Postal News from February 2006:

February 28, 2006 -- SocialistWorker Online has noted that "The CWU union's postal executive committee was meeting as Socialist Worker went to press on Tuesday to consider an "efficiency" deal recommended by national officials. The deal claims to have separated this year's pay negotiations from talks about efficiency – it has done nothing of the kind. It is premised on workers and management agreeing to "savings". Some 40 percent of these savings will go into a national pay pool for workers, the rest will go to Royal Mail."

February 28, 2006 -- As the PostalNewsBlog has noted, "The USPS had a 10.3% increase in January revenues compared with the prior year, thanks to the rate increase implemented on January 8. Unfortunately for the USPS, the money being brought in by the increase is still earmarked for the congressionally mandated escrow fund, not for paying expenses. And while January looked good, for the fiscal year to date, revenue is up by just $343 million or 1.4% over SPLY. Expenses, on the other hand, are up by $918 million or 4.0% above SPLY. Priority and Express continue to show healthy growth, with Priority volumes up 7.5% year to date, and Express up by 5.5%. The full report in is available at the USPS Financials web page, in either Excel or Adobe format."

February 28, 2006 -- According to Sharewatch, "UK postal operator Royal Mail said it beat its target for first and second class deliveries between October and December last year. The state-owned group said 94 pct of first class stamped letters arrived the day after posting during the period, ahead of the 93 pct national target. Second class mail also beat its 98.5 pct target with a 98.9 pct performance during the same three month period."

February 28, 2006 -- From Business Wire: "Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c27942) has announced the addition of RFID for Postal and Courier Services to their offering. In the major new report "RFID for the Postal and Courier Service", it is estimated that the global market for RFID systems, including tags, in this sector will be $3 billion in 2016."

February 28, 2006 -- Lanka Business Online has reported that "Sri Lanka's state run Postal Department is scouting for Rs. 25 million in private investment to launch a dedicated business mail service The planned business mail service will allow commercial establishments to purchase postage over the internet and use digital encoding or barcodes instead of stamps and even addresses on their mail. Postmaster General Sherwin Senadeera said under the new service up to 60 percent of the business mail could be delivered by the next working day. Over 80 percent of current estimated 500 million letters accounts for business letters."

February 28, 2006 -- UPS has unveiled UPS FreightSM, marking another key step in the continued integration of Overnite® Corporation into the UPS brand. See photos. Watch b-roll. Customers will begin seeing the new uniforms and newly branded trucks May 1.

February 28, 2006 -- The latest issue of COMMentary, Postcomm's newsletter which highlights current events in the postal services sector. Among other things this edition covers the newly competitive postal market, Postcomm's final price control proposal on Royal Mail, the new licensing regime and our enforcement activities.

February 28, 2006 -- According to Dow Jones, "Subsidies provided by India's postal department are likely to increase this financial year. They are expected to rise to INR14.50 billion this year from INR13.64 billion in 2002-03, says the Economic Survey. User charges cover only 76% of costs. Almost all services provided by the post office including letters, postcards , money orders and parcels are subsidized. It is important to study the rationale and the size of the subsidy says the report. India has 155,516 post offices."

February 28, 2006 -- The Wall Street Journal has reported that "Postal and logistics company TNT NV reported a sharp drop in fourth-quarter net profit and said an investigation into possible tax irregularities was concluded. The Netherlands-based company's net profit dropped 48% to €108 million ($128.2 million), or 24 European cents a share, compared with €209 million, or 44 cents a share, a year earlier. The latest results were hurt by a charge on the sale of its unprofitable French logistics division."

February 28, 2006 -- With tongue in cheek, one commentator for the Jewish World Review wrote: "The White House became embroiled in controversy once again as it announced today that it had made a deal with Osama bin Laden to run the U.S. Postal Service. Only days after it agreed to a review of its deal with a Dubai-based company to run several U.S. ports, the White House surprised Washington with its decision to put the U.S. mail in the hands of the world's most wanted man. But at a press briefing in Washington, Vice President Dick Cheney vigorously defended the deal, calling Mr. bin Laden "the right man for the job." "Osama bin Laden is eminently qualified to run the U.S. Postal Service," Mr. Cheney told reporters. "For one thing, he's already disgruntled."

February 28, 2006 -- The Daily News has reported that "BotswanaPost has introduced strategic initiatives as part of identifying and developing new products offering to both the growth of the business and improve customer satisfaction."

February 28, 2006 -- According to Gibbons Stamp Monthly, Australia Post are planning to create history during this year's Commonwealth Games in Melbourne by embarking upon the world's largest instant stamp program. The postal administration have announced that they intend to issue a new stamp for each Australian Gold medallist, in addition to stamps marking the opening and closing ceremonies and the Games' most memorable moment."

February 28, 2006 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that TNT N.V.'s Audit Committee and Supervisory Board have received the report of the Audit Committee's independent counsel with respect to its investigation into whether illegal acts occurred at TNT, and the responsibility for such acts, in connection with certain past tax matters. The investigation determined that some illegal acts had taken place. However it further concluded that the integrity of present and past members of the Board of Management and current senior staff, reporting to the Board of Management, was not in doubt. Several remedial recommendations, including strengthening of controls and procedures and financial and tax staffing have been discussed."

February 28, 2006 -- KTIV News has reported that "Changes in store for Sioux City's mail processing center are still undecided. But, the United States Postal Service will conduct a "service audit" to learn the impact of consolidating services. That's at the request of Iowa Senator Tom Harkin. Harkin asked for a follow up study to the postal service's strategy for realigning and consolidating services. Harkin met with Siouxland officials, last month, in Washington, D.C., because the current feasibility study is looking at whether to move mail processing operations from Sioux City to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Harkin says the community has a stake in this decision and should be included in the process. If delivery service will deteriorate, Harkin says the closing shouldn't happen."

February 28, 2006 -- Heard it thru the grapevine.... Word has it that Blockbuster is now looking to get some of the same bennies that the Postal Service is providing Netflix.

February 28, 2006 -- According to the Daily Mail, "Despite mass closures over the past five years, the post office remains at the heart of most local communities. All over Britain, six days a week, some 14,500 post offices provide an invaluable service, allowing customers to pick up benefit payments and pay utility bills as well as buy stamps."

February 28, 2006 -- The Atlanta Business Journal has reported that "Three hundred The UPS Store owners plan to sue United Parcel Service Inc. and its subsidiary, Mail Boxes Etc., for undercutting their profits. Hundreds of other UPS Store owners could follow suit, the culmination of a long-festering feud between many store owners and their franchiser."

February 28, 2006 -- According to Hoovers, "United Parcel Service (UPS), one of the world top 500, plans to open three retailing outlets in China in Shanghai in the second quarter of this year."

February 28, 2006 -- Kiosk Marketplace has reported that "RFID is a powerful enabling technology with ever-widening application. However, potentially the largest applications of RFID such as consumer packaged goods, postal items, drugs and books can only be fully addressed if tag prices drop to under one cent including fitting them in place."

February 27, 2006 -- The G-8 and the World Bank have recognized Africa as the continent most in need of development assistance and are actively seeking ways to help African countries improve themselves. PAPU in partnership with Postal Services International Ltd. (PSI) and Analytical Business Services Inc. (AnaBus) has established PANGO-post. The stated purpose of PANGO-post is to work collectively to identify potential sources of development funding that may be available in North America and Europe, and match these to postal projects in member countries of PAPU. The partners in PANGO-post believe that once members of the Mail and Postal industry understand the potential their industry has to assist, at a fundamental level, the development of the African continent, they will be ready to: invest in business opportunities that PANGO-post publicizes; donate some of their charitable funds directly towards African mail and postal projects; assist in educating members of the funding community as to the importance of the mail and postal industry in any developed society; and to use their networks of business and political contacts to promote the activities of PANGO-post. You may find more information on the PANGO-post partners at the following web sites: www.upap-papu.org, www.postserveint.com, www.anabus.com.

February 27, 2006 -- Okay, you academic types....Here's an interesting MIT thesis on the Postal Service Response to Logistics Disruptions.

February 27, 2006 -- As the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis has noted, "Although it's a favorite whipping horse for anti-government types, no government entity embraces the concept of productivity like USPS."

February 27, 2006 -- The Association for Postal Commerce welcomes its newest members:

SkillPath Seminars represented by Eric Snider, Executive Vice President.
Teradata, a Division of NCR Corp., represented by Jamil Hermes Senior Director

February 27, 2006 -- The Jerusalem Post has reported that "Israel will have a new state postal company as of Wednesday. The company will replace the Postal Authority and will be required to face competition from the private sector. Called Doar Yisrael in Hebrew, the new company aims at making profits by adding advanced new services and becoming more efficient while continuing to provide mail services to the whole population."

February 27, 2006 -- The Associated Press has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service has agreed to pay roughly $6.5 million in back wages to nearly 900 pilots, co-pilots and flight engineers, ending a 10-year-old wage dispute, the Labor Department announced Monday. The affected employees worked under various contracts and subcontracts to transport mail by air between January 1996 and August 2001, the department said. The agreement emerged from a dispute over the calculation of wages for flight crew employees. The contractors and subcontractors affected by Monday's agreement with the Postal Service are: Ryan International Airlines; Express One International Inc.; and Evergreen International Airlines Inc., the department said."

February 27, 2006 -- The U.S. Postal Service has issued a notice of Suspension of International Economy Mail Service to several countries. Check it out.

February 27, 2006 -- And, for all you postal history buffs, here is a blast from the past from James C. Miller III, the current chairman of the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors, i.e., a paper the Chairman once gave at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC, on the topic "End the Postal Monopoly."

February 27, 2006 -- From the Postal Rate Commission:

• The Office of the Consumer Advocate will hold a seminar and workshop on Tuesday, March 14, 2006, to present a new study of the volume variability of labor hours in mail processing plants. This study is an update of a paper presented in 20021 by Mark Roberts, a professor of economics at Pennsylvania State University. The new paper extends the 2002 paper as follows. It generalizes the model of mail processing to incorporate differences in depth of sort across plants. It estimates the new model using more recent data. It reinterprets the results of the Postal Service model presented in Docket No. R2005-1. And it offers suggestions for further data collection.
• Jose Anson, an economist with the Universal Postal Union's International Bureau in Switzerland is visiting the Postal Rate Commission to exchange technical knowledge with Commission staff. As part of that program, on Wednesday, March 1, 2006 at 10:00 AM, Mr. Anson plans to offer a presentation to all interested parties regarding his experiences and findings in connection with his work providing research support to the Postal Operation Council's Postal Economics Project Group.

February 27, 2006 -- According to Deliver, "Here's some good news for auto industry execs and their marketing partners: Consumers respond aggressively to direct mail when they're in a car-buying mood. 52% of direct mail readers planning to buy a new car read automotive direct mail. But more important, 73 percent of those readers surveyed respond to those mailings by turning to other media and/or heading to dealership showrooms, according to research by Vertis, a Baltimore-based marketing services firm. 35% of adults who have responded to automotive direct mail by visiting a company's Web site are planning to purchase a new vehicle within the next 12 months; 26% of those who plan to make a purchase visited a dealership in person."

February 27, 2006 -- As Traffic World has noted, "The long-anticipated redesign of the U.S. Postal Service network is moving ahead with details emerging about potential transportation changes. The redesign, led by USPS Vice President of Network Operations Management Paul Vogel, will affect transportation, particularly on the ground. It will affect routes, facilities and many contractors that haul mail. FedEx may be among them. According to Vogel and others at the Postal Service, everything is on the table. So observers expect the lucrative contract FedEx signed with the Postal Service in 2001 to be reviewed as well."

February 27, 2006 -- The USPS has named a new vice president and one acting vice president: (1) Deborah Giannoni-Jackson was named vice president, Employee Resource Management. Giannoni-Jackson was formerly the vice president, human resources of Royal Ahold, the world's third-largest grocery retailer that owns and manages Giant Food stores and Bruno's Supermarkets. (2) Mark Berthold was named acting vice president, treasurer. Earlier, Berthold served as assistant treasurer, financing and cash management for the Postal Service.

February 27, 2006 -- Dow Jones has reported that "Dutch postal and logistics company TNT N.V. said Monday that many companies are interested in buying the logistics division that it put up for sale in December last year."

February 27, 2006 -- DMNews has reported that:

• So Mickey Mouse and his friends think they can do things differently. The Walt Disney Co. will mail two more catalogs and then call it quits with that part of direct marketing while going full blast with its search engine marketing and e-mail efforts. If successful, it doesn't bode well for this multichannel notion, does it?
• Mailing associations want the U.S. Postal Service to make it easier for business mailers to pay the agency directly when working with a mailing services provider in an effort to save mailers from having to pay sales tax on postage.
• The "10th Anniversary" issue of the Mailers Companion will hit mailboxes next week, according to the U.S. Postal Service. The Mailers Companion is a bimonthly publication that includes information on Domestic Mail Manual and International Mail Manual revisions, mail processing networks, address management, technology, mailing standards, rulings, and other relevant issues, including "Ask Dr. Barcode," a column for readers' questions and comments. The Mailers Companion has a circulation of approximately 150,000. Its mailing list has been developed from mailer requests, and goes to mailers of all sizes.
• If a customer's address label is moved from the bottom right or left corner of a mail piece to the top center, might fewer people open the mailer? And, as a result, will response fall? Mailers raised that and other questions at last week's quarterly Mailers Technical Advisory Committee meeting. Earlier this month, the U.S. Postal Service said it's proceeding with deployment of a new flats sorting system that will require mailers to change the location of customers' addresses on larger pieces of mail.

February 27, 2006 -- According to the Yale Daily News, "E-mail is not the efficient tool it was purported to be. It is yet another means of procrastination. It has institutionalized flakiness and engendered myriad excuses for not fulfilling obligations ("Oh, I never received that e-mail"; "My computer has a virus"). E-mail has made it impossible to pin people down, whereas it was supposed to ease communication. But the problem with e-mail is not intrinsic; it is the way we abuse it that has rendered it a failure. Before e-mail, our society treasured communication. The United States Postal Service's motto is, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." It prides itself on its dedication to delivering messages. A failed delivery was and is an anomaly. On the other hand, a "MAILER-DAEMON" rudely informs me of its unsuccessful delivery attempts quite frequently."

February 27, 2006 -- Federal Computer Week has reported that "Nothing is more challenging for Robert Otto, the U.S. Postal Service's chief technology officer, than finding new ways to avoid unnecessary spending. Otto has no expectations of getting a larger information technology budget every year, and he accepts the challenge of making do with flat or lower budgets."

February 27, 2006 -- According to OilFiredUp.com, "Distribution company DHL, has been fined £8,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,854 after a 5,000 litre fuel oil spillage."

February 27, 2006 -- According to EngineeringTalk, "CCD camera is a flexible, rapid and reliable identification system for use within logistical processes in high-end shipping and sorting markets."

February 27, 2006 -- AMEInfo has reported that "Emirates Post and Iran Post have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that focuses on increased cooperation in IT, money transfer, parcel delivery and mail hub services."

February 27, 2006 -- As Transport Intelligence has noted,"Dutch mail, express and logistics company TNT has reported its full year and fourth quarter results. The company reported a strong operational performance from its network businesses. Full year revenues from continuing operations were € 10.1 billion, an 11.0% increase on last year, with operating income of € 1.2 billion, a 3.9% increase. Following the decision by management to dispose of part of its Logistics division, the company now divides its operations into ‘continuing' and ‘discontinued' business. Amongst the former are the Mail, Express and Freight Management divisions."

February 27, 2006 -- The Hindu Business Line has reported that "Worried about the increasing subsidy in postal services, which is expected to be about Rs 1,450 crore this year, the Economic Survey has asked the government to clarify the rationale and mechanism for the ballooning subsidy."

February 26, 2006 -- As Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) noted in an article published in the Magic City Morning Star, "The U.S. Postal Service is the lynchpin of a $900 billion mailing industry that employs nine million Americans. Maine employers ranging from L.L. Bean and Cuddledown to printers and paper manufacturers are dependent on a healthy postal service. Universal access and affordable rates are vital for this important economic sector."

February 26, 2006 -- As one writer in the Guernsey Press noted, "the price of sending a letter locally could be as much as 38p in three years' time unless retail outlets are shut."

February 25, 2006 -- The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:

• USPS Chief Financial Officer Dick Strasser briefed attendees at this week's Mailers Technical Advisory Committee on the Postal Service's financials through January 31.
• Tom Day, USPS senior vice president of government relations, said the Postal Service is trying to work with House and Senate staffers to find common ground and compromise on postal reform issues. Speaking at the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee meeting this week, Day said the USPS is focusing on specifics and wants language that clearly defines the roles of the regulator, the board of governors and the operator.
• USPS Vice President Paul Vogel briefed Mailers Technical Advisory Committee meeting attendees on the details of the Postal Service's recent activities towards its Evolutionary Network Redesign initiative.
• Mailers Technical Advisory Committee leaders announced the establishment of a temporary MTAC track focusing on Flats Sequencing System issues.
• Postal Service VP of Network Operations Paul Vogel earlier told MTAC attendees the USPS plans to lift the remaining Periodicals and Standard Mail embargo for New Orleans 3-digit ZIP Codes 700, 701, and 706 in May or June.
• USPS Vice President Charlie Bravo said the Postal Service will announce two new services based on the 4-state barcode at the April National Postal Forum.
• Postal commentator Gene Del Polito once again uses the parable of the cookie bakers to make a point about repositionable notes and higher fees in this postal perspective.
• James N. Anderson, president and CEO of IWCO Direct, penned this response to a recent U.S. Postal Service press release.
• Here's one person's take on the USPS' efforts to eliminate some of the nation's postmarks by consolidating postal facilities.
• A former postal executive stands up for the U.S. Postal Service in this letter to the editor.
• Mail & Jobs Coalition Executive Director Peter Miller makes a point about direct mail to the editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
• The author provides an interesting and seldom-seen peek inside one of the U.S. Postal Service's Mail Recovery Centers.
• Americans rate USPS most trusted U.S. agency. Postal Service employing comic characters ‘Cathy' and ‘Dilbert' to promote services, website. APWU New Jersey local officials arrested for embezzling. DHL to enlarge foot courier network in New York City.
• On again, off again: Royal Mail resumes service in Belfast but postal union readies strike vote. Australia signs FedEx trade deal. Australia Post expands Brisbane Airport presence, cuts pensioners' benefits.

Who handles the distribution of the PostCom Bulletin?
 Why, it's NETGRAM, of course. Read more about it.

February 25, 2006 -- The latest issue of PostCom's PostOps Update has been posted on this site. In this issue: USPS updates mailers on flats sequencing initiative; flats address placement workgroup begins; streamlining verification; seamless acceptance for MLOCR users underway; seamless acceptance for periodicals also underway; USPS to introduce new one code solutions at Postal Forum; USPS to lift New Orleans mail embargo in May/June; APPS update; FAST update; USPS to make changes to BSN program; service workgroup stalled; POSTALONE! — the best is yet to come; address quality tools group to sunset; upcoming postal rules changes.

February 25, 2006 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that "In an interview with the Reuters press agency, UPS Chief Executive Mike Eskew has revealed that the company plans to create 22 more distribution centres in China in the next few months. The company is continuing to ratchet up its operations throughout the entire region in order to increase its market share. Eskew also commented that FedEx's recent acquisition of domestic express company DTW would put it in the position which UPS attained last year when it bought out its Sinotrans joint venture."

February 25, 2006 -- The Guernsey Press and Star has reported that "Guernsey's postal watchdog is backing the closure of up to five sub offices. Postwatch Guernsey has gone further than the Office of Utility Regulation with its suggestions. It believes that if the price of a stamp is to be kept down, then consumers will have to accept reduced services. Its proposals include: dropping standard deliveries and collections from six days a week to five, a significant reduction in roadside collection boxes, and culling post offices to five or alternatively just four but with a mobile one."

February 25, 2006 -- Daily Ireland has reported that "Small businesses are under threat and jobs will be lost if postal services in Belfast are crippled by a second strike, it was claimed last night. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) is considering balloting its members on industrial action less than a week after the 18-day dispute was called off. Shop stewards have claimed staff who took part in the unofficial action have been victimised since they returned to work. But Royal Mail denied the allegations and branded the union irresponsible. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said its members were still suffering from the mammoth backlog left by the strike, while the Ulster Unionist Party urged the government to get involved before the dispute escalates."

February 25, 2006 -- From eMediaWire: "The United States Postal Service (USPS) recently announced that IncentOne™ was awarded "APPROVED VENDOR" status to provide its Gift Certificate Award™ via the USPS' eAwards system. The USPS eAwards system is a tool designed for managers to engage employees and increase moral by reinforcing positive behaviors that are aligned with organizational goals. The platform allows USPS managers flexibility in designing and operating employee recognition programs recognizing performance excellence. eAwards is designed to minimize the time between the activity and the recognition by providing a recognition program platform that instantly gives access to both the 78,000 managers authorized to purchase incentives, and the 770,000 employees of the USPS who will be redeeming the Gift Certificate Award for the reward of their choice."

February 25, 2006 -- Reuters has reported that "The European Commission on Friday approved up to 150 million pounds in annual state aid for Post Office Ltd. (POL), a retail subsidiary of the Royal Mail Group, to help serve rural areas."

February 25, 2006 -- According to CNN Money, "startup engineers could take a lesson from a 99-year-old company, however. Besides its armies of truck drivers, UPS (Research) has 4,700 IT personnel and spends $1 billion a year on technology. With such extensive offerings, it can't take for granted that its customers will simply stumble upon the new technology that it rolls out."

February 25, 2006 -- RTE Business has reported that "ComReg survey has found that most businesses solely rely on An Post for their postal needs, with only 12% using other service providers as well as the national postal service provider. The findings of ComReg's 2005 postal business and residential surveys published today show that the average businesses spent €6000 on An Post services in the year. The survey found that financial services companies are the greatest users and awareness of other service providers apart from An Post is relatively low."

February 25, 2006 -- According to the Kyodo news service, "Japan Post is likely to chalk up a net profit of about 2 trillion yen in fiscal 2005 to March 31, up from the previous year's 1.2 trillion yen, President Masaharu Ikuta said Friday."

February 25, 2006 -- AMEInfo has reported that "The 3rd Annual International Business Awards today announced that Emirates Post, the leading postal services provider in the United Arab Emirates, has signed on as a National Sponsor of the awards and will eliminate entry fees for all companies in the U.A.E. that submit entries before the March 31 deadline."

February 25, 2006 -- FinFacts has reported that "Almost one in five businesses complained about Irish postal services in 12-month period."

February 25, 2006 -- Hindustan Times has reported that "the postal department has taken yet another innovative step to augment its revenue. The department of post had agreement with Oriental Insurance Company (OIC) Limited to provide a ‘personal accident death insurance' cover to saving bank and senior citizen scheme account holders of the post office."

February 25, 2006 -- According to News Media Update, "The U.S. Postal Service last week detained a Washington, D.C.-based journalist for a German television network, releasing him only after he agreed to turn over his videotape of news footage taken at a New Orleans mail pick-up center for victims of Hurricane Katrina."

February 24, 2006 -- Business Mailers Review has reported that:

• The customer launch date of the OneCode Solution involving the 4-state barcode for letters will be announced at the Postal Forum in April, with numerous sessions to cover the topic and requirements. The barcode will uniquely identify the sender and the mailpiece, provide destination zip code for sortation and routing and encode special service indicators and address change service requests.
• The embargo on mail to the zip codes hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina – 700, 701 and 706 – has been lifted for First Class Mail and should be lifted for Periodicals and Standard Mail in the May to June timeframe.
• The prompt for consumers changing their addresses online to opt to have existing and new catalogs forwarded to the new address is yielding good results, with 20% of those who change their address online choosing to have catalogs forwarded.
• A working group of the Mailers' Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC) is pushing back its target date to June for coming up with a plan to better use available service performance reporting tools to evaluate and improve mail service. Among the key problems identified by the group: a lack of a consistent source for tracking and reporting data, frustration by mailers at the lack of a Postal Service measurement system for all classes of mail, mailer frustration that USPS doesn't trust the data industry provides and issues surrounding the CONFIRM program.
• With the chances that postal reform will be enacted much better than they were a few weeks ago, the Postal Service has begun using a scalpel rather than an ax to achieve a bill it can live with.
• USPS held the largest domestic shipment share of domestic air traffic for the first three quarters of 2005, according to The Colography Group, which analyzes the global time-definite or expedited cargo market.
• The Postal Service is projecting an increase in overall mail volume this year but a substantial decline in volume for 2007, according to the Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations for 2005.
• As the USPS Digital Meter Migration moves to its final phase, mailers may want to re-evaluate their postage evidencing options to identify the most cost-efficient postage payment solutions, according to Lloyd Moss, director of postal affairs and presort solutions for Group 1 Software, a Pitney Bowes company.
• The Office of the Consumer Advocate will hold a seminar and workshop on March 14 to present a new study of the volume variability of labor hours in mail processing plants. This study is an update of a paper presented in 2002 by Mark Roberts, a professor of economics at Pennsylvania State University.
• The USPS Accounting Help Desk in St. Louis, MO, has earned a highly coveted recognition as a Certified Center of Excellence by Purdue University.
• The Postal Board of Governors earlier this month approved funding to develop and test a Remote Encoding System (RES) program, which will be used to remotely encode hard-to-read addresses, replace the Image Processing Subsystem.

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.

February 24, 2006 -- According to the Aberdeen News, "Clem Felchle had the tall task Thursday of trying to convince community leaders that possible changes to local postal service will largely benefit the Aberdeen area. The 50 or so audience members, however, wanted that pledge in writing. For 90 minutes, the manager for the U.S. Postal Service's Dakotas District shared many facts about local postal service and answered sometimes pointed questions. Ultimately, the crowd wanted a hard copy of many of the answers Felchle provided. He said he would check with his supervisors to see if he could release the information in writing."

February 24, 2006 -- The Jerusalem Post has reported that "Israel Postal Service workers announced a general country-wide strike on Friday, to be in effect until further notice."

February 24, 2006 -- UK Fundraising has reported that "The Royal Mail has launched a direct mail campaign to help businesses across the UK prepare for the introduction of its new pricing system, Pricing in Proportion (PiP), which will have a direct impact on charity direct marketing. Packs providing information on the new pricing system, as well as advice on how companies can manage the impact of PiP, are being sent to nearly half a million small, medium and large businesses from this week."

February 24, 2006 -- According to the Santa Barbara News-Press, "The postal union established a memorial fund for five employees killed in Goleta -- but gave a cold shoulder to the sixth worker slain there. To the American Postal Workers Union, Maleka Higgins is apparently a nonperson. Maleka's financially challenged family -- husband Pablo and her now-motherless child Emily -- stand to receive little if anything, other than from local donations. Why? Because according to Maleka's mother, Sherie Higgins, Maleka dropped out of the union after many years when she went on maternity leave. She planned to rejoin but hadn't done it by the time of the Jan. 31 tragedy."

February 24, 2006 -- DMNews has reported that "The Direct Marketing Association has joined a coalition spearheaded by the Association for Postal Commerce (Postcom) to combat movement of the growing number of state do-not-mail bills popping up this year. Do-not-mail bills have been introduced in Missouri, New York and Illinois. In Missouri, two bills were introduced, one targeting commercial mail to consumers and the other targeting business-to-business mail."

February 24, 2006 -- From PRWeb: "The United States Postal Service (USPS) recently announced that IncentOne™ was awarded "APPROVED VENDOR" status to provide its Gift Certificate Award™ via the USPS' eAwards system. The USPS eAwards system is a tool designed for managers to engage employees and increase moral by reinforcing positive behaviors that are aligned with organizational goals. The platform allows USPS managers flexibility in designing and operating employee recognition programs recognizing performance excellence. eAwards is designed to minimize the time between the activity and the recognition by providing a recognition program platform that instantly gives access to both the 78,000 managers authorized to purchase incentives, and the 770,000 employees of the USPS who will be redeeming the Gift Certificate Award for the reward of their choice."

February 24, 2006 -- The BBC has reported that "The postal workers union and Royal Mail are to meet later as efforts continue to avert another mail strike."

February 24, 2006 -- Techworld has reported that "Both sides of the US political spectrum have found an issue to unite them: free e-mail. Next Tuesday, a group of non-profit organisations and small businesses will announce the formation of a coalition aimed at putting a stop to AOL's and Yahoo's plans to charge fees to mass e-mailers. The coalition, expected to be launched at a press event in New York, will be sponsored by digital rights advocacy group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and it will include two political adversaries: the liberal MoveOn.org and the conservative RightMarch.com political action committees."

February 24, 2006 -- According to KCAL-TV, "A U.S. Postal Service official says that employee schedule changes should eventually fix the mail delivery problems that have affected parts of Los Angeles County. The Postal Service has gotten a slew of complaints recently about law and slow delivery from customers in the Westside, San Fernando Valley, South Bay and Central Los Angeles. One reason for the problems is the closure of the Marina Del Rey sorting facility. The closure increased the amount of mail processed at a South Los Angeles office."

February 24, 2006 -- From the Federal Register:

• The Postal Service has published a final rule requires mailers to use two bands to secure all bundles of presorted flat-size mail and irregular parcels when those bundles are not shrinkwrapped. Effective Date: April 30, 2006.
• The Postal Rate Commission has published an order that informs the public that the Postal Service has filed a case with the Commission on the proposed realignment of the Nation's mail processing and transportation network. The realignment is expected to have an impact on delivery service standards. The order, among other things, addresses initial steps in the case, identifies key dates, and directs interested parties to the Commission's Web site for pertinent documents.

February 24, 2006 -- From the Business Wire: "DHL, the world's leading express and logistics company, has launched a new service by 12 p.m. second day for non-dutiable shipments to major cities and business centers in ten Asia-Pacific countries. DHL MidDay Express is now also available for import shipments to Europe from Asia-Pacific. DHL is the first express company to offer this service on a large scale."

February 24, 2006 -- "Is There a Future for Mail?" by Luis Jimenez, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer Pitney Bowes presented to the Postal Rate Commission, Washington, D.C. on February 22, 2006. Check it out.

February 24, 2006 -- Ireland Online has noted that "Small businesses are under threat and jobs will be lost if postal services in Belfast are crippled by a second strike, it was claimed tonight. The Communication Workers Union is considering balloting its members on industrial action less than a week after the 18-day dispute was called off." See also U.TV

February 24, 2006 -- FedSmith has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service fared well in a pair of decisions reviewing its personnel actions which were just issued by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals."

February 24, 2006 -- Indian Express has reported that "While the ministry of communications and IT is busy changing the Indian Post Office Act to wrest an exclusive monopoly over letters that weigh up to 500 gms, the Rs 4,000-crore private courier industry has demanded privatisation of all postal services in the country. The industry has drafted a Position Paper on the Post Office (Amendment) Bill which it has marked to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the Ministry of Communications and IT, with requests to reject the Bill's unfavourable provisions."

February 24, 2006 -- According to the Financial Times, "Bull, the French computer group that escaped bankruptcy via state aid, yesterday reported its first annual growth in six years. Sales grew 3 per cent to €1.2bn ($1.4bn), boosted by a contract to automate mail systems at La Poste, the French postal group. Net income rose 11 per cent to €15.8m, helped by lower interest payments."

February 23, 2006 -- The Federal Times has reported that "Dale Goff, new president of the National Association of Postmasters of the United States, is likely facing the most challenging of his 36 years with the U.S. Postal Service. "Many of us are suffering with inadequate staffing levels," said Goff, who took office Jan. 1. "Almost every problem we deal with every day comes down to this one problem of staffing."

February 23, 2006 -- From the PR Newswire:

• The U.S. Postal Service will dedicate the Our Wedding stamp booklet containing 20 one-ounce (39-cent) and 20 two-ounce (63-cent) First-Class stamps during a fashion show at Kleinfeld, New York's premier Wedding & Bridal Store for over 60 years.
• Owens Corning has announced that The Honorable George W. Haley, former U.S. Ambassador and civil rights leader, will visit the company today to share his life experiences with employees in recognition of Black History month. The Honorable George W. Haley served under President Clinton as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of The Gambia from 1998 to 2001. Mr. Haley also served as Chairman and Commissioner of the Postal Rate Commission.

February 23, 2006 -- If you're interested in more information on the Supreme Court's ruling on the Postal Service's liability for tort suits (Dolan v. USPS), check out:

• Opinion in the United States Supreme Court case: Dolan v. US Postal Service: http://scotus.ap.org/scotus/04-848p.zo.pdf
• Justice Thomas's dissent in that case: http://scotus.ap.org/scotus/04-848p.zd.pdf
• Case Preview Linking to the Briefs: a good overview of the issues: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cert/04-848.html

February 23, 2006 -- Shippers Newswire has reported that "The government of El Salvador has signed a cooperation agreement with UPS aimed at simplifying the Central America country's customs procedures."

February 23, 2006 -- According to the Shanghai Daily, CHINA'S postal industry narrowed its loss to 398 million yuan (US$49.45 million) last year, said the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planning agent."

February 23, 2006 -- DMNews has reported that:

• The fate of postal reform will most likely be settled by summer, a postal official told attendees at yesterday's quarterly Mailers Technical Advisory Committee meeting.
• The U.S. Postal Service expects to lose $1.8 billion by the end of its fourth quarter, in part because of surprisingly weak Standard mail volume.

February 23, 2006 -- Supply Chain Review has reported that "Export facilities continue to expand at Queensland's air transport and logistics hub with the country's leading postal service provider – Australia Post – set to open its new $8.5million Post Logistics centre in the heart of Brisbane Airport's Export Park. Over a year in construction, the state-of-the-art warehouse and office development is Australia Post's first purpose-built building in Brisbane for its emerging third-party logistics business."

February 23, 2006 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that "DHL has announced plans to enhance its foot-courier network within New York City by building a new facility on New York's West Side. The $10.4 million investment includes the leasing and retrofitting of an existing building near Times Square to serve DHL customers throughout New York's Upper West Side and Midtown business district. DHL has the largest foot-courier network of any major U.S. express delivery company operating in New York City."

February 23, 2006 -- Reuters has reported that:

• A woman who tripped and fell over letters, packages and periodicals left on her front porch can sue the U.S. Postal Service for damages, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday. The 7-1 ruling was a victory for Barbara Dolan, who said she suffered wrist and back injuries when she fell in 2001 in front of her Glenside, Pennsylvania, home. She said postal employees acted negligently by leaving the mail on her porch. No further details were available on the circumstances of her fall. The justices said a U.S. appeals court had been wrong to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that federal law provided immunity to the Postal Service over lawsuits claiming negligent mail delivery or placement.
• The familiar brown-uniformed UPS driver is part of a shrinking class of unionized "blue-collar" jobs that still provide a good income and benefits such as health care, a pension, stock options and long vacations.

February 23, 2006 -- The Media Bulletin has reported that "Postwatch has sided with the magazine industry in opposition to Presstream's removal from the Royal Mail price control, and has written to MPs to encourage them to raise the issue in Parliament."

February 23, 2006 -- The DM Bulletin has reported that "Dutch mail group TNT has called an agency review for a £3m rebrand of its business-to-business postal services."

February 23, 2006 -- From PressReleaseNetwork: "CertiMaiL launch the first e-mail service recognized in Court, providing to an email the same value as a classical paper hand-signed and time stamped. CertiMaiL's legally recognized e-mail service provides an electronic mail with the same postal status as a classical, hand-signed, time stamped, paper mail but with greater security and lower cost. The CertiMaiL e-mail is the first digital mail recognized in court: It is as easy to use as plugging a USB-key in to a PC. End-users are able to access a unique service throughout Europe which authenticates all e-mail."

February 23, 2006 -- The Brown County Democrat has reported that "A possible U.S. Postal Service plan to move mail processing from Bloomington to Indianapolis would not hurt service in Nashville's ZIP code 47448, according Nashville Postmaster Bruce Gould. The postal service is currently studying the efficiency of sorting all 474-area ZIP code mail in Indianapolis instead of in a plant on Bloomington's west side."

February 23, 2006 -- The BBC has reported that " Postal workers will vote on an official strike Postal workers are to hold a ballot on whether to take official strike action."

February 22, 2006 -- Azeezaly S. Jaffer, vice president, Public Affairs and Communications, United States Postal Service, in a letter to the editor of the Sioux City Journal, has written: "I'm pleased that the Postal Service, however inadvertent, has helped Sen. Tom Harkin and Rep. Steve King find common ground, as suggested in your Feb. 12 editorial, "Political foes join forces." The editorial dealt with the study the Postal Service is conducting on mail processing in Sioux City, a study whose outcome, the editorial notes, "remains unclear." But then inexplicably, the editorial predicts how the study will turn out and that we'll see "a degradation of mail service to Northwest Iowa and Northeast Nebraska." I have no idea how you could reach that conclusion, and frankly I think you need to tell your readers what research you used to form that opinion."

February 22, 2006 -- The New York Times has noted that "In a country where the power is usually out, the police may rob you and few traffic lights actually work, it is perhaps surprising that Iraqis still get mail. The territory is demonstrably hostile: the train that carries the letters north is frequently attacked. Bright orange American vans had to be painted black for safe passage through dangerous areas south of Baghdad. Postmen on mopeds brave gun battles to deliver letters in Dora, a Baghdad neighborhood so paralyzed by violence that corpses lie in the street for hours. And there are no mailboxes, so postmen deliver to the addressee, not to the address — a task that has become far more complicated in the upheaval of the past three years."

February 22, 2006 -- The Nigerian Tribune has reported that "President Olusegun Obasanjo has approved the appointment of Alhaji Ibrahim Mori Baba as the acting Postmaster General \ Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST)."

February 22, 2006 -- From the PR Newswire:

• For the second year in a row, Americans have rated the U.S. Postal Service as the number one agency they trust to protect their privacy. Not only did the Postal Service retain the top spot, customer satisfaction and trust scores increased from the previous year, a national study shows.
• CompuPay, Inc. (http://www.compupay.com/), one of the country's leading providers of payroll, tax filing and HR-related services, today announced it has been chosen as the preferred payroll provider for PostNet International Franchise Corporation.

February 22, 2006 -- CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU Consultancy, has reported that:

Norway's Posten Norge AS achieved a record result during the last financial year. The post again achieved the highest increase in the logistics segment.The mail segment, however, is a cause for some concern. The total volume was only increased through a marked growth in advertising mail (unaddressed mail: +11.6%, addressed: +3.2%), while so-called A and B mail (1st and 2nd class) decreased by 5.5%.
Erik Olsson, CEO of Sweden's Posten AB, is looking back on a more than satisfactory financial year 2005.
Despite losses in the USA, Deutsche Post AG will achieve a definitely improved EBIT for the financial year 2005.
The "Bring More Colours into the Postal Market" forum has confirmed the demand for an end to the letter monopoly. The forum says it is unacceptable that German customers have to subsidise the post's international ventures through excessive postage rates.
Norway's Posten AS intends to start operating on the Danish mail market early next year. Initially, Posten's subsidiary CityMail will launch business mail services in the Copenhagen area, which may become extended to other Danish regions after the complete market liberalisation expected in 2009.
the Bulgarian parliament passed the new postal act after the first reading. According to an official declaration, the amendment complies with European Union requirements, which means - among other things - that parcels may in future only be opened with the permission of either the sender or the addressee.
The Belgian-Dutch finance group Fortis (2004 turnover: 70.4bn euros) is expected to become the Irish An Post's partner for financial services.
Deutsche Post AG has put off its profit target for DHL USA. The post has abandoned its previous and often confirmed goal of breaking even in the USA by the end of 2006. Instead, the express segment in North America is set to move towards the profit zone "over the next few years". With immediate effect, business figures for the USA will no longer be shown separately.
Schweizerische Post intends to turn its entire Logistics segment into an independent public limited company.
TNT has bought back almost 20 million of its own shares since the beginning of December (situation as per 14.02) which is more than half the envisaged volume.
Logistics operator Exel, now a member of the Deutsche Post group, intends to sell its subsidiary Marken. According to an announcement published last week, the investment bank UBS has been commissioned to find a buyer for Marken, which specialises in time sensitive express transport.
Worldwide express service operators' growing interest in the Indian market appears to attract financial investors, too.

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.

February 22, 2006 -- The Irish Sun has reported that "The Australian Trade Commission has signed a two-year deal with FedEx to promote trade between the United States and Australia. The agreement leverages the expertise of both FedEx and Austrade in order to make expert resources available and connect Australian and U.S. businesses that wish to import and export."

February 22, 2006 -- The The Guardian has reported that "Competition forces the poor to subsidise private interests, as the case of Royal Mail demonstrates."

February 22, 2006 -- According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Chief Executive Mike Eskew says he checks the price occasionally but views Wall Street's ups and downs as a distraction from his job of managing the Sandy Springs delivery giant "for the next quarter-century, not the next quarter." But it's hard not to notice that archrival FedEx has outperformed UPS on the New York Stock Exchange for five of the last six calendar years."

February 22, 2006 -- The Japan Herald has reported that "Euronet Worldwide, Inc., a leading electronic payments provider, today announced it has entered the Chinese market with an ATM outsourcing agreement with Postal Savings and Remittance Bureau (PSRB), the fifth largest financial institution in China. PSRB is part of the China State Postal Bureau (China Post, the national postal service). PSRB provides basic deposit and remittance services to customers through the extensive network of post offices across the country."

February 22, 2006 -- The Trend News Agency has reported that "Russia and Azerbaijan will sign a number of agreements in the communication field. It will be implemented in accordance with the resolution of the Russian-Azerbaijani inter-governmental commission. Agreements between the both countries' Communication Ministries in the information technologies, postal and electronic communications fields, as well as the agreement between the governments of Azerbaijan and Russia on cooperation in the field of postal money transfers will be signed."

February 22, 2006 -- According to Dublin People, "A recruitment embargo at An Post, which has left "hundreds" of positions vacant in the company, has been blamed for significant postal delays this week.There have been complaints from some customers that they have not received post for days while others have been waiting for over a week to receive important correspondence."

February 22, 2006 -- Russia and Eastern Europe, often in the media shadow of China and India, represent some of the most dynamic markets for international magazine publishers. George J. Green, President of Heart Magazines International (HMI) will conduct this forum focusing on magazine publishing opportunities in Russia and Eastern Europe. Date: Wednesday, March 8, 2006 Time: 12:00 – 2:00pm Place: MPA Board Room 810 Seventh Avenue Floor 24 New York City Price: $75.00 MPA Members $100.00 Nonmembers.

February 22, 2006 -- UPS has been rated "America's Most Admired" company in its industry in an annual survey conducted by FORTUNE magazine."

February 21, 2006 -- Real Tech News has reported that "Australian Post apparently is the first postal agency in the world to SMS or email you within 30 minutes of finishing the mail sort with that now famous line from the movie: You've Got Mail!"

February 21, 2006 -- The Times-Picayune has reported that "Nearly six months after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans' main post office reopened Tuesday, but postal authorities said mail delivery will still be delayed."

February 21, 2006 -- According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Externally, hulking brown UPS delivery vans have little in common with gas-sipping hybrids like the Toyota Prius or the new Honda Civics. But the Sandy Springs delivery giant has ordered 50 delivery trucks powered by similar combinations of internal combustion and electric motors that the company says will improve fuel economy 35 percent. UPS also ordered 4,100 "low-emissions" vehicles that use natural gas, propane, batteries or hydrogen and are meant to improve efficiency by 15 percent."

February 21, 2006 -- Kyodo news service has reported that "The board of Japan Post Corp., the company formed in January to prepare for the privatization of Japan's postal system, appointed its eight executive officers Tuesday, including Sakon Uda, principal at McKinsey & Co., and Akira Uno, former chairman of SMBC Consulting Co., company officials said. Most of the other new executive officers come from Japan Post, the public corporation for postal services, and the Financial Services Agency, according to the officials. The appointments will take effect on March 6 for Uda and March 21 for the others."

February 21, 2006 -- As the Arizona Republic has noted, "Two cents might not seem like a lot, but for businesses that rely on direct mail to reach clients and prospective clients, the extra pennies you've had to shell out for stamps since last month's rate hike have started adding up. The U.S. Postal Service delivers almost 200 billion pieces of mail each year, and bulk business mail, comprising catalogs, advertising circulars and direct-mail campaigns, makes up about 60 percent of its revenue. Although bulk mail, media mail and mail sent by designated groups such as non-profit organizations receive certain discounts, the 5.4 percent rate increase is affecting most businesses."

February 21, 2006 -- Aftenposten has reported that "The head of the Norwegian postal service (Posten) wants to get out of the state-mandated banking business and shut half of its post offices around the country. That's not popular, either among the public or politicians. Dag Mejdell, who recently took over as Posten's chief executive, unveiled record profits this week but nonetheless wants to further cut overhead. The postal service already has been through a major reorganization that closed traditional post offices and re-established some as kiosks inside grocery stores. That hasn't been enough, Mejdell thinks, to cut costs sufficiently."

February 21, 2006 -- The Asahi Shimbun has reported that "Japan Post has decided to stop mail delivery and collection at 1,000 primarily rural post offices by October 2007, when postal privatization begins, sources said. Currently, about 4,700 of the nation's 24,600 post offices provide those services."

February 21, 2006 -- The National Association of Major Mail Users (NAMMU) has announced: "DESTINATION CANADA -- A program that de-mystifies the Canadian marketplace and encourages the use of the mail channel for postal commerce. Interactive workshop talking points include: the marketplace (population, economic indicators, business outlook); key issues (privacy, list availability, emerging trends); Canadian creative resources (agencies, winning approaches by market segment); the postal business environment (postal rates and requirements); Canadian supplier infrastructure and capabilities. The differentiating factor of Destination Canada to other programs is that it enlarges the scope of business opportunities for the mailing industry by promoting the use of the entire Canadian supplier infrastructure, creative through fulfillment, in Canada and the world market. For sponsorship and other event opportunities contact: sponsorship@nammu.org The DMA runs October 14-18 in San Francisco."

February 20, 2006 -- Daily Ireland has reported that "Postal workers who took part in unofficial strike action in Belfast have been told they will not receive any overtime payment to deal with the backlog of undelivered post."

February 20, 2006 -- According to the Oxford Press, "When it comes to the U.S. Postal Service, nearly everyone agrees that something needs to change. But a new move to fix long-running fiscal problems has set the service against Congress, its biggest customers and even some of its own employees. Postal Service officials say the new board overseeing many internal business practices is unworkable. The bill has the support of high-volume mailers and even of some postal unions. The Postal Service is continuing to lobby the conferees for changes."

February 20, 2006 -- According to Business World, "DHL Ireland has reported an increase of more than 90pc in pre-tax profits as international business activity from Ireland continues to grow."

February 20, 2006 -- According to KTIV News, "Though there's still no "stamp of approval" on a study that could mean big changes for Sioux City's mail processing, there's even more opposition to the study, itself."

February 20, 2006 -- NewIndPress has reported that "The Postal Department's plan to debar courier companies from delivering letters weighing below 500 gm, by amending the Indian Post Office Act, 1898, would especially hurt the securities trading industry of the nation, claimed the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI). In a release issued here, the ICCI, said that the security trading industry compulsorily sends their shares and funds through courier service, since the documents are delivered within 12 hours by private couriers. "The government's move to safeguard the Department of Posts from competition is against the spirit of free market and entrepreneurship," the release indicated, appealing that the Act be dropped."

February 20, 2006 -- As U.TV has noted, "The cost of posting large envelopes or packages in the Republic of Ireland goes up from this morning. There is no change to the price of the ordinary €0.48 stamp. But for large envelopes weighing between 50 and 100 grams, the cost rises from €0.60 to €0.90."

February 20, 2006 -- According to the Belfast Telegraph, "Disastrous though the Belfast postal dispute has been for local businesses, there was a little silver lining to this particularly dark cloud. Not so much on account of the absence of any bills - because regrettably they all have to be paid at some stage in the future, possibly with interest. No, the greatest plus point was the temporary elimination of all that junk mail which now forms such a high proportion of a typical mail delivery." Fine, stupid. Now figure out how you're going to finance the U.K.'s mail system WITHOUT advertising mail.

February 20, 2006 -- U.TV has reported that "Work has begun in earnest to clear the backlog of mail in Belfast which built up during the postal strike."

February 20, 2006 -- One of our readers has brought to our attention that a paragraph appeared to be missing in our piece on "Value Added, Or Just Robbing the Cookie Jar." She was right. It's been corrected and reposted on this site. Sorry 'bout that.

February 19, 2006 -- The Journal of Commerce has reported that "Exel, the U.K. logistics company acquired last year by Germany's Deutsche Post, is reported to be offering its specialist courier business, Marken, for sale."

February 19, 2006 -- The Alaska Journal has reported that "Highly awaited amendments to the Rural Services Improvement Act were passed by the U.S. Senate Feb. 9, and were passed surprisingly fast, according to aviation industry leaders. Attached to the U.S. Postal Reform bill, the amendments will remove a mandate that could have forced smaller air carriers to convert to a larger operation to keep their mail-rate status for carrying U.S. Postal Service bypass mail."

February 19, 2006 -- The Times of India has noted that "With the postal department lobbying for a ban on courier services from delivering letters weighing below 500 grams and asking for an exclusive privilege in this category — snail mail may be all set to make a comeback. However, owing to the higher efficiency and reliability attributed to courier companies, regular users are fuming at the prospect."

February 19, 2006 -- Al-Bawaba has reported that "Empost, the UAE's national courier company, has announced the launch of EziMail, a unique value added service that facilitates the delivery and collection of mails to and from the customer's office. EziMail offers customers the advantage of having their regular mails delivered via courier in a secure and efficient manner. The service also includes mail posting – the collection of mails for delivery to the post office together with the option to purchase postage stamps."

February 19, 2006 -- According to Reuters, "United Parcel Service Inc. is using its own facilities in China as inventory space for smaller U.S. companies that lack the logistic capability to do business in that booming economy, top executives said in a series of recent interviews."

February 19, 2006 -- United Press International has reported that "U.S. postal carriers in Niagara Falls, N.Y., will participate in the Carrier Alert Program aimed at bringing help to the elderly and shut-ins. The city's 85 postal carriers deliver to 32,000 homes in the Niagara Falls area, Niagara Falls Postmaster Thomas Szklarz said. Brochures will be distributed the the public and the county social service agency will notify the local post office of customers who wish to participate in the program. The customer's letter carrier, in performing his or her daily rounds, will be alert to an accumulation of mail which might signify a sudden illness or accident, the Buffalo (N.Y.) News reported Saturday."

February 19, 2006 -- The Fiji Times has reported that "Post Fiji Ltd wants a 40 per cent increase in charges to meet the rising cost of business. Its request for the increase is now before the Commerce Commission and a review has begun. If approved, the cost of sending a letter within Fiji would increase from the current cost of 18 cents to just under 30 cents."

February 18, 2006 -- The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online.  In this issue:

• The U. S. Postal Service has published its 80-page 2005 Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations. PostCom's review of the publication provides the highlights.
• The Postal Service this week submitted a filing seeking an advisory opinion from the PRC on changes in the application of current service standards to many 3-digit ZIP Code service area pairs. The USPS expects changes resulting from its system-wide review and realignment of its mail processing and transportation networks to be extensive.
• Advocacy group PostalWatch went to Congress this week to sound the alarm about what it calls the Postal Service's "skyrocketing operational expenses." In a briefing to every member of Congress, PostalWatch said those expenses are "escalating rapidly despite a reduced postal workforce and other postal cost-cutting initiatives."
• A thorough but lengthy look at today's Postal Service and its future.
• In this commentary, the author says the USPS is "getting hammered by FedEx and UPS" and explains the reasons.
• Postal commentator Gene Del Polito uses the parable of the cookie bakers to make a point about repositionable notes and higher fees in this postal perspective.
• NetGram chief Peter Jacobson is of the opinion that First-Class Mail need not die a long and agonizing death. To the contrary, Jacobson believes the Postal Service is missing the opportunity to embrace the expanding network of reseller or business "agents" serving the expanding needs of Internet-centric companies.
• White House expected to veto some provisions of postal reform bills. PostCom elects new directors. Search feature enhanced on PostCom website. New Orleans P&DC to reopen in spring. Mailers Companion marks 10th anniversary. DoD hopes new military mail deal will save millions.
• American loves Valentines – real and digital.
• DHL, BMW at odds over logistics performance. FedEx expands China operations. Global air cargo price investigation grows. Belfast wildcat strike continues. Deutsche Post shifts sights on acquisitions. Japan Post holding chief wants laws changed. Tasman gun owners take aim at Aussie Post rule. An Post, Fortis talking about financial service partnership. Hungarian Post says Frankfurt responsible for missing parcels.

Who handles the distribution of the PostCom Bulletin?
 Why, it's NETGRAM, of course. Read more about it.

February 18, 2006 -- The Associated Press has reported that "Two leaders of a postal workers' union were arrested Friday and accused of embezzling more than $400,000 from their organization. The two men took the money from 2000 to October 2002 from the payroll account of Local 190 of the American Postal Workers Union in Clifton and the union account used to pay routine monthly expenses, according to a federal indictment handed up in Newark on Tuesday and unsealed with their arrests."

February 18, 2006 -- The Waterbury Republican-American has reported that "State and federal lawmakers are calling the U.S. Postal Service's decision to downgrade the main post office in the city unacceptable. Legislators and a representative of the postal union argue that the move doesn't make economic sense given the cost of transporting mail to the new regional processing center in Wallingford and back each day, saying that it leads to a reduction in service and a loss of business traffic downtown. That message fell on deaf ears because the postal service failed to send a representative to the Friday morning meeting in Mayor Michael J. Jarjura's office."

February 18, 2006 -- The Smithsonian's National Postal Museum announced that it received a donation from FedEx to fund "Airmail in America," a new exhibition opening Feb. 22 in the museum's transportation gallery. "Airmail in America" highlights the critical role of the postal system in the creation of America's commercial aviation industry, as well as the pilots and aircraft that made it possible.

February 18, 2006 -- According to the Times-PicayuneMail delivery throughout the metropolitan area continues to be seriously disrupted, but things should get nearer to normal before long, US Postal Service officials told the New Orleans City Council this week.

February 18, 2006 -- The Belfast Telegraph has reported that "THOUSANDS of Royal Mail customers breathing a sigh of relief over the end of a wildcat postal workers' strike were warned last night that it may take up to a month to deliver all letters and packages caught in limbo. As strikers went back to work yesterday after nearly three weeks on the picket line, Royal Mail braced itself for a deluge of compensation claims over the stoppage, which caused chaos across the province. According to the postal company, the unofficial strike has created a mountain of seven million letters and parcels which must be sorted and delivered along with the resumption of regular daily business over the coming weeks. And that huge pile of mail does not include an imminent rush of post held back by customers until the strike was resolved." See also the BBC

February 17, 2006 -- Be sure to check out the latest in a series of PostInsight papers on the internet and mail:

• The Emergence of Electronic Alternatives. The last three decades have seen the emergence and proliferation of multiple electronic alternatives to mail. What are the causes of this apparent paradox of burgeoning adoption of electronic alternatives and the resilience of mail? This paper looks at this question by reviewing the entire communications market; deconstructing past forecasts of technology; and developing a deeper understanding of what happens when consumers and markets adopt new technologies.

• The Internet and Mail. The explosive growth of the Internet, which has now lasted over a decade, has led many observers in the postal world to make projections about the Internet's impact on mail. For each of these popular assertions, this paper assembles the best of the recent research and analyzes the data in a variety of ways to discern objectively what is real and what is "myth" about the Internet's impact on mail.

February 17, 2006 -- According to Business Week, "United Parcel Service (UPS ) may soon bring shareholders a nice surprise package. The world's largest express company, with an AAA credit rating, is rich in cash and profits. Not only does UPS dominate the U.S. market, where it picks up 75% of its revenues, but it's also building up in China and India. The global delivery market is estimated to be worth more than $100 billion a year. In the U.S., explosive growth in Internet retailing is also adding to UPS volume. But the still-uncounted big plus will come from Asia, where its competitive edge may even be greater. UPS operates 560 airplanes and 88,000 ground vehicles worldwide."

February 17, 2006 -- Traffic World has reported that "Deutsche Post AG, Europe's biggest postal service, raised fourth-quarter profit 27 percent on lower health-care and tax costs and new acquisitions."

February 17, 2006 -- UPS has announced it had placed an order for 50 new-generation hybrid electric delivery trucks and also would acquire 4,100 low-emission conventional vehicles during 2006. The hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) are being purchased in two sizes from International Truck and Engine and Freightliner LLC. The trucks will feature lithium ion batteries that are capable of faster re-charging and have a longer life than batteries used in previous generations of HEV's. The truck bodies will be identical externally to the signature-brown trucks that now comprise the UPS fleet.

February 17, 2006 -- The Adelaide Advertiser has reported that "AUSTRALIA Post has axed its oldest tradition of offering pensioners free mail redirection. Australia Post said it could no longer afford the annual $5.7 million bill to run the service. It will cost pensioners $33 per year to use mail redirection."

February 17, 2006 -- And now for something completely different....ThisIsMoney has noted that "The Royal Mail has been hit with another fine by the industry's regulator after being accused of securing 'unfair commercial advantage' against rivals. Postcomm proposed a fine of £2.16m because the company had failed to take adequate steps to make sure it did not gain an unfair commercial advantage in the newly-liberalised mail market. The fine follows a penalty of £11.7m against Royal Mail announced earlier this month because of the amount of lost or damaged post. The Royal Mail chairman Allan Leighton has hit back insisting that "This is almost Monty Pythonesque - by Postcomm's line of thinking I have absolutely no doubt that later this year the regulator will fine us for delivering the best quality of service ever due to the fact that they decide it's anti-competitive."

February 17, 2006 -- Asia Pulse has reported that "Japan Post President Masaharu Ikuta requested that an objective definition be set for personal correspondence during a study group meeting Thursday at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Currently, only the post office is allowed to deliver personal correspondence, which is considered mail addressed to specific individuals, such as letters and postcards. There have been complaints at Japan Post that private-sector firms may be encroaching on its territory with their mail delivery services because the standards for personal correspondence are not clear. Without mentioning specifics, Ikuta recommended clarifying what constitutes personal correspondence by setting measurement standards for mail."

February 17, 2006 -- The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram discusses "The 'hidden tax' that's in the mail."

February 17, 2006 -- The Derrick has reported that "Nearly seven months after regional mail-sorting duties were switched from the Oil City Post Office to a center in Erie, there are mail-related "issues" stirring up consumers and postal workers alike."

February 17, 2006 -- The Rockford Register has reported that "Despite protests by congressmen, the U.S. Postal Service will study moving local mail sorting from Rockford to Palatine. But Postal Service officials also said Thursday that they'd allow people here to comment on how the move might affect local service."

February 17, 2006 -- Ireland Online has reported that "The Belfast postal strike which has crippled services in the city for more than a fortnight was today called off. The Communication Workers Union confirmed its members had voted to return to work after an agreement was reached with Royal Mail. The unofficial strike began on January 31 amid allegations of management harassment and bullying at a Belfast depot." See also the BBC.

February 17, 2006 -- According to the Business Standard, "The Indian postal department will sell cashew nuts from Ratnagiri and Goa and Alfonso mangoes through their 100-odd outlets in Mumbai. "This will be in addition to our existing commodities like fast moving Hallmark cards sold through the outlets," K Noorjahan, chief postmaster general of Maharashtra Circle, said today."

February 17, 2006 -- The Japan Times has reported that "Japan has seen a sharp increase in the number of postal remittances to North Korea in recent years, an opposition lawmaker said Thursday. Japan Post Executive Vice President Katsuyuki Okada, responding to a question in a session of the Internal Affairs and Communications, said the public corporation will look into specifics, including the total amount of money sent from Japan to North Korea. Anyone can send remittances to that country under the Universal Postal Union treaty."

February 17, 2006 -- Transport Intelligence has reported that "French national mail operator La Poste has authorised its parcels subsidiary GeoPost to acquire rival French express operator Exapaq, dependent on the approval of the relevant authorities. Exapaq specialises in the movement of parcels less than 30kg in the B2B market. It employs 1800 employees in France and carries 32 million parcels a year with revenues of €194m in 2004. The acquisition will complement its Chronopost operations in France. GeoPost has also announced that it has acquired a Greek express company, Interattica, the fourth largest provider in the market with sales of €11m."

February 17, 2006 -- Engadget has reported that "TPG Post in Holland just issued two regular-costing 39-euro-cent stamps...with moving images. These unique plastic stamps use lenticular technology to lace twelve film stills together to replay the winning Olympic races of two skating legends (in Holland anyway). These stamps are available now from the Dutch post office."

February 17, 2006 -- The Asahi Shimbun has warned: "Beware of traveler's checks and international postal money orders (PMOs) being sent as payment for Internet transactions, especially if they are for more than the purchase amount. In a new scam, con artists ask for change in cash."

February 17, 2006 -- Reuters has reported that "A global probe of airlines suspected of fixing cargo prices widened to Asia on Wednesday as authorities searched the offices of some of the world's biggest carriers from Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong. The European Union's executive arm and the U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday raided a number of airlines on both sides of the Atlantic, while other carriers were asked for information."

February 17, 2006 -- The American Postal Workers Union has told its members that "The Postal Service provided a long-awaited outline of the Evolutionary Network Development (END) program in a meeting with APWU officers Feb. 14, 2006, the same day it submitted the plan to the Postal Rate Commission (PRC) for evaluation. The USPS is required by law to seek an advisory opinion from the PRC when it proposes to make changes in service that are national in scope. The USPS plans to replace the nine existing facility-types with five processing facility-types: Regional Distribution Centers (RDCs), which will process all classes of parcels and bundles and serve as Surface Transfer Centers; Local Processing Centers (LPCs), which will process single-piece letters and flats and cancel mail; Destination Processing Centers (DPC), which will process single-piece letters and flats; Airport Transfer Centers (ATCs), which will serve as transfer points only; and Remote Encoding Centers (RECs). Over a period of years, these facilities are expected to replace Processing & Distribution Centers, Customer Service Facilities, Bulk Mail Centers, Logistic and Distribution Centers, annexes, the Hub and Spoke Program, Air Mail Centers, Remote Encoding Centers, and International Service Centers.

February 17, 2006 -- According to the Times of India, "Government is unjustified in reinforcing monopoly of the Posts & Telegraphs Department over all postage weighing less than 500 gm. The government's proposal to buttress a virtual state monopoly when private players are present in the sector is baffling."

February 17, 2006 -- The latest copy of the National Association of Postmasters of the U.S. electronic governmental affairs newsletter is available on the NAPUS web site.

February 17, 2006 -- General Services Administration (GSA) Annual Mail Educational Forum "Solutions Today for Tomorrow's Challenges" March 22, 2006 1800 F Street NW – Auditorium Washington, DC 20405 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Registration is required for all attendees prior to the meeting date. If you have any questions or would like to register, send an email to Federal.mail@gsa.gov or contact federal mail at (202) 501-MAIL (6245) and provide your name, agency and phone number. For additional information contact: Devoanna Reels Office - (202) 501-3781 Email - devoanna.reels@gsa.gov

February 16, 2006 -- From the PR Newswire: "At a meeting of the New Orleans City Council today, the Postal Service pledged its commitment to providing the best service possible for every household and business in the New Orleans area."

February 16, 2006 -- According to The Mercury, "AUSTRALIA Post is under fire for toughening prohibitions on imports of legal firearm components through international mail services."

February 16, 2006 -- From CCNMatthews: "Canada Post has signed a new dealership contract with Barrett Services to provide postal products and services in North Harbour beginning March 13, 2006."

February 16, 2006 -- According to the Guernsey Press and Star, "THREE years ago it would have been unthinkable that Guernsey Post could enter the Awards for Achievement, let alone win anything. But on Thursday night, in front of the cream of Guernsey's business community, the company walked away with the coveted prize for best large business."

February 16, 2006 -- According to Kyodo, "The president of a holding firm established as part of Japan's postal system privatization asked the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday to consider revising the privatization laws, including giving the firm greater freedom in business acquisitions, LDP officials said. Yoshifumi Nishikawa told an LDP meeting that the present laws impose constraints on his company's future acquisitions of other firms that would be required to make the privatization successful, the officials said. He noted that Germany's postal privatization has been successful thanks to Deutsch Post's positive acquisitions of other companies."

February 16, 2006 -- African News Dimension has reported that "Liberia's former Post & Telecommunications Affairs Deputy Minister for Administration in the dissolved National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL) Towah A. Towah has disclosed a huge indebtedness of the Ministry that exposes it to legal action by the defunct Ghana Airways in the country. According to Mr. Towah, the authority of that ministry under the leadership of former minister Eugine Nagbe broke the mail transport with the company to avoid increment in debt to that government owned airline in the country. The huge debt, he said made Ghana Airways on many occasions to threaten the ministry with a lawsuit."

February 16, 2006 -- The Sioux City Journal has reported that "Union statements about the possible effects caused by moving outgoing mail processing from Sioux City to Sioux Falls are misinformed "scare tactics," a U.S. Postal Service spokesman said."

February 16, 2006 -- The Daily News-Miner has reported that "Chamber of Commerce board members from across Alaska toured the halls of the Legislature Wednesday, pressing lawmakers on issues important to small business and big industry. Nine representatives from the Fairbanks chamber met with legislative leaders on a wide list of local priorities. Among them: A resolution opposing the U.S. Postal Service's plan to change the bypass mail system between Fairbanks and Barrow."

February 16, 2006 -- The Sofia News Agency has reported that "Bulgaria's new law for postal services has been adopted at first reading in Parliament. The new rules were designed to match European Union standards, the authorities say. Once the law is put into practice, checks into a parcel will be carried out only after the sender or addressee give permission. It will be asked for in case inspectors suspect that a piece contains illegal objects or substances, media explained."

February 16, 2006 -- According to UTV, "The postal strike which has crippled services in Belfast for more than a fortnight could be over within 24 hours." See also the Belfast Telegraph.

February 16, 2006 -- Air Cargo World has reported that "Cargo traffic for United States airlines grew a bare 1.3 percent in 2005, ending the year with a slight 1.8 percent gain in December despite deepening weakness in the domestic air cargo market. Domestic cargo, including mail, fell 1.2 percent last year, according to the Air Transport Association including a 1.1 percent decline in domestic cargo in December that left the carriers behind their domestic cargo traffic from six years ago. The domestic decline included a 12.4 percent decline in domestic mail traffic for the airlines, including a 28.4 percent drop in December, marking a sharp setback in air carrier attempts to reclaim lost postal business."

February 16, 2006 -- The U.S. Postal Service has created a new resource that shares ideas designed specifically to help small business owners and entrepreneurs achieve their business goals. Impact is a new publication from the Postal Service that will be issued in four hard copy editions and eight electronic newsletter editions annually. A video version of Impact will be distributed through various news and business websites and cable network's on-demand libraries. According to the Small Business Administration, there are more than 23 million small businesses in the United States, providing about 75 percent of the new jobs added to the economy since 2002, and employing almost 50 percent of the private workforce. "Impact is one more example of the value the Postal Service places on this important customer," said Anita Bizzotto, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. "As we continue to serve small business owners, we are looking for new ways to provide the information they need and providing resources to help this entrepreneurial community prosper."

February 16, 2006 -- PC World has reported that "Microsoft hopes to charm small businesses with a new bundle of software and services called Office Live, available for public beta testing starting today. The star of the show is a free, basic Web site for your company--courtesy of Microsoft and some third-party ads that will run on the page. Office Live will also offer monthly subscriptions to a bundle of 20 Web-based "applications," many of which are templates for organizing and sharing information online."

February 16, 2006 -- From CCNMatthews: "Canada Post has announced the launch of a new online shipping solution on eBay Canada, giving Canadian eBay and PayPal members access to Canada Post shipping services directly from eBay (www.ebay.ca) and PayPal (www.paypal.com) websites. Now, Canadian users listing items on eBay.ca or eBay.com can create, purchase and print Canada Post shipping labels with postage right from their computer, making shipping easier, faster and more efficient. There are no fees to use the online platform and the cost of postage can be paid conveniently through a PayPal account. Postage-paid packages can then be mailed at any post office or street letterbox."

February 16, 2006 -- According to Reuters, "United Parcel Service Inc. has been contacted informally by the U.S. Justice Department over a transatlantic antitrust probe. "UPS understands it is not part of the probe," UPS spokesman Norman Black said. "As is its practice, UPS will cooperate with requests from government agencies."

February 16, 2006 -- KLFY has reported that "U-S Postal Service official said today that mail deliveries to the New Orleans area should improve substantially when a Hurricane Katrina-damaged plant reopens operation this spring." See also the Times-Picayune.

February 16, 2006 -- The Congressional Research Service has produced the latest version of its "Postal Reform Bills: A Side-by-Side Comparison of H.R. 22 and S. 662." Of course, if you don't want to wade through the CRS 62-page version, you can alway take a look at PostCom's "digest" version of essential comparisons.

February 16, 2006 -- The Financial Times has reported that "Deutsche Post on Wednesday abandoned its break-even target for its struggling DHL package delivery arm in the US and said it would stop reporting separate results for the unit. The news led to a substantial sell-off of the stock. The German postal group, the world's largest logistics company, has been plagued by problems, particularly over service levels, following its acquisitions of DHL and Airborne, a Seattle-based delivery company bought for $1bn in 2002."

February 16, 2006 -- From PR Newswire:

PostalWatch distributed a Congressional Briefing entitled "Postal Expenses Continue to Rise" to Members of both Houses of Congress. The briefing analyzes the U.S. Postal Service's skyrocketing operational expenses, which are escalating rapidly despite a reduced postal workforce and other postal cost-cutting initiative.
Pitney Bowes Inc. and Canada Post have partnered to provide a new online shipping solution for eBay Canada and PayPal customers. This new service enables Canadian eBay users who list items on eBay.ca to create, purchase and print Canada Post shipping labels with postage right from their computers. Packages can then be mailed at any Canadian post office or street letterbox.

February 15, 2006 -- UPS has announced the launch of package shipping services for Canadian eBay users, enabling them to easily ship goods to buyers within or outside Canada via UPS. By integrating UPS service options directly into the Canadian eBay site, as is already the case on eBay's U.S. site, users will be able to ship within Canada and internationally just with one click of their computer mouse. The UPS shipping tools allow eBay sellers to calculate costs, request a UPS pick-up, track shipments, review transit times and print shipping labels all at the point of transaction. Both international and domestic UPS shipping labels are available and can be paid for via PayPal, an online payment system. Benefits to eBay buyers include the ability to control costs using the time-in-transit and service calculator tools to best determine which UPS service to choose.

February 15, 2006 -- In case you haven't noticed it, we have enhanced the postcom.org site search feature. Now, from just one convenient place, you can search the postcom.org, the www.usps.com, the ribbs.usps.gov,