April 2, 2009
CHARLESTON, WV - The U.S. Postal Service today announced that the Charleston Remote
Encoding Center (REC) will be closed as part the next phase of a nationwide consolidation plan. The
facility, located at 1002 Lee Street E, Charleston, WV will close in October, 2009. In addition, the
centers located in (Ft. Wayne, IN and Glendale, AZ) will be closing also.
“The Remote Encoding Centers were designed as a temporary solution to automate and expedite
the processing of handwritten and poorly printed addresses,” said Michael Thompson, Manager Remote
Encoding Center for the U.S. Postal Service. “The plan from the start was to phase out the REC
operation as technology enhancements enabled us to automate more mail.”
When the Charleston REC and 54 others were established, postal computerized sorting equipment
could only read two percent of addresses on handwritten envelopes. Since that time, with new
technology improvements, postal computers are currently able to read and process 95 percent of the
mail electronically.
Thompson said the decision about which facilities to close was based on a variety of business
factors, including operating costs, facility costs, lease expiration dates and the ability of other RECs to
absorb the workload. Since the consolidation process began in 1999, 50 sites have been closed. The
closing of the three centers will reduce the number of RECs to two, located in Salt Lake City, UT, and
Wichita, KS.
The Postal Service is providing the REC employees with a minimum six months’ notice of the
closings. The 82 career postal employees at the Charleston REC will be reassigned to available
positions in accordance with employee union collective bargaining agreements. The 252 part-time
temporary employees will receive outplacement counseling to help them find new employment.
The remote encoding process involves transmitting electronic images of handwritten mail from mail
processing plants to RECs where operators view them on computer screens and key in address
information. This information is transmitted back to the postal processing plant where a barcode
corresponding to the address is printed on the envelope so that it can be processed on automated
equipment. With ever-increasing improvements in optical character recognition technology, the volume
of images sent to RECs has diminished significantly and the Postal Service has gradually consolidated
them. As technology evolves, the Postal Service will continue to look for opportunities to reduce
operating costs. This could lead to the remaining centers being phased out at some point in the future.
Source: USPS
New Jersey Postal Manager Jailed 33 Months for Bribery/Kickback Conspiracy
Source: USPS OIG
On September 4, 2008, a former Post Office Operations Manager (POOM) was sentenced to 33 months in prison and ordered to pay approximately $25,700 in restitution to the Postal Service. This conviction and sentencing are the result of multiple OIG investigations into an 8-year conspiracy involving several New Jersey businesses, other postal employees, and the former POOM. The former Manager supervised the operations of more than 75 post offices in three New Jersey counties and influenced some managers he supervised to engage in fraudulent activities.
Our investigation determined the POOM steered postal contracts to the owner of an automobile repair shop and mobile car wash in exchange for money and gratuities. Additionally, he influenced at least 11 postal managers of associate offices to use exclusively the services of this business owner for postal vehicle repairs and car washes. In return, the POOM accepted from the business owner free car repairs for himself, relatives, and associates; $2,500 to pay for a relative’s wedding; and an agreement to allow another relative to become part-owner of the car wash portion of the business. The value of the services provided to the Postal Service is estimated at $600,000. However, our investigation determined the Postal Service paid $184,300 for excessive services and inflated billings. On September 9, 2008, the business owner was sentenced to 4 months’ home confinement and 3 years’ supervised release and ordered to repay $184,300 to the Postal Service.
The OIG further determined that between 1998 and 2002, the former POOM and a Postmaster received $100 to $400 in kickback funds per postal contract awarded to the owner of a refrigeration service company. On July 23, 2008, the owner of the refrigeration service company was sentenced to 5 months’ incarceration, 5 months’ home confinement, 2 years’ probation, and fined $3,000 in connection with the bribery/kickback scheme.
Our investigation revealed the former POOM directed an on-duty City Letter Carrier to perform extensive, unauthorized construction for building offices, plumbing, and electrical work. The work was performed at postal facilities and private homes, including the homes of two of the POOM’s ex-wives, with the POOM altering records so it would appear the Carrier was performing his normal postal duties, with inflated travel expenses.
The POOM also referred the Carrier to the subordinate Postmaster (mentioned earlier), who directed the on-duty Carrier to perform construction work at his ex-wife’s residence. Additionally, the Postmaster directed other postal employees to donate leave through the Annual Leave Sharing Program to his ex-wife, a Postmaster, and then caused the employees’ time records to be falsified, indicating they were working, when in fact, they were not. The subordinate Postmaster will be sentenced January 2009.
Our investigation uncovered numerous other schemes, in which the POOM defrauded the Postal Service, including: Submitting documents to the Postal Service containing false statements and/or omissions of material fact; conducting certain transactions in cash to eliminate an audit trail; and threatening and intimidating postal employees, who wished to report the fraudulent conduct to postal management.
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