Category Archives: U.S.

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

More Economic Decline: Confusion reigns over east Idaho Postal Processing Center shutdown!

14 April 2015 (18:42 UTC-07 Tango 01, 13 April 2015)/24 Farvardin 1394/23 Jumada t-Tania 1436/26 Geng Chen 4713

So far no written shutdown notice has been issued for east Idaho’s Gateway Postal Processing Center, only verbal warnings that it will take place on 18 April 2015.  There are consistent reports from the contracted truck drivers, who make the Boise to Pocatello and Salt Lake City, Utah, to Pocatello runs: They are refusing to sign new contracts to run the new routes that postal administrators in Salt Lake City have created, and that the shutdown will be delayed at least until June as a result.

Drivers are reporting some of the new routes will have some of them sitting at processing centers for up to 28 hours, which means they’ll lose money.  Last week it was reported that a driver in the 834 zip code area of east Idaho quit (on that day the truck from the Driggs area supposedly never showed up at Gateway for the evening delivery).

Drivers making the Boise and Salt Lake runs are reporting that USPS loading dock personnel, in those cities, have not heard anything about the Gateway shutdown.

Mail arriving at Gateway in Pocatello, from Boise and Salt Lake City, continues to increase in volume, which seems counter productive if Gateway is to be shutdown at the end of this week.  Gateway employees are stressed because they’ve lost about half their manpower to “involuntary” transfers and early retirements, and supervisors are not being allowed to hire new employees.  Many employees are now working 10 to 12 hour days, six to seven days per week.

In an earlier posting I reported that east Idaho mail in the 834 zip code area will be sent to the main Post Office in Idaho Falls (IF) to be shipped to Salt Lake City.  Inside reports say management at the IF PO has issued a written statement to Salt Lake administrators saying they are incapable of complying due to logistical reasons; their loading dock is not big enough to handle all that mail.

It seems like a classic case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing.  Until the remaining Gateway employees get written notices of layoff, or plant shutdown, they are in limbo working long hard hours, not knowing what to expect, and as a result not being able to plan for anything.  Welcome to the Hotel California.

USPS Network Rationalization Consolidation List Updated April 10, 2015 (this list now shows the Gateway Pocatello Processing Center to be listed as TBD; To Be Determined)

Confusion over plan for Petaluma mail facility

announcement confirming Gateway shutdown?

Santa Ana Postal District gets new 2-ton trucks, specifically for  Amazon

USPS to spend $6 billion buying new trucks, as it layoffs thousands of employees

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

More Economic Decline: Major announcement confirming shutdown of east Idaho’s only Postal Processing Center?

11 April 2015 (16:42 UTC-07 Tango 01)/22 Farvardin 1394/21 Jumada t-Tania 1436/23 Geng Chen 4713

In the past week employees at the doomed Gateway Processing Center in Pocatello, Idaho, were given news confirming the pending shutdown.

As of 17 April 2015 all remaining Mail Handlers will become unemployed, with no severance (told to apply for unemployment).  All parcel mail (packages) are supposedly to be shipped down to Salt Lake City for processing after that date.

Salt Lake Postal District administrators decided to save 16 Gateway Clerk jobs (on top of the original 13), but only temporarily.  The Salt Lake Letter Processing Center is, admittedly, unable to handle all of east Idaho’s letter mail, so, two of Gateway’s letter sorting machines will remain operational for at least six more months (apparently until Salt Lake gets another machine of their own).

This is more proof of how ineffectual your local ‘elected’ officials are.

East Idaho’s Gateway Processing Center is one of 82, across the United States, that are being shutdown before summer.

Zero Hour approaches fast for east Idaho’s only Postal Processing Center! 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

More Economic Decline: Notices posted in Post Offices as Zero Hour approaches fast for east Idaho’s only Postal Processing Center!

06 April 2015 (13:52 UTC-07 Tango 01)/17 Farvardin 1394/16 Jumada t-Tania 1436/18 Geng Chen 4713

Some east Idaho Post Offices have posted collection time changes (“Due to operational changes…”) for parcels and letters dropped off at their location.   The new collection times are 30 minutes earlier than normal and go into effect on 18 April 2015.

Notice posted inside the Clark Street PO in Pocatello, Idaho.

Notice posted inside the Clark Street PO in Pocatello, Idaho.

18 April is supposedly the day all east Idaho mail will be shipped to Salt Lake City, Utah, for processing.  That’s ALL mail; inbound from out of the area, out bound to other states and countries, and even cross-town letters!

17 April is the official last day of operations for the Gateway Processing Center in Pocatello.  Many people are confusing the Processing Center with the Gateway Post Office, which is located in the same building.   About 13 Clerks will remain employed after 17 April to continue operating the Post Office and the loading dock in the Processing Center.  The loading dock will remain open because beginning 18 April all east Idaho mail (in the 832 zip code area) will be loaded straight onto trucks bound for out of state processing centers in Salt Lake City.

East Idaho mail in the 834 zip code area will be sent to the main PO in Idaho Falls (IF) to be shipped to Salt Lake City.  This will be a logistical nightmare because the loading dock at the IF PO has only one door, which means trucks will have to wait in line to unload and load.

About 50 good paying jobs are in the process of being lost to a combination of early retirements, forced (“involuntary”) transfers and outright layoffs (with no severance).

There are rumors that eventually all Post Offices in Pocatello will be shutdown except for the Gateway Post Office, meaning the residents of Chubbuck and Pocatello will have only one Post Office.

Postal administrators swear up and down that delivery times will not be adversely affected by the shutdown.  I’ve got another reason why that is a lie: Performance Ratings.   For more than two decades the Gateway Processing Center has maintained some of the highest performance ratings in the Salt Lake Postal District, I’ve read that’s it’s as high as 92%.  Guess who has maintained the lowest performance ratings?  Yep, the Salt Lake Processing Centers!

Here’s some other disturbing news.  While Salt Lake postal administrators want to shutdown Gateway, for some odd reason in the past month they’ve more than doubled the mail volume they’ve been sending to Pocatello for processing!  Gateway Mail Handlers and Clerks state that the mail volume is now as high as during the end of year holiday season, and they’re operating with fewer employees due to forced retirements and transfers, and Salt Lake administrators will not allow the hiring of more employees due to the pending shutdown!

Question: If Salt Lake postal administrators think Pocatello is inefficient, and that Salt Lake can handle processing better, then why are they sending more and more mail our way?

A recent Idaho State Journal article indicated that Chubbuck city administrators have joined with Pocatello to try and stop the shutdown.  No word on any of the dozens of other east Idaho cities joining the fight, even though the shutdown will directly affect them as well.  Also, still no word from the dozens of east Idaho mail order companies, that use Priority Mail to ship out their products, showing any concern over the shutdown (companies like Weigh Vest, Fin Fun Mermaid, some company that sends Priority Medium Flat Rate boxes filed with dirt and exotic flower bulbs, another company that sends heavy boxes marked “liquid”, etc).  Those companies will see a delay in their shipments as a result of the shutdown, despite what Salt Lake postal administrators say.

Pathetic turnout for east Idaho Mayor’s last ditch effort to save Postal Processing Center!

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

More Economic Decline: Pathetic turnout for east Idaho Mayor’s last ditch effort to save Postal Processing Center!

17 March 2015 (16:10 UTC-07 Tango 01)/26 Jumada I-Ula 1436/26 Esfand 1393/27 Ji Mao 4713

Only one city council seems concerned with the shutdown of east Idaho’s only mail sorting and processing center; Pocatello.  This is despite the fact the closure will affect all of eastern Idaho!

What’s worse it seems that even the residents of Pocatello don’t give a damn.  According to local TV station KPVI, only 50 people showed up to the mayor’s “11th Hour Town Hall to Reverse USPS Plant Closure” meeting.

A lot of blame can be placed on east Idaho news media for failing to explain the situation, as I’ve written before most east Idahoans are oblivious to the whole situation.  Even in the latest lazily done KPVI report no mention of the fact that this shutdown will affect all of east Idaho is made, they only mention Pocatello and “the county”.

The time of the Pocatello mayor’s meeting was set right at the height of operations at the Gateway Station; 18:00 hours to 20:00 hours, when trucks filled with the days mail from all over east Idaho (and even trucks from Boise) come in and employees are busy “hashing” everything out in time for outbound shipments after midnight (actually postal workers are busting butt right up ’till deadlines, but the mayors meeting was set for 6pm to 8pm, the time when the trucks roll in to dump their mail).  But, if anybody is wondering why Postal Employees haven’t spoken up or gone on strike it’s because they’d be instantly fired from their job, or fined or imprisoned (starting in 1947 with the Taft-Hartley Act which was replaced with the 1955 Act and several other Acts down the road, however, that didn’t stop a massive postal strike in 1970 that actually worked).

Either the people of east Idaho are so stupid as to not understand the importance of their only Postal Processing Center being shutdown, or they take their Postal Service for granted thinking it’s one of those things that will always be there.  Several countries in the European Union have fully privatized their postal systems in the past decade, and with disastrous results.  I remember reading about when Italy shifted to a fully privatized postal system just a few years ago, and the initial result was total chaos when it came to deliveries, and prices went up.  Many U.S. ebay sellers stopped selling to Italian buyers, it was so bad.

Ponder this east Idaho: You never know how good you had it ’till you lose it.

East Idahoans oblivious to shutdown of their only Postal Processing Center! 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

More Economic Decline: East Idahoans oblivious to shutdown of their only Postal Processing Center!

16 March 2015 (08:22 UTC-07 Tango 01)/25 Jumada I-Ula 1436/25 Esfand 1393/26 Ji Mao 4713

“I thought it was just a rumor.”

“They’ll just move the work to Clark Street Post Office.”

“There’s a Postal Processing Center here?”

These are most common responses I got from talking to fellow east Idahoans.  18 April 2015 is the last day of operations for the Gateway Station Processing Center on Flandro Drive in Pocatello.

Another common misconception I heard was that it was just the Gateway Post Office that was being consolidated with Clark Street Post Office.  Wrong!

The Gateway Processing Center is the mail sorting and processing center for all of eastern Idaho and it will be shutdown by 18 April 2015.  From that point on all mail will be sent out of state to Salt Lake City, Utah, even your letters sent ‘cross town!

Last week several meetings were held with Gateway employees notifying them of impending layoffs.  At least two were offered “involuntary transfers” to Salt Lake City (meaning if they refuse they lose their jobs).  Others were told to apply for two open Letter Carrier positions in Pocatello, however, at least 30 employees are already on that list and those two positions have been ‘open’ for a while.  Since January about eight Gateway employees were forced to take early retirement and about a dozen have already been transfered out of the area.  At least 50 good paying jobs are being lost.

Approximately 13 employees will stay on after 18 April 2015 to continue loading dock ops, and run “window operations” at the Gateway Post Office.

Unconfirmed rumors have it that eventually all Post Offices in the area will be shutdown, except Gateway Post Office, meaning everybody in the cities of Pocatello and Chubbuck will have only one Post Office.

The mayor of Pocatello has called for public hearings but it sounds like most residents don’t understand the situation, or don’t care.  State and federal level politicians seem too concerned with their pet projects.  We haven’t heard anything from the Chubbuck city council or mayor.  In fact, the whole of eastern Idaho doesn’t seem to care even though the Gateway shutdown will directly impact mail delivery for all of east Idaho.

And lets not forget the numerous east Idaho businesses that use the United States Postal Service (USPS), like the company that makes those back breaking weight vests for divers, or the company that packs back breaking amounts of spent ammo casings into Flat Rate boxes, or the company that ships back breaking “liquid” in Flat Rate boxes.  I say back breaking because package sorting is still done by hand at the Gateway Processing Center.

Which brings me to some data about Gateway, data that belies any logical reason for shutting it down.  Despite still sorting packages and First Class “chunks” by hand, Gateway is the highest rated postal processing center for meeting deadlines and accuracy, higher than fully automated centers!  In fact Gateway gets “incoming” mail from Boise, Idaho, and Salt Lake City that’s actually meant for other states, meaning Boise and Salt Lake screwed up!

And speaking of getting mail from Boise; in the past week and a half Boise has increased the number of trucks sent to Gateway to five per day.  There’s a new “extra” 04:00 hours Boise truck arriving six days per week now.

USPS administrators claim there might be only a day delay in mail delivery, that’s impossible.  It will take one day to drive the daily mail down to Salt Lake City, then another day to drive it back, that’s two days right there.  Data already shows that Salt Lake City mail processors take longer to sort the mail than Gateway, and now they have to sort east Idaho’s mail as well, so who knows how long that will take.  Now couple that with the fact that 82 USPS processing centers across the United States are being shutdown this year, and an estimated 15-thousand USPS jobs being eliminated, that’s got to mean a significant delay in delivery!

Between 2012 and 2013 about 141 USPS processing centers were consolidated or shutdown.  Since 2006 approximately 216-thousand postal jobs were eliminated!

Postal services are still far cheaper than UPS or FedEx.  Some people say shutting down postal centers are necessary because the USPS is losing money, but if that were the case how was the USPS able to hand Congress billions of dollars in cash to fund the government retirement system? (that’s doubly impressive since the USPS is not taxpayer funded)  And if the USPS is a money losing operation then why is Staples so adamant about taking over Post Office operations?

For years now the American Postal Workers Union has been warning that the U.S. Congressional Postal Commission is working to sell off the USPS to the highest bidder.  In the long run it will mean low paid workers with no benefits and yet you’ll have to pay more for shipping, that’s always what happens.

When are the People going to wake up and take action?

USPS & Staples continue ‘trial’ deal to run Post Offices! 

Staples takes over U.S. Postal Service?

USPS reports a $2-billion USD loss for their fiscal 3rd quarter! 

The United States Postal Service (USPS) announced it will shutdown 82 distribution centers beginning in January 2015, thousands of jobs lost! 

Congress screws over the Postal Service, 3,600 offices to close 

More Economic Decline: Chubbuck’s Allstate call center already killing jobs! 

More Economic Decline: East Idaho city in Death Spiral

More Economic Decline: Idaho politicians give away more than $18-million in Idaho taxes, to out-o-state lawyers! 

More Economic Decline: Idaho politicians give away more than $1-million in Idaho taxes, to France! 

More Economic Decline: Heinz pulls stake, Warren Buffett abandons Pocatello 

Unpaid contractor is winning bidder for abandoned Hoku Materials factory, again! 

Pocatello’s Old Fred Meyer & Albertsons on Yellowstone Ave, did not close down in the 1990s 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Corporate Evil: USPS & Staples continue ‘trial’ deal to run Post Offices!

14 March 2015 (16:28 UTC-07 Tango 01)/23 Jumada I-Ula 1436/23 Esfand 1393/24 Ji Mao 4713

“The United States Postal Service is a wonderful national treasure, enshrined in the Constitution and supported by the American people. Without any taxpayer funding, the USPS serves 150 million households and businesses each day, providing affordable, universal mail service to all – including rich and poor, rural and urban, without regard to age, nationality, race or gender. One is the philosophy of the Board of Governors, former Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, and some on Wall Street who want to get their hands on the Postal Service’s $68 billion in revenue per year.”-Mark Dimondstein, president American Postal Workers Union

Nobody seems to be paying attention to the fact that Staples and the United States Postal Service (USPS) are continuing a trial deal that has Staples handling your mail.  The move violates the Constitution and federal law!

Reports out of Antioch, California, say a Staples store has been handling U.S. mail by untrained and unsworn (Postal Employees must swear an oath of loyalty and to uphold the Constitution) Staples employees, as well as leaving U.S. mail unattended overnight (a violation of federal law).

The deal with Staples and the U.S. Congress controlled USPS is fully alive despite news reports (during July 2014) which said the deal was dead.  This trial deal involves 80 Staples stores across the U.S. and   according to the Antioch Herald the local Staples store has been operating as a Post Office since November 2013, and apparently still is.

Even the American Postal Workers Union says the deal that was reported dead by main stream news media is alive and well, and the new January 2015 takeover of Office Depot by Staples is part of a larger conspiracy: “In the past year, over the objections of the APWU, consumer organizations, civil rights advocates and teacher groups, Staples has begun offering mail services at its retail stores. In doing so, Staples has replaced highly-trained USPS workers with its own unskilled, low-wage employees. Concurrently, the USPS has reduced hours in some post offices and encouraged customers to use Staples stores instead.

In documents obtained by the union, the Postal Service outlined plans to transfer USPS work to Staples in order to reduce employment and hours of service to the public in neighborhood post offices.”-04 February 2015

Staples takes over Office Depot, 1-thousand closings to follow!

Idaho, International, U.S.

U.S., Mexico & Canada Measles, 15 February 2015: New mystery outbreak in Wisconsin community that’s 94% vaccinated! Christians locked down! Most California 7th graders 95% – 100% vaccinated!

Canada

Ontario has 11 cases of measles.  Of note is that none of the infected Canadians traveled outside Ontario.  It has been confirmed that at least one of the infected adults, in the Greater Toronto Area, had been vaccinated for measles!

Manitoba health administrators report an infant is infected.  The infant is too young for full measles vaccination.  The family had traveled to India.  The Manitoba case is considered a different strain of measles from the Ontario cases.

Mexico

The New York based World Bank reports that measles vaccination rates for children 12 months to 23 months, in Mexico, dropped in 2013 to 89%.  In 2012 the vaccination rate was at 99%.  It should be noted that the World Bank considers a child vaccinated after only one dose, even though it actually takes more than one dose over several years.

Despite declining vaccination rates Mexico has reported only two measles cases, so far.

United States

“To date there are 22 confirmed cases in Los Angeles County, 17 of which are linked to the Disneyland Parks. As the outbreak continues to unfold, it is likely that new measles cases will occur among those who have had contact with persons in the initial wave of infection.”-Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, California

Orange County, California, confirms 35 cases.

Contra Costa County, California, reports one case of measles.  The person had ridden on a Bay Are Rapid Transit (BART) bus before getting sick: “…we don’t know yet where this person was exposed.”-Erika Jenssen, Contra Costa Public Health

“As of 2-13-2015, Ventura County Public Health has confirmed 13 cases of measles. The age range of the cases is 13 months to 59 years of age. One case previously reported does not meet the case definition for this outbreak. No measles cases were confirmed in Ventura County in 2014.”-Ventura County Health Care Agency, California

Ventura County health administrators announced the following locations as being measles hotspots:  Gold’s Gym, 1357 E Los Angeles Ave., Simi Valley. Target, Simi Valley. Sycamore Square, 2907 Cochran St., Simi Valley.  Oxnard West Target, 2850 N Oxnard Blvd.  Dickey’s’s BBQ Pit, 2902 Tapo Canyon Rd., Simi Valley.  Costco Simi Valley, 2660 Park Center Dr.  Costco Oxnard, 2001 E Ventura Blvd.  BG’s Restaurant, 428 S. A Street, Oxnard. Vons, 1291 S. Victoria Ave., Oxnard. El Torito, 1720 E. Ventura Blvd., Oxnard. Andrea’s Seafood, 1449 Spinnaker Dr., Ventura.  Albertson’s, 920 N. Ventura Rd., Oxnard.  Carl’s Jr., 2301 N. Oxnard Blvd., (corner of Vineyard).  Century RiverPark 16 Theaters, 2766 Seaglass Way, Oxnard.  Little Explorers Preschool, 5165 Cochran Street, Simi Valley.  Cal Lutheran University, 1 University Dr., Simi Valley.  Toppers, 2701 Peninsula Road, Oxnard.  CitiBank, 430 Arneill Road, Camarillo.

Ventura County health officers claim they’ve screened all employees at those locations, and have “excluded from work” those who are “at risk of coming down with measles” (code for locking down unvaccinated people).

Alameda County Public Health Department, California, confirm six cases.

California’s Shots for Schools reports most schools with 7th grade students have a 95% – 100% vaccination rate, and most kindergartners are 80% – 94% vaccinated!

Elko County, Nevada, health administrators suspect a measles outbreak in local schools and as such has locked down at least 12 unvaccinated elementary students in their homes!  Four people are confirmed infected.

Since September 2014, western and northern Idaho has seen 21 cases of mumps.  Mumps is covered in the measles vaccine known as MMR.  So far no cases of measles have been confirmed.

Washington state confirms two cases of mumps can be traced to Idaho.

King County, Washington, reporting the following locations as possible measles hot spots: Sheraton Hotel (common areas), 1400 6th Ave, Seattle.  SeaTac Airport, Main Terminal and Concourse D and Rental Car Facility.  Dicks Drive-In, 115 Broadway Ave. East, Seattle.

In Port Angeles, Washington, Clallam County health administrators quarantined several Olympic Christian School students after a 5 years old was found infected: “All students who cannot demonstrate proof of immunity to measles have been excluded from Olympic Christian School until February 27, 2015, and placed in quarantine.”– Clallam County Health and Human Services

Cook County, Illinois, reports 13 cases, however the Chicago Sun Times reports those cases might not have anything to do with ground zero at Disneyland in California: “Illinois health officials are still trying to figure out how the people became infected with the measles virus. No ties have been found to the December outbreak at Disneyland in California, health officials said.” 

Madison County, Illinois, now says a reported case of measles was a “false positive”, proving that even the tests for measles can be wrong.

Portage County, Wisconsin, has locked down two people on suspicion of having measles.  If confirmed as measles the two children would be the first cases in that state.  Portage County health administrators say 94% of residents are vaccinated!

U.S. news media spreading lies about vaccine

U.S.

Martial Law U.S.A.: Cities in Missouri sue their own constituents for voting down Red Light Cameras!

13 February 2015 (09:36 UTC-07 Tango 01)/23 Rabi ‘ath-Thani 1436/24 Bahman 1393/25 Bing Yin (12th month) 4712

“73% of the voters pass a ban on red light cameras so what these cities are doing are suing 73% of the voters in Saint Charles County, within their own cities. They’re suing their own residents!”-Joe Brazi,  Saint Charles County councilman KMOV interview

In November 2014, at least 73% of the residents of Saint Charles County voted against the use of Red Light Cameras anywhere in their county.  Now the cities administrators of Saint Peters, O’Fallon and Lake Saint Louis are effectively suing their own constituents to force the use of Red Light Cameras!

cops adopt Israeli tactics; kill man for throwing rock! 

U.S.

Obamacare pays you to be destitute? Obamacare widens the great income divide!

13 February 2015 (09:23 UTC-07 Tango 01)/23 Rabi ‘ath-Thani 1436/24 Bahman 1393/25 Bing Yin (12th month) 4712

Not only are millions of Obama Care participants being forced to pay more because they underestimated their incomes, but the bad economy is actually resulting in millions more Obama Care recipients getting huge tax refunds!

According to professional tax accountants the majority of subsidized Obama Care recipients had their incomes overestimated when they signed up, or they lost their jobs after getting Obama Care, with the result being even bigger than expected tax refunds.  Jackson Hewitt reports that one of their clients is getting an extra $75-hundred USD refunded from Obama Care!

Case worker announces Obamacare to be unaffordable! 

U.S.

Case worker announces Obamacare to be unaffordable!

13 February 2015 (09:15 UTC-07 Tango 01)/23 Rabi ‘ath-Thani 1436/24 Bahman 1393/25 Bing Yin (12th month) 4712

“It’s not really affordable. I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep it.”-Erica Cherington, disability case worker reacting to her new Obama Care premium after it was revised upward because of her income, she says it would be cheaper to pay the tax penalty for not having Obama Care!

Got subsidized Obamacare? Think again