October 31, 2005 -- From PR Newswire: "Canada Post Borderfree, established in 1999 and part of the Canada Post Group of Companies since 2002, today announced the opening of a second U.S. distribution center in Chicago as part of its continued growth strategy. The original distribution center is located in Taylor, Michigan. Based in Toronto, Canada Post Borderfree is a strategic partner of multi- channel retailers planning to expand into international markets. Through a suite of low integration technology and logistics solutions, Borderfree replicates the domestic consumer shopping experience and localizes it for seamless market entry."

October 31, 2005 -- Washington Technology has reported that "Communications Technologies Inc. has won a $5.7 million multiyear contract with the Army to continue providing the Military Postal Services Agency with support for its technology platform. The contract calls for COMTek of Chantilly, Va., to continue working on the design and integration of the agency’s 21st Century Automated Military Postal System IT platform."

October 31, 2005 -- Agenzia Giornalistica Italia has reported that "Unions are opening talks with the Post Office with an overtime strike 7-18 November and a 24 hour strike on the occasion of the General Strike of 12 November. Furthermore, on the occasion of the four hour general strike proclaimed by the confederations for 25 November, postal workers will be out for the whole day."

October 31, 2005 -- AllAfrica.com has reported that "Post offices offer banking services, which are sought after services especially in rural areas of Namibia. The closure on September 10, which is more than a month made residents in that area dig deeper into their pockets having to travel to Okakarara and Otjiwarongo to especially withdraw their money from the Post Office Savings Bank (POSB). The post office was closed after one of the workers there allegedly misused money, which included cash, vouchers and telecards and then left without word, closing the office. She reportedly just left without filling in a resignation form."

October 31, 2005 -- The Postal Rate Commission entrusted by law with review of requested changes in the rates and fees of the U.S. Postal Service will host a Press conference formally announcing its decision in the latest Rate Case, Docket No. 2005-1 WHEN: Tuesday, November 1, 2005 at 11:30 AM WHERE: Postal Rate Commission Hearing Room West Tower, 2nd Floor 901 New York Avenue, NW Washington DC 20268

October 31, 2005 -- Ireland Online has reported that "The Minister for Social Affairs Seamus Brennan has said that any disruption to the postal service won't affect the delivery of special Christmas social welfare payments. Mr Brennan said urgent meetings are being held to ensure the money will be paid, in the event that postal workers go on strike as they have threatened to do."

October 31, 2005 -- The Irish Independent has reported that "POSTAL delays are undermining the accuracy of vital blood testing of patients in the Munster region, rural doctors have warned."

October 31, 2005 -- The Financial Post has reported that "Richard Thornton, a Mississauga, Ont., business owner, is in the fight of life against Canada Post Corp. He and other operators in the $100-million international mail delivery market are in danger of being shut down by the Crown corporation after nearly two decades in business. It's a battle, now before the courts, that has cost Mr. Thornton some big-time customers and forced him to issue pink slips. Canada Post has two court rulings in its pocket giving the Crown corporation the power to put Mr. Thornton's Key Mail International out of business after 17 years. Mr. Thornton is pinning his hopes now with the justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, to which his lawyers have sought leave to appeal. Mr. Thornton said he believes this is a new, aggressive effort on Canada Post's to use loopholes in the law to shut down its rivals. Key Mail, along with his Ontario rival Spring Canada, he said, is at the top of Canada Post's hit list."

October 31, 2005 -- From Business Wire: "Automobile drivers may be feeling the pinch at the gas pump, but try fueling the world's ninth-largest airline. That task has prompted UPS to accelerate a fuel conservation program that's now saving more than $1 million each month in fuel costs while reducing the airline's impact on the environment."

October 31, 2005 -- As the New York Times has noted, "This year, Google will sell $6.1 billion in ads, nearly double what it sold last year, according to Anthony Noto, an analyst at Goldman Sachs. That is more advertising than is sold by any newspaper chain, magazine publisher or television network. By next year, Mr. Noto said, he expects Google to have advertising revenue of $9.5 billion. That would place it fourth among American media companies in total ad sales after Viacom, the News Corporation and the Walt Disney Company, but ahead of giants including NBC Universal and Time Warner."

October 31, 2005 -- The Times has reported that "ROYAL MAIL’s management is determined to resist pressure from ministers to sell off GLS, its thriving European parcels business, to raise capital to reduce its £4 billion pension fund deficit. Amid signs of growing pressure from the Government, thought to be spearheaded by the Treasury, for Royal Mail to raise cash from its own asset base to tackle the pension deficit, it is understood that the company is intent on holding on to GLS."

October 31, 2005 -- The Royal Mail in Britain has had its fortunes reversed in part because of the volume of mailed packages generated by the online action site eBay. Of 100 post offices contacted by the Sunday Telegraph, 76 said their rise in mail volume was a result of eBay -- and British post offices have increased their volume by two-thirds in the past two years. Eight post office managers said 75 percent of their trade was attributed to the online auction Web site, the Telegraph said.

October 31, 2005 -- The Lafayette Daily Advertiser had one reader who noted that this year "you will find the brand new "holiday issue" - four 37-cent stamps of holiday cookies. The first shows a cookie Santa. The second shows cookie snowpersons, one masculine and one feminine. Another shows a cookie angel. The last shows cookie elves, one a light sugar cookie the other a dark gingerbread. Explain to me, please, exactly what "holiday" do these new stamps celebrate? This year, maybe I'll just send a Christmas e-mail instead."

October 31, 2005 -- The New York Times has reported that "DHL Worldwide Express agreed to stop shipping to consumers this summer. Now, United Parcel Service, the world's largest shipping company, has promised to stop cigarette shipments to individuals next month. FedEx, the second-largest United States package company, has said that it ships tobacco only to companies or dealers, not individuals. This leaves one major avenue for sellers - the United States Postal Service. Congress could help matters by putting tax-free cigarettes on the list of nonmailable items, like liquor, guns and explosives. That would raise the risk level by making cigarette shipments a violation of federal law, punishable by fines and prison sentences."

October 31, 2005 -- The Daily Yomiuri has reported that "Japan Post has reached a broad agreement with TNT Post Group, a Dutch operator of express delivery and logistics services, on a tie-up in its international express mail service (EMS). Japan Post has already announced an alliance with All Nippon Airways to enter the international delivery business after April 2006. The tie-up with TNT Post will focus on international logistics service for corporate clients. As the first step, Japan Post plans to form a tie-up in EMS as permitted under the current Postal Law, the sources said. EMS delivery of documents and parcels weighing up to 30 kilograms is faster than normal postal services to 121 countries and regions."

October 30, 2005 -- SearchSecurity has noted that according to Charles L. McGann, manager, Secure Infrastructure Services, United States Postal Service, the "US Postal Service delivers intrusion prevention."

October 30, 2005 -- The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue: 

• The Postal Service recently told the American Postal Workers Union it plans to consolidate certain mail processing operations.
• The Board of Directors of the Association for Postal Commerce chose new officers and elected four new members this week.
• Business Mailers Review looks at Canada Post’s attempts to curtail remailing through the court system.
• Postal commentator Gene Del Polito says costing still drives ratemaking, which in turn should be at the core of postal reform.
• In this commentary, direct mail consultant Cary H. Baer says it’s time the mailing industry abandons the postal reform bills in Congress and convenes a meeting of its leadership to discuss and agree upon the content of a real postal reform bill.
• Senators meet on postal reform legislation. UPS supports Postal Service effort for rate-setting review. Postal workers seek to reinstate anthrax lawsuits. UPS agrees to end cigarette deliveries.
• Postbank to take over 850 Deutsche Post branches. Zumwinkel promises faster mail delivery in Germany. EU will probe newspaper distribution in Switzerland. Austrian Post going self-service. Polish political party proposes postal partnership. Swiss Post banking proposal goes forward again. ‘Snail mail’ thriving in Ireland? Workshop: Germany must adapt to new universal service models. Red Parcel Post plans high-tech operation. ComReg issues second strategy statement – liberalization in 2009. Will Austrian Post try to sneak one by in the dark? Romanian postal privatization due by 2007. Post office link might just be the cup of tea for Assam.

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October 30, 2005 -- At its regularly scheduled fall meeting, the Board of Directors of the Association for Postal Commerce elected the following as Officers of the Association for the two period of 2006-2007: as chairman, James O'Brien (Time, Inc.); as vice chairman, Jody Berenblatt (Bank of America); as treasurer, Dan Emens (JP Morgan Chase); as secretary, Anita Pursley (Quebecor World). The following also were elected as directors of the association: Rose Flanagan (Transcontinental Direct USA); John McAlpin (Newgistics); James McDaniels (Time Warner); Gloria Randolph (RadioShack); Jim Bowler (Publishing Clearing House); Kelly Browning (American Institute for Cancer Research); John Campo (Pitney Bowes); Vincent Giuliano (ADVO, Inc.); Steve Fuller (L. L. Bean, Inc.); Donna Hanbery (SMC & AISOP); Rob Helms (Brown Printing Company); Bruce Heston (Meredith Corporation); Aaron Horowitz (Cosmetique); Coleman W. Hoyt (Continuity Shippers Association); Carole Morrow (BMG Direct); Lucie White (RR Donnelley); Brad Nathan (Quebecor World Logistics); Robert Posch (Bookspan); and Anita Pursley (Quebecor World).

October 30, 2005 -- The Record has provided a "little primer on how the postal insurance process works."

October 30, 2005 -- As the Los Angeles Times has noted, "Normality is still a ways off for most mail routes in New Orleans, where neighborhoods are so damaged and residents so dispersed that home delivery is pointless, even impossible. But the United States Postal Service is doing its best to move the mail. It is making deliveries, if sporadically, to about 38% of its routes in New Orleans."

October 30, 2005 -- The Telegraph has reported that "Royal Mail is under intense pressure from the Treasury to sell its successful European parcels business, GLS, as well as billions of pounds worth of property. Ministers and officials have told Allan Leighton, Royal Mail's chairman, that the company must raise cash to help fill the £4bn hole in its pension fund. "There is no way that we can simply write a cheque for billions to sort out the pension fund when the company is sitting on assets worth a fortune," said a government member. Leighton has received approaches from the world's largest logistics businesses, FedEx, UPS and TNT, all of which want to buy GLS. "We could sell it tomorrow," said an executive close to Royal Mail." See also The Scotsman.

October 30, 2005 -- The Times has reported that "AN POST has decided the time is right to seek outside help in its public relations battles with staff and customers. No other company needs external PR help more than An Post right now. Staff have threatened to strike while Noel Dempsey, the communications minister, is warning that such industrial action might see him abolish An Post’s monopoly on letter post earlier than the 2009 deadline set by the European Union."

October 30, 2005 -- The Observer has reported that "Stamp prices will be linked in future to the size of the Royal Mail pension deficit under plans being drawn up by the postal regulator, PostComm."

October 30, 2005 -- As WFAA.com has noted, "They may have cellphones in their pockets, earphones dangling from their heads and computers at home, but recent research shows young consumers still have a thing for the tried-and-true: mail. A survey by the U.S. Postal Service found that 86 percent of Generation X and 87 percent of Generation Y bring in their mail the day it is delivered. And 70 percent of Gen Xers and 82 percent of GenYers sort through it immediately. "To effectively reach this younger generation of Americans, whose lives are being shaped by digital media, marketers must deliver smarter, more sophisticated and relevant messages and must use the right media channel to drive their messages," says Anita Bizzotto, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for the Postal Service."

October 30, 2005 -- Strategiy has reported that "Emirates Post has appointed Streamline Marketing, a Dubai-based group specializing in turnkey management of international events, to manage the organization of the 2006 UPU Strategy Conference which will be held in Dubai from November 14 to 16, 2006."

October 30, 2005 -- From PR Leap: "BCC Software, a BÖWE BELL + HOWELL company and a leading developer of high-performance software and solutions for professional mailers, announces the completion of an integration process that folds the Where’s My Mail mailpiece-tracking service into Mail Manager 2010 and Mail Manager 2010 LE, BCC’s flagship presorting and list-management software solutions. The integration provides 2010 and LE users with a simple yet powerful method of processing United States Postal Service® (USPS®) PLANET Code™ information, and monitoring crucial mailpiece delivery details."

October 30, 2005 -- NewKerala.com has reported that "To earn revenue during Diwali, the Department of Posts has come up with a unique initiative. It has tied up with private greeting card companies to put up their stalls at over 100 post offices across the states of Maharashtra and Goa ahead of the Diwali festival ."

October 30, 2005 -- According to those who knew him best, Nigeria's late postmaster general, Abubakar Musa Argungu, will be missed. As The Vanguard noted, "it would be hard for most NITEL staff to imagine that he would never be there again after all the feat he carried out. This was a man who met NIPOST at a time it took a mail not less than a month to reach the nearest city, but left when a letter took only three days to reach any part of Nigeria. He met NIPOST when it was hard to even pay staff salary, not to talk of posting profit. But, last year alone, NIPOST posted N3.3 billion sales, N1billion above that of 2003. Mail pilfering, as far as NIPOST management will posit, is almost a post event. Argungu had put in a measure of modern business practices based on Total Quality Management and waged an internal battle with old hands in the company that heavily benefited from the corrupt and unproductive old order."

October 29, 2005 -- The Financial Times has reported that "Alan Johnson, the trade and industry secretary, is to keep secret the findings of an independent expert advising the government on Royal Mail's future, a move that yesterday sparked cross-party protests ahead of a decision on the postal operator's ownership. There is growing concern among Labour backbenchers and trade unions that ministers could renege on a manifesto policy to keep the Royal Mail in "public hands" by agreeing to a proposal from Allan Leighton, chairman, to give employees tradeable shares in the business."

October 28, 2005 -- According to GovExec.com, "Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Christopher (Kit) Bond, R-Mo., met Thursday to discuss Bond's hold on sweeping postal overhaul legislation that Collins' committee cleared earlier this year. Bond is trying to persuade Collins to include language from the House version of the measure that would allow ratepayers to challenge individual rates, such as the price of first class mail, if they do not see them as "fair and equitable." Mailing industry lobbyists and a Senate aide said a coalition of large mailers was able to reach a consensus on the provision earlier this fall, but L.L. Bean, which is headquartered in Collins' home state of Maine, objected. Postal lobbyists also noted that Hallmark, which relies on first class mail and is headquartered in Missouri, pushed Bond to put a hold on the bill unless a deal can be reached. A spokeswoman for Collins and a spokesman for Bond said that while the hold remains in place, they will continue to discuss their differences."

October 28, 2005 -- The Yorkshire Post has reported that "BELGRAVIUM TECHNOLOGIES, the company that makes hand-held systems which track goods through the supply chain, has won a new contract to supply hand-held units to TNT Mail. TNT hopes the deal will help it to secure the number two slot behind Royal Mail in the UK postal market."

October 28, 2005 -- According to the DM Bulletin, "A record 94.2% of First Class letters arrived the day after posting during July-September, according to Royal Mail's latest quality of service figures, compiled by independent researchers."

October 28, 2005 -- Business World has reported that "Worker Directors on the Board of An Post this afternoon strongly rejected claims in the media of sabotage by postal employees. An Post yesterday said that there had been instances of deliberate delays to the mail by workers as the dispute over payment of previous wage round increases continues. A statement from the Worker Directors today said that the allegations are "not proven and it is neither legitimate nor fair to have them circulating in the public domain"." See also RTE Interactive.

October 28, 2005 -- According to the Washington Times, "More than four years after they were exposed to anthrax, employees at a mail center in Northeast sought yesterday to revive lawsuits against the U.S. Postal Service. They asked a three-judge panel from the Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate a pair of cases against the postmaster general and local Postal Service managers."

October 28, 2005 -- The Sunday Business Post has reported that "Management has accused workers of sabotaging the postal system in an effort to turn public opinion against the company. According to management, delivery drivers are deliberately getting lost, and absenteeism has risen to 24% in some areas." See also the Irish Independent.

October 28, 2005 -- The U.S. Postal Service has announced changes to the Domestic Mail Manual in a second October update, which is available on Postal Explorer (pe.usps.com).

October 27, 2005 -- According to PDALive, "E Ink, in cooperation with LG.Philips LCD, has built the largest flexible electronic paper display to date. Less than 300 microns thick, the paper-white display is as thin and flexible as construction paper. With a 10.1-inch diagonal, the prototype achieves SVGA (600x800) resolution at 100 pixels per inch and has a 10:1 contrast ratio with 4 levels of grayscale. E Ink’s Imaging Film is a novel display material that looks like printed ink on paper and has been designed for use in paper-like electronic displays. Like paper, the material can be flexed and rolled. As an additional benefit, the E Ink Imaging Film uses 100 times less energy than a liquid crystal display because it can hold an image without power and without a backlight. LG.Philips LCD and E Ink selected a steel foil material that could be supplied by Sumitomo in high volume and which was developed by Nippon Steel, the leading steel company in Japan. The flexible foil is a super-thin, extremely flat, high-performance steel that can easily withstand the high temperatures of a TFT production process."

October 27, 2005 -- GISUser has noted that "GfK MACON has thoroughly revised and completed the digital maps of Romania for its new expanded European map archive. The most important addition is the six-digit postcode map, the first of its kind."

October 27, 2005 -- Australia Post has picked Research International (RI) to monitor its delivery of letters using radio frequency identification device (RFID) technology, together with more traditional end-to-end measures. The company has been using RFID to measure its international mail services for the past two years.

October 27, 2005 -- Multichannel Merchant Weekly has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service is still mum. But Joe Schick, director of postal affairs for Sussex,WI-based printer Quad/Graphics, expects the USPS to announce its 5.4% rate increase by the second week of November and implement the rates by Jan. 15, 2006."

October 27, 2005 -- The Kingdom has reported that "ENRAGED postal workers from across Munster gathered in Killarney on Saturday to bring their demands directly to Communications Minister Noel Dempsey and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis. Saturday’s protest in Killarney coincided with the announcement of over-whelming support in a ballot of postal workers for industrial action over wages and conditions."

October 27, 2005 -- eWeek has reported that "New logistics technologies, supply chain services, an integrated shipping network, and strong branding are the key drivers behind the financial growth gained by United Parcel Service over the past year, according to Scott Davis, the company's chief financial officer."

October 27, 2005 -- The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has noted that "U.S. Postal Service officials confirmed Wednesday that they plan to shift processing of first-class mail from the center in Youngwood to a larger facility in Pittsburgh."

October 27, 2005 -- From the U.S. Postal Service: "Military families and organizations across the country preparing care packages to mail to service members overseas for the holidays need to mark Nov. 12 on their calendars. Packages being sent by Parcel Post to all Air/Army Post Office (APO) or Fleet Post Office (FPO) ZIP Codes should be mailed no later than Saturday, Nov. 12, to reach troops stationed overseas in time for the holidays. Letters and cards sent by First-Class Mail should be posted no later than Dec. 10. There are more than 80 military installations worldwide. "We are asking families and supporters to mail and ship early this year to insure a happy holiday for our troops," said John E. Potter, Postmaster General and CEO of the U.S. Postal Service."

October 27, 2005 -- According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, "FedEx expects its busiest day in company history will be Dec. 12 when an anticipated avalanche of 8.5 million packages -- 400,000 more than last year's busiest day -- will be headed to doorsteps around the world through FedEx Express and FedEx Ground. FedEx typically handles 6 million packages a day."

October 27, 2005 -- According to Globes Online, "The Ministry of Communications has allowed 90 companies to collect, transfer, and deliver letters. Many of the companies received permits this year, and many have been operating for years without permission. The new permits will therefore not change the level of competition in the postal market. The permits allow collecting, transferring, and delivering letters weighing up to 500 grams, including overseas mail. The minimum delivery price is NIS 5.40, 4.5 times the price of delivering an ordinary letter when the general permit was signed. This means that the Israel Postal Authority will retain most of the market, which consists of cheap delivery of letters. There is no price restriction on delivery of letters send overseas from Israel."

October 27, 2005 -- Online Media Daily has reported that "E-MAIL AUTHENTICATION FIRM GOODMAIL SYSTEMS Wednesday announced a deal with Yahoo! and America Online to certify certain e-mails from senders like banks or charities, to stop fraud or phishing schemes from targeting users. The service, called CertifiedEmail, marks with an icon e-mail from users who have signed up with Goodmail as authenticated in the user's inbox--allowing e-mail users to be certain that the e-mail actually came from the sender it claims." So much for the uniqueness of a USPS electronic postmark.

October 27, 2005 -- According to DM News postal commentator Cary Baer, "It is time to can the current bill and go back to square one. The first thing that needs to happen is the establishment of additional industry leadership. For a long time, the direct mail/marketing industry has been led by its trade association leadership. Clearly this will continue, and that leadership is and always will be indispensable. However, it’s time that individuals from companies that actually pay postage step to the forefront. Too often of late, postage payers have abdicated their voice to industry suppliers, be they printers, software/hardware suppliers, et al. For the industry to be taken more seriously by the powers that be, those who actually pay the postage must step forward."

October 27, 2005 -- The Center for Media Research has said that "According to a white paper by the Winterberry Group, and a summary report by the Direct Marketing Association, acquisition mailing made up 70% of the $52.5 billion marketers spent on direct mail during 2004. The overall trend in direct mail use is growth, though sources disagree about the rate of increase. The Direct Marketing Association anticipates a conservative 5.2% growth rate, while the Winterberry Group, which sponsored the study, predicts 7.5% growth in direct mail, all direct response advertising through the mail, including postcards, catalogs and letters, which represents over 23 percent of total United States direct response advertising spending."

October 27, 2005 -- Financial Times has reported that "Royal Mail has appointed a firm of headhunters to start an urgent search for a high-profile replacement for its finance director, in return for a six-figure fee. The new director can expect to earn a minimum of £1m over the next three years, but experts cautioned yesterday there may be few suitable candidates. The new finance director can expect to be well rewarded. Ms Cassoni got a lump sum of more than £1m, in the last financial year, on top of generous pension benefits. The new candidate will presumably expect at least to equal her base annual salary of £347,000 plus an index-linked pension paying two-thirds of final salary." PostCom to USPS CFO Richard Strasser: Your ship just came in. Talk about closing with a high three....

October 27, 2005 -- From Business Wire: "Upon the recommendation of local UPS employees, The UPS Foundation today presented the Atlanta Community ToolBank with a $25,000 grant. Since its founding in 1994, the ToolBank has provided no-cost home repairs to residents of the Turner Field area, helped identify community members in need and created a Tool Lending Library, open to Atlanta area non-profits. The ToolBank intends to use the UPS Foundation grant to buy additional tools for lending and to expand its current staffing."

October 27, 2005 -- EV World has reported that "Azure Dynamics Corporation ("Azure Dynamics" or the "Company") a leading developer of hybrid electric and electric powertrains for commercial and military vehicles is pleased to announce that it has sold two new zero- emission, all-electric Azure CitiVans to the New York Power Authority ("NYPA") and delivered them to the United States Postal Service ("USPS") fleet serving the Flushing Post Office in Queens, New York. Azure CitiVans are two-ton delivery trucks, replacing diesel powered trucks used to transport mail and bulk packages between central distribution facilities and neighborhood post boxes serving the Flushing, Queens neighborhood."

Ocotber 27, 2005 -- The Economic Times has reported that "Emirates Post, the official postal service of the UAE, has bought a 60% stake in Wall Street Exchange Centre for over $15m. Wall Street Exchange Centre offers a range of money changing services. It also has a presence in the wholesale forex market and operates as the exchange company for other exchange houses, banks and business houses."

October 27, 2005 -- Editor & Publisher has reported that "Pushed by lobbying from the National Newspaper Association (NNA) , the U.S. Postal Rate Commission (PRC) has rejected a proposal that would have imposed a surcharge on small newspapers and other mailed periodicals that use mail sacks." Victory (or what passes for victory) has a thousand fathers; defeat has none.

October 26, 2005 -- Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has reported that "Deutsche Post, the German postal service operator, has been forbidden by the German networks regulator to place rivals at a disadvantage in comparison with its own major customers in the dispute centring around the deregulation of the collection and pre-sorting of letters, which could lose Deutsche Post annual turnover of up to 200m euros. The postal service operator, which currently offers discounts of up to 21 per cent to major customers which dispatch letters already pre-sorted, must now offer similarly high discounts to rivals which carry out the collection and pre-sorting of letters."

October 26, 2005 -- According to the Australian Financial Review, "Research International has replaced KPMG in providing quality control and delivery monitoring services to Australia Post. Armed with a new technology called radio frequency identification (RFID), Australia Post will be able to track millions of parcels and letters on a daily basis with more ease and accuracy. Pilot testing will go on for six months, with the new service expected to be fully utilised by mid-2006. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu will handle quarterly and yearly audits, while Lynsgoe Systems will supply the technology."

October 26, 2005 -- From the CCN Matthews news service: "Canada Post and the Association of Postal Officials of Canada (APOC) are pleased to announce they have successfully concluded negotiations for a new collective agreement, extending until March 31, 2009."

October 26, 2005 -- CNET has reported that "Almost 100 years after helping create the package delivery business, United Parcel Service of America has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to an overhaul designed to improve the process. The company is more than halfway through a $600 million plan to build a suite of software and hardware products that it hopes will save it a similar amount annually when fully in place by 2007. Included in that cost is not just the purchase and development of new technology, but the price of buying new equipment and building extra conveyer belts at each of UPS' more than 1,000 sorting facilities nationwide."

October 26, 2005 -- Mailers Council executive director Robert McLean has reported that "The USPS has concluded pay consultations with two of its three management associations, but one association has rejected the package, leading to the possibility of nonbinding interest arbitration third-party mediation for the first time since Congress approved legislation allowing for such intervention. The National Association of Postmasters of the United States and the National League of Postmasters accepted the one-year agreement. The National Association of Postal Supervisors rejected the package and continues to "consult" (as it is referred to in USC Title 39) with the Postal Service on revisions. Under the agreement, postmasters and supervisors will be measured on their individual contributions using a performance matrix that will make them eligible for pay increases of up to 12%. Salary ranges will increase 2.25% for EAS-11 and above postmasters and supervisors."

October 26, 2005 -- CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal) has reported that:

The French La Poste enjoyed an increase in both turnover and profit during the first half of the current financial year. The company has confirmed figures according to which the 9.82bn euros turnover was almost 4% higher than for the same period of time last year.
50% minus one share of Belgium's De Post/La Poste now belongs to Post Danmark and its financial partner CVC Capital Partners. Modernisation and restructuring are part of the takeover agreement.
Ireland's An Post continues to struggle with problems.
Deutsche Post's CEO Klaus Zumwinkel has promised faster mail delivery to households and businesses.
Poland's government-owned Poczta Polska (PP) will possibly merge with the country's biggest bank, PKO PB. The post could thus prepare itself for growing competition. From 2009, private operators will be allowed onto the mail market, as in all other EU member states. The post is also under pressure on Poland's express market.
The EU Commission has announced that it will investigate subsidised prices for newspaper distribution in Switzerland.
The Swedish private mail operator OptiMail is still moving on treacherous financial ground.

The MRU, founded in 1992, is the only consultancy in Europe, which has specialised in the market of courier-, express- and parcel services. For large-scale shippers and CEP-services in particular, the MRU provides interdisciplinary advice for all major questions of the market, as there are for example market entry, product design, organisation, and EDP.To learn more about the stories reported above, contact CEP News.

October 26, 2005 -- According to UK Fundraising, "Irish charities planning to conduct major mail appeals running up to Christmas are becoming increasingly concerned about a possible postal strike by the unions representing the An Post workforce. A least five charities in Ireland are planning to meet the 21st November postaim deadline which gives big discounts for bulk mailings."

October 26, 2005 -- The Express and Star has reported that "Small firms across the West Midlands will get the chance to find out how the full opening of the UK postal market in 2006 will benefit them at a free business forum run by Postcomm, the independent postal regulator. Postcomm is holding the half-day forum to provide small and medium sized businesses in the region with the chance to get fully briefed on how the changes to the postal market will affect their business, and what opportunities a competitive market offers."

October 26, 2005 -- According to Reuters, "Marisa Cassoni will stay with the postal group until her successor is found, according to the unsourced report. No one at the Royal Mail could be reached for comment." See also the Financial Times

October 26, 2005 -- Reporter.gr has reported that "The privatisation of the Romanian Post National Company (CNPR) will take at least two years, said Peter Jansen, Managing partner of The Bucharest Consulting Group, a local partner of the American consultancy The Boston Consulting Group, ACT Media news agency reports. The restructuring process of the Romanian Post National Company's privatisation is expected to be completed by 2008."

October 26, 2005 -- The Sun Sentinel has reported that "Postal delivery suspended because of Hurricane Wilma will resume in most of Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties today, but may be unavailable or limited in some locations, according to officials at the South Florida District of the Office of the Postal Service."

October 26, 2005 -- Adventist Network News has reported that "A case involving a United States Postal Service (USPS) employee who was not allowed Saturdays off for his day of rest and worship was settled Oct. 11 when the Postal Service awarded him U.S. $65,000 for lost wages and grievances endured, and granted him his Sabbath off. Lonnie Leonard of Roswell, New Mexico, asked for Saturdays off after he became a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church."

October 25, 2005 -- The agenda for the next meeting of the Postmaster General's Mailers Technical Advisory Committee has been posted on this site.

October 25, 2005 -- UPS has noted that "By a margin of almost 3-to-1 compared to their counterparts in the United States and Europe, business leaders in Asia say they have turned to outside experts to manage their supply chains, a new survey shows. Moreover, having embraced the outsourcing of supply chain management, the Asian business leaders are much less likely to view "customer loyalty" as a business problem. Some 14% of the U.S. and European executives surveyed listed "customer loyalty" as the most important business issue they faced compared to only 2% of the Asian executives. The latter say a much more important business issue facing them is "expanding to new markets."

October 25, 2005 -- The Emirates News Agency has reported that "Emirates Post today announced that the venue for the 2006 Strategy Conference of Universal Postal Union (UPU) will be Grant Hyatt Dubai. The conference, scheduled to be held from November 14 to 16, 2006, will attract over 800 delegates from 130 UPU member countries."

October 25, 2005 -- Gulf Times wants to know: "WHO is to blame when the mail gets delayed? Nobody it seems. Protests about the time it takes for mail to be delivered from Europe and America have led to a flurry of buck-passing by the postal authorities, with nobody being willing to accept that their section is at fault. Complainants report that ordinary letters from England, Denmark and even the UAE take three weeks to a month to arrive, while a correctly addressed package of books took more than five months to reach the addressee from the US. The Postal Corporation, which boasts that it provides one of the best services of its kind in the region, if not worldwide, said that it sent packages, parcels and some letters to the Publications Department to be checked by the censor as soon as they arrived."

October 25, 2005 -- PostalNews.com has reported that the American Postal Workers Union has been put on notice by the Postal Service about plant consolidations in New Jersey.

October 25, 2005 -- The Edinburgh News has reported that "DEFENCE Secretary John Reid today announced a free Christmas postal service for family and friends of British armed forces on operations overseas. Military personnel serving in places such as the Gulf, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia and Cyprus will benefit from the festive freeze on mail charges."

October 25, 2005 -- The Guernsey Weekly Press has  reported that, according to Guernsey Post CEO John Curran, "Post tariffs have risen considerably in the last couple of years but it is not all bad news."

October 25, 2005 -- The Sioux City Journal has reported that "a change in where local mail is sorted on Saturdays shouldn't affect how long it takes items to get from Point A to Point B, a Postal Service official said. Beginning in two or three weeks, mail no longer will be sorted on Saturdays at Sioux City's Mail Processing Center. Instead, mail will be transported to Sioux Falls for processing. Postal patrons won't notice any differences in mail pickup or delivery, U.S. Postal Service spokesman Richard Watkins said. "It's not going to have any effect on services," he said."

October 25, 2005 -- The Louisville Courier-Journal has a story on "how UPS weathers storms."

October 25, 2005 -- According to AustralianIT, "AUSTRALIA Post has spent about $90 million upgrading its communications core to a gigabit-grade pipe. The IP network, which serves 3500 sites, operates on a hierarchical basis, with a high-speed metropolitan area network for the largest post offices, and dial-up connections at small ones. Its network speeds have been up to eight times faster since the upgrade."

October 25, 2005 -- As the Financial Times has noted:

Royal Mail is entering a crucial phase in its 345-year history. The next few months will see its regulator decide how much it will be able to charge for stamps until 2010, the publication of the Bain report into its future and the advent of full competition for postal services in January 2006. Small wonder, then, that there is a sudden clamour about the company's £4.5bn pension fund deficit. Royal Mail knows this is one of its strongest cards in arguing for lighter price controls. Allan Leighton, its chairman, also knows that the deficit could scupper his plan to make Royal Mail a partly employee-owned business.
While there is little public sympathy for the banks, many feel Mr Breton is unfairly picking on the cash-strapped post office to make ends meet. The €2bn payment will worsen the company's already precarious finances and almost wipe out its shareholder funds of €2.2bn. Standard & Poor's has put its AA+ ratings for La Poste on CreditWatch negative. Yet, in the longer run, it could prove good news for LaPoste, which is France's second biggest employer after the state with 300,000 staff, two-thirds of them civil servants. Under the deal still being negotiated, as well as offloading its €57bn pension deficit on to the government, La Poste would also cut its pension contributions to the private sector's level, with the state making up the difference. The real losers would, as usual, be taxpayers, who will eventually have to finance the massive pension obligations being transferred from La Poste to help Mr Breton pretend he is running a tight ship.

October 25, 2005 -- Vanguard has reported that "BARELY 24 hours after the demise of the Post Master General of the Federation, Alhaji Abubakar Musa Argungu in the Bellview Air disaster, Mr. Victor Madojutola, Deputy Postmaster General in charge of Operations and Planning, favoured to take over from him, died in the early hours of yesterday following a protracted illness. The late Musa Argungu along with his management has turned around the fortunes of the organization which almost became moribund since his appointment as the Postmaster General of NIPOST and got re-appointed for second term of five years this year by President Olusegun Obasanjo following his enviable track record in transforming the foremost postal organization in Africa. By his re-appointment, Alhaji Argungu became the first Postmaster General to get a second term since NIPOST was established in 1985 following the split of the defunct post and telecommunications department." See also ThisDay.

October 25, 2005 -- icWales has reported that "Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier told a Trade and Industry Select Committee that a universal postal service will be "uneconomic" when the postal monopoly ends in January and suggested that first class stamps increase to 39p by 2009-2012."

October 25, 2005 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that "FedEx Ground, the small-package ground carrier of FedEx Corp, has opened a new 325,000-square-foot distribution hub in Hagerstown, Maryland, US. The Hagerstown hub is one of nine hubs to open as part of a network expansion plan that will include the relocation or expansion of more than 290 pickup and delivery terminals through 2010. The nationwide expansion will boost the company's current average daily pickup capacity by nearly 70 percent over the next five years. The $70-million hub is capable of processing up to 22,500 packages per hour and is equipped with advanced package-sortation technology, including high speed conveyors and camera-based scan tunnels to maximize package sorting rates."

October 25, 2005 -- The U.S. Postal Service has reported that "Delivery and retail operations have been curtailed for many offices in the Central Florida, Suncoast, and South Florida districts today. Drop shipments to the affected area also have been suspended. For a complete list of office closings, check the Hurricane Service Updates Page on USPS.com."

October 25, 2005 -- Window Book, Inc. announced the fall 2005 release of its industry-leading shipping software, Postal Package Partner™ (PPP). The new version of PPP has been updated to include four new features: secure access control management, additional consolidator support, Priority Mail® drop ship data import, and improved export control. PPP Advanced now includes the ability to import Priority Mail drop ship data from DAT-MAIL™, Window Book's mailing software. DAT-MAIL subscribers can open their Mail.dat® presort data files in DAT-MAIL, tag the entry facilities for which they wish to create Priority drop ship labels, and export them at the click of a button. For more information on Postal Package Partner, DAT-MAIL, and other programs visit www.windowbook.com.

October 25, 2005 -- Les Echos has reported that "La Poste, the French postal service provider, is expected to be forced to carry out some alterations to its application for approval of its future banking subsidiary, La Banque Postale, owing to an exceptional contribution of 2bn euros which will have to be paid to the state as part of the 2006 budget in connection with future and current retirement pensions for postal employees with civil servant status."

October 24, 2005 -- The Associated Press has reported that "The world's largest shipping carrier, UPS Inc., will stop delivering cigarettes to individuals in the United States under an agreement announced Monday with state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The agreement is the latest in federal and state efforts to combat the sale of under-taxed cigarette and to fight underage smoking. Most under-taxed or untaxed cigarettes are sold by Indian tribes, where the taxation of sales to non-Indians is disputed. Monday's agreement leaves only the U.S. Postal Service among major carriers to continue to deliver cigarettes to individuals, Spitzer said. He called that practice "an embarrassment."

October 24, 2005 -- As the New York Times has noted, "Despite all the talk about an increasingly connected world, the proportion of American adults who have never used the Internet and do not live in an Internet-enabled home has remained almost unchanged since 2002, according to a study recently released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project."

October 24, 2005 -- The Irish Times has reported that "An Post will be "extinct" in little more than four years unless postal workers accept major work changes, the Government has warned. From January, private companies will be able to carry letters weighing more than 50g, and ordinary letter post will be opened up by 2009. "We have liberalisation coming. It is inevitable in 2009. It is already there in a number of areas. If An Post isn't strong enough to withstand competition it is going to be extinct very, very quickly after 2009, if not before that," said Minister for Communications Noel Dempsey."

October 24, 2005 -- The Atlanta Journal Constitution (via Hoovers) has reported that "An uptick in domestic air shipments and an ongoing flood of Asian exports lifted UPS' third-quarter revenue and earnings to record levels -- but the world's largest transportation firm gave a Scrooge-like warning that pinched consumers could put a damper on retailers during the Christmas shopping season. "The (holiday season) is a question mark," said Scott Davis, chief financial officer of UPS. "We all know consumers are being stretched by energy costs, home heating costs and rising interest rates. We're not predicting a robust Christmas but an OK Christmas. We're somewhat cautious because our customers are telling us it's going to be a mixed bag."

October 24, 2005 -- The Financial Times has reported that "Royal Mail is under pressure to embark on a fresh round of cost-cutting to shore up its finances, amid signs that senior ministers are reluctant to use taxpayers' money to plug a massive pensions deficit of more than £4bn. The issue of the state-owned postal operator's pension liabilities, the full scale of which have been exposed by accounting changes, has complicated an independent review of its future ahead of full market liberalisation in January. It means a decision on a controversial share ownership plan for employees, which has been fiercely opposed by union leaders and many Labour MPs, could be delayed."

October 24, 2005 -- The DM Bulletin has reported that "Royal Mail's plan to reward staff with shares in the organisation could be scuppered because the scheme may be illegal. Earlier this week, Royal Mail chairman Allan Leighton told MPs that he wants to give staff a 20% stake in the business. However, according to a report in The Times, legal advice from the House of Commons Library said that any disposal of shares that is not into a joint venture would require new primary legislation."

October 24, 2005 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that: "DHL has announced a new €1billion investment programme in Europe to create a network of retail outlets similar to Mail Boxes Etc (MBE) and Kinko's (owned by UPS and FedEx respectively) which are prevalent in the US. The format is also widespread in Germany where DHL already operates a network. The outlets will act as ‘drop off points' for customers and will be aimed largely at small to medium sized shippers. They could also provide a range of other office-service related ancillary services. The plan is to have in place a network of 30,000 outlets across Europe by 2008, with 20,000 ready a year earlier. These points will be established in supermarkets, train stations, retail chains and currency exchange offices and available to customers in Italy, Spain, England, Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands and Switzerland."

October 24, 2005 -- According to Bloomberg, "Deutsche Post AG, Europe's biggest postal service, reiterated that it expects earnings before interest and tax to reach 3.6 billion euros ($4.3 billion) this year and net income to rise by at least 500 million euros. Deutsche Post expects lower pension obligations this year to help it meet the ``integration challenges'' at its express division, the Bonn-based company said in a statement to the Frankfurt exchange. Deutsche Post last month agreed to buy Exel Plc for 3.7 billion pounds ($6.5 billion) to become the world's largest manager of warehouses and inventories as global trade expands. Deutsche Post has made more than 100 acquisitions since 1996, including DHL, in preparation for the loss of its legal monopoly on mail delivery in Germany at the end of 2007."

October 24, 2005 -- The New York Times has reported that "A passenger plane carrying 117 people crashed Saturday night in a town 30 miles north of Nigeria's largest city, Lagos, after passing through an electrical storm shortly after takeoff. No survivors were found in the flaming wreckage of the 737 Boeing aircraft, the Nigerian Red Cross told Reuters. The list of those aboard the flight included the name of Nigeria's postmaster."

October 24, 2005 -- The New Straits Times has reported that "THE Kedah/Perlis Pos Malaysia headquarters are looking for 100 postal clerks and today more 1,000 job seekers thronged its office in Jalan Stadium in Alor Star to apply for the job."

October 24, 2005 -- WebIndia123 has noted that "The old familiar red coloured letter boxes which dotted the roadside for more than a century are on their way out, replaced by larger fibre glass bodied containers that would enable posting of larger mails. The rectangular box, developed with the help of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai has high quality brush stainless steel with a fibre glass top and would last for 20 years. It would be rust proof, reduce the maintenance requirements, display information relating to hours of clearance and much more in a more accessible and readable manner. With a larger inlet aperture the box would allow comfortable posting of larger mail articles."

October 23, 2005 -- The New Orleans Times-Picayune has reported that "Entergy Louisiana has temporarily suspended all disconnections until problems with its billing system, which was disrupted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, can be fixed. Company spokesman Kenny Solley said there have been widespread billing problems throughout the system that have caused many payments not to be posted. "Our billing system has definitely been damaged and we've also had problems with the postal service," Solley said. "The postal service recently found several boxes of mail that had August postmarks."

October 23, 2005 -- The ContraCosta Times has reported that "Opponents of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's November ballot initiatives late Friday asked a U.S. District Court to revoke the nonprofit status of Schwarzenegger's ballot committee, saying the group abused its civic status as an educational organization by mailing blatantly political messages."

October 23, 2005 -- The Newark Star-Ledger has reported that "ANOTHER NATION has joined the U.S. Postal Service in helping to fund breast cancer research with a semi-postal stamp. Semi-postals are stamps that are sold for more than their postal value to raise funds for a particular cause. Hungary's Magyar Posta has now adopted the design of the U.S. semi-postal stamp for breast cancer research."

October 23, 2005 -- According to the Fairbanks News-Miner, "Fairbanks should have just one thing to say in response to the U.S. Postal Service's plan to cut this area out of the bypass mail system, which retailers use to send packages to Barrow customers via commercial aircraft but at postal service rates. What is that one thing Fairbanks should say about this questionable idea? "Return to sender."

October 23, 2005 -- The Independent has reported that "The Government is considering a cash injection of more than £2bn into Royal Mail to shore up its ailing pension fund, which has a £4bn deficit. In a possible double victory for Allan Leighton, the chairman of Royal Mail, ministers are also siding with him in a vitally important dispute between the postal service and its regulator, Postcomm, over the future price of stamps."

October 23, 2005 -- The Organization for Multilingualism has noted that "De Post - La Poste - Die Post has fully adopted the languages of Belgium - Dutch, French and German - whereas Spain's state postal service company, Correos, has not done the same with Catalan/Valencian, Galician and Basque. Organisation for Multilingualism has chosen to invite the Belgian postal operator to enter the Spanish market, since it has fully adopted and regularly uses all three Belgian languages - Dutch, French and German (a language spoken by only 1% of Belgian citizens). This can be seen in the company's name, services and products offered, stamps (obviously also in the name of the state), etc. It is to our indignation, irritation and disappointment, as citizens of Spain, that we see ourselves obliged to send this public petition to De Post - La Poste - Die Post (a petition that has already been made to Royal Mail Group plc – Grŵp y Post Brenhinol ccc, and that will be sent to other postal operators respectful with the linguistic diversity of their citizens). It serves as a clear and eloquent example of the great insensitivity Correos has had, during many years, towards petitions concerning the cultural and linguistic respect of the Catalan/Valencian, Galician and Basque language regions."

October 23, 2005 -- AMEInfo has reported that "The Universal Postal Union (UPU) and Emirates Post have signed an agreement formalizing the arrangements for the organizing of the 2006 UPU Strategy Conference in the United Arab Emirates and defining the responsibilities for the event. The conference will be taking place from 14 to 16 November 2006 at the Grand Hyatt Dubai Conference Centre. Some 800 delegates from more than 130 UPU member countries are expected to attend the three-day Strategy Conference."

October 23, 2005 -- According to Gulf Times, "Q-Post gets more mail."

October 23, 2005 -- As the St. Petersburg Times has noted, "In an e-mail age, letters from pen pal are a thrill."

October 23, 2005 -- KTEN has reported that "Following a fierce investigation, two suspects have been arrested in connection to a bomb scare in Marshall County. After the Kingston police found two homemade bombs within blocks of each other yesterday, authorities say a total of 28 bombs were recovered. Friday morning near the corner of Second and Chickasaw, Kingston police and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol bomb squad diffused two homemade bombs found in mailboxes. A U.S. Postal worker noticed a yellow liquid oozing from one of the boxes and then notified authorities."

October 23, 2005 -- The Kenyan Times has reported that "Kenya will host the Universal Postal Union Congress in 2008. Affirming the country's selection by the UPU Council of Administration, Secretary-General Edouard Dayan, said the event would mark a turning point for the union which is striving to turn the world into an information society.Kenya won the bid to host the UPU Congress during the 23rd edition of the event held in Bucharest, Romania, last year."

October 23, 2005 -- AzerTAj has reported that "According to the credit contracts signed between the Azerbaijan Government and World Bank, 12,25 million dollars will be spent for postal development, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies said. The postal system will be completely re-constructed and modernized. The post offices will render to the citizens of banking, Internet and information services, implement postal transfers, payments and other services. Pension and other allowances, as well as micro-credits will be delivered to the population through the post offices."

October 22, 2005 -- The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:

• The Postal Rate Commission issued its long-awaited decision in "the Periodicals complaint case," finding that the existing rate structure for Periodicals Mail is not in violation of the policies of the Postal Reorganization Act, but progress toward a more cost-based structure for rates is both possible and necessary to increase efficiencies in Periodicals rates.
• The USPS has released the latest edition of its Household Diary Study, a multi-year market research study of mail that is received by and sent from American households.
• On October 20, 2005, the USPS published in the Federal Register its final rule on placement of addresses and presort information on bundles of flat-size and irregular parcel mail so the top piece in each bundle has an address which is visible and readable during processing on Automated Package Processing System (APPS) equipment.
• PostCom Secretary Anita Pursley looks at the future of the Postal Service network including details starting to emerge from the USPS.
• In this perspective, postal commentator Gene Del Polito expresses his views and concerns about the state of postal reform including the roles of the Board of Governors and the Postal Rate Commission.
• This perspective by Murray Comarow looks at the reasons for and reaction to the USPS Board of Governors recent letter to lawmakers opposing current postal reform bills in Congress.
• Employee groups push for USPS inclusion in Medicare drug subsidy option. Criminal case dropped against former Governor Walsh. Postal Service faces busy holiday season coupled with concerns over rising fuel costs. FedEx offers temperature-sensitive shipment program. USPS looking for good men and women.
• Universal pricing under threat in Britain? Germany to lower postal rates. An Post banking venture left at the altar – so far. Japanese government appoints privatization planners. Aussie Post offers electronic service to compensate for mail drop. TNT selling French logistics interests. Vietnam Post will go it alone.

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October 22, 2005 -- The Center for Research in Regulated Industries is accepting abstracts 14th Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics. Next year's conference will be held in Bern, Switzerland on May 31st - June 3rd, 2006 at the Bellevue Palace. Abstracts for this conference are due: December 15, 2005 More information about submitting abstracts for the conference is available at http://crri.rutgers.edu/call/PCall.htm More information about the conference is available at http://crri.rutgers.edu/post/

October 22, 2005 -- "Direct Mail Marketing Trends: United States and Western Europe". was presented by Luis Jimenez, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, Pitney Bowes to the Direct Mail Advisory Board (DMAB) in Bern, Switzerland on October 11, 2005 is available at PostInsight.

October 22, 2005 -- The results of the third annual World Postal Survey, were announced at Post-Expo 2005 in Paris. It is a barometer of confidence in the postal industry, based on the perceptions of those who are working in the sector. Survey results show that overall, confidence in the industry continues to grow, building on the upward trend from previous years. The effect of substitution by electronic media is felt to be decreasing as each year the survey has shown a steady increase in the sense that the main source of competition will be other players in the postal sector and other industries. 67% feel that the amount of collaboration between postal companies will grow. It is also clear that e-media are complementary to traditional mail and often have a multiplier effect, such as mailers drawing customers to online retail web-sites from which they order goods to be sent to them. 78% of respondents believed that the volume of direct mail would grow in the coming year. Using direct mail, as part of a media mix, certainly adds impact and reach. A copy of the Post-Expo presentation can be found on PostInsight.

October 22, 2005 -- A copy of the Quebecor World Logistics newsletter, LogisticSolutions- Issue #43 is available on Quebecor World Web site at www.qwlogistics.com

October 22, 2005 -- RTE News has reported that "The Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Noel Dempsey, has said that strike action at An Post could mean an earlier than intended end to its monopoly on the distribution of letters. The Communications Workers Union has voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action. As yet, the union has not specified what form the industrial action will take so it is impossible to assess the potential level of disruption." See also Ireland Online and the Irish Independent.

October 22, 2005 -- AllAfrica.com has reported that "When mention is made that every mail packet be postcoded, the question an average Nigerian usually asks is "Of what purpose is the postcode"? Many even go further to claim that whether or not their mail packets are postcoded, their mail must and definitely be treated."

October 22, 2005 -- SmartMoney has reported that "UPS Inc. (UPS) expects to earn between 90 cents and 96 cents a share in the fourth quarter, Chief Financial Officer Scott Davis said."

October 22, 2005 -- According to Les Echos, "Standard & Poor's (S&P), the US credit ratings agency, has place French state post office La Poste on credit watch, with a negative outlook."

October 21, 2005 -- The U.S. Department of State has posted the official U.S. policy concerning Extraterriorial Offices of Exchange (ETOE). Regarding inbound ETOE traffic, it is the policy of the U.S. Government that items originating from an ETOE in a foreign country shall be considered as commercial traffic upon arrival in the United States. As such, these items must be cleared through customs using commercial customs clearance procedures. If these items are to be delivered by the U.S. Postal Service to addresses in the United States, then they must be mailed as domestic U.S. mail charged at domestic U.S. postage rates. Regarding outbound ETOE traffic, it is the policy of the U.S. Government that the UPU Acts do not apply to ETOE commercial operations in the United States, and that accordingly ETOEs are not authorized to use UPU documentation. According to this policy, an entity other than the U.S. Postal Service should not export mail matter from the United States to other countries using UPU documentation or U.S. Postal Service equipment or customs forms. State also lists all the known ETOEs in the U.S.

We have worked closely with both the Senate and the House to develop a bill that meets the need to provide the Postal Service with pricing and operational flexibility to meet the economic, technical and competitive challenges it faces and will face in the years ahead under a modern system of regulation that safeguards users and their suppliers against monopoly abuse. The Senate Bill, as it stands--while still in need of refinement in some respects--- largely achieves that balance; and it is reflective of the careful study and recommendations that the President's Commission on the Postal Service advanced. The Hallmark language would up-end that balance. The Hallmark language severely threatens, if it does not assure, perpetuation of a regulatory regime which is costly, cumbersome, and unsuitable to the threats and challenges the Postal Service and its stakeholders now face. It would deprive the Postal Service of the very flexibility in pricing and product offerings that the Senate Bill is intended to create. It would do so: to the extreme detriment of all mail customers--both large and small; to the detriment of the many thousands of American who are employed in postal and postal related industries; and, ironically, to the detriment of the very postal customers that Hallmark claims that they are seeking to protect.

Here is what the Hallmark language would do:

• It would enable Hallmark to contest ANY rate decision no matter how legal the proceedings.
• It would destroy the principle of containing future postal rate increases within the bounds of inflation.
• It would end the Postal Service's ability to set rates in accordance with market-based principles.
• It would continue in perpetuity the subsidy from presort First-Class Mail to single-piece First-Class Mail.
• It would end any effort to get the Postal Service to modernize its rate structure.
• It would cripple the Postal Service's efforts to achieve greater cost-efficiency through network changes.

This is a trap to forever bind single-piece and workshared First-Class Mail. With this language, you can kiss forever good-bye any hope of seeing the creation of a bulk First-Class subclass, First-Class dropship, or any other change to First-Class that would provide greater value to mail as a vehicle for business communication and commerce.

October 21, 2005 -- According to Associate Professor of Policy Analysis and Management (and former White House Council on Economic Advisors member) Richard Geddes, the U.S. Postal Service faces serious challenges. On the revenue side, the volume of letter mail is falling at a rate not seen since the Great Depression, in large part because of substitution to Internet-based communications. Although your mailbox may be bulging with ads, fliers and catalogs, revenue from advertising mail isn't likely to make up the gap. On the cost side, the Postal Service's ability to adapt quickly to declining mail volume is limited. Seventy-nine percent of its expenses are labor-related, with wages set through collective bargaining with binding arbitration. The federal government determines a substantial fraction of employee's fringe benefits by statute. The Postal Service faces strong political pressure to leave unneeded mail distribution centers and underutilized post offices open, and to use outdated, labor-intensive technologies. Thus, while the Postal Service will probably run a modest operating surplus in 2005, its financial future is murky.

October 21, 2005 -- In its most recent paper on postal reform, the Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation noted that "In a September 13 letter, the Postal Service's Board of Governors informed Congress that the government-owned enterprise objects to H.R. 22 and S. 662 (both entitled the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act) in their current forms. The bills would significantly change the laws under which the Postal Service operates. Ironically, the legislative effort had been spurred on by the Postal Service itself, which claims it needs more discretion and less regulatory oversight in setting its prices.

October 21, 2005 -- In a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Normal Mineta, Arnold Wellman, UPS Vice President Corporate Public Affairs, Domestic/International, wrote to "express UPS's support of the Postal Service's request that the Department of Transportation undertake a comprehensive review of the rate-setting processes used to establish the international mail air transportation rates paid by Postal Service. In addition, UPS supports the policy of regulatory forbearance in this area. For more than 20 years, rates for the domestic air transportation of U.S. mail have been determined by market-place forces. It is possible, and appropriate, for the Department to use its existing authority to achieve the same result for rates paid by the Postal Service for international mail air transportation. Pursuing such a course does not necessitate that the Department abandon its oversight responsibility, as Postmaster General Potter points out in his letter of October 12, 2005. UPS has expressed its support for reforms that will ensure the long-term viability of the Postal Service in a way that results in a level playing field. This is clearly one of those reforms that will advance both efficiency and fairness."

October 21, 2005 -- Investments & Pensions Europe has reported that "The roughly €400m pensions arm of Finland Posti - Finland Post Pension Fund - will be closed down following the outsourcing of its entire statutory and supplementary divisions to Ilmarinen Pension Co. and Pohjola Life respectively. The main reason behind the move is so that Posti can concentrate on its core business, said Pohjola Life's first vice president Ilkka Lohi. "The transaction allows Posti to outsource the pension scheme administration, risk elements related to longevity and insurance risks like death and disability and also the investment risk."

October 21, 2005 -- The Postal Rate Commission has issued its Final Order Addressing Complaint of Time Warner et al. (Docket No. C2004-1). In part, the PRC said:

1. The Commission finds that after consideration of the record made in this case, the existing rate structure for Periodicals mail is not violative of the policies of the Postal Reorganization Act, and therefore, it does not issue a recommended decision to be acted upon by the Board of Governors.

2. The Commission finds that although full implementation of Complainants' proposal would have substantial adverse rate impact on thousands of small publications, progress toward a more cost-based structure is both possible and necessary to increase efficiencies in the Periodicals rates.

3. The Commission recognizes that it is initially the responsibility of the Postal Service to review the materials provided herein and choose a path for improving the efficiency of Periodicals consistent with rates that do not unreasonably impact any segment of that class.

4. The Postal Service should review each of the rate design features in the context of the current and planned processing and transportation network for Periodicals mail. The focus should be on quickly incorporating the most promising and least disruptive components. Efforts to develop a less costly container than the sack should be emphasized as a better way to reduce the number of sacks in the postal system than imposing rate penalties on captive users.

5. The Commission strongly urges the Postal Service to investigate whether, and to what extent, the use of skin sacks by Periodicals mailers actually improves speed and consistency of service and urges mailers to cooperate fully in this endeavor.

6. To minimize disruption, the Postal Service should provide Periodicals mailers with notice that pieces that are nonmachinable will become subject to rates that reflect higher processing costs.

7. The Commission agrees that the adjustments to presort tiers (separating the basic tier into mixed ADC and ADC tiers, and reconfiguring the 3-digit tier to include pieces sorted to SCF bundles) proposed by witness Mitchell appear to reflect mail flows, and that these refinements may be an improvement for that reason.

8. The Commission encourages the Postal Service to investigate the feasibility of incentives for entering Periodicals mail at destination BMC facilities in terms of both internal operations and service considerations, but also to identify any potential physical impediments to widespread BMC entry point use in this manner.

9. The Commission finds that the flat editorial pound charge in Periodicals effectively fosters the public policies of the Act.

10. The Commission recommends that the Postal Service consider, and confer with a broad cross-section of Periodicals mailers, concerning the potential benefits of implementing a bifurcated opt-in rate schedule for Outside County Periodicals.

October 21, 2005 -- Business Mailers Review has reported that:

• As part of its commitment to move toward annual, predictable rate increases at or below the Consumer Price Index, the Postal Service is actively looking at ways to deal distinctly with commercial and residential mailers.
• USPS sent the Office of Management and Budget an official number of about $128 million for its estimate of the damages to facilities from Hurricane Katrina, but was able to revise that number downwards to under $100 million.
• The Postal Rate Commission is likely to issue a decision before the end of the month on the Postal Service request for a 5.4% across-theboard rate increase.
• CASS software verifies that a valid range of addresses covers a specific address, but it doesn't know which ones are actual delivery points. In other words, you can get a delivery point barcode on an address that doesn't exist. This gives mailers a false sense of confidence that their mail will be delivered. The Delivery Point Validation (DPV™) process adds the ability to verify the ZIP+4 Code, the delivery point, and the carrier route information for valid, deliverable addresses.
• New studies for two mailers organizations show big savings in postage over 10 years in First Class letters and Standard letters and Standard nonletters if either postal reform bill is enacted as written, but the Postal Service is highly critical of the assumptions in the reports.
• In a letter to postal reform leader Rep. John McHugh, R-NY, Postal Rate Commission (PRC) Chairman George Omas said he was surprised that the Postal Board of Governors, "longtime apparent supporters" of the reforms embodied in H.R. 22, are now expressing major reservations and want massive changes "that would drastically alter the carefully balanced responsibilities of our two agencies."
• Valpak Direct Marketing Systems Inc. also has chimed in on the postal reform effort, urging the Board of Governors to oppose the legislation with worksharing provisions as written in S. 662 and H.R. 22.
• Canada Post's effort to clamp down on remailing is gaining ground with a recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision upholding that Post's contention that it has exclusive privilege to collect, transmit and deliver letters up to 500 grams in Canada, including letters from Canada to the rest of the world.
• The Postal Service has decided to withdraw its proposed rule to require ancillary service endorsements on mailpieces containing certain kinds of checks after the financial industry assured it consumers are already being adequately protected.
• Strong on the operational plans and plans to reduce costs, weak on the marketing side. That's Gene Del Polito's assessment of the 2006-2010 Transformation Plan put out by the Postal Service last month. Del Polito, who is president of the Assn. for Postal Commerce, said the Postal Service should have done a better job of explaining its plan to grow the business.

Business Mailer's Review is an award-winning, independent biweekly newsletter covering issues of importance to the business mailer. It is regularly cited as among the best sources of postal information. For subscription information, check the BMR web site.

October 21, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire: "Safety-Kleen(R) Systems, Inc., has announced that it has been awarded a multi-year exclusive contract by the United States Postal Service (USPS) to provide hazardous and regulated waste management solutions. Under this national agreement, the first of its kind, Safety-Kleen will be the sole authorized national company providing the following services: * Oil collection and re-refining for more than 1.5 million gallons of motor oil; * Parts cleaning and solvent disposal services; * Containerized waste management, including oil filter recycling and disposal of absorbent materials; and, * Vacuum services for separators, drains and trenches."

October 21, 2005 -- The Telegraph has noted that "Kenneth Clarke, who passed what must surely be the last turning point of his political career this week, once said the failure to privatise the Post Office was the last turning point of the Conservative era in which he played such a large part. After the sell-off scheme promoted by Michael Heseltine was abandoned in November 1994 for lack of support among Tory backbenchers who feared a backlash over rural sub-post offices, John Major's administration lost any remaining appetite for Thatcherite reform and become wholly obsessed with survival. The result of that retreat is the Royal Mail we have today: demoralised, unable to guarantee a reliable service, bullied by its regulator, vulnerable to private sector encroachment into what were once monopoly markets but short of £2billion of investment to fight back; and facing a huge pension fund hole."

October 21, 2005 -- Japan Times has reported that "Japan Post and All Nippon Airways Co. announced Thursday they will jointly set up an air cargo company in April in a move that will mark the mail monolith's first attempt to break into the international air courier market. The move follows last week's enactment of legislation privatizing the mail carrier."

October 21, 2005 -- As Federal Times has noted, "The U.S. Postal Service will continue efforts to decrease costs and increase productivity to ensure that postage rate increases for the remainder of the decade do not, on average, exceed the rate of inflation."

October 21, 2005 -- Dow Jones has reported that "Germany's regulator for postal services, telecommunications and energy, Thursday ruled in favor of competitors of Deutsche Post AG, saying they don't have to comply with Deutsche Post's numeration rules when using its delivery network. Deutsche Post had refused to handle letters and packages from competitors if they didn't comply with its numeration rules, according to a statement from the regulator. Thursday's decision stemmed from an individual case last year in which the regulator decided alternative numeration wouldn't pose a disadvantage to Deutsche Post. Several competitors had asked to use an alternative numeration system to save them time. The regulator said this time-gain would facilitate further competition."

October 21, 2005 -- As SmartMoney has noted, "UPS said average daily volume of 4% in the U.S. exceeded economic growth rates, with the next day air shipments rising 6.1%. U.S. domestic package revenue grew 6.9% during the period to $7.03 billion. International package revenue increased 14.5% to $1.92 billion." See also The Street.

October 21, 2005 -- As Suddeutsche Zeitung has noted, "Deutsche Post, the German national postal services provider, is to change postage prices following a ruling by the Federal Network Agency. The changes are expected to save customers around 30m euros in total. Prices for compact letters and for standard and compact circulars are to be reduced by 5 per cent on 1 January 2006. Sending packages weighing over 250 grams to international destinations will also be cheaper."

October 21, 2005 -- The Times has reported that "According to legal advice from the House of Commons Library, an organisation that interprets legislation, any disposal of shares that is not into a joint venture would require new primary legislation. The advice was given to John Grogan, the Labour MP for Selby, who has secured the support of 171 MPs for an early day motion, insisting that Royal Mail remains a full public entity with no share offers to employees."

October 21, 2005 -- The Periodical Publishers Association has reported that "met with Professor Sir George Bain, the man tasked with conducting a review of Royal Mail on behalf of Alan Johnson MP, the Secretary of State for Trade & Industry. During the meeting, PPA highlighted publishers' serious concerns about Postcomm's proposals to withdraw Presstream from the regulated area, outlining the reasons why there was currently insufficient competition in the postal market to protect customers' interests. Among the other issues raised by PPA was the significant price increases that many publishers will be facing under the new format-based pricing structure Pricing in Proportion."

October 21, 2005 -- The Journal of Commerce has reported that:

Rigid labor markets and excessive red tape are deterring U.S. investment in Europe and pose a "huge danger" to the continent's economy, Fred Smith, chief executive of FedEx, warned.
FedEx Express, operator of the world's largest cargo airline, will expand operations in India, increasing its number of flights and destinations
The Journal of Commerce Online offers links to white papers, research projects, studies and other reference materials related to international logistics, trade and transportation.

October 21, 2005 -- Traffic World has reported that:

Economic activity continued to expand in September, according to information received by Federal Reserve District Banks. Reporting in the "Beige Book" Wednesday, the Fed described the pace of activity as moderate or gradual in most districts.
Built-to-suit logistics developer Eurinpro began construction on a 200,736 square foot health care and life sciences warehouse for DHL Solutions in Tiel, the Netherlands.

October 21, 2005 -- Agence France Presse has reported that "A block of 24-cent US stamps, printed with an upside-down airplane in 1918, brought the auctioneer 2.97 million dollars -- a philatelic record."

October 21, 2005 -- Royal Mail is changing the way it charges for mail services with effect from August 21 2006, and in advance of this change I want to take this opportunity to give a true reflection of how this will affect postage prices for mail communications, writes Tom Wasilewski, head of publishing at Royal Mail in the DM Bulletin.

October 21, 2005 -- InformationWeek has reported that "Repetitive motion injuries nicknamed "BlackBerry Thumb" afflict users of BlackBerries, Treos, Sidekicks and other devices with miniature thumb keyboards."

October 21, 2005 -- MoreRFID has noted that "It all started with active tags being put in a random sample of postal packages, including letters, from many countries to assess the level of service so cross charges between the postal services of different countries could be equitable. This is still done to this day. However, RFID is now used by postal and courier services for many other purposes."

October 21, 2005 -- Online.ie has reported that "The Communications Workers Union has said it will ballot their An Post members for industrial action today, and that they expect an overwhelming result. If the strike threat becomes a reality, the postal service will come to a standstill in a matter of weeks." See also Ireland Online, Irish Times, and Business World.

October 21, 2005 -- The San Jose Mercury News has reported that "Two small words printed on the bottom of a campaign mailer delivered this week to California voters have Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's opponents alleging his team illegally financed the mailings. The union- and Democrat-backed Alliance for a Better California said Thursday it had filed a complaint with the U.S. Postal Service alleging Schwarzenegger's ballot committee had illegally used a ``non-profit organization'' status to mail fliers at a 40 percent discount -- a rate that could save hundreds of thousands of dollars on a statewide mailing."

October 21, 2005 -- Borsen-Zeitung has reported that "DHL Express, the express delivery subsidiary of German postal service operator Deutsche Post, intends to invest around 1bn euros in the extension of its services in Europe's main countries by the end of 2008. The company plans, for instance, to double its current customer services network to around 30,000 service points."

October 21, 2005 -- The Des Plaines Journal has noted that "The Self-Help Closet & Pantry of Des Plaines and the Des Plaines Postal Service invite the community to be part of the citywide "Make A Difference Day" project on Saturday, Oct. 22 (and/or Friday, Oct. 21 where applicable). The Des Plaines Postal Service has teamed up with the Closet & Food Pantry for a one-day Red Barrel food drive this fall. The Des Planes Postal Service plans to get the word out about this event by delivering a postcard about the "Make A Difference Day" project to Des Plaines households. The Des Plaines Post Office and the Food Pantry last teamed up in May for the National Association of Letter Carriers annual food drive."

October 21, 2005 -- PC World has reported that "E Ink, a U.S.-based developer of electronic-paper type flat-panel displays, has developed a color version of its screen technology and is showing it at the FPD International exhibition. It's based on similar technology to the company's monochrome displays that are already in production. The main difference is the addition of a color filter. They offer high contrast and appear much closer to paper in appearance than other flat panel displays. E Ink anticipates the display will be ready for sale at the end of 2006."

October 21, 2005 -- Direct Newsline has reported that "Valassis' third quarter profits dipped 2.3% compared to the third quarter of last year to $21.3 million, or 42 cents per share, while revenue was up 7.4% to $266.1 million compared to the third quarter of 2004, the free-standing-insert and shared-mail advertising company reported yesterday."

October 20, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire: "The Postal Service delivered the first taste of the holidays today by dedicating the Holiday Cookies commemorative postage stamps outside the world-famous Pillsbury Kitchens at General Mills Headquarters in Minneapolis. A dedication ceremony also took place in New York City's Madison Square Garden at one of the nation's largest stamp shows, the Postage Stamp Mega-Event."

October 20, 2005 -- Led by strong worldwide gains in package volume and the expansion of its supply chain and freight business, UPS has reported a 17.9% increase in revenue and an adjusted 22.9% increase in diluted earnings per share. For the three months ended Sept. 30, 2005, earnings per diluted share were $0.86 compared to the $0.78 reported in the prior year. Adjusting for a tax credit that positively impacted earnings in 2004's third quarter, diluted earnings per share rose 22.9%, up from $0.70 a year ago.

October 20, 2005 -- The Hartford Courant has reported that "The U.S. attorney's office has decided not to pursue a criminal case against a former postal service official accused of using his position for personal gain."

October 20, 2005 -- From the Federal Register: "The Postal Service is adopting new mailing standards to ensure that address and presort information on bundles of flat-size and irregular parcel mail remains visible and readable during processing. The new standards apply only to bundles of Periodicals, Standard Mail, and Package Services mail intended for processing on our Automated Package Processing System equipment. EFFECTIVE DATE: October 27, 2005 with a six-month grace period for compliance."

October 20, 2005 -- The mailbox continues to thrive in the digital media age. The "Gen X, Gen Y, and the Mail" study commissioned by the U.S. Postal Service examined the attitudes of Generation X and Generation Y towards mail and found that over three-quarters of this generation reads and responds to mail just like their older counterparts. The Gen X generation was born between 1965 and 1972, and makes up roughly 17% of the population. Born between 1977 and 1994, Gen Y makes up about 25% of the population. Despite developing trends in new media channels, the findings conclude that young consumers are more likely to read and respond to printed material such as flyers, circulars, catalogs and newsletters that reach them through the mailbox. The study examined how young consumers perceive mail, how they use it and how mail fits into their high-tech lives.

October 20, 2005 -- "War Letters: Lost and Found," an exhibit opening Veterans Day (Nov. 11) at the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum, features original letters from the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam that were lost or abandoned and then rediscovered by strangers. The exhibit is a collaborative effort between the National Postal Museum and Andrew Carroll, author and founder of the Legacy Project, which provided the letters.

October 20, 2005 -- According to DM News, "The U.S. Postal Service is preparing to handle an expected increase in volume this fall -- most of it Standard mail -- over last year, but postal officials expressed concern last week about the need to keep fuel costs down."

October 20, 2005 -- The Los Angeles Times has reported that "Mail Boxes Etc. franchisees won a California appeals court ruling that allowed them to have their claims against United Parcel Service Inc. heard by arbitrators in three large groups rather than as individual cases. The decision by the state Court of Appeal in San Diego stems from a 2003 lawsuit by 35 franchisees who said UPS hurt their business when it converted the Mail Boxes Etc. chain into the UPS Store. The franchisees claim that the new format emphasized UPS shipping instead of what they say was more profitable packing services."

October 20, 2005 -- Dow Jones has reported that "The lowering of Deutsche Post's postal fees is negative news, says Merck Finck, although not unexpected. Feels about 20% of the revenue loss can be made up through the company's cost-cutting measures, thus the overall impact should be limited."

October 20, 2005 -- The Independent has noted that "On 1 January Royal Mail's monopoly is consigned to history and the postal market is fully opened to the chill winds of competition. But in its wisdom, the regulator Postcomm wants to force Royal Mail to keep the prices charged to business customers artificially high so granny can still afford to send a birthday card at an artificially low price."

October 20, 2005 -- Handelsblatt has reported that "The German army is planning to privatise its logistics activities in a bid to drive forward cost-cutting. Base logistics as well as the complete transportation of ammunition and weapons in Germany are being considered for privatisation. DHL, the logistics and express subsidiary of German postal services provider Deutsche Post, is thought to be the only serious candidate for the contract, thanks to long-term cooperation between Deutsche Post and the army."

October 20, 2005 -- The Daily Item has reported that "A United Parcel Service tractor-trailer carrying a full load of packages crashed into the median and caught fire Tuesday morning along the westbound lanes of Interstate 80, about five miles north of Lewisburg."

October 20, 2005 -- Di-ve.com has reported that "A whole consignment of Surface Air Lifted (SAL) mail despatched from Frankfurt and transited through Rome has been received at Maltapost plc Administration damaged and wet."

October 20, 2005 -- Kuensel Online has reported that "Lack of proper postal addresses, which made delivery of letters difficult, is still one of the biggest problems looming over the Bhutanese postal service say Bhutan Post officials."

October 20, 2005 -- Japan Today has reported that "Japan Post will make its way into international distribution services by joining hands with All Nippon Airways Co."

October 20, 2005 -- The Guardian has reported that "Andrew Herd had the foresight to take out insurance when he dispatched an espresso machine for a service. He packed it into a padded box made by the manufacturer, double-wrapped the box in bubble wrap, emblazoned it with "fragile" stickers and gave it to UPS. By the time the parcel reached the service centre, the foam had been crushed and the machine was damaged beyond repair. Herd tried to claim on his insurance but UPS first claimed that the machine had been inadequately packaged and then that someone else had done the damage. Either way, it refused to pay up and Herd will have to find pounds 625 if he wants to resume his morning fix. UPS now claims that it never said the packaging was insufficient but remains adamant that it couldn't have done the damage since there were no external marks. Oddly, however, soon after Consumer makes its enquiries, Herd is offered a cheque for pounds 500."

October 20, 2005 -- Globes Online has reported that "It is possible to make unsupervised international money transfers from Israel for illegal online gambling through financial institutions, including the Post Office Bank and other private entities, and the Israel Police and Ministry of Justice will find it difficult to block them, states a Israeli branch of the University of Derby study. The study was conducted after the Police and Ministry of Justice announced plans to block illegal online gambling by Israelis."

October 19, 2005 -- According to the Camden Gazette, "AN investigation into the quality of the Royal Mail service in Camden has been launched - just one week after the council announced it would be relying on the service to deliver polling cards for next year's local elections. The council's overview and scrutiny commission is carrying out the investigation after receiving an unprecedented number of complaints from residents about their postal service. Royal Mail bosses have been asked to attend a special meeting at the Town Hall."

October 19, 2005 -- As the Gainesville Times has noted, "One person's junk mail may be another's treasure."

October 19, 2005 -- What are postmasters paid? Take a look.

October 19, 2005 -- Eyefortransport has noted that "Emirates Post has launched 'SMS Post', a new service that allows customers to get the status report of their mail and parcels over mobile phones. The service, however, is applicable only to parcels, Express Mail, Registered Mail, Money Orders, Ministry of Labour documents or any other service that has a barcode or a receipt number."

October 19, 2005 -- According to CNET News, "SMS messaging has grown in popularity as a marketing tool, but a recent court ruling could mark the beginning of its end. In the case of Joffe v. Acacia Mortgage, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled last month that cellular SMS (short message service) messages fall under the purview of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991."

October 19, 2005 -- Dow Jones has reported that "The German regulator for postal services, telecommunications and energy, Bundesnetzagentur, Wednesday said it will lower postal rates starting Jan. 1. The regulator said it will lower the price to send compact letters over 20 grams to EUR0.90 from EUR0.95. Likewise it will lower the postal price for commercial mail to EUR0.35 from EUR0.40."

October 19, 2005 -- According to the Irish Independent, "AN POST looks to have got a poor response from Irish financial services' providers in its quest to set up a new banking joint venture. Market sources believe that AIB and GE Money are the only local groups who actually bid by the closing date of September 19 last. If true, this means that Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank chose not to bid and submit business and strategic plans."

October 19, 2005 -- CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU Consultancy, has reported that:

The French La Poste enjoyed an increase in both turnover and profit during the first half of the current financial year. The company has confirmed figures according to which the 9.82bn euros turnover was almost 4% higher than for the same period of time last year.
The ongoing conflict between Royal Mail and the British regulator Postcomm was rekindled last week. Postcomm's chief executive Sarah Chambers accused Royal Mail of "complaining vociferously to the public and the government about the dangers of our proposed price regulation mechanisms, while secretly agreeing with many of the elements of price regulation".
Ireland's An Post continues to struggle with problems.
Deutsche Post's CEO Klaus Zumwinkel has promised faster mail delivery to households and businesses.
Poland's government-owned Poczta Polska (PP) will possibly merge with the country's biggest bank, PKO PB.
A report on Austrian television caused furore last week. A "strategy paper" by PR agency Ogilvy compiled in connection with the post's planned IPO and providing the Chancellor, government and post's management with arguments related to the IPO proposed to leave the public in the dark about the timing of the privatisation, weakening the trade union and threatening workers with layoffs in the event of a strike.
The EU Commission has announced that it will investigate subsidised prices for newspaper distribution in Switzerland.
Deutsche Post announced the takeover of a majority of the Dutch mail service provider MailMerge. Together with subsidiaries Select Mail Nederland, Interlanden, Selectvracht and DHL Global Mail the latest addition makes DP AG the biggest private mail service provider in the Netherlands. Details concerning the purchase price were not revealed. MailMerge, which delivers around 40 million letters annually in the Netherlands, will remain a trademark and continue to operate under its own trade name.
Financing of Red Parcel Post AG, which was founded in September last year, has now been secured. Applying state-of-the-art technology and logistics, the company wishes to take the lead on Germany's parcel market.
For the first time Deutsche Post has admitted to problems with DHL's integration in Europe.

The MRU, founded in 1992, is the only consultancy in the German speaking area, which has specialised in the market of courier-, express- and parcel services. For large-scale shippers and CEP-services in particular, the MRU provides interdisciplinary advice for all major questions of the market, as there are for example market entry, product design, organisation, and EDP.To learn more about the stories reported above, contact CEP News.

October 19, 2005 -- The Hartford Courant has reported that "A Connecticut man who served on the governing board for the U.S. Postal Service is under federal criminal investigation for allegedly using his position for personal gain. John Walsh, 78, of Branford had been on the nine-member board for six years and had been its vice chairman since 2003. He resigned in August as a separate investigation by the U.S. Postal Service's Office of Inspector General was winding down. That investigation substantiated claims by a whistleblower that Walsh misused postal service cars, cellphones and credit cards, according to a 22-page report released to The Courant Tuesday."

October 19, 2005 -- The Republican-American has reported that "With an eye toward managing its resources better, the U.S. Postal Service will move some mail processing from its Waterbury facility to Wallingford in January 2006. The Wallingford facility, one of the state's main processing centers, has "underutilized space," said Gerard Ahern, Connecticut district manager for the Postal Service. "This consolidation will help keep mail processing costs down." Retail services will remain unchanged in Waterbury, postal officials said."

October 19, 2005 -- DM News has reported that:

• Evaluating mail piece shape, employing postal address quality tools and using data modeling techniques are strategies to help lower mail costs given the upcoming postal rate increase.

• The Postal Rate Commission will most likely offer its recommended decision by Halloween to implement a 5.4 percent across-the-board rate increase, according to Jerry Cerasale, senior vice president, government affairs at the Direct Marketing Association. In all likelihood, the rates will go into effect on Monday, January 16, according to Cerasale. "January 16 is the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, which would allow the postal service to get their processing facilities ready over a two-day period when they do not receive any mail—that Sunday and Monday," said Cerasale.

October 19, 2005 -- The USPS Office of the Inspector General has released a report on city carrier operations in San Diego.

October 19, 2005 -- The Daily Mail has reported that "ROYAL Mail bosses have raised the prospect of letters sent to rural addresses costing more than those sent from city to city. They told MPs that ending the postal monopoly in January will have dramatic consequences for the 84million letters posted every day. It could threaten the longstanding universal pricing principle that has allowed customers to send letters to any part of Britain for the same price, regardless of distance or location."

October 19, 2005 -- The Macedonian Information Service has reported that "ING is closer to signing agreement for ING's entry in Macedonia through purchase of Postenska Banka."

October 19, 2005 -- Union-Network International has reported that "More than 40 representatives from Telecom and Postal unions from Bosnia met in Sarajevo with UNI's representative in the Region, Patrick Massart and UNI Telecom's Neil Anderson, in a seminar where the future of UNI and the unions' involvement in UNI's activities were discussed."

October 19, 2005 -- Sify has reported that "The Department of Post has sought an additional financial support of Rs 625 crore to computerise all the 26,000 post offices across the country. Dayanidhi Maran, Minister for Communication and IT, also announced a slew of new postal products and services such as corporate e-post and a new-look letter box, at a ceremony held today to mark the 150 years of India Post."

October 19, 2005 -- The Independent has reported that "Royal Mail wants to give its workforce a 20 per cent stake in the business, the chairman of the state-owned postal operator, Allan Leighton, told MPs yesterday. But Mr Leighton ruled out wholesale privatisation of Royal Mail or the sale of a minority stake in the company to an outside investor such as a private-equity firm." See also The Guardian.

October 19, 2005 -- The Economic Times has reported that "The Department of Posts is planning to enter into microfinancing and banking. The government has set up an inter-ministerial group to explore the chances of allowing India Post to set up a savings bank."

October 19, 2005 -- IPPMedia has reported that "In a move to bring its services closer to its customers, the Tanzania Postal Bank (TPB) will soon start to install automated teller machines (ATM) outside banking halls."

October 18, 2005 -- Traffic World has reported that:

• FedEx Custom Critical started offering special handling for temperature-sensitive shipments that includes dedicated vehicles and monitoring and recording of temperatures along the delivery path.

• TNT Express introduced an e-mail booking confirmation service Tuesday that alerts customers when their collection request has been received. The development is in response to a rapid increase in the number of online collection requests received during the last year, the company said. The new service eliminates the need for customers to call TNT for confirmation of a collection request and simplifies package tracking. Freeing customer service departments of a large number of calls is expected to result in savings.

October 18, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire: "I.D. Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: IDSY) today announced that it has received orders from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to deploy the company's Wireless Asset Net(TM) powered industrial vehicle management system at nine additional USPS facilities. These orders increase the number of USPS facilities deploying the Wireless Asset Net to 22. Under the terms of the USPS' three-year national contract with I.D. Systems, up to 460 USPS facilities can order the Wireless Asset Net system."

October 18, 2005 -- According to postal commentator Gene Del Polito, "For postal reform to be a success, the "incentives" that flow from postal rate design must comport with rational economic behaviors. To ensure this, ratemaking should be firmly grounded on as accurate as possible a determination of the resource costs consumed to produce any particular level of service. Instead of "discounting down," postal rates should be "surcharged up" to reflect more accurately resource use. A bottom-up approach to postal costing would make cost attribution more accurate and complete. Proper efforts could be made to ensure that rates also yield a reasonable profit (in accordance with sound market-based principles) at every level of postal network access. These principles should have been built unambiguously into postal reform. They weren't, he said, because neither the Postal Service nor the Postal Rate Commission demonstrated much of an appetite to truly reform postal ratemaking. Both would rather continue with today's approach to ratemaking with cost-bloated subclasses and top-down discounting."

October 18, 2005 -- "As noted in an April 2005 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO)," said Quebecor Direct postal vice president Anita Pursley, "the Postal Service is reluctant to publicly disclose information on its realignment strategy because it believes that it will meet with resistance from employees, communities and government representatives if it does so too far in advance. For mailers, who are large stakeholders of the Postal Service, this seems unfair. Uncertainty about what the Postal Service is planning to do about new processing operations, and potentially new discount structures, can inhibit a mailer's investment in its own infrastructure."

October 18, 2005 -- Suddeutsche Zeitung has reported that "Deutsche Post, the German postal services provider, is looking for ways in which to speed up letter deliveries. The group admitted problems with rapid deliveries and said that it was working on ways in which to ensure that all customers received their post before 1pm."

October 18, 2005 -- The Australian Financial Review has reported that "Australia Post is offering new services to cope with lower revenue from letter deliveries as more consumers prefer electronic communications. The agency has launched Mail2Day, which informs post office box holders through email or SMS about any mail that they have received. This service has seen over 25% monthly growth in the number of customers. Australia Post will also use electronic technology to improve its parcel delivery services."

October 18, 2005 -- Here's an interesting piece from "IAMSERIOUS" who offered the following comment on the PostalNews.com web site in reaction to postal commentator Gene Del Polito's article for Direct magazine: "Mr. Del Polito is okay until his final paragraph, when he writes as if he was "at the table" for more than a decade of dialog between Capitol Hill and postal officials, including management and the governors. (Do a FOIA request on that one, Mr. Del Polito, and prepare to back your truck up to the postal headquarters building for a major document haul.) With the bill that McHugh has been hawking for the past 10 years, it is no tragedy that "reform" hasn't been enacted: Postal customers are much better under current law."

October 18, 2005 -- DM News has reported that "Mailers who send Standard letters and flats would save millions of dollars over 10 years under postal reform, according to a study done for the Direct Marketing Association by SLS Consulting Inc. The U.S. Postal Service, however, says the new report is inherently flawed. "This is an overly simplistic, shoddy bit of documentation to try to fool people into believing that legislative reform the way it is currently stated suddenly gave you a windfall of reduced rates," said Thomas G. Day, USPS senior vice president of government relations. "Nothing could be further from the truth."

October 18, 2005 -- The Direct Marketing Association has announced that "Meredith Corporation President and COO Stephen M. Lacy was elected DMA Chairman of the Board for 2006. Lacy succeeds Ronald L. Bliwas, president/CEO, A. Eicoff & Company. CEO Markus F. Wilhelm was elected vice chairman, American List Council Chairman & CEO Don Rappaport treasurer, and American Institute for Cancer Research Executive Vice President & COO Kelly B. Browning secretary. Also, nine new Board members were elected at the Annual Business Meeting."

October 18, 2005 -- VietnamNet Bridge has reported that "After 60 years under the same roof as Telecommunications, the postal sector will ‘make a separate home' for itself in June 2006 in a move expected to be bittersweet for employees and a much-needed stimulus for change."

October 18, 2005 -- The Tide has reported that "The Area Postal Manager for Benue, Mr Lawrence Tunwase, has threatened to sack any staff , found tampering with mails. "Gone are the days when tampering with mails was the order of the day. Anyone caught will face severe punishment," he warned. He urged Benue people to cultivate the habit of letter writing, so as to enhance the quality of their communication skills."

October 18, 2005 -- Kyodo news service has reported that "The government on Tuesday [18 October] named Japan Post President Masaharu Ikuta and six other people as the founding members of a company that will be set up in January to plan the details of postal system privatization under laws enacted last week. The other six are Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, the largest Japanese business lobby known as Nippon Keidanren, Kakutaro Kitashiro, chairman of the Association of Corporate Executives, Nobuo Yamaguchi, chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Yoshihisa Akiyama, chairman of the Kansai Economic Federation, Yoichiro Morishita, chairman of the Postal Administration Council, and Keimei Kaizuka, chairman of the Financial System Council."

October 18, 2005 -- According to SecurityPark.net, "RFID is an idea whose time has come in postal, courier and high volume light logistics. IDTechEx estimate that the global market for RFID systems, including tags, will reach $US 3 billion in 2016. In the past, RFID has been used for little more than the evaluation of postal performance using tags in a small percentage of letters and the tracking of a small number of conveyances and vehicles. No longer: From DHL taking bids for RFID labels on one billion packages to Saudi Post tagging postal boxes, the big innovations are now happening."

October 18, 2005 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that "Dutch express, mail and logistics company TNT has announced that it has received a binding offer from French logistics and transport company Norbert Dentressangle to purchase from its French logistics subsidiaries TNT Logistics Holdings SAS and TNT Logistics France SARL the majority of the contract logistics activities and part of the transportation activities. Additionally, Management Buy-Out offers have been received for most of the remainder of the transportation business of the French Logistics business unit."

October 18, 2005 -- KSLA-TV has reported that "A painting that has caused tempers to flare in East Texas apparently will be hanging around for years to come. The mural, entitled "The Last Crop," hangs above the doorway inside the lobby of the Linden post office. It depicts barefoot African Americans picking cotton in a field. Protestors took to the streets this past summer, calling for the postal service to remove the painting because they found it to be racist. The postal service has now replaced the painting's nickname--cotton pickers--with its original title. "I think it gives a better explanation, a more positive connotation to what it's about," said postal spokesman McKinney Boyd. However, it seems not everyone agrees."

October 18, 2005 -- The Kyodo news service has reported that:

• According to Japan Post President Masaharu Ikuta, "the chief executive of the holding company to be created through the privatization of postal services should be a proven businessperson rather than an expert in any specific field.

• Japanese post offices will begin selling investment trusts for the first time in October as savings accounts in Japan continue to yield little interest and as a law to privatize postal services is set to be enacted.

October 18, 2005 -- As the Mumbai Newsline has noted, "It's meant to help people without computers and technical knowledge to communicate via e-mail. When e-post was launched across India in January last year with those laudable aims, it was to be a ‘‘turning point'' in the Department of Posts' transformation into a modern, technology-driven provider of communication services. But today, almost two years later, no more than 4,000 to 5,000 mails are sent and received every month by 14 head post offices with e-post centres across Mumbai."

October 18, 2005 -- The Pioneer Press has reported that "The Pillsbury Doughboy will be strutting his stuff this holiday season from the kitchen to the post office to Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. The Pillsbury foods unit of Golden Valley-based General Mills said today it will participate in Macy's 79th annual parade that kicks off the season for people with insatiable appetites for shopping. But that's only one holiday-themed promotion for Pillsbury and its products. The U.S. Postal Service said today it will launch a series of four Holiday Cookies commemorative 37-cent stamps on Thursday with Pillsbury officials and the Doughboy at General Mills' headquarters. Vonzell Solomon, a former postal worker who was a finalist on the American Idol television show, and Sally Andersen-Bruce, the cookie stamp photographer, are also scheduled to trip the light fantastic with the dough man." Oh!...I can't wait....

October 18, 2005 -- The October DMM is available on Postal Explorer (pe.usps.com).

October 17, 2005 -- According to Direct magazine postal commentator Gene Del Polito, "It's been fascinating to watch the postal Governors and the Postal Rate Commission trade barbs over what they believe is good or bad about pending postal legislative reform. It's like watching two kids arguing in a school playground over what constitutes his fair share of the marbles. Determining who should do what under a reformed postal legislative framework isn't rocket science. The roles and responsibilities of either a Board of Directors or a third-party regulator should be relatively straightforward."

October 17, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire: As more states turn to the mail box for help with the ballot box, the U.S. Postal Service has developed an online resource to help election officials navigate rules and regulations that allow citizens to vote by mail. "Mailing Resources for Election Officials" on usps.com was developed after consulting with election officials across the country and executives at the Election Center Inc. to determine the best documents and guides to explain clearly and concisely those rules that govern sending election materials through the mail. The number of states that allow "no-excuse" early voting by mail or in person has almost tripled since 1996. All states west of Missouri will allow it this year."

October 17, 2005 -- Be sure to check out latest studies posted on PostInsight on the status of mail in the U.S:

• Banking and Brokerage -- Financial services companies are continually improving their practices and operations to gain competitive advantage and enhance their service to and relationship with their customers. These changes often create new growth opportunities as evidenced by continued growth of transaction and advertising mail from the banking and brokerage industries. What is driving mail volume growth in the Banking & Brokerage industries despite the threats of electronic diversion and what are the main implications for the future? What change effects have the strongest statistical relationship with mail volumes? This paper looks at trends using different views of mail, including by sender-recipient mail flow (e.g., banks-to-households, brokerage-to-households); by application (e.g., Correspondence and Transaction Ads); by postal products (e.g., First-Class, Standard or Economy Mail); and by recipient demographics such as age, generation and income. It also critically reviews the existing research on mail trends performed by the USPS since the mid 1980s.

• The Insurance Industry -- Increases in population and household income and age are resulting in continued growth of transaction and advertising mail from the insurance industry. Insurance companies emphasize service to and relationship with customers as two of the most important aspects of their business, particularly as Baby Boomers hit retirement and their children gather wealth. What is driving mail volume growth in the insurance industry, and what are the main implications for the future? What change drivers have strong statistical relationships with mail volume? What do we learn from a systematic assessment of past correlations and their usefulness for understanding market changes and anticipating future developments? This paper looks at trends using different views of mail, including by recipient mail flow (e.g., insurance-to-households); by application (e.g., Correspondence and Transactions-C&T,, Ads or direct mail); by postal products (e.g., First-Class, Standard or Economy Mail); and by recipient demographics such as age, generation and income. It also critically reviews the existing research on mail trends performed by the USPS since the mid 1980s.

• The Credit Card Industry -- The credit card industry has experienced substantial change and consolidation. The leading firms have introduced technologies, process innovations and business improvements, which have affected mail volumes and often create new growth opportunities. What is driving mail volume growth in the Credit Card industry? What change drivers have the strongest statistical relationship with mail volumes? How useful is a systematic assessment of correlations for understanding changes in the marketplace or anticipating future developments? This paper provides a deeper understanding by drawing meaningful insights into the drivers of mail volume growth and key implications for the postal industry. It focuses the analysis at the industry and application level by examining transactional (bills and statements) and advertising mail generated by credit card firms.

October 17, 2005 -- According to The Age, if you looking for "The logistics revolution? It's in the mail."

October 17, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire: "Abacus, the leading provider of data and services for catalog, specialty retail and B-to-B direct marketers, today introduced a revolutionary shift to how direct marketers conduct marketing campaigns with the release of Abacus FastPath(SM). FastPath is designed to remove the inherent complexities associated with the traditional multi-list mailings, by delivering a mail-ready file in a single, integrated solution."

October 17, 2005 -- From PR Leap: "BCC Software, a BÖWE BELL + HOWELL company and a leading developer of high-performance software and solutions for professional mailers, has released Truck Direct Mail, an online logistics engine that generates free, no-obligation quotes for mailings drop shipped to Destination Entry points by private carriers. If the quote is accepted trucks are arranged and dispatched to the mailer location for mail pickup and dispatched to the appropriate USPS drop ship destination. All arrangements private carrier arrangements are performed by the Truck Direct Mail system. After months of development and testing, Truck Direct Mail — the product of a strategic alliance between BCC and Direct Logistics, Inc. — is now available all BCC customers seeking tighter shipping costs and improved overall delivery efficiency."

October 17, 2005 -- From the Canada NewsWire: "The Canadian Union of Postal Workers protested outside Canada Post headquarters Sunday at noon as the corporation celebrated its 24th anniversary with job losses and closures."

October 17, 2005 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that "FedEx Express has appointed the National Aviation Service (NAS), a customs brokerage, to provide customs clearance services in Kuwait. The agreement with NAS is a bid to speed up shipments to customers in the Middle East."

October 17, 2005 -- The Tide has reported that "In its determination to restore public confidence, Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) says, it has introduced containerised mini post offices in six states. The containerised mini post offices were introduced in compliance with the Universal Postal Union (UPN) recommendation that post offices should serve at least 6,000 inhabitants."

October 17, 2005 -- The Daily Independent has reported that "Nigerian Postal Service has commenced trans-border mail transmission with Benin Republic as part of efforts aimed at implementing the Universal Postal Union (UPU) multilateral agreement among West African countries."

October 17, 2005 -- Location Based Services Zone has reported that "NAC Geographic Products Inc. has announced that Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan have been added to the countries and areas digitized with Universal Addresses and Natural Area Codes (http://www.nacgeo.com/nacsite/), and made the number of the Universal Address digitized countries and areas to 24. Universal Addresses can be used as Global Postal Codes to sort both domestic and international mail from the world level to the final mailboxes. Eight character Universal Addresses already have the highest resolution in all ZIP/postal codes used in the world. Using Global Postal Codes to sort mail or parcels can also optimize the delivery routes because they have included all the accurate location information of the destination, unlike other ZIP/postal codes that just represent the internal delivery structure of postal services."

October 17, 2005 -- NewIndPress has reported that:

• More than 1,000 postal employees from across the country would participate in the 24th joint conference to be held here from October 21 to 25. Topics like problems and suggestion for improvement of Postal Department and a review of the Department of Post would be taken up at the conference.

• Following the downsizing of the staff strength in postal departments, heaps of undelivered postal articles have piled up in several post offices in the district. Vacancies in the post offices have not been filled due to the cost-cutting policy of the Central Government. Hence when the postmasters are on long leave their posts remain unfilled.

October 16, 2005 -- According to the National Post, "It may be just another sign of progress, but people living in a clutch of hamlets and villages north of Toronto say Canada Post's efforts to deliver their correspondence more efficiently is poised to stamp out their small-town identity." See also the Ottawa Sun

October 16, 2005 -- The New York Post has reported that "THE Working Families Party, already under scrutiny for its role in the Manhattan borough president's race, violated Post Office regulations by mailing out campaign literature in another race at the non-profit rate."

October 16, 2005 -- The Hindu has reported that "Non-delivery of a money order for Rs 300 sent by a man to his sister on her birthday has proved costly for the Postal Department with the consumer court asking it to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 to him."

October 16, 2005 -- As DaijiWorld has noted, the "Indian Postal Service, which began on October 1, 1854 with 701 post offices, spread throughout the country. Now the postal network has completed 151 grand years in the service of people and country."

October 16, 2005 -- NewIndPress has reported that "The Department of Posts, western region, Coimbatore is planning to open four more finance marts before the end of this year."

October 16, 2005 -- The Daily Yomiuri has reported that:

• Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, looking confident that the postal privatization bills would be passed at the House of Councillors, left the Prime Minister's Office on Friday afternoon and headed to the Diet building, where voting on the bills was still under way, to thank executives of the ruling bloc for their efforts to get the bills passed.

• The postal privatization laws enacted Friday fail to address key elements of privatization, leaving them in the hands of future management.

• The recent passage of six postal privatization bills must have made Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi feel that he has achieved the most cherished goal of his structural reform campaign. However, the enactment of these laws is only the start of Koizumi's efforts to achieve this goal. The significance of privatizing Japan Post lies in scrapping the postal savings and insurance systems, which have long attracted a massive amount of money in what could be described as the world's largest state-run financial institution.

• Japan's new postal firms, which are slated to be launched in 2007, aim to be self-reliant private-sector companies in the Deutsche Post mold. Plans for many new business services have been proposed for the new companies. They include international shipping services, convenience stores inside the branches, ticket sales, new financial products and loans to small and midsize companies. Yet many people remain concerned the sheer size of the privatized postal companies may overpower their private-sector rivals.

October 15, 2005 -- According to The Economist, "Retirement benefits promised to employees are becoming a crippling burden for a growing number of firms, especially in America. Politicians are fearful too, suspecting that taxpayers may end up having to pick up the bill. Equally worrying are multi-employer pension funds, says Trevor Harris of Morgan Stanley. They are administered by the unions—the Teamsters, for example, runs one for the trucking industry called Central State—but funded by employers. They are opaque even to the PBGC, but certainly are seriously underfunded. Unlike pensions, which have funding requirements under the 1974 Employee Retirement Income Security Act, there is no legal obligation to set money aside for future health-care promises."

October 15, 2005 -- As the Pittsburg Post-Gazette has noted, new movers are the first to hear "Welcome to the Neighborhood! This is the new Welcome Wagon, sped up and fine-tuned by technology. For decades, it meant friendly matrons going door to door with gift baskets and samples from local shops. The Welcome Wagon was a local enterprise, delivered with a neighborly touch and tinged with the rosy glow of community service. Now it is a "state-of-the-art new homeowner marketing company" that compiles its own data and mails out 2 million gift books a year."

October 15, 2005 -- The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:

• In a letter to key members of the House of Representatives, Postal Rate Commission Chairman George Omas says concerns expressed by Postal Service Board of Governors that the postal reform bills would undermine its management authority are unfounded.

• The U.S. Postal Service has reestablished mail services for every ZIP Code in New Orleans.

• Another in a series of background papers being prepared as part of the Pitney Bowes research project on Electronic Substitution for Mail.

• Kristina Rasmussen of the National Taxpayers Union blasts both the House and Senate postal reform bills.

• PostCom files with DoT, supports greater USPS control on international rates. Postal Service to continue electronic postmark deal with AuthentiDate. Fairbanks business community rejects USPS bypass mail proposal. Business mailers get guaranteed expedited delivery to Pacific Rim. Pelosi, colleagues urge Postal Service to create Alzheimer's stamp.

• Japanese parliament approves six postal privatization bills. Slovenian post says it meets European standards. DHL wins Reebok distribution deal for Russia, CIS. TNT, Japan Post and transportation firms negotiating new service. Emirates Post to launch independent mail service. Gambia post hikes prices. Geodis expanding with France Express branches.

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October 15, 2005 -- As Air Cargo World has noted, "The U.S. Postal Service may be using innovation and entrepreneurial strategies to make inroads against private carriers but it doesn't appear to be making inroads on the bottom line."

October 15, 2005 -- The package delivery company United Parcel Service (UPS) and the pharmaceutical company Merck and Company Inc., both U.S. businesses with extensive operations in China, are two of the 10 finalists for the State Department's prestigious Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE) for 2005.

October 15, 2005 -- According to the Washington Post, "As newspapers fight declining circulation and face rising newsprint costs -- and their corporate owners demand wider profit margins -- editors, publishers, reporters and technologists have worked over the past few years to devise new, paperless ways to deliver the news."

October 15, 2005 -- SmartMoney has reported that "J.P. Morgan boosted its rating on United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) to overweight from neutral, saying it believes the company is poised for renewed momentum. J.P. Morgan told clients that it sees multiple potential drivers of growth including international parcel, supply chain services and acquisitions. J.P. Morgan also said that the domestic market is stabilizing."

October 15, 2005 -- According to the Irish Times, "Half of all post sent in Dublin for national and international delivery does not leave the An Post sorting office the same day, according to the company's internal figures."

October 15, 2005 -- The Bradenton Herald has reported that "A 10-year effort to get Duette's mail service - and its 33834 ZIP code - transferred from Bowling Green in Hardee County to the Parrish Post Office in Manatee County is looking up at last. The Parrish branch made a list of post offices that will be expanded - some day. This means that when the Parrish branch is large enough to handle additional routes, Duette could be put into its proper geographic area."

October 15, 2005 -- According to Japan Today, "U.S. life insurers vowed Friday to closely watch the implementation of Japan's postal privatization, reiterating their call for an equal footing between the privatized "kampo" insurance entity and the private sector. "The entire private life insurance industry in Japan, including its foreign participants, will carefully monitor this crucial process, which must also be open to input and genuine exchange," Frank Keating, president of the American Council of Life Insurers, said in a statement."

October 15, 2005 -- As the Asahi Shimbun has noted, Japanese postal reform is only the beginning. "Structural administrative and fiscal reform" is next.

October 15, 2005 -- From the Canada NewsWire: "The Canadian Union of Postal Workers will protest as Canada Post celebrates its 24th anniversary with job losses and closures. Postal workers will respond to Canada Post's "let them eat cake" attitude by cutting a cake with a special anniversary message."

October 15, 2005 -- Les Echos has reported that "La Poste, the French state-owned post office, has revealed that its new banking subsidiary Banque Postale will employ around 900 people currently working for the group. Another hundred or so will be drafted from other La Poste subsidiaries and will occupy legal roles. The 900 or so workers coming from La Poste itself will be divided between commercial and management activities. Banque Postale is due to become operational on 1 January 2006."

October 14, 2005 -- The latest copy of the National Association of Postmasters of the U.S. electronic governmental affairs newsletter is available on the NAPUS web site.

October 14, 2005 -- Investment & Pensions Europe has reported that "Dutch postal operator TNT is to set up a new career-average pension fund for around 20,000 post deliverers. TKP Pensioen, the pension administration firm originally set up by the Dutch posts and telecoms pension funds and now part of Aegon, will run pension administration and asset management in a five-year deal. Financial terms were not disclosed."

October 14, 2005 -- AllAfrica.com has reported that "POSTAL services utility, Zimpost (Private) Limited, could lose well over $43 billion worth of property to about 839 workers it dismissed last year for embarking on collective job action. The dismissed workers indicated that they are planning to attach their employer's property, as Zimpost has not responded to correspondence lodged with it three weeks ago."

October 14, 2005 -- As the Associated Press has noted, "islanders on the island of Matinicus, 17 miles out to sea, have grown to depend on the Penobscot planes...for postal, UPS, and Fedex services."

October 14, 2005 -- The Times has reported that "Japan’s Parliament today approved the three trillion-dollar privatisation of the country’s postal service." See also the International Herald Tribune.

October 14, 2005 -- Dean Rieck pondered in DM News: "Mention the U.S. Postal Service among a group of direct marketers and you’ll get a half-hour rant on the flaws and foibles of the system — grumbling about slow delivery, groaning about poor management, griping about rising postal rates. But does the USPS really deserve this venom? Despite all our grumbling, groaning and griping, the postal service remains one of the most personal and reliable means of delivering things from one place to another at a reasonable cost."

October 14, 2005 -- Dow Jones (via Yahoo) has reported that "Swiss Post, Switzerland's dominant mail operator, is buying its Singapore-based franchisee as part of a plan to increase its presence in the Asia-Pacific region."

October 14, 2005 --  The U.S. Postal Service has announced that "We are withdrawing in today’s Federal Register a proposal to require ancillary service endorsements on Standard Mail pieces containing certain types of checks. We published our proposal in the Federal Register on October 27, 2004. The proposed revision was intended to protect postal customers. We received comments from the financial industry discussing a number of safeguards for customers that reduce the incidence of fraud and the misuse of information on these checks. We have concluded that the requirements in our proposal are unnecessary."

October 14, 2005 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that:

DHL, the logistics arm of DPWN, has opened a new $70 million west coast distribution facility. DHL’s hub located at the March Air Reserve Base in California will make joint use of runways and certain other facilities, which could encourage military logistics contracts to be awarded to DHL. The 262,000 sqft facility will enable one-day ground services across California and into Nevada and Arizona.
In a series of announcements Deutsche Post has indicated that its express and logistics divisions are expanding rapidly in the world’s fastest growing markets. According to the president of DHL Express in China, Jerry Hsu, the company’s operations in the market are growing at between 50-60% a year. At present they account for 45% of DHL’s total Asia Pacific express business but he expects this to increase to 75% in five years time. In order to maintain its growth DHL has invested $273 million in China over the last couple of years. This has recently included the establishment of a management training facility in Shanghai called 'DHL Logistics Management University’ for its employees and customers.

October 14, 2005 -- As Bloomberg has noted, "Japan's parliament today approved a sale of the nation's postal system, allowing Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to sell the world's largest savings bank and an insurance business with combined assets of $3.1 trillion. Dubbed by Koizumi Japan's biggest reform in a century, the bill passed the upper house by 134 votes to 100."

October 14, 2005 -- Handelsblatt has reported that "Deutsche Post, the German postal services provider, has admitted that integration of express and parcel subsidiary DHL is not progressing as quickly as hoped in Europe. The German group said that integration was particularly slow in France and the UK. In order to drive forward integration before the planned takeover of UK logistics company Exel at the end of 2005, Deutsche Post has appointed new heads for DHL Europe and for the subsidiary's eastern Europe and Germany division."

October 14, 2005 -- According to the Financial Times:

The postal services regulator has warned the government not to interfere in its fight with Royal Mail over future price controls, in spite of the fact the controls will be crucial in determining the financial health of the state-owned company. Sarah Chambers, chief executive of Postcomm, said Sir George Bain - who is reviewing Royal Mail's future for the government - had been told any arbitration between the regulator and the company had by law to be carried out by the Competition Commission.
The winners of the Italian portion of the Best of European Business Awards, announced last night at a dinner in Milan, include companies from diverse sectors, from insurance and banking to luxury goods and telecoms. Poste Vita, the life insurance company of Poste Italiane, the Italian postal service, won the large company division in the growth category. The judges said that Poste Vita had demonstrated the ability to build a competitive advantage in what was a new sector for the group. They said Poste Vita, which launched in 1999, had contributed significantly to an undeveloped sector in Italy and demonstrated that a service business could diversify in an innovative way. Poste Vita uses the 11,000 post offices in Italy to distribute its products to great effect. Its clear commercial strategy is based on a range of products that are simple, flexible and transparent.

October 14, 2005 -- CFO magazine has reported that "Pitney Bowes Inc. named Helen Shan vice president and treasurer, reporting to executive vice president and chief financial officer Bruce Nolop. Shan joins the Stamford, Connecticut-based postal-equipment provider after 13 years at J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Salomon Brothers Inc.; her most recent role, at J.P. Morgan, was as managing director for diversified industries."

October 14, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire:

• Everyone needs a day off, a vacation or extra time to tend to special family needs -- including your letter carrier and postmaster. To help keep the mail moving during these times, the U.S. Postal Service is looking for substitute rural carriers and postmasters, a job perfectly suited for retirees, "empty nesters," and others who want to meet new people, get exercise, serve their community, make good money and still have time to do other things.

• Siegel Auction Galleries, one of the nation's oldest and most well-regarded specialty auction galleries in the country, will offer the unique plate block of the 24-cent 1918 "Inverted Jenny" stamp on Wednesday evening, October 19th, at the firm's saleroom located at 60 East 56th Street in New York City. Only one block of four "Inverted Jenny" stamps exists with the four-digit plate number appearing in the attached margin. The plate block is the most highly-prized part of the original sheet of 100 "Inverted Jenny" stamps sold to William T. Robey at a Washington D.C. post office on May 14, 1918. The 24-cent stamps were first issued on May 13, 1918, for use on the first U.S. airmail flight two days later. Thousands of sheets were printed in red and blue, but only one sheet of 100 with the Curtiss JN4-H bi-plane flying upside down was sold. Eight others were discovered by postal officials and destroyed."

October 14, 2005 -- According to the North Devon Gazette, "A survey of post boxes by Postwatch South and West, the watchdog for postal services, has revealed Royal Mail's failure to honour its commitment to reinstate collection tabs."

October 14, 2005 -- The Daily Independent has noted that "Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST) in Niger State has appealed to the state government to redeem its pledge to pay its debt of N1.4million to enable the agency to beef-up services to its customers."

October 14, 2005 -- The Tide has reported that "NIPOST has been urged to overhaul its Expedited Mail Service to broaden its revenue base. The advice was given in Makurdi on Tuesday by a communications expert, Dr Aworo Nwanwene, in a paper, which he presented to commemorate the Universal Postal Union Day. Nwanwene, a senior lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, Benue State University, Makurdi, said an overhaul of the service, including computerisation, should be done to make NIPOST a money-spinner. He said attention must be placed at all times on improved services, and urged NIPOST management to consider equity participation in banking, petrochemicals and manufacturing to make the organisation self-sustaining."

October 14, 2005 -- WebIndia123 has reported that "Under threat of losing out to email and short messaging service (SMS) on the internet, the Indian postal department has proposed an innovative 'Fan Post Scheme', under which the fans could write to celebrities from different fields. For this scheme, the celebrities from films, sports, theatre, drama, music and other areas will have to register with the postal department for Rs 5,000 and they would have their fan mail delivered by the postman."

October 14, 2005 -- From the PressZoom service: "Deutsche Post has taken on the majority of the Dutch mail company MailMerge, headquartered in Wormerveer. With this Deutsche Post, in association with its companies Selekt Mail Nederland, Interlanden, Selektvracht and DHL Global Mail, has become the largest private letter mail service provider in the Netherlands. Deutsche Post is active worldwide in the cross-border letter mail business and is also present in national mail markets, e.g. in the USA, the UK, France, and Spain."

October 14, 2005 -- GovExec.com has reported that "The Postal Rate Commission sent a letter Wednesday to House Government Reform Chairman Davis and Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., supporting legislation championed by both lawmakers to revamp the Postal Service, countering criticism of the bill by the agency's Board of Governors."

October 14, 2005 -- The Waco Tribune-Herald has reported that "Postmaster David Sanderson continues to search for someone to operate a postal center in Robinson, but residents with post office boxes eventually will have to travel to Waco to pick up their mail."

October 13, 2005 -- The National Association of Major Mail Users (NAMMU) has reported that:

• The Canada Post credit authorization initiative hit the mailing industry with a dull thud in mid-September, and continues the time and money wasting easily predicted by those who became aware of its launch. A major source of frustration for business users is the apparent lack of understanding of how the mailing industry operates.
• A potential crisis was averted, as the envelope makers and Canada Post worked quickly and diligently to test a new “whiter” paper set for introduction to the Canadian marketplace.
• In September, the Ontario Court of appeal unanimously upheld Canada Post Corporation’s exclusive privilege to collect, transmit and deliver letters in Canada, including letters from Canada to the rest of the world.

For more information contact: executive@nammu.org.

October 13, 2005 -- The Mississauga News has reported that "Peter MacKay has promised to take the fight to Canada Post. The prominent Tory is supporting the Port Credit Business Improvement Area's (BIA's) bid to move a postal sorting station in the village."

October 13, 2005 -- The Japan Times has reported that "Japan Post is in talks with TNT Post Group NV of the Netherlands and several Japanese transportation companies about an international distribution alliance. Japan Post is seeking to develop cooperation with TNT Post Group in international mail and logistics services in Asia and set up a joint logistics venture with the Dutch firm, they said. The strategy is expected to enable Japan Post to compete with major international distribution companies, including DHL International Gmbh, an affiliate of Deutsche Post, as well as FedEx and United Parcel Service of America, Inc. "

October 13, 2005 -- JiJi Press (via BlackEnterprise) has noted that "A former U.N. specialist on postal financial services Tuesday expressed his doubts over Japan's postal privatization scheme, arguing that the planned separation of Japan Post's postal and financial services will be damaging to both services. Speaking before the Japan Society in New York, Mark Scher, who is well versed in Japanese financial affairs, said the postal network and postal financial service operations "cannot exist independently or separately." Since mail services that Japan Post handles is far smaller in volume than those of its European and U.S. counterparts, its privatization and split will force unprofitable post offices, mainly in isolated areas, to shut down and will lead to financial exclusion, limiting residents' access to financial services, Scher said. The need for nationwide postal services is being reacknowledged globally, he emphasized."

October 13, 2005 -- EmailBattles has noted that "While Australia's postal service is crying in its Foster's over its plummeting popularity, the USPS is busting out the Bud. First-Class letter delivery looks like it may be up for the year... around 400 million letters. That's not so much when your letter-stream totals 98 billion. It's even less impressive when you look back a few years to the halcyon days of 2000, when 102 billion letters whizzed through the system. As more and more folks opt for email, the long term prognosis for First-Class home delivery is not good. Unless you happen to be the monopoly that owns the franchise. While the latest plan cites eroding mail volumes (due to email, electronic bill presentment and payment) and rising costs (like an antiquated benefits program), the USPS says it isn't through. Not by a long shot."

October 13, 2005 -- The U.S. Postal Service has noted that "In June and August, 2005, the Postal Service used the Electronic Mail Improvement Reporting (eMIR) process to focus on bundle breakage in a selected group of sites around the country. Another "eMIR Bundle Breakage Blitz" will be conducted nationally for a two week period, beginning Monday, October 17, 2005. Mail processing operations will focus on reporting bundle breakage issues during this two week period. This effort will use the existing electronic Mail Improvement Reporting program (eMIR), Business Service Network (BSN), and Business Mail Acceptance (BMA) processes. The objective of the National eMIR Bundle Breakage Blitz is to collect comprehensive data on bundle breakage due to mailer preparation and/or equipment processes using the eMIR system in all plants and BMCs for a two week period. This effort will use the collected data to identify the systemic problems with bundle breakage and follow-up with individual mail owners and mail preparers to significantly reduce both the frequency and the impact of bundle breakage during the Fall Mailing Season. The results will be discussed at the November MTAC meeting. Attached is a summary of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for USPS operations personnel for collecting blitz information. The latest APPS deployment schedule has been posted on this site. Questions should be directed to Bob Fisher, Manager, Service Performance Improvement via e-mail (robert.p.fisher@usps.gov), or Marc McCrery, Manager, Operations Requirements & Integration. (marc.d.mccrery@usps.gov).

October 13, 2005 -- The Household Diary Study (HDS) is a multi-year research study funded by the United States Postal Service. The study surveys a representative sample of over 5,200 households each year (on a postal fiscal year basis) to provide a comprehensive and continuous description of the mail originating and destinating in American households. The study has been ongoing over the past fifteen years and the findings are reported in a report titled "The Household Diary Study". Householders volunteering to participate in the survey are first administered a recruitment questionnaire and then asked to keep a week-long record or "diary" of the mail sent from and received at their residences. Information gathered includes mail class and contents, mail flow between mailing sectors (Household-to-Household, Household-to-Nonhousehold, Nonhousehold-to-Household and Nonhousehold-to-Nonhousehold) and by industry. In addition, the report provides information on household attitudes toward the mail as well as household demographics. The final report and the executive summary of the Fiscal Year 2004 Study are available. See the links on the bottom of the page for PDF versions.

October 13, 2005 -- The four key House lawmakers involved in postal reform -- Reps. Davis, McHugh, Waxman and Davis -- had asked the Postal Rate Commission to evaluate the BOG letter on reform, in particular to address the governors' concerns over governance. This is the PRC's response, just delivered.

October 13, 2005 -- The Northlake Herald-Journal has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service, vying for more market share in the global delivery business, is expanding operation hours at hundreds of high-traffic branches around the country."

October 13, 2005 -- The National Taxpayers Union's issue brief on postal reform has been posted on its web site.

October 13, 2005 -- According to the Sun Herald, "Neither rain nor snow nor dark of night shall keep the postman from his appointed rounds, but there's nothing in there about hurricanes. And after one like Katrina, we might reasonably expect the mail to move exceedingly slow. What we might not expect is to be charged for requesting a change of address by phone. Neither would we expect first class parcels to be returned rather than delivered or for magazines and catalogs to have dropped off the radar. Yet all of these complaints have been reported by readers whose frustration levels rise daily."

October 13, 2005 -- The Financial Times has reported that:

• Royal Mail is protesting vociferously to the public and government about the damage that will be wreaked by proposed price controls, while agreeing with many elements of those controls in private, its regulator has suggested.
• Royal Mail customers could have to pay higher prices to help make good any increases in its £4bn pension fund deficit, the postal regulator said.

October 13, 2005 -- According to The Australian, "A TREND towards living alone and the replacement of traditional paper-based communication with email slashed $57 million from Australia Post's profits in 2004-05. Managing director Graeme John said yesterday the letters business had traditionally been the major contributor to Australia Post's revenue and profit."

October 13, 2005 -- The Associated Press has reported that "Denmark's national postal service, Post Danmark A/S, said Wednesday it and its minority shareholder CVC Capital Partners have invested euro300 million (US$361 million) to buy a 49 percent stake in Belgium's La Poste-De Post. The Belgian state would retain the remaining 51 percent of the shares in La Poste-De Poste, the country's postal service."

October 13, 2005 -- CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU Consultancy, has reported that:

From next year, Germany's Deutsche Post intends to hand over 850 branches to its subsidiary Postbank AG; the selected branches generate only 80% of the bank's new business. So far, Postbank has no offices of its own but operates from the parent company's premises in rented spaces.
As a result of rapid growth in the number of post office robberies Post Danmark is offering a 6,700 euros reward for information that leads to the solving of the crimes.
The Federal Network Agency - the former regulatory authority for telecommunications and post in Germany - held a workshop on the present and future design of the universal postal service on 11.10.2005. Participants included postal service providers, organisations and other groups of society concerned. The workshop organisers said the approaching end of Deutsche Post's letter monopoly on 31.12.2007 showed that the present universal services system was outdated as it was based solely on the operating policies of Deutsche Post.
The German Association of Courier, Express and Postal Service Providers (BdKEP e.V.) announced a political campaign to entrust the Federal Network Agency with the task of assigning post codes, just as the Agency assigns phone numbers and broadcasting frequencies.
Ireland's An Post is facing a strike call by the Communication Workers' Union (CWU). The background is a prolonged dispute over the government's promise to settle pay rise arrears for public service employees.
Osterreichische Post wants to create 24-hour self-service areas in its 200 biggest branches.

The MRU, founded in 1992, is the only consultancy in the German speaking area, which has specialised in the market of courier-, express- and parcel services. For large-scale shippers and CEP-services in particular, the MRU provides interdisciplinary advice for all major questions of the market, as there are for example market entry, product design, organisation, and EDP.To learn more about the stories reported above, contact CEP News.

October 13, 2005 -- The Statesman has reported that "In an innovative move that has raised hopes for the ailing tea industry in the state, the postal department is gearing up to promote ‘Assam tea’ brand as part of its expansion and diversification plan. The venture between the tea industry and the Department of Post (Assam Circle) called ‘Tea Mail’ will facilitate display and sale of orthodox Assam tea through retail outlets in post offices of different states in the country. Both the tea industry and the Postal Department hope to get financial benefit out of the venture that is expected to give a mileage to Assam Tea that is losing its domestic market of late to Sri Lankan and Chinese Tea marketed at a cheaper rate within the country."

October 13, 2005 -- According to The Point, "The Gambia Post Office (GPO) has increased charges on postal services by 500-percent which takes effect from October 1st this year, the institution’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) disclosed recently. This, according to him, is in line with GPO’s drive to render quality service and sustain cost recovery."

October 13, 2005 -- Voice of America has reported that "Japan's upper house of parliament on Wednesday began deliberating a postal privatization package approved by the more powerful lower house. The legislation is expected to be enacted by the governing coalition on Friday, which would mark a huge political victory for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi."

October 13, 2005 -- According to ABS-CBN, "Philpost should look up to Japan Post for inspiration in improving its competitive edge in the country’s postal service."

October 13, 2005 -- The National Association of Letter Carriers has reported that "Just two years after the nationwide rollout of the Customer Connect program, the total of new USPS revenue brought in by letter carriers soared past the $100 million dollar mark last month. The program, a joint effort of the NALC and Postal Service, uses letter carriers’ special relationship with their patrons to encourage small- and medium-sized businesses on their routes to try USPS products and services."

October 13, 2005 -- The Polish News Bulletin has reported that "At the beginning of 2005, the American giant United Parcel Service bought the Polish courier company Stolica. UPS and Stolica are going to present a new range of services in January 2006. The consolidated company will deliver low-cost shipments on a large scale, but is also going to offer special logistic services to very demanding clients."

October 12, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire: "With today's expansion of service, mail services have been reestablished for every ZIP Code in New Orleans. Postal carriers will make street deliveries where possible and over-the- counter service is available for all others."

October 12, 2005 -- The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that "The traditional engine room of Australia Post - its letters division - is on the decline as more people turn to email or SMS to keep in touch. Australia Post reported a one per cent lift in net profit to $374.9 million for the 2004/05 year, off a record $4.32 billion in revenue. But the letters division's earnings fell almost $57 million to $248.3 million. The big area of improvement for the government-owned Australia Post came in the parcels and logistics business which increased its profit by $41.4 million or 28.9 per cent to $184.8 million. Australia Post chairman Linda Nicholls said the impact of electronic substitution on the letters business was being felt globally." See also Dow Jones and the Daily Telegraph.

October 12, 2005 -- From Business Wire: "AuthentiDate Holding Corp. has announced that it has received a third notice from the United States Postal Service confirming that the Company continues to fail to attain the performance metrics required by the Strategic Alliance Agreement. However, the USPS also stated that it has elected not to terminate the agreement at this time and will continue to fulfill its obligations under the agreement as long as it remains in effect. The Strategic Alliance Agreement designates AuthentiDate as the preferred provider of the USPS Electronic Postmark(R) (EPM) service. At the time the agreement was signed, the parties agreed on certain performance metrics which, as previously reported, had not been attained. The parties have been discussing a new arrangement since last year but, as yet, have reached no agreement on a new arrangement."

October 12, 2005 -- Brunei Direct has reported that "The Postal Services Department under-the Ministry of Communications celebrated World Postal Day. The guest of honour at the event was YB Pehin Dato Seri Setia Hj AwgAbu Bakar bin Hj ' Apong, the Minister of Communications. Also present was Awg Hj Abd Kadir bin Tengah, the acting postmaster general and other senior government officials from the Ministry of Communications. New services were announced."

October 12, 2005 -- Khaleej Times has reported that "A high-level delegation of Emirates Post, led by Director General Abdullah Al Daboos, attended Post-Expo 2005, the international exhibition and conference dedicated to the global postal, courier and mailing industries, held in Paris from October 3 to 5, 2005. Addressing the World Postal Business Forum of Post-Expo 2005, Daboos outlined Emirates Post's plans to launch an Independent Post Office in the near future and further diversification into airfreight, logistics and financial services."

October 12, 2005 -- According to the Polish News Bulletin, "From 2009 all Polish firms will have the right to deliver mail, which will change the position of the Polish Post."

October 11, 2005 -- CCNMatthews has reported that "Postal Planet (www.postalplanet.ca) is Canada Post's web resource that features fun and interesting learning tools, games, activities and links related to a postal theme. The site helps visitors learn about the importance of written communication - both electronic and physical - and how to use the postal system."

October 11, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire: "Business mailers can now benefit by using a date-certain, guaranteed delivery service to the Pacific Rim utilizing the cooperative efforts of the U.S. Postal Service and five other world posts. Global Express Mail service with guarantee, which became available to non commercial mailers on July 25, 2005, was launched in an historic agreement among postal administrations for Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, the United States, and the Republic of South Korea."

October 11, 2005 -- Internet Retailer has reported that "APX Logistics and the U.S. Postal Service are cooperating in a new direct-to-consumer delivery service that holds APX-delivered packages at a retail customer’s local post office for up to 10 days. The Hold for Pickup service is intended as a delivery option for retailers who ship high-value items, such as jewelry and computers, that a consumer wouldn’t want sitting on a doorstep, APX said. “There was a need in the marketplace for this type of service,” APX chief marketing officer Vasco Fernandes said. “The competition in high-end home delivery markets is increasing and having a high-security, high-value delivery option is something that leaders in this segment have been calling for.” The service starts this month in about 6,000 post offices across the U.S., serving about two-thirds of the U.S. population, APX said. APX didn’t say how or when the service would be extended to other post offices."

October 11, 2005 -- From the Canada NewsWire: "The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) is calling Canada Post's decision to appeal a decision by a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in a 22-year old pay equity complaint a disgrace. On October 7, the Tribunal awarded at least $150-million in pay and interest to about 6,000 current and former Canada Post clerical workers."

October 11, 2005 -- The Barbados Advocate has reported that:

• Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Joseph Atherley believes that corporatisation is necessary for the survival of the Barbados Postal Service in the face of increasing competition, and to put an end to the bureaucracy and red tape plaguing that entity.
• The incorporation of technology at the Barbados Postal Service will result in greater efficiency and afford Barbadians a wider range of services as they conduct their daily business.

October 11, 2005 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that "DHL Express (Poland), a subsidiary of DPWN, has opened a new €3.3 million terminal in Wroclaw. The terminal in Wroclaw is one of five that DHL Express (Poland) plans to open in 2005."

October 11, 2005 -- Mainichi Daily News has reported that "The House of Representatives passed the postal privatization bills at a plenary session on Tuesday afternoon." What a difference an election makes.

October 11, 2005 -- ThisIsMoney has reported that "THOUSANDS of post offices face the axe because of red tape that subpostmasters say will ruin their businesses. They believe that the Post Office's archaic curbs on how they work are stifling opportunities to thrive. But their efforts to overturn what they see as unfair terms in their contracts with the Post Office have been rebuffed. The Association of Convenience Stores, which has 10,000 post office members, lodged a complaint with the Office of Fair Trading last December over the contracts between the Post Office and subpostmasters."

October 11, 2005 -- The Guardian has reported that "Royal Mail must take a more flexible approach to its network of rural post offices and tailor facilities to individual needs, according to the postal services regulator, Postcomm. The current regime, under which the rural network receives a subsidy of £150m a year until 2008 and closures are ruled out unless absolutely unavoidable, is "not sustainable", the organisation said."

October 11, 2005 -- As Reuters has noted, "Bills to privatise Japan's postal system, including the world's largest savings bank, were expected to pass parliament's lower house on Tuesday, local media said, setting the stage for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to achieve the core of his reform agenda."

October 11, 2005 -- Digital Media Asia has reported that "The Vietnamese government has issued a decision approving the separation of the postal services from the communications services of dominant carrier Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VNPT) by 2007. Foreign investors will also be permitted to set up wholly foreign-owned businesses in the country's telecommunications industry. The decision also said that apart from postal services, the post sector will focus on financial services, including pension payments and collection services for premiums and electricity, telephone and water charges."

October 10, 2005 -- According to SLS Consulting in a study conducted for the Direct Marketing Association, "Enactment of postal reform legislation is likely to have a dramatic effect on postage payments for those who mail Standard Mail letters and nonletters. Postage payments for the next 10 years will be meaningfully smaller under either the House (HR.22) or the Senate (S. 662) bill, with those under the Senate bill smaller than those under the House bill.

October 10, 2005 -- NewIndPress has reported that "Safe delivery of valuable consignment booked in any post office is assured now. The Department will track down consignments through Internet and make sure that it reaches the destination. Thanks to the computerisation in the Postal Department, all consignments under Speed Post and others are now being monitored by the Department personnel. Of the 104 Head Post-offices in the State, 46 have already been computerised. Once all the Head Post-offices are computerised, they would be connected through Net, according to Principal Chief Postmaster General T S Govindarajan."

October 10, 2005 -- AP Worldstream has reported that "Sweden's central bank, the Riksbank, said Monday it will issue a commemorative coin to mark the 150th anniversary of Sweden's first postage stamp. The coin will go on sale on Oct. 14 and will be issued in a limited edition of 100,000. It has a face value of 50 kronor (US$6.50, A5.40) and the sales price has been set at 60 kronor (US$7.80, A6.40). The coin will be made from an alloy known as "Nordic Gold," which is composed of 89 percent copper, 5 percent aluminum, 5 percent zinc and 1 percent tin, Riksbank spokesman Per-Olof Arevik said."

October 10, 2005 -- Slovenia Business Week has reported that "Post of Slovenia has in recent years successfully aligned its services with market demand and European standards, its general manager Ales Hauc told STA on Sunday. According to Hauc, the Maribor-based company is introducing new, up-to-date services, which have seen a rise of 127% in the past ten years. The company is focusing on quality, new financial and e-services, and traditional post services, he added. Slovenia's EU entry was expected to bring increased competition and different business conditions, Hauc said, pointing to the introduction of new services such as parcels delivery and express post. However, only new technologies can make the company competitive and ensure it good business results. One of the biggest challenges will be the privatisation of the company, which is entirely owned by the state, Hauc told STA, adding that there are several models of privatisation known in the EU."

October 10 2005 -- Gulf Times has reported that:

• General Postal Corporation chairman and chief executive Ali Mohamed al-Ali has said the corporation is committed to provide the best possible services to customers, both in the country and outside. The corporation, popularly known as Q-Post celebrated World Postal Day yesterday with the UPU slogan “available for everyone, anywhere.” Al-Ali said that it was a matter of pride for the corporation to recall that Q-Post was chosen by the UPU in July last year for top quality services among the postal corporations of the Arab region.
• THREE General Postal Corporation (Q-Post) officials attended a three-month postal management course at the Universal Postal Union’s Postal College in Thailand, according to a statement. The course, held in co-operation with German Posts, was held from June 18 to September 23. The Q-Post staff presented reports on the corporation’s initiatives to improve postal services and updating systems and customer services. Postal sector employees from Japan, China, Cambodia, Malaysia, Nepal, Vietnam and Bhutan were among those who attended the course. The instructors were from postal corporations in the US, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Australia and Thailand, the statement said.

October 10, 2005 -- The Associated Press has reported that "Japan's ruling coalition is expected to achieve a key ambition of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi this week by passing legislation to privatize the country's sprawling postal service and create the world's largest private bank, according to a published report Monday. Parliament's lower house could approve the bills as early as Tuesday, setting up a vote in the upper house by week's end, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said Monday. Koizumi opened a special session of Parliament on Sept. 21 in part to push through the reforms."

October 10, 2005 -- BlackEnterprise has reported that "The Uganda Communications Commission has assured its quality postal services and cultural exchange to all citizens of the world. In a message issued to commemorate this year's World Post Day which falls on Oct. 9, 2005, Uganda Communications Commission said that "with the completion of the on-going East African Postal Automation Project (EAPA) jointly developed with the two sister countries of Kenya and Tanzania, the postal companies in the east African region should be able to meet the challenge of effectively meeting the possibilities of cyberspace and their time- tested physical distribution capabilities."

October 10, 2005 -- The Polish News Bulletin has reported that "The country's largest retail bank, PKO BP, and Poczta Polska(PP) national postal service may soon become one company, if Law and Justice (PiS)'s plans are implemented, writes Rzeczpospolita daily."

October 10, 2005 -- Asia Pulse has reported that "A reform plan for the country's postal service has been approved by the State Council, but the unclear definition of universal service and competitive service has aroused concern from the private sector. According to the plan, the General Post Administration will serve as a regulatory organization and a new company, the China Postal Service Group, will be set up to take over the operational functions from the original postal service administration and hold the controlling shares of postal savings banks. But the reform plan has not touched such issues as how to divide the universal service and competitive service, how to divide the services by postal service group and EMS service by private sectors."

October 10, 2005 -- As The Times has noted, "IT HAS been mocked around the world as the over-hyped gadget that nobody wanted, but the Segway may at last have found a role on the postman’s round and the policeman’s beat. Royal Mail has been testing two of the self-balancing scooters at its distribution centre in Swindon, with a view to speeding up postal deliveries. The Police Federation has also tested them and has written to the Home Office recommending that they be used on patrols."

October 9, 2005 -- According to Lloyds List, "French parcels carrier GeoPost was tight-lipped at the weekend about the surprise departure of Claude Begle, chief executive of Geopost International Management and Development, for arch rival DHL Express. Geopost, a subsidiary of French postal organisation La Poste, declined to say when and why he had left the company."

October 9, 2005 -- Today is World Postal Day!

October 9, 2005 -- The Centre Daily Times has reported that "A post office custom that denies mail-forwarding service to Penn State fraternity brothers is stirring claims of second-class treatment from the Interfraternity Council. The U.S. Postal Service normally offers the forwarding service to any resident for as long as 12 months after his address changes. But the post office in State College classifies fraternities as businesses, not as residences, a local postal official said."

October 8, 2005 -- The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:

• A new study for the National Postal Policy Council estimates the postal reform bills in Congress could, if passed, benefit large First-Class mailers to the tune of more than $100 million within 10 years.
• The Postal Service continues to expand mail services in areas of New Orleans by resuming counter service in some post offices and establishing temporary mail pickup locations.
• Postmaster General Jack Potter said the skyrocketing cost of gasoline and other fuels will force the Postal Service to ask for a rate increase in 2007.
• The 350,000-member National Taxpayers Union has come out strongly against postal reform legislation.
• The Government Accountability Office sent Congress a report on the fund-raising results of the U.S. Postal Service's Breast Cancer Research stamp and two other semipostals.
• Postal commentator Gene Del Polito praises the work that went into the Postal Service's 2006-2010 Strategic Transformation Plan.
• One of the latest in the series of background papers being prepared as part of the Pitney Bowes research project on Electronic Substitution for Mail.
• New rules allow preparation of multi-bundles of ECR Standard mail. Federal Register: USPS proposes new preparation requirements for bundles of mail on pallets. PostCom files brief on rate case settlement. New postal rates to give big break to small newspapers. Marks named president of Lockheed Martin Transportation and Security Solutions unit. FedEx will hike rates, cut fuel surcharge. UPS Store franchisees still complain of lost profit.
• Report focuses on RFID and printable electronics markets.
• La Poste will sell 49 percent to Post Danmark. Italian, Spanish postal operations post profits. An Post workers taking strike vote over money due staff. Geodis strengthens its Express business in France.

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October 8, 2005 -- Japan Today has reported that "Goldman Sachs Group Inc said Friday it will market new investment products Oct 24 using stock prices of 11 companies whose earnings are expected to grow after the planned privatization of Japan Post. "

October 8, 2005 -- News Today has reported that "Tamilnadu Postal Circle has generated revenue of Rs 93 crore under premium products including Speed Post, Business Post, Bulk Mail Services and this year the aim is to achieve Rs 140 crore, according to Vatsala Raghu, Principal Chief Post Master General, Tamilnadu Circle. Addressing a press conference here yesterday, she said the Tamilnadu Postal circle planned to highlight the technological innovations being carried out in Postal department, besides highlighting products like the recently introduced Direct Post, during the week-long National Postal Week celebrations from 9 October. "

October 7, 2005 -- With 660,000 post offices and more than 5 million employees worldwide, the postal sector is a partner of choice in helping to reduce the digital divide, the main goal of the upcoming United Nations information society summit, the head of a UN agency that is the world's second-oldest international organization said today. "Today, the post office is so much more than the place you go to send or receive a letter or parcel; it is also a hub for electronic and financial services," Universal Postal Union (UPU) Director General Edouard Dayan stressed in a message for World Post Day, celebrated annually on 9 October, the day the UPU was founded in 1874."

October 7, 2005 -- The latest copy of the National Association of Postmasters of the U.S. electronic governmental affairs newsletter is available on the NAPUS web site.

October 7, 2005 -- The Leeds Evening Post has reported that "THE chief executive of the Royal Mail was under fire today amid claims that he accused a third of his managers of not being "up to the mark". Adam Crozier is alleged to have made the comments at the Business Insider Elite Leadership Awards, where he was guest speaker. Responding after his speech to a question about future challenges for the company, Mr Crozier said the Royal Mail had 15,000 managers, of which "5,000 are fantastic, 5,000 are good and 5,000 are not up to the mark". See the Manchester Evening News.

October 7, 2005 -- The Globe and Mail has reported that "Canada Post clerical workers have won a 20-year battle over pay equity. In a ruling handed down Friday, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found that a wage gap existed between clerical workers, who were mostly women, and employees in the post office's operations group, who were mainly men. As a result, the tribunal says the clerical workers should get a settlement covering the two-decade period in question."

October 7, 2005 -- CCN Matthews has reported that "Canada Post today filed an appeal with the Federal Court seeking to quash a decision by the Canadian Human Rights Commission that, prior to 2002, the Corporation had participated in "systemic discrimination" in the setting of wages for a group of Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) members contrary Section 11 of the Canadian Human Rights Act."

October 7, 2005 -- AFX has reported that "Deutsche Post World Net AG's logistics unit DHL said it has invested 3.3 mln eur in a new storage and sorting centre in Breslau, Poland. This is one of five DHL logistics terminals that have opened in Poland this year. The terminal has a capacity to handle 15,000 letters or parcels every day."

October 7, 2005 -- As Business Week has noted, "Since the passage of a welfare-to-work reform law in 1996,, UPS has helped moved tens of thousands of people on government support into the U.S. workforce."

October 7, 2005 -- Direct has reported that "Acquisition mailing made up 70% of the $52.5 billion marketers spent on direct mail during 2004, according to a new study. This is not because CRM has diminished in importance: Rather, marketers are becoming savvier in their ability to target messages to current customers, according to a new study. The overall trend in mail use is growth, however, and there is no sign of this abating. Among vertical industries, insurance financial marketers are seen as leading mail uses growth between 2002 and 2007, with an anticipated 8.4% compound annual growth rate, followed by hospitality marketers at 7.6%; not-for-profits, 7.3%; healthcare and pharmaceutical mailers, 6.6%; publishers, 6.1%; automotive marketers, 5.1%; telecommunications, 4.8%; banking and credit card marketers, 3.7%; technology, 3%; and retail (non-catalog) 2.7%. The 2005-2006 period will see marketers adjusting to postal rate increases by optimizing their mailing."

October 7, 2005 -- As BestSyndication has put it, "There are some tricks you need to know for selling on eBay, but there are also some practical things you need to know, one of them being how to ship packages. What shipping company should you use? Should you use UPS, FedEx, DHL or the old Postal Service?"

October 7, 2005 -- Bernama has reported that:

• Pos Malaysia Berhad aims to rake in RM600,000 from the sale of special stamps and first-day covers on "Traditional Kites". The stamps depicting traditional kites will be launched on Monday to mark World Postal Day celebrations on Sunday. She said this year's World Postal Day is themed "Reaching Everyone, Everywhere" and kites are best suited to reflect that. In conjunction with the World Postal Day celebrations, Pos Malaysia would be hosting an open day for customers.

• Introduction of the free "e- greeting" has minimal effect on the number of Hari Raya cards handled by Pos Malaysia Berhad, its Corporate Communications Manager Sazali Muhd Din said Friday. He said the postal service expected a slight increase in the volume of Hari Raya greeting cards this year. Last year, it handled some 10 million cards nationwide

October 7, 2005 -- Dow Jones has reported that "Khazanah Nasional Bhd., Malaysia's state investment company, said Friday it has raised its stake in Pos Malaysia & Services Holdings Bhd. to 17.4%, becoming the postal company's largest shareholder."

October 7, 2005 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that:

Air France – KLM, the Dutch and French airlines owned by Air France, and DHL Express, the international express carrier of DPWN, have signed a three-year contract that covers all express delivery within the European Union. DHL Express will deliver all parcels sent to European destinations and all internal documents for the two airlines. The relations between KLM and DHL Express in the Netherlands have been expanded with the business of Air France.
The Belgian postal authorities and their dedicated parcels subsidiary Taxipost, have assigned ABX Logistics, the recently privatised subsidiary of Belgian Railways' SNCB, the task of handling all customs clearance operations on incoming international parcels from postal services abroad or from the EMS network. In return ABX has transferred responsibility for Belgian distribution of these parcels to Taxipost in a mutually beneficial arrangement.

October 7, 2005 -- MarketWatch has reported that "FedEx Express, a unit of FedEx Corp. , said Thursday that it has requested the assistance of the National Mediation Board in completing its pilot negotiations. The company and its pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, have been in contract talks since March 2004."

October 7, 2005 -- From U.S. Newswire: "House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi submitted the following statement into the Congressional Record today in support of H.Res. 466, a bill recently introduced by Pelosi and Congressmen Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Smith (R-NJ), and John Boozman (R-AZ), that urges the United States Postal Service to create an Alzheimer's postal stamp that would raise funds and awareness."

October 6, 2005 -- The Business Standard has reported that "Logistics Post, a premium overnight cargo service of the Department of Indian Post, launched in Vijayawada recently, will aim at cornering 25 per cent of the city's Rs 200-crore annual cargo transport business, according to U Srinvasa Raghavan, member, (Operations and Marketing), Postal Service Board, New Delhi."

October 6, 2005 -- According to the National Taxpayers Union, "As volatile energy prices threaten to push the Postal Service's deficit (and planned rate hike) even higher, Congress's second-class postal "reform" legislation is not up to the job of protecting consumers and taxpayers: that's the assessment of an Issue Brief released today from the 350,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU), which is urging the U.S. Senate to reject the so-called "Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act" currently awaiting floor action after the House passed its own bill in July. "Far from launching comprehensive reforms to bring the nation's ailing postal monopoly into the 21st Century, the legislation now grinding its way through Congress merely offers a recycled 'grab bag' of reorganization measures," said NTU Government Affairs Manager and Issue Brief author Kristina Rasmussen. "Fortunately, the Senate, and if necessary the President, can still send these bills to the dead-letter bin."

October 6, 2005 -- In a letter to the editor of the Elmira Star-Gazette, the Postal Service's communications chief Azeez Jaffer wrote: "A Guest View by Don Soifer, executive director of U.S. Consumer Postal Council, contained factual errors and showed no attempt to provide a balanced look at the U.S. Postal Service. The consumer council is affiliated with another organization, the Lexington Institute, whose mission is to limit the role of government in commerce."

October 6, 2005 -- As DM News has noted, "PostCom counsel Ian D. Volner wrote that the association backs a USPS motion for an expedited decision on its request for the department to adopt a policy of regulatory forbearance regarding rates for the international transportation of mail by air. A policy of regulatory forbearance would let the USPS negotiate rates with carriers subject to rejection by the DOT. Contracts would be awarded tentatively via negotiations or competitive bidding, and this process would better align the rates for international carriage with market rates, ensuring that postal customers, including PostCom members, pay lower postage rates, PostCom's filing said."

October 6, 2005 -- Financial Times Deutschland has reported that "Deutsche Post, the German postal service operator, has drawn up a collective pay agreement with trade union Ver.di for future employees of the new air freight hub of DHL, the express and logistics subsidiary of Deutsche Post, at Leipzig/Halle airport. The agreement is to come into effect immediately and will last for four years initially."

October 6, 2005 -- Asia Pulse has reported that "In an unusual reversal of role, six State-owned postal agencies have formed a formidable alliance to pitch themselves against the largest multinational air express companies in the world. Postal authorities from the United States, China, Japan, Australia, Korea and Hong Kong are poised to grab a slice of the growing parcel courier business in Asia Pacific."

October 6, 2005 -- Expatica has reported that "The Socialist union ABVV will attempt to disrupt the Belgian economy on Friday, but its attempt will only partially succeed because the Christian union ACV and the Liberal ACLVB have ruled out industrial action. Few postal deliveries will be made on Friday due to union solidarity."

October 6, 2005 -- The Center for Media Research has reported that "The impending release of the Interland Summer 2005 Business Barometer, a measure of small business online activity, shows how the leaders of U.S. small- and medium-sized businesses feel on issues important to them. The nationwide survey of 780 small-business leaders of organizations with 500 or fewer employees found that seventy-two percent of the respondents have a business Web site, with Industry declared as 33% business services, 20% personal services, 19% retail, 17% non-profit and 11% manufacturing."

October 6, 2005 -- Japan Today has noted that "The Diet began renewed debate Thursday on Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's bills to privatize Japan Post, with alternative bills presented by the opposition this time."

October 6, 2005 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that "Royal Mail's European parcels subsidiary, GLS, is expanding its parcel shop network in Europe. The first drop points have been set up in Austria, Hungary, Ireland and Portugal. In addition, parcel shops will be available in Denmark, France and the Netherlands by the end of 2006. In Germany, the existing network will be expanded considerably. In addition, the parcel services company intends to offer private consignees the option of using the parcel shops in Germany as an alternative delivery address."

October 6, 2005 -- Forbes has reported that "Deutsche Post AG said it plans to transfer about 850 branches to its Deutsche Postbank AG unit in order to increase the bank's revenue stream. A Deutsche Post spokesman said the branches will continue to operate as post offices despite the management change."

October 6, 2005 -- Air Cargo World has reported that:

• The accepted wisdom that the freight forwarding and logistics industry is highly fragmented is looking more suspect every day. Deutsche Post World Net's move announced last month to take over Exel would bring some $20 billion of logistics business under the German mail and transport operator, highlighting a consolidation drive that is pulling a growing amount of freight under the control of fewer very, very large logistics operators. With its DHL express and German postal business added in, Deutsche Post World Net will be a $65 billion cargo transport giant. With $40 billion UPS and $33 billion FedEx, the top three cargo companies in the world will control nearly $140 billion in shipper spending, an unprecedented concentration of market power that experts believe will grow as larger business trends of mergers and consolidation echo through the freight transport world.

• UPS now is rolling out the fourth generation of its Delivery Information Acquisition Devices, the portable computers that have become as recognizable as UPS drivers' brown uniforms. The machines, which were the first portable devices that enabled the electronic capturing of signatures, combine data entry with cellular technology so packages can be tracked from anywhere in the world.

• According to the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, U.S. businesses had as much as $1.63 billion tied up in inventory last year, up a solid 8.9 percent from the inventory level recorded in 2003. Not surprisingly, the collective warehousing bill rose by $4 billion to $82 billion last year. The Just-In-Time supply chain model is still around, but today it's more likely to involve warehouses and slower transportation modes, plus some leeway for disruptions. The Colography Group has diagnosed a secular slowdown in international air cargo growth brought about by a profound change in global ordering, shipping and distribution patterns. The research and consulting firm found that businesses were integrating warehouses and buffer stock into their distribution networks and relied increasingly on lower-cost alternatives to pricey air freight.

October 6, 2005 -- According to NewsFactor, "The industry buzz says that RFID is the next great ship sailing to the promised land of automation -- in this case, supply chain automation. Despite technological progress, serious issues remain, including an almost prohibitive cost (at least for many of the most promising applications), system design unknowns, and concerns over reliability and security . Developers are optimistic about RFID's future but remain cautious about its current capabilities."

October 6, 2005 -- Computing has reported that "Package delivery specialist UPS personifies the modern-day wireless business. The company spends $1bn (GBP566m) annually on IT, much of which is directed towards leading-edge wireless projects. 'The whole idea is to make scanning as easy as possible and to give our people in operations the freedom of movement,' says UPS European technology marketing manager Andreas Topp."

October 6, 2005 -- Congratulations to long-time PostCom member Pat Corpora who has been named Catalog Success' Direct Marketer of the Year. Pat serves as president and CEO of HCI Direct.

October 6, 2005 -- As the Associated Press has noted, "Beatle John Lennon produced lots of popular albums in his career. The one that is probably least known is going on display Thursday. It's his stamp album. The album, purchased in June by the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum, will remain on display at least until April 10."

October 6, 2005 -- FinFacts has reported that "The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) today issued its second strategy statement outlining ComReg's views on possible developments in the telecommunications and postal sectors for 2005 to 2007."

October 5, 2005 -- The Direct Mail Advisory Board (DMAB) is a group of postal and industry organizations, and its mission is to "foster the growth of Direct Mail as a factor of economic and market expansion by increasing market knowledge and by developing the expertise of stakeholders at all levels". A copy of its latest DMAB update has been posted on this site. For more information, please do not hesitate to contact:   Raquel Ferrari Project Manager, Direct Mail Universal Postal Union Weltpoststrasse 4 3015 Bern, Switzerland Tel +41 31 350 3534 Fax +41 31 351 0266.

October 5, 2005 -- From BusinessWire: "UPS subsidiary Mail Boxes Etc., Inc. is expanding The UPS Store(R) brand internationally. Today, the company announced the debut of The UPS Store concept in India and the conversion of 265 Mail Boxes Etc. locations in Canada to The UPS Store brand. Canada is the first country outside the United States to adopt The UPS Store name, with 95 percent of existing Mail Boxes Etc. franchisees choosing to re-brand. The conversion brings the power of one of the world's most recognized and respected brands to Canadian storefronts, showcasing The UPS Store as a one-stop shop for reliable, efficient business and shipping services."

October 5, 2005 -- A study commissioned by the National Postal Policy Council shows that postage payments for the next 10 years for those who use First-Class Mail would be significantly smaller under either the House postal reform bill (H.R. 22) or the Senate bill (S. 662). The postage savings are due to the net USPS cost savings from lifting the escrow and changing the retiree benefit payment mechanisms as prescribed by both bills, as well as implementation of a CPI-based rate cap. A First-Class mailer that mails half a billion pieces annually would save $144 million in postage over 10 years, the NPPC study indicates. The full results have been posted on this site. We thank NPPC for its permission to share this information with our readers.

October 5, 2005 -- UTV has reported that "An Post is blaming traffic disruption on the Dock Road for the delays experienced recently in the postal service in Limerick. An Post has apologised to customers who have been affected by delays and assures them that staff work around the clock to ensure next day delivery of mail."

October 5, 2005 -- Bloomberg news has reported that "FedEx Corp., the world's No. 3 package- shipping company, will increase FedEx Express rates 5.5 percent while reducing its fuel surcharge by two percentage points. The new rates are effective Jan. 2 for U.S. domestic and U.S. export express package and freight shipments, the company said today in a statement. FedEx, based in Memphis, Tennessee, said the net rate increase would be 3.5 percent because of the change in the jet-fuel price that triggers the fuel surcharge."

October 5, 2005 -- Handcrafted jewelry pins to raise money for good causes. Custom-blend cosmetics. Children's shoes that "grow" as kids grow. These innovative ideas from their out-of-the-box-thinking creators are helping to drive the small business economy. And the companies behind these ideas are the winners of UPS's Best "Out-of-the-Box" Small Business Contest. UPS, the world's largest package delivery company and a global leader in supply chain services, today announced the winners of the contest the company launched in May to recognize innovation in small business.

October 5, 2005 -- CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU Consultancy, has reported that:

In the run-up to the privatisation of Osterreichische Post, a board reshuffle is expected. A well-informed source told the CEP News that the matter was currently being discussed in political circles with a focus on appointing a new chairman in the spring of 2006.
Post Danmark looks set to take over shares with Belgium's La Poste as planned. In the Flemish speaking part of Belgium, two trade unions have issued strike warnings. The Christian union ACV and its socialist counterpart ACOD announced that 80% of Flemish postal workers were opposed to the plan. Spontaneous industrial action is therefore likely.
Support from Environment Minister Moritz Leuenberger could enable Schweizerische Post to go into the banking business.
During the first half of the current financial year, Poste Italiane achieved a turnover of more than 4.8bn euros (+ 5.6%). Italian Mail spa generated the lion's share of the company profit.
Osterreichische Post AG intends to set up its own sales organisation in Germany in November. The new Cologne office with four staff members will offer German customers publicity distribution in Austria as well as in Central European states.
Spain's Correos achieved a 7.2% turnover growth to 1.875bn euros last year. The Spanish post fell slightly behind its own expectations of 1.9bn euros (CEP News 5152/04) but enjoyed a definite increase in operating result to 189m euros (-F 50%).
Post Danmark is putting up postage rates for letters and parcels from 2 January 2006. Last week the Danish post announced that standard letters would go up to 64 euro cent.
Outlines of the services to be provided by Red Parcel Post, the new operator on Germany's parcel market, are beginning to emerge.
DHL intends to create a solid base on the highly competitive US market. The company's current 6.8% market share does not only leave DHL far behind competitors but also falls below DHL's own expectations. Despite strong marketing efforts, the company's market share remains smaller than in 2003 when Airborne Express was bought (9%).

The MRU, founded in 1992, is the only consultancy in the German speaking area, which has specialised in the market of courier-, express- and parcel services. For large-scale shippers and CEP-services in particular, the MRU provides interdisciplinary advice for all major questions of the market, as there are for example market entry, product design, organisation, and EDP.To learn more about the stories reported above, contact CEP News.

October 5, 2005 -- Engineering News has reported that "Morocco is reforming postal service Barid al-Maghrib to tap its potential for financing housing for the poor and to ready it for a possible privatisation in the medium term, officials and bankers said this week. The state-controlled firm has recently undergone a series of changes as part of a strategic 2005-2008 plan, including an 11% reduction in staff to 7 650 over 2001 to 2004 and a new logo and Website (www.poste.ma). It has joined the local banks' network that manages data storage for all ATMs, has struck a business partnership with private Attijariwafa Bank and now speaks of using its unmatched network of 1 635 outlets to compete with local banks, especially on housing projects for the poor."

October 5, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire: "Postal officials are continuing to expand mail services for customers in the city of New Orleans by providing over-the-counter service to additional ZIP Codes and establishing temporary mail pickup locations."

October 5, 2005 -- Egypt Today has noted that "A European gaming company teams up with Egypt Post tolay the groundwork for a controversial joint venture — sports bettingand a national lottery. Is it the fifth and final stage in Egypt Post's overhaul? "One of our main strengths is our 3,400 points of sale, which means that we're virtually everywhere," El-Moselhi explains. "Our deal with Intralot will allow us to work in the field of sports, either in reservation, distribution, entertainment or the slew of value-added services related to the various games, like managing events and tournaments and organizing activities."

October 5, 2005 -- According to the Canton Repository, "Rising gas prices aren't just costing people money at the gas station. They're adding to the cost to order pizza or send packages through private delivery. Some local businesses have started assessing fuel surcharges as the price of gas makes another run at $3 a gallon. Charlie Courier Service, which provides same-day delivery of paperwork for law firms, manufacturers and warehouses, increased its rates and began charging a fuel surcharge on Sept. 1 because of the soaring pump prices. FedEx and UPS said they've charged a fuel surcharge for air and ground shipments since 2001, a charge that changes each month depending what the price of fuel was about two months prior. Meanwhile, U.S. Postal Service spokesman Jim Quirk said the postal service has not raised rates since 2002 and doesn't charge a fuel surcharge, because the cost of pension payments has been less than expected. However, he said the postal service is seeking approval of a rate increase of 5.4 percent because those savings will no longer be available next year."

October 5, 2005 -- Delaware Online has reported that "More than 100 people will lose their jobs later this month when mail-sorting company PSI Group Inc. closes its Newark plant in Pencader Corporate Center. Jay Oxton, president of Omaha, Neb.-based PSI Group, said company officials decided to close the Delaware facility because they determined plants in Reading, Pa., and Baltimore, Md., could handle PSI's business in the region. The 110 employees at PSI Group's Newark office presort first-class mail for MBNA and other companies in the region. Those accounts will be moved from 701 Pencader Drive to the Reading and Baltimore plants beginning Oct. 17, and the plant will officially close on Oct. 31. Oxton said the closing was not related to MBNA's scheduled takeover by Bank of America late this year."

October 5, 2005 -- China Radio International has reported that "Malaysian police are investigating suspicious packages that were sent to 11 foreign missions in Malaysia Tuesday and Wednesday. Initial investigations show that the packages are harmless, police said. The embassies of Japan, Thailand, Germany, Canada, Singapore and the Philippines each received a package by post Tuesday. The British, French, Russian, American and Australian embassies received packages Wednesday, Mustafa said. The packages had similar contents: a CD-ROM and an oily substance, which may be vehicle coolant, and a note saying the recipient had been ``infected with a biological and chemical weapon, may Allah curse you for what you have done to the Muslim'' community, Mustafa said."

October 5, 2005 -- Business World has reported that "Workers at An Post began balloting on possible industrial action today on management's alleged failure to pay Sustaining Progress pay rises. The move was unanimously agreed yesterday at a special delegate conference of the Communications Workers' Union (CWU)."

October 5, 2005 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that:

• After a period of intense speculation, it has been announced that Claude Béglé, one of the leading figures in the European Express world, has moved from French parcels company GeoPost, part of the La Poste group, to Deutsche Post World Net. The move is set to send shockwaves throughout the industry as Béglé was one of its most high profile executives. He led GeoPost's successful European, and increasingly global, expansion through the DPD brand. Béglé, 56, will assume the role of Chief Operating Officer for DHL Express Germany and will also become Managing Director DHL Express Central Europe, responsible for Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia.

• DHL has further expanded the geographical reach of its Time Definite Delivery (TDD) to connect Indonesia and Vietnam to 22 countries in Europe. A suite of time-definite delivery products, DHL's TDD portfolio comprises StartDay Express, which offers guaranteed door-to-door delivery by 9 am, and MidDay Express for deliveries by noon.

October 5, 2005 -- According to Traffic World, "Pilots are crying foul over UPS plans to delay by about six months integrating Menlo Worldwide Forwarding's air services into the company's operations."

October 5, 2005 -- Direct has reported that "Don McKenzie has been named president and CEO of Petsky Prunier LLC, a Wall Street investment-banking firm that provides merger and acquisition services for direct marketing firms. McKenzie is scheduled to begin work on Oct. 11. He will oversee the operations side of the firm. He was formerly president of Transcontinental Direct U.S.A." McKenzie also had served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Association for Postal Commerce.

October 5, 2005 -- Michael J. Critelli, Chairman and CEO of Pitney Bowes delivered the keynote address, "Growing MailStream Value" at Post-Expo 2005 in Paris on October 3, 2005. In his keynote address, Mr. Critelli discussed how the mailing industry can use partnership and innovation to generate growth and value.

October 4, 2005 -- PostCom Members: Be sure to check out the updates posted on the PostCom Postal Operations Library. There are several.

October 4, 2005 -- The World Peace Herald has reported that "It was a day for anger and workers' grievances, but the atmosphere at the Place de la Republique in northern Paris Tuesday afternoon was festive. Waves of chattering demonstrators poured into the large square, where rock music blared and brightly colored balloons, representing various union organizations, floated overhead. Apart from the politics involved, Tuesday's strike offered a telling look at French society. Indeed, throughout the decades, French strikes have helped shape the nation's identity as powerfully as brie, Bordeaux and baguettes. French who are not on strike generally show a surprising tolerance, if not downright sympathy, for the protesters of the day...who may have left them stranded without transportation to work. Postal workers, educators, retirees, transportation workers, private sector employees -- just about everyone was out on the streets on a chilly fall day. About 15 percent of postal workers joined the strike, the mail service said."

October 4, 2005 -- Reuters has reported that "Europe's largest mailroom equipment firm Neopost on Tuesday raised its operating margin forecast for the third time this year as robust sales helped to lift its interim operating profit by a larger-than-expected 20 percent. Neopost, which last month reported a 9-percent surge in first-half sales, said it now expected its operating profit margin to be above 24 percent for the current fiscal year ending January 31, 2006."

October 4, 2005 -- The Guernsey Press and Star has noted that "HMV Europe's managing director Steve Knott's claim that it was not ‘here for a quick buck' is a direct response to critics of the music giant. Opponents argue that it is exploiting a tax loophole, which allows it to knock VAT off its postal orders."

October 4, 2005 -- RTE has reported that "Members of the Communications Workers' Union are meeting this morning to decide whether to ballot for industrial action at An Post. The union has rejected proposals in a recent review linking the payment of overdue national wage increases due to all postal staff to work practice reforms."

October 4, 2005 -- As Monday Morning has noted, "It is the world's largest financial institution and has been entrenched in the national life for more than a century. People turn to its 25,000 branches nationwide not only for mail and parcel deliveries but also for savings and life insurance and, in small towns, the sort of personal attention disappearing in big cities. Japan Post's financial assets total more than three trillion dollars, far more than any bank in the world. As of the end of the last fiscal year it had 261,940 employees -- 8,760 more than Japan's military -- with postal workers even stationed at nursing homes, hospitals and around 70 resort inns."

October 4, 2005 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that:

The French transport and logistics provider, Geodis is strengthening its Express business in France by integrating a further 6 branches from the France Express network. The agreement involves France Express branches in Strasbourg, Mulhouse, Belfort, Epinal, Tarbes and Brest. Geodis will also acquire a 100% stake in Calberson-Danzas in Clermont Ferrand, a company which is also a member of EIG France Express through its subsidiary Puy de Dôme Express.
DHL has been chosen as the exclusive distributor in Russia and the CIS for Reebok, the American athletic clothing and footwear specialist. DHL Solutions in Willebroek, Belgium will handle all of Reebok's warehousing and value added services. The Willebroek logistics centre is expected to handle three million items each year. These will be stored before they undergo "fine picking" for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and "box picking" for Russia.
TNT Network Logistics has expanded its range of FMCG grocery clients with the addition of Charles Wells, the largest independently owned, family run brewery in the UK. The complete range of Charles Wells' beers, including Wells Bombardier and Wells Eagle IPA, as well as Kirin Ichiban, Red Stripe, Corona Extra and Cobra, will be distributed directly on core liveried vehicles from its brewery in Bedford and via the TNT shared user network.

October 4, 2005 -- DM News has reported that "Growing market demands and changing customer needs call for total commitment by all postal operators to better service quality throughout the postal chain, Edouard Dayan, director general of the Universal Postal Union, said at yesterday's opening of the World Postal Business Forum in Paris. "There can be no development or sector growth without service quality," Dayan said. "By making quality their No. 1 priority, posts will be able to benefit from growth opportunities in areas such as direct marketing and e-commerce."

October 4, 2005 -- The Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation has reported that "Delivery of mail in Barbados will soon be a more efficient service. Rollout of the new postal codes by the Barbados Postal Service will see every address on the island being assigned a postal code by the end of the year. The codes are in the process of being delivered to businesses and householders in St. George and St. John following code assignments to the catchment areas served by the Worthing, West Terrace, St. Lucy, St. Andrew, St. Thomas, Eagle Hall and Brittons Hill post offices."

October 4, 2005 -- According to Dow Jones, "United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) has said it won't discuss rumors that the company may be interested in buying Dutch mail and parcels group TNT NV and that it may make a counter bid for Exel PLC. The Atlanta-based company said it is "concerned" by the reports, but said it doesn't discuss rumors regarding its acquisition plans. German newspaper Die Welt Friday wrote that UPS interested in buying European postal letter delivery companies. It cited UPS board member Kurt Kuehn as saying UPS was considering a possible purchase of TNT."

October 4, 2005 -- Japan Today has reported that "The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan on Monday submitted its postal reform bills to the House of Representatives as a counterproposal to the ruling coalition's. The lower house will start discussing the DPJ bills and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's postal privatization bills at a plenary session Thursday."

October 4, 2005 -- According to Computer Business Review, "Unisys Corp expects 2006 will be a tipping point for the corporate implementation of RFID systems and for RFID service providers."

October 4, 2005 -- From the Canada NewsWire: "October 3, is the first official day of business in Canada for The UPS Store(R), formerly Mail Boxes Etc.(R), and marks the launch of a national marketing campaign to support one of the biggest re-brands in the Canadian courier and business services sector. Effective today, more than 260 business services retailers across Canada begin operating as The UPS Store."

October 4, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire:

Lockheed Martin has named Judy F. Marks president of its Transportation and Security Solutions (TSS) business, which specializes in advanced aviation management, security and other mission-critical information technology solutions." Judy Marks had served for several years on the PostCom Board of Directors and as its Treasurer.
Posten Sverige AB, Sweden's national postal service, has selected Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) to upgrade its address recognition technology and mail automation capabilities for processing the nation's letter mail. The upgraded programme will create a common recognition platform to consolidate automated sorting systems at Swedish national processing centers. In addition, it will improve the recognition technology used to process and deliver letter mail. Lockheed Martin will also integrate more than 70 legacy sorting machines to further streamline and improve automated letter sorting capabilities across the country. This new system is similar to the highly efficient Lockheed Martin-developed address interpretation system now in place at the United Kingdom's Royal Mail.
GameFly(TM) ( http://www.gamefly.com ), the leading online video game rental service, today announced the nationwide launch of FastReturn(TM), a new service that can improve delivery times by as much as three days. With FastReturn, GameFly subscribers will be sent the next game in their GameQ(TM) as soon as the subscriber's local post office scans a returned video game rental. Developed in partnership with the USPS, this innovative service enhancement utilizes the USPS Confirm(R) service.

October 4, 2005 -- The Alaska Journal of Commerce has reported that "A proposal by the U.S. Postal Service to take Fairbanks out of the bypass mail loop to Barrow was panned by business leaders and air carriers at public meeting Sept. 22 in Fairbanks."

October 4, 2005 -- The New York Times has reported that "European Union nations imposed sanctions on Uzbekistan today, seeking to punish the Central Asian nation for its refusal to allow an international investigation into the bloody crackdown of an uprising in May in the northeastern city of Andijon. The sanctions also suspended scheduled meetings under the so-called Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, the blueprint that since 1999 has helped develop the European Union's political relations with Uzbekistan and guide economic relations in trade, transport, customs, postal services, telecommunications and other areas.

October 4, 2005 -- In its reply briefs filed with the Postal Rate Commission in Docket No. R2005-1, the Association for Postal Commerce said that "there is nothing in the opposition advanced by Val-Pak that factually supports or legally compels departure from the across-the-board rates advanced in the Settlement Agreement. For purposes of accepting the settlement rates, the Commission should simply accept the Postal Service's costing methodology. The record in this proceeding adequately supports the Postal Service's rate proposal."

October 4, 2005 -- The Association for Postal Commerce ("PostCom") has filed comments in support of the United States Postal Service's motion for an expedited decision on its request for a rulemaking to adopt a policy of regulatory forbearance with respect to rates for the international transportation of mail by air and to postpone further increases in those rates. PostCom previously supported the Postal Service's request in this docket to undertake such a rulemaking.

October 4, 2005 -- The latest DMM Update from the U.S. Postal Service has been posted on this site.

October 4, 2005 -- The San Jose Mercury News has reported that "Brewco Motorsports, Inc. announced today a joint promotional opportunity with the United States Postal Service for the month of October. In an effort to raise awareness for Child Health, Team Brewco will outfit their fleet of racecars with the newly issued "Child Health" commemorative postage stamp, beginning this weekend at Kansas Speedway."

October 4, 2005 -- Business Week has reported that "Romania's government has launched the restructuring and privatization process of the state postal company. The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology said in a statement it was inviting bids from international consulting firms to assist in the restructuring of the company and international banks who want to advise in the privatization of the company. The government plans to sell the Romanian Post by 2008. About 25 percent of the state-owned stock would be transferred to a fund that compensates people whose property was confiscated during the communist regime."

October 4, 2005 -- UPS Mail Innovations, the business mail services unit of UPS, has expanded its reach across the United States and into the Northwest with the addition of a mail processing center in Seattle. The facility is the twelfth for UPS Mail Innovations and will provide business customers with an economical alternative for sorting, processing and sending mail within the U.S. or around the world. UPS Mail Innovations generally handles business mail pieces of less than a pound, including flats (annual reports or healthcare benefits packets), bound printed matter (catalogs or directories), lightweight products (samples, videos, CDs or books) and international mail of all weights.

October 3, 2005 -- From PR Web: "Discount Shipping Insurance (DSI), the leading provider of 3rd party shipping insurance, has added International coverage to their Single Parcel Shipper Program. Users can visit www.dsiinsurance.com to purchase instant coverage with their credit card for individual packages while in transit with the major shipping carriers. Covered carriers include Canada Post, DHL, FedEx, UPS, and the U.S. Postal Service."

October 3, 2005 -- Khaleej Times has reported that "Plans are underway to use eDirhams for all postal transactions at UAE post offices in near future. The plan will be implemented as part of the second phase of the partnership agreement between Emirates Post and Ministry of Finance and Industry signed recently, said Salem Al Shaya, Assistant Director-General, Operations at Emirates Post on Sunday. The move is aimed at making eDirham available all over the country through the postal network. eDirham cards will be available initially at the selected post offices from October 8. Under the first phase of the agreement, Al Shaya said, all main post-offices will sell or re-charge eDirham cards."

October 3, 2005 -- From the PR Newswire: "Parascript(R) LLC, the Intelligent Recognition technology provider for mail automation, today announced the launch of AddressLocator 1.0, a universal parcel processing solution that automatically finds the address block location on any image, regardless of style, image orientation, image scale or quality, country of origin or destination, or label type. By automating the parcel portion of the mail stream, mailing agents can process greater volumes of mail more accurately and reduce manual data entry costs."

October 3, 2005 -- Bloomberg has reported that "Japan Post, the state-run system that doubles as the world's largest saving bank, started selling investment trusts at 575 branches today, threatening revenue local lenders need as their loan business shrinks. Japan Post is expanding financial services as the government prepares to split up and sell off its mail, savings and insurance businesses after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi last month won an election battle against privatization opponents. With more deposits than any local bank in 13 of 47 prefectures, its trust sales may gut those lenders' fastest-growing source of profit. ``Regional banks will take the hit,'' said Akira Mizobuchi, a banking analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc. ``Japan Post is just one more contender for the big banks, but regionals are going to have to do more to compete.''

October 3, 2005 -- The Prague Daily Monitor has reported that "Ceska posta was the only bidder for a licence to provide basic postal services in the next three years in a tender closed Friday. The postal licence ensures the holder a monopoly to deliver letters and parcels up to a certain weight and price, which now reach 100 grams and CZK 19. In exchange for the licence, the company must secure the availability of basic postal services throughout the Czech Republic, but also the payment of old-age pensions or the registration and collection of TV and radio fees."

October 3, 2005 -- The DM Bulletin has reported that "Three quarters of Royal Mail business customers say they would move some or all of their business if a competitor offered equivalent service quality at a 5% discount, but 82% believe that Royal Mail's service is better. The findings reveal that although caution is prevalent in the business mail market, volume might quickly find its way to alternative suppliers if the general perception of the services levels offered by the private sector improves. "

October 2, 2005 -- As the Wall Street Journal has noted, "For years, states and online retailers have bickered over whether the retailers should -- and, if so, could -- collect local and state sales taxes on purchases made over the Internet. The states have said they should and could. The retailers have argued that the complexity of different tax rates and categories among states and localities made it very difficult to do so. Hoping to put an end to that argument, 18 states will implement a long-planned move to remove obstacles that the retailers have cited. Architects of the Streamlined Sales Tax Project are devising a computer program that tracks the tax rates of the 18 states and their localities and automatically adds that rate to the bill of every online purchase. The states will also entice online retailers to collect state and local sales taxes by offering amnesty on taxes the retailers haven't collected in the years since the Internet retail boom began."

October 2, 2005 -- The Vietnam News Agency has reported that "Administration of post and telecommunication operations is to be partitioned in 2007 in a plan approved by the Prime Minister Phan Van Khai. The move aims to bring Viet Nam's postal services up to par with other countries in the region and spur development of both sectors by 2010. By 2010 Viet Nam should have 13,000 outlets nationwide, ranging from large post offices to small village kiosks, each serving about 7,000 residents on avarage. The postal sector is expected to step up ongoing "advanced technology transfer" so that it will eventually be able to produce hardware and software of international standards."

October 1, 2005 -- The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:

• The Postal Service this week released the next step in its continuing effort to transform the organization – the Strategic Transformation Plan 2006-2010.
• The Postal Service expects a net income of $1.3 billion in fiscal year 2006, with revenue growing by 3.4 percent in the year, primarily due to the higher rates that, for budget purposes, are expected to take effect in January 2006.
• A quick glance at the Postal Service's 2006 budget and it appears the USPS will lose $1.8 billion in FY 2006. But that's not quite right. The USPS will have a revenue deficiency of $1.8 billion, which is not the same as a net loss. In fact, the Postal Service actually projects a net income of $1.3 billion in FY 2006.
• American Postal Workers Union President William Burrus wrote to Members of Congress last week to express his union's concern over pending postal reform bills in Congress while key lawmakers on Capitol Hill reacted to the letter from the Board of Governors about its dissatisfaction with the same legislation.
• The Mailing Industry CEO Council applauds the leadership and employees of the U.S. Postal Service for their heroic actions undertaken to protect the mail and restore mail services to businesses and citizens displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
• In the wake of the national disaster that was Hurricane Katrina, direct mail consultant Cary Baer urges Congress and others to carefully weigh experience and expertise when considering a nominee for important federal positions.
• In this commentary, Dr. Charles Guy says the Postal Service should not have trashed its procurement rules this spring. Instead, Guy says the USPS should have simply taken advantage of the flexibility it already had under the 1970 postal reorganization act, which granted it the scope to conduct procurement with fewer regulations than those imposed on other federal agencies.
• One of the latest in the series of background papers being prepared as part of the Pitney Bowes research project on Electronic Substitution for Mail.
• Postal Service execs retire. Postal Service adds ‘Hold for Pickup' to delivery options. Parcel Return Service to become permanent. Potter thanks USPS, industry for hurricane efforts. USPS responds to fall mailing concerns and more. Dell switches to Postal Service from UPS. International rates will govern Marshall Islands mail in 2006.
• Congress weighing data breach law.
• Royal Mail offers discounts to magazine publishers. Russian Mail turns a profit. Royal Mail employees might get 20 percent of shares. Austrians not rushing toward postal IPO. FedEx adds Delhi-Shanghai-Tokyo service. Royal Mail might short-change cash-handling division. Postwatch accuses Royal Mail of delaying action. Is UPS in the hunt for Exel? Leighton's outside directorships raise conflict questions. Deutsche Post can't claim ‘Post' as its very own. Postcomm, Postwatch shill for Royal Mail competitors.

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October 1, 2005 -- Be sure to also check the latest issue of the USPS Postal Bulletin which is available on the USPS web site.

October 1, 2005 -- Editor & Publisher has noted that "When new postal rates go into effect next January, community newspapers that use the mail to deliver inside their home county will get a big break. Under the negotiated rate settlement, rates will increase 5.4% across the board -- except for the in-county rate that smaller circulation papers, especially weeklies, rely on for delivery. In-county will actually decrease by 5% to 6%."

October 1, 2005 -- The Associated Press has reported that "Each penny increase in the price of gasoline costs the Postal Service $8 million, and that will drive mailing costs higher, the postmaster general said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press. The agency expects to need a rate increase in 2007, said Postmaster General John Potter. That would come just a year after a 2-cent rate jump forced by a law requiring a big increase in an escrow account. The 2007 increase will be needed to cover higher expenses in the past five years, including employee raises, increases in the price of fuel for trucks, heat for buildings, electricity, transportation and other costs."

October 1, 2005 -- According to Reuters, "United Parcel Service Inc. executives said they've never expressed interest in acquiring Dutch mail and logistics company TNT NV "