Category Archives: U.S.

Business/Economics, U.S.

Food Crisis 29 April 2015: There’s human in that can of tuna? “I think our lives are in the hands of the Lord of Death.”

“When that door was shut, and he saw that, what was all the thoughts that went trough his mind?  It’s just devastating.”-Sarah Melena, daughter of man cooked alive, KCAL/KCBS interview

Two managers of Bumble Bee Tuna have been criminally charged with killing a man inside a tuna cooker, cooking him alive with 12-hundred pounds of fish!

It happened in Santa Fe Springs, California, in 2012.   The victim was inside a giant tuna oven cleaning it when it was loaded with fish and turned on.  The victim was cooked slowly to death over a two hours period!  The charges come after a two and half years investigation by the Los Angeles County district attorney and the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

This is not the first time Bumble Bee tuna has gotten in trouble, their San Diego operations were charged with violating state safety laws because, apparently, employees there were almost cooked in the tuna ovens as well!

The Santa Fe Springs managers could get three years in prison and pay up to $250-thousand USD in fines, if convicted. Bumble Bee Tuna could be fined up to $1.5-million.

Just last month The Associated Press published the results of their undercover investigation into old-school slavery in the fishing industry, and made a connection to Bumble Bee Tuna: “Tainted fish can wind up in the supply chains of some of America’s major grocery stores, such as Kroger, Albertsons and Safeway; the nation’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart; and the biggest food distributor, Sysco…..

…. his parent company, known simply as Thai Union, owns Chicken of the Sea and is buying Bumble Bee…..In September, it became the country’s first business to be certified by Dow Jones for sustainable practices, after meeting environmental and social reviews.”-Are Slaves Catching the Fish You Buy?

“It’s torture. When we get beaten, we can’t do anything back. I think our lives are in the hands of the Lord of Death.”-slave on southeast Asian fishing boat

“If Americans and Europeans are eating this fish, they should remember us. There must be a mountain of bones under the sea.  The bones of the people could be an island, it’s that many.”– Hlaing Min, escaped southeast Asian slavery

U.S. Food Crisis, April 2015:  Ice cream can kill you! 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Dumbing Down the United States, 1st Quarter 2015: “we’ve had a 66% decrease in our enrollment!” “I just want to say how sorry I am.” “I don’t think the entire truth is here…!”

Disappearing Students Syndrome (DSS): A phrase created by me to describe a phenomenon taking place across the United States, affecting both privately and publicly funded schools, from Kindergarten all the way through University levels.

Incomplete list of publicly announced education layoffs & school shutdowns from January to March 2015:

Alabama: Jefferson County Board of Education will beginning laying off 160 employees in July!

Alaska:  The University of Alaska Southeast shutdown their bookstore, due to crashing revenues.

Arizona: Dysart Unified School District announced they will kill off 147 jobs over the next three years! Administrators added that the 147 job cuts are just the first round of cuts! Back in November tax burdened voters rejected a school levy that would have jacked up their taxes even more. What gets me is why, year after year, school districts need more and more tax creating levies and bonds to be passed? Where is all that money going, especially the lottery money for those school systems that get money from lotteries as well as taxes?!

California:  The Los Angeles School District approved the elimination of 609 teaching jobs! The LASD is short $158-million USD for the upcoming school year.  Castaic Union School District has approved the elimination of at least 43 jobs. Those still employed will be forced to take unpaid days off (furlough). It’s blamed on what I call DSS, district administrators say the school system has lost more than 1-thousand students over the past ten years!   In Los Angeles, is Obama Care behind the layoff of 15 employees at the Bienvenidos Children Center? The WARN only says the layoffs will take place in April.  Denair Unified School District warned it must eliminate at least 16 teachers, shutdown classes and are even offering a bonus to anybody who’ll take early retirement. Administrators blame ongoing DSS.  The Acalanes Union High School District has decided to end its 70 years old adult education program, killing eight full time jobs.  In San Francisco, Apollo Education issued two WARNs saying 38 people will be laid off between June and August.

Connecticut: In Berlin, The Learning Experience preschool shutdown with ten days notice. The operators blamed “several circumstances beyond our control”.  The Milford Board of Education is planning to layoff 18 teachers for the 2015-16 school year, “primarily stemming from continued enrollment decline”. The University of Connecticut admitted they laid off employees, but refused to say how many.  Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system approved a 4.8% increase in tuition.  In Meridian, God refuses to stop the shutdown of ‘his’ Saint Stanislaus School.  God refuses to stop the shutdown of ‘his’ Saint John Paul II School. Christian administrators officially blame lack of money, but one parent thinks it’s a conspiracy: “I don’t think the entire truth is here because it’s NOT about money!”– Ewald Kuchciak, who pointed out that Christian students are being forced into a smaller school building

Florida: The state Department of Education has ‘failed’ Osceola County military prep school Acclaim Academy, twice, and as a result it shutdown.  In Orlando, DeVry University issued a layoff WARN saying 50 employees will be unemployed in May.

Idaho: In Kellogg, the Sunnyside Elementary school shutdown due to massive population exodus which created what I call DSS: “Since 1970, we’ve had a 66% decrease in our enrollment!”-Art Krulitz, Kellogg School District

Illinois:  Warsaw Community School District laid off 11 employees and eliminated vacant jobs, and administrators are now pushing to jack up local property taxes.  Elgin School District U-46 announced they will eliminate 463 jobs, due to DSS!   The 42 years old Aurora Child Development Center shutting down due to state funding problems. Administrators say the great state of Illinois is at least three months behind on their Child Care Assistance Program payments!  In Harvey, after 23 years Ingalls Childcare Center shutdown. Administrators blamed the bad economy for not being able to pay their employees!   The Adler Planetarium laid off 15 people, blaming lack of public attendance: “We’re trying to make it so that our annual revenues match our expenses. For at least the last few years, we were using money either from our endowment or a fundraising campaign to sustain us.”-Marc Lapides

Louisiana: The Pelican State’s Secretary of State Tom Schedler said he is laying off 24 museum employees and reducing operating hours for state run museums in April. A special election is being postponed until October. It’s part of a plan to cut state spending by $61-million. Politicians are blaming crashing tax revenues from the petroleum industry caused by ‘low’ oil prices.  The Gov’na also warned of massive layoffs for the university-higher education system, saying there’s a $1.6-billion shortfall!  Tulane University warned it must consider layoffs due to being constantly $20-million in the hole, year after year.

Massachusetts: Facing less funding, due to DSS, Marshfield will eliminate seven elementary school jobs for the next school year.  In Springfield, private Curtis Blake School shutdown with short notice to parents. Administrators blame what I call DSS, as usual parents were shocked by the bad economic news: “This is a big huge blow, we weren’t expecting this at all!”-Melissa Sullivan

Michigan:  In Lakewood, the Clarksville and Sunfield elementary schools are being shutdown, the school district is short $1-million! The last two libraries of the Wayne County Library system threatened with shutdown. The communities of Ecorse and Taylor say they will follow the other former library system members and go independent, in order to save money.  Baraga Area School District warned that Pelkie Elementary School could shutdown due to massive DSS: “The primary problem is shared actually across the district. We have been experiencing declining enrollments in a very similar pattern that the State of Michigan has, but it really hit hard about two years ago.”-Jennifer Lynn, superintendent

Minnesota: Minneapolis Public Schools laid off 160 people, with only one weeks notice! Administrators implied most of the jobs were administrative and had no direct impact on education, they claim the money saved will now be focused on education.

New Jersey:  In Manville, God refuses to stop the Diocese of Metuchen from shutting down ‘his’ Christ the King School. It’s the 11th ‘christian’ school to be shutdown by the Diocese of Metuchen, since 2009.  The Trenton School District says it must eliminate 226 jobs, and will shutdown schools due to a $19-million shortfall! But wait there’s more, previous announcements said a total of 350 jobs could be lost, once the state government puts out its final funding numbers for the 2015-16 school year! (and those layoffs are for just one of many school districts!)  Kean University announced it will layoff 54 janitors and grounds keepers. The jobs will be contracted out. University administrators claim they’re trying to cut $3.4-million per year, yet this didn’t stop them from spending $219-thousand on a conference table made in China!  The Paterson Board of Education has decided it will not jack up taxes on the impoverished taxpayers, but it means 363 school employees will become jobless next school year!

New York:  God refuses to stop his 156 years old Saint Patrick School in Tiago County from shutting down.  Administrators say enrollment has crashed & burned, they were able to get only 58 students for the year.  In West Nyack, Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge (aka Cambridge University Press) issued a WARN saying they will shutdown in June, 42 jobs lost.   In Brooklyn, upscale The Guild for Exceptional Children preschool shutdown, 81 jobs affected.  Corning Community College shutdown its 30 years old child care center.  In Brooklyn, Milestone School for Child Development issued a WARN saying they will shutdown, 73 jobs lost in June.  Grandpa’s Bus Service issued a massive shutdown WARN saying they lost their state Department of Education contract, more than 5-hundred jobs threatened!

Ohio: In Mentor, school administrators announced that Rice Elementary School will shutdown at the end of the school year. The school now boasts the lowest enrollment in the district.  Owens Community College eliminated 50 occupied and vacant positions, as well as cut wages and salaries. They also proposed new taxes, blaming increased employment costs caused mainly by higher insurance and retirement rates mandated by Obama Care!  In Mansfield, School Specialty revealed it had laid off an undisclosed number of employees last week, this after they claimed to be investing $7-million into a new school supply warehouse.

Pennsylvania:  God refuses to stop the shutdown of ‘his’ Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in Roseto, and ‘his’ Pius X Junior/Senior High School in Bangor.  Pittsburgh based Education Management shutdown all its Art Institutes across the U.S., killing at least 225 jobs! Education Management is in big trouble with the federal Department of Education for basically bribing students and violating other federal education laws.  In Oakmont, after 88 years (surviving the Great deflationary Depression and numerous recessions) God refused to stop the Saint Irenaeus Catholic Elementary School from shutting down. Administrators say enrollment has dwindled to only 44 students.

Tennessee: After 70 years the Christian God refuses to stop the shutdown of Tennessee Temple University. Local news reports say some student athletes were told about the shutdown, and were also told not to tell anybody about it.

Texas:   God refuses to stop ‘his’ Southern Methodist University from laying off 100 people! The Christian school will also eliminate 50 vacant jobs. Typical of ‘christians’ the administrators are living in denial, regarding their financial status, calling efforts to cut $35-million from their budget “addressing our slight structural budget deficit”.   In Abilene, McMurry University announced it will layoff 12 people in May, blaming DSS.

Vermont: Lyndon State College laid off five employees, blaming a huge decline in enrollment.

Wisconsin:    In Green Bay, Excel Driving School shutdown without notice. Somehow the state DMV heard of the shutdown before anybody else. The owner of the driving school said he could no longer juggle his personal life with his business. About 250 paid up students looking for answers and refunds.   University of Wisconsin Madison warned of layoffs: “I just want to say how sorry I am. Because some of the people in this room are going to be impacted by cuts. I know how hard you work for this university and this state… we will get through this.”-Rebecca Blank, Chancellor, apologizing for the actions of Right to Work you over gov’na Scott Walker who wants to cut higher education funding by $300-million over the next two years!

Wyoming: God refuses to stop Saint James of the Valley School from shutting down. Church administrators blame it on what some Christians call The Rapture, or what I call DSS.

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

Into the New Dark Ages as students ‘disappear’ and Obamacare ‘kills’ 

Idaho, U.S.

Yellowstone super volcano more massive than first thought!

24 April 2015 (10:54 UTC-07 Tango 01)/04 Ordibehesht 1394/05 Rajab 1436/06 Geng Chen (3rd month) 4713

“In a big eruption, Yellowstone would eject 1,000 times as much material as the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption. This would be a disaster felt on a global scale….”–Scientists find missing link in Yellowstone plumbing

“The Yellowstone supervolcano is one of the largest active continental silicic volcanic fields in the world……Using a joint local and teleseismic earthquake P-wave seismic inversion, we unveil a basaltic lower-crustal magma body that provides a magmatic link between the Yellowstone mantle plume and the previously imaged upper-crustal magma reservoir. This lower-crustal magma body has a volume of 46,000 km3, ~4.5 times larger than the upper-crustal magma reservoir, and contains a melt fraction of ~2%. These estimates are critical…..”–The Yellowstone magmatic system from the mantle plume to the upper crust 

The discovery that the supervolcano known as Yellowstone National Park is far bigger than first thought  comes as U.S. National Park administrators reported that 2014’s park attendance resulted in $543.7-million USD for the local economy.

According to National Geographic, Yellowstone National Park records “1,000-3,000 earthquakes annually.”

Recently 6th graders from West Yellowstone wrote comments about their week long field trip to the National Park.  Apparently one thing that wasn’t discussed with the children was that they were sitting on Mother Nature’s Super Atomic Bomb.

Recent local news reports talked about the threat of drought to the National Park, as well as invasive aquatic animals being inadvertently brought in on boats.

Unexplained & increasing Idaho earthquakes caused by Fracking? 

Homeland Security behind False Flag earthquake drill in Idaho? Real quake hits!

Yellowstone Magma expanding?

Continued mine collaspe could be due to increased seismic activity in Idaho. 

Preparing for Disaster

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

More Economic Decline: East Idaho Mail Handlers ‘involuntarily’ escape the Hotel California!

15 April 2015 (16:54 UTC-07 Tango 01)/25 Farvardin 1394/24 Jumada t-Tania 1436/27 Geng Chen 4713

On 14 April 2015, Pocatello's Gateway Processing Center Mail Handlers were given this notice of work "release".

On 14 April 2015, Pocatello’s Gateway Processing Center Mail Handlers were given this notice of work “release”. Note that the letter is dated “April 10, 2015”. Why did administration wait until the 14th to hand out the notices?

Welcome to the Hotel California!

Your Post Office Receives Zero Tax Dollars

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!