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Postal News Reported During February 2002

February 28, 2002 -- CEP News (Courier- Express- and Postal-Market News) has reported that:

Check out the latest issue of CEP News for the details on this and other news items affecting the courier, express, and postal market around the world.

February 28, 2002 -- The Wall Street Journal has noted that "since Sept. 11, the U.S. Postal Service has removed about 6,800 of the familiar, blue boxes across the country. Many are at or near locations considered vulnerable to terrorism, such as airports, government buildings, skyscrapers, military bases, churches and schools. The post office was already getting rid of some boxes because they weren't being used very much. Demand for collection boxes has been hurt in particular by the growth of electronic bill payment. But the push to remove them is accelerating as the post office wrestles with how to keep the world's largest mail system safe in the wake of Sept. 11 and anthrax-related jitters."

February 28, 2002 -- According to CIO magazine, "with the help of a corporate portal, the U.S. Postal Service delivers quality knowledge management."

February 28, 2002 -- According to the Associated Press, "the U.S. House of Representatives is considering computerized mail service as a way to overcome delays and security concerns about regular mail since the October discovery of an anthrax-contaminated letter in a Senate office building. Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Administration Committee, said a pilot project to begin soon would allow individual lawmakers or committee offices to have their mail digitalized. Under the system, also used by the CIA and the FBI, mail addressed to congressional offices would go to a company responsible for scanning and computerizing it. The mail would be encrypted so only the lawmaker to whom it was addressed could read it. It could be sorted by subject or zip code to make it easier for lawmakers to see what issues interested their constituents."

February 28, 2002 -- Il Sole 24 Ore (Italy) has reported that "Corrado Passera, managing director of Italian postal service Poste, has presented the business plan for 2002-2004 which is based on developing more financial services as well as the logistics and package deliveries division. Poste is also to increase the use of IT in the delivery of mail and to set up a cargo airline."

February 28, 2002 -- Nuance, a provider of software for a voice-driven world, has announced an innovative new voice-activated postal management service for Svensk Adressandring AB (SA), a company serving Sweden's Royal Mail and other mail distributors in Sweden. The service enables mail to be redirected quickly and easily whether moving, traveling or going on vacation.

February 28, 2002 -- Postmaster General Jack Potter will speak at the National Press Club on April 5. The subject of his presentation will be the U.S. Postal Service's Transformation Plan.

February 28, 2002 -- Robert Pederson has been named the Postal Service's vice president and treasurer effective March 2.

February 27, 2002 -- The agenda for the March meeting of the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors has been posted on the USPS web site.

February 27, 2002 -- According to Die Welt, "the privatisation of Deutsche Post AG, the German postal service provider, is set to continue with the announcement that the country's ministry of finance is to place a further package of shares. It had been mooted that the government would delay the move to later in the year, but this has now been rejected. Since the start of the year, Deutsche Post has been reducing its stake to below 50 per cent. At present, its stake is over 69 per cent."

February 27, 2002 -- La Stampa (Italy) has reported that "Stefano Parisi, general manager of Italian employers' association Confindustria, has said that it is unacceptable that Italian postal service Poste is still enjoying a monopoly of the sector. He also said that the postal service and the banking sector operate in a protected environment."

February 27, 2002 -- As Internet.com has noted, "while the proponents of the Tauzin-Dingell legislation make their arguments today that the only way to spur broadband growth in America is to allow the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOC) to close their DSL networks in a manner similar to cable companies, Telecommunications Reports International (TRI) is issuing a report saying providers of broadband Internet access, including cable modem and DSL connections, closed 2001 with significant gains." The quickened implementation of internet broadband is a priority with the Bush Administration. The expansion of broadband capacity will make it easier for businesses to choose online over mail for business communication and commerce.

February 27, 2002 -- According to the Daily Telegraph (U.K.), "a name may not tell one much, but a change of name usually does. Over the past year, the Post Office's much ridiculed choice of Consignia as its new moniker has come to symbolise the way in which the organisation is losing its bearings. The idea behind it was that the Post Office would cease to be old-fashioned, and somehow transform itself into a thrusting international communications company. As well as renaming itself Consignia, it ceased to be a traditional nationalised industry and became instead a public company, still wholly owned by the government but now able to borrow commercially, and expand abroad."

February 27, 2002 -- The Washington Post has reported that "for a number of Washington area residents lately, these high-tech times seem more like the horse-and-buggy days of communication. U.S. Postal Service customers report a string of unusually late deliveries that have inconvenienced them in minor and major ways, from stale holiday wishes to overdue bills."

February 27, 2002 -- The Financial Times (U.K.) has reported that "businesses are to get priority over households for early postal deliveries, Royal Mail said yesterday. It confirmed proposals, first made at the start of the year, to drop the second daily delivery and replace it with a single delivery to business addresses between 7am and 9am. Urban households should receive mail between 9am and 1pm, while rural homes would receive post by late lunchtime. Royal Mail hopes the proposals will ensure more first class mail arrives the next working day."

February 27, 2002 -- According to SmartMoney.com, "United Parcel Service Inc. expects first-quarter profit to be at the high end of a forecast it gave in January for earnings of 40 cents a share to 47 cents a share, citing cost-control measures. 'The quarter is unfolding fairly well,' Scott Davis, chief financial officer for the world's largest package carrier, said in a statement. 'While volume growth is still about 1% to 2% below last year's levels, yields are firm and expense controls are tracking ahead of plan'....In addition, United Parcel Service Inc. said it expects to get between 20% to 25% of its revenues in five years from its international operations. CEO Mike Eskew, speaking during a company investor conference in Louisville, Ky., said that several independent surveys have found a renewed emphasis on international expansion and supply-chain management this year." See also the UPS press release.

February 27, 2002 -- Bloomberg News has reported that "United Parcel Service Inc. wants to more than double sales from non-delivery business and raise revenue from overseas operations within five years to sustain growth at the largest package-delivery company." See also TransportNews.com.

February 27, 2002 -- The Dallas Morning News has reported that "CheckFree i-Solutions has announced that more than 500,000 Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (Public Service) and Upper Peninsula Power Company (UPPCO) utility customers now have the ability to receive and pay bills at their choice of CheckFree-powered Web sites including banks, brokerages, credit unions and Internet portals. Additionally, by clicking on links that appear directly on the e-bill, customers can access a variety of online services on the Public Service and UPPCO Web sites such as address change, account and rate information, and instructions on how to read gas and electric meters. Unlike paper payments, customers who pay their bills electronically are protected against late fees and interest charges."

February 27, 2002 -- The Independent (U.K.) has reported that the "post will arrive later and the second delivery will be scrapped under a new delivery system to be tested by Royal Mail. About 100,000 homes around the country will receive the new service within months in an attempt to cut costs and meet targets for the delivery of first-class mail. Echo Business (U.K.) has reported that "rural businesses could be left counting the cost under radical new plans by the Royal Mail to alter delivery times." See also The Guardian.

February 27, 2002 -- According to the Newsquest Media Group, "leaders of a million businessmen and women who work from home have attacked plans to deliver post later in the day and end second deliveries. The Royal Mail says the changes, to be tested in 14 areas of the UK, will mean a single delivery arriving by lunchtime. The plans, due to be extended across the country from the autumn, are expected to lead to job losses among postal workers."

February 27, 2002 -- Business Day (South Africa) has reported that "the SA Post Office has warned that the lower-than-expected 9% postal tariff increase for this year will adversely affect development programmes, and will mean that mail volumes are unlikely to see a return to growth. The organisation had requested a 12%-15% hike in tariffs in the hope that the ailing entity could improve its revenues and grow the business. The approved 9% tariff increase means the cost of a standard letter will go up to R1,52 from R1,40."

February 27, 2002 -- The San Francisco Examiner has reported that "a shipment of 408 morphine suckers, believed stolen from an Independence home Feb. 11, were recovered Monday. The Independence man who reported the morphine suckers stolen last week had expected the shipment Feb. 11 and believed it to be stolen. However, the morphine was sent in two shipments instead of one. The first package was sent two-day air and the second package was sent by regular parcel post to save money on shipping. The U.S. Postal Service delivered the second package Monday." Penny-wise, pound-foolish? Or just a "dope?"

February 27, 2002 -- The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has posed: "Would it be worth an extra penny of postage to be sure your mail was free of live anthrax spores? Would you be willing to have some mail and parcels inspected? Would you mind letters that contained yellowed paper, singed snapshots and discolored plastic? Nobody is asking those questions today, but Keith Florig, a risk analyst at Carnegie Mellon University, thinks they should be."

February 26, 2002 -- The BBC has reported that "the Royal Mail is to abolish second deliveries in some parts of the UK from May. The trial scheme, in which post will arrive later and there will be only one delivery, is designed to improve efficiency, the Royal Mail says. The Royal Mail hopes that cutting costs will help it out of its current cash crunch, caused by falling demand and mounting competition." See also the report by Ananova.

February 26, 2002 -- The Birmingham Post (United Kingdom) has reported that "Birmingham-based Business Post, one of the four companies with licenses to compete with the Post Office, has rubbished talk that the competition would lead to the collapse of the national mail service. The mail regulator has proposed that private sector companies like Business Post be allowed to compete with the Post Office, now called Consignia, for the delivery of bulk business letters from April. But Consignia has said the proposals open up its most lucrative business too quickly to competition and may mean it does not have enough money to maintain the single priced national mail service. The implication is that people living in the countryside, where it is more expensive to collect and deliver letters, could soon face having to pay more for a first and second class stamp than city dwellers."

February 26, 2002 -- Parascript(R), LLC has announced that Siemens Dematic Postal Automation L.P. has enlisted the help of Parascript to deliver advanced sorting capabilities to postal agencies.

February 26, 2002 -- The United States Postal Service has launched an advertising campaign featuring the new theme, "brought to you by the United States Postal Service." The campaign created by Leo Burnett USA captures the United States Postal Service's role in American society -- which goes beyond delivering packages and letters -- to bring businesses and consumers the intangible benefits of fulfillment, personal connection, and success.

February 26, 2002 -- The Washington Post has reported that "the FBI has conducted anthrax tests in the homes, offices and vehicles of about a dozen people who have been investigated in the deadly anthrax mailings, but the individuals were cleared of suspicion after the tests came back negative, according to officials familiar with the government's probe. The tests, which use swabs to detect the presence of anthrax spores, were conducted with the consent of those under investigation and did not require search warrants, authorities said. Disclosure of the searches comes amid increasing concern on Capitol Hill and among some scientists over an apparent lack of progress in the FBI's anthrax probe, which has yielded no firm suspects despite thousands of interviews conducted since the deaths of five people last fall."

February 26, 2002 -- As DM News postal commentator Cary Baer has noted, "except for the attorneys and economists whose services are much in demand, rate cases are by definition not a happy time. However, for those doggedly interested in poring through the reams of interrogatories and responses it can be a treasure trove of interesting information."

February 26, 2002 -- The Financial Times has reported that:

February 26, 2002 -- According to The Birmingham Post (United Kingdom), "rural business leaders in the Midlands have launched a campaign to fight off the threat to vital postal services in the countryside. The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) is urging people to send a postcard of their town or village to the postal regulator Postcomm, insisting that rural services must be safeguarded in any privatisation scheme. It hopes the letter-writing campaign will ensure the Government, which is consulting on possible privatisation of mail deliveries, is left in no doubt about the importance of a quality postal service to rural communities."

February 26, 2002 -- The Liverpool Daily Post (U.K.) has asked: "Can rural life survive postal purge?"

February 26, 2002 -- As The Times (U.K.) has noted, "this is Leadership Week. The Industrial Society is in favour of leadership and wants to encourage it. You can see why: 600 managers at Consignia reckon that they have very poor quality leadership and the result is that the organisation once known as the Post Office is losing £1.5 million every day. The posties who report to the 600 disgruntled managers are probably equally scathing about their leadership qualities but, while The Industrial Society is undeniably correct in its assertion that leadership 'is vital at all levels in an organisation', the managers are right to point the finger of blame for Consignia’s troubles straight at the men at the top."

February 26, 2002 -- The Northampton Chronicle (U.K.) has reported that "a Christmas card posted by less than a mile from its destination has finally arrived after being wrongly taken from Northampton to the Chinese capital Beijing. Northampton decorator Nick Richards’ card arrived at his St Matthew’s Parade home on Friday after a round trip of more than 10,000 miles. The envelope, which had originally been sent by a friend from nearby Billing Road in Northampton on December 9, came complete with the words 'Missent to Beijing'."

February 26, 2002 -- According to the Journal of Commerce, "FedEx said it plans to begin testing hybrid electric delivery trucks in the fall. The logistics provider and the Alliance for Environmental Innovation announced Monday that three competing teams have agreed to produce prototype vehicles for the next generation of delivery trucks for FedEx Express, the principal operating arm of FedEx Corp. The teams are headed by the Allison Transmission Division of General Motors; BAE Systems Controls, and Eaton Corp."

February 26, 2002 -- As iSource has noted, when it come to "the Internet: It collapses time and distance, the genetic material of all logistical support services. UPS' very large, worldwide footprint doesn't fully protect it from the kind of clever competitors e-commerce can quickly grow through consolidation and partnerships. No one is quite sure yet that companies will rush to outsource their logistics or, as UPS proposes, management of their entire supply chains. Just-in-time inventory management isn't new, but the Internet makes it a more far-reaching reality, enabling companies to save money, knock their inventories down to zero and still keep control of a critical part of their business by investing in technology to manage their own logistics operations rather than farm them out."

February 26, 2002 -- According to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, "the way Alaska's mail comes and goes, within the state and to the Outside, changed dramatically following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But the state Postal Service still gets A-minus and B-plus grades in official tests. While the Federal Aviation Administration ban on all air traffic for a couple of days in September caused a huge but temporary backlog in mail, one FAA decision caused a permanent effect that postal officials are now dealing with every day."

February 26, 2002 -- The BBC Monitoring Service has reported that "the [Hungarian] electronic public procurement system will operate as a market place. The system was introduced to the public by Istvan Stumpf, minister at the head of the Prime Minister's Office, and Istvan Kalmar, director-general of the Hungarian Post Office. The Hungarian Post Office has been granted concession rights to carry out this activity for 10 years. First, from April, products falling in the category of centralized public procurement products will be accessible on the electronic portal. Later the system will be able to incorporate the whole process of public procurement from the publication of invitations for bids to electronic payments."

February 26, 2002 -- Asia Pulse has reported that an advisory panel to the prime minister on postal system reform has suggested that "the nationwide network of post offices should be open to private businesses and local governments. The theme was how to improve and utilize the post office network effectively. Private financial institutions could use the network to market their products, while local governments might use the post offices as service centers in remote areas. Post offices currently have ATM alliances with some financial institutions, enabling their depositors to use ATMs at post offices."

February 26, 2002 -- According to PCWorld, "Capitol Hill is becoming more tech-savvy as it turns to e-mail and tries to steer away from anthrax-ridden letters. The volume of e-mail to Congress has more than doubled since anthrax was discovered in a letter meant for Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) says Nu Wexler, a spokesperson for Senator Ernest Hollings (D-South Carolina). The beneficiaries of this trend may well be a new breed of political activists who like to use the Web as a tool for activism. Activism has come a long way in the Internet age, moving from action on the streets to turning to a keyboard and clicking. The only hitch is that the strategists believe politicians still don't take Internet and e-mail campaigns as seriously as conventional ones--even if e-mail is more appealing after the anthrax scare."

February 28, 2002 -- CEP News (Courier- Express- and Postal-Market News) has reported that:

Check out the latest issue of CEP News for the details on this and other news items affecting the courier, express, and postal market around the world.

February 28, 2002 -- The Wall Street Journal has noted that "since Sept. 11, the U.S. Postal Service has removed about 6,800 of the familiar, blue boxes across the country. Many are at or near locations considered vulnerable to terrorism, such as airports, government buildings, skyscrapers, military bases, churches and schools. The post office was already getting rid of some boxes because they weren't being used very much. Demand for collection boxes has been hurt in particular by the growth of electronic bill payment. But the push to remove them is accelerating as the post office wrestles with how to keep the world's largest mail system safe in the wake of Sept. 11 and anthrax-related jitters."

February 28, 2002 -- According to CIO magazine, "with the help of a corporate portal, the U.S. Postal Service delivers quality knowledge management."

February 28, 2002 -- According to the Associated Press, "the U.S. House of Representatives is considering computerized mail service as a way to overcome delays and security concerns about regular mail since the October discovery of an anthrax-contaminated letter in a Senate office building. Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Administration Committee, said a pilot project to begin soon would allow individual lawmakers or committee offices to have their mail digitalized. Under the system, also used by the CIA and the FBI, mail addressed to congressional offices would go to a company responsible for scanning and computerizing it. The mail would be encrypted so only the lawmaker to whom it was addressed could read it. It could be sorted by subject or zip code to make it easier for lawmakers to see what issues interested their constituents."

February 28, 2002 -- Il Sole 24 Ore (Italy) has reported that "Corrado Passera, managing director of Italian postal service Poste, has presented the business plan for 2002-2004 which is based on developing more financial services as well as the logistics and package deliveries division. Poste is also to increase the use of IT in the delivery of mail and to set up a cargo airline."

February 28, 2002 -- Nuance, a provider of software for a voice-driven world, has announced an innovative new voice-activated postal management service for Svensk Adressandring AB (SA), a company serving Sweden's Royal Mail and other mail distributors in Sweden. The service enables mail to be redirected quickly and easily whether moving, traveling or going on vacation.

February 28, 2002 -- Postmaster General Jack Potter will speak at the National Press Club on April 5. The subject of his presentation will be the U.S. Postal Service's Transformation Plan.

February 28, 2002 -- Robert Pederson has been named the Postal Service's vice president and treasurer effective March 2.

February 27, 2002 -- The agenda for the March meeting of the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors has been posted on the USPS web site.

February 27, 2002 -- According to Die Welt, "the privatisation of Deutsche Post AG, the German postal service provider, is set to continue with the announcement that the country's ministry of finance is to place a further package of shares. It had been mooted that the government would delay the move to later in the year, but this has now been rejected. Since the start of the year, Deutsche Post has been reducing its stake to below 50 per cent. At present, its stake is over 69 per cent."

February 27, 2002 -- La Stampa (Italy) has reported that "Stefano Parisi, general manager of Italian employers' association Confindustria, has said that it is unacceptable that Italian postal service Poste is still enjoying a monopoly of the sector. He also said that the postal service and the banking sector operate in a protected environment."

February 27, 2002 -- As Internet.com has noted, "while the proponents of the Tauzin-Dingell legislation make their arguments today that the only way to spur broadband growth in America is to allow the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOC) to close their DSL networks in a manner similar to cable companies, Telecommunications Reports International (TRI) is issuing a report saying providers of broadband Internet access, including cable modem and DSL connections, closed 2001 with significant gains." The quickened implementation of internet broadband is a priority with the Bush Administration. The expansion of broadband capacity will make it easier for businesses to choose online over mail for business communication and commerce.

February 27, 2002 -- According to the Daily Telegraph (U.K.), "a name may not tell one much, but a change of name usually does. Over the past year, the Post Office's much ridiculed choice of Consignia as its new moniker has come to symbolise the way in which the organisation is losing its bearings. The idea behind it was that the Post Office would cease to be old-fashioned, and somehow transform itself into a thrusting international communications company. As well as renaming itself Consignia, it ceased to be a traditional nationalised industry and became instead a public company, still wholly owned by the government but now able to borrow commercially, and expand abroad."

February 27, 2002 -- The Washington Post has reported that "for a number of Washington area residents lately, these high-tech times seem more like the horse-and-buggy days of communication. U.S. Postal Service customers report a string of unusually late deliveries that have inconvenienced them in minor and major ways, from stale holiday wishes to overdue bills."

February 27, 2002 -- The Financial Times (U.K.) has reported that "businesses are to get priority over households for early postal deliveries, Royal Mail said yesterday. It confirmed proposals, first made at the start of the year, to drop the second daily delivery and replace it with a single delivery to business addresses between 7am and 9am. Urban households should receive mail between 9am and 1pm, while rural homes would receive post by late lunchtime. Royal Mail hopes the proposals will ensure more first class mail arrives the next working day."

February 27, 2002 -- According to SmartMoney.com, "United Parcel Service Inc. expects first-quarter profit to be at the high end of a forecast it gave in January for earnings of 40 cents a share to 47 cents a share, citing cost-control measures. 'The quarter is unfolding fairly well,' Scott Davis, chief financial officer for the world's largest package carrier, said in a statement. 'While volume growth is still about 1% to 2% below last year's levels, yields are firm and expense controls are tracking ahead of plan'....In addition, United Parcel Service Inc. said it expects to get between 20% to 25% of its revenues in five years from its international operations. CEO Mike Eskew, speaking during a company investor conference in Louisville, Ky., said that several independent surveys have found a renewed emphasis on international expansion and supply-chain management this year." See also the UPS press release.

February 27, 2002 -- Bloomberg News has reported that "United Parcel Service Inc. wants to more than double sales from non-delivery business and raise revenue from overseas operations within five years to sustain growth at the largest package-delivery company." See also TransportNews.com.

February 27, 2002 -- The Dallas Morning News has reported that "CheckFree i-Solutions has announced that more than 500,000 Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (Public Service) and Upper Peninsula Power Company (UPPCO) utility customers now have the ability to receive and pay bills at their choice of CheckFree-powered Web sites including banks, brokerages, credit unions and Internet portals. Additionally, by clicking on links that appear directly on the e-bill, customers can access a variety of online services on the Public Service and UPPCO Web sites such as address change, account and rate information, and instructions on how to read gas and electric meters. Unlike paper payments, customers who pay their bills electronically are protected against late fees and interest charges."

February 27, 2002 -- The Independent (U.K.) has reported that the "post will arrive later and the second delivery will be scrapped under a new delivery system to be tested by Royal Mail. About 100,000 homes around the country will receive the new service within months in an attempt to cut costs and meet targets for the delivery of first-class mail. Echo Business (U.K.) has reported that "rural businesses could be left counting the cost under radical new plans by the Royal Mail to alter delivery times." See also The Guardian.

February 27, 2002 -- According to the Newsquest Media Group, "leaders of a million businessmen and women who work from home have attacked plans to deliver post later in the day and end second deliveries. The Royal Mail says the changes, to be tested in 14 areas of the UK, will mean a single delivery arriving by lunchtime. The plans, due to be extended across the country from the autumn, are expected to lead to job losses among postal workers."

February 27, 2002 -- Business Day (South Africa) has reported that "the SA Post Office has warned that the lower-than-expected 9% postal tariff increase for this year will adversely affect development programmes, and will mean that mail volumes are unlikely to see a return to growth. The organisation had requested a 12%-15% hike in tariffs in the hope that the ailing entity could improve its revenues and grow the business. The approved 9% tariff increase means the cost of a standard letter will go up to R1,52 from R1,40."

February 27, 2002 -- The San Francisco Examiner has reported that "a shipment of 408 morphine suckers, believed stolen from an Independence home Feb. 11, were recovered Monday. The Independence man who reported the morphine suckers stolen last week had expected the shipment Feb. 11 and believed it to be stolen. However, the morphine was sent in two shipments instead of one. The first package was sent two-day air and the second package was sent by regular parcel post to save money on shipping. The U.S. Postal Service delivered the second package Monday." Penny-wise, pound-foolish? Or just a "dope?"

February 27, 2002 -- The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has posed: "Would it be worth an extra penny of postage to be sure your mail was free of live anthrax spores? Would you be willing to have some mail and parcels inspected? Would you mind letters that contained yellowed paper, singed snapshots and discolored plastic? Nobody is asking those questions today, but Keith Florig, a risk analyst at Carnegie Mellon University, thinks they should be."

February 26, 2002 -- The BBC has reported that "the Royal Mail is to abolish second deliveries in some parts of the UK from May. The trial scheme, in which post will arrive later and there will be only one delivery, is designed to improve efficiency, the Royal Mail says. The Royal Mail hopes that cutting costs will help it out of its current cash crunch, caused by falling demand and mounting competition." See also the report by Ananova.

February 26, 2002 -- The Birmingham Post (United Kingdom) has reported that "Birmingham-based Business Post, one of the four companies with licenses to compete with the Post Office, has rubbished talk that the competition would lead to the collapse of the national mail service. The mail regulator has proposed that private sector companies like Business Post be allowed to compete with the Post Office, now called Consignia, for the delivery of bulk business letters from April. But Consignia has said the proposals open up its most lucrative business too quickly to competition and may mean it does not have enough money to maintain the single priced national mail service. The implication is that people living in the countryside, where it is more expensive to collect and deliver letters, could soon face having to pay more for a first and second class stamp than city dwellers."

February 26, 2002 -- Parascript(R), LLC has announced that Siemens Dematic Postal Automation L.P. has enlisted the help of Parascript to deliver advanced sorting capabilities to postal agencies.

February 26, 2002 -- The United States Postal Service has launched an advertising campaign featuring the new theme, "brought to you by the United States Postal Service." The campaign created by Leo Burnett USA captures the United States Postal Service's role in American society -- which goes beyond delivering packages and letters -- to bring businesses and consumers the intangible benefits of fulfillment, personal connection, and success.

February 26, 2002 -- The Washington Post has reported that "the FBI has conducted anthrax tests in the homes, offices and vehicles of about a dozen people who have been investigated in the deadly anthrax mailings, but the individuals were cleared of suspicion after the tests came back negative, according to officials familiar with the government's probe. The tests, which use swabs to detect the presence of anthrax spores, were conducted with the consent of those under investigation and did not require search warrants, authorities said. Disclosure of the searches comes amid increasing concern on Capitol Hill and among some scientists over an apparent lack of progress in the FBI's anthrax probe, which has yielded no firm suspects despite thousands of interviews conducted since the deaths of five people last fall."

February 26, 2002 -- As DM News postal commentator Cary Baer has noted, "except for the attorneys and economists whose services are much in demand, rate cases are by definition not a happy time. However, for those doggedly interested in poring through the reams of interrogatories and responses it can be a treasure trove of interesting information."

February 26, 2002 -- The Financial Times has reported that:

February 26, 2002 -- According to The Birmingham Post (United Kingdom), "rural business leaders in the Midlands have launched a campaign to fight off the threat to vital postal services in the countryside. The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) is urging people to send a postcard of their town or village to the postal regulator Postcomm, insisting that rural services must be safeguarded in any privatisation scheme. It hopes the letter-writing campaign will ensure the Government, which is consulting on possible privatisation of mail deliveries, is left in no doubt about the importance of a quality postal service to rural communities."

February 26, 2002 -- The Liverpool Daily Post (U.K.) has asked: "Can rural life survive postal purge?"

February 26, 2002 -- As The Times (U.K.) has noted, "this is Leadership Week. The Industrial Society is in favour of leadership and wants to encourage it. You can see why: 600 managers at Consignia reckon that they have very poor quality leadership and the result is that the organisation once known as the Post Office is losing £1.5 million every day. The posties who report to the 600 disgruntled managers are probably equally scathing about their leadership qualities but, while The Industrial Society is undeniably correct in its assertion that leadership 'is vital at all levels in an organisation', the managers are right to point the finger of blame for Consignia’s troubles straight at the men at the top."

February 26, 2002 -- The Northampton Chronicle (U.K.) has reported that "a Christmas card posted by less than a mile from its destination has finally arrived after being wrongly taken from Northampton to the Chinese capital Beijing. Northampton decorator Nick Richards’ card arrived at his St Matthew’s Parade home on Friday after a round trip of more than 10,000 miles. The envelope, which had originally been sent by a friend from nearby Billing Road in Northampton on December 9, came complete with the words 'Missent to Beijing'."

February 26, 2002 -- According to the Journal of Commerce, "FedEx said it plans to begin testing hybrid electric delivery trucks in the fall. The logistics provider and the Alliance for Environmental Innovation announced Monday that three competing teams have agreed to produce prototype vehicles for the next generation of delivery trucks for FedEx Express, the principal operating arm of FedEx Corp. The teams are headed by the Allison Transmission Division of General Motors; BAE Systems Controls, and Eaton Corp."

February 26, 2002 -- As iSource has noted, when it come to "the Internet: It collapses time and distance, the genetic material of all logistical support services. UPS' very large, worldwide footprint doesn't fully protect it from the kind of clever competitors e-commerce can quickly grow through consolidation and partnerships. No one is quite sure yet that companies will rush to outsource their logistics or, as UPS proposes, management of their entire supply chains. Just-in-time inventory management isn't new, but the Internet makes it a more far-reaching reality, enabling companies to save money, knock their inventories down to zero and still keep control of a critical part of their business by investing in technology to manage their own logistics operations rather than farm them out."

February 26, 2002 -- According to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, "the way Alaska's mail comes and goes, within the state and to the Outside, changed dramatically following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But the state Postal Service still gets A-minus and B-plus grades in official tests. While the Federal Aviation Administration ban on all air traffic for a couple of days in September caused a huge but temporary backlog in mail, one FAA decision caused a permanent effect that postal officials are now dealing with every day."

February 26, 2002 -- The BBC Monitoring Service has reported that "the [Hungarian] electronic public procurement system will operate as a market place. The system was introduced to the public by Istvan Stumpf, minister at the head of the Prime Minister's Office, and Istvan Kalmar, director-general of the Hungarian Post Office. The Hungarian Post Office has been granted concession rights to carry out this activity for 10 years. First, from April, products falling in the category of centralized public procurement products will be accessible on the electronic portal. Later the system will be able to incorporate the whole process of public procurement from the publication of invitations for bids to electronic payments."

February 26, 2002 -- Asia Pulse has reported that an advisory panel to the prime minister on postal system reform has suggested that "the nationwide network of post offices should be open to private businesses and local governments. The theme was how to improve and utilize the post office network effectively. Private financial institutions could use the network to market their products, while local governments might use the post offices as service centers in remote areas. Post offices currently have ATM alliances with some financial institutions, enabling their depositors to use ATMs at post offices."

February 26, 2002 -- According to PCWorld, "Capitol Hill is becoming more tech-savvy as it turns to e-mail and tries to steer away from anthrax-ridden letters. The volume of e-mail to Congress has more than doubled since anthrax was discovered in a letter meant for Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) says Nu Wexler, a spokesperson for Senator Ernest Hollings (D-South Carolina). The beneficiaries of this trend may well be a new breed of political activists who like to use the Web as a tool for activism. Activism has come a long way in the Internet age, moving from action on the streets to turning to a keyboard and clicking. The only hitch is that the strategists believe politicians still don't take Internet and e-mail campaigns as seriously as conventional ones--even if e-mail is more appealing after the anthrax scare."

February 25, 2002 -- The Associated Press has reported that "the company which runs the U.K.'s postal services needs to make radical changes but doesn't have the money to do it" See also the report in the Financial Times.

February 25, 2002 -- According to SkyNews, "the [British] postal service is facing meltdown because Consignia is not able to cope with competition, according to a survey of senior managers.A union representing staff at the company has warned that the service is heading for disaster as financial pressure and industrial relations continue to cause problems. Consignia is losing £1m and faces increased competition from April under controversial plans to all ow private firms to bid to deliver more mail."

February 25, 2002 -- The BBC has reported that "Consignia, the privatised UK postal giant which is losing £1.5m a day, is gearing up for a major shake-up."

February 25, 2002 -- According to the Guardian (U.K.), "Post Office administrator Consignia has agreed a deal with Safeway to process all non-grocery goods returned by customers at its 447 stores and send them to their suppliers."

February 25, 2002 -- The Irish political party, Fine Gael say that they are going to table a motion in the Dail next week that will attempt to overhaul the Irish postal service. The party wants to see Irish post offices turned into multi-service outlets that would include the introduction of current account facilities, transforming the traditional post office into a one-stop shop for a range of financial services. Fine Gael wish to see new features such as ATM machines and facilities to cater for a range of services such as the renewal of driving licences and motor taxation."

February 25, 2002 -- DM News has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service is conducting a six-month pilot program designed to make it easier for retailers in malls to ship packages. The program is being tested at the Mall of America, Bloomington, MN; Tysons Corner Center, McLean, VA; and Pembroke Lakes Mall and Sawgrass Mills in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Postal carriers will pick up packages from retailers at the end of the day, with no additional charge for pickup." 

February 25, 2002 -- According to The Guardian (U.K.), "plans to make all drivers at Consignia subsidiary Parcelforce buy their vans and sign personal contracts with the company are set to stretch already tense relations with postal unions at a crucial meeting this week. A secret report for Consignia by PricewaterhouseCoopers says that to slash costs at the loss-making operation, all of its drivers should move to 'owner- driver' status. It adds that Parcelforce should concentrate on higher-value business by ending its standard parcel delivery service - passing deliveries it is required to do by law over to the Royal Mail - and that it should franchise out the operation of its 100 delivery offices. The Communication Workers Union is warning that such measures would lead to ballots for industrial action. Terry Pullinger, CWU national officer for parcels, who will attend next week's meeting, said: 'We will defend our agreement and our members.' Consignia declined to comment."

February 25, 2002 -- According to the Irish Times, "Caribbean postal services could isolate Trinidad and Tobago if action was not taken to stop the theft of international mail, a top Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) official said yesterday. GPOC postmaster general Mr Edward Noble said he would lobby postal officials from Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, and St Kitts and Nevis and urge them to cease transiting mail through Trinidad and Tobago as complaints about pilfering have yielded no results."

February 25, 2002 -- According to the New Vision news service (Africa), "Uganda Post Limited, has introduced a new mail courier service that will be faster, safer and cheaper. 'Swiftpost' is expected to to be up and running next week. The main target of this new dispatcher system, is to effect a transition from the slower postal services. Charges will be based on security, weight, distance, speed , value and the charges of other delivery service providers. Letter items weighing up to 500 grmmes for delivery outside the town of posting and not exceeding 500 gms will cost sh1000. Extra 500 gms will cost sh500. Hybrid poswt is sh700 a page."

February 25, 2002 -- The Czech news agency has reported that "postal services operator Ceska posta (CP) has proposed to the Finance Ministry a hike in the price for delivering a normal letter from the current Kc5.40 to Kc6.40 and the ministry is to react to the proposal by end-March. The hike in the prices of basic services could thus be made in the autumn"

February 24, 2002 -- Business Day (South Africa) has reported that "the Acting Head of the Postal Regulator, Mikie Kutta, advised consumers on Saturday to take note of the increase in postal tariffs that will take effect from the 22 April. Although the SA Post Office asked for a 15 percent increase in tariffs, the Postal Regulator recommended a nine percent increase. This figure was also approved by the Minister of Communications."

February 23, 2002 -- Things aren't looking particularly rosy over at the U.S. Postal Service these days. According to its report for accounting period five of postal fiscal year 2002, the USPS so far shows on its books a year-to-date loss of $2.5 million. It had planned by this time to show a $591.7 surplus. For AP5 alone, the USPS' net income was a negative $26.9 million. Mail volume has continued its dismal decline with First-Class Mail showing a volume loss of 5.9% compared to a similar period of a year ago. Standard Mail was down 6.6%, and mail volume overall was down 5.9%. At this rate, the USPS, for sure, will be asking for another round of postal rate increases by early fall.

February 23, 2002 -- The U.S. Postal Service has posted on its web site an "Introduction of Experimental and New Postal Products." Among the items discussed: Negotiated Service Agreements.

February 23, 2002 -- Dow Jones has reported that "Deutsche Post AG has rejected a tabloid newspaper report that the company could face an extra EUR1 billion or more in taxes as a result of a sales tax exemption it was granted. The partially privatized mail company also threatened legal action because the newspaper, the mass circulation Bild, reported that it hadn't undergone regular tax audits."

February 23, 2002 -- According to the Davis Enterprise (CA), "the U.S. Postal Service is delivering the message, but Davis business owners are refusing to sign for it. Dean Okasaki, the Postal Service's retail manager for the Sacramento area, has been trying to find someone in Davis willing to have a contract station in its business. 'So far none of the businesses have panned out as ones where we can put an offer on the table,' he said earlier this week."

February 23, 2002 -- The Times of India has reported that the Indian post office is "set for a complete makeover...the 21st century post offices will soon transform into integrated bill collection houses for a slew of utility services. Soon, you can walk into your neighbourhood post office and remit your electricity, water, telephone bills and even traffic fines. Students can pay their tuition fee while sending greeting cards to their buddies."

February 23, 2002 -- According to Zawya.com, "despite the global challenges worldwide, Emirates Post's profits for 2001 has exceeded a record Dh97 million, representing a 10 per cent increase over the year 2000."

February 22, 2002 -- The U.S. Postal Service soon will publish in the Federal Register a request for comments from the mailing industry (especially the presort software industry) as to how Bound Printed Matter mailings with individually addressed “firm” pieces can be prepared under current eligibility and preparation standards. A copy of this soon-to-be-published notice has been posted on this site.

February 22, 2002 -- The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has announced its call for nominations for the Third Annual Federal Mail Practices Awards. The awards recognize the Federal Mail Manager of the Year and Federal Mail Center Excellence. The Federal Mail Center Excellence Award is given to a team in a mail center.The winners will receive a plaque and monetary award at a special presentation on June 26, 2002. Their accomplishments will be announced to the Federal mail communications community and other interested organizations. Past winners have included: Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of State, US Department of Agriculture and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The nomination instructions and evaluation criteria will be posted on the GSA website: http://gsa.gov/mailpolicy. The awards are open to all federal agencies. The deadline for submitting the nomination package is March 27, 2002. For more information, you may call Marcerto Barr at (202) 208-7654.

February 22, 2002 -- Die Welt has reported that "Deutsche Post AG, the German postal operator, is being threatened with a heavy fine from the EU Commission, for unpermitted subsidisation. It is thought the company may be asked to pay back as much as 800m euros. The money would have to be paid back by Deutsche Post to the German finance ministry."

February 22, 2002 -- According to News Wales, "Welsh Lib Dem Assembly leader, Michael German, has condemned the industry regulator charged with overseeing the privatisation of the postal service for what he says is a 'failure to grant sufficient time for a full and proper consultation.' The date for consultation - only eight weeks after publishing his initial proposals. This date is only three days after the Assembly debate, which is currently scheduled for 12th March."

February 22, 2002 -- Traffic World has reported that World Economic Forum in New York saw "the launch of a logistics organization that plans to speed disaster relief around the globe, whenever and wherever it's needed. The WEF's Disaster Response Network is the brainchild of Lynn C. Fritz, director general of the Fritz Institute and former chairman and CEO of the Fritz Cos. Fritz is co-chair of the DRN founding committee. He shares responsibility for getting the network up and running with fellow WEF member Robert Preito, chairman of engineering and construction firm Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc."

February 22, 2002 -- Dow Jones has reported that "the U.S. Customs Service has increased the amount of incoming international mail it opens in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.Overseas mail entering the U.S. must be cleared by the Customs Service before it goes to the U.S. Postal Service for delivery."

February 22, 2002 -- According to Hoovers Online, "United Parcel Service has formed a new Atlanta-based unit to sell corporate clients on the Sandy Springs company's expanding array of transportation, finance and logistics services. UPS Supply Chain Solutions will handle sales and marketing for UPS and more than 20 companies it has acquired since 1999, when UPS went public with a $5.5 billion stock offering."

February 22, 2002 -- CEP News (Courier- Express- and Postal-Market News) has reported that:

Check out the latest issue of CEP News for the details on this and other news items affecting the courier, express, and postal market around the world.

February 21, 2002 -- The Journal of Commerce has reported that "United Parcel Service has created a new business unit, UPS Supply Chain Solutions, that combines the sales, marketing, finance and technology resources for its supply chain subsidiaries. UPS says the idea is to make it easier for customers to access UPS's range of logistics, freight, financial and supply chain consulting services."

February 21, 2002 -- The Ass ociated Press has reported that "assuring the safety of the mail could require costs – both financial and in terms of privacy – that Americans may be unwilling to pay, a new analysis suggests. 'Before committing billions of dollars to technologies for the long-term enhancement of mail safety, federal authorities would be wise to ask the public how they weigh these costs and benefits,' H. Keith Florig writes in an essay in Friday's issue of the journal Science. Florig is part of a research group at Carnegie Mellon University that studies the issues of risk."

February 21, 2002 -- According to Les Echos (France), "La Poste, the French post office, is interested in a total takeover of its German subsidiary DPD, which ranks third in Europe in parcel delivery. La Poste is keen to prevent its main German rival, Deutsche Post, from increasing its grip on the European parcel delivery sector still further."

February 21, 2002 -- The Birmingham Post has reported that "Japan's post offices have been handling mail from the nation's gangsters with a little too much care. An internal inquiry by the Postal Service Agency found employees at more than 300 of the nation's 5,000 post offices routinely gave special treatment to letters addressed to organised crime groups, agency spokesman Masayuki Igarashi said yesterday. To tip off carriers, letters were stamped with the Japanese character meaning 'violent.' The Japanese term for gangs is 'violent groups.'"

February 21, 2002 -- Reuters has reported that "the chief executive of Dutch postal, express and logistics company TPG NV reiterated that the company would grow net profit from continuing operations 12-18 percent from now until 2005. However, he stressed that this hinged on economic circumstances not deteriorating. 'Our targets are unchanged. If overall industrial activities are somewhat lower because of the economy, that will reflect in our figures as well,' TPG Chief Executive Peter Bakker told a news conference."

February 21, 2002 -- According to Business Day (South Africa), "the influential head of the postal regulator, Warara Kakaza, has been suspended from the communications department. Kakaza, whose duties include regulating the SA Post Office and assessing proposed tariff hikes, was suspended for 'administrative reasons'. There was some industry speculation that she had come into conflict with officials over the Post Office's proposed above inflation tariff increase."

February 21, 2002 -- Tehran Times has reported that "Japan's postal services agency found that 344 post offices across the country gave the equivalent of special delivery to mail posted by gangsters. They were then given the equivalent of special delivery treatment." See also the Mainichi Daily News and Japan Today.

February 21, 2002 -- Federated Department Stores, Inc. has signed a non-binding letter of intent with Business Development Group Acquisitions, Inc. (BDGA) of Wayzata, MN -- a preliminary step that eventually could lead to BDGA's purchase of Federated's Fingerhut subsidiary and substantially all of Fingerhut's assets. Jeffrey Sherman, who since March 2000 has served as chairman and chief executive officer of Federated Direct, the company's direct-to-customer catalog and e-commerce division, has resigned effective March 1 to accept a position with Limited Stores. Corporate responsibilities for the Fingerhut component of Federated Direct will be assumed by Federated Vice Chairman Ronald W. Tysoe. Michael Sherman, Fingerhut president, will report directly to Tysoe, and along with Steven A. Lightman, executive vice president of Fingerhut catalog operations, will maintain responsibility for Fingerhut's ongoing operations.

February 21, 2002 -- Gulf News has reported that the "Emirates Post has made a profit exceeding Dh97 million in 2001. This was revealed yesterday by Ahmed Humaid Al Tayer, UAE Minister for Communications and Chairman of Emirates Post. Explaining that the figures testified to the success of the new policies of the corporation and the vision of the people behind it, Al Tayer said, "The net profit of Dh97 million achieved by the corporation at the end of 2001 represented a 10 per cent increase over 2000. Emirates Post has earned a total revenue of Dh234.79 million which marks an increase of Dh17.77 million over the previous year, representing an increase of 8.2 per cent."

February 21, 2002 -- According to the Hanover (NJ) Eagle, "'Whippany' and 'Cedar Knolls' the two neighborhood designations within the township, may soon be a thing of the past, relegated to the same history book as 'Malapardis' and 'Monroe,' two other once-noted but now non-existent Hanover neighborhoods. The post offices are: Whippany, Cedar Knolls, Morris Plains and Convent Station, the last two not even falling within township borders. Mayor Ronald Francioli noted confusion that often ensues when people living in Hanover have to explain to people why their mail says 'Morris Plains.' Under the new plan, all mail would likely simply sa ''Hanover'.'' This is what happens when a politico-geographical entity is inextricably tied to the name of its post office.

February 21, 2002 -- AAN News has reported that "the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies and WMT Publications, Rochester, NY, has announced settlement of a three-year-litigation with the United States Postal Service (USPS) over the rules for alternative newspapers in the mail."

February 21, 2002 -- According to the PRNewswire, "Canada Post and Gemplus has announced their partnership to deliver and market enhanced Canada Post Electronic Postmark (EPM(TM)) services, essential for the secure, non-repudiable(i) delivery of on-line documents and transactions. 'This relationship will expand our Electronic Postmark services which are already an important part of our existing eServices platform,' said Philippe Lemay, executive vice-president, Business Development at Canada Post. 'The Electronic Postmark builds on the trust Canadians have long placed in the security of the post and our `traditional' postmark. As more and more transactions are taking place on the Internet, the corporation has been working, as a trusted third party, to develop new Internet-based services which will provide Canadians with that same level of security they have come to expect from Canada Post.'"

February 20, 2002 -- The Was hington Post has reported that the National Postal Museum has a new executive director. He's Allen Kane, the Postal Service's former chief marketing officer.

February 20, 2002 -- DHL Worldwide Express has announced that Scottsdale, Arizona will be the location for its new Americas Information Services Center. The facility will be the third of its kind strategically situated to manage DHL's network infrastructure 24 hours a day, seven days per week. The other two centers are located in London and Kuala Lumpur. Each facility manages the organization's vast computing and telecommunications network (DHLNET) during an 8-hour period and then passes control on to the next center. This rotation provides around-the-clock support to over 60,000 employees and over one million DHL customers.

AN IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING MERLIN....

The following policy is now in effect. At Sixty-four (64) locations in the Southeast Area, the Postal Service has begun implementation of the MERLIN program for letter-size mail. Mailers are now required to submit properly prepared mailings including readable barcodes. To ensure that proper postage is collected, the Southeast Area has added a second level of review. All acceptance clerks who determine that there is a quality problem with a mailing must first discuss the issue with a supervisor prior to an adjustment of the postage amount. This safeguard is to ensure that only the correct amount of postage is collected.

February 20, 2002 -- The Postal Service and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union have announced a tentative four-year contract agreement.The agreement calls for a general wage increase over four years, which approximates the wage increase in the Goldberg arbitration award for the American Postal Workers Union, announced Dec. 18, 2001. The Goldberg decision called for a 1.2% general wage increase retroactive to Nov. 28, 2000, a 1.8% general wage increase effective Nov. 17, 2001 and, a 1.4% general wage increase effective Nov. 16, 2002. In addition, mail handlers would receive a fourth wage increase, effective Nov. 15, 2003, which is identical to the wage increase for the first year, 1.2%. The agreement also provides for a continuation of cost-of-living adjustments (COLA), but a lump-sum cash payment of $499 in lieu of a COLA payment for the first year.

February 19, 2002 -- The Federal Times has reported that "in a sharply worded letter to Postmaster General John Potter Feb. 7, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., demanded that the Postal Service instruct its workers on the proper way to test anthrax-filtering masks to ensure they work. Waxman noted that he informed the Postal Service Nov. 15 it was not providing workers who wear specialized masks with an inexpensive test to make sure the masks fit properly."

February 19, 2002 -- Transport Topics has reported that "New Penn Motor Express, a subsidiary of Roadway Corporation (NASDAQ:ROAD), has reached an exclusive agreement whereby New Penn has acquired certain customer information and has been selected by A-P-A Transport as the preferred carrier to continue providing service to its former customers. The agreement was negotiated as a result of A-P-A Transport's decision to discontinue operations."

February 19, 2002 -- As IT.mycareer. com has noted, "in the late 1990s, many IT gurus eagerly consigned Australia Post to the dustbin. A warhorse of the old economy, the government-owned monopoly couldn't possibly compete with e-mail, electronic fulfilment and private high-tech mailing houses. Or so went the gurus' mantra. Within a few years its core business would wither and die; outlets would shut down and the gleaming, paperless world of private electronic delivery would stand supreme. Far from imploding, Australia Post, which was incorporated in 1989, has flourished as a direct result of the opportunities presented by the Internet."

February 19, 2002 -- The Guardian has reported that "Britain was basking in the glory of another historic victory over Germany after 142 years of hurt and humiliation. For philatelists have proved the postcard was an English and not a Teutonic invention."

February 19, 2002 -- According to one editorial writer published by Postalworkersonline.c om, "the U.S. Postal Service can work to insure its viability in the 21st century by conforming and transforming to the needs and challenges of the 21st century. The USPS won’t last long in the 21st with a 20th century business model....The USPS faces two critical and immediate challenges that must be dealt with quickly: (1) Confidence in and security of the mail, and the related (2) Declining mail volumes."

February 19, 2002 -- The end is near! The end is near! No it's not says the Triangle Consultancy. Instead, it said that "Postcomm’s approach to the introduction of competition in UK postal services is considerably more cautious than appears at first glance. Triangle’s opinion is that there is no structural reason for competition to develop any faster in the UK than in other countries and that Royal Mail’s market share will not fall below 90% in the coming ten years."

February 18, 2002 -- According to CNET News, "in a society that has traditionally been suspicious of big government, calls for a single, national identity card have never made much headway. State drivers' licenses have long served as the primary proof of ID everywhere from grocery stores to bars. Digital fingerprints, retina scans or other biometric identifiers would make forgery nearly impossible, an association of state drivers' license agencies said last month, while increased standardization among states would enable authorities to more easily catch criminals who cross state lines. The Progressive Policy Institute, a centrist Democratic think tank, said the new cards should also serve as a "smart card" platform for a wide range of electronic services, from automated payments to digital signatures for e-commerce. And how 'bout turning "anonymous" mailers into "known" mailers?

February 18, 2002 -- USA Today has reported that "leading Internet security companies and top industry standards-setting bodies have settled on a more flexible way to verify electronic signatures for documents sent over the Web. The agreement would help Internet users to more safely share documents, fill out forms and trade images and other media. Digital signatures are created and verified using cryptography, the science of encoding and unencoding data. The technique allows recipients of Web-based documents to identify the sender and be assured of the validity of electronically transmitted data."

February 18, 2002 -- La Stampa (Italy) has reported that "CFM, the Italian company which manufactures industrial vacuums and centralised vacuum systems, has supplied 800 machines to the US post office to clean letters of anthrax. If the Italian machines passes all the tests, CFM will sell 8,000 of them to the US. The order would be worth 15bn euros. CFM, which is based on the Apennines near Modena, is part of Danish group Nilfisk-Advance Group."

February 18, 2002 -- South American Business Information has reported that "Total Express, the logistics and delivery company owned by the investment funds GP and J.P. Morgan has gone out of business. Although the company had acquired some weighty clients, it says that it was not able to compete with 'predatory' competition from the Correios, the Brazilian postal system, in particular its e-Sedex division, which drew away clients with rates described by Total Express as below cost."

February 18, 2002 -- According to Printi ng News, "one factor that may serve as a positive counter-balance to misfortunes in the U.S. is that the paper industry is truly global, not dependent upon buyers or sellers from one nation. This can and has worked to the benefit of printers and other large paper consumers, who have seen paper prices fall, partly because of increased competition among a larger number of suppliers, and partly because of declines in demand. Keeping pace in a worldwide market can be difficult. Paper manufacturers are taking some actions that may have far-reaching consequences over this year and in coming years."

February 18, 2002 -- PC World has reported that "beginning in March, mobile-telecommunication company Vodafone Group will offer its U.K. customers the ability to use their mobile phones as a type of mobile credit card for making small purchases online. Users can use the m-pay bill service to buy items priced from $0.07 to $7 over the Internet or using a WAP phone. The service will charge the purchases to users' phone bills or deduct the charges from their prepaid accounts. Vodafone contracted third-party software company iPin to develop the mobile-payment system and will use the Silicon Valley-based company's e-Payment platform, Vodafone and iPin say in separate statements. With everyone worrying about the impact of computers on mail, most people took their eye off of the mobile phone. Who'da thunk?

February 18, 2002 -- According to Roll Call, "After segregating boxes and packages addressed to the Senate since October, the U.S. Postal Service has agreed to release them to Senate officials who will determine if any risks exist before the packages are opened. Unlike mail irradiated before being delivered to Congressional offices, packages have been warehoused since mid-October, as the postal service decided how best to handle the parcels. Items from Federal Express and United Parcel Service already are directed to an off-site facility managed by Pitney Bowes, where they are screened for potential contaminants before Congressional offices are given the option of picking them up. This process takes about three to four days."

February 18, 2002 -- The Guardian has noted that "it would be stretching business theory a bit far to suggest that the recent deterioration in the postal service was the result of the change of name from Post Office to Consignia. But it clearly did not help. Even if there was no causal relationship between these events they were part of the same deterioration. You do not need a Harvard business degree to know it was totally batty to take well respected brands with international recognition, like Royal Mail and Post Office, and let corporate spin doctors turn them into names with no meaning and with nothing to do with the activities of the company."

February 18, 2002 -- More on MaltaPost from New Zealand's National Business Review.

February 18, 2002 -- PostCom's report on the February 6 meeting of the MTAC Presort Optimization work group has been posted on this site.

February 17, 2002 -- The South West Times Record (AR) has reported that "Postmaster General John Potter said that fewer people are mailing letters in Arkansas, one factor causing the Postal Service to weigh moving Fort Smith services to Fayetteville. 'If you want to tell people in Fort Smith anything, tell them to start using the mail,' he said in a brief interview. But Potter told Arkansas lawmakers during a half-hour meeting that he’ll wait until early next year to make final decisions on service moves in the state."

February 17, 2002 -- As one Federal Times commentator has noted, "postal reform is mandatory to ensure a financially viable mail delivery system. The existing regulatory arrangement of the Postal Rate Commission on the one hand and the Postal Service and its Board of Governors on the other, with the exclusion of all other suppliers of communication services, has simply not produced acceptable results."

February 17, 2002 -- According to the Journal of Commerce, "Britain is about to administer a much needed post-Sept. 11 pickup tonic to the global express and parcel delivery market by opening its postal market to full competition for the first time. And that means plenty of new business opportunities for private firms, from U.S. giants like United Parcel Service and FedEx, to aggressive European postal groups like TPG of the Netherlands and Deutsche Post World Net of Germany. There's likely to be more good news next month when the European Parliament is expected to approve an agreement reached by EU governments last October to start opening the postal market from 2003."

February 17, 2002 -- Traffic World has reported that "a little-noticed provision buried in United Parcel Service's general tariff that prohibits class action lawsuits against the small-package giant is riling shipper interests. UPS's Jan. 7 tariff, which includes all its classifications, rules and practices, includes a "time limits for claims" inclusion that shipper attorney Bill Augello says largely limits shippers' ability to join in class action suits."

February 17, 2002 -- CNET News has reported that "United Parcel Service Inc . has won top honors from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for the company's efforts to improve the diversity of its work force The NAACP, the oldest and largest U.S. civil rights organization, gave UPS its 'Corporate Citizen of the Year' award at a ceremony in New York, calling it a 'well-deserved tribute' to the top U.S. package delivery company."

February 17, 2002 -- According to Colorado Daily, "the first ever mail-only election held in Boulder County last November was rife with inaccuracies, according to a citizen's group that has conducted an extensive investigation of voting records using a computer."

February 17, 2002 -- The Times (U.K.) has reported that "the main postal union yesterday launched a boycott on using Consignia’s name in a drive to “reclaim our Post Office”. The move by the Communication Workers Union followed comments made in The Times by Allan Leighton, the chairman, that he disliked the name Consignia and would like to scrap it. Support to drop the name, which was established only last year, also came from the postal consumers’ group, Postwatch, and the union representing postal managers. The CWU is urging media organisations to abandon Consignia and revert back to the Post Office and is calling on the public to lodge protests against use of the name." Yeah....That'll fix things.

February 17, 2002 -- The Telegraph (U.K.) has reported that "the price of a first-class stamp will rise to as much as 40p and second-class stamps to 30p if plans to introduce competition into the postal service go ahead, Consignia is warning the industry's regulator. The figures will appear next month in a key submission from Consignia, formerly the Post Office, to the Postal Services Commission (Postcomm)." See also the report by The Independent.

February 17, 2002 -- According to Yahoo! UK, "the United States Postal Service will enter the international express parcels market. Weeks after announcing a partnership with Consignia, USPS has launched a new service aimed at the lucrative US market. Competition will be tough as UPS and FedEx already dominate the market. However, as UPS is mired in difficult contract negotiations with the Teamsters, now could be a good time to seize market share."

February 18, 2002 -- As the New York Times has noted, "the world has shrunk in recent months for those who travel as couriers, escorting packages overseas in exchange for discounted tickets. After Sept. 11, many routes were put on hold by the Federal Aviation Administration for security reasons. But trips to London and the Far East are still available, and bargain seekers heading to those destinations or looking for a quick last-minute getaway may find courier travel a rewarding way to get where they are going."

February 17, 2002 -- Crain's B2B has reported that "the Direct Marketing Association voiced its opposition to a congressional proposal to create a commission to study the mission and operations of the U.S. Postal Service. 'The commission proposal is only a beltway delay tactic,' said H. Robert Wientzen, DMA president-CEO."

February 17, 2002 -- As the Columbus Dispatch has noted, "the U.S. Postal Service is treating only mail bound for federal offices in the Washington area."

February 16, 2002 -- The Waco Tribune has reported that "U.S. Postal Service inspectors are investigating the discovery of almost 2 tons of undelivered mail that was uncovered by Woodway police while checking a disturbance at the home of a rural mail carrier."

February 16, 2002 -- The Financial Times (U.K.) has reported that:

February 16, 2002 -- The Independent (U.K.) has noted that "common sense is a rare commodity in public life, so thank goodness for Consignia, the organisation formerly known as the Post Office. Its chairman, Allan Leighton, says he dislikes the new name and would like to change it. But a spokeswoman for Consignia has since confirmed that there is no intention of scrapping it. Good for her!"

February 16, 2002 -- According to The Times of India, "trouble is brewing in the department of posts as three unions are fighting out, not for workers' cause but for their own survival. The CPM-affiliated National Federation of Postal Employees (NFPE) and the INTUC-affiliated Federation of National Postal Organisations (FNPO) are protesting against "undue favouritism" being given to Bharatiya Postal Employees Federation (BPEF), which owes allegiance to the BMS, an RSS outfit."

February 16, 2002 -- Dow Jones has reported that "the head of the U.S. Postal Service assured a New Jersey senator that the postal service plans to reopen the Hamilton facility where anthrax-tainted letters were processed. Employees of the Hamilton center, who are now commuting to various other locations around the state, had worried that Hamilton wouldn't be reopened. In a letter to U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine, D-N.J., dated Thursday, Postmaster General John E. Potter said the Hamilton regional processing center would be decontaminated and employees and customers allowed to return."

February 16, 2002 -- On 31 January, the UK Regulator Postcomm published its consultation document “Postcomm’s Proposals for Promoting Effective Competition in the UK Postal Services”. (A copy has been posted on this site.)  Responses to the consultation, which are due in by 15 March.  

February 15, 2002 -- The Postal Service is offering for sale to the general public, including major mailers, equipment brokers, and other entrepreneurs, excess Flat Sorter Machines (FSM 881), together with software license, documentation, and service support. The basic system, including software license, has been sold for as little as $55,000.00. Properly processed mail to the obtain 3 and 5-digit rates can result in savings of tens of thousands of dollars per month for certain volumes of flat mail. The systems will be available at mail processing centers across the United States until about June 2002.

February 15, 2002 -- Stamps.com(TM) has announced that Judge Ewing Werlein granted Stamps.com's summary judgment motion and dismissed all of the plaintiffs' claims with prejudice. The plaintiffs had claimed they were the proper owners of the rights to the domain name www.stamps.com. The Judge ordered the delivery of the certificate for the domain name back to Stamps.com.

February 15, 2002 -- Business Mailers Review has reported that "the Postal Service's arrangement with Consignia, in which the British post's subsidiary delivers all USPS air packages throughout Europe, is off to a rocky start. Businesses using USPS international services to send packages to Europe are complaining that their customers are getting hit with major duties and fees upon delivery of the packages. Many customers are refusing the packages, meaning they never reach their final destination. In addition, customers in Sweden were complaining in late January that they were still waiting on Christmas packages. Sweden Post officials were worried the packages were hung up somewhere, perhaps in Germany – the single entry point to Europe under the arrangement with Consignia." A copy of the complete story is available by contacting BMR's editor.

February 15, 2002 -- The Financial Times has reported that "radical proposals from Postcomm to shake up postal services with more competition go "too far", ministers believe, and risk crippling Consignia's own attempts to modernise.Although they intend to stay out of the row between the company and the independent regulator, ministers say the recommendation to open up the market for bulk business mail within six weeks is 'excessive'. The signs of growing private concern within the government will strain its public attempts to distance itself from the troubled former Royal Mail group. The Department of Trade and Industry has consistently claimed that details about how quickly Consignia's monopoly should end are best left to the independent regulator. Nevertheless, Postcomm's plan to allow immediate competition in its most lucrative market - bulk business mail - has led to fierce lobbying by unions and management who fear it will threaten Consignia's ability to subsidise a universal service."

February 15, 2002 -- The Scotsman (U.K.) has reported that "the chairman of Consignia, the company which runs Britain's postal services, last night admitted he would like to change the name. Consignia became the new name for the Post Office last year when it converted into a plc group. But Allan Leighton said in an interview: 'Would I like to change the name? Yes I would. Because of the bad publicity, a lot of people know the name of Consignia. But it is almost like there is this other company called Consignia which is going around attracting derision.'"

February 15, 2002 -- The Independent (U.K.) has reported that "Allan Leighton, the new chairman of Consignia, has brought in a private sector manager to head the national network of Post Office branches. David Mills, who takes over as chief executive of Post Office Ltd, was previously general manager for personal banking at HSBC."

February 15, 2002 -- According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, "he advent of electronic mail and the influx of private courier services have not affected the revenue of the Philippine Postal Corp. in Southern Mindanao. Frendy Gerona, PPC spokesperson for the region, said that their collection for 2001 even increased by 3.87 percent compared with the P77.44 million for the previous year. The increased collection, he said, has made the PPC in Southern Mindanao the top revenue-earning office in the country for the second consecutive year. Although recognizing the popularity of e-mails in the quick delivery of information, Gerona said that people still prefer hard documents, greeting cards, and postal money orders."

February 15, 2002 -- The Board of Directors of United Parcel Service, Inc. has declared a quarterly cash dividend of 19-cents per share on all outstanding Class A and Class B shares. The dividend is payable on March 8, 2002, to shareowners of record on Feb. 27, 2002. The Board also approved the use of up to $1 billion to repurchase Class A and Class B shares.

February 15, 2002 -- Direct Email Express, Inc. "has entered into an agreement with the US Postal Service to incorporate its next generation Electronic Postmark(TM), into Direct Email Express. The EPM will provide Postal assurance of the date of an electronic transaction and will protect the transaction from undetectable tampering. Initial use of the EPM is planned for April, 2002" States the United States Postal Service. The USPS Electronic Postmark(TM), or EPM, is the application of a trusted date and time seal to an electronic message or transaction. The Electronic Postmark(TM) provides a trusted third-party validation of the time and date of the document, evidence that the document or file existed at a specific time and date and validates that an electronic package was not changed after its processing."

February 15, 2002 -- As DM News has reported, "John Hightower isn't very happy with the U.S. Postal Service. That's why Hightower, president of a small insurance company in Colorado, has created the Web site postalserviceabuse.com, sent a postcard mailing about the site and is suing the USPS over its revenue assurance program. Or, as his postcard calls the program, the 'USPS Patented Revenue Generator.'"

February 15, 2002 -- Symbol Technologies, Inc. has announced that Tomo Razmilovic, President and Chief Executive Officer, has resigned these positions. He will take early retirement effective at the 2002 Annual Meeting in May as he turns 60. Dr. Jerome Swartz, 61, Symbol's Chairman and Founder, has been named CEO effective immediately, a position he held for 20 years before being succeeded by Razmilovic two years ago. Richard Bravman, 46, a 23-year Symbol veteran who is currently Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Integrated Systems Division (ISD), has been named President and Chief Operating Officer.

February 15, 2002 -- Reuters has reported that "Overseas Partners Ltd. (OPL), one of the largest reinsurers operating in Bermuda, said on Wednesday it would stop underwriting after a couple of years of large losses. OPL, set up in 1983 by parcel delivery firm United Parcel Service Inc. has been one of the hardest hit in the reinsurance business lately, burdened by the growing value of old claims, poor investment returns and World Trade Center losses." See also the report by Hoovers Online.

February 14, 2002 -- The Washington Times has reported that "U.S. Postal Service officials say they have solved some of the lingering problems with mail delivery since the closure of the District's Brentwood processing center following anthrax attacks last fall."

February 14, 2002 -- As the Copley News Service has noted, "anthrax-sanitized letters take months to reach any Capitol Hill destination."

February 14, 2002 -- The Daily Post has reported that "the Federation of Small Businesses in the North West last night warned that Postcomm's proposals to remove Consignia's monopoly on the UK's lucrative business mail service could create a twotier postal service which favours big business."

February 14, 2002 -- The U.S. Postal Service's comments to Congress on the "Authority of the United States Postal Service to Introduce New Products and Services and to Enter into Rate and Service Agreements with Individual Customers or Groups of Customers" have been posted on this site. Why isn't it posted on the Postal Service's web site? Why did PostCom have to use back channels to get a copy for mailers to review? Good questions!....No answers.

February 14, 2002 -- The Financial Times (U.K.) has reported that "Postcomm, the independent regulator, has denied it was setting out to destroy Consignia and the universal postal service with its proposals to liberalise the postal market. Martin Stanley, Postcomm chief executive, told MPs yesterday that Consignia should remain a dominant force once the market was open and would not be crippled by 'overzealous regulators'."

February 14, 2002 --  According to the British newspaper, The Independent, "Postman Pat's days are past - let him retire gracefully  As a commercial proposition, he is as unsustainable as the milkman and the coalman."

February 14, 2002 --  The Postal Service published the final plan for phases III and IV of the Postal Service's Plan for Secure Postage Meter Technology in the Federal Register on November 15, 2001 (Vol. 66, No. 221, pages 57492-57494). This Federal Register notice clarifies the definition of phase III and IV meters in the previous notice and details the requirements for each meter manufacturer to notify all customers of the retirement plan for any affected meters.

February 14, 2002 --  According to the Item Processing Report, "the remittance processing industry may well be reaching a turning point in processing wholesale payments, as banks look to carve manual processes out of their lockbox operations and corporate clients seek help reconciling paper and multi-format electronic payments. While lockbox services are ubiquitous, they also are a source of some dissatisfaction for corporate cash management clients. In Phoenix-Hecht's 2001 survey of cash management service quality, lockbox services ranked lowest when compared with traditional services such as wire transfer, controlled disbursement, ACH, balance reporting and deposits. Additionally, quality perceptions have been declining year after year, in part because of the U. S. Postal Service's increasing reliance on ground delivery, which has reduced the speed of processing."

February 14, 2002 --  The Journal of Commerce has reported that "the United States Postal Service on Wednesday took dead aim at the multi-billion corporate market dominated by FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service by introducing a new program offering discount rates for small package delivery. The Global Package Discount Program is open to all international parcel shippers, said James P. Wade, vice president of the Postal Service's international business. The three-tiered program takes effect immediately and covers shipments to all destinations outside the U.S."

February 14, 2002 --  Eyefortransport.com has reported that "Airborne Express announced that Robert S. Cline, the company's chairman and chief executive, and vice chairman Robert Brazier are retiring. Cline stepped down as chief executive immediately, while both will relinquish their board duties on April 30. Carlton D. Donaway, the company's president and chief operating officer, becomes chief executive immediately. Donaway will become chairman on April 30." 

February 14, 2002 -- Dow Jones has reported that:

February 14, 2002 -- Global supply chain company, EXE Technologies, Inc., has announced that DHL Worldwide Express has begun rolling out EXE's Exceed(TM) Fulfill supply chain execution application suite into DHL's global logistics infrastructure. As global market leader in international air express, DHL's fastest growing activity is to provide integrated, time-critical logistics solutions for a growing number of its high-tech customers. Critical to the success of these supply chain solutions and DHL's suite of transportation modalities is the adoption of real-time, on-line connectivity into a single global logical warehouse, operated on one global IT platform."

February 14, 2002 -- -- The Mexican Postal Service (Sepomex) and Mexico Telegraph (Telecom) over the next two years will be profoundly restructured, reported Mexico City daily Reforma. Costs will be reduced, the government subsidy will be eliminated, and the workforce will be reduced by 25 percent, with the goal of making the companies' financially independent before 2005. Communications and Transport ministry transport chief Jorge Alvarez Hoth said the disorderly opening of these sectors led Sepomex last year to lose close to 600 million pesos, and Telecom to lose around 500 million pesos. The companies' will eventually work toward an ISO classification in order to improve efficiency and work with international quality standards."

February 14, 2002 -- Il Sole 24 Ore has reported that "Italian postal group Poste Italiane has outlined its business plan for 2002-2004 which includes investments worth 2bn euros and a stock market flotation. Managing director Corrado Passera says that his task is to lead the group to the stock market, while the finance ministry will have to decide when the listing will take place. The proposal will be discussed with trade unions and consumer associations and in mid-March a board meeting will take place to illustrate the details of the operation."

February 13, 2002 -- The Postal Rate Commission has posted on its web site its report to Congress on the "Authority of the United States Postal Service to Introduce New Products and Services and to Enter into Rate and Service Agreements with Individual Customers or Groups of Customers." In a nutshell, the PRC said NSAs are permissible provided they are subject to public review, are mutually beneficial to mailers and the Postal Service, and are not unfairly discriminatory.

February 13, 2002 -- A clarification by the U.S. Postal Service on the roles played in the new organization by Rates and Classification Service Centers and the office of Business Mailer Support reporting to Business Mail Acceptance at postal Headquarters has been posted on this site.

February 13, 2002 -- Pitney Bowes Inc. has entered into a multi-year supply agreement with Rainbow Mykotronx, a Rainbow Technologies (Nasdaq: RNBO) company, for Rainbow's cryptographic token and public key acceleration technology that will be integrated into Pitney Bowes' new digital mailing systems. Pitney Bowes' new mailing systems will network mailers to postal as well as carrier information/systems and offer convenient access to value-added services such as tracking, delivery confirmation and rate information to name a few. Rainbow Mykotronx is a leading provider of custom and high-assurance solutions for government and commercial applications that require the most robust forms of information security.

February 13, 2002 --