

Sensible legislative action by the Congress designed to

address the causes o the crisis – not massive cutbacks

in postal acilities and services – can put the Postal Ser-vice back on its eet and help modernize its nances

and operations.

This Issue Brief explains why the Congress must act and

what the Congress should do.

Background: How the Postal Service Got Mired

in Crisis

The Postal Service does not rely on tax dollars and is

sustained by largely by postage revenue from mail. Mail

volume thus is the critical ingredient that infuences the

nancial health o the Postal Service. For decades the

Postal Service relied on steadily increasing mail volume

to keep postage rates low. Mail volume was increasing

steadily, strongly enough that it absorbed the increased

costs o service to the widening numbers o business and

household addresses in America, more than a hal-mil-

lion more each year.

Enact Sensible Postal Reorm That RestoresUSPS Financial Stability




However, mail volume – and the Postal Service business

model itsel -- began to collapse ve years ago, as the

chart below illustrates. Postal Service mail volume has

dropped precipitously over the past ve years. In 2011

mail volume was down 21 percent since its peak in scal

year 2006 at more than 213 billion pieces. A drop of this

magnitude had not been witnessed since the Great De-

pression. The recession in the housing, nance and retail

sectors – which are among the largest commercial mail-

ers – contributed largely to the volume decline.

First Class mail, the Postal Service’s most protable mail

category, has allen almost 25 percent since its 2001

peak, and declines are accelerating, as the chart below il-

lustrates. This has shited mail volume to a less protable

mix. As a result, Postal Service revenue in real dollar

terms has allen over 15 percent since peaking in 2007.At the same time, electronic alternatives to physical

mail – including email, cell phones, electronic document

delivery, e-bill pay, online banking and internet adver-

tising – continue to erode traditional mail volumes at a

steady rate.

For the past two years, the Postal Service has suered

severe nancial losses. It generated nearly $5 billion in

losses in 2011, ollowing a record $8.5 billion in losses

in 2010. The oremost contributor to these losses was

not the economy or the internet. The greatest cause o

these losses was the obligation o the Postal Service to

preund its future retirees’ health benets at a cost o ap-

proximately $5.6 billion per year or 10 years. Absent the

preunding requirement, the Postal Service would have

been in the black or three o the last ve years. Congress

established the preunding requirement in the postal re-

orm law it passed in 2006 – the Postal Accountability

and Enhancement Act (PAEA). Budget scoring require-

ments were the driver that caused Congress to impose

such an aggressive ten-year schedule o preunding pay-

ments upon the Postal Service.

Successive annual losses by the Postal Service these past

two years have generated liquidity concerns. The Postal

Service has acquired $13 billion in debt and nears its

$15 billion debt limit. The Postal Service will be hard-

pressed to satisy the $11 billion in retiree health pre-

unding payments it owes in 2012, including $4.5 billion

that it deerred in 2011.

Accordingly, the Postal Service has pursued several

major cost-reduction initiatives to address its nancial

predicament. Over the last six years it has reduced its

workorce by 240,000 employees, including 8,000 ewer

management employees. Over that same period, the Post-

al Service has also reduced the number o mail process-

ing acilities rom 675 to 508. The most controversial

closure eorts have involved USPS initiatives to close

thousands o post oces and hundreds o mail process-

ing plants, as part o a three-year $20 billion cost-cutting

eort.

Moratorium on Closures o Post Ofces and

Mail Processing Plants

In July 2011, the Postal Service announced that it would

close approximately 3,650 post ofces – primarily locat-

ed in rural and suburban areas – that the Postal Service

says operate at a loss. In December 2011, the Postal Ser -

vice also announced a preliminary plan, subject to ur-

ther study, to close 252 mail processing acilities, nearly

hal o its entire nationwide mail-processing network, or

cost-savings reasons.

Source: U.S. Postal Service, “USPS Financial Future,” February 2012.




Because the mail processing facility closures will create

greater distances or mail to be transported or process-

ing, slowing mail delivery times, the Postal Service also

sought to reduce its mail service standards, particularly

for First Class Mail, to allow next-day mail to be deliv-

ered in two or three days. Delivery of periodicals would

slow down as well. Overnight local delivery of First

Class Mail would be eliminated.

Negative reaction rom Congress to these post oce and

processing plant closings and related changes prompted

the Postal Service on December 15, 2011 to impose a

ve-month moratorium on acility closings that extends

until May 15, 2012. The moratorium gives the Congress

more time to reach agreement on comprehensive postal

reorm legislation, as well as the Postal Service and its

unions on the completion o labor contract negotiations.

During the moratorium, the Postal Regulatory Commis-

sion on December 23, 2011 rendered a non-binding neg-

ative advisory opinion on the Postal Service’s methods

and data or identiying potential post oces or closure.

The Postal Service has not indicated what, i any, reme-

dial eorts it will undertake to reconsider the original

closure list of 3,650 rural post ofces.

Despite the moratorium, the Postal Service has proceed -

ed with planning eorts associated with closures. Fol-

lowing study and numerous public hearings in communi-

ties around the country, the Postal Service on February23 announced that it would close 223 processing facili-

ties or merge them with nearby locations.

The Postal Regulatory Commission also is reviewing

whether the processing acility closures and reductions

in mail service standards would have a nation-wide im-

pact on the mail system. The PRC is not expected to is-

sue its non-binding advisory opinion in the matter until

July at the earliest.

Postal Legislation in Congress

These developments have created heightened interest inCongress over the Postal Service and ways to alleviate

its difculties. Nearly 30 bills have been introduced in

the House of Representatives and the Senate addressing

the Postal Service and its operations. The two chie bills

arising in the House and Senate are:

• The Postal Reform Act of 2011 (H.R. 2309). Intro-

duced by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Rep. Dennis

Ross (R-FL). It was approved, as amended, by the

House Committee on Oversight and Government Re-

form on October 13, 2011. It awaits oor action.

• The 21st Century Postal Service Act of 2012 (S.

1789). Introduced by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). It was approved, as

amended, by the Senate Committee on Homeland

Security and Governmental Aairs on November 9,

2011. It awaits foor action.

NAPS opposes the House bill, H.R. 2309. The bill will

destroy the Postal Service’s most important assets: uni-

versal service throughout the country; its capacity to

continue as a provider o good-paying middle class jobs;

employment or returning veterans; and a government

presence in every community in the country.

H.R. 2309 creates unnecessary and additional costs,adds bureaucracy and undermines the security and in-

tegrity of the mail system. By providing the pathway for

privatization o the protable parts o the current postal

system, the measure will make service to rural areas ar

more costly. This will cause service reductions and add

greater costs to assure continued service to rural areas,

whether by USPS or private means.

NAPS believes the Senate bill, S. 1789, represents

the more favorable approach between the House and

Senate bills toward comprehensive and lasting postal

reform. At the same time, S. 1789 should be strength-ened in several respects, which we describe below.

Ongoing efforts by a group of about two-dozen Senators

since December have been devoted toward strengthening

S. 1789 in several key respects. NAPS supports those

eorts and believes that comprehensive postal reorm

legislation should x the preunding problem, reimburse

the Postal Service or its pension overpayments, assure

universal service, and provide a business oundation or

the Postal Service to remain a vibrant institution in the

twenty-rst century.

NAPS believes there are ve key solutions:

• Reduce or Eliminate the Retiree Health Prefunding

Requirement

• Return Pension Overfunding to the Postal Se-

vice and Use the Proceeds to Provide Retirement

Incentives




• Preserve 1-3 Day Delivery Standards and Over-

night Local Delivery

• Rightsize the Mail Processing and Transportation

Networks

• Authorize the Postal Service to

Offer New Business Products

These ve elements will stabilize

the nancial health o the Postal

Service and provide a oundation

or new business in the digital age.

Each of these ve elements is de-

scribed below.

1. Reduce or Eliminate the

Retiree Health Preunding

Requirement

During the current nancial cri-

sis, Congress should suspend the

preunding requirement until the

Postal Service is nancially stable

enough to satisy preunding, even

at reduced levels.

No other business or government agency is required to

pre-und its uture retiree health care benets like the

Postal Service. While preunding, in principle, is a pru-

dent measure or assuring that uture retiree obligations

can be successully met, the aggressiveness o the prepay-

ment schedule established in 2006 by Congress (solely to

satisfy PAEA budget scoring requirements) has been far

greater than possible or the USPS to satisy, as the chart

below illustrates.

This mandate costs USPS between $5.4 and $5.8 billion

per year, and it accounts or 100 percent o the Postal

Service’s 13 billion debt. Without it, the USPS would

still have signicant borrowing authority with the United

States Treasury to ride out tough economic times.

Under the 2006 postal law, the Postal Service is mandated to

make six more mandated uture retiree health benets pay-

ments rom FY 2011 through FY 2016, as the chart above

shows. These payments amount to $34 billion, and will

comprise a signicant portion (more than 7%) o the

Postal Service’s approximately $75 billion annualoperating expenses.

The House bill (H.R. 2309) would maintain as is this

costly and burdensome requirement that is certain to

drive the Postal Service into bankruptcy. More reason-

ably, the Senate bill (S. 1789) would reduce the annual

retiree health benet obligations by hal, based on a lon-

ger, 40-year amortized payment schedule. It would also

reduce the pre-unding goal to 80%.

NAPS believes that sound public policy overwhelm-

ingly supports terminating these prefunding pay-

ments because adequate reserves already exist.

Preunding at the right time under reasonable terms rep-

resents a prudent goal or assuring USPS nancial secu-

rity and the availability o uture retiree health benets.

This is not the right time in the lie o the Postal Service

for prefunding. The Retiree Health Benet Fund has

continued to grow as a result o preunding payments,

and now has reached $44 billion in assets. The Ofce

Source: James I. Campbell, Jr., “Return to Sender: Reforms for the Failing Postal

Service,” Nov. 4, 2011.




o Inspector General o the Postal Service has projected,

in act, that the level o assets is so sucient that, with-

out urther Postal Service payments, the Fund’s reserves

could grow through investment in Treasury securities

and reach ully unded status in eleven years.

2. Return Pension Overunding to the Postal

Service and Use the Proceeds to Provide Re-

tirement Incentives

According to the Ofce of Personnel Management’s lat-

est calculation, the Postal Service is entitled to a reim-

bursement o billions o dollars it has overpaid into its

two pension accounts for CSRS and FERS employees.

These payments were intended to satisy its employer

obligation to the pensions o its employees. The amount

of FERS overfunding has grown to $11.4 billion and the

amount of CSRS overfunding to $2 billion.

Both the House and Senate bills would give the Postal

Service access to the pension overpayment money – es-

timated at $13B – and use it to offer buyouts or retire-

ment incentives to reduce the active postal workorce,

potentially by as many as 100,000 positions over the next

several years.

NAPS supports the use of buyouts and retirement in-

centives to promote sensible right-sizing of the postal

workforce. The use of excess CSRS and FERS funds

to nance incentives to assist the Postal Service in re-

ducing its overall stafng levels makes sense. At thesame time, Congress needs to assure that the Postal Ser-

vice has a sucient transitional plan to assure timely and

ecient delivery service. The capability o the Postal

Service to trim 100,000 or more employees without jeop-

ardizing service standards is questionable; already postal

operations are understaed and there is high overtime

usage where stang is not balanced.

3. Preserve 1-3 Day Delivery Standards and

Overnight Local Delivery

The Postal Service intends to close 223 mail processing

acilities throughout the country, reducing the number o acilities by nearly 50%. The Postal Service’s plan would

move processing responsibilities rom closed acilities

to other remaining acilities to reduce operating costs.

Achievement o these goals relies upon the lowering o

current service standards by eliminating overnight ser-

vice commitment for First Class Mail. These reductions

would result in a substantial decline in the reliable and

expedient postal service that Americans have come to

expect. Forty percent of all First Class Mail is delivered

overnight in virtually every part o the country.

For example, mail that is dropped in the mailbox in Al-

exandria, Virginia on a Monday is currently delivered

throughout the Washington metropolitan area the ollow-

ing day, Tuesday. The Postal Service succeeds in getting

all local mail in the Washington area delivered the next

day over 96 percent o the time. With the elimination o

overnight First Class delivery, however, the same mail

sent on Monday from Alexandria, Virginia will not be

delivered in the Washington area until Wednesday. This

means that for the rst time in its 235-year history, the

Postal Service will have undamentally altered its opera-

tions by slowing down the mail, not speeding it up. The

loss o a reliable First Class overnight service level will

harm the entire postal system and many o its custom-

ers, driving some away, and increasingly more over time.

This will contribute to a death spiral with disastrous con-

sequences or the Postal Service.

Neither the House bill (H.R. 2309) or the Senate bill (S.

1789) do anything to stop the Postal Service’s plan to

diminish its First Class Mail service standards. They do

nothing to prevent the closure o the Postal Service’s mail

processing acilities. The Senate bill only requires the

Postal Service to complete a study prior to the closure o

a processing acility. The study must evaluate the option

o downsizing rather than closing the acility. The bill

also guarantees the opportunity or public comment and

requires the Postal Service to identiy and document the

important actors have been considered prior to closure.

The Postal Service‘s plans to dismantle much o its mail

processing network will impact thousands o postal

employees, including large numbers o veterans and

disabled veterans. Approximately 25% o the Postal

Service’s 590,000 employees are veterans o our armed

forces. Many of these veterans are employed at Postal

service mail processing acilities. Although veteran

preerence protections insulate veterans in many postal

workorce realignment situations, there are limitations

on the “bumping rights” o veterans under reduction-in-

force (RIF) procedures, which will apply to the closure

o mail processing acilities. Veterans do not have the

same “bumping rights” that are aorded when a acility

remains open and positions are reduced.




Furthermore, the Postal Service’s contractual commit-

ments to APWU under its new contract will complicate

the relocation o displaced postal employees. The new

agreement places signicant restrictions on the reassign-

ment o employees impacted by a acility closure or con-

solidation where the movement o jobs is over 50 miles.

The closure of 223 processing facilities will impact thou-

sands o employees who are subject to the provisions

(Article 12, Section 5) o the national agreement be-

tween the Postal Service and APWU. The reassignment

process will be time-consuming and expensive, requir-

ing the payment o travel pay and commuting expenses

or as much as six months ollowing the closure.

The House and Senate postal bills need to be

strengthened by mandating the preservation of cur-

rent service standards guaranteeing the delivery of

First Class mail within 1-3 days. The Postal Service

cannot aord to disappoint its customers by allowing de-

livery times to appreciably slip. The Postal Service does

not exist in a vacuum; it competes or market share with

private services that have the capacity to oer convenient

and expedient delivery. I the Postal Service becomes in-

convenient and slow, many o its most loyal customers –

rom home delivery medication companies to newspaper

publishers – will turn to private mailing options. Once

these customers leave, they are most likely not returning,

and the Postal Service’s nancial woes will continue to

spiral downward.

4. Rightsize the Mail Processing and Transpor-

tation Networks

NAPS believes that the Postal Service should develop a

plan to downsize the current acilities and maintain the

current network with ewer and more widely dispersed

closures to continue to provide overnight delivery o First

Class Mail in metropolitan areas. Through the develop-

ment o a plan to “right size” the stang levels o current

processing acilities, the Postal Service could maintain

service standards, assure the continued employment o

thousands o American workers, including military veter-ans, and avoid the problems that will be encountered in

relocating thousands o clerical employees in compliance

with the National Agreement with APWU.

S. 1789 should be strengthened to require the Postal

Service to pursue maximum implementation of right-

sizing approaches – not closures. Maintenance of

processing facilities at lower operational and work -

force levels will sustain more jobs, assure satisfac-

tion of current service standards and achieve savings.

The Postal Regulatory Commission should have the

authority to prevent the closure or consolidation of

facilities if it nds that the Postal Service’s review

process is awed, or that service performance will be

adversely impacted.

5. Authorize the Postal Service to Oer New

Business Products

NAPS supports the broad conerral o authority to the

Postal Service to grow its business. NAPS believes the

Postal Service needs to look as aggressively at ways to

generate new revenue as it is pursuing eciencies in

mail processing and delivery. In many respects, this can

be best accomplished through public-private and inter-

governmental partnerships.

The Senate bill (S. 1789) is helpul in authorizing thePostal Service to oer non-postal products or services i

the Postal Regulatory Commission has determined that

the products and services: make use o USPS’s process-

ing, transportation, delivery, retail network, or technol-

ogy; are consistent with the public interest and a dem-

onstrated demand or the Postal Service to oer them;

do not create unair competition with the private sector;

and have the potential to improve the Postal Service’s

nancial condition. The bill also would also allow the

Postal Service to oer services on behal o state and

local governments as it does today on behal o ederal

agencies, and to ship wine and beer like its private-sector

competitors do.

But Congress should go further. Numerous ways exist

for leveraging the Postal Service’s presence in every

community to generate new sales. The Postal Service

could: provide notary services, internet services; is-

sue state licenses (drivers licenses, hunting licenses,

shing licenses); contract with state and local agen-

cies to provide services; and follow the practices of

foreign postal services in responding to the shift to-

ward electronic mail by offering a variety of hybrid

communication services, including banking.

NAPS supports ocused, intensive eort to assist the

Postal Service in reinventing its business model. NAPS

believes Congress should establish a blue ribbon com-

mission composed o entrepreneurs, representatives o

labor and small businesses to provide recommendations

on how the Postal Service can generate new revenue to

succeed in the 21st Century.







Numerous proposals are pending in the Congress that

would require ederal and postal employees and retirees

to pay more or less in connection with their retirement

and health care benets. These proposals, or example,

would:

• Increase the amount that postal and ederal contribute

to their pensions

• Eliminate the dened benet component in FERS

• Reduce the FERS minimum supplement for

individuals not subject to mandatory retirement

• Install a high-ve average salary calculation or annui-

ties, replacing the current high-three calculation

• Use the less generous “chained CPI” measurement to

calculate retiree COLAs

• Convert the FEHBP to a “premium support system”

• Repeal use of unused sick leave for retirement

These proposals will destroy the value o attractive

compensation packages that ederal and postal work-

ers receive. A key ingredient in attracting and retaining

a high-quality workorce lies in providing competitive

compensation, including good retirement and health care

benets. Cutting retirement and health care benets will

undermine the productivity o the Postal Service and the

ederal government and detract rom their ability to at-

tract and retain the best and the brightest employees. As

the Postal Service and the ederal government increas-

ingly seek to do more with less, the race or talent be-

comes increasingly important.

Postal employees and retirees are willing to contribute

their fair share toward decit reduction. But dispropor -

tionate sacrice is not only unair, it is wrong. Federal

and postal workers already have contributed $75 billion

toward decit reduction, through the current civil ser-

vice pay reeze now in its second year and the scheduled

commencement o higher contributions toward retire-

ment benets by ederal and postal employees hired ater

December 31, 2012. In addition, postal management em-

ployees, including postal supervisors and postmasters,

have not seen their base salaries rise and over the last

two years, and are unlikely to see them rise this year yet

again. The Postal Service pay-or-perormance system,

which provided the opportunity or exceptional work to

be rewarded even in tough times, has been rozen be-

cause o the nancial problems o the Postal Service.

NAPS and its members vigorously oppose Congressional

proposals that would balance the nation’s nancial ledger

on the backs o postal and ederal workers and retirees.

Oppose Cuts in Federal Retirementand Health Benefts







What is NAPS?The National Association o Postal Supervisors (NAPS)

is a management association representing nearly 30,000

active and retired postal supervisors, managers, and

postmasters employed by the United States Postal

Service. Organized in 1908, NAPS exists to improve the

Postal Service and the pay, benets and working conditions

o its members. NAPS is a management association,

not a union.

Who are typical NAPS members?

Most are rst-line supervisors and managers working

in either mail processing or mail delivery – what’scalled “operations.” But NAPS also represents men

and women working in virtually every unctional unit

in the Postal Service, including sales, human resources,

training, corporate relations, law enorcement, and health

and saety.

Where do NAPS’ members live?

NAPS members live in all 50 states (and virtually every

congressional district), as well as in Puerto Rico, the

Virgin Islands and Guam.

What legislative issues generally concern NAPS?

NAPS devotes its greatest attention to legislation that

promotes the vitality and stability o the Postal Service.

It also supports legislation that assures airness in the

treatment o ederal and postal employees and retirees.

How have changes in the Postal Service

impacted postal supervisors?

Workorce downsizing and other challenges and

changes have dramatically impacted postal supervisors.

Approximately 8,000 management positions have been

eliminated in the last several years. NAPS supports

changes in the law, inrastructure and operations o

the Postal Service that will sustain and modernize the

operations and products o the Postal Service.

Why is a postal organization concerned about

federal employee retirement and health benefts?

Although the Postal Service is a quasi-independent

ederal agency, postal employees and retirees participate

in the same pension programs (CSRS and FERS)

and the same ederal health insurance program as all

ederal employees.

How are the wages o postal supervisors set?While the pay o rank-and-le postal employees is

negotiated through collective bargaining involving their

unions, the pay o postal supervisors and postmasters is

determined through a “consultation process” involving

NAPS and the two other management associations and

the Postal Service. Postal supervisors and postmasters do

not receive annual wage cost-o-living adjustments, as

do rank-and-le employees, i available.

How do NAPS members participate in legislative

activities?

Approximately 500 NAPS members gather in Washingtonevery spring for a three-day legislative conference. Much

of that time is spent on Capitol Hill visiting members

o Congress. Throughout the year postal supervisors

remain in touch with every Representative’s district

oce and every Senator’s state oce, providing helpul

inormation about the Postal Service and its operations.

How can I reach a postal supervisor?

Begin by calling NAPS Headquarters at 703-836-9660.

Ask for Executive Vice President Jay Killackey or

another resident ocer. NAPS can also provide you with

the name o either its legislative chair or the state yourepresent (or Senate oces), or with the name o a local

or branch legislative representative who votes in your

congressional district (for House ofces).

How can I get inormation about NAPS quickly?

For general inormation, visit NAPS’ website:

www.naps.org

For more detailed inormation, contact us at:

NAPS Headquarters

1727 King Street, Suite 400

Alexandria, VA 22314-2753703-836-9660 (phone)

703-836-9665 (fax)

[email protected] (email)

Frequently Asked Questions About NAPSand Postal Supervisors








National Association of Postal Supervisors

1727 King Street, Suite 400

Alexandria, VA 22314

703-836-9660 (phone)

703-836-9665 (fax)

[email protected] (email)

www.naps.org

Documents

National Assoc. of Postal Supervisors - 2012 Legislative Briefing