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Scam artists prosper by exploiting service for the deaf |
 By Nestor Ramos, (Sioux Falls, S.D.) Argus Leader
The voice on the line is legitimate, the offer a fraud.
"The person who has called you is deaf or hard
of hearing," the operator says, and proceeds to repeat whatever appears
on her screen - an order, perhaps, for 150 fuel filters or 200 Bibles.
The operator works at a relay center, such as
Communication Service for the Deaf in Sioux Falls. But, in this case,
the person she's speaking for is not deaf. He's sitting at a computer
in Nigeria, buying goods and paying for them with a bogus credit card
number.
Read more...
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Postmaster general: 'Situation is critical'
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With predictions that mail volume will plunge this year, U.S.
Postmaster General John E. Potter is asking Congress for help in
finding ways to survive.
During testimony Wednesday before the House Subcommittee on Federal
Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia, Potter urged
lawmakers to allow for greater flexibility with regard to mandated
retiree health benefits.
He pointed out that, based on current law, the Postal Service will
pay almost $70 billion from now through 2016 for retiree health
benefits.
"We simply cannot afford the current method of funding these
benefits," Potter told lawmakers. "Without a change, we will exhaust
our cash resources."
He also outlined several strategies that the Postal Service has come
up with to help close the budget gap - a "chasm, widening each day,"
created by the agency's revenue shortfall.
These include:
- A new process for evaluating and adjusting city delivery routes.
- Reduction of employee work hours and overtime by pursuing even greater efficiencies throughout the organization.
- Halting
construction of new postal facilities and directing funds to the sites
with the most critical needs (i.e., buildings badly damaged or
destroyed by natural disasters).
- Improved fleet management and delivery routing to reduce fuel usage.
- Expanded energy efficiency to reduce energy use throughout Postal Service facilities.
- Reductions in employee travel budgets through the use of Web and video technology to conduct meetings and conferences.
- Renegotiations of supplier contracts to reflect reduced needs.
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