U.S. Postal Inspectors to Aid Haitian Postal System Recovery

Because a viable postal sector is critical to any nation’s economic stability, Chief Postal Inspector William R. Gilligan, Jr. is sending U.S. Postal Inspectors to Haiti to conduct security assessments and help prepare for the restoration of mail service to the earthquake-ravaged country.

“Members of the Universal Postal Union all are playing a role in rebuilding the Haitian Postal System,” says Chief Gilligan, who also serves as chairman of the Universal Postal Union’s Postal Security Action Group. “It is tremendous to see the world community come together and respond to the crisis in Haiti. We are proud to stand with our domestic and international partners to do our part to help rebuild the Haitian Postal System.”

To support recovery efforts and help address the immediate needs of the Haitian people, the U.S. Postal Service already has shipped 17 pallets of water and is currently securing much-needed medical supplies. Additionally, the Postal Service has prepared two large trucks, generators, mail-sorting cases, and mobile post offices for deployment to Haiti, with additional equipment to be identified and shipped following the Postal Inspectors’ on-the-ground assessments in Haiti.

Postal Inspectors know very well what it is like to assist in disaster recovery and provide security for postal operations as communities rebuild. Each year Postal Inspectors help the U.S. Postal Service restore operations after hurricanes, wildfires, tornados, and other natural disasters that wreak havoc in various parts of the United States.

The experienced team of Postal Inspectors slated to aid in the Haitian Postal System recovery have sharpened their skills in the aftermath of such large-scale disasters as Hurricane Katrina, one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States.

The Inspection Service initiative to help re-establish postal services in Haiti requires close coordination with other key federal agencies and organizations, including the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and various components of the Department of Defense.

“These coordinated efforts will spur the Haitian economy and help restore the Haitian Postal System’s ability to deliver care packages and medications to those in need and get messages of hope and inspiration to the Haitian people in a desperate time,” says Chief Gilligan.

Source: usps.com

Introducing the Ubi Duo

The Learning, Diversity, and Development team is excited to announce the incorporation of the Ubi Duo into the USPS work environment, and on January 28, Matilda Johnson will demonstrate its use from 11-12:30 and again from 3:00 to 4:00pm in the Birmingham Plant’s upstairs break room. (See the flyer at the end of this post.)

What IS an Ubi Duo? It’s a pair of devices that facilitate improved communication between deaf or hearing-impaired people and hearing people. Each person using the device has a keyboard and attached screen, and the conversation appears in front of both of them in real time.

Ubi Duos are portable, lightweight (they weigh only 6 pounds), wireless, and run on rechargeable batteries that last up to 10 hours. They were invented by a father and son team who were frustrated by the less-than-ideal communication between them (the son is deaf, while the father is not).

Yes, the name is odd, but this excerpt from the sComm website explains it:

The name stems from the words "ubiquitous" and "duo" - ubiquitous because our desire is to see the device become available everywhere so that every deaf and hard of hearing person can have the opportunity to experience its benefits, and duo because one unit is comprised of two halves which enables two people to have a face-to-face conversation.

Hopefully, the Ubi Duo will give employees new opportunities to communicate and to get to know each other much better while also opening doors for deaf and hearing-impaired colleagues.