NALCInfo Center

Wednesday’s

News Clips9 March 2016

CONTENTS

USPS:1. Amazon Deliveries and At-Risk Workers Lead to More Accidents and Injuries at the Postal Service – Save the Post Office2. Thieves Increasingly Target Residential Mailboxes – Napa Valley News [CA]3. Bipartisan Group of 33 Lawmakers Call on USPS for Updated Plant Consolidation Plans – Postal Reporter

Campaign 2016:4. Union Members Gravitating Toward Trump Amid Tough Talk on Trade and Immigration – International Business Times

Amazon:5. How Amazon Shames Warehouse Workers for Alleged Theft – BusinessWeek

Thrift Savings Plan:6. Where are You on the TSP Totem Pole? – Federal News Radio

Federal workers:7. Pay Raise? Probably. Retiree COLA? Maybe Not – Federal News Radio

Amazon deliveries and at-risk workers lead to more accidents and injuries at the Postal ServiceMarch 8, 2016Save the Post Office

Last week the Postal Service shared some information with the Postal Regulatory Commission about accidents and safety issues.  As one might expect, the increased use of all those recently hired postal workers — 117,000 in 2015 — is leading to more injuries and accidents.  

Replacing experienced career employees with inexperienced non-career employee comes at a cost both to the Postal Service and the injured employees — as well as anyone else injured in these accidents.

As part of its annual compliance determination review, the PRC is required to examine what the Postal Service has done to ensure a safe work place.  The Commission has therefore been asking for various kinds of information about illnesses, injuries, and accidents.  

In its 2015 Annual Report, the Postal Service indicated that it did not meet the FY 2015 target for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration illness and injury rates. The rate for 2015 was 6.55 per hundred employees — well short of the target of 5.10.  (In previous years, the rate has ranged from 5.44 in 2012 to 6.68 in 2014)

The Annual Report explained that the failure to meet the target "reflects major changes to the business and a significant increase in new employees who are more at risk for injury."  

The Commission asked for more details, and last week the Postal Service provided an explanation of what these major changes were (see USPS response to CHIR No 17).  They include expanding into Sunday delivery, adding new delivery types (like groceries for Amazon Fresh), and hiring 40,000 new City Carrier Assistants to do these deliveries.

As a result of these changes, Sunday accidents have increased 117 percent over the past two fiscal years, from 1,543 in 2013 to 2,153 in 2014 to 3,355 in 2015.  In other words, since 2013, when the Postal Service began Sunday delivery for Amazon, Sunday accidents have more than doubled.

Another change has involved how carrier routes are designed.  With normal delivery, letter carriers are assigned to a specific route, and over the years they become familiar with it and learn its hazards. 

But for package delivery, grocery delivery, and Sunday delivery, the Postal Service uses what it calls “dynamic delivery.”  This means that delivery routes vary day to day, based on what packages are being delivered and where.  Less experienced drivers end up on unfamiliar, ever-changing routes, and the accident rate goes up.

The Postal Service notes that as of September 30, 2015, it employed 143,066 employees with less than two years of on-the-job experience. That’s about 24 percent of the workforce. Approximately 66 percent of these new employees were hired to do delivery, and they were involved in nearly 44 percent of the motor vehicle accidents.   

Here’s a table that the Postal Service gave the PRC showing the accident numbers by type and year.  (We’ve added a column showing the change from 2014 to 2015.)

Accident Type 2014 2015 ChangeDog Bite 4,992 5,355 7.3%Exposure To Extreme Temperatures 228 382 67.5%Distracted Driver Did Not See 15,063 16,774 11.4%Did Not Hear 184 196 6.5%Total for Distracted Driver 15,247 16,970 11.3%Lifting/Reaching Handling At Same Level 2,478 2,522 1.8%Lifting From/To A Higher Level 3,615 3,960 9.5%Pulling From/To A Higher Level 656 599 -8.7%Pulling At Same Level 1,350 1,392 3.1%Pushing From/To A Higher Level 153 180 17.6%Pushing At Same Level 1,079 1,076 -0.3%Total for Lifting/Reaching 9,331 9,729 4.3%

According to the response to the CHIR, the total number of motor vehicle accidents increased from 24,398 in FY 2014 to 26,899 in FY 2015 — an increase of almost 10 percent. 

A 2012 OIG report on vehicle accident prevention shows that from FY 2008 through FY 2011, there were about 20,000 motor vehicle accidents annually, and in 2011, there were 20,552 accidents.  The nearly 27,000 accidents in 2015 thus represents an increase of 31 percent over the past three years. 

(There’s more about vehicle accidents in this previous post on “Trucks on fire: USPS Long Life Vehicles outlive their lifespan.”)

In order to address the increase in motor vehicle accidents, the Postal Service is doing a number of things.  It is redesigning Safe Driver Training, it has released a strategic training initiative for supervisors on how to conduct quality driver observations, it has designated December as Motor Vehicle Safety Month, and it will provide safety programs that focus on distracted driving, seatbelt usage, and winter weather driving.  The Postal Service has also developed a counseling program to provide quarterly discussions for employees with less than two years of service, observed unsafe work practices, or previous accident history.

The Commission did not ask about it, but these accidents obviously cost the Postal Service a lot of money.  That 2012 OIG report cites NHTSA data showing that in general (not for the USPS) “the average crash costs an employer $16,500.  An employee who has an on-the-job crash resulting in an injury costs their employer $74,000.  When a fatality is involved, costs can exceed $500,000.” 

The OIG does not report any USPS-specific data on the costs of postal vehicle accidents, but at an average cost per crash of $16,500, those 27,000 vehicle accidents in 2015 would have cost $445 million. 

The Postal Service is making millions of dollars delivering groceries and on Sundays for Amazon, but the profits are coming at a cost — not only to the Postal Service but also to the postal employees involved in accidents and to the regular people who also experience injuries. One wonders how these costs figure into the bottom line on the Postal Service's deal with Amazon.

Thieves increasingly target residential mailboxes MARIA SESTITOUpdated 9 hrs ago Napa Valley News

Is the mail in your mailbox safe?

Increasingly, thieves are targeting residential mailboxes in a search of credit cards, cash and information that can enable them to steal your identity, local law enforcement reports.

In just the first two months of this year, the Napa County Sheriff’s Office has received almost as many reports about mail theft as it did during all of 2015.

“We’re having a lot of issues with mail theft,” said Deputy Eric Swift of the Sheriff’s Office Problem Oriented Policing Program. In January and February, there were 17 confirmed reports of mail theft in unincorporated Napa County, compared to 21 confirmed reports last year, he said.

Those numbers could be higher – anything that wasn’t identified as “mail theft” isn’t included, like petty theft, grand theft, and possession of stolen property, Swift said.

In the city of Napa, there have been another 10 reports of mail theft since the start of the year, according to Police Capt. Jeff Troendly.

There have been eight reports of mail tampering this year in American Canyon after 89 such reports last year, according to Police Chief Tracey Stuart, who expects the numbers will keep growing.

“[Identity theft] is everywhere and is getting all of us,” said Stuart, who was recently a victim of identity theft.

Although she doesn’t know for sure when or where her information was stolen, she noted that stealing mail is one of the primary ways for people to access personal information about you.

That information can also be accessed anytime you give someone your credit card – like at a restaurant or over the phone. “It’s a nightmare,” she said.

Following a mail theft, thieves may be able to activate credit cards, cash checks and steal your identity, according to Swift. Sometimes a victim will get a call about a credit card being used in their name or figure out that something was sent to them but never received. Other times, victims don’t know their mail was stolen at all, he said.

In the majority of cases at the Sheriff’s Office, thefts occurred at the curb. Swift said that mailboxes without locks have often been targeted where “someone can simply walk up or drive up and open the mailbox.”

However, some thieves break into locked mailboxes with keys, drills or by destroying them completely, Swift said. Forced entry is what Stuart sees most often in American Canyon.

Some of these more “sophisticated” methods appear to have been used over and over again in American Canyon.

“Our mailboxes were being hit consistently from October forward,” said Chris Craiker, a resident of Browns Valley in west Napa. People didn’t think much of the theft until checks started to disappear – checks totaling thousands of dollars, he said.

Neighbors became more and more concerned and started to put locks on their mailboxes. That’s when the drilling started, he said.

Whoever was stealing the mail drilled right through the locks. During one incident, a mailbox was pulled completely from the ground, broken into and found a few blocks away, Craiker said.

“That was the final straw,” Craiker said.

Nine neighbors worked with the post office to get secure mailboxes for the homes on their private drive. The boxes, including installation, cost approximately $95 per household, Craiker said.

But the neighbors didn’t stop there. They also installed a security camera, a motion-activated LED light and posted warning signs targeted at thieves.

One reads: “WARNING: Tampering with mailboxes is a federal offence. Mailboxes monitored by 24 hour CCTV video surveillance.”

“It gives everybody more peace of mind,” Craiker said. The changes were made during the first week of February and the residents haven’t had any incidents since, he added.

For residents who aren’t ready to install cameras, there other options for keeping your mail and your neighborhood safe, according to Swift.

Swift suggested that residents who don’t have secure mailboxes install locks, check their mail regularly or have neighbors retrieve mail.

Another option is to have your mail delivered to the post office or sign up for a post office box. Be sure to notify the post office if you are going away on vacation or are moving, so they can either stop or transfer your mail.

Swift also recommends never sending cash through the mail or even credit cards and checks. If it must be received through the mail, find out when it is expected and make sure to check mail immediately.

And for any junk mail you receive, including credit card offers, make sure it gets shredded. “Sometimes that stuff has a lot of your personal information on it,” Swift said.

If you’re getting other people’s mail, including junk mail, you should return it directly to the post office or write “wrong address” on it and send it through an official USPS mailbox.

You should also be checking your bank accounts and your credit report periodically, Stuart said. She checks her account at least once a week and her credit report at least once every few months.

“More vigilance” is needed on the parts of individuals, Stuart said. Be sure not to let your mail pile up and pay more of your bills online, she suggested.

If you see any suspicious activity around a mailbox or in your neighborhood, such as mail on the ground or someone unknown at the mailbox, notify the Sheriff’s Office or police immediately.

Try to get a good description of the person, their vehicle and, if possible, their license plate, Swift said.

“That can be helpful for us finding these people,” he said.

Bipartisan group of 33 lawmakers call on USPS for updated plant consolidation plansPosted on March 9, 2016 Postal Reporter

March 4, 2016 Press ReleaseU.S. Representative Martha McSally today led a bipartisan group of 33 lawmakers to inquire about the United States Postal Service’s progress on revisiting plans to potentially consolidate mail processing centers around the country, including the Cherrybell Postal Processing Center in Tucson. Rep. McSally has led ongoing advocacy efforts for the continued operation of Cherrybell.

“Our constituents, many of whom are seniors, veterans, active voters and small business owners, depend upon reliable, timely service, whether it be traditional mail services or package delivery,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Postmaster General Megan Brennan. “As such, we find these closures and consolidations and the slowed mail delivery times that accompany them to be of great concern.”

In the letter, the lawmakers highlight language contained in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 that encourages the Postal Service to update the feasibility studies used to propose consolidating processing centers around the country. The legislation containing that language was signed into law on December 18, 2015.

“More concerning is the fact that the Postal Service did not fully engage communities about the impacts of these changes and the USPS Office of Inspector General found that portions of the Area Mail Processing (AMP) feasibility studies were incomplete for Phase 2 of NRI,” [pr added link] the lawmakers continued. “We were extremely pleased to see the inclusion of this report language and request an update on what steps USPS has taken to carry out the Congressional direction included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016.”

Last year, Rep. McSally participated in a roundtable with Councilmember Richard Fimbres and local leaders to coordinate local and federal efforts in support of the Cherrybell Facility’s continued operation. Rep. McSally also toured the Cherrybell Processing Facility and led a bipartisan effort by members of the Arizona delegation to call on Postmaster General Megan Brennan to revisit decisions that would consolidate operations at the Cherrybell Facility and see the facility’s impacts first-hand.

A key concern is the impact the shuttering of Cherrybell could have on local elections, as an increasing number of voters are making use of mail-in ballots. In a Dec. 9 letter to Rep. McSally, Pima County’s Recorder expressed concern that the possible closure of Cherrybell could potentially disenfranchise voters because of the delay in processing ballots. “My office alone will be mailing more than 1 million ballots in 2016 and we can expect several hundred thousand of those ballots to be voted and returned by mail,” wrote F. Ann Rodriguez. “The speed at which the postal service processes the ballots is often critical in giving the voters the opportunity to participate in elections.”

In Washington, D.C., Rep. McSally has met with the Deputy Postmaster General Ronald Stroman and the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations, which handles postal issues in the House, to stress the importance of the Cherrybell facility to Southern Arizonans.

The full letter text follows.

Megan J. BrennanPostmaster GeneralUnited States Postal Service475 L’Enfant Plaza, SWWashington, DC 20260

Dear Postmaster General Brennan:

The United States Postal Service (USPS) currently faces a grim long-term financial outlook. In November 2015, the Postal Service reported a net loss of $5.1 billion for Fiscal Year 2015, marking the ninth year in a row that USPS ended its fiscal year in the red. These losses are driven by the long-term pension and healthcare liabilities. On the other side of the coin, USPS has posted operating profits over the past two years, $1.4 billion in Fiscal Year 2014 and $1.2 billion in Fiscal Year 2015. This shows that under the right circumstances, stable fiscal footing can be returned to the Postal Service without taking on new areas of business that diverge from the agency’s core mission.

In order to address many of the problems USPS currently faces, enactment of legislation by Congress is required. While several reform proposals have been introduced by members of both the House and Senate in this Congress and in the past, until this point, those efforts have stalled. In the absence of Congressional action on difficult issues, such as making the retiree health benefit system more affordable, USPS has taken it upon itself to find solutions to these annual operating deficits. However, in doing so, the Postal Services Network Rationalization Initiatives (NRI) have initiated sweeping changes to its operations, particularly plant closings and consolidations that have already occurred at 141 mail-processing centers across the United States and will affect dozens more.

While First-Class and Standard Mail has steadily declined over the past decade, eCommerce has fostered package delivery growth for USPS. The expansive delivery network the Postal Service possesses provides it an advantage and unique capability of delivering millions of packages the

“last mile.” Our constituents, many of whom are seniors, veterans, active voters and small business owners, depend upon reliable, timely service, whether it be traditional mail services or package delivery. As such, we find these closures and consolidations and the slowed mail delivery times that accompany them to be of great concern. More concerning is the fact that the Postal Service did not fully engage communities about the impacts of these changes and the USPS Office of Inspector General found that portions of the Area Mail Processing (AMP) feasibility studies were incomplete for Phase 2 of NRI.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 included the following language:

On May 27, 2015, the Postal Service announced its decision to defer most of the mail processing plant consolidations scheduled to take place in summer 2015 as the final stage of its Network Rationalization Initiative. The Postal Service is encouraged to update the Area Mail Processing feasibility studies for these plants using the most recent available data in advance of implementing the proposed consolidations.

We were extremely pleased to see the inclusion of this report language and request an update on what steps USPS has taken to carry out the Congressional direction included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016. In addition, please include an update of actions USPS intends to take this year regarding possible future consolidations or closures of the mail processing infrastructure. Please provide a response by March 10, 2016.

Sincerely,

Union Members Gravitating Toward Trump Amid Tough Talk On Trade And ImmigrationBy Cole Stangler On 03/08/16 AT 9:25 AMInternational Business Times

Brian Sepe has been a dues-paying member of the United Steelworkers for over three decades. Last week, he voted for Donald Trump in Massachusetts' Republican primary.

“My country is going to hell,” said Sepe, a 55-year-old utility worker and resident of Lowell, the famed mill town that is now one of the state’s poorest cities. “You look back at all the different trade agreements over the past 30 years, [and] it’s always been to move jobs out of the country. That’s got us in so much trouble. We don’t have good jobs left in this country.”

“[Trump] is a no bulls--t kind of guy,” Sepe continued. “He calls it what it is.”

Sepe belongs to a breed that’s causing serious concern among officials from organized labor and the Democratic Party: union members who support billionaire real estate mogul Trump for president.

As primaries and caucuses have illustrated thus far, voters across the country are drawn to the GOP front-runner’s populist rhetoric and tough talk on trade — both of which are pillars of many embattled U.S. labor unions. Come November, some Democrats and labor officials worry that Trump could capture a large chunk of the union vote, historically a vital part of the Democratic electoral coalition.

Mary Kay Henry, president of the 2 million-member Service Employees International Union, acknowledged as much in a recent interview. "I am deeply concerned about what is stirring, even in our membership ... where our members are responding to Trump's message," she told former Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod in a January interview.

The head of the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor federation, struck a similar chord in a speech earlier this month: "Donald Trump is tapping into the very real and very understandable anger of working people," Richard Trumka told a gathering of construction unionists. "When Trump says we’re losing, his message resonates with some folks. And when he yells or lashes out, he finds a sympathetic audience who wishes more politicians would express the frustration they feel."

Larry Cohen, the former president of the Communications Workers of America union who recently became a labor adviser to Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' campaign, told International Business Times he has witnessed firsthand how Trump’s rhetoric resonates with some union members on the campaign trail. Without Sanders and his brand of left-wing populism in the race, rank-and-file support for Trump would be even greater, he said.

“I think you have to look not just at the Clintons but [also at] the migration of the Democratic establishment in and out of finance capital, their families, their contributions, the way they combine social liberalism with free market economics and some lip service to workers’ rights but deliver nothing,” Cohen said. “People have had it with that liberal establishment.”

To be sure, a minority of labor-union households regularly vote Republican: 39 percent of voters from union households opted for John McCain in 2008 and 40 percent preferred Mitt Romney to President Barack Obama in 2012, for example. Among these GOP-leaning union households, limited polling suggests Trump is the hands-down favorite.

Brian Sepe is one of these voters. Though registered as an independent, Sepe said he typically supports Republican presidential candidates. He said he likes Trump’s promises to crack down on illegal immigration and roll back unfair trade deals. He is not bothered by Trump's opposition to hiking the minimum wage or his support for so-called right-to-work policies, laws that prohibit unions from deducting fees from workers they represent but who decide not to join.

“Unions do still serve a purpose,” he said. “As far as [supporting] Democrats, I think they have to take a stand back and look over the years at how the Democratic Party has changed. It’s not the way it was when unions first started up. My belief is the Democrats, yes, they’re for the people -- but the people of what country? The highest bidder?”

Sepe blames the Democrats for the North American Free Trade Agreement, the hotly contested deal with Canada and Mexico championed by President Bill Clinton. He also blasted the Obama administration’s support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a similarly controversial agreement between the U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim countries that would cover 40 percent of the world economy.

Michael Watson is another proud union member who backs Trump. Watson is a heavy highway contractor who sits on the advisory board of his Indiana district of Operating Engineers Local 150, a 22,000-member local that stretches from eastern Iowa to northern Indiana. The 46-year-old recalled voting for Republicans in recent presidential elections — and before then, supporting third-party bids from Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot.

He vehemently opposes his union’s decision to formally endorse Hillary Clinton —one of the roughly two-dozen nods from major unions that have gone her way, covering about 10 million members. Watson said the endorsement clashed heavily with the views of many members in his district, which counts a sizable contingent of Trump and Sanders supporters. “I think it’s bullcrap,” he said. “I don’t care for it.”

“I’m so tired of paying for freeloaders while they sit on their a-- while I have to work and take care of them, meaning illegal immigrants, people on welfare, able-bodied but won’t do anything to help themselves,” Watson said. “[Trump]’s not politically correct. I seem to have the same problem. I get tired of people’s feelings getting in the way of their thinking, and he speaks his mind.”

In addition to Republicans, limited anecdotal evidence suggests Trump may be picking up support from some Democratic-leaning union members: Jeff Hester, a former Democrat and currently laid-off member of the Teamster-affiliated Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers who lives in Tennessee, recently launched his page Teamsters for Trump. It now counts more than 600 "likes."

When the Communications Workers of America union polled its members over who to endorse in 2016, Trump came in third behind Democrats Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, winning more than was expected for a Republican candidate. The union eventually endorsed Sanders.

In January, the AFL-CIO affiliated Working America group polled likely voters with household incomes of $75,000 or less in working-class neighborhoods outside Cleveland and Pittsburgh. While most support for Trump came from Republican voters, one in four Democrats surveyed said Trump was their top choice. 

Despite the many grumblings and anxieties, however, there is less hard evidence —at least, at this stage of the campaign — that Trump is actually gaining traction from union members who do not typically vote Republican.

A January 2016 poll from Zogby Analytics found Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton leading Trump among union households by a 56-37 percent margin. In a Siena College Research Institute poll released Monday, union households in New York preferred the two

Democratic hopefuls to Trump by wide margins, around 20 percent in both cases. Sixty-seven percent of New York union households held unfavorable opinions of Trump, the same poll found. Just 28 percent had favorable opinions.

Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, pointed to President Obama’s successful elections in 2008 and 2012. In both cases, concerns that union members would not back the campaigns failed to come to fruition, she said. Instead, union voters helped deliver Obama victories in crucial states like Pennsylvania and Ohio.

As Trump targets this crop of largely white voters, Bronfenbrenner said unions will have to put in the time and resources to counteract his appeal among rank-and-file members — just as they did against McCain and Romney.

“The labor movement was successful in getting these same voters to vote for Obama,” said Bronfenbrenner. “They’re going to have to get out there and do that kind of education again ... What happens depends on unions doing the work to educate members.”

The face of organized labor is changing too. Despite lingering popular perceptions, most U.S. union members today are not white men. Nearly half of all union members are in the public sector — which, on the whole, has a higher share of female and black workers than their counterparts in the private sector. And as research from Bronfenbrenner has shown, most new union members today are women and people of color. Voters from such backgrounds are unlikely to support Trump, she said.

“He’s targeted his campaign toward appealing to the fears of white men, but he is alienating a great deal of women and he’s totally alienating people of color,” Bronfenbrenner said. “And if that works in this country, if that works, then it is very frightening.”

How Amazon Shames Warehouse Workers for Alleged Theft

“It’s just letting people know that you’re being watched.” Josh Eidelson Spencer SoperMarch 7, 2016 — 11:26 AM EST BusinessWeek

While waiting to clock in each morning, workers at some Amazon.com warehouses get a steady stream of company-provided reading: the stories of co-workers fired for theft.

In an effort to discourage stealing, Amazon has put up flatscreen TVs that display examples of alleged on-the-job theft, say 11 of the company’s current and former warehouse workers and antitheft staff. The alleged offenders aren’t identified by name. Each is represented by a black silhouette stamped with the word “terminated” and accompanied by details such as when they stole, what they stole, how much it was worth, and how they got caught—changing an outbound

package’s address, for example, or stuffing merchandise in their socks. Some of the silhouettes are marked “arrested.”

Theft is a persistent concern for Amazon, with warehouses full of small but valuable items and a workforce with high turnover and low pay. Workers interviewed for this story say the range of thefts posted on the screens is as varied as the company’s sprawling catalog: DVDs, an iPad, jewelry, a lighter, makeup, a microwave, phone cases, Pop Rocks, video games. Several recall a post about an employee fired for stealing a co-worker’s lunch.

The digital bulletin boards also occasionally display information about firings related to workplace violence. There are cheerier announcements, too, such as updates on incentive bonuses or a message about Black History Month. In some warehouses that don’t have flatscreens, workers say, tales of firings are posted on sheets of paper tacked to bulletin boards or taped to the wall.

Many workers say their wages or workloads concern them more than the screens

Former managers in Amazon’s loss-prevention department say the use of theft stories was widespread during their tenure. Amazon didn’t respond to requests for comment for this story.

Many of the workers say the screens aren’t a top concern compared with wages or workload. “Only people that would have something to say about it is people that’s doing wrong,” says Maurice Jones, a warehouse worker who left Amazon in February. “It’s just letting people know that you’re being watched.”

Yet the tales of theft and punishment are hard for workers to ignore—like a car crash, Jones says. “It could be one lane that’s blocked, but all the traffic slows down because everyone wants to look at it,” he says. “Like, ‘Who was stupid this time?’ ”

For some of the workers, the practice carries a whiff of prison. “That’s a weird way to go about scaring people,” says James McCracken, who, like Jones, used to work at Amazon’s warehouse in San Bernardino, Calif. “I think that’s offensive.”

Security experts say Amazon’s anecdotal warnings are a natural extension of older corporate loss-prevention tactics, such as frisking employees as they leave a store. “There are people who will never steal. There’s a certain percentage of people that will always steal,” says Pat Murphy, the president of LPT Security Consulting. “You’re always trying to influence that middle group by reminding them there is a high probability they will get caught, and if I get caught, these are the consequences.” Murphy, who spent two decades in retail security after leaving the Dallas police force, says that while the psychology of Amazon’s flatscreen messages is familiar, he’s never heard of anything quite like them.

Amazon’s methods can be extreme. In 2010 several Pennsylvania warehouse employees required medical attention after having to stand outside for hours in freezing cold after a fire alarm went off. Workers wearing T-shirts and shorts because of the heat in the warehouse weren’t allowed to go to their cars because, they said, the company was afraid the alarm had been pulled to cover a

theft. Amazon said in a statement at the time that employee safety was a top priority and it had developed faster fire alarm procedures.

Antitheft tactics have advanced with technology, Murphy says. In the 1980s retailers tried embedding subliminal messages in the music played in their stores to deter customers from stealing. Today, break-room warning posters and anonymous hotlines are commonplace. “The types of methods used by warehouses and fulfillment centers are only limited by your imagination,” Murphy says, “and whatever the law allows.”

The bottom line: One of Amazon’s latest approaches to deterring theft is to post tales of fired workers where peers can see them.

Where are you on the TSP totem pole?By Mike Causey | March 8, 2016 1:00 am Federal News Radio

Account balances in the federal Thrift Savings Plan range from a few hundred dollars (for newcomers) to $4.7 million. Most people, obviously, are somewhere in between. So how about you?

As of January, there were 4.7 million account holders (current and former feds and retirees) with account balances of $50,000 or less. At the higher end of the scale, there were 3,272 whose account balances exceeded $1 million. Also there were a huge number — more than 92,000 — of TSP participants with balances ranging between $500,000 and $749,000. Many are on the cusp of becoming TSP millionaires.

So how did they do it? Some brought the money with them when they came into government. They had high-paying jobs in the private sector but, for whatever reason, came into the federal government. Some were private lawyers who became federal judges. Others had big 401k plans or retirement accounts that they transferred into the TSP because of its low-administrative fees. And the 5 percent match that Uncle Sam gives any TSP participant in the FERS retirement program that puts in 5 percent or more of their salary into the TSP. That 5 percent match — extremely generous by private sector standards, is the equivalent of a tax-deferred pay raise year after year. It’s one reason feds out-invest their private sector counterparts when it comes to building a retirement nest egg.

Based on the last few months, we appear to be — maybe — in a mini-bear market. It could happen, or not. And it could be long or short. But whatever it is, it comes after an extended period (early 2009 until at least the end of 2015) after an extended period of growth (market).

In addition to its lowest-in-the-business administrative fees, the long haul growth in TSP balances has been greatly enhanced by the 5 percent employer match and time. As in time is on your side. The stock markets go up and down but, over the long haul (so far) on the rise. Several financial planners use the example of a person walking slightly up hill playing with a yo-yo. The

yo-yo will go up (a bull market) and it will go down (bear market) but overall, it rises. That’s simplistic, but accurate.

Bear markets happen every 4 or 5 years according to the investment giant firm Charles Schwab. And bull markets rarely last as long as the most recent one. Mark Riepe, senior vice president at Schwab’s Center for Financial Research says the S&P 500 index (which is tracked by the TSP’s C-fund) almost “tripled in value “from March 2009 to October of last year. He said that going back to the 1960s “the average bull (market) ran for more than four years delivering an average return of nearly 140 percent” while the average bear market lasted a little longer than a year “with an average loss of 34.7 percent.”

The ups and downs of the market are inevitable. How people react during a bull or bear market seems to be the key to financial success. Or loss. People who got out of the C, S and I funds during the Great Recession “saved” in the sense that they put their money in the super-safe Treasury securities G fund. But by moving into the safe harbor of the G fund, and no longer investing in the on-sale stock funds, their “lost” value in their accounts.

An expert on the TSP side said, “The best way to save for retirement is to have a plan (or use the TSP’s Lifecycle L Funds) and stick with it. Reacting to moves of the market never works out — you sell low and buy high — the exact opposite of what anyone is trying to do.” It is hard not to panic, the expert said because “the media pounds the stock market results hard, 24/7, and it’s hard to tune out.”

So where are you in the TSP standings? Checkout this chart, from the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, which shows balances, number of participants and the average years of participation:

Balance Breakdown # of Participants Average Years of Participation< $50,000 2,810,398 9.3

$50,000-$249,000 1,435,373 19.1$250,000-$499,000 371,209 24.0$500,000-$749,00 92,092 27.0

$750,000-$999,000 18,846 28.7>$1 million 3,272 28.5

TOTAL 4,731,190 13.9

Pay raise? Probably. Retiree COLA? Maybe notBy Mike Causey | March 9, 2016 1:00 am Federal News Radio

Federal workers are in line to get a pay raise in January 2017. Probably about the same amount, 1.6 percent, slightly more than the 1.3 percent they received this year.

Federal retirees are looking at a cost-of-living adjustment of zero next year. That would be the same amount (as in nothing) they got last January.

So what gives?

It’s as simple as the law, and the price of oil. Also a lot more complicated than that.

Under FEPCA, the 1990 pay law (approved by a Democratic Congress and signed by a Republican president) non-postal federal workers were and were supposed to get raises each January. The idea was to gradually close the pay gap — of around 23 percent at the time — that lawmakers (at the time) agreed existed between federal pay and private sector salaries for similar jobs. The pay gap argument has been going on ever since. Pro-fed groups and federal unions say it is wider than ever, about 35 percent. The opposition says that Uncle Sam is the salary king, especially when considering the value of federal benefits — retirement, health insurance, 401k plan, holidays and sick leave.

President Bill Clinton inherited the pay catchup law. But he recommended a zero raise that year. Congress gave feds a raise, but not the catchup amount envisioned in the law. It’s been that way ever since. Presidents Clinton, and Bush OK’d smaller raises than those called for by the FEPCA formula. President Barack Obama proposed a two-year pay freeze, which Congress extended to three years. He recommended a 1.6 percent adjustment for 2017. Democratic members of Congress say feds deserve much more. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) is leading the charge for a 5.3 percent hike. Because this is an election year, many members of Congress are counting the number of federal voters in their districts and states. But the odds of feds getting the higher amount are slim.

Federal retirees are a different story. They don’t get pay raises subject to fiscal and political considerations. By law, the retirees — including folks under Social Security and those drawing retired military pay — get cost of living adjustments. When inflation, as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, goes up they get a COLA. When it doesn’t, they don’t. Many times in the past retirees got bigger COLA percentages than active duty feds got in pay raises. Everybody got used to prices — as measured by the Consumer Price Index — going up. But with the dramatic drop in oil prices we’ve had long periods of either very little inflation, or actual deflation.

Many retirees think the market basket of goods the government uses to determine inflation doesn’t give enough weight to thinks that older people — retirees — need to buy. Typical of what many retirees are saying is this email from retiree Bob Iancione, who said, “I read once again where Sen. Ben Cardin wants to give the current federal employee’s a 5.3 percent pay increase. I also see it has 32 cosponsors in the House. Mike, I am not writing you to beat a dead horse or deny the current feds anything, remember I was one also. But it’s truly amazing to me that there isn’t anybody worried about the retirees or the Social Security recipients not getting a dime. What truly gives here, Mike, please enlighten me. I can’t be the only person on this bandwagon. Please, Mike, it would be nice to see you write something or try and gather some support for this cause.”

While the local news is focused on the pay raise for federal employees, not much is being reported on the House and Senate bills aimed at providing an emergency payment to retirees. H.R. 4012 and S. 2251 direct the Treasury Department to disburse a payment of $581 to certain individuals — Social Security recipients and those receiving disability benefits, railroad retirement benefits and veterans’ benefits. For retired federal and state workers (those who do not collect Social Security), the bills would provide a federal tax credit of the same amount. However, much like a 5.3 percent pay raise, these bills are unlikely to see any movement in Congress.