Tag: USPS

Four congressional Democrats have asked the U.S. Postal Service to reconsider its decision to allow cheaper postal rates for nonprofit groups that team up with commercial companies to raise money. In a letter to postal officials Friday, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman and Reps. Henry A. Waxman, David R. Obey and John W. Olver warned that the change in the cooperative mail rule, set to take effect Thursday, would give rise to arrangements in which a commercial fundraiser solicits money for a charity but pockets much of the money.

The post office has reopened 11 Washington-area facilities that had been shuttered as a precaution after tests at a naval mail-sorting office indicated the possible presence of anthrax. Follow-up tests have come back negative for anthrax.

The Postal Service closed 11 Washington-area post offices while authorities ran tests to determine whether anthrax was detected at the Navy site that handles mail for federal agencies.

Postal Service spokesman Azeezaly Jaffer said authorities decided “out of an abundance of caution” to close the facilities and test them for any biohazard contamination.

The U.S. Postal Service is withdrawing a notice in the Federal Register because its wording suggests that a plan to identify senders of bulk mail is the first step to identifying the senders of all mail. Stephen M. Kearney, vice president of pricing and classification for the Postal Service, said the notice “has caused misunderstanding in some quarters. Sender-Identified Mail: Enhanced Requirement for Discount Rate Mailings, a notice intended to clarify business customer information, will be reissued,” Mr. Kearney said in a statement.