Postal News from October 2007:
October 31, 2007
Supply & Demand Chain Executive has reported that "Europe's parcel and
express delivery business is expected to continue to grow at a higher rate than
in previous years due to an increase in business-to-consumer (B2C) traffic and
strong international demand, according to new research by market analyst
Datamonitor. However, the research, "European Express Market Map 2008," which
covers 12 major European markets, says that although currently exhibiting a
higher growth rate than parcel services, express services are going to have to
demonstrate extra value as customer demand is shifting to using cheaper yet
reliable parcel services in key growth areas of international and
business-to-consumer (B2C) delivery services."
From
Business Wire: "Pitney Bowes Inc. has lauded the Postal Regulatory Commission
for successfully creating new rules that ensure a vibrant future for the
American mailstream. The five-member commission has been working since January
to write the regulations to implement the landmark postal reform bill signed
into law last year. It has been a daunting task to translate the 28,000-word law
into specific regulations that mailers and the U.S. Postal Service can use to
guide their actions, and Pitney Bowes praised the commission's hard work and
good results."
Forbes has reported that "Royal Mail has announced operating profits of 233
mln stg for the year to March 25, down a third on the prior year's 355 mln,
mainly because of a 193 mln rise in pension costs." See also
Reuters, the BBC,
and
The Times.
According to
the Communication Workers
Union, "Royal Mail’s profits are disappointing and come as a direct result
of mismanagement, Postcomm’s irresponsible decisions, and unfair competition."
[This is the British version of "don't blame you, don't blame me, blame the
regulator behind the tree.]
Computing has reported that "Royal Mail expects to save £300m over the next
two years thanks to an electronic sourcing system handling purchasing of
everything from vans to pencils. More than 950 contracts are now live on the
system, which aims to improve co-ordination of the firm’s £2.5bn-worth of annual
procurements and 100 purchasing staff."
According to
The Times:
Royal Mail plans to close its final-salary pension scheme to all employees in a move that could plunge the business further into industrial turmoil. The decision is expected to trigger strikes by thousands of postal managers, in addition to unrest among its 130,000 employees who are in dispute over pay and working arrangements. Royal Mail is expected to write to employees soon to outline sweeping changes to the pension scheme, including raising the retirement age by five years.
Royal Mail's chief executive, Adam Crozier, has been awarded £1.12 million in pay and bonuses as the strike-ridden UK postal service reported a 34.3 per cent fall in profits as a result of increasing pension costs.
The
Jerusalem Post has reported that "The Postal Workers Union announced
Wednesday that it will postpone a strike planned for Thursday until the
beginning of next week, Army Radio reported. The postponement of the strike is
intended to allow additional time for negotiations with the Communications
Ministry."
CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU Consultancy, has reported that:
A turnover increase of more than 10 per cent and an increase of more than 74 per cent in net profit in the first 9 months - yet TNT CEO Peter Bakker preferred to talk of only a "satisfactory result."
Schweizerische Post has managed to significantly increase turnover as well as overall profit in the first three quarters of the current year.
`The Finnish post Itella has completed the third quarter with growth in all business areas.
Significantly risen costs have brought Posten Norge AS a declining result, despite increasing turnovers.
According to rumours, the Axel Springer publishing company could be backing out of its mail service commitment in Germany.
"With improved results in all core activities, Posten is delivering a strong result for the first 9 months of the year".
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The European Commission is investigating the French state’s guarantee for La Poste.
There are clear signs of staff cutbacks at La Poste in Belgium. Postal CEO Johnny Thijs presented his plan for the restructuring of the company last week. Part-time workers play a significant role in the plans.
Employees of the Bulgarian post are ready to go on strike.
The planned extension of the Cologne/Bonn airport to become the new FedEx hub for Central and Eastern Europe has apparently placed a heavy strain on the airport’s relationship with UPS.
DPD GeoPost is apparently having difficulties breaking into the German express market.
UPS and FedEx plan to expand their presence on the Chinese market with additional shops.
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Deutsche Post and India Post plan to cooperate closely in the future.
UPS disclosed last week that it entered into a 7bn billion dollar credit facility with an American consortium of banks, which includes Citybank amongst others.
A further privatisation of the Belgian telecommunication and postal sector is apparently the subject of current coalition negotiations.
Deutsche Post is anticipating savings in the three-digit millions from the announced capital market programme.
The Mexican post plans to invest up to 1.9m euros in a new surveillance system...because...every now and then, there were employees who would open or steal consignments.
Sweden’s rural postmen are very popular with the population as well as with companies.
Thanks to hybrid mail services, 20 to 25 per cent fewer emissions are being blasted into the air. This was reported by the »Environmental Leader« (25.10) in reference to ViaPost, the British operator, which plans to launch soon in Britain.
Theft from house mailboxes is becoming an increasing problem in the Netherlands.
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. (We appreciate the courtesy extended by CEP News to help whet your appetite for more of what CEP offers.)
The
Associated
Press has reported that "The U.S. Postal Inspection Service has offered a
reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to those responsible for a
package containing an explosive device found at a post office. The Detroit News
reports the package was placed in a collection box Tuesday at an apartment
complex in the Detroit suburb of Northville. Police blocked off a one-square
mile radius for three hours around the Northville post office as a bomb squad
doused the parcel with a water cannon. Officials are testing the package for
fingerprints or DNA."
The U.S.
Postal Service has announced that Damon Manz has been appointed Manager,
Operations Budget and Performance Management, in Operations Support at
Headquarters.
From
the
Federal Register: "The Postal Service is amending the Mailing Standards of
the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM[supreg]) to
remove references to the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Federated
States of Micronesia. Mail to the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the
Federated States of Micronesia is no longer treated as international mail.
Effective Date: November 19, 2007."
From
Business Wire:
"Melissa Data, www.melissadata.com, a
data quality software and services provider, announced its free Internet-based
Address LookUp search tool that is available for mailers who want to ensure
timely delivery of cards, gifts and letters during the heavy holiday mailing
season."
Deutsche Post AG and German labor union Ver.di's minimum wage agreement for
postal industry workers definitely meets Social Democrat and Christian Democrat
conditions for the introduction of a blanket minimum wage standard, a Deutsche
Post spokesman told
Dow Jones
Newswires.
The
latest issue of the National Association of Major
Mail Users (NAMMU) eView
has been posted on this site.
Reuters has noted that "Package delivery giants FedEx Corp and United Parcel
Service Inc on Monday gave peak package day forecasts, with both predicting
higher volumes despite slower U.S. economic growth. Memphis-based FedEx expects
11.3 million packages to move through its FedEx Express and FedEx Ground
networks on Dec 17, compared with an average daily volume of 7 million packages,
the company said in a press release.
According to
PrintWeek, "Online postal service ViaPost, due to roll out in early
December, has attracted the attentions of direct mail printers."
SanLuisObispo.com has reported that "Rep. Kevin McCarthy introduced a
resolution today urging the U.S. Postal Service to set aside space in local
branches for photos of military personnel serving overseas. The action, which
also commends post offices that post such displays, came a week after the
nation’s deputy postmaster general ordered the Paso Robles post office to return
several dozen photos of troops serving abroad to a wall in the facility’s lobby.
The photos were removed after a customer complained that the display was
pro-war. Local postal officials said the photos violated a regulation against
displays of non-postal material. McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, whose district
includes Paso Robles objected to the decision and contacted the postmaster
general’s office to reverse it."
The
Economic Times has reported that "This is one mail courier companies would
be praying is returned to the sender. A Cabinet note circulated by the
department of posts has mooted 49% cap on FDI in courier business. If the
proposal goes through, multinationals like Fedex, DHL, UPS and TNT who hold more
than 49% in Indian ventures will have to pare stake. The draft of the Indian
Post Office (Amendment) Bill has another whammy in store for the private sector.
It proposes to make letters, parcels and packets weighing up to 150 gm the
exclusive preserve of India Post. Private players will have to charge 2.5 times
the tariff specified by Speed Post to operate in this segment."
The
Hindu has reported that "Employees of the Postal Department on Tuesday
staged a protest heeding the call for a nation-wide strike given by the National
Federation of Postal Employees and the Federation of National Postal
Organisations.
From
Canada NewsWire: ""The federal government has proposed legislation which
could undermine Canada Post's ability to provide universal postal service,
particularly in rural and remote parts of our country. They have made this major
move without conducting a proper review of the post office," said Deborah
Bourque, National President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW)."
BruneiDirect has reported that "The Postal Services Department will be
introducing a new service, Hybrid Mail, in November. Hybrid mail allows
customers to send in their letters via e-mail to the department, which will then
sort it out electronically, prints it and delivers it in physical form to the
intended recipient. The introduction of the service is to ensure the rapid
process and delivery of letters to customers."
October 30, 2007
PostCom welcomes its newest members:
Sprint Nextel 6130 Sprint Parkway Overland Park, Kansas 66251-6114 represented by Kathleen Baker Manager, Print Strategy and Management Corporate Brand Marketing
CH Robinson Worldwide 14800 Charlson Road, Suite 600 Eden Prairie, MN 55347-5049 represented by Scott Treitline Director of Postal Affairs
The
DM Bulletin has noted that "Royal Mail plans to offer marketers the ability
to develop and deliver mail packs that appeal to senses such as taste, sound and
smell."
The
Smithsonian’s
National Postal Museum has announced that it has received a $1
million gift from the Motorola Foundation to support the museum’s upcoming
“Systems At Work” exhibition gallery. Most people are unaware of the roles the
postal system has played in American history and its vital contributions to the
social and economic structure of the nation today. The “Systems At Work” exhibit
will unlock the mystery of the mail by explaining what happens after a letter is
dropped into a mailbox. The exhibit will showcase technological advances from
the colonial past to the present day and explain the workings of a complex
network of mail processing and distribution.
A summary of
today's House postal oversight
hearing has been posted on this site. You can find the testimony filed by
the various witnesses on the House subcommittee web site.
As the
Washington Post has noted, "The Postal Regulatory Commission yesterday took
an important step in reshaping the U.S. Postal Service, eight months ahead of
the deadline set by Congress."
The
Naples Daily News questions a USPS policy about mail delivery.
Tempo Interactive has reported that "Indonesia suggested that members of the
Universal Postal Union (UPU) accommodate the service that is applied in
developing countries in order to simplify postal shipment among countries."
According to the
Jerusalem Post, "The Postal Workers Union threatened a general strike
beginning on Thursday if new rates for sending parcels are implemented, Army
Radio reported on Tuesday. According to the report, the Israel Postal Authority
is claiming that that the new rates will damage the postal services standing
against competitors."
The
Daily
Yomiuri has reported that "The Japan Postal Union (JPU) and All Japan Postal
Office Labor Union (Zenyusei)--two of now privatized Japan Post's biggest
unions--merged on Oct. 22 to form the nation's largest corporate labor union.
With 220,000 members, Japan Post Group Union (JP Union) eclipses NTT's
180,000-member labor union. Zenyusei Chairman Yoshikazu Yamaguchi became the
first chairman of the merged union, while JPU Secretary General Shozo Namba
landed the post of secretary general."
October 29, 2007
The
PRC has announced
that it has issued
Final Regulations on Rulemaking for the New Ratemaking System. A press briefing
will be held on Thursday, November 1, 2007 2:00 pm in the Postal Regulatory
Commission Hearing Room, 901 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC
20001.
CBC News has reported that "Canada Post is planning to cancel home delivery
to nearly half of its customers along some rural routes in Quebec's Eastern
Townships because of road safety concerns. The postal agency is evaluating the
safety of mail routes across Canada, after three carriers died and 37 were
injured while making deliveries since 2005. Nearly 40 per cent of the routes
examined in the Eastern Townships have failed the safety evaluation, because
they present a hazard to carriers forced to stop on winding roads with high
speed limits."
"Will
Increased Postal Rates Put Mailers out of Business?" That's the subject of a
postal oversight hearing to be held tomorrow by the House Subcommittee on
Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia, 10:00 AM at
2154 Rayburn House Office Building. The list of witnesses includes: Mr. James C.
Miller, III Chairman, Board of Governors, United States Postal Service; Mr. John
Potter, Postmaster General, United States Postal Service; Mr. Dan Blair,
Chairman, Postal Regulatory Commission; Mr. Steve Stallone, President,
International Labor Communications Association; Mr. Victor Navasky, Publisher
Emeritus, The Nation and the Columbia Journalism Review; Mr. Jeff Hollingsworth,
Vice President, Eagle Publishing; Mr. Max Heath, Vice-President of
Postal/Acquisitions, Landmark Community Newspapers; Mr. Hamilton Davison,
Executive Director, American Catalog Mailers Association; Mr. David Straus,
Counsel, American Business Media; Mr.
James O’Brien, Vice President Distribution & Postal Affairs, Time Inc.;
Mr. Mark White, Vice President Manufacturing, U.S. News & World Reports;
Mr. Joseph Schick, Director Postal
Affairs, Quad/Graphics Inc;. Ms. Anita Pursley, Vice President, Postal Affairs,
Quebecor World Logistics; Mr. Jerry Cerasale, Senior Vice President
Government Affairs, Direct Marketing Association; Mr. Clay Hall, Chief Executive
Officer, Aspire Media. [Highlighted are PostCom Board members.]
The Office
of the USPS Inspector General has issued a new audit report:
The Postal
Service’s Comprehensive Strategic Workforce Plan (Report Number HMAR07004).
It was critical of the USPS’ approach to longterm workforce planning.
According to
the
Washington Post, "The magazines stack up, unread, on your coffee table: the
New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Sports Illustrated, Vanity Fair. You subscribe to
them but don't have time to read them. So there they sit, a glossy pile of
guilt. Where you see wasted money, Jeremy Brosowsky saw a business opportunity.
The Washington publishing entrepreneur recently rolled out Brijit, a Web site
that creates 100-word abstracts of articles from dozens of magazines and rates
them. Brijit, Brosowsky said, aims to be "everyone's best-read friend." Now on
Brijit are summations of articles in current issues of GQ, Wired, Mother Jones,
ESPN the Magazine, the Economist, Smithsonian and more than 50 other magazines."
From
PR Newswire:
"San Diego District Manager John E. Platt announced the return of nine relocated
Post Offices to their buildings effective Monday, October 29. That leaves only
five Post Offices in the four-county San Diego District remaining at relocated
sites."
According to
Crain's Detroit Business, "Sen. Charles Schumer is urging the U.S. Postal
Service to halt a planned merger of Bronx and Manhattan mail-processing centers
that would add nearly 117 new daily truck trips between the boroughs just as the
city pushes congestion pricing."
The
New York Post
has reported that "Sen. Charles Schumer is urging the U.S. Postal Service to
halt a planned merger of Bronx and Manhattan mail-processing centers that would
add nearly 117 new daily truck trips between the boroughs just as the city
pushes congestion pricing."
From
PR-Inside: "Dutch postal company TNT NV said sales and profits rose in the
third quarter, due to growth in both its mail and express delivery operations."
October 28, 2007
According to
the
Sunday Mail, "Disastrous security lapses at the heart of the Royal Mail are
revealed in a shock Sunday Mail investigation. Our reporter was given work
inside Scotland’s biggest sorting office after saying he was agency staff. No
one asked him for ID. Incredibly, he spent an hour-and-a-half handling thousands
of letters and parcels – some with credit cards, sensitive NHS papersand voter
registration documents. No one asked him for ID, no one vetted him, no one asked
if he had any experience – and his health and safety training lasted seven
seconds."
The BBC
has reported that:
The Royal Mail has ended Sunday postal collections after 17 years in what it
The
Michigan Citizen has reported that "Postal workers met with United States
Postal Service (USPS) district managers Tues., Oct. 23 to hear the details
around a proposed plan to consolidate mail operations in the Detroit area,
including a relocation to Pontiac. During the public meeting workers and union
representatives voiced serious concerns about job security and quality of mail
service. The proposed restructuring of operations, called Area Mail Processing
(AMP), would affect around 160 positions at the Detroit plant on Fort St.
Approximately 79 positions would be relocated to the newly built Michigan
Metroplex Processing and Distribution Center in Pontiac."
October 27, 2007
The
Blackpool Gazette has reported that "trading Standards bosses have issued a
warning of a postal scam in the run-up to Christmas. A card is posted through
your door from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) suggesting that
they have been unable to deliver a parcel to your address. The card instructs
you to call a premium rate telephone number to retrieve your parcel. But
consumer watchdogs say those who dial the number will hear a recorded message at
which point they have already have been charged £15 for the call. Royal Mail
said customers who receive a card should call Royal Mail Fraud on (0207) 239
6655 or ICSTIS (the premium rate service regulator) at
www.icstis.org.uk."
According to
the
Washington Post, "Netflix is experimenting, too. After all, the by-mail
business model that made it a success could disappear as quickly as the old
mom-and-pop video store, particularly if Apple or Amazon figures out a more
appealing approach that doesn't rely on the U.S. Postal Service."
From
the U.S. Postal Service:
"Virtually every resident and business in Southern California will receive mail
delivery today, either from their letter carrier, in their Post Office Box or at
temporary Post Offices established for evacuated communities. Despite the fires
that have ravaged homes and businesses, the mail has never stopped moving.
Postal employees have been delivering the mail wherever it is safe to do so.
Delivery was made today to more than 99.8 percent of all addresses in Southern
California."
The
Edmunton Sun has reported that "Family and friends of soldiers in
Afghanistan can mail them parcels and letters for free until Jan. 11, 2008, the
federal government said yesterday. Families must send mail through Canada Post
full-service retail outlets, and can also use the service to reach out to
soldiers serving in any war zone, including Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Sinai
Peninsula and Jerusalem and on Canadian ships at sea."
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 26, 2007
Advertising
Age has reported that "After years of development, Time Inc. plans to
introduce an online service next year that will offer pay-as-you-go,
mix-and-match, highly flexible magazine subscriptions from a variety of
publishers. Consumers using the service, to be called Maghound, will be able to
pay one monthly fee for three subscriptions, with the ability to swap one title
out for a new one or cancel entirely at any point."
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The latest issue of
the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:
The Association for Postal Commerce and two of its members – GrayHair Software and Bank of America Corp. – have written to the USPS Board of Governors asking it to approve the Postal Service’s negotiated service agreement with the financial institution.
Wildfires burning from Los Angeles to Mexico have made headlines, taken lives and forced more than a half-million people from their homes in Southern California. Here’s how the fires are disrupting postal operations, and closing post offices and roads in the affected areas.
This column highlights the efforts direct marketers are taking to lower their own postage costs in light of the increase in postage rates in the spring. The latter part of the column suggests some marketers are moving away from mail while others will continue to use mail but in more creative ways.
PostCom elects officers, directors. Postal Service unveils new ‘Today’s Mail’ tagline. UPS 3rd quarter earnings up. UPS Store lawsuit certified as class-action.
Royal Mail, CWU strike deal; ratification vote awaits. EU commission probes French guarantees to La Poste. Correos faces big union pay lawsuit. U.S. wants open competition in Japan. Cuban post accuses USPS of stalling its mail. Stickups threaten Brazilian posties. DHL plans Russian expansion.
A list of upcoming postal-related events.

The
Wall Street Journal has reported that "FedEx Corp. has said it will raise
its FedEx Express air-shipping rate by 4.9% effective Jan. 7. The new rate,
which represents a 6.9% increase offset by a two percentage-point cut in the
fuel surcharge, applies to U.S. and U.S. export express package and freight
shipments. The package-delivery giant also plans to raise rates and surcharges
for FedEx Ground in 2008; it will announce the changes later this year. Also in
2008, FedEx Express customers importing goods to the U.S. will pay U.S. dollar
rates."
According to
FedSmith, "A postal supervisor won an order from the Merit Systems
Protection Board overturning his removal and mitigating the penalty to
suspension and assignment to a non-supervisory position. He now challenges the
agency's failure to place him in a position that would have required the agency
to breach its collective bargaining agreement. He sought an enforcement order,
but the Board sided with the agency. Now, the Federal Circuit has affirmed,
holding that the Board was correct in its interpretation that its reassignment
order does not require the agency to breach its bargaining agreement. (Gutkowski
v. United States Postal Service, C.A.F.C. No. 2007-3022, 10/23/07)"
The
American Chronicle has reported that "The United States Postal Inspectors
have produced a pretty telling video showing how Internet criminals lure people
into taking jobs that will cause them financial and legal trouble. The film
entitled, Work@Home Scams: They Just Don't Pay shows what happens to people, who
accept work-at-home jobs that aren't what they appear to be. It also speaks to
how this problem has grown from ads in the classified section of newspapers and
magazines to being plastered all over the Internet."
USPS
San
Diego District Manager John E. Platt said today that virtually all residents
and businesses in San Diego County will receive mail delivery today, either from
their letter carrier, in their Post Office Box or at temporary Post Offices
established for evacuated communities. Express Mail, Priority Mail and
First-Class Mail will be delivered as usual. Customers are requested to pick up
their mail daily, including from their Post Office Boxes, as volumes will be
heavy for a few days.
The
Wall Street Journal has reported that "Older Americans around the country
are getting duped by a seemingly innocuous tactic that can expose them to
hard-sell pitches from the insurance industry. The technique is centered on a
marketing tool called the lead card, and it became popular after the federal
government created its Do Not Call Registry in 2003 to shield consumers from
unwanted solicitors. Sent through the mail, the lead card invites the recipient
to mail off an enclosed reply for free information about, say, estate planning.
But the cards fail to warn that by sending off replies, recipients are giving up
their right to avoid telephone solicitations from the sender -- even if their
phone numbers are on the Do Not Call list. "It's a huge loophole," says Pam
Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum, a San Diego nonprofit
researcher of privacy issues including commercial use of personal information."
Precision Marketing has reported that "Homeserve, the emergency policy and
repair business, has handed TNT Post its mailing contract, signaling another
blow to Royal Mail. The deal, which will see Homeserve move its business from
Royal Mail to TNT, is due to competitive prices and TNT’s clearer view of its
business delivery service. The move will cause another blow to Royal Mail -
already in the midst of internal turmoil."
October 25, 2007
Environmental Leader has reported that "ViaPost, which plans to launch soon
in the UK, claims to cut carbon emissions from postal deliveries by 20-25
percent. The company, working with Royal Mail and Microsoft, lets you send
correspondence directly from a computer to any UK address. You download a driver
from ViaPost’s Website, type the letter on your computer, and choose ViaPost as
your printer option. The letter is sent digitally to the ViaPost office nearest
to your destination address. The letter is printed and sealed automatically, and
delivered by Royal Mail."
The
Washington Post has reported that "big three credit reporting bureau Equifax
on Wednesday detailed its plan to offer certain consumers the ability to freeze
their credit files as a means of preventing identity theft.
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The U.S. Postal Service will highlight professional employment opportunities in nearly every occupation during a free career information event on Wednesday, Nov. 14 in Washington, DC. CareerSMART will showcase the Postal Service’s need for professionals, e.g., accountants, lawyers and engineers, and give job seekers opportunities to talk with USPS representatives about advantages of a Postal Service career. Candidates will learn about current openings and can drop off résumés.
A reminder from the Postal Service: Service updates are regularly
provided on the Postal Service website for any natural disaster or other
emergency. To access information about mail services and the California
wildfires, just go to:
http://www.usps.com/communications/news/serviceupdates.htm?from=bannercommunications&page=serviceupdates#ca
As
The Guardian has asked: "Royal Mail: who wins?" Good question.
As
Fox6 San Diego has noted, "Mail deliveries from 12 post offices in San Diego
County are being curtailed due to the wildfire crisis in the region, according
to the U.S. Postal Service."
According to
the
Southlake Times, "The U.S. Postal Service has joined with U.S. Customs and
Border Protection and the U.S. Attorney to combat check fraud."
The
CBC
has reported that "Shoppers seeking more variety and lower prices from online
retailers in the U.S. are finding it's taking weeks for packages to be delivered
to Canadian addresses. The Canada Border Services Agency said it has recorded an
uptick in mail. "The number of online purchases arriving by mail has recently
surged, in part due to the strong Canadian dollar and the commencement of the
holiday season — the busiest time of the year for postal services," Chris
Williams, a CBSA spokesman, said in an e-mail. Williams said that despite
challenging circumstances, the CBSA is releasing the majority of incoming mail
into the Canada Post system for delivery."
The
Colfax Record has noted that "Colfax resident Patti Peterson recently
received national recognition for addressing an envelope. Peterson's envelope
was selected as one of 29 winners out of nearly 200 entries utilizing the theme
of "A Mailable Feast" for the annual contest sponsored by the National
Association of Letter Carriers. The Smithsonian Institute's National Postal
Museum originated the competition in 1995."
In his
Executive Brief, David Stubbs,
who has commented extensively on the recent postal strike in the UK for BBC and
ITV news and for the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Times, considers its causes and
impact
The
Sofia Echo has reported that "Employees of state-owned postal operator
Bulgarian Posts were ready to go on strike over a lack of reforms and
restructuring in the company. Postal workers had been preparing for months to go
on strike because of the government’s lack of vision for the future of the
operator."
October 24, 2007
An article,
"What
can the new Postal Service program called Open and Distribute do for you?"
by J. Jeffery Peoples, Founder and CEO, Window Book, Inc., has been posted on
this site.
From
Prime Newswire: "I.D. Systems, Inc. has announced that it has received
follow-on purchase orders from the United States Postal Service (USPS) to deploy
I.D. Systems' Wireless Asset Net(r) industrial vehicle management system at five
additional mail distribution facilities. The orders are cumulatively valued at
approximately $1.4 million.
The
publisher of the National
Catholic Register has told his readers that "We recently got a call from
another publication asking us how we are handling the postal rate increase.
You’ve noticed the cost of your stamps rising steadily. So have publications.
One Catholic publication that will now only publish online cites increased
postal rates as a factor. So does another — a weekly — that will now publish
every two weeks. Some call the postal rates unfair and seek to curb them. It
isn’t right, they say, to go after the little guys — the non-profit publications
— for new postal increases. That may be the case. But it may also be the case
that all the new letter and package carriers have done such an effective job at
winning the business of the “big guys” that we little guys are all the postal
services have left. Whatever the reason, though, the postal rate increase is
real, and it is difficult. Our answer to the question what we will change
because of it is: nothing, yet. We are holding on."
CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU Consultancy, has reported that:
Britain can breathe a sigh of relief: the strikes at Royal Mail appear to belong in the past.
The Spanish post Correos is facing a two-digit million figure back payment. The trigger is a lawsuit filed at the national Spanish court of justice by the union CC.OO. The employee representatives are demanding additional pay according to length of service for all those who were employed by the post last year.
The rumours of a free newspaper issued by Deutsche Post (CEP News 36/07) have apparently called various publishing houses into action. According to a report in the »Financial Times Germany« (17.10), a number of renowned publishers are interested in producing the free national daily newspaper for Deutsche Post.
Jakob Axel Nielsen, the Danish Minister of Transport and Energy, has spoken out against a swift liberalisation of the domestic postal market.
Australia Post has completed the financial year 2006/2007 (30 June) with record results. The post announced last week that turnover rose by 4 per cent to equivalent to 2.94bn euros. The post managed to increase its profit before taxes by almost 9 per cent to about 353m euros. The net profit also reached a record high, with 251.7m euros (+8.9 %). According to the post, all business segments were able to contribute to this.
In mid-October, 13 important German trade associations joined forces in order to demand a fair competition in the German postal market.
In the run-up to the liberalisation of the postal market, Deutsche Post is apparently aiming increasingly at small and medium-sized businesses. This Monday, the Group disclosed that 38 further locations would be set up especially for business customers. The official communication states that in doing so, the post is reacting to the wish of the SMBs to be able to hand over their letter and parcel consignments easily and swiftly.
Japan Post Service Co. plans to offer a hybrid service this year.
Street crime is becoming an ever-increasing problem for CEP operators in the Brazilian metropolis Sao Paulo. Last week, the CEP association Abrapost disclosed that on selected routes in the circumference of the city, postmen are now being accompanied by armed bodyguards. This concerns the postmen who deliver valuables ordered over the Internet.
Hong Kong Post and TNT Express signed a partnership agreement this Tuesday. The press service »World ACD« (16.10) reported that, together, both companies plan to operate increasingly in Hong Kong’s booming retail industry and, furthermore, to develop new business potentials.
DHL plans to invest 250m euros in its business in Russia in the next four years. Above all, the money would be used to expand the company’s own network in the world’s largest country in terms of area, postal CEO Klaus Zumwinkel told journalists during a press trip. Depending on business segment, the German post is anticipating growth rates of up to 50 per cent in Russia this year.
With a new web-based service, Canada Post is offering a comprehensive service pallet in direct marketing, aimed especially at small and medium-sized businesses.
The outsourcing of post office branches of the Hungarian post is set to begin as soon as next summer.
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. (We appreciate the courtesy extended by CEP News to help whet your appetite for more of what CEP offers.)
According to
the
Financial Times, "The Post Office is entering the fiercely competitive
broadband market and promising to poach customers from Carphone Warehouse and
Tiscali. The company, part of the state-owned Royal Mail group, is aiming to
have 1m broadband and fixed-line telephone customers by 2010-11. The Post Office
will rely on its 14,500 branches across the UK to offer a sales network for
broadband that other companies cannot match. It is also hoping its brand will
fuel sales. The company’s high-speed internet deals will be slightly more
expensive than leading low-cost broadband providers. But it said a wholesale
deal with BT, Britain’s leading telecommunications company, will ensure it
offers a better consumer experience than rivals."
According to
Smart Money, "United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) expects domestic package
volume in the fourth quarter to increase at its slowest rate in four years, but
executives said Tuesday there are signs that trends in the U.S. small-package
market are starting to improve. Chief Financial Officer Scott Davis said during
a conference call following the release of third-quarter results that retail
sales growth in the U.S. is weak and that it remains a "wild card." He noted
that the company sees economic growth in the U.S. this year at about 2%, and
that it remains to be seen how quickly the U.S. economy will return to long-term
growth trends." See also
Bloomberg.
AMEInfo has reported that
"Emirates Post and India Post have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to
enable UAE residents to transfer money to India through India Post's vast postal
network."
The
Tocqueville Connection has reported that "The European Commission on Tuesday
announced an in-depth investigation into French government guarantees for the
national postal service, La Poste. The formal investigation against France
concerns the unlimited state guarantee provided for La Poste which "enables La
Poste to obtain finance on favourable terms," the EU's top competition watchdog
said in a statement. "Because its competitors do not enjoy the same advantage,
the guarantee is likely to distort competition to an extent detrimental to the
common interest, at a time when the postal sector is in the process of being
liberalised," it said."
The
Cincinnati Enquirer has reported that "The local American Postal Workers
Union will hold two informational pickets today to inform customers of the cut
in hours at local post offices."
October 23, 2007
You can get the latest information from the U.S. Postal Service about
mail service and the California
fires by checking the USPS' RIBBS web site..
UPS
today reported a 9.4% increase in adjusted diluted earnings per share for its
third quarter on a 4.7% gain in revenue. The company saw significant improvement
in the supply chain and freight segment and good gains in its international
business. Its U.S. small package operation posted modest improvement in spite of
a sluggish economy.
The
Journal Star
has reported that "Dozens of postal workers stood outside the Downtown post
office processing center on Monday afternoon to protest what one worker called
"an ill-advised decision" on the part of officials."
TVPredictions has
reported that "NetFlix yesterday said it may deliver movies directly to the home
by using Internet-connected HDTV DVD players. The company now uses postal mail
service to distribute DVDs to more than five million subscribers. But in a
Monday conference call with financial analysts, NetFlix CEO Reed Hastings said
the company will enter the online distribution business next year."
The
New York Times has reported that "an effort intended to update the Postal
Service’s image might be best commemorated with a stamp proclaiming, “Today is
the first day of the rest of your life.” The campaign, getting under way this
week, offers the theme “Today’s Mail” as a way to refer to the post office. The
phrase, accompanied by the Postal Service’s familiar stylized eagle logo,
appears as the closing signature in print, online and direct-mail advertisements
in place of the words “United States Postal Service.” The campaign is being
produced by Campbell-Ewald in Warren, Mich., part of the Interpublic Group of
Companies, which has been the lead creative agency for the Postal Service since
July 2002. The Postal Service spends $30 million to $35 million each year on
advertising."
As reported
by the
Detroit Free Press, "The proposed shift of some first-class letter
operations and jobs from Detroit to Pontiac will save millions of dollars but
will not affect business and residential services, Postal Service officials said
Monday. The consolidation calls for all outgoing first-class mail from the
Detroit area -- ZIP codes beginning 481 and 482 -- to be processed at the
Michigan Metroplex Processing and Distribution Center being built in Pontiac.
The Detroit Post Office, with about 2,500 employees, will remain a hub for bulk
and other mailings."
The BBC
has reported that:
Postal staff are awaiting details of changes to their pension scheme, but there is still disagreement between Royal Mail and unions over the reforms. Royal Mail says the Communication Workers Union (CWU) has agreed to the closure of its final salary scheme. But the union says it has only agreed to a consultation on changes, which will then be put to a ballot of all its Royal Mail and Post Office members. "The final details have not been decided on," said a CWU spokeswoman. (See also the BBC's "Q&A: Your Pension and You.")
A major programme of 44 local post office branch closures has been announced in parts of Scotland. See also the Daily Record.
Personnel Today has a short review of the Royal Mail-CWU agreement.
The
Guardian has reported that "An end to the bitter postal workers' dispute is
in sight after union leaders ratified a deal on pay and modernisation aimed at
halting months of disruption to mail deliveries. Around 130,000 members of the
Communication Workers Union will now vote on whether to accept the agreement and
break the deadlocked row which has cost the Royal Mail tens of millions of
pounds and hit domestic and business customers across the UK." See also the
Financial Times.
As the
Wall Street
Journal has noted, "While identity thieves used a wide combination of
methods, fewer than 20% of the crimes involved the Internet.
The most frequently
used non-technological method was the rerouting of mail through change of
address cards."
DI-VE has
reported that "Lombard Bank Malta plc CEO and Director Joseph Said has been
appointed Chairman of Maltapost plc, succeeding David Stellini who shall however
retain a place on the Board. The change at the helm of the postal company
follows the recent acquisition by Lombard Bank of an additional 25 per cent
shareholding in Maltapost from the Government."
October 22, 2007
At last week's meeting of the Board of Directors of the Association for Postal
Commerce, the following were elected for two-year terms as officers of the
association: as chairman, Jim O'Brien, (Time Inc.); as executive vice
chairman, Jody Berenblatt (Bank of America); as secretary, Donna
Hanberry (Alliance of Independent Store Owners and Professionals), and as
treasurer, Dan Emens (JPMorgan Chase). Also elected as new directors of
the association for a three year term were: Richard Eaton (Highlights For
Children); Bob Gillen (Epsilon/Abacus); Scott Lorenz (Hearst
Magazines); David Robinson (Pitney Bowes Software Solutions); and
Timothy Ryan (Quebecor World Logistics).
Reuters has reported that "The postal workers' union said on Monday its
executive committee had ratified a deal to end the strikes that have brought
chaos to the post service. In a brief statement, the Communication Workers'
Union said it had backed a national agreement made with Royal Mail last week
would now put the deal to its 130,000 members." See also
The
Guardian and the
BBC.
Direct Newsline has reported that you can
"Add to the list of services claiming to help consumers opt out of unwanted
direct mail Catalog Choice, a not-for-profit launched earlier this
month....According to a report in the
New York Times, more than 20,000 people
had registered on Catalog Choice as of last week. Catalog Choice was developed
by three non-profits, National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources
Defense Council and the Ecology Center. It is supported with funding from The
Overbrook Foundation, the Kendeda Fund and the Merck Family Fund."
According to
the
Financial Times, "The end of the postal dispute was thought to be in sight
last night, with senior union officials understood to be close to backing Royal
Mail's improved offer on pay, pensions and working practices. The framework of
the deal was agreed over a week ago by Adam Crozier, Royal Mail chief executive,
and Bill Hayes, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union. However,
members of the union's postal executive have yet to endorse the deal. Union
officials are understood to have sought further details of how changes to
working practices would be negotiated at local level. The offer, which includes
a 6.9 per cent pay rise starting from this October and lasting for 18 months, is
expected to go to a ballot of the union's 130,000 Royal Mail members if it wins
the backing of the union's postal executive."
The
Los Angeles Business Journal has reported that "With the industry reeling
from the Royal Mail disruption, we find ourselves with a timely reminder of why
we must integrate our media. It is natural that we should be concerned about the
effects the strike will have on our businesses, but it shouldn't be the major
inhibitor that it is for many."
According to
Precision Marketing, "With the industry reeling from the Royal Mail
disruption, we find ourselves with a timely reminder of why we must integrate
our media. It is natural that we should be concerned about the effects the
strike will have on our businesses, but it shouldn't be the major inhibitor that
it is for many."
The
Copenhagen Post has
reported that "Competitors of Post Danmark will probably have to exercise ample
patience before the market is fully liberalised, according to Jakob Axel
Nielsen, the transport and energy minister."
The
National Assciation of Major Mail Users
publication, Mailworks, is available on
this site.
October 21, 2007
The
News Journal has reported that "Since the 1990s, China's international
courier market has gradually been taken over by the four international giants --
DHL, TNT, UPS and FedEx, which have been growing by more than 20 percent to 40
percent per annum. EMS, the courier service by China Post, has been declining by
4 percent year-on-year."
October 20, 2007
The
Postal
Regulatory Commission has issued a "Notice Of Removing Protective Conditions From Opinion And
Recommended Decision Originally Filed On October 3, 2007 Under Seal." So,
if you're looking for an
unredacted
version of the MC2007-1 recommended decision on the Bank of America NSA, you
can find it posted on the
PRC web site.
You can find the
working papers posted there too.
October 19, 2007
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The latest issue of
the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:
The U. S. Postal Service published in the October 17, 2007 Federal Register its proposed rules establishing modern service standards for all market-dominant products (as required by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act). The USPS says under its proposed service standards an estimated 89.7 percent of the total market-dominant product mail volume would have a service standard in the one- to five-day range; 10.1 percent would have a service standard in the six- to ten-day range, and 0.1 percent would have a service standard greater than ten days based on FY 2006 domestic mail volumes. PostCom urges all mailers to review and comment on the USPS’ proposed service standards changes; comments are due by November 16, 2007. The new service standards will be implemented in January 2008.
The U.S. Postal Service recently told vendors of CASS/MASS software it intends to extend CASS Cycle L for an additional year, and will hold off on implementing CASS Cycle M requirements until August 1, 2009. Yesterday the USPS notified associations that represent mailers (users of CASS and MASS software), including PostCom, of its intention to extend Cycle L for an extra year.
Postal commentator Gene Del Polito shares his views about the workings of the Postal Regulatory Commission, the USPS Board of Governors and the new Bank of America NSA in this perspective.
In this perspective, PostCom consultant Kathy Siviter evaluates the modern service standards for market-dominant products proposed by the Postal Service this week.
New USPS Inspector General report available. Eskew to retire from UPS, Davis named successor. Postal workers back Edwards.
Canada Post to spend $1.7 billion for new equipment. Royal Mail, union agree to end postal strikes.
A list of upcoming postal-related events.

In his
latest perspective, PostCom Postal Bulletin commentator
Gene Del Polito
wrote that "the tentative nature of the PRC's action on the Bank of America NSA
suggests that the newly incarnate Postal Regulatory Commission is trying to take
its first steps into its brave new world, but some memories of its prior life
are causing those steps to be halting ones."
The
International Post Corporation (IPC) announced at its bi-annual Board
meeting in New York City, its plans to develop a three-tier program to address
environmental sustainability among its member posts. The program will focus on
developing common sector-wide definitions and measurement systems; conducting
stakeholder research and communicating sector-wide advances in environmental
sustainability throughout the postal industry.
The
DM Bulletin has reported that "The Direct Marketing Association has warned
that the door drop industry (unaddressed
admail) could face strict measures in response to Government and public concerns
over the medium’s impact on the environment. Speaking at a doordrop media
conference organised by postal operator TNT Post, Alex Walsh, head of postal
affairs and industry development at the DMA, said environmental issues were
posing a significant threat to the direct marketing industry."
WJRT has reported that "A post office picket has dozens of people braving
today's wet weather in a show of support. A plan to consolidate parts of the
Flint post office operation with those in Pontiac could soon cost Mid-Michigan
dozens of jobs."
According to
the
Des Moines Register, "Democrat John Edwards picked up the endorsement of the
Iowa Postal Workers Union today. The union represents more than 3,000 workers.
It is the statewide branch of the AFL-CIO affiliated American Postal Workers
Union."
Yahoo! News has reported that "The Western Union Co. said Thursday it is
teaming up with cell phone service providers to develop a system that would
allow consumers to transfer money from country to country via their mobile
phones." [So much for needing the post.]
According to
the
Farmers Guardian, "postal strikes across the country have hit rural
businesses hard and look set to put a number of people out of business."
PrintWeek has noted that "St Ives this morning confirmed that it has been
appointed to handle Royal Mail's print management."
The
Belfast Telegraph has noted that "Residents living in border areas have been
left asking if they are receiving a first class service after it emerged that
letters sent to destinations just yards away are travelling hundreds of miles.
Barry McElduff, Sinn Fein MLA for West Tyrone, said he cannot understand why
letters and parcels must go on such long journeys, even though "you could throw
a paper aeroplane" between some of the border towns involved. Letters between
places such as Lifford in Co Donegal and Strabane in Co Tyrone - just hundreds
of metres apart - travel to Athlone, Dublin and then Belfast before arriving at
their intended destination, postal chiefs have confirmed."
Khaleej Times has reported that "Saudi Arabia is getting ready for home
delivery of mail. The kingdom’s entire postal delivery system is being
modernised. Mailboxes have been put up almost throughout Jeddah, and in an
effort to make the system smoother, Jeddah Municipality plans to overhaul the
city’s street-naming system. Jeddah’s streets currently have names, districts
are numbered and buildings have numbers, though not always displayed. The
current system is confusing, and since most people get mail delivered at office
addresses or at post offices, so far there has little need for a clearly defined
address system. The plan envisages a more organised numerical system that would
fit in with the kingdom’s new postal system."
Caboodle.hu has reported that "Hungarian postal operator Magyar Posta Zrt
plans to "outsource" more than 1,000 post offices across the country to private
operators, reports portal hirado.hu. The process will involve five different
tenders, the first of which will take place next summer, and involve 220 offices
in four counties."
The
New York Sun has noted that
"The French walked, used bikes, shared cars, or took the day off yesterday for
the biggest national public transport strike since 1995. Unions said the strike
will continue today. Service on most trains on the national network, metros in
Paris, and buses in major cities ground to a halt after public workers went on
strike to oppose a government plan to roll back their pension privileges. About
319,000 people at railroads, power and gas utilities, schools,
and the postal service failed to turn up
at work. The special pensions cost the state about $7.1 billion a year."
Computer Business Report has noted that "Late council tax payers won't be
able to use the UK postal strike as an excuse for non-payment any more, thanks
to the local council's deployment of a text messaging system from Avanquest.
Rather than sending out printed reminders for council tax or booking
building inspection appointments, council staff will contact people using
SMS messages. "The potential for numerous worker hours saved is enormous,
coupled with money savings - the cost of a second class stamp is 24p, a text
charge is 6p," said Bob Southgate, Babergh's head of customer services."
October 18, 2007
Mediapost has asked: "Is
there too much ad-supported media out there, particularly online? With all of
the funding from venture capitalists, and with offline media companies trying to
build online media franchises, everyone is launching ad-supported Web sites.
This doesn’t even take into account the millions of college students, small
business folks and grandmothers getting into the game in their spare time,
having recently discovered that publishing is fun — and that accepting ads like
Google AdSense on your site can get you some beer or bingo money to boot. Of
course, this flurry of activity, and competition, is freaking out some folks who
have historically controlled the ad world, but is also freaking out some
investors who are learning that there are virtually no “barriers to entry” when
it comes to creating and publishing ad-supported Web content."
According to
The
Guardian, "Crucial talks aimed at breaking the deadlocked postal workers
dispute have been adjourned and will resume again on Friday."
The
Dublin People Group has reported that "An Post said it hopes to have a
number of postboxes on the Northside reopened for public use this week after
they were sealed for security reasons. Angry householders in Grace Park Heights
and Shantalla Road in Dublin 9 said they have been seriously inconvenienced over
the past month, due to the fact that they have been unable to post mail through
their local postboxes. Residents feared the sealing of the boxes could mean that
An Post was seeking to discontinue the service in the area."
From
the U.S. Postal Service: This is to announce that
the Cycle M CASS/MASS is being postponed
to an implementation date of August 1, 2009.
Certification of customers who previously attained CASS certification using a
product specifically developed to meet the current coding requirements for
2007-2008 Cycle L will be valid through July 31, 2009. Certification testing for
Cycle L will cease on February 1, 2009. While it is likely that all previously
announced cycle M requirements will continue to be included in this postponed
cycle M, the complete list of requirements will be communicated during the
CASS/MASS Cycle M requirements meeting held in February 2008.
Engadget iMobile has reported that "Japan Post Service Co. and KDDI are
dumping tech into the snail mail world with an SMS to paper mail service. KDDI
customers will have the option to create a New Year's cards on their mobile,
then send them to the Holiday partnership for printing and mailing. Japan Post
Service is said to be planning on using all of its 24,000 offices in the country
to print and get the cards out for the expected 10 million customers. The
opportunity for gag cards here boggles, we're wishing we see something like this
over here someday."
The
Register has reported that "The Post Office has quietly opened the doors on
its aggressively-priced broadband service. The packages are supplied and run by
BT's white label managed services unit."
Air Cargo World
has reported that "With the UPS tentative parcel workers agreement in hand, the
Teamsters union is moving onto new ground in the package field. The union's
national negotiating committee met this month with representatives from DHL to
start the "historic task of negotiating a new DHL National Master Agreement,"
the Teamsters leadership told its membership last week."
Direct Newsline has reported that
"Canada Post has launched Direct Marketing Online (www.directmarketingonline.ca),
a service designed to give small and medium-sized businesses online access to
marketing tools once reserved for big-budget enterprises. Specifically,
companies can rent customer list, and upload their existing lists through the
service. Direct Marketing Online also provides radius search capabilities and
demographic and psychographic selection filters. In addition, the service offers
campaign data and performance analytics."
According
to the
Brisbane Times, "Australia Post has flagged further investment in its
logistics arm to propel its domestic and international expansion. The parcels
and logistics division is now the corporatised entity's biggest money-spinner,
responsible for a big part of the group's 2006-07 net profit of $400.7 million,
a rise of 8.7 per cent on the previous year's $367.9 million."
The
Guardian has reported that "Further talks aimed at ending the long-running
dispute between the Royal Mail and the Communications Workers Union which has
caused widespread disruption to postal services in recent weeks are to be held
today."
October 17, 2007
A new report
has been posted on the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General website
(http://www.uspsoig.gov/). If you have additional questions concerning the
report, please contact Wally Olihovik at 703.248. 2201, or Agapi Doulaveris at
703.248.2286.
DA-AR-07-005 - Automated Flat Sorting Machine 100 Enhancements http://www.uspsoig.gov/FOIA_files/DA-AR-07-005.pdf
From the
Federal Register: "The Postal Service proposes modern service standards for
its market-dominant products. Section 301 of the Postal Accountability and
Enhancement Act (PAEA) (codified at 39 U.S.C. 3691) requires the Postal Service,
in consultation with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), to establish by
regulation a set of modern service standards for market-dominant products, no
later than December 20, 2007. DATES: Comments must be received on or before
November 16, 2007. ADDRESSES: Mail written comments to Modern Service Standards
for Market-Dominant Products Comments, Post Office Box 23280, Washington, DC
20026-3280."
CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU Consultancy, has reported that:
On Saturday, the post’s CEO Klaus Zumwinkel confirmed to journalists that the company had cancelled about 800,000 euros worth of newspaper advertisements which had been planned for this year. Mr Zumwinkel told »Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa« that it was a "campaign by the Springer group", which was personally attacking the post and its chief executive.
Spain’s Correos has confirmed the lower profit expectation for the coming year.
The president of the French regulator ARCEP, Paul Champsaur, has called the progress of negotiations over the EU liberalisation satisfactory.
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Österreichische Post has further expanded its position on the Croatian advertising mail market.
The settlement of the question of minimum wage for postmen in Germany is increasingly becoming a legal matter.
Schweizerische Post is reinforcing its dialogue marketing commitments in Germany with the purchase of the consultancy company Client Vela.
Following sustained criticism of its nontransparent financial statements, Deutsche Post plans to make its balance sheet more transparent.
The Spanish union CC.OO. has described the decision by the EU minister to open up the postal market in 2011 or 2013 as "bad news" for EU citizens and all employees of Correos.
So-called express letterboxes have been a great success for Beijing Post. »China Economy« (11.10) reports that up to 3,000 express letters per day are sent via the bright-red boxes, which have been in place since 1 August. Now the Chinese capital’s postal organisation plans to increase the number of boxes to up to 1,000.
The Hermes Logistics Group (HLG) has entered into the Italian parcel market and at the same time managed to intensify its cooperation with Schweizerische Post.
The EU’s antitrust regulators suspect a number of international forwarding companies of having violated Article 81 of the EU competition regulations.
Belgium’s La Poste plans to merge its loss-making express subsidiary Taxipost with the parcel unit Kilopost.
Österreichische Post plans to invest about 230m euros for acquisitions in the European express parcel market in the next 2 to 3 years.
Last year, FedEx was by far the world’s largest freight airline again.
Australia Post plans to increase its shareholding in the airline Qantas Freight.
More than a fifth of employees at Malta Post have decided to leave the company, which has only just become privatised, in order to continue to work as civil servants in the public sector.
Portugal’s CTT Correios is receiving government support in its plans to create a postal bank, »Agencia Financiera«.
Bulgarian Post can process more than 300,000 letters and 7,000 parcels per day in its new hub in Sofia.
Deutsche Post plans to launch a pilot project in the west German city of Dortmund with so-called "post islands"."Clusters of machines", such as a packing station, a stamp machine and a Postbank cashpoint, for example, are to be set up, under the system name "Post 24/7".
Employees of the Venezuelan post are demanding higher pay.
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. (We appreciate the courtesy extended by CEP News to help whet your appetite for more of what CEP offers.)
Transport Intelligence has reported that "DHL Express (Poland) is building
the country's largest customer service centre in Lódz, which will support its
domestic parcel service."
Yokwe
Online has reported that "Postal Service operations in the Republic of the
Marshall Islands (RMI) are being restructured and new equipment purchased to
upgrade capabilities, according to RMI Chief Secretary Casten Nemra."
The
Sydney Morning Herald has reported that "Australia Post's parcels and
logistics division was the driver behind its record net result of $400.7 million
in fiscal 2007. The parcels division contributed just $1.2 billion in revenue to
overall earnings but added $255.9 million in its before-tax earnings to
Australia Post's profit. By contrast, its letters division pulled in $2.7
billion in revenue yet contributed only $160.0 million to the profit - an 8.4
per cent slide on the 2006 divisional result."
According to
the
Cleveland Plain Dealer, "For 10 years, the Chagrin Falls Post Office allowed
a mail carrier to take Saturdays off to observe the Sabbath. But in 2002, with a
staff shortage because of budget constraints and pressure from other carriers
upset at more frequently drawing weekend assignments, the post office ended its
arrangement with Martin Tepper and began scheduling him to work on Saturdays.
Tepper, who joined the post office in 1980 and became a Messianic Jew a few
years later, filed a complaint with the Postal Service that was rejected. He
then sued the Postal Service in federal court in Cleveland in 2004, claiming a
civil rights violation. He again lost."
The
Columbo Page has reported that "Sri Lanka Postal Department trade unions
collective has launched a Black Week protest campaign from today hoisting black
flags at Post Offices and wearing black bands. The trade unions protest the
impunity given to the culprits found guilty by investigation committees for
corruption in the Department, for not resolving the issues of malpractices and
for promoting the private mail through the newly introduced business mail."
The Telegraph has reported that "Wednesday's planned 24-hour postal
strike has been suspended but unofficial stoppages are continuing to spread,
with some residents and businesses now without mail for more than two weeks.
Postal
Regulatory Commissioner Ruth Goldway's testimony before the House
Administration Elections Subcommittee is available on the PRC web site.
The
Financial Express has reported that "Even an expected resignation can become
a sensation in Putin’s Russia. The resignation of Andrei Kazmin, who has chaired
Russia’s largest state-controlled bank, Sberbank, for 11 years, was expected.
But nobody expected that he would be appointed head of the Russian postal
service. The irony of the situation is that he may be charged with implementing
an idea he has been opposing as head of Sberbank. Karl Marx, the grandfather of
socialism, once said that history is an ironic poet. He was proved right several
times, and now his prediction can materialise in the Russian banking sector. The
Post of Russia has several advantages over Sberbank. First, it has outlets in
the remotest parts of the country. And second, unlike bank offices, post offices
cannot be closed as unprofitable. So, they should offer not only postal but also
banking services to all categories of the population."
According to the
Irish Examiner, "postal workers hounded by dangerous animals and angry
customers are brushing up on defensive techniques to stamp out further threats."
October 16, 2007
ThomasDirect has
reported that "DeskDirect Global operates using central backbone of servers that
collect and aggregate mail from mail originators anywhere in world and route it
to certified mail fulfillment centers as close as possible to mail's delivery
destination. This results in locally printed mail with optimized delivery time,
quality, and cost. Green solution provides business opportunities to mail
originators, mail fulfillment centers, and postal administrations."
Hemscott has reported that "The Communication Workers Union said it has
suspended industrial action planned for later this week, as its executive
continues to discuss the agreement reached with Royal Mail."
From
Business Wire: "Yesmail Direct is a new online business destination where
small businesses register within a master application to conduct
permission-based email marketing, print postcards for direct mail and buy
listings with the top search engines. As one of the first emarketing portals of
its kind, Yesmail Direct enables small businesses to develop communications and
advertising to new customers and build loyalty via targeted communications with
current customers from one single location at an affordable price."
Direct Newsline has reported that "As
part of an effort to head off increasing calls for do-not-mail legislation, DMA
president John Greco yesterday called on all direct marketers to begin putting
opt-out notices in all their mailings. Greco called on marketers to use the
DMA's mail preference service name-removal file, which will now be updated
monthly instead of quarterly. "When consumers respond, their choices should be
honored promptly," he said.
VoteTrustUSA has reported that "A bill by Congresswoman Susan Davis
(D-Calif.) to expand voting by mail, or absentee voting, to millions of
Americans will get a hearing Tuesday, October 16 in the Subcommittee on
Elections of the House Administration Committee. Davis will give testimony on
her bill at a hearing on expanding and improving opportunities for voting by
mail. The hearing will be the first of its kind at the federal level on absentee
voting. “Millions of Americans are denied the opportunity to vote absentee,”
said Davis, a member of the subcommittee. “My bill would make it possible for
those Americans to participate in their democracy. For many Americans, every day
is a juggling act. A commitment to a job or family should not hinder someone
from participating in one of the most hallowed acts of a democracy – voting.”
Also testifying will be Deb Merkowitz, Secretary of State of Vermont;
Ruth Goldway, Postal Rate Commissioner;
Joe Holland, Registrar of Voters for Santa Barbara County."
From the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit:
"Douglas F. Carlson appeals pro se the district court’s grant of summary
judgment in favor of the United States Postal Service (USPS) in Carlson’s action
under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552 et seq., which
sought public disclosure of the names, addresses, telephone numbers, regular
business hours and final collection times for outgoing mail for every United
States post office. The district court determined that the records sought were
exempt from FOIA disclosure as “information of a commercial nature, . . . which
under good business practice would not be publicly disclosed.” 39 U.S.C. §
410(c)(2). We have jurisdiction over this timely appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.
Because the requested records are not “information of a commercial nature,” we
reverse."
The
UPS
Board of Directors has announced that Chairman and CEO Mike Eskew will step down
at the end of the year and will be replaced by Scott Davis, who is currently the
company's vice chairman and chief financial officer.
The
Toronto Star has
reported that "Canada Post is planning to spend $1.7 billion to modernize its
antiquated equipment as it anticipates riding a global wave of deregulation that
has already struck many developed countries, particularly in Europe. The
expenditures to be carried out over five years would allow the Crown corporation
to eliminate the "decrepit" equipment jokingly referred to as computorsaurs.
"The whole way in which we handle the mail is antiquated," Canada Post CEO Moya
Greene said in an interview Monday."
The
Herald Sun has reported that "a tiny Canadian political party that promotes
sexual freedom complained in Federal Court today it was discriminated against by
the country's postal service. The Sex Party is upset that Canada Post refused to
distribute a flyer during the 2006 federal election that outlined the group's
philosophy, after deeming some its contents to be pornographic."
[Oooohhh...Canada!]
According to
The Guardian,
"Leaders of the Communication Workers Union will today resume discussions over
whether to back a settlement to the union's long-running dispute which was
hammered out in late-night negotiations between the CWU's general secretary,
Billy Hayes, and his deputy, Dave Ward, and Royal Mail's chief executive, Adam
Crozier, last Friday. After almost five hours poring over the details of the
deal yesterday the CWU's postal executive, made up of 17 elected members and
seven national officers, has yet to decide whether to throw its weight behind
the deal."
The
Telegraph has reported that:
The postal strikes have left 120 million letters and parcels stranded in sorting offices, with the post watchdog warning that the backlog will take until next week to clear. The news came as it emerged that more than of half of small firms want to stop using the Royal Mail after the strikes which have cost the London economy alone more than £300 million. Postal workers' leaders were last night meeting to decide whether to recommend calling off the dispute over pay, jobs and pensions which has crippled mail deliveries for weeks. However, the conference was adjourned and will resume today.
Small businesses are ready to desert Royal Mail and switch to private sector delivery rivals after counting the cost of the damaging postal dispute, a survey shows. More than half the small companies surveyed for the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), say they are more likely to use alternative services to reduce the risk of further disruption to their business. Rival mail services, the internet or a personal limited service for key customers are among the options they are exploring.
October 15, 2007
Joseph
Jaffe, host of one of the most popular marketing and advertising podcasts on the
Web, will bring his wit and wisdom to Deliver magazine, the first custom
publication from the
U.S.
Postal Service. Deliver’s key audience is executive-level business marketers
interested in using direct mail to solve marketing challenges. Jaffe will
discuss 12, four-minute podcasts created exclusively for the magazine’s online
presence. Visitors can listen to or download the podcast from
www.delivermagazine.com, then click
over to Jaffe’s blog, www.jaffejuice.com,
and leave a written or audio comment on the podcast. The blog and podcast
provide comment on a wide range of marketing topics.
The
BBC
has reported that "Postal workers in Liverpool have voted not to return to work
in unofficial industrial action at a mass meeting in the city. The action was
taken despite a national deal aimed at ending Communication Workers' Union's
(CWU) long-running dispute over shift patterns. Union members said they had not
heard sufficient detail on the national deal to convince them to return to work.
They are awaiting the outcome of a CWU national executive meeting later and want
to see a copy of the agreement."
The
DM Bulletin has reported that "A council of the marketing industry's trade
bodies has agreed to defend direct mail's opt-out status, despite opposition
from the IPA, as part of an industry-wide initiative to support direct
marketing."
Direct Newsline has reported that "Donn
Rappaport, CEO of American List Counsel Inc., has been elected chairman of the
Direct Marketing Association Board of Directors. He replaces Marcus Wilhelm, a
partner in AKA Marketing & Media LLC, who will continue to serve on the board.
Also elected were the following officers: Vice chairman -- Kelly B. Browning,
chief operating officer of American Institute for Cancer Research Treasurer --
David Williams, CEO, Merkle, Inc. Secretary -- Eugene R. Raitt, chief direct
marketing officer, AIG In addition, five new board members were elected during
the DMA annual business meeting: Leslie Abi-Karam, president, Document Messaging
Technologies, Pitney Bowes Inc.; Bill Bass, CEO, Fair Indigo; Steven A.
Lightman, CEO, The Sharper Image; Wes William Lucas, CEO, QuebecorWorld; Mary L.
Miller, chief marketing officer, PetSmart Live From DMA07: "
The
Financial Times has noted that "After one of the most bitter industrial
disputes of recent years, a settlement appears to be close at Royal Mail with a
deal on pay, pensions and modernisation. Royal Mail and the Communication
Workers Union late on Friday issued a joint statement saying an agreement
reached after more than 48 hours of negotiations in London would be put to the
union's postal executive at a meeting today. Last week's unofficial strikes
appeared to be coming to an end over the weekend and hopes were rising that
further, official, one-day national strikes planned for this week can be
avoided. But the key issue on which the deal will be judged is whether Royal
Mail has won the freedom it needs to bring in far-reaching changes to its
working practices, which are essential if it is to survive in a competitive
postal market."
According to
the
BBC, "Residents in a London borough have been invited to hand in
council-related post at any of its 12 libraries, in a bid to beat the continuing
post-strike chaos. Westminster City Council libraries will accept documents such
as parking fines and resident parking applications. The libraries are in Charing
Cross, Maida Vale, Church Street, Marylebone, Mayfair, Paddington, and Pimlico.
A series of 48-hour stoppages across the UK by postal workers has left a huge
backlog of undelivered mail."
Mailers Council exec Robert McLean has
reported that "The National Rural Letter Carriers' Association and the USPS will
begin binding arbitration on October 29. They plan a series of meetings over a
20-days period. This remains the only unresolved employee agreement. Also, in
balloting that ended October 5, William Burrus was reelected to his third term
as president, receiving more than 77% of the votes cast and capturing a majority
in every state."
The Guardian
has reported that "Postal workers staged a fifth day of unofficial strike action
today, despite efforts to end their bitter dispute with the Royal Mail over pay,
jobs and pensions."
Ha'aretz has
reported that "The Israel Postal Company's security department recently filed a
complaint with the police against a young man from Haifa who had asked the
national postal service to issue a personalized stamp of himself wearing a Nazi
insignia. The postal company's "My Stamp" service allows customers to order a
personalized stamp carrying their own picture."
October 14, 2007
The
New York Times has reported that "the mail, as an old song insists, must go
through, though the song does not say the mail must go through another borough.
A proposal by the United States Postal Service, however, would have mail sent to
the Bronx processed in and distributed from Manhattan, a change that critics say
would disastrously affect the quality of mail service in the Bronx and further
clog Manhattan streets with delivery trucks. The proposal did not become public
until the Postal Service’s inspector general issued a report Sept. 26 approving
the proposal and outlining how it would work. The Postal Service plans to
present the plan at a community meeting, which has not yet been scheduled.
Critics of the plan contend that the new arrangement would negatively affect
both boroughs."
According to
the
Daily & Sunday Review, "Voters who can't make it to the polls will cost the
county more this year. Advertisement In particular, small green pencils inserted
with every absentee ballot could add $900 to the total cost of mailings thanks
to changes in United States Postal Service rates." [Ah, yes. The old
NotFlatMachinable gig.]
The Telegraph has reported that "Wildcat strikers are threatening to wreck a
hard-won deal between postal management and unions to end the recent strikes."
The
BBC has reported
that "Business and Enterprise Secretary John Hutton has urged unions to accept
what he said was a "sensible deal" to end the long-running postal dispute."
Yahoo! News has reported that "wildcat strikes are to be discussed by the
postal workers' union after a deal was struck to get Royal Mail employees back
to work."
The Times has noted that "a series of strikes by the Communication Workers
Union (CWU) has crippled the postal system, leaving a backlog of about 100m
letters and parcels. At stake is the future of Royal Mail as it struggles to
transform itself from a Victorian relic – and its long-held role as an arm of
the nanny state – into a modern delivery company. Royal Mail has seen commercial
rivals eat into its market since it lost its monopoly over postal services at
the start of 2006. Courier firms gained a licence to collect and distribute
letters, handing them over to Royal Mail for delivery on the last – and most
costly – leg of the journey to the letterbox. Some rivals such as UK Mail, owned
by Business Post, which collect mail but use the Royal Mail’s postmen and
postwomen to deliver letters and packages the “final mile” to customers, have
been hurt by the strikes. But companies offering “end-to-end” deliveries of
packages have cleaned up. "
The Scotsman has reported that "Royal Mail and the Post Office may be
separated under a radical proposal that will be seen as a further move towards
privatisation of the postal network. Sir Nigel Stapleton, chairman of regulator
PostComm, is to launch an inquiry into the merits of a split early next year."
According
to
DI-VE, "More than one fifth of Maltapost's workforce has chosen to leave the
recently privatized company, as 120 out of 150 employees who were entitled to
take advantage of a scheme to return to the civil service have decided to do
so." See also the
Times of Malta.
October 13, 2007
Reuters has reported that "Royal Mail said on Saturday it was working hard
to clear the estimated 60 million items of post that have built up during this
month's strikes. An agreement in principle was reached between Royal Mail and
union leaders on Friday to end the dispute over pay, working conditions and
pensions. Royal Mail said in a statement: "We are now working hard to return to
normal as quickly as possible, but there is a significant build-up of mail that
will take some time to clear."
The
BBC has reported
that "The government has welcomed a deal which could lead to an end to strike
action by postal workers. The agreement between Royal Mail and the Communication
Workers' Union is still to be ratified and details have not yet been announced.
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform described the
development as "significant progress". Royal Mail said unofficial strikes were
continuing at about 10 delivery offices in London and 20 in Liverpool."
The
Belfast Telegraph has reported that "Representatives from the Communication
Workers' Union claimed today that staff who went on industrial action for two
days last week and two days this week have had all four days pay deducted from
this week's cheque. And it seems that workers across Northern Ireland could be
left with empty accounts."
According to
The Independent:
The U.K. postal strike is poised to end after talks between CWU and Royal Mail execs. See also the Daily Express and the International Herald Tribune.
Imagine how much more serious the consequences of a postal strike would have been just five years ago. Much of our private correspondence, as well as our commercial activity, would have been paralysed. Now, although there are deleterious consequences, for small firms in particular, many people are virtually unaffected.
According to
VNUNet, "Fax machines, scanners and online fax-to-email services have seen
increased sales and usage as UK users try to beat the postal strike. As one
manager put it, "We thought that faxes were heading for extinction with the
advent of broadband, but the recent industrial action has caused us to think
twice."
October 12, 2007
The
Guardian has reported that "Further strikes planned by postal workers for
Monday and Tuesday have been outlawed by a High Court judge. The Royal Mail was
granted an injunction banning the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) from going
ahead with national walkouts at the start of next week. Mr Justice King upheld
an argument by the Royal Mail's lawyers that the union had failed adequately to
comply with legal requirements to state accurately the number of employees
likely to be affected by the action."
The latest issue of
the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:
The Association for Postal Commerce addresses several issues that could overburden the rate-review process or complicate the Postal Regulatory Commission’s rules in the association’s reply comments filed with the PRC. In separate comments filed the same day, PostCom addresses the Postal Service’s proposed Mail Classification Schedule, generally agreeing with the structure and purpose of the schedule.
In a DMM Advisory this week, the Postal Service put forth new alternatives for mailers to combine mailings of Standard Mail and Package Services Parcels to provide greater opportunity for drop shipping and to better align mail preparation with USPS processing.
The Postal Service published in the October 10, 2007 Federal Register proposed rules containing new address placement for flats and construction requirements for letters and flats. The USPS has indicated it plans to give at least 12 months for required compliance once the rule is finalized. The driver for the Postal Service’s proposed changes for flats is deploying its Flats Sequencing System equipment, expected to begin Phase 1 deployment in the fall of 2008.
Phoenix-Hecht Senior VP Lex Litton talks about the unique opportunity presented to the Remittance Mail Advisory Committee earlier this year when RMAC members joined the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee workgroup 114 to recommend service standards and performance measurement to the Postal Service.
PostCom Vice President Kate Muth says the postal community needs to change its collective attitude by abandoning the easy short-term fix and looking for the long-term solution.
In this commentary, direct mail consultant Cary Baer says the Postal Service must begin measuring its performance and provide the statistics to back it up.
Letter carriers sign five-year national agreement. Federal Register: USPS proposes ACH as new payment method for Express Mail Corporate. NAA survey says daily newspapers spending more with USPS.
U.K. expects more short postal strikes. Is this the end of Royal Mail? Germany plans to neuter Deutsche Post VAT advantage. French to finance pensions at La Poste. Japanese firms form parcel delivery alliance. Korean postal system to be exported to Central Asia. Putin nominates Russian bank CEO to head postal service.
A list of upcoming postal-related events.

The
Economic Times has reported that "Over 1.55 lakh post offices in India are
ready to serve the Universal Service Obligation, according to Director of Postal
services (Mail Business), WB Circle, Harpreet Singh. "The main aim of the postal
department now is to manage post as a business," Singh said."
Reuters
has reported that "Royal Mail applied to the High Court on Friday for an
injunction to avert a new wave of postal strikes scheduled for next week, the
Communication Workers Union (CWU) said. The action comes as talks between union
leaders and the Royal Mail continued to try to find a deal to end the series of
strikes that has brought much of the postal system to a standstill." See also
The Times.
The
DM Bulletin has reported that "A council of the marketing industry's trade
bodies has agreed to defend direct mail's opt-out status, despite opposition
from the IPA, as part of an industry-wide initiative to support direct
marketing. The IPA has been at loggerheads with the DMA for taking a stance on
making direct mail opt-in in common with email marketing."
DMM Advisory: "On Wednesday we published two Federal
Register notices proposing new address standards for letters and flats mailed at
presorted, carrier route, and automation rates. For flats [HTML
| [PDF],
our proposal includes new barcode, address placement, and address formatting
requirements. For letters [HTML
| [PDF],
we propose new address type size and spacing requirements. We encourage mailers
to review and comment before December 10, 2007. We plan to publish final rules
in January and give mailers at least 12 months to update their mailing systems
and make related changes to mailpiece design."
The Peninsula has reported that "Bangladesh's state-owned post and telecom
network will be turned into a public limited corporation (PLC), a move that
follows the privatisation of Bangladesh Biman, the national airline. Bangladesh
Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) has been a state-run network like such
operations across South Asia. The government now wants to convert it into a PLC
but wants to retain full control. The move is to cut the red tape that causes
delays, officials say. Ostensibly, a PLC would also enable outside funding."
From
WebItPR:
"Itella Information provides a range of standardised and bespoke services for
customers with particular focus on digitising solutions which covers invoice
processing and document process outsourcing. Itella manages the whole lifecycle
of documents from initial scanning, workflow, document management, electronic
archiving and subsequent access."
MoneyWeek explains "Why Royal Mail can't deliver."
According to
ThisIsMoney, "Small businesses are one of the biggest losers in the on-going
postal strike."
The Times has reported that
"striking workers strengthened their grip on Royal Mail yesterday after there
was a walkout at another major mail centre and work stopped at several more
delivery offices.
The
following report has been posted on the U.S.
Postal Service Office of Inspector General website. If you have additional
questions concerning the report, please contact Agapi Doulaveris at
703.248.2286.
DR-AR-07-012 - Address Management System Information - National Capping http://www.uspsoig.gov/FOIA_files/DR-AR-07-012.pdf
Logistics Management has published a Q&A with DHL USA CEO Hans Hickler who
shares his views on shipper service, express and logistics markets
According to
The Telegraph, "You can criticise the mediocre middle managers, or Adam
Crozier, the chief executive, for being too greedy.But this isn't simply a
managerial problem, or just a sign of the times; it's a political issue. Look at
Deutsche Post, privatised seven years ago. It has been an astonishing success.
The company saw email as challenge and started selling itself around the world.
TNT, which was acquired by the privatised Dutch postal system, is thriving in
Europe. It, not the Royal Mail, is the real heir to the Victorian postal
system."
Optician has noted that "Optical firms are resorting to using private
courier services in an attempt to limit the disruption caused by on-going strike
action by postal workers."
October 11, 2007
According
to
Prensa Latina, "The United States has sieged postal activity in Cuba as part
of its permanent blockade of Cuba for almost half a century, which caused losses
of 315,000 dollars in 2006. The Cuban Mail Office has provided details, cited in
the island's report to the UN Secretary General, of how Washington's hostile
policy has a great impact in the delay of mailbags. The text, circulating as an
official document at the UN General Assembly, along with another 114 reports,
precedes the presentation of October 30's Resolution that demands the end of
that policy."
The Business has reported that "The European Commission must be pleased with
Royal Mail's efforts in preparing the U.K. for the full liberalization of E.U.
mail industry. Poor service and intermittent strikes continue to spur the
company's customers to patronize competitors such as TNT and U.K. Mail Ltd, as
resistance to using alternatives to the Royal Mail erodes as the British market
opens to competitors. The anger among Royal Mail's customers caused by the
disruption should be good news for the likes of Deutsche Post that are eyeing
the U.K. market post-liberalization in 2011. Royal Mail customers have
unsurprisingly looked elsewhere for postal services after four days of strike
action this week and threats of more disruption to the Royal Mail's postal
service."

The U.S.
Postal Regulatory Commission has an exciting Senior-level employment opportunity
for a highly motivated, highly skilled person with experience in international
postal affairs. International Affairs Specialist Grade:
PRC-05 Salary Range: $75,957 - $121,531 Location: Postal Regulatory
Commission 901 New York Avenue, Nw, Suite 200 Washington, DC 20268-0001
The latest
USPS DMM Update has been
posted on this site.
The
Telegraph has reported that:
Jesse Pattisson, the owner of a small family-run smokery in Langport, Somerset, says the striking postal workers are "playing Russian roulette" with his livelihood. Fully reliant on Royal Mail to send out produce around the country, the firm is set to lose thousands of pounds and Mr Pattisson, 34, fears the knock-on effects could last until next year. "It is completely crippling us," he said. "It's costing us between £300 and £400 a day in lost orders leading up to the most important time of the year for us.
The crisis in the postal service threatened to spiral out of control yesterday as nearly 2,000 Royal Mail workers staged additional unofficial stoppages. The show of defiance came despite both Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, and John Hutton, the Business Secretary, telling the unions to stop the strike action immediately. See also The Times, ThisIsLondon, and The Guardian.
Royal Mail postal strike Q&A.
Precision
Marketing has reported:
The direct marketing industry is urging the Government to ‘sort out the postal strike now’, following a flood of calls from DMA (UK) members – clients, agencies and suppliers – who fear their businesses will suffer irrevocable damage. The dispute started in June, but the latest back-to-back strike could see the postal system out of action for up to three weeks.
So, exactly how much longer will it take for someone to step in to settle what is turning out to be one of the most damaging disputes in Royal Mail’s history?
From
PR Newswire:
"With losses as a result of the postal strike so far estimated to be around
GBP260 million, businesses are keen to know how they can beat the strike and
keep the cash coming in, despite the interruptions to the mail service. Spindle
Professional, created by Draycir, is an affordable and easy-to-use software
product that generates instant electronic invoicing and statements, eliminating
the need to physically mail them out, thereby beating the postal strike. BACS
payment of invoices by customers, in receipt of electronic invoices, enables a
business to bypass the postal system entirely. It is therefore possible for
businesses to function as normal from a financial and cash flow point of view,
by using Spindle Professional in conjunction with electronic banking (which is
now available to even the smallest of businesses)."
The
Prague Daily
Monitor has reported that "Businesses and public offices are taking steps to
cope with a planned January 2008 spike in the price of postal services."
October 10, 2007
The Guardian has reported that "The prime minister has urged postal workers
to settle their bitter dispute with Royal Mail over pay, pensions and
flexibility, declaring there is "no justification" for further strikes."
According to
Mailers Council chief exec Bob McLean, "The USPS reports that the first meeting
of the Greening the Mail Task Force was successful. There were 33 attendees who
discussed how they could work together to address environmental issues and to
educate and communicate to the public the positive environmental effect of using
the mail. The group reviewed the efforts and accomplishments of the 1998
Greening of the Mail’ Task Force, talked about the current business environment,
and discussed each members expectations. The members agreed to meet at least
quarterly."
CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU Consultancy, has reported that:
For years, apparently, Schweizerische Post has been showing excessive costs for the universal service. What advocates for a market liberalisation have already been claiming for a long time is now being supported by a study: the costs reported by Schweizerische Post for the supply of the universal service are too high.
Private mail service providers in Germany warned that the introduction of the minimum wage would eliminate up to 50,000 jobs and put about 200 companies out of business.
According to a decision by the municipal council, mailboxes in the community will be blocked to advertising mail from the beginning of next year. Citizens wanting advertising mail must put a corresponding sticker on their mailboxes. Up until now, exactly the opposite has been the case. Local politician Henning Lotterud stated environmental protection as the reason.
The majority of the Danish parliament now apparently is prepared to liberalise the country’s postal market earlier than planned.
France’s La Poste plans to increase its activities in the press distribution sector.
About 150 Mexican postmen, some of them already retired, have now won a drawn-out lawsuit against Sepomex. For the Mexican post, this means that the postmen must now be compensated for unfair pay cuts.
TNT Post has further expanded its network in Germany.
With a turnover of 622m euros, the Portuguese post CTT Correios is the most successful Portuguese forwarder.
Merkalink is the name of the new B2B subsidiary company of the Mexican CEP operator Estafeta. Merkalink will mainly serve medium-sized and small businesses and specialises, amongst other things, in importing into Mexico goods purchased in the USA, according to Estafeta.
The Finnish postal unions have retracted their ban on overtime work.
Andrey Kasmin, president of the Russian savings bank Sberbank since 1996, is now set to spruce up the Russian post.
Delivery drivers can sometimes prove expensive for the Belgian post. La Poste had to pay over 100,000 euros in fines last year because its drivers did not adhere to traffic rules.
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. (We appreciate the courtesy extended by CEP News to help whet your appetite for more of what CEP offers.)
A USPS
DMM Advisory: "We published a final rule in today’s Federal Register [HTML
| [PDF]
concerning the duration and submission of temporary change-of-address orders.
The minimum duration for a temporary change-of-address is 15 days, with 185 days
as the maximum. The maximum for an additional temporary change-of-address is 179
days. This change does not reduce the maximum time for which customers can
obtain temporary change-of-address service, which remains up to one year. The
change requires customers to submit a second request only if they need the
service for more than six months. The new standards are effective October 10,
2007."
From the
Federal Register:
The Postal Service proposes to revise its Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM[supreg]) by providing Automated Clearing House (ACH) debit as a new method of payment for Express Mail Corporate Account (EMCA) customers. The ACH system is a secure, private network that connects banks to one another by way of the Federal Reserve Board. This network enables electronic payments, such as debit card purchases, to be handled and processed. This proposed rule would also eliminate cash and check deposits made into local trust accounts. EMCA customers would still have three options to fund their accounts: Participate in the Centralized Account Processing System (CAPS), use a personal or business credit or debit card, or authorize the USPS to originate an ACH debit from a specified bank account.
The Postal Service proposes new address placement requirements for Periodicals, Standard Mail, Bound Printed Matter, Media Mail, and Library Mail flat-size pieces sent at automation, presorted, or carrier route rates. We also propose to require an 11-digit POSTNET barcode or Intelligent Mail barcode on flat-size First-Class Mail, Periodicals, Standard Mail, and Bound Printed Matter sent at automation rates. In addition, we propose related revisions to the address requirements for automation and presorted First-Class Mail flats. DATES: We must receive your comments on or before December 10, 2007. ADDRESSES: Mail or deliver written comments to the Manager, Mailing Standards, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW., Room 3436, Washington, DC 20260–3436.
The Postal Service proposes new type size and spacing requirements for delivery addresses on all automation, presorted, and carrier route rate letters. DATES: Comments must be received on or before December 10, 2007. Mail or deliver written comments to the Manager, Mailing Standards, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L'Enfant Plaza, SW., Room 3436, Washington, DC 20260-3436.
According to
the
Chicago Tribune, "last spring, the U.S. Postal Service eliminated some of
its international boat mail services, which included an option to send books for
a dollar a pound to any country. Hundreds of grass-roots efforts in the Chicago
area and across the U.S., many of them through individuals like Lampos, are
unsure whether they can continue supporting libraries and other English-language
programs around the world. Some say their efforts will be virtually shut
down....U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Chicago), who is chairman of the Subcommittee
on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service and District of Columbia, said he has
received calls and e-mails from more than a dozen groups nationwide. Davis said
restoring the $1-a-pound book rate is unlikely because the service simply cannot
pay for itself. "I'm personally very empathetic, but I'm saying we're not in a
position to make any promises," Davis said Tuesday. "I think it's very noble,
but you also have to have a way to pay for the nobility."
From
PR Newswire: "Letter Carriers union President William H. Young and
Postmaster General John E. Potter have formally signed a new five-year contract
covering wages, benefits and working conditions for 222,000 city delivery letter
carriers throughout the United States."
The
Daily Breeze
has reported that "By the time Torrance businessman Kenneth Dewayne Owen made
his fifth visit to a Long Beach post office last year, he had mailed more than 1
million letters. The postage came to more than $300,000, and Owen wrote checks
to cover the cost. The post office diligently delivered every letter. But when
the Postal Service cashed Owen's checks, they bounced."
MSN Money has reported that "The German government is considering exempting
private-sector postal operators from value-added tax in order to improve their
competitive position with Deutsche Post, the former monopoly, three months
before the liberalisation of the German letters market." See also
Forbes.
Business
Week has reported that "European Union regulators gave the all-clear
Wednesday for the French government to help finance pensions at the French
postal service La Poste. The European Commission said it approved the pension
funding plan for 172,000 employed postal workers after commitments from the
French government that the social security and tax contributions by the state
company would be equivalent to those borne by La Poste's private competitors."
See also
Forbes.
In comments
filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), the
Association for Postal
Commerce said that:
It agreed with "the approach taken by the Postal Service in preparing its initial Mail Classification Schedule. Limiting the product list to a few products in each class ensures that the Postal Service will retain the flexibility to respond to its customers’ demands for new features without constantly seeking the Commission’s approval. This step alone is a marked improvement from the previous system and will go a long way toward realizing the promise of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (“PAEA”)." PostCom said it supported "supports the Postal Service’s decision not to treat Negotiated Service Agreements as separate products in the MCS.
"The Commission has generally outlined a streamlined ratemaking process consistent with the PAEA and its purposes." On the other hand, it said that "PostCom is deeply concerned that the regulatory burdens under the PRA – burdens which prevent all but the largest customers from seeking NSAs with the Postal Service – are retained under the proposed rules. We do not believe that the Commission intends this result, but to avoid confusion and protracted litigation, the Commission must make clear that its rules specifying the information to be filed with an NSA for a Type 2 Rate change are intended solely to streamline the complaint processes...and do not trigger an automatic stay of an NSA pending the Commission's review."
Be sure to check the PRC web site for some of the other reply comments filed by participants in Docket No. RM2007-1.
The
Guardian has reported that "While deliveries resumed in most of the country,
wildcat strikes were reported at sorting offices in Liverpool, Lancaster,
Glasgow and East London. Some workers said they arrived for a shift starting at
5am but were told that the Royal Mail had implemented changes to timetables so
they could not start until 6am." See also
Reuters, the BBC,
and the
Oxford Mail.
The
BBC wants you
to know that you have "8 ways to get post delivered during the strike."
The picture to the right is just one of them. This labor force claims it "will
work for seed."
The
Financial Times has reported that "Leaders of the striking UK postal workers
will meet on Wednesday to discuss the union’s response to Royal Mail’s proposals
for ending the increasingly bitter dispute over pay and modernisation that has
halted mail deliveries for six days. The Communication Workers Union, which has
already announced plans for a series of one-day strikes starting next week, has
summoned its postal executive to review the progress made during eight days of
talks under the auspices of the Trades Union Congress."
According to
the
Herald Express, "Two South Devon sports supply companies are making their
own efforts to thwart the postal strike. Newton Abbot-based Pro Direct Soccer
has transferred its business to a courier to make sure its orders are
delivered.And Lovell Rugby in Paignton is already in negotiations with couriers
so it can guarantee delivery to its customers."
Transport Intelligence has reported that "DHL Exel Supply Chain has
officially launched operations at its new logistics campus for the mail order
sector in Ludwigsau built at a cost of around €22 million. Stefan Kurrle, CEO of
DHL Exel Supply Chain in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland described the new
project as a trend setter: "Mail order is strongly recovering. Especially
e-commerce is a fast growing market in Germany and neighbouring European
countries. In establishing a logistics campus for the home delivery sector we
can offer long distance retail traders tailored processes for managing their
goods and delivering their products anywhere in Europe. Ludwigsau helps to bring
Europe closer together."
KESSBN Radio has
reported that "The Chief of Staff and Minister for Presidential Affairs, Mr.
Kwadwo Mpiani has tasked Ghana Post to reposition itself and diversify its
operations to respond to rapid technological changes. He said Ghana Post could
revisit the savings accounts system through the purchase of stamps, saying that
would encourage the youth to save. "The world has moved from physical delivery
of letters. There are rapid changes in the world technology; Ghana Post has to
reposition itself to meet those changes."
AllAfrica.com has
reported that "The Nigerian Postal Service said it has realised the sum of
N3,836,021,089.88 in 2006 fiscal year. According to the organisation, another
sum of N1, 983, 335, 606.28 was also generated between January and June this
year."
October 9, 2007
Most of
America's small- and mid-sized businesses have failed to explore the significant
growth opportunities offered by an increasingly global economy. Indeed,
a
new survey conducted for UPS shows 67 percent of the nation's
small-to-mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) are still chaining themselves to the U.S.
economy.
JusticeTalking presents: "The
Future of the Postal Service." [An MP3 sound file.]
DM News
has reported that "Canadian consumers are feeling underserved by retailers and
are interested in more retail offerings from the United States, according to a
recent survey by the Canadian postal service, Canada Post."
According to
Reuters, "United Parcel Service Inc freight workers in Indianapolis ratified
a new five-year contract reached by the Teamsters union that raises workers'
wages and boosts the company's contributions to pensions and benefits. The
contract, which covers 125 freight employees, is considered to be the first step
toward the unionization of UPS's freight work force of about 15,000."
The Scotsman wonders: "Is this the end of Royal Mail?"
Disability
Now has reported that "Blind and visually-impaired people are being hit
hardest by postal strikes which are denying access to newspapers and books on
tape and in Braille, according to a disability charity. Jill Allen-King, public
relations officer at the National Federation of the Blind of the United Kingdom
is totally blind and receives three local weekly newspapers on tape through the
post, all of which have been delayed. She said the vast majority of blind people
are over 60 and less able to leave the house."
Hemscott has reported that "German chancellor Angela Merkel plans to strip
Deutsche Post AG of a tax advantage in order to appease the postal company's
competitors that deem the tax break unfair, Handelsblatt reported, citing
government sources. Under current fiscal rules, Deutsche Post's basic postal
services are exempt of the 19 pct value-added tax while comparable services
provided by rivals are not, even after Deutsche Post's monopoly on delivering
letters expires at the end of the year, the paper said. Merkel, backed by
leaders of her party's parliamentary group, wants to level that difference to
allay anger over a minimum wage agreement for the postal services industry that
logistics companies say puts them at a disadvantage against the dominant
Deutsche Post."
The Times has reported that "The postal workers' dispute descended into a
war of words today when the head of the Royal Mail accused a trade union of
talking “cobblers”. The firm's chief executive Adam Crozier disputed claims by
the Communication Workers Union about working practices in the postal
organisation. The union’s deputy general secretary, Dave Ward, has accused the
company of “slavery” over the way it makes its staff work. But Mr Crozier
described the claims as “cobblers” and said the Royal Mail was only trying to
make people work the hours for which they were paid."
As
Management Today has noted, "Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier made a
rare appearance on Radio Four’s Today programme this morning to put his case for
the appalling mess that the Royal Mail is digging itself deeper into every day.
The news that we may be in for weeks or even months more disruption to the
postal service is not only a serious matter for businesses all over the country,
it is also meat and drink to the Royal Mail’s increasingly aggressive rivals. A
simple fact of modern commercial life - one which seems to have totally escaped
the notice of the striking posties – is that every hour of disruption further
weakens the Royal Mail’s already shaky prospects for long term recovery."
Which seems
to be the case, as the
Express & Echo has reported that "Private courier businesses in the city are
cashing in on the ongoing postal strike. Delivery firms are reporting a rise in
calls from frustrated customers asking them to transport urgent letters and
packages, as postal workers at Royal Mail stage their second 48-hour strike in
less than a week."
The
Guardian has reported that "The Communication Workers Union last night
warned of more strikes at Royal Mail, denting hopes that marathon talks at the
weekend could have led to a breakthrough in the long-running dispute. Postal
workers are holding the second of two 48-hour stoppages which have disrupted
mail services since last Thursday." See also
The Scotsman and
also
The Mirror.
The
Columbo
Page has reported that "Sri Lanka Postal Department workers have launched a
trade union action island wide today while the authorities are celebrating the
International Postal Day in Colombo. Lanka Postal Services Union says that 15
trade unions back the action to protest the slash of overtime. The postal
workers are avoiding overtime work from midnight yesterday creating a
possibility of paralyzing postal services within few days."
October 8, 2007
The
McKinney Courier Gazette has noted that "Durraya Kauser, owner of Prince
Cleaners located at 601 Cross Timbers, hosted a grand opening Wednesday to
celebrate her partnership with the U.S. Postal Service. Through her store,
Kauser will provide all of the services residents would expect from the local
post office through the use of a Contract Postal Unit (CPU). The unit, which
Kauser and her staff will work during their during shifts, will allows patrons
to buy stamps, shipping boxes, insurance and return receipts, and the store will
main a drop box. Kauser is also offering the services with the store's
drive-thru."
The
Press Association has reported that "The Government came under attack over
its handling of the postal dispute on Monday as the Prime Minister made it clear
he wanted striking staff to return to work. Gordon Brown told a Downing Street
press conference that the row over pay, jobs and pensions was disrupting
people's lives, adding: "When we, the Government, are investing a huge amount of
money in the postal services, it is not something that we can either condone or
we can stand idly by and say it is an acceptable form of behaviour. "I want
these people back to work." [Editor's Note: Two, four, six, eight, do you
think Royal Mail will capitulate?]
As the
New York Times has noted, "Nothing Says ‘Buy’ Like ‘Free Shipping.’
Novosti has
reported that "Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted on Monday Prime
Minister Viktor Zubkov's proposal to ap
point Sberbank CEO Andrei Kazmin as head
of the country's postal service. In response to Zubkov's request to place Kazmin
in charge of the service, which is desperately in need of modernization, Putin
said: "I have no objections." Kazmin has held the top position at Russia's
largest state-owned bank since 1996. The Russian Post Federal State Unitary
Enterprise handles mail services throughout Russia. It has some 415,000
employees and 40,000 offices, double the number of Sberbank's offices. Russian
Post annually processes over 1.4 billion letters, 38 million parcels and more
than 188 million money transfers. The service is currently headed by Igor
Syrtsov." For more on Kasmin, see the
Wall Street
Journal. See also the follow-up by
Novosti.
Afriqueligne has reported that "The Mauritius postal agency Monday announced
a total profits of US$1.75 million for the financial year 2006/2007, after a
loss of US$9.6 million in 2005/2006."
As one
writer asked in
Newsday, "how do you create a direct mail piece that stands a chance of
being read? Experts say it starts with knowing your audience. Too
often...companies send out mass mailings completely missing their target
audience. You need to identify segments of the marketplace that will most
benefit from your product or service....Most people decide within 3 to 7 seconds
whether they're going to open a piece of mail or throw it out. That's why it's
best to avoid exaggerated headlines and taglines like "free money" offers, or
the use of lots of bold italic type, exclamation points and underlines, he
advises. Consumers often associate such visuals with junk mail."
The
International Herald Tribune has reported that "Postal workers started a
second 48-hour strike Monday as a dispute over pay and restructuring remained
unresolved." See also
Reuters and the
Evening
Times.
October 7, 2007
What to
know how a postal strike to shape the political texture of a nation? Then read
this.
The
Times has reported that "Election officials have warned ministers that a
postal strike could skew the election results in marginal seats if a poll is
held next month. Returning officers told The Times that they are seeking urgent
talks with the Ministry of Justice and the Royal Mail to discuss the impact of
any extended postal strike, which would hit postal votes and the electoral
register. Returning officers fear that the two 48-hour strikes planned for this
weekend and early next week might be extended if Gordon Brown calls an election
soon." What's at stake? If the strike continues, the Labor Party can lose and
the Conservative Party can win. See update by the
New York Times.
The
Korea Times has reported that "Korea Post is to help Mongolia and Kazakhstan
modernize their postal networks by sharing its experience in setting up one of
the world's most efficient logistic networks, and by introducing advanced
mail-handling systems developed by South Korean IT firms. The heads of the three
countries' postal agencies will announce the establishment of a cooperation
committee in its inaugural meeting in Ulaan Baatar, the Mongolian capital city,
Monday, Korea Post said, Sunday. Writing letters is one of the human kind's
oldest methods of communication, but modern postal service requires the most
cutting-edge logistics and networking technologies because of the enormous
amount of mail, the complexity of the network and the ever-growing demand for
faster delivery. The volume of mail is also becoming more difficult to forecast
every year. According to Korea Post, the number of ordinary paper mail is
decreasing around 5 percent every year due to the emergence of the e-mails. But
the volume of parcel post is continuously increasing."
According to
one columnist for the Northwest
Arkansas News, she said she "wasted no time logging onto the stop junk mail
Web sites. During the next several months, the unwanted paper pounds should
disappear, along with the clutter. That’s my kind of housework. About 90 percent
of the clutter around here comes in through the mailbox. Seriously. On Monday, I
set a stack of mail on the kitchen counter. By Friday, it’s reproduced like
vermin on Viagra, and by the following week it has overtaken every available
surface in the kitchen and family room." [Editor's Note: Talk about
hyperbole!]
AllAfrica.com has
reported that "The Postmaster General and Minister of Post and
Telecommunication, Mr. Jackson E. Doe, has suspended several employees of the
Ministry for their alleged involvement in mail smuggling with immediate effect
pending thorough investigation into the matter."
Scotland On Sunday has reported that "the UK's postal regulator, PostComm,
will this week call on private businesses competing with the Royal Mail to help
sustain the country's flagging post offices. In its annual report, PostComm will
urge private postal operators such as UPS and DHL to strike a deal with the Post
Office to use its branches as holding areas for undelivered mail."
The
Telegraph has reported that:
The ongoing postal strike could cost Royal Mail up to £260m in lost business and administration costs – a far higher figure than thought, company executives fear.
As the Prime Minister contemplates ways in which he can prove to the electorate that he is an effective leader, there is an issue he needs to tackle immediately: the strike crippling the Royal Mail. Gordon Brown has so far appeared reluctant to intervene in the dispute between the management of Royal Mail and the Communcations Workers Union (CWU). His support of the management in their struggle to get the CWU to accept changes to working conditions which are necessary if the Royal Mail is to survive as a viable concern has been decidedly lukewarm, possibly because the CWU is a major donor to Labour Party funds. The dispute, however, is extremely serious, because if allowed to continue and escalate, it could push the Royal Mail into financial meltdown."
Union chiefs are secretly plotting a wave of "rolling" strikes that threatens to blight postal services for months to come.
The Communication Workers Union is home to primitive power games that most modern unions rejected years ago. Its leaders insist they are not opposed to new working practices. In reality, they could hardly be less co-operative.
October 6, 2007
Be sure to
check out the latest paper posted on the
PostInsight web site: "Pricing In Competitive Two-Sided Mail Markets>"
From
Business Wire:
"To help Atlanta-area small businesses grow at home and abroad, UPS will conduct
a Global Small Business Forum on Tuesday, Nov. 13, at the Georgia Aquarium in
downtown Atlanta. In addition to providing expert advice on how small companies
can capitalize on the opportunities of global trade, the event will honor the
winners of the third UPS Best "Out-of-the-Box" Small Business Contest."
Notice: "The Future of the Postal Service. National Public Radio. Release
Date: 10/8/2007"
Tree
huggers of the world unite! According to the
Miami
Herald, "The U.S. Postal Service has been fined $10,000 for cutting down
trees at its Coconut Grove post office."
Ananova has reported that "Postal workers have ended their 48-hour strike -
but are due to walk out again on Monday. If the second two-day stoppage goes
ahead, there will be no mail deliveries until Wednesday at the earliest. The
Communication Workers Union said the latest action by up to 130,000 of its
members had "been solidly supported". However, the Royal Mail claims more people
worked than during previous stoppages in the summer. Talks between the two sides
will continue today but there is little sign of an end to the deadlock."
As the
News & Star has noted, "It is difficult to predict a winner in the Royal
Mail dispute. Postal workers are going without pay as they man the picket lines
again. Managers are presiding over an organisation which looks increasingly
fragile. And the public grows more frustrated by the day with the failure of the
Royal Mail to deliver on its promise to deliver the post. Even without the
inconvenience caused by this year’s strikes the postal service has deteriorated
dramatically over the past decade."
According to
the
Lincolnshire Echo, "The chaos which has engulfed postal services now looks
set to continue beyond the end of next week."
On the other
hand,
The Telegraph has warned that "The postal strike could last for months and
become as bitter as the 1980s miners' strike."
The
Independent has reported that "The Royal Mail claimed that support for the
controversial postal strike was "weakening" yesterday as talks between the two
sides aimed at bringing an end to the disruption continued. The Royal Mail, in
its statement, maintained that "50 per cent more people" were working compared
with previous strike days."
A report by
The York Press would seem to lend support to the idea that the British
postal strike is not being universally honored. "Postal strikes may have York in
their grip but postmen elsewhere in North Yorkshire have been defying the
industrial action against Royal Mail. York postal workers - who have been
striking since noon on Thursday - were engaged in the nationwide industrial
action until noon today. But the news for Royal Mail customers has been cheerier
in Kirkbymoorside, where postmen at the town's sorting office have been ignoring
the strike."
Then, of
course, there is the report by
STV that "Postal workers say they still have overwhelming public support, as
their latest strike over pay and pensions draws to a close. The action by around
10,000 workers in Scotland will ended at noon, but deliveries could be hit until
next week as they plan to stage another walk out on Monday."
The
Dorset Echo has reported that "a major Dorset charity is furious after being
let down by Royal Mail in the postal strike. The Weldmar Hospicecare Trust
booked a special door-to-door mail drop two years in advance so it could ensure
that its 132,000 leaflets were delivered to supporters for a remembrance and
fundraising campaign. But it was forced to cancel the mail shot about its annual
Light up a Life campaign because of the postal strike and cannot book another
slot."
Javno.com has
noted that "World Post Day is marked throughout the world in the memory of
establishing World Postal Union, one of the oldest international organisations.
Namely, delegates of 22 countries from Europe, America and African have signed
the so called Bern Treaty on October 9, 1874 which founded the first joint
convention on international postal traffic. This was the first step towards
realising principles of universality of the postal services on a unified postal
territory."
October 5, 2007
CNews
has reported that "Russian Post has launched the direct postal exchange between
Kaliningrad and Warsaw, which is to reduce the international mail delivery time
several times. Besides, an agreement simplifying visa granting to RF and EU
citizens has been enforced, so the project might make it easier for Russian
citizens to receive invitations from Polish partners."
Multichannel
Merchant shared "First, the bad news: You can expect a postal rate hike by
next summer, according to Gene Del Polito, president of the Association for
Postal Commerce. The good news? It’s likely that the rate-making process will
follow the Postal Reform Bill’s new rules, meaning the increase will be subject
to inflationary levels."
The latest issue of
the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:
In its final rule, the Postal Service will extend the Move Update requirement to all Standard Mail and reduce the window for move-update processing of names and addresses of discounted First-Class Mail to 95 days. The timeframe also will apply to Standard Mail.
Although the Postal Regulatory Commission said the negotiated service agreement between the Postal Service and the Bank of America is compliant with the requirements of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, it urged the USPS Governors to review it carefully, saying the agreement could cost the USPS from $25 million to $45.8 million if approved.
In this perspective, postal commentator Gene Del Polito takes stock of the Postal Service and the mailing industry in the time since the enactment of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act.
PostCom Vice President Kate Muth says the Postal Service must boost its total factor productivity goal for FY 2008. Faced with growing challenges presented by price-cap control on its prices, the USPS will have to set private-sector targets.
State Department seeks members for new advisory committee on international postal and delivery services. PMG Potter receives executive leadership award. UPS, Teamsters strike five-year deal.
German postal minimum wage might force bankruptcies, companies say. Royal Mail battles to stop strikes. Financial Times weighs in for modernization, strike or no. Japan Post holding company supports universal service.
Printing Industries of America is newest PostCom member. Envelope Manufacturers to host postal summit. Akerman Senterfitt Wickwire Gavin to hold USPS contracts seminar.
A list of upcoming postal-related events.

The
BBC has reported
that "The Royal Mail has proposed the closure of its final salary pension scheme
to all members. The company is offering new and existing staff a new scheme from
2008 linked to "career average" earnings. It also plans to raise the standard
retirement age from 60 to 65, but only for pension earned after 1 April 2010."
From the
Federal Register: "The Postal ServiceTM is revising the standards for
mailing lithium and lithium-ion batteries. The new standards identify all small
consumer-type lithium batteries as mailable when properly packaged and labeled.
DATES: Effective Date: October 5, 2007. "
According to
ComputerWeekly, "Apacs, the UK payments association, is using the current
postal strike to promote the wider use of electronic payments as firms suffer
from delayed cheques. Apacs is also encouraging consumers to make wider use of
the direct debit scheme for bills."
KeralaNext has reported that "The Postal Act by its Sections 3 and 4 has
vested the Postal Department with the monopoly over the accepting, collecting,
transport forwarding and distribution of mail for a fee, said Post Master
General K. A. Sherwin Senadheera. The Post Master General in a press release
said there are reports about certain other parties engaging in this work by
charging fees in an unauthorised manner. Challenging the Postal Department’s
monopoly over the postal service in this manner is an offence punishable in
terms of the Postal Act."
The
Associated Press has reported that "Japan Post Holdings Co., the recently
privatized postal service, and delivery company Nippon Express Co. said Friday
they have agreed to form a comprehensive business alliance. As a start, the two
companies will integrate their domestic parcel delivery operations beginning
next October, they said in a joint statement."
The Times has reported that "Royal Mail revealed a key pay deal with more
than 12,000 of its managers today but admitted that there was still no sign of
an agreement with postal workers over a strike that has crippled deliveries
across the UK. It said that managers had agreed to a package of pay,
modernisation and pension reforms that will see them pocket a 2.5 per cent wage
rise backdated to April. The retirement age is to be increased by five years to
65 but the final-salary pension scheme will remain in place for existing
employees. The move eliminates the threat of a second front to a strike that
could leave the UK without a postal service until the middle of next week.
According to
The Telegraph "the state of the Royal Mail resembles that of the Fleet
Street print unions up to the mid-1980s. Weak middle management, compounded in
the postal case by a centuries-old monopoly, encouraged working practices that
left the company ill-prepared for private sector competition once that monopoly
had been removed at the beginning of last year. Allan Leighton, the chairman,
and Adam Crozier, the chief executive, are trying their hardest to make the
Royal Mail fit to give the likes of DX, Deutsche Post, DHL and TNT a run for
their money. The strikes will both further increase those companies' market
share and hasten the shift to e-commerce. With such alternatives on offer, the
CWU's action is suicidal. "
The
Financial Times has reported that "When normal service is notoriously
unreliable, minor disruption goes unnoticed. So the two one-day strikes by Royal
Mail staff this summer scarcely registered. On Thursday, the Communication
Workers Union upped the stakes with the start of two two-day strikes from
midday. Whatever face-saving formula brings this disruption to an end, it must
not mean the surrender of the modernisation the company needs to survive in an
increasingly competitive market."
The Scotsman has reported that "postal workers across Scotland went on
strike yesterday, crippling deliveries for the next week in a move which
business leaders warned could cost companies tens of millions of pounds."
In a
separate opinion in the matter of PRC Docket No. MC2007-1,
Comissioner Ruth
Goldway wrote: "The new PAEA provides the Postal Service with the
flexibility to adjust rates within classes of mail for market-dominant products,
adopt special classifications that improve the net financial position or
increase the efficiency of operations, and to price and market competitive
products to accrue profits. It also gives the PRC expanded oversight with regard
to the financial soundness, efficiency, and fairness of Postal Service
operations. The negotiated service agreement (NSA) before the Commission
demonstrates that the Postal Service is not yet capable of negotiating a good
bargain within the framework of the PAEA."
Gulf Times has reported that the "POSTAL corporations of GCC States are
working to set up a regional level logistics company, according to a Q-Post
official. An international consulting firm is conducting a feasibility study, he
said. The consultant is expected to complete the study shortly."
October 4, 2007
In
One-To-One, "Todd Butler says that ‘old technology’ delivery services – post
and discs – are perfect partners and far from dead."
Press
Release: "The United States Postal Service (USPS) has selected US
communications holding company AT&T Inc to support the agency's move to
wirelessly enable enterprise applications for more efficient operations. AT&T
said it will provide new wireless data devices and services to 5,400 employees
across the US initially, deploying a solution which includes BlackBerry 8800
series handsets from Research In Motion (RIM) for postal managers and key staff.
They will use the handsets for access to e-mail and other postal applications
and will have wireless access via AT&T's EDGE network, which provides
availability in over 13,000 cities and towns and along 40,000 miles of
highways."
As
The Motley Fool put it: "Move over, General Motors. United Parcel
Service is movin' on up in the ranks of big companies inking at
least tentative major union contracts. In fact, the UPS pact with the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which was reached over the weekend,
stacks up as the big enchilada of U.S. labor deals. Coming 11 months before the
current agreement is set to expire, it would result in average $9-an-hour boost
in employee compensation over its five-year life for about 240,000 full- and
part-time covered employees. That compares to an $8.75-an-hour gain earned by
the union on the current contract, which expires on July 31, 2008. The new
version must still be ratified by union membership."
The
Washington Post has reported that "The South Washington Street location
housed 495 post office boxes, which serve as the primary business addresses for
hundreds of home-based businesses, trade groups and nonprofit organizations in
Old Town. But space configurations in the new location forced postal officials
to renumber all the boxes, which means all the addresses will change. "I'm
outraged about it," said James Wilhoit, an antiques dealer. "All my stationery,
business cards, everything connected with my business has my post office box on
it. . . . This will end up costing me over $1,000." Cash-strapped charities will
be affected, too, and some don't have the money to replace their office
supplies, officials said."
The
Cyprus
Mail has reported that "the Cyprus Postal Service could face EU fines
reaching the millions if it doesn't get its act together, Telecommunications
Regulator Vasos Pyrgos has warned. In its 2005 report, the Office of the
Commissioner of Electronic Communications and Postal Regulation (OCECPR) said
that while there is sufficient competition in postal services, mainly due to
express courier services, the government service has failed to meet requisite
quality levels. In 2004, the OCECPR fined the postal service £10,000 for delays
in delivering letters; in 2005 the fine was £20,000, and in 2006 it reached
£50,000. Officials claim that Cyprus has fallen short of EU delivery targets
because it is the only country in the EU where the postal services are not
permitted to take independent decisions to upgrade their department."
Transport Intelligence has reported that "UK express operator Business Post
Group has issued its pre-close period trading update for the six months ended 30
September 2007. Group revenues for the first half of the financial year
increased by 9% on the equivalent period last year. Excluding the revenues from
its Parcels contract with FedEx, which terminated on 30 April 2007, the
underlying revenue increase was 15%." See also the
Financial Times.
According to
postal commentator (and PostCom vice president)
Kate Muth, "The Postal Service
has set as its total factor productivity (TFP) target for FY 2008 a growth of 1
percent. This would mark the ninth straight year of productivity growth for the
organization. In its FY 2007 integrated financial plan, released last year at
this time, the Postal Service set as its total factor productivity goal an
increase of only 0.6%. Its final number for FY 2007 should surpass that target,
which is a good thing. But the target needs to be much higher."
According to
The Telegraph, "Homes and businesses will be left without any post for the
next five days in the worst mail strike for almost 20 years. Postwatch warned
that thousands of people were likely to stop using the postal service as a
result of the strike. The watchdog said it was "hugely disappointing to watch a
great British institution tear itself apart". See also
The Times.
The
Daily Mail has noted that "The postal service will grind to a halt for a
week from today as a dispute over pay and reform escalates."
According to
the BBC, "Postal
workers will launch their next series of national strikes later which are
expected to cost businesses millions of pounds." See also the
BBC's Q&A about
the strike.
The Times has reported that "Last-minute talks were being held last night to
avert the longest strike at Royal Mail for 11 years. The stakes have been raised
since the last national walkout in July because of the effect on postal votes if
a general election is called. Postal workers are due to walk out today at midday
in a two-day strike. But a further two-day strike starting on Monday morning
will mean that mail posted today will not be delivered until next Thursday.
Postwatch, the consumers’ group, said that normal service was unlikely to resume
before October 15, when another programme of selective walkouts is due to start
for an indefinite period. The dispute between the Communication Workers Union
and Royal Mail is over pay and pensions. Royal Mail has offered a 2.5 per cent
pay increase and wants to close the final-salary pension scheme to all
employees. Its move on pensions also threatens to provoke strike action from its
managers."
October 3, 2007
The
Postal
Regulatory Commission has issued its Opinion enabling the Governors of the
U.S. Postal Service to provide a final review of the proposed Negotiated Service
Agreement between the Postal Service and the Bank of America Corporation (Docket
No. MC2007-1). “While the Commission found the agreement in compliance with the
requirements of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA), we also found
that the agreement could cost the Postal Service anywhere from $25 million to
$45.8 million should the Governors move forward with the agreement,” said
Commission Chairman Dan G. Blair. “Congress, through the PAEA, granted the
Postal Service greater autonomy to set its own rates and enter into NSAs. The
Act requires that such agreements either improve the net financial position of
the Postal Service or enhance its operations. The Postal Governors will have to
make the final decision of whether this agreement makes good business sense for
the Postal Service,” concluded Blair."
The
Lancashire
Evening Post has reported that "Postal bosses are to scrap postal
collections on Sundays and Bank Holidays across Lancashire. Royal Mail has
announced it can no longer afford to run the under-used service in a
"fully-competitive market" where rival operators are taking chunks of its
business. It collects from just 18,000 of its 115,000 postboxes across the
country on Sundays. The news has been met with anger by some small businesses in
the county which rely on the service for urgent deliveries."
The
Glasgow Evening Times has reported that "mail deliveries face major
disruption for more than a week due to a strike by thousands of postal workers
across Scotland. They are to hold two 48-hour stoppages - one begins tomorrow
with the other starting on Monday - with the result that there will be no mail
delivered to homes or businesses nationwide until next Wednesday. And it won't
be until the following week before deliveries get back to normal for most of
us."
The
Times of Malta
has reported that "Malta and another 10 EU member states have managed to obtain
a two-year concession from the EU before being obliged to fully liberalise their
postal services market."
Investigators led by the
U.S.
Postal Inspection Service have arrested 77 people as part of a global fraud
crackdown which has since January intercepted more than $2.1 billion in
counterfeit checks bound for the United States. The eight-month investigation
involved schemes in Nigeria, the Netherlands, England and Canada, and has
stopped more than half a million fake checks from being mailed to American
victims.
The
International Post Corporation has noted that "In recent years, the postal
market has undergone a widespread change process. Competition is increasing,
first among the different postal providers, including today’s incumbents and new
market entrants, second through the developments in the e-sector, and third
through logistics, publishing and mail order companies entering the postal
market. On the political side there are discussions and negotiations to
liberalize postal markets and often to introduce new laws and regulations. At
the same time National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) accumulate more and more
power and exert it on the postal providers, in particular on today’s universal
service providers. Due to the changing market realities it becomes obvious that
many laws and regulatory concepts contradict the requirements of a fair,
balanced, and functioning market environment." [Editor's note: This is
an important study. Get it and read it.]
The
Washington Post has reported that "The Bush administration yesterday lodged
a veto threat against a House bill that would strengthen the independence of the
government's inspectors general."
The
Houston
Chronicle (Associated Press) has reported that "The package from Hong Kong
looked innocent enough, marked "personal clothing." But when customs officials
opened it, they were stunned to see about 300 live scorpions and spiders. The
scorpions and spiders — which included tarantulas — were packed in nets, bottles
and transparent plastic boxes, concealed under clothes, newspapers"
The
New Haven Register has reported that "A Connecticut-based postal workers
union official said the union’s national leadership is renewing efforts to get
more information on what the federal government knows about the 2001 anthrax
scare that killed five people — including an elderly state woman — and infected
17 others."
The
Wall Street
Journal is giving you a "Pop quiz: If Industry A comprises large incumbents
that get rich by keeping rivals out and Industry B is a competitive market whose
players charge higher prices than some politicians would like to see, which will
attract Brussels' attention first? Answer: the one in which governments don't
have a financial interest. This rule of EU policy making was on display Monday,
when member states agreed to further delay opening up Europe's postal services
market. It's been two decades since Brussels started talking about liberalizing
mail delivery -- Industry A in our quiz -- and laws to begin the opening process
were passed in 1997 and 2002. Yet, under pressure from incumbents and their
strike-prone workers, member states balked at taking the final step: ending
lucrative national monopolies on letter delivery by 2009. The deadline will
instead be 2011 and incumbents in 11 of the 27 member states won't have to face
competition until 2013."
The
Gaylord Herald Times has reported that "In a response letter to recent
correspondence and an Aug. 27 meeting with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), U.S.
Congressman Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, urged the service to provide the Gaylord
mail processing facility with updated equipment, as well as a Biohazard
Detection System (BDS)."
The
Associated
Press has reported that "Federal employees wasted at least $146 million over
a one-year period on business- and first-class airline tickets, in some cases
simply because they felt entitled to the perk, congressional investigators say.
The latest GAO report noted that several government entities are not subject to
government rules on premium-class travel - among them, the U.S. Postal Service,
Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. - opening up more
opportunities for unnecessary waste. Those entities often allow members of their
board of governors to travel business or first class for shorter flights
overseas and sometimes domestically." [Editor's Note: Shorter flights
OVERSEAS? For a member of your Board of Governors? Come on! A trip to Europe or
Asia is not a short flight. Gimme a break.]
DM News
has reminded everyone that the "USPS has extended Move Updates to include
standard mail."
YLE has reported that "Unions
have called off a ban on overtime work for employees of the Post Office and
logistics company Itella. They struck a deal over labour contracts after
midnight on Wednesday."
October 2, 2007
According
to the
Melbourne Herald Sun, "a union-led strike by postal workers would only serve
to hurt the employees and their families, Australia Post says. More than 7500
staff have voted to support industrial action if their claim for a better deal
on wages and conditions is rejected. The Communications, Electrical and Plumbing
Union said workers would roll out work bans and stoppages if Australia Post
refused to negotiate over a new enterprise bargaining agreement."
The Guardian
has reported that "The government today launched a public consultation on plans
to close up to 2,500 post offices amid concerns the cuts could leave disabled,
elderly and low-income people unable to access benefits. The government-owned
Post Office Ltd plans to close up to 2,500 of the remaining 14,200 post offices
by the end of next year while 500 will be replaced by services offered from vans
and village halls."
United Press International has reported that "Japan Post Holdings Co.,
beginning a 10-year privatization of some 24,000 post offices, said it would
create a fund to maintain the old Postal Services Agency's nationwide "universal
service," even as it pursues profitability amid growing competition."
The
EMA Foundation
Institute of Postal Studies Summit Conference has announced a new program
entitled "Building The Postal Service of the 21st Century." This program will
feature quite a few of the leaders of our postal community and provide you with
some insight for the coming year. The conference will be held at the Ronald
Reagan International Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. The
registration form has been posted on this web site. You can print it out and fax
it to EMA at 703-739-2209 or even better, send in a check in an envelope! If you
have any questions about the program or speakers, please contact Tonya Muse,
Executive Director of the Foundation at
twmuse@envelope.org.
The
Institute for Research on the
Economics of Taxation has reported that "The Postal Service has increased
its productivity for seven years in a row. That is a record string of
productivity gains for the government-owned enterprise."
CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU Consultancy, has reported that:
As expected, EU ministers decided on a final date for the liberalisation of the postal markets in the EU during their meeting this Monday. 2011 is the basic target date for the opening up of the market.
The mid-year results for France’s La Poste "live up to expectations".
Poste Italiane has managed to increase turnover and profits in the first half of 2007. The company disclosed last week that turnover rose by 8.6 per cent to 9.5bn euros. At 959.2m euros, the operating result turned out 18.3 per cent higher than the previous year. The net profit rose by 18.1 per cent to 447.7m euros.
The introduction of a minimum wage for postmen in Germany is becoming increasingly likely now that resistance in the CDU/CSU is apparently crumbling.
Spain’s Correos is anticipating a 1.4 per cent loss in profits for the financial year 2008.
Previously, 52 eurocents would be stuck to a standard letter up to 50 grams in Belgium. From now on, a red stamp with the number 1 on it will be emblazoned upon these consignments. The reason: As of Monday, Belgium’s La Poste is only bringing out stamps without monetary value. The stamps only show a number between 1 and 7, according to the type of postal consignment. The advantage: In future, these stamps will be valid even after increases in postage rates, La Poste disclosed
The company vision leaves no doubt: "to become acknowledged as one of the 10 leading operators for post and related services world-wide". Even if the South African Post Office (SAPO) is still far from this goal in many respects, the financial report 2006/2007, presented in mid-September, shows impressive results.
Last Thursday, postal employees in the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) protested with a short walk-out against a job instruction which, in their opinion, is absurd.
Deutsche Post is not interested in a takeover of the US freight forwarding company YRC Worldwide.
The China State Post Bureau, the country’s regulatory authority established at the beginning of the year, last week published the criteria applicable to express services as of January.
Chronopost, the express subsidiary of France’s La Poste, must adjust the plans in its restructuring programme "Energie 2007".
The sale of the La Poste subsidiary Europe Airpost (Turnover 2006:242m euros, 25 aircraft), announced in April, is apparently imminent
Postal and logistics companies are also profiting from the strong Canadian dollar.
The about 1,300 FedEx employees in Germany receive a four per cent wage increase from October.
The British post plans to test mortgage sales. The company disclosed that the loans would be offered in certain Post Office branches in the North East of Britain, in cooperation with Bank Bristol and West. [Don't they know that "no one can do what Countrywide can"?]
The British CEP operator Business Post will offer all mail and express parcel services under one standardised trade name in future. The British information service »Road Transport« (21.9) reported that the services will be marketed as UK Mail: Express Parcels and Mail in future.
The British express company ANC, taken over by FedEx at the end of December (CEP News 50/06), will operate as FedEx UK in future.
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. (We appreciate the courtesy extended by CEP News to help whet your appetite for more of what CEP offers.)
Here's an
experience Americans know nothing about:
How to
make do during a national postal strike.
The
September-October 2007 issue of the Universal Postal Union
Direct Mail Advisory Board update has been posted on this site.
Sky News
has reported that "Post Office chairman Allan Leighton has defended his tough
stance over striking postal workers and plans to close up to 2,500 post offices
over the next year."
UNI has told its union members that "UNI-Europa Post & Logistics has
condemned the decision by the Council of European Union Ministers meeting in
Luxembourg to go ahead with total de-regulation in the postal sector by 2011/13.
Without clear provisions to fund the universal postal service and without secure
provisions in the new directive to protect wage dumping, UNI-Europa Post &
Logistics warns that post faces the law of the jungle."
PrintWeek has reported that "It should be business as usual for bulk mail
printers as Royal Mail has announced the suspension of door drops for
unaddressed mail during next month's strikes to allow customers to make
alternative arrangements for delivery. The company is suspending its activities
for the weeks beginning 8, 15, and 22 October, during which the Communication
Workers Union (CWU) has scheduled a series of 48-hour strikes. The company said
in a statement: "The CWU's strike action, which is designed to damage Royal
Mail, its customers and its people, will make it impossible for us to deliver
the services normally to our customers and we are taking steps now to give
customers in the fully competitive door to door market the opportunity to change
their mailing plans or, if necessary, make alternative arrangements."
UPS has announced it will become the first package carrier to offer
customers a paperless international shipping option as well as a package return
capability to 98 countries and territories. The new services - UPS Paperlesssm
Invoice and international UPS Returns® - will be introduced in January and will
make it even easier for customers to expand their businesses to new markets
around the globe.

Check out the
PostInsight web site where you can find: "Bills, Statements and Payments –
Paper and Electronic Delivery Alex Fu (Pitney Bowes) Future of Mail:
Paper No. 2007-4, August 2007."
The
Copenhagen Post has reported
that "Post Denmark, the national postal service, expects Monday’s decision by
the European Commission, which will open up the last remaining area still
protected from competition, to have little effect on the company or its mail
customers."
AMEInfo has reported that
"Bahrain is moving ahead with plans to privatize several key economic sectors in
line with the Kingdom's economic policy of openness, reported Arab News.
Bahrain's Economic Development Chief Executive Sheikh Mohammad bin Issa
Al-Khalifa said the privatization process would cover the
postal services, fuel stations,
tourism, communications, ports, electricity and water sectors."
News Letter has reported that "the looming postal strike could bring
Ulster's small businesses to their knees, concerned political parties were
predicting last night. Royal Mail bosses and the Communication Workers' Union
are locked in a dispute over modernisation plans and possible job cuts. Strike
action is planned for Friday and Saturday this week, with rolling action to
follow. The DUP MP has warned that strike action will have "a devastating
impact" upon small businesses throughout Northern Ireland, with more than 90 per
cent of them only using Royal Mail to carry out their business."
Traffic
World has reported that "Global air freight traffic jumped 6 percent in
August, the strongest growth in 16 months, with sharp gains in Asia and Europe
leading an accelerating recovery in air shipping. International air cargo in the
Asia-Pacific region grew 8.5 percent and European traffic was up 6.5 percent,
according to the International Air Transport Association. Traffic in North
America, where air cargo business in the United States has been weak in a
sluggish economy, edged up 1.1 percent."
News.com.au has reported that "Australia Post workers are set to strike if
their claim for a better deal on wages and conditions is rejected. More than
10,000 staff took part in a ballot, with about three quarters supporting
industrial action."
The
Wall Street
Journal has noted that "A hefty and increasing chunk of Shutterfly's revenue
doesn't come from products, but instead from the amount Shutterfly charges for
shipping. If you are like me, you probably assumed that when you buy something
online the cost of shipping is merely a pass-through. Amazon's disclosures show
that shipping is a money loser, thanks largely to free shipping. Shutterfly, as
of its first quarter, stopped disclosing shipping revenue quarterly, instead
preferring to do so at year's end. The reason given is that there is too much
fluctuation, in part because of rising postal costs and the way shipping is
allocated to products."
Press
Release: "PrintSoft (http://www.printsoft.com)
a business of Australia Post and established leader in hybrid mail technology
and personalized mail solutions, today launches a new service, DeskDirect
Global, to provide e-delivery of mail worldwide. The service operates using a
central backbone of high-speed servers that collect and aggregate mail from mail
originators anywhere in the world and route it to certified mail fulfillment
centers as close as possible to the mail's delivery destination. The result is
printed mail that gets to recipients faster, is easier and cheaper to send, and
is truly "green," with an enormously reduced carbon footprint for printed and
delivered mail."
According to
Business Week, "If you want to start a catalog company, you stand a better
chance of success if you first use the Web to create a brand and establish a
solid customer base....Along with competition, postal rate increases have been
outpacing inflation, which particularly hurts small catalogs that can't take
full advantage of bulk-mail discounts, and paper costs are currently very high."
From
Live-PR: "Transcontinental is proud to announce that Transcontinental Direct
in Pennsylvania, a leading direct marketing service provider, has been
recognized for its commitment to the environment and management of its recycling
programs."
The
Financial Times has reported that "Postal companies should be free to
compete for customers across the European Union from 2011 as governments on
Monday ended a year-long deadlock over opening the €88bn ($125bn, £61bn) market.
Only Luxembourg opposed the decision, after concerns from France and Italy were
addressed. The grand duchy and 10 other countries in the 27-member bloc won the
right to delay domestic liberalisation for two years. The move will, in theory,
allow any operator to carry letters under the 50g “reserved” threshold, although
powerful incumbents are still favourites to retain the business. The rest of the
market has been open for some time, but only Sweden, Finland and the UK have
fully liberalised, although Germany and the Netherlands will soon follow suit."
[Editor's Note: I'll believe it when I see it.]
Computerworld has reported that "Verizon Business and Spacenet Inc.
announced today that the companies won a $25 million contract to provide
point-to-point satellite communications for about 5,000 U.S. Postal Service
sites. The two-year contract, dubbed ORB-IT (for Outerspace Radio Broadcast
Information Technology), could be extended to eight years in all under three,
two-year optional extensions, both companies reported. Both providers will offer
the Postal Service full-time broadband satellite data services and on-demand
connectivity, using VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) technology. Verizon
Business, a unit of Verizon Communications Inc., has also been the Postal
Service's private network provider since 1997." See also
Washington Business Journal.
From the
Postal Regulatory Commission: Position Available: Assistant Director, Office
Of Accountability And Compliance, $112,525 - $136,200 Location: Postal
Regulatory Commission 901 New York Avenue, Nw, Suite 200 Washington, DC
20268-0001
Wickwire Gavin will be presenting our seminar on "Changes, Modifications,
and Claims under U.S. Postal Service Contracts" on Thursday, November 8, 2007 at
the Westin Hotel in Tysons Corner, Virginia. This advanced postal contracting
seminar will benefit anyone who is responsible for managing, administering, or
overseeing a Postal Service contract.
October 1, 2007
|
|
PostCom welcomes its newest member: Printing Industries of America PIA-GATF 601 13th Street, NW, Suite 360 N Washington, DC 20005-3807 represented by Lisbeth Lyons Vice President, Government Affairs . |
From the
Federal Register: "The
Secretary of State announces the creation of the Advisory Committee on
International Postal and Delivery Services in fulfillment of the provisions of
the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (Pub. L. 109–435) and
in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. Purpose: The purpose of
the Advisory Committee shall be to serve the Department of State in an advisory
capacity with respect to the formulation, coordination, and oversight of foreign
policy related to international postal services and other international delivery
services. The Committee will provide a forum for government employees,
representatives of the industry sector and members of the public to present
their advice and views directly to the Department of State. Those wishing to be
considered for membership should send a statement of interest and qualifications
to the Department of State by one of the following methods: • E-mail:
DelehantyDM@state.gov and
WoodCS@state.gov. • Fax: (202) 647–8902. •
Mail: Mr. Dennis Delehanty, Foreign Affairs Officer, Office of Technical
Specialized Agencies (IO/T), Bureau of International Organization Affairs,
Department of State, 2201 C Street, NW., Room 5333, Washington, DC 20520–6319.
Statements should reach the Department of State on or before October 19, 2007.
According to
the
New York Times, "The big American newspapers sell about 10 percent fewer
copies than they did in 2000, and while the migration of readers to the Web is
usually blamed for that decline, much of it has been intentional. Driven by
marketing and delivery costs and pressure from advertisers, many papers have
decided certain readers are not worth the expense involved in finding, serving
and keeping them."
Advertising
Age has noted that "As maintaining big circulation has gotten more expensive
and less rewarding, publishers have stripped millions of copies from sales
guarantees at magazines as diverse as Reader's Digest, Time, Woman's Day, TV
Guide, BusinessWeek and even Star magazine, the only celebrity weekly to ever
reduce rate base."
Microsoft is focusing on the postal industry because of the incredible
transformation taking place in the postal sector and the opportunities we see
for postal organizations to play a key role in the digital world, as they’ve
done so effectively in the physical world. Our strategy for posts has three
pillars.
The
Union has reported that "When an official-looking envelope from the County
of Nevada came in the mail for Cedar Ridge resident James Keefer, his wife
teased him, figuring it was a jury summons. Instead, when the Keefers opened the
envelope, which also looked something like a property tax bill, they discovered
a solicitation from a lending company, American Heritage Lending of Aliso Viejo,
Calif. “I’m really offended by this type of advertising. It’s deceitful and I
think it should be stopped,” Kathie Keefer said."
One
Milford Daily News
writer has told his readers that "There are some people who think we should take
this Do Not Call List further and have a Do Not Send Junk Mail to My House List
because they are sick and tired of all the junk mail they receive. I understand
their frustration, but I have always defended junk mail for the simple reason
that it is pretty easy to toss into the trash or recycle bin if you're not
interested. Consider these advantages: junk mail doesn't show up demanding
attention right away when we are relaxing in the evening; it rarely
mispronounces your name, although your name might be misspelled; and most
importantly, it subsidizes the few times each month when we actually need to
mail something. Be realistic. Without junk mail the United States Postal Service
would have no reason for coming around to everyone's house more than once a
week. Once a month for some people. And it would probably cost $100 or more to
mail a letter."
Hemscott has reported that "PIN AG and TNT NV's TNT Post convinced Germany's
Economy Ministry that 50,000 jobs are at stake, if the minimum wage agreement
concluded by former monopolist Deutsche Post World Net AG and union ver.di is
applied to the whole postal industry, Der Spiegel reported, citing ministry
documents. A representative of TNT Post said the Netherlands-based logistics
company will consider withdrawing from Germany all together if Deutsche Post's
minimum wages are extended to the whole industry."
UNI (Union Network International ) General Secretary Philip Jennings added
UNI’s voice to the fight against job outsourcing in the USA on 26 September at
an event organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers in Washington,
D.C. NALC has initiated a campaign to stop the United States Postal Service
(USPS) from contracting out delivery jobs. In recent years, the company has
hired thousands of low-wage, non-union contractors to deliver mail in new
housing and commercial developments in the United States. “It’s union-busting,
pure and simple,” said William H. Young at the event.
The
International Herald Tribune has reported that "European Union ministers
will examine plans Monday to scrap the vestiges of national monopolies for
postal services, including a proposal for total liberalization for mail delivery
by 2011."
UPS
has announced it had reached a tentative agreement with the International
Brotherhood of Teamsters on a new five-year contract covering approximately
240,000 full- and part-time package employees in the United States.