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RURAL CARRIER NEWS

2025 Rural Carrier Year in Review

A look back at the rural carrier universe in 2025

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Celebrating Our Postal Workers This Peak Season

Peak season is the busiest time of year for postal workers across the country. From November through December, and even into the New Year, processing returns, postal workers are working tirelessly to ensure packages, letters, and holiday greetings reach their destinations on time. This year, APWU wanted to do something...

NEW VIDEO: NRLCA Wreath Laying Ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier: December 8, 2025

On December 8, 2025, NRLCA National Officers had the distinct honor of participating in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. This meaningful ceremony allowed us to honor not only the veterans within our NRLCA family, but also all the brave men and...

Rural Carrier EMA to Decrease 0.5 Cents Per Mile Effective January 10, 2026

On December 18, 2025, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the November 2025 Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). Based on the release, the Equipment Maintenance Allowance (EMA) for rural carriers will decrease 0.5¢ to 97.0¢ per mile. This EMA rate will be effective...

USPS bets it all on critical ‘last-mile’ plan as boss warns agency will be ‘out of cash’ by early 2027

THE United States Postal Service is leaning on its critical plan relating to its “last-mile” delivery services in order to help pull the federal agency out of financial troubles. The Post Office is hoping that expanding this delivery network for major retailers and shippers will boost revenue – a move...

Postal employees to get letter with overtime tax deduction information

The Postal Service will send a letter in mid-January with information about a new temporary federal tax deduction for certain portions of federal overtime payments made to eligible employees. The letter will include the employee’s qualified overtime amount for 2025. Employees are encouraged to ensure their mailing address is up to...

NEW VIDEO: NRLCA December Holiday Message

We want to say thank you to every rural carrier for the long hours, hard work, and dedication you show during the holidays. While this season brings joy to our communities, it also brings heavy workloads, challenging conditions, and added stress—and rural carriers rise to meet it every day. You...

U.S. Postal Service Announces Bid Solicitation for Access to Last-Mile Delivery Network

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service today announced that it will open up entry to its valuable last mile delivery network. Shippers large and small will be able to access the more than 18,000 USPS delivery destination units (DDUs) nationwide via a solicitation process that will begin accepting bids in late...

Step 4 – RCAs delivering parcels on the city side

On several occasions, the parties discussed the above-captioned grievance at the fourth step of our contractual grievance procedure. he issue in this grievance concerns Rural Carrier Associates (RCAs) delivering parcels to addresses regularly served by the city carrier craft.

Garrett mail carrier navigates state’s longest route

ACCIDENT — Not many people could handle a nearly 100-mile trip through Garrett County’s country roads almost daily. But for Sue Artice, that’s the norm. The 95 miles and 416 mailboxes Artice navigates — though rain, sleet, snow and gloom of night — is the longest U.S. Postal Service route...

Use an FSA debit card? Keep all your documents

Postal Service employees with flexible spending account debit cards might be asked to provide documentation after using the card for out-of-pocket expenses. Inspira Financial, the Postal Service’s flexible spending account administrator, must ensure that such purchases are eligible under Internal Revenue Service rules. If a request from Inspira is not...

Celebrating Our Postal Workers This Peak Season

Peak season is the busiest time of year for postal workers across the country. From November through December, and even into the New Year, processing returns, postal workers are working tirelessly to ensure packages, letters, and holiday greetings reach their destinations on time. This year, APWU wanted to do something...

2025 Rural Carrier Year in Review

Our 2025 Rural Carrier Year in review is up and ready for you! Check it out!

Step 4 – Start times and additional trips

There are three issues in dispute in this grievance: 1) starting times for rural carriers, 2) rural carriers being required to leave for the street at a pre determined time and 3) rural carriers making an additional trip to deliver parcels because parcel distribution was not complete before leaving...

Federal retirement inventory reaches another new high

The federal retirement inventory has reached yet another new high. The Office of Personnel Management now has over 50,000 applications still awaiting a finalized annuity. The increase comes after more than 13,000 retirement applications entered OPM’s systems in December. It’s taking OPM about 67 days to process a...

North Attleborough postal worker delivers Christmas cheer as ‘Buddy the Elf’

NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH, Mass. (WLNE) — For over a decade, a North Attleborough postal worker has delivered packages and Christmas cheer as Buddy the Elf. Some North Attleborough residents know him as Scott the mailman, but others, know him as Buddy the Elf. Since 2011, Scott Phillips has been delivering packages door...

OPM bringing protections for data breach victims to an end

Current and former federal employees affected by the massive 2015 Office of Personnel Management data breach may be losing their identity protection services in the coming year. IDX, the company providing these services since 2015, sent out emails earlier this month telling recipients of their identity protection services that they...

Almost 190 years ago, a fire destroyed vital postal records

Photo: Postmaster General Benjamin Franklin’s ledger showing income and expenses for the General Post Office as well as local Post Offices from 1776 to 1778. On Dec. 15, 1836, a quick-moving fire destroyed a large government-owned building in Washington, DC. The ruinous conflagration is often referred to as the Patent Office Fire,...
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