The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
photo by Boyd Loving
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Ridgewood NJ, the U.S. Postal Service is warning some states that they need to provide more time for those votes to be counted. According to the Washington Post ,the Postal Service in a letter has warned a total of 46 states and the District of Columbia of mail delays. The Garden State was not included in the warning.
Continue reading Postal Service Warns of Missed Mail-in Ballot Deadlines
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Ridgewood NJ, The U.S. Postal Service reported total revenue of $17.8 billion for the second quarter of fiscal 2020 (January 1, 2020 – March 31, 2020), an increase of $348 million, compared to the same period last year.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has severely affected the U.S. economy, began to negatively affect the Postal Service during late March with declining mail volume, and the impact has continued to worsen since then. It is estimated that the COVID-19 pandemic will substantially increase the Postal Service’s net operating loss over the next eighteen months, threatening the Postal Service’s ability to operate. However, since the Postal Service began experiencing the impacts of the pandemic in mid-March, the pandemic did not have a material impact on its second quarter results, although significant impacts are expected for the remainder of the year.
file photo by Boyd Loving
Ridgewood NJ, Five Paterson, New Jersey, men have admitted their roles in a scheme to steal checks worth more than $300,000 from U.S. Postal Service (USPS) mail collection boxes throughout New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Jerry Lake-Rodriguez, 26, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi in Newark federal court to an indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. Co-defendants Ismael Alicea Jr., 26, Yerrisson Garcia-Rodriguez, 24, Brayan Ulloa-Ulloa, 24, and Johan Lake-Rodriguez, 27, previously pleaded guilty to separate informations charging each with conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
Continue reading Five Paterson Men Admit Stealing Over $300,000 In Checks From Dozens Of Mail Collection Boxes in Bergen
file photo by Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood Police continue to report mail box theft. On March 20th, a Haverstaw, N.Y. resident responded to Ridgewood Police headquarters to report a theft in the past. The victim reported sending three money orders through the Ridgewood Post Office, however the money orders did not reach the intended recipient in Binghamton, N.Y. but discovered to have been endorsed by an unknown person in Haverstaw, N.Y. The victim requested documentation of the incident.
file photo by Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, As you may know, several of the mailboxes in the Central Business District, in and around the area of the Post Office, were forcibly broken into, with the thieves taking all of the mail in the boxes. It is best if you double check with your billing companies to be sure that they have received your payments, as some of the bills and payment checks that you put into these mailboxes may have been stolen.
The Post Office has indicated that the mailboxes which were forcibly broken into will be replaced with higher security mailboxes, sometime in the future.
photos courtesy of Boyd Loving’s Facebook page
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Uniformed Ridgewood Police Patrol Officers and plainclothes detectives investigated at least two (2) additional forced entry burglaries to United States Postal Services drop boxes that were reported on Monday morning, 12/31. Two (2) of the burglaries were located on the same street; one (1) at the corner of East Ridgewood Avenue and Cottage Place, the other on Cottage Place in front of the Ridgewood Board of Education headquarters building. Mail left behind in both boxes was secured and removed for processing by a management representative of the Ridgewood Post Office.
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photos courtesy of Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Police Detective Douglas Henky, who responded to a report of a postal drop box located right in front of the Ridgewood Post Office, 143 East Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, having been burglarized with a crow bar. The postal employee told Henky that the burglary was discovered this morning and 10 pieces of mail were still inside at the time of discovery. The same box had previously been burglarized on 12/23. Two (2) other drop boxes adjacent to the post office (on North Walnut Street) were also burglarized within the past week and they have both been taken out of service.
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Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood police have reported that on December 23rd, Ptl. Jack Knudsen responded to South Irving and Spring Avenue on a report of a burglary into a postal mailbox. Upon arrival postal mail was discovered outside of the mailbox and it was determined to have been forced open. The Ridgewood Post Office and the Postal Police were notified. A second mailbox was also discovered to have been forced open on North Walnut Street.
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Ridgewood NJ, as previously reported on this blog the Ridgewood police report that on October 16th an East Glen Avenue resident responded to Ridgewood Police Headquarters to report a fraud. The victim reported an envelope containing a check was placed in a mailbox on East Glen Avenue but never arrived at the intended destination. The victim later discovered the check had been cashed unlawfully without her consent. The victim notified her bank and the account was closed.
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Ridgewood NJ, for the second week in a row , what has been described as a “Oil Rig” has been spotted in the Central Business District ( CBD ) , this time on Walnut Street ,near the intersect of Franklin avenue . The mysterious structure showed up over a week ago and has been focus on much speculation .
A Citigroup analysis finds each box gets a $1.46 subsidy. It’s like a gift card from Uncle Sam.
By
Josh Sandbulte
July 13, 2017 7:12 p.m. ET
In my neighborhood, I frequently walk past “shop local” signs in the windows of struggling stores. Yet I don’t feel guilty ordering most of my family’s household goods on Amazon. In a world of fair competition, there will be winners and losers.
But when a mail truck pulls up filled to the top with Amazon boxes for my neighbors and me, I do feel some guilt. Like many close observers of the shipping business, I know a secret about the federal government’s relationship with Amazon: The U.S. Postal Service delivers the company’s boxes well below its own costs. Like an accelerant added to a fire, this subsidy is speeding up the collapse of traditional retailers in the U.S. and providing an unfair advantage for Amazon.
This arrangement is an underappreciated accident of history. The post office has long had a legal monopoly to deliver first-class mail, or nonurgent letters. The exclusivity comes with a universal-service obligation—to provide for all Americans at uniform price and quality. This communication service helps knit this vast country together, and it’s the why the Postal Service exists.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-the-post-office-gives-amazon-special-delivery-1499987531
Speaking of disappointment, has anyone else had trouble with the Ridgewood post office…?
I never received 2 checks that were mailed to me by separate businesses based in Bergen Cty back in early October,
Last week we found a letter addressed to someone living in WYCKOFF in our mailbox.
And then I ordered some books the day after Christmas and by using the package tracking service I saw that the box was delivered to the Ridgewood USPS facility on Dec 30th….we didn’t get the box until yesterday (Jan 5th).
What’s going on over there…?
Regarding Ridgewood post office problem. Today , Saturday morning I AGAIN got wrong mail, another addressee’s CREDIT CARD STATEMENT. When I called and complained and asked why I OFTEN Every TWO WEEKS, get wrong mail, they said the workers are members of a union and the Ridgewood POST OFFICE has no responsibility.
photo courtesy Ridgewood police
August 25,2016
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Ridgewood NJ,Patrolman Patrick Elwood assists with traffic as a new flag pole is installed at the Ridgewood Post Office this morning. The new flag pole replaces the original flag pole installed in 1937.
Forced Price Reduction to Worsen USPS Financial Condition by $2 Billion Per Year
Postal Service Exigent Surcharge Pricing to End April 10
April 8, 2016
Ridgewood Nj, Absent Congressional or court action to extend or make permanent an existing exigent surcharge for mailing products and services – including the Forever stamp — the Postal Service will be required to reduce certain prices on Sunday, April 10, 2016. This mandatory action will worsen the Postal Service’s financial condition by reducing revenue and increasing its net losses by approximately $2 billion per year.
“The exigent surcharge granted to the Postal Service last year only partially alleviated our extreme multi-year revenue declines resulting from the Great Recession, which exceeded $7 billion in 2009 alone,” said Postmaster General and CEO Megan J. Brennan. “Removing the surcharge and reducing our prices is an irrational outcome considering the Postal Service’s precarious financial condition.”
An order from the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) requires the 4.3 percent exigent surcharge to be reversed after the Postal Service has collected surcharges totaling $4.6 billion. As outlined in a notice filed with the PRC today, that amount is expected to be reached by April 10th.
Postal Service prices for Mailing Services are capped by law at the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers (CPI-U). However, the law does allow for exigent pricing (price increases beyond the CPI-U cap) due to extraordinary or exceptional circumstances. That was the case when the Postal Service sought and ultimately received approval for the current exigent pricing, citing the severe effects of the Great Recession on Postal Service mail volume.
However, the PRC did not accept the views of the Postal Service concerning the extent of the harm resulting from the Great Recession, and the PRC strictly limited the period of time that the Postal Service could continue to collect the exigent surcharge. While the Postal Service has experienced rapid growth in package volume over the past few years, it is not nearly enough to offset the decline in revenues from Market-Dominant products, especially First-Class Mail.
Brennan added that the Postal Service’s current pricing system, where products that generate roughly 76 percent of its revenues fall under the statutory price cap, is fundamentally unsuited to the Postal Service’s current business environment in which First-Class Mail volume continues to decline and the network costs required to provide universal service continue to rise.
According to Brennan, “our current pricing regime is unworkable and should be replaced with a system that provides greater pricing flexibility and better reflects the economic challenges facing the Postal Service.”
The surcharge removal means these First-Class Mail prices will be adjusted to the following:
CurrentMandated Reduction
• Letters (1 oz.)
49 cents 47 cents
• Letters additional ounces
22 cents 21 cents
• Letters to all international destinations
$1.20 $1.15
• Postcards
35 cents 34 cents
Ridgewood NJ, Readers report scratches on their stoops and pavers this winter .An investigation has determined the postal workers are wearing spikes on their shoes for better grip against the elements . The spikes have been authorized by the Ridgewood Post Office to ensure worker safety . Several residents have reached out to the blog and reported this issue . While we are glad the Postal Service is taking steps to ensure worker safety , the spikes seem to be having and adverse effect on stone pavers and other stone walk ways which may case additional hazards in the future .Perhaps a softer rubber spike required on many golf courses may be the answer . We do not want anything done that will jeopardize safety .
ETCHED IN STONE : THE STORY BEHIND POSTAL SERVICE’S UNOFFICIAL MOTTO
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers
from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
The Postal Service has no official motto. The popular belief that it does is a tribute to America’s postal workers. The words above, thought by many to be the motto, are chiseled in gray granite over the entrance to the New York City Post Office on 8th Avenue. In 1982, the building was renamed the James A. Farley Post Office Building in honor of the 53rd Postmaster General.
The motto comes from Book 8, Paragraph 98, of The Persian Wars by Herodotus. During the wars between the Greeks and Persians (500-449 B.C.), the Persians used a system of mounted couriers.
The firm of McKim, Mead and White designed the New York General Post Office, which opened to the public on Labor Day, 1914. One of the firm’s architects, William Mitchell Kendall, was the son of a classics scholar and read Greek literature for pleasure. He selected the “Neither snow nor rain …” inscription, which he modified from a translation by Professor George Herbert Palmer of Harvard University, and the Post Office Department approved it.
