![[PostCom logo]](../../postcom3.gif)
Postal News from May 2008:
May 31, 2008
A copy of
Postcomm's report on the performance of the U.K.'s
postal network is available on line.
Reuters has reported that "Belgium is open to the idea
of its postal service becoming part of the new joint
Danish-Swedish mail group."
Delaware Online has noted that according to postal board
chairman Alan Kessler, "the postal service strives to turn
around losses."
Internet Retailer has reported that "The cutbacks
announced this week by delivery service DHL will force
online retailers to update their shipping software and
likely will mean changes in shipping labels, say executives
at shipping software vendor Kewill Americas. And larger
e-retailers that ship in bulk directly to DHL hubs may have
to revise their operations, they say."
The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:
May 30, 2008
The Postal Regulatory Commission will hold a public field
hearing in St. Paul, Minnesota on Thursday, June 5, 2008, at
10 a.m., to solicit views relating to the universal service
obligation of the U.S. Postal Service and the postal
monopoly. The hearing will be in the City Council Chambers,
third floor of the City Hall/Court House Building, 15 West
Kellogg Blvd. Please contact Nanci Langley (202) 789-6800 or
Nanci.Langley@prc.gov
for further information.
According to Forbes:
PrintWeek has reported that "Companies may be better off
contacting potential customers via direct mail than the
internet or telephone, according to new research. A study
carried out by Amarach on behalf of the Irish postal service
An Post, claimed the majority of people read their post as
soon as they receive it. Although around 70% of people felt
most of the direct mail they receive is irrelevant, nearly
half said that they enjoy reading their post and 70% said
they preferred companies to use the postal service. The
positive response for direct mail is surprising given that
in the same research, nearly two-thirds of the people
surveyed said they felt negatively towards direct mail."
The
Evening News has noted that "Just 83.2 per cent of first
class post was delivered the next working day in the EH
postcode area during 2007/08 – with last summer's strike
action being blamed for the drop from 93.8 per cent in
2006-2007."
According to the
Press Information Bureau of India, "With the launch of
customized protective envelop for Speed Post and Insured
Post - a first in the country, India Post has moved a step
further in providing customer convenience."
The
Business Journal of Milwaukee has reported that "A
multimillion-dollar plan to move the U.S. Postal Service's
distribution center from downtown Milwaukee to 64 acres in
Oak Creek may not be a done deal. U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore
(D-Milwaukee) is taking the lead in opposing the U.S. Postal
Service's decision to buy the parcel at the southwest corner
of South Pennsylvania and West College avenues in Oak Creek.
She plans to discuss the decision, which would move the
facility out of her congressional district, with Postal
Service officials in Washington, D.C. She also plans to work
with Milwaukee officials and real estate executives to find
an alternative site in Milwaukee, according to Moore's
office." [EdNote: Let's see. Three and a half decades.
Two postal reform laws. And we still haven't exorcised
politics from the postal system.]
According to
Bloomberg, "Deutsche Post AG may seek about 12 billion
euros ($18.6 billion) in its sale of Deutsche Postbank AG,
Germany's biggest consumer bank by clients."
Union Network International has reported that "At a
special session for Labour at the recent Rutgers sponsored
conference taking place in Portugal on Postal and Delivery
Economics, three union presenters tried to add some balance
to the proceedings by giving the view of labour on
liberalisation and deregulation in the postal industry."
TMCNet has reported that "Japan Post Holdings Co. said
Friday its business performance in the first six months of
its 10-year privatization process exceeded its expectations
with a consolidated net profit of 277.2 billion yen during
the October-March period."
According to
Transport Intelligence, "UPS is the big winner from the
new DHL partnership." See also
Bloomberg.
Hellmail has reported that:
The
Postal Regulatory Commission has recommended approval of
the proposed Negotiated Service Agreement (NSA) with Life
Line Screening. This is the ninth Negotiated Service
Agreement reviewed by the Commission. Although the
Commission found flaws with many of these agreements, it
believes well-structured customerspecific agreements can be
successfully used to take advantage of special situations in
the market.
Government Executive has reported that "The Office of
Personnel Management has suspended a 10-year, $290 million
contract awarded to Hewitt Associates to create a new
electronic retirement system. The move came just days before
OPM was scheduled to launch wave two of the retirement
project for employees at the U. S. Postal Service.
Currently, 26,000 employees at the General Services
Administration have converted to the system, with OPM
expecting to transfer all federal employees to RetireEZ by
February 2009."
Creamer Media's Engineering News has reported that
"Package delivery and supply-chain service company UPS South
Africa has introduced to the country a sophisticated
tracking technology called the Delivery Information
Acquisition Device (Diad), which allows customers, through
the Internet or a UPS call centre, to track their parcels’
position within the global UPS network chain."
Business Week has reported that "The president of ABX
Air said a plan by DHL to hire United Parcel Service Inc. as
its air cargo carrier in the United States is expected to
cost 6,000 ABX workers their jobs at a freight hub in
Wilmington, Ohio.
According to the
Daily Mail, "The reliability of the Royal Mail collapsed
last year, with the business failing to hit 75 per cent of
its service targets. Tens of thousands of letters and
parcels were delayed or lost altogether against a background
of cuts in services and strikes. Official figures published
last night reveal that the organisation missed nine of the
12 minimum service levels." See also
The Telegraph.
"In reaction to Postwatch’s performance figures for 2007/08,
CWU
responded in anger at Royal Mail management’s
deliberately misleading and greedy bonus scheme and
continued double standards for different levels of staff."
The
Daily News has reported that "The Postal Department
could be converted into a lucrative venture only through the
introduction of new services and technologies in addition to
its normal services, Posts and Telecommunication Minister
Mahinda Wijesekara said yesterday."
May 29, 2008
Posted on the
Postal Regulatory Commission website are copies of
testimony presented at the Flagstaff, AZ field hearing on
universal mail service.
International decision-makers will participate in a
high-level debate on 25 July 2008 focusing on the theme “The
postal sector, an essential component of the global
economy”.
The
U.S. Postal Service said today that the international
delivery company DHL will leverage an existing agreement to
give the Postal Service exclusive delivery services to the
last-mile in certain locations. The expanded agreement will
build on the existing arrangement through a combination of
the Postal Service’s Priority Mail and Parcel Select
products.
According to Precision Marketing:
The
Daily Tribune has noted that "After a quick, painless
swab of the mouth, hundreds of postal employees are wiping
their DNA cells on a paper form for a bone marrow registry
and becoming candidates to deliver the gift of life."
From
PR Web: "Window Book announces software to enable
mailers to comply with new Postal Service changes to
Priority Mail Open and Distribute service."
May 28, 2008
PostCom welcomes its newest member:
ICS
Corporation, Inc. 2225 Richmond Street Philadelphia, PA
19125-4324 represented by Steven Kulick, CMDSM, MQCS, EMCM
Director or Quality Control & Assurance
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.)
May 27, 2008
May 26, 2008
May 25, 2008
May 24, 2008
Hellmail has reported that "Management at Royal Mail has
been under further attack this week after Adam Crozier,
Chief Executive at Royal Mail, was accused of being paid
millions for effectively running the UK's postal service
into the ground. Criticism of a 'reward for failure' regime
at Royal Mail has continued to blight the state-owned UK
postal service over recent months, despite claims by Royal
Mail Chairman Allan Leighton, that Mr Crozier is 'worth
every penny'. The Daily Mail today showed Mr Crozier
relaxing in Barbados over the weekend."
According to
CNET News, "Netflix is banking on the belief that
streaming movies to people's living rooms is the future. CEO
Reed Hastings said during Netflix's investor day here that
he expects the business of renting physical DVDs will peak
within the next five years. However, Netflix representatives
later said they forecast that DVDs will remain strong for at
least a decade." In an interview with Walt Mossberg at D6,
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said, "We are working on a new
version of video on demand, a for pay streaming service we
will release in the next couple of weeks. The streaming
service will start instantly and it's a la carte, for pay."
This will be in addition to Amazon's download-to-Tivo
service. " [EdNote: A sign that yet another product of
the postal mailstream is headed for extinction.]
CNNMoney has reported that "The U.S Postal Service, or
USPS, is expected to announce a slate of large express
freight contracts in August after being allowed to bid for
commercial contracts for the first time."
ITPro has reported that "The [UK]Post Office has entered
into a five-year deal to outsource the implementation of two
new business intelligence (BI) systems as part of a
modernisation programme designed to improve profitability
and business responsiveness."
Bloomberg has reported that "United Parcel Service Inc.,
the world's largest package-delivery company, said it
expects as much as $1 billion a year in new revenue as it
takes over U.S. flying for Deutsche Post AG's unprofitable
DHL unit. The new business will help UPS cushion the blow
from declining package demand as U.S. economic growth slows.
Deutsche Post said the accord should produce $1 billion in
annual savings by shutting U.S. sorting facilities and
cutting as many as 1,800 jobs as DHL struggles to compete
with UPS and FedEx Corp." See also Air Cargo World
[1]
[2], the
Dayton Daily News, and the
Associated Press.
The Tennessean has reported that "The United States Postal
Service is considering whether to build a new processing and
distribution facility near Nashville International Airport."
CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU Consultancy, has reported that:
The regulated prices for Royal Mail services will have
cost the British post 2.6bn GBP (approx. 3.3bn euros) in
lost turnover by the end of 2010. The post said the
regulated prices had been calculated on the basis of an
overall increase in volumes. However, in reality volumes
had shrunk, as the recently published annual report
showed a 3.2% drop in volumes for the universal service
provider.
News of the remuneration paid to Royal Mail CEO Adam
Crozier has incensed British politicians. British press
called Mr Crozier the most highly paid civil servant in
the UK.
There appears to be growing criticism against the
planned merger with Post Danmark in Sweden.
Only two weeks after resuming their talks, TNT Post and
the Dutch trade unions have reached reached an agreement
in principle on a new one-year collective labour
agreement.
The dominating market role of Deutsche Post means that
it will take at least another ten years before proper
competition prevails in the German market.
Last week, Österreichische Post announced the takeover
of the Belgian logistics company HSH Holding (turnover:
18m euros, 5m parcels), which specialises in the
delivery of pharmaceutical products. This acquisition
further strengthens Österreichische Post’s position on
the European pharmaceutical distribution market.
In Belgium, La Poste will be submitting employees at its
sorting centres to searches. The decision came after
numerous complaints from customers over missing
consignments.
Australia Post has been exposed to severe criticism from
the country’s political opposition in connection with
the planned increase in postage rates from October.
The United States Postal Service has not derived much
joy from the use of ethanol driven vehicles.
Employees of the Israel Postal Company have announced
plans to increase pressure on Ariel Atias, the country’s
Minister of Communications.
Österreichische Post appears to have expanded its parcel
network in South Eastern Europe with a further
acquisition. In reference to a communication from the
central antitrust authority in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
»Wirtschaftsblatt« (20.05) reported that Post
International Beteiligungs GmbH had approved a complete
takeover of the Bosnian parcel service provider 24-VIP
Express Logistics Services d.o.o.
The Turkish post has announced the founding of its own
separate parcel segment planned for this summer.
Schweizerische Post will collect parcels from customers’
homes in the future on condition that they are franked
with the internet service WebStamp.
DHL has confirmed that Chris Fahy, president and CEO of
DHL Global Forwarding, has left the company. Mr Fahy was
thought to be one of the favourites to succeed Frank
Appel as head of logistics. At the beginning of March,
however, Bruce Edwards and Hermann Ude were appointed to
the board.
Online Media Daily has noted that "Running an online
campaign may seem less harmful to the environment than, say,
launching a national print promo--but the energy used to
serve the ads could actually make the digital project more
of an Earth Day offender."
According to
Brand Republic, "Royal Mail faces further upheaval with
the news that marketing director Alex Batchelor is to
depart, coming just days after it announced an operating
loss of £279m for last year. Batchelor will leave the postal
operator at the end of next month following a board-level
restructure that has resulted in group strategy director
Alex Smith taking on the role of strategy and commercial
director."
This is to remind you that there is
a
public workshop on the Universal Service Obligation and the
Postal Monopoly scheduled for Thursday, June 12th in
the Postal Regulatory Commission's Hearing Room, and
moderated by PRC Chairman Dan Blair. This is an announcement
of the Workshop (as well as the Field Hearings on June 5th
and June 19th):
http://www.prc.gov/Docs/59/59921/OrderNo.76.pdf The
questions and issues most relevant to the June 12th workshop
are outlined in this document:
http://www.prc.gov/Docs/59/59731/Order%20No.%2071.pdf
Hemscott has reported that "Deutsche Post World Net
AG.'s express mail business DHL and U.S. Postal Service have
signed a cooperation agreement, Handelsblatt reported,
citing industry sources. As an airfreight partner of U.S.
Postal Service, Fedex Corp. is also participating, the paper
added."
Transport Intelligence has reported that "A decision
this month by the California Appellate Court has reversed a
2007 decision by a Los Angeles Superior Court that had
granted motions by US-based United Parcel Service (UPS) and
Mail Boxes Etc Inc (MBE). In a public statement, PSA
president Howard Spanier claimed: "The Court of Appeals gave
us a total victory. The court reversed every single claim
that UPS/MBE made and awarded costs on appeal to the
plaintiffs. This is a complete repudiation of UPS' and MBE's
position and was the last major hurdle for us. Now, UPS must
face a public trial, where UPS and MBE will be forced to
explain their anti-franchisee actions in front of a jury."
USA Today has reported that "The future of magazine
publishing increasingly is appearing on a digital display —
not just a newsstand. Advancements in software and hardware
are making it easier for a growing faction of consumers —
including coveted younger readers called screen-agers — to
read their favorite publications on the Internet or download
and read them later offline. The growing popularity of
virtual magazines could be a panacea for foreign publishers
— many of whom want to crack the U.S. market but are
hindered by distance and mailing costs — and it extends the
reach of American publications to rural areas, where many
titles are hard to find. Playboy launched a digital edition
in 2005 with the help of Zinio. It has saved $1.2 million
from lower manufacturing, distribution, paper and postal
costs."
According to
CNNMoney, "The long-awaited plans by DHL to shrink its
U.S. package delivery unit, which has lost around $3 billion
over the past four years, are expected."
NewsDurhamRegion has reported that Canadian "rural
posties protest high gas prices."
Air Cargo World has reported that "DHL signed a major
air freight agreement with the United States Postal Service.
Deutsche Post World Net plans to announce details of the
agreement via webcast from Bonn on Wednesday. The agreement
calls for FedEx to carry some air freight on behalf of the
USPS. Sources familiar with the agreement said FedEx will
take over some unprofitable air routes initially and
increase the service gradually. DPWN Chief Executive Officer
Frank Appel is also expected to announce the closing of a
quarter of DHL's U.S. stations and the elimination of
hundreds of jobs. DHL is expected to redirect its growth
efforts on its international service."
See also the
Journal of Commerce.
Check
Business Week's piece on "The New Push to Get Rid of
Paper.Three decades after "paperless office" entered the
business lexicon, the financial and environmental need to
reduce paper is greater than ever."
The Journal has reported that "Sen. Charles Schumer is
calling on the U.S. Postal Service to expedite an agreement
with Cappelli Enterprises on the sale of the post-office
building and relocation of its operations elsewhere
downtown. In that letter, Schumer urged Postmaster General
John Potter in Washington to "jump-start negotiations with
the city of New Rochelle and its development partner." New
York's senior senator says the Postal Service's financial
demands "puts the project in jeopardy." [EdNote: No
word yet on whether Sen. Schumer will get the Congress to
indemnify the Postal Service against any financial
loss....By the way...don't expect one.]
The Peninsula has noted that "Q-Post sponsored the
Growth Award at the Universal Postal Awards in Budapest,
Hungary, organized by the Tri-Angel company in collaboration
with the Universal Postal Union (UPU)."
Union Network International has posted a brief update on
the status of bargaining between New Zealand Post and its
largest postal union.
As
DM News has noted, "As baby boomers slowly give way to
the Internet generation, surely it's only a matter of time
before print fades away with them. The new breed works and
plays online. They read newspapers or magazines on the Web.
They exchange text messages and e-mail, not postal letters,
and the direct mail they get, they trash without opening.
But actually, research shows that for many purposes, print
is the preferred medium of consumers and business executives
alike. It continues to be a top performer in advertising
and marketing campaigns. What's more, the vast majority of
people do in fact read or skim their direct mail, especially
when it speaks directly to them."
Deutsche Welle has reported that "The express mail
delivery and logistics company DHL, which is a division of
Germany's postal giant Deutsche Post AG, inaugurated its
principle European hub at Leipzig-Halle airport in eastern
Germany on Monday, May 26."
From
PR Urgent: "ZIPCodeWorld™ United States Gold PO Box
Edition consists of a list of more than 9,000 Post Office™
Box (PO Box) only ZIP codes, state and city name. It bundled
with the ZIPCodeWorld™ US Gold Edition which covers 5-Digit
ZIP code, city name, alias city name, state code, phone area
code, city type, country name, country FIPS, time zone, day
light saving flag, latitude, longitude, county elevation,
Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), Primary Metropolitan
Statistical Area (PMSA), Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA)
and Census 2000 data in United States. The complete database
contains over 80,000 precise records."
Bloomberg has reported that "Deutsche Post AG, Europe's
biggest postal service, hasn't decided whether to sell its
majority stake in German lender Deutsche Postbank AG as the
company considers options for the holding. ``We're in a
sounding-out process,'' Deutsche Post Chief Executive
Officer Frank Appel told reporters today near Leipzig,
Germany. The mail operator is ``not in a hurry'' to decide
on the future of the stake, he said." For more
background on impending changes in the German banking
market, check out the
Financial Times.
DutchNews has reported that "Postal company TNT
announced on Saturday that it has reached an agreement in
principle with postal workers unions on the disputed pay
claim. The company has offered 3.5% with 0.5% conditional on
an agreement on new productivity and working conditions
being reached by April 1 2009."
Forbes has reported that "TNT NV said on Monday it will
now target significantly lower workplace benefits for Dutch
domestic postal workers after reaching a wage deal with
unions over the weekend to avert a nationwide strike later
this week." See also
Sharewatch.
The Australian has reported that "Australia Post expects
to raise about $155 million a year from increased postal
charges, in what the Opposition charged this morning was a
tax grab. A budget estimates committee was told Australia
Post would pay a “special dividend” of $150 million to the
Government in the 2008/9 financial year, out of its profits.
Liberal Party senator Simon Birmingham asked Australia Post
executives how they justified slugging consumers with the
increased postal charges, when that money would simply be
handed over to the Government. Australia Post group
financial controller Michael Tenace said the two amounts
“had nothing to do” with one another, with the $150 million
to be paid to the Government coming out of two years’
profits. On the other hand, he said postage charges were
intended to be increased as a result of decisions made in
the relevant business division."
The Hindu has reported that "The Tamil Nadu postal
circle on Monday entered into a tie-up with ARM i-Solutions
for providing ticketing services through post offices in the
state. Tamil Nadu Principal Chief Post Master General Indira
Krishna Kumar told reporters here today that the tie-up
would offer domestic air, railway and bus ticketing services
to the people of the state."
The
Jerusalem Post has reported that "Israel Postal Company
workers plan to disrupt the distribution of National
Insurance Institute allotments, and to refuse to collect
income tax, value-added tax and other payments due the
state, as well as to prevent people from switching
memberships in health funds at post offices. The workers are
protesting against the Finance and Communications
ministries' refusal to give their company a "safety net" to
prevent it from losing money as it increasingly faces
competition from the private sector."
The Times has reported that "on the ground floor of the
Royal Mail’s huge Mount Pleasant sorting office in London,
an army of postal workers is busy feeding letters into
machines that can now decipher even the most spidery human
handwriting. Three floors up, a dozen colleagues are
spending the day at the gym. Helped by occupational-health
specialists, they are working out in a room full of
equipment or doing step exercises, sit-ups and stretches.
The gym, thought to be the only rehabilitation facility in
the UK to be housed on company premises, aims to get sick
Royal Mail staff well enough to rejoin their coworkers on
the sorting floor. The £350,000 facility is a key part of an
antiabsenteeism programme that Royal Mail - struggling to
survive in a changing marketplace - claims has cut absence
from 7% to 5%, saved £227m and brought 3,600 staff back to
work since 2004."
According to
ABC.az, Azerpoct (Azerbaijan State Postal Company) is
planning to take a range of measures in regions of
Azerbaijan.
The latest issue of
the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:
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According to the
Daily Mail, "The chief executive behind the
controversial closure of 2,500 post offices was paid more
than £3million last year, it was revealed. The extraordinary
payout for Royal Mail boss Adam Crozier was described as
'obscene' by one MP and 'immoral' by a trade union. It makes
Mr Crozier Britain's best-paid civil servant despite a
catalogue of problems at his state-owned company."
The
Financial Times has reported that "Royal Mail has
defended payments to top executives after the annual report
revealed that Adam Crozier, chief executive, received more
than £3m this year in spite of mounting losses at the
state-owned group." See also
The Scotsman.
Air Cargo World has reported that "The owners of DHL
plan to announce changes in the carrier's troubled U.S.
express business next week that industry experts believe
will include a sharp withdrawal from many asset-based
operations in the United States."
The
Billings Gazette has reported that "Mail carried in a
small plane that crashed in Billings Heights Friday morning
was strewn in a swath two miles long and 150 yards wide,
according to postal service spokeswoman Lisa Blomquist. The
Postal Service has three teams searching the area for mail.
Blomquist said they have recovered "quite a bit" of the
mail. "
According to
Smart Money, "The Philippine government will ask United
Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) to retain some operations in the
country after the U.S. logistics giant announced it was
relocating to southern China."
UPS' most recent income statement is available on
Yahoo!
May 23, 2008
From
Business Wire:
The
Press and Journal has reported that "The UK Government
was urged last night to prepare to impose a levy on Royal
Mail’s competitors to keep universal letter deliveries going
— or risk the collapse of the service. The warning came
after Business Secretary John Hutton renewed the
government’s commitment to a universal service — a
nationwide delivery service at a single tariff — but
insisted he must not pre-empt a study into Royal Mail’s
future."
May 22, 2008
According to
The Watch, "A grassroots effort to help community
members take charge of the amount of junk mail they receive
was briefly thwarted on Tuesday when the United States
Postal Service forced organizers enrolling people in a
catalog reduction service to leave its premises.
Denver-based USPS spokesperson Al Desarro said that junk
mail gets a bad rap. Not only is direct mail the lifeblood
of the USPS, which receives no government subsidies to
operate, but that it is directly responsible for millions of
jobs."
In testimony submitted today at a Postal Regulatory
Commission (PRC) public hearing in Flagstaff, AZ, Matt
Panos, a member of the
Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation
(DMANF) Advisory Council and vice president of ministry
partnerships and resources at Food for the Hungry, raised
questions about the Commission’s proposed definition of
Universal Service Obligation (USO) and urged the PRC to take
additional time to analyze how that definition will affect
nonprofit organizations and their ability to raise money
through the mail.
Precision Marketing has reported that "Royal Mail
marketing director Alex Batchelor is leaving at the end of
next month following a restructure of the marketing team."
The
Postal Regulatory Commission will sponsor a workshop on
Thursday, June 12, 2008, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. The
workshop, regarding universal postal service and the postal
monopoly in the United States-- including the monopoly on
the delivery of mail and on access to mailboxes, will be
held in the Commission's hearing room, located at 901 New
York Ave., NW., Suite 200, Washington, DC. The moderator
will be Commission Chairman Dan G. Blair. The workshop is
open to the public. The proceedings will be transcribed, and
a copy of the transcript will be posted on the Commission's
Web site."
DM News has reported that "The US Postal Service plans
to redesign its direct mail Web site to make it more
relevant to small business owners."
From
PR Newswire: "Sirit Inc. ("Sirit"), a leading provider
of radio frequency identification ("RFID") technology, today
announced that the INfinity 510 ("IN510") UHF reader was
selected for Finland's postal delivery service RFID
implementation. Readers have been installed across the
country as part of a system to monitor and quantify the
speed and accuracy of real-time postal deliveries. "
The National Association of
Major Mail Users has noted that "Canada Post has issued
its first annual Corporate Social Responsibility Report
(CSR), reflecting the corporation’s economic, social and
environmental objectives, strategies and performance. Also,
Canada Post has introduced a new flat-rate shipping fee
designed to make it easier to buy and sell goods using
on-line auction site eBay. The “Flat Rate Box” is a new
co-branded product. "
Richard Keegan, a letter carrier and the Customer
Connect representative for the Brick Post Office, wrote in
the Asbury Park Press, "As a 25-year veteran of the Postal
Service, I feel obligated to respond to the scathing attack
against it by Robert R. Schrum in his May 9 commentary
"Postal Service gives licking to average patron." Schrum, of
the Lexington Institute in Virginia, chastised the service
for the rate increase that went into effect May 12. He
blamed the increase on the "sweetheart deals" obtained by
bulk mailers and the postal labor unions. He claims the
Postal Service is placating the large mailers at the expense
of the average consumer. He could not be more wrong."
ThisIsLondon has reported that "Germany's postal service
Deutsche Post has apologised for printing stamps of Nazi
wartime leader Rudolf Hess for a group of Hitler fanatics. A
new service allows customers to design their own stamps
using Internet images. Postal workers check for decency and
taste - but admit something went badly wrong with the
picture of Hess."
The Other Russia has reported that "Russia’s major print
media have called off a May 21st day of protest, which was
prepared in response to skyrocketing postal delivery rates.
As the Interfax news agency reports, the newspapers and
magazines have cancelled their demonstration after the
presidential administration stepped in. White lines won’t be
issued tomorrow,” Pavel Gusev, the editor-in-chief of the
Moskovsky Komsomolets, told Interfax. “The fact of the
matter is that the presidential administration and the
Ministry of Telecommunications and Print got involved in the
affair, and most likely, all of our demands will be
satisfied.” Gusev, who heads a federal advisory committee on
matters of freedom of speech in the media, said that special
negotiations will take place Thursday."
May 21, 2008
The
Financial Times has reported that "Royal Mail has called
on the government to allow it to raise capital by issuing
shares to modernise its operations further and preserve the
uniform delivery price. It says this would provide the
"crucial risk capital" needed to take long-term decisions,
speed up its transformation by reinforcing market
disciplines. and attract "the best management talent". The
call follows a similar recommendation last week from
Postcomm, the postal regulator, which said the state-owned
operator should be freed to raise capital from the private
sector following the example of several other European post
offices. In its submission to the independent review on the
universal service, Royal Mail also backs Postcomm's
recommendation that the government should relieve the
state-owned operator of its £3.6bn pension deficit. Royal
Mail says most restrictions on its operations should be
lifted - leaving only the prices of stamps and metered mail
to be set by the regulator. It should be allowed to
introduce products without advanced clearance, and to
compete for the business of big postal users."
SocalTech News has reported that "Los Angeles-based
Stamps.com, a provider of PC postage products and customized
photo postage, said today that it has received an extension
to offer its popular PhotoStamps product through May 16,
2009. The firm's product allows consumers to upload any
digital photograph or use a licensed image on their own,
custom postage. According to Stamps.com, the extension is to
the fourth phase of a market test for the postage, which is
being offered with permission of the U.S. Postal Service in
a pilot program. The company said that it has now sold more
than 58 million of its PhotoStamps."
Yesterday, at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, Serenity
Edwards, director, Corporate Responsibility for the Direct
Marketing Association (DMA), Dick Goldsmith, chairman, The
Horah Group, and Phil Riebel, environmental director, North
America, UPM-Kymmene Inc., discussed how and
why marketers should make the effort to “go green.”
The
Wall Street Journal has reported that "Getting the
U.S.Postal Service to deliver mail efficiently is hard
enough. Getting it to deliver it fuel-efficiently is
apparently even harder. Bloomberg reports on the latest
unintended consequence of the U.S. government’s obligation
to outfit many of its vehicle fleets with cars and trucks
that run on alternative fuels. That 1992 mandate almost
never translates into really alternative-fuel vehicles, like
ones that run on natural gas or even electricity. Instead,
about 99% of government purchases are “flex-fuel” vehicles
that can burn ethanol, but usually don’t. The Post Office
bought 30,000 flex-fuel vehicles between 1999 and 2005,
Bloomberg notes. The result? Fuel consumption shot up—and
not because mail routes got longer:"
From
PR-Canada: "In what could be called a niche within a
niche, ArtisticPostage.com has introduced specific types of
postal wedding stamps. (http://www.artisticpostage.com/Wedding_Stamps.html)
Covered types include military wedding stamps, destination
wedding stamps, monthly wedding stamps, and Asian-inspired
wedding stamps."
The
Economic Times has reported that "India Post has tied up
with US-based postal solutions provider Pitney Bowes to
offer enhanced mailing services to the users. The American
company is also in talks with the postal department for
setting up ATM-like kiosks from where users would be able to
send mails and parcels."
From
Business Wire:
Federal
Register:
This proposal would revise Mailing Standards of the
United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual
(DMM[supreg]) to reflect changes to the mailing requirements
of our Shipping Services product, Parcel Select[supreg], by
requiring new markings on BMC-Presort or OBMC-Presort
(Inter-BMC), and origin-entered Barcoded Intra-BMC and
Barcoded Inter-BMC packages. DATES: We must receive your
comments on or before June 20, 2008.
The
DM Bulletin has reported that " Royal Mail has told the
independent postal sector review that wide changes in the
way it is regulated are necessary in order to solve the
issues facing the universal service. The company wants more
of its business services to be exempted from its universal
service obligation and for the terms on which it grants
access to its delivery network to rivals reviewed."
According to the executive director of the
U.S. Customer Postal Council, "if you own and maintain
your mailbox, should a government agency really have the
right to tell you how you can and can't use it? Of course
not. In fact, that's exactly what the blue-ribbon
President's Commission on the Postal Service argued in its
2003 report. The commission proposed that consumers choose
whether or not to allow private individuals or delivery
companies to access their mailboxes, "so long as it does not
impair the universal service or open homeowners' mailboxes
against their will." A 2007 report by the Federal Trade
Commission agreed. The Postal Service's monopoly on mailbox
use "limits consumer choice and artificially increases the
costs of private carriers," it concluded. The FTC also
reported on eight countries without mailbox monopolies. For
one thing, none noticed a significant loss in postal
revenue. Six reported little or no problem with theft from
the mailbox. Tellingly, the United States is the only
country in the world with a monopoly on mailbox use."
The Guardian has reported that "Britain's Business Post
Group Plc posted a 45 percent rise in annual profits on
strong growth in its UK Mail unit, sending shares higher on
Wednesday, and said the start of the new year had been
encouraging."
CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the
MRU Consultancy, has reported that:
The Norwegian post saw a slight increase in turnover, accompanied by a drastic slump in profit during the first quarter of the current financial year.
Bulgaria’s post BG Posts appears to be facing radical restructuring. Media reports state that the post’s six divisions will be turned into financially and legally independent segments and bundled under the umbrella of a holding company. This process is due to be completed by 1 October this year. The government wants to give Finance Post, Bulpost/EMS, Post Trans and Trade, Bulgarian Philately, Hybrid Post and Post Tourist the opportunity to attract investors independently. None of the six segments will be expected to perform mail services, especially not the universal service.
UPS appears to be planning major job cuts and restructuring measures in Spain.
According to media reports Japan’s leading CEP and logistics operator Yamato (2007/2008 turnover: 7.54bn euros, 217.3m euros profit) is planning to expand services into South Korea and China.
DHL France has introduced a new product in the French express market. D12 allows customers to choose between 24 and 48 hours delivery time; in both cases, delivery will be before 12 noon. The new offer applies to parcels and palettes up to 1,000 kilos.
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
Jakarta Post has reported that "State-owned postal service
company PT Pos Indonesia says it will directly deliver cash
assistance to low-income families."
The
Atlanta Business Chronicle has reported that "United Parcel
Service Inc. is going to spend $16.5 million to double the size of
its facility in Ft. Myers, Fla., so it can keep up with growth in
southwest Florida." See also the
Financial Times.
The Bakersfield Californian has reported that "Preparing for the
eventual extinction of its DVD-by-mail rental service, Netflix Inc.
on Tuesday introduced its first solution for subscribers who want
entertainment delivered directly to their television sets with just
a few clicks on a remote control."
According to
Socialist Worker Online, the U.K.'s postal union must use its
power to stop the sell-off of Royal Mail.
State-owned mail group Poste Italiane could consider joining an
Italian consortium to rescue Alitalia if doing so makes commercial
sense, its chief executive officer told
Reuters.
According to
The Times, "Royal Mail will have made £2.6 billion less than
expected by the time that its price-control period ends in 2010, the
company said yesterday. The revenue shortfall from the present
pricing plan, which controls among other things the price of stamps,
was attributed largely to Postcomm's estimate in 2006 that the
postal market would grow, rather than decline, as it has done."
The Moscow Times has reported that "Several national newspapers
threatened to print blank front pages in Wednesday's issue to
protest a hike in postal charges for subscribers that they likened
to an attack on free speech. But the protest was called off Tuesday
afternoon after last-minute talks. Moskovsky Komsomolets, Izvestia,
Argumenty i Fakty and Komsomolskaya Pravda had planned to print
blank front pages carrying the message: "You can strangle freedom of
speech in different ways. For example, by drastically raising postal
charges for subscription." Unlike in Western countries, the postal
service sets subscription rates for newspapers. The rates include a
delivery charge and vary between regions. Many Russians living in
the regions depend on postal subscription to newspapers and
periodicals. The postal service says that delivering subscriptions
is loss-making."
May 20, 2008
From
Business Wire: FedEx Corp. has been rated Number One in customer
satisfaction in its industry and also first among about 130
companies rated overall by the University of Michigan’s American
Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).
|
|
PostCom welcomes its newest member: Spiegel Brands, Inc. 711 Third Avenue, 4th Floor New York, NY 10017-4014 represented by Neil O'Keefe V.P. Catalog Marketing. |
The Postal Service commits itself to a greener future.
Lockheed
Martin announced today that it has provided a grant to the
Smithsonian's National Postal Museum for "Mail Call," a new
permanent exhibit devoted to the history of mail during times of
conflict. The exhibit is part of a major renovation of the museum's
history-themed galleries and is expected to open in 2010 - 2011.
The
Associated Press has reported that "German conglomerate Siemens
AG said Tuesday it has been awarded a $245 million contract from the
U.S. Postal Service for 550 mail sorting systems. The new system,
called the Advanced Facer Canceller Systems 200, will replace the
Postal Service's existing mail sorters, which have been used for
almost 20 years to cancel first-class mail."
The
text of the Postmaster General's presentation at the National
Postal Forum has been posted on the USPS web site.
The
BBC has reported that "The names of 45 post offices earmarked
for closure in Devon have been confirmed. The list of post offices
in the county identified for closure had been leaked last week. But
the Post Office has identified a further 38, which are mainly rural
branches, to become outreach services or mobile post offices. A
six-week public consultation has now been opened by the Post Office
into the closure plan."
Brand Republic has reported that "The Communication Workers
Union has set itself against Postcomm's call for private investment
in Royal Mail, appealing to the government to give the company fresh
financial support."
Hemscott has reported that "TNT NV said on Tuesday it has
offered Dutch trade unions to re-open stalled workplace talks on
Friday as the Dutch postal operator tries to end a series of rolling
strikes across the nation. A company spokesman said TNT has told
unions it will present various options aimed at ending the deadlock,
but declined to provide further details."
Publication of new service standard regulations is a first
step that allows the Postal Service to turn its attention to the
requirements of section 302 of the Postal Accountability and
Enhancement Act. The full extent of any realignment of the postal
mail processing and transportation network to achieve these
standards cannot be known until the Postal Service develops the plan
required by Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act section 302.
Thus, there will be a lag between the publication of these service
standards and implementation of the related operational changes
necessary to support them. The destination and origin entry data
files shown below will be updated each Postal quarter in the months
of January, April, July and October.
DutchNews has reported that "Postal company TNT has invited
postal workers' unions to meet on Friday in an effort to end the
impasse over their wage demands."
According to
CentreDaily, "Pitney Bowes Inc., the world's leading mailstream
solutions company, today announced the introduction of the new
Pitney Bowes VariSort(TM) Mixed Mail Sorter, a flexible sorting
solution that helps mailers, mail consolidators and private posts
automatically process all types of mail--even difficult-to-process
materials--to maximize postal discounts."
The
Guardian has reported that "Residential customers would rather
pay a premium for next-day postal delivery than see standards fall,
according to Postwatch."
DM News has reported that:
Port2Port has reported that "The Israel Post Company, which
provides universal postal service to the general population and
business entities, said last week that due to dispute with Ariel
Atias, Communications Minister, it would lay off 150 employees
immediately and cancel the planned hiring of 700 contract employees
as regular employees."
As Margot
Myers put it for SelfService.org, "Sometimes, when I speak at
conferences, I joke about some of the long-standing traditions we
have at the Postal Service: "More than 230 years of tradition
unmarred by progress.” Beyond that self-deprecating attempt at
humor, I’m proud to say that there has been significant progress
over the years – from simple innovations like self-adhesive stamps
and flat-rate priority mail boxes to more complex ones like
automated mail sorting and printing postage online."
Government
Computer News has noted that "2008 GCN Technology Leadership
Award winner John Edgar is manager of the U.S. Postal Service’s
Network Operations Business Solutions portfolio."
May 19, 2008
In his comments at the opening session of the National Postal Forum,
Postmaster General Jack Potter made the following points:
Potter also conferred the Partnership for Progress Award to the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee.
Press Release: "At this year’s National Postal Forum,
visitors to BÖWE BELL + HOWELL’s Booth No. 607 will be able to see
firsthand how the Intelligent Mail® barcode (IMB) provides
piece-level tracking through the production mail lifecycle. BBH’s
booth theme “Follow the IMB” will show mailers how IMB
implementation can increase postage discounts, provide the benefits
of piece-level tracking, and give better access to new and existing
services."
JCNNetwork has reported that "Nippon Express Co. on Monday
denied a news report that its "Pelican"-brand parcel delivery
service will be abolished when the company and Japan Post Service
Co. integrate their door-to-door package delivery operations in
April 2009."
According to
Money Marketing, "From today, all packagers and brokers will be
able to access their clients' offer documents online, through a new
system offered by TMB."
Transport Intelligence has reported that "One of Asia's leading
postal organisations, Singapore Post Limited (SingPost), has
announced its unaudited results for the fourth quarter and financial
year ended March 31, 2008. SingPost reported that for FY2007/08,
group revenue increased by 8.4% compared with the previous financial
year to S$472.6m*, with all business segments showing an improvement
in performance."
From
PR Newswire: "To improve efficiency and convenience for online
shipping customers, Endicia(R) and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS)
have formed a partnership to provide key customers special access to
USPS shipping services with Endicia technology. This partnership
will enable high volume shippers that use expedited services to be
eligible for free Endicia services and shipping software solutions.
This is, in addition, to the discounted commercial postage rates
which are currently available through Endicia shipping solutions."
From PR Web: "Earth Class Mail™ Corp., the global leader in
delivering postal mail online, has announced its acceptance of an
invitation from the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to testify to
the practicality of using "remote-control mail services" that use
the Internet and innovative new technologies to improve mail
delivery, increase revenues, and reduce costs. The PRC, at the
request of the U.S. Congress, is developing a report on universal
postal service and the postal monopoly in the U.S., and expert
witnesses such as Cameron Powell, VP of Strategic Development at
Earth Class Mail, will be testifying on May 21 in Flagstaff,
Arizona."
The
Atlanta Business Chronicle has reported that "United Parcel
Service Inc. reported Thursday evening The UPS Foundation will
deliver more than $1 million in cash and support to the earthquake
relief efforts in China."
The
Sophia Echo has reported that "Bulgarian Posts will be
restructured into a holding of six shareholding companies, which
will draw on the public private partnership model, and will appoint
a second executive director to represent the interests of attracted
strategic investors, a copy of the corporate restructuring strategy,
leaked to Dnevnik daily reads."
Forbes has reported that "Deutsche Post AG. is seeking to solve
problems at its loss-making Express business in the United States by
forming a cooperation with a partner in that country, with Fedex
Corp and the U.S. Postal Service as likely candidates."
May 18, 2008
ThisIsMoney has noted that "A plan by regulator Postcomm to
partly privatise Royal Mail will fail because of the company's huge
and growing pension deficit, according to a leading independent
consultant. John Ralfe said Royal Mail was technically insolvent
with a £3bn pension hole. 'No trade or equity investor would even
consider taking a stake unless Royal Mail could be shorn of its
pensions,' he said in a research note for RBC Capital Markets.
Postcomm's suggestion that Britain should follow the lead of the
Danish and Swedish postal services in allowing partial privatisation
was not valid because neither had to cope with such huge pension
liabilities."
According to
Auctionbytes, "Even with postage rates and delivery expenses on
the rise, there's no question that opening online selling to
customers in other countries can boost your profits tremendously.
However, doing so also opens the door to headaches that can reach
international proportions."
May 17, 2008
The
Financial Times has reported that "Owners of the UK's smallest
businesses are increasingly reliant on the postal service, in spite
of concerns about the quality of the Royal Mail's service, according
to research published by Postwatch the consumer watchdog."
The American Postal
Workers Union (APWU) reached a tentative agreement May 15 on a
“first contract” for approximately 120 workers at the Cincinnati
Mail Transportation Equipment Service Center (MTESC). If they ratify
the contract in a vote on May 28, workers at the private-sector
operation will receive a 10 percent wage increase in July — their
first raise in six years.
Logistics Management has published a Q&A interview with United
States Postal Service executive Jim Cochrane on new pricing and the
competitive landscape.
The latest issue of
the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:
According to
BBC Berkshire, "Royal Mail has announced the closure of two mail
distribution centres in the Thames Valley. After a period of public
consultation the company has decided to press ahead with a plan to
consolidate its centres in Oxford, Reading and Swindon. The new
Thames Valley Mail Centre will be based at an expanded Swindon site.
Building work at Swindon is due to be completed by October and the
transfer of work from Reading and Oxford is scheduled for June 2009.
A spokesman for Royal Mail said it was unclear at this stage how
jobs would be affected but he said they would be carrying out
consultations with staff."
May 16, 2008
The
Delphos Herald has reported that "The Museum of Postal History of
Delphos will move to a new location in the near future."
In Order No. 71, the Postal Regulatory Commission (Commission) established a docket to address its responsibility, under section 702 of the Postal Accountability and Enforcement Act (PAEA), Public Law 109-435, to submit a report to the President and the Congress on “universal postal service and the postal monopoly in the United States … including the monopoly on the delivery of mail and on access to mailboxes.” It invited written comments on these topics, including specific questions presented in an accompanying discussion memorandum, and noted that field hearings and a public workshop would be held to obtain additional input. This Order provides some additional details concerning the field hearings and public workshop.
Forbes has reported that "The Dutch government decided on Friday against
opening up the Dutch postal market to competition on July 1, stressing there
are too many uncertainties to allow for full liberalisation."
Postmaster General Jack Potter has selected Sam Pulcrano as the Postal
Service’s first-ever vice president of Sustainability.
Reuters has reported that "Shares in Dutch mail company TNT NV rose 2
percent on Friday after a newspaper reported parliament backs liberalisation
of the Dutch mail market as of July 1, causing relief among investors. The
Dutch government will discuss the liberalisation of the Dutch mail market on
Friday, and Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad reported a majority of
parliament supports an opening of the market as of July 1."
RoadTransport has noted that "A government-commissioned review claims
Royal Mail's finances are so precarious they could destabilise its
commitment to the universal postal service. According to the document, The
Challenges and Opportunities Facing UK Postal Services, Royal Mail may soon
become incapable of maintaining its obligation to deliver a UK-wide pricing
structure for its letter and parcel service. Royal Mail has a £3.4bn pension
deficit and last year its profit fell by a third to £223m. The review panel
is due to make final recommendations for reform later in the year."
British
postal regulator
Postcomm has published some important research findings to help inform
the debate that was started in its Strategy Review issued in August 2007
about what sort of universal service would meet the needs of today’s
customers. Publication coincides with Postcomm’s second submission of
evidence to the Independent Review Panel.
Autoridade
Nacionale De Communicaçôes has
announced the release of a "'Report
on the CTT network of postal establishments as at the end of 2007''.
This report refers to the postal establishments of the universal postal
service concessionaire (CTT - Correios de Portugal S.A.) as well as to
private establishments and those of other entities where postal services
conceded to CTT are provided.
The
Financial Times has reported that "Royal Mail's urgent need for new
investment is firmly on the agenda following the regulator's demand
yesterday that the postal operator should be freed to raise capital from the
private sector. Postcomm's blast produced a predictable response from the
Communication Workers' Union, which said it had overstepped its remit by
calling for privatisation. Nor was there a clamour from private equity
groups desperate to take a stake in the state-owned former mon-opoly.
However, a partnership with the private sector would not only bring in
funds, it would encourage the greater efficiency, innovation and flexibility
needed to sustain the one-price-goes-everywhere delivery. The possible role
of private capital has already been raised by the independent review set up
by the government to look at the future of the universal service."
TMCNet has reported that "Federal officials today approved four new rule
provisions to a sweeping 5-year-old law known as “CAN-SPAM,” the nation’s
first bill designed to regulate commercial e-mails. Part of CAN-SPAM – short
for the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing
Act of 2003 – require the Federal Trade Commission to develop rules that
would shield consumers from unwanted mobile phone spam. The new rules
effectively will make it easier for unwanted e-mail recipients to get off of
lists and make it easier to identify who sends those e-mails.'
ManxRadio
has reported that "The Chairman of Isle of Man Post says there is much to be
learned from the private sector. Pam Crowe is responding to news in the
United Kingdom, where the postal watchdog is recommending part privatisation
of Royal Mail to avoid a potential slide in the standard of services. She
says the proposal wouldn't necessarily be bad news if Royal Mail became more
competitive and efficient.'
According to the
Telegraph & Argus, "The Government should come clean about the future of
Royal Mail, says a top Bradford business representative. Sandy Needham,
chief executive of Bradford Chamber of Commerce, says ministers need to be
clear about what is planned for postal services in the UK, 80 per cent of
which are used by businesses." [EdNote: Of course, you've got to wonder.
What possibly makes anyone think that anyone in governmnet, in the UK or
elsewhere, has the faintest idea what to do about their nations' postal
systems.]
DMM
Advisory:
"We [the Postal Service] have new documents
available on ribbs.usps.gov to
help answer questions about the use of Intelligent Mail barcodes.
The
Intelligent Mail Barcodes FAQs helps answer a variety of
questions related to the Federal Register proposed rule as well as
current use of Intelligent Mail barcodes. The new
Guide to Electronic Documentation and Appointments for Full-Service
Mailings will help mailers prepare for the May 2009
implementation of Intelligent Mail barcodes. For customers familiar
with existing electronic documentation solutions, the guide details
how to populate your files and how to create or update electronic
appointments to take advantage of the full-service option. Those
unfamiliar with electronic documentation should begin with the
PostalOne!® Getting Started Guide at
www.usps.com/postalone/guides.htm."
May 15, 2008
The Economist has reported that "Two years ago Britain ended
Royal Mail's 350-year monopoly and bravely opened its mail market to
competition. It hoped that the bracing wind of competition would
force Royal Mail to pull up its socks. The tired old firm, once a
sinew of empire, was suffering from woeful industrial
relations—workers not only went on strike regularly, but on any
given day 7% of them were missing—and decades of low investment.
Whereas Germany's Deutsche Post uses machines to sort 89% of
letters, Royal Mail gamely sorts half its letters by hand. The
government reckoned that in 2002 the American postal service got 25%
more work done per employee than Royal Mail did, and that Deutsche
Post was 9% more productive."
The Postal Regulatory Commission will hold three public field hearings beginning May 21, 2008, in Flagstaff, Arizona, to solicit views relating to the universal service obligation of the U.S. Postal Service and the postal monopoly. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA) requires the Commission to report to the President and Congress by December 19, 2008, on universal postal service and the postal monopoly in the United States, including the monopoly on mail delivery and access to mailboxes. In addition to consulting with the Postal Service and other federal agencies, the Commission is directed to hear from commercial mailers, postal service competitors, and the general public. Congress mandates that the report focus on: geographic scope; product offerings; access to facilities and services; the frequency of delivery, rates and affordability, and quality of services. The first hearing will be held on Wednesday, May 21, 2008, at 2:00 pm, in the Flagstaff City Hall. The second hearing will be held on June 5, 2008, at 10:00 am, at City Hall in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the third hearing will be in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on June 19, 2008, at 2:00 pm, at City Hall. The Commission will also hold a public workshop on June 12, 2008, at 10:00 am, in Washington, D.C.
The Financial Times has reported that:
The
New Nation has reported that "Speakers at a day-long workshop
here today said quality service has become indispensable to make the
Bangladesh Postal Service profitable and sustainable in the
competitive globalisation age."
Reuters has reported that "Despite a slowing economy and growing
competition from the Internet, the U.S. Postal Service aims to break
even in 2008 by increasing its package delivery business by about 10
percent, a top executive told Reuters on Wednesday. The Postal
Service will eventually be profitable, but that goal must be
balanced against giving customers the best price possible, said
Patrick Donahoe, the chief operating officer and deputy postmaster
general."
The BBC has reported that:
WSLS has reported that "Senator Jim Webb, along with a
bipartisan group of seven Senators, today called on the United
States Postal Service to issue the Purple Heart stamp on a permanent
basis as a “forever” stamp. In a letter to Postmaster General John
E. Potter, the Senators praised the reissuance of the Purple Heart
stamp at the new 42-cent First Class rate but urged that the stamp
be made permanent to honor servicemembers and veterans who have been
awarded the Purple Heart."
The
New Nation has reported that "Speakers at a day-long workshop
here today said quality service has become indispensable to make the
Bangladesh Postal Service profitable and sustainable in the
competitive globalisation age."
Economic Times has reported that "The face of Indian postal
department is changing, under pressure from modern communication
systems. Gone are the days when post offices were used for screening
and distributing letters. Today, it is entering into every possible
business segment, be it money exchange or logistics. With a network
of 1,55,516 post offices in every nook and corner of the country,
India Post is all set to conquer new frontiers."
According to
Zf.ro, "Compania Nationala Posta Romana (Romanian Post Office
Company) estimates it will employ more than 35,500 people by the end
of this year, 400 more than last year, despite the gradual
elimination of 2,650 jobs."
May 14, 2008
If you haven't been there in a while, take a look at the
newly designed web site for the
Postal Regulatory Commission.
Experian QAS has noted that "New developments across the
Atlantic could prove to have an impact on the direct mail marketing
sector in the UK. With consumers becoming increasingly
environmentally aware, Canada Post has warned that it is looking
into taking steps to reduce the volumes of junk mail being sent out
to households across the country. While clamping down on this area
of marketing could mean the national postal service takes a
financial hit in the short-term, Laurene Cihosky, senior
vice-president of Canada Post's direct marketing division, has
stated that if this issue is not addressed soon "there may come a
day when we're not distributing any mail". Significantly, the
organisation sees the way forward as being the increased adoption of
data quality systems to eliminate waste mail, rather than the total
eradication of postal advertising in general."
An Officer of the Postal Regulatory Commission is designated to
represent the interests of the general public in public proceedings
that come before the Commission. The Commission has posted on its
website
a list of individuals that have been designated Public
Representatives in the Active Cases pending before the
Commission.
From
Business Wire:
According to the
Associated Press, "The U.S. is proposing that dozens of
countries ease their airline ownership rules in an effort to spur
international investment in the industry, a State Department
official said Tuesday. The proposal would change restrictions in the
current, mostly bilateral system that require airlines to be owned
and controlled by nationals of the two participating countries."
From
PR Newswire: "To help alleviate the high costs of carrier
insurance, Zoovy, Inc. a leader in e-Commerce technology has formed
a strategic partnership with U-PIC Insurance services. U-PIC is an
insurance provider offering full coverage for packages shipped
through most major carriers, while offering substantial discounts
ranging up to 80% off competitor pricing. Zoovy merchants are now
able to take advantage of this service to decrease their operational
costs and thus increase overall profit."
Business Week has reported that "Mail and express delivery
company Deutsche Post AG saw first quarter net profit fall 18
percent as its Postbank unit lost earnings tied to the financial
markets crisis, the German mail and logistics company said
Wednesday." See also
Bloomberg.
May 13, 2008
The
Evening News has noted that "Royal Mail slated for slow
deliveries."
PostCom extends its congratulations...and thanks...to the National Association of Letter Carriers for its work in behalf of the nation's hungry. Kudos!
Dow Jones has reported that "Postal giant TNT NV's performance
was back on track in the second quarter, according to its Chief
Executive Peter Bakker."
According to
Robert Schrum of the Lexington Institute, "Yesterday the price
of a First-Class stamp rose by a penny. With gas now costing nearly
four bucks a gallon, a 42-cent stamp might not sound like much. But
while stamp prices climb, the Postal Service keeps offering
sweetheart deals to bulk mailers and the postal labor unions."
The
Yorkshire Post has reported that "sixty three post offices
across West Yorkshire are facing the axe in the latest wave of
closures to be announced today. The Tories have already pledged to
fight the closures – the first to be announced since the local
elections – while one Yorkshire MP described them as a "huge blow".
Calder Valley is the hardest-hit constituency in today's closures,
with seven branches facing the axe. In total, around 18 per cent of
the 345 branches in West Yorkshire are facing closure as part of the
Post Office's controversial plans to close 2,500 branches to cut
losses."
According to
Director of Finance, "Poor UK postal services are forcing an
increasing number of companies to seek alternatives to the state
provider - which principally means TNT or UK Mail. They now handle
more than one letter in five delivered in Britain and could easily
double that, very possibly taking a majority of the mail. The more
successful the private providers become, the weaker Royal Mail will
be. But this is not a classic model of splitting market share: these
new rivals to the state monopoly are not only competitors of Royal
Mail, they are its customers too. The newcomers collect post and
sort it but they hand it to the government-owned mail business to
deliver to customers’ doors. Gaining market share and shrinking the
Royal Mail business further thus puts the private companies’ own
business at risk too. Delivery depends considerably on critical mass
to give economies of scale, but without the state organisation to
deliver the post, UK Mail and TNT, part off the Dutch post office,
have no business."
According to
MediaDaily News, "Amid all the dire talk of falling revenues at
big newspaper publishers, some good news gets lost: Many smaller
operations are doing quite nicely--even during an economic downturn.
Above all, smaller newspapers are benefiting from their
still-unchallenged ability to deliver local audiences for local
advertisers."
Precision Marketing has reported that "Postcomm, the independent
regulator for postal services, has refuted suggestions that it will
recommend a reduction in postal deliveries."
ZDNet India has reported that "The Yahoo Internet Location
Platform provides programmers "with the vocabulary and grammar to
describe the world's geography in an unequivocal, permanent, and
language-neutral manner", the site said. "The Internet Location
Platform is designed to facilitate spatial interoperability and
geographic discovery; users can traverse the spatial hierarchy,
identify the geography relevant to their users and their business,
and in turn, unambiguously geotag, geotarget, and geolocate data
across the Web."
Sky News has reported that "There are no plans to get rid of the
Saturday postal delivery, according to the Post Office Minister. Pat
McFadden told Sky's Jeff Randall Live that the Government, the Royal
Mail and the postal watchdog are all determined to maintain the
current delivery service."
Press Release: "Vertis Communications, the premier provider of
print advertising and direct marketing solutions to leading retail
and consumer services companies, today launched “Vertis Optimal
Postage,” a predictable and cost-effective mailing solution that
will provide marketers a guaranteed flat-rate postage and processing
fee. This new service addresses rising postage rates across
standard-class, letter-size mail, including handling and freight
surcharges. The vision of Vertis Optimal Postage is to provide
industry-leading, guaranteed-rate postal processing with the highest
delivery predictability to Vertis customers."
As
B2B magazine has noted, "As U.S. postal rates continue to rise
each year—including a projected increase of around 4% this
May—direct marketers are continually challenged to offset these
costs, which can represent up to 65% of total direct mail project
budgets. Yet many marketers fail to focus their cost-reduction
efforts on postage, trying instead to reduce expenses involving
printing, materials and other campaign elements."
The latest copy of the
National Association of Postmasters of the U.S. electronic governmental affairs newsletter is available on the NAPUS web site.
DMM
Advisory:
Be sure to check the
Postal Service's DMM update. The latest issue provides
information on rate changes and mail preparation requirements. This is ESSENTIAL reading.
May 12, 2008
The
Postinsight web site has a link to a recent paper by Bradley
Tisdahl, strategy analyst at Pitney Bowes, on household generated
mail in the U.S. Key findings include: - U.S. household generated
mail, or mail which is primarily consumer originating, has been in a
steady decline over the past six years. - Changes in consumer
behavior based, in part, around electronic substitution, have led to
a reduction in the amount of mail individuals send, but despite
these changes it still accounts for around 10 percent of the total
mail mix in the U.S. - Electronic substitution appears to have a
greater impact on transaction based mail, most notably bill
payments. - Correspondence mail volume, like greeting cards, is
stable overall. However, on a per capita basis, it is also in
decline. Looking forward we recognize three key levers that impact
household generated mail: regulatory changes, continued
technological innovation and expansion, and consumer behavioral
shifts. We predict that there will be continued declines in overall
household generated mail, however, changes are not likely to take
place suddenly."
The
Financial Times has reported that "Pat McFadden, post office
minister, will today risk further political damage to the government
by making clear he will press ahead with controversial closures. Mr
McFadden will tell the annual conference of the National Federation
of Subpostmasters that the post office network has no choice but to
continue to reorganise itself and modernise if it is face the
challenges of "lifestyle, technology, and competition". He will
argue that the key objective of the programme - "which can get lost
in the heat of the debate about individual post office closures" -
is to increase the sustainability of the remaining network of 11,500
outlets."
From
Business Wire:
was named chief executive officer in 1996, and chairman in 1997. He
stepped down from the CEO role in 2007 when he was named executive
chairman. Critelli has left an indelible mark on the history of
Pitney Bowes, according to Martin. Among Critelli’s many
achievements, Martin cited the strategic repositioning of the
company to focus on growth opportunities in its core mailstream
business. To achieve this, Critelli led the divestiture of the
fax and copier business, and the financial services businesses
unrelated to the mailstream. As CEO, Critelli also embarked upon
an aggressive acquisition and organic investment program that
has led Pitney Bowes into faster-growing new businesses in
adjacent markets, including software, marketing services, mail
services, and expanding international opportunities.
From the
U.S. Postal Service: "For the past several weeks, we’ve been
beating the drums about the new era for the Postal Service that
begins May 12. The new era has begun. Today, USPS combines its
established reputation as a trusted, reliable service provider with
an unmatched delivery and retail network, with the ability to offer
competitive pricing."
According to
Transport Intelligence, "Royal Mail said its [recent dour]
results were dominated by the profit fall in the letters business
where overall market volumes had declined by 3.2% year on year "in
line with other major European postal markets". However, Crozier
said the last year had seen "strong" revenue growth from Parcelforce
Worldwide and GLS, the group's UK and European parcels businesses,
"both of which operate in tight, highly competitive markets."
[EdNote: It looks as if the U.S. Postal Service will be looking to
the packages market for its near-term revenue gains.]
As MediaPost
has noted, "Newspapers and the substantive journalism that has long
been their hallmark are fighting for survival–and they might just be
able to help each other. Newspapers can reinforce their own value
online by reinventing and delivering more of the contextual analysis
and in-depth reporting that’s all too scarce in the slapdash
interactive marketplace. It is a race against newspapers’ plummeting
subscription and advertising dollars, and consumers’ diminished
expectations for pithy information. There are no quick fixes."
UPS Freight today
announced it has reduced
transit times on nearly 1,000 traffic lanes originating in
metropolitan areas in the Southwest and Southeast to points
across the United States. Transit times have been reduced by one or
two days from points in 11 states, including Alabama, Arkansas,
Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
The customer improvements
are being made without adjusting rates. [EdNote: Imagine
that. Improved service at no increase in rates. What a concept!]
The Guardian has noted that "Addressing 600 sub-postmasters,
minister Pat McFadden will defend his government's policy of opening
up postal services to more competition. And he will be told that
3,000 more post offices could close if the government allows benefit
payments to be handled entirely by competitors. This debate shows up
everything wrong in our debate over postal services. They are on the
way to becoming a heritage industry, romanticised over by the
able-bodied and the urban but used only by the isolated and
financially excluded. Ever since the turn of the decade, as benefit
payments, TV and driving licences were all shifted away from the
post office, more and more branches have shut, while ministers and
civil servants have come round to the unspoken view that the only
sensible thing to do with vast tracts of the postal network is to
manage its decline."
The
Financial Times has reported that "Just because the “final mile”
is a natural monopoly does not mean that the ex-monopoly should
automatically still run it. An alternative approach would be for the
government to set service standards and then put the contracts up
for auction. The service would still be financially supported
through the fees charged to other mail users. But the threat of not
winning the contract – or of losing it if performance was poor –
would encourage efficiency."
The Times has reported that "Business
customers are deserting Royal Mail and most firms do not find
the postal group an efficient organisation to work with, a study by
the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) for The Times has revealed.
The BCC sought the views of nearly 1,000 businesses throughout the
country about their use of Royal Mail and their experience of the
organisation. Sixty-eight per cent said that they did not find the
postal group to be a “professional, efficient organisation to do
business with”; 55 per cent said that Royal Mail was less reliable
than it was five years ago and only 8 per cent thought that it had
improved. In a striking example of how much electronic communication
has hit the use of postal services, nearly 86 per cent of businesses
said that they used the internet and e-mail for transactions that
they would have put through Royal Mail five years ago."
May 11, 2008
According to the
Augusta Chronicle, "As postal rates continue to inch upward, it
places the question into business owners' minds: What really needs
to go out with the mail?"
The
Harrisburg Patriot New has reported that "Local businesses might not like
paying more for their mail, but some say they appreciate a new law
that annualizes postal rate hikes and limits them to inflation.
However, one major mailer -- Bookspan, the Upper Allen Twp.-based
book club -- is expressing concern over rising postage rates."
As the
San Diego Union-Tribune has noted, "But rather than curse the
Internet, the Postal Service is embracing it. Its Web site,
usps.com, requires little more than a few mouse clicks to purchase
stamps, design greeting cards, order shipping boxes and print
shipping labels from a home computer. More important, the Postal
Service has formed strategic alliances over the last several years
with major companies and online retailers such as eBay and Coldwater
Creek to protect its lucrative package-shipping business from
competitors like FedEx, UPS and DHL Express. But rather than curse
the Internet, the Postal Service is embracing it. Its Web site,
usps.com, requires little more than a few mouse clicks to purchase
stamps, design greeting cards, order shipping boxes and print
shipping labels from a home computer. More important, the Postal
Service has formed strategic alliances over the last several years
with major companies and online retailers such as eBay and Coldwater
Creek to protect its lucrative package-shipping business from
competitors like FedEx, UPS and DHL Express."
The
Washington Post has reported that "The funds that pay pension
and health benefits to police officers, teachers and millions of
other public employees across the country are facing a shortfall
that could soon run into trillions of dollars. But the accounting
techniques used by state and local governments to balance their
pension books disguise the extent of the crisis facing these
retirees and the taxpayers who may ultimately be called on to pay
the freight, according to a growing number of leading financial
analysts." [EdNote: Thank God all of this was addressed in PAEA.]
Globes Online has reported that "The government is to indemnify
the Postal Bank against future prosecutions arising out of the
provision of banking services to banks in the Palestinian Authority
(PA). Officials are currently thrashing out the extent of the
indemnification and the manner in which it will be provided with
Ministry of Finance Accountant General Shuki Oren. Israel Post
Company Ltd. director general Avi Hochman has made it clear that
without the guarantee of full indemnification by the state, Israel
Post would not provide banking services to Palestinian banks. The
Postal Bank has requested indemnification in the event it is
prosecuted for offenses under the Prohibition on Money Laundering
Law (5670-2000), or the Prohibition on Terrorist Financing Law
(5765-2004)."
May 10, 2008
Internet Retailer has noted that "Looking to cooperate more with
its competitors, the U.S. Postal Service is hoping to expand its
package returns service through major carriers UPS, FedEx Corp. and
DHL, says Jim Cochrane, acting vice president of ground packages at
the U.S.P.S. But while none of the three big carriers have yet to
publicly express an interest in the service, the Postal Services’
sole returns partner for now, Newgistics Inc., plans a major
expansion of the service this year, Newgistics CFO Mike Twomey
says."
According to the
New York Times, "Cellphones have become consumers’ most personal
technological devices. Some industry executives, along with consumer
groups and security experts, are concerned that unwanted text
messages on phones will be an even greater headache than unwanted
computer messages. Cellphone spam is particularly annoying to its
recipients because it is more invasive — announcing itself with a
beep — and can be costly. American consumers are expected to receive
an estimated 1.5 billion unsolicited text messages in 2008,
according to Ferris Research, based in San Francisco, which tracks
mobile messaging trends. That is nearly double what they received in
2006."
WCCO has noted that while stopping mail delivery on Saturday may
seem a logical alternative for a Postal Service under stress, the
decision to do so is more complex than initially perceived.
According to
Hellmail, "a rapid downturn in profits on letters at Royal Mail,
already putting pressure on the 'one-price deliver anywhere'
universal service, is prompting rumours in terms of possible
solutions. One idea making the rounds is the abolition of Saturday
deliveries although Royal Mail is vehemently against such a proposal
and it would impact on other postal providers feeding into Royal
Mail's network. It seems an unlikely scenario and would mark a real
step backwards for postal services, particularly since Sunday
collections have already gone.
The
Washington Post has reported that "in a recent survey by the
Gallup Organization, both the U.S. Postal Service's Northern
Virginia District and the Capital District (which includes
Montgomery County, Prince George's County and parts of Southern
Maryland) emerged with five-star customer service ratings. Among 80
postal districts nationwide, Northern Virginia is one of only four
to notch the distinction for 10 consecutive quarters, starting in
2006, when the Postal Service began tracking customer satisfaction
through the Five Star Customer Service Program."
The
American Chronicle is wondering "so what is the best way to get
your mail? It´s common knowledge that most city dwellers use a
mailbox stuck to the side of their home or apartment, while rural
folks use a roadside/curbside mailbox."
The Sun has reported that "Royal Mail will pay £800 bonuses to
its 160,000 posties in the next month, it emerged yesterday. The
payouts come despite the postal service making a full year pre-tax
LOSS of £77million — compared with a profit last year of
£313million. It is Royal Mail’s first pre-tax loss since 2003-04 and
comes after the first national postal strike in 11 years."
Teletext has reported that "A postal consumer group has denied
claims it will advise Royal Mail to end deliveries on Saturdays. A
spokesman for the Postcomm group said: "There is no truth in this
suggestion. The status quo is totally enshrined in law."
The Telegraph has reported that "Postal deliveries on Saturday
may be discontinued under plans by the industry regulator to save
money for the Royal Mail."
MTAC minutes for the April 30 - May 1 General Session Meeting are
now posted on the MTAC website (http://ribbs.usps.gov/mtac.htm).
The latest copy of the
National Association of Postal Supervisors electronic governmental
affairs newsletter is available on this web site. NAPS President Ted
Keating, in his Congressional testimony at a House postal oversight
hearing, called for aggressive efforts to provide the Postal Service
with additional revenues to offset its sagging financial health."
May 9, 2008
The latest issue of
the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:
From
Business Wire: "FedEx Corp. has announced that earnings for the fourth
quarter ending May 31, 2008 are expected to be in the range of $1.45 to
$1.50 per diluted share, compared to the previous forecast of $1.60 to
$1.80."
NewsOK has noted that "Economist Charles Guy said he thinks officials
will continue to raise stamp prices each year. The former director of the
Postal Service's office of economics and strategic planning said even the
price increases aren't enough to remedy "significant fiscal challenges.”
PrintWeek has noted that "Royal Mail boss Adam Crozier has called for a
new debate on funding of the operator’s Universal Service obligation after
it posted its first ever loss. The state-owned mail operator recorded a
£200m loss within the price-controlled business, which includes the
Universal Service, by which it has to ensure delivery of letters to any UK
address for the price of a single stamp."
|
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PostCom welcomes its newest member: Crosstown Traders, Inc. 3740 E. 34th Street Tucson, AZ 85713-5305 Represented by Leslie Lenhart V.P. Corporate Marketing. |
The
Financial Times has reported that "Royal Mail's letters business has
plunged into a loss, as the number of items posted plummeted last year and
private sector competitors continued to win contracts to collect and sort
post for large mail users."
Steve Lawson, editor for Hellmail, the postal industry news site, hit
out today at what he called: "Too many cooks in a very small pot - all with
completely different ideas". Lawson said the funding of the Universal
Service had been left on the backburner by the UK government and postal
regulator Postcomm, and was now not just a hurdle to competition for the
final mile, but crucial to the long term stability of the UK postal network
Robert Schrum of the Lexington Institute told his readers in the
Asbury Park Press that "On Monday, the price of a first-class stamp will
rise by a penny. With gas now costing nearly four bucks a gallon, a 42-cent
stamp may not sound like much. But while stamp prices climb, the Postal
Service keeps offering sweetheart deals to bulk mailers and the postal labor
unions. Ordinary consumers ought to ask why the Postal Service is delivering
for everyone but them."
The
powerpoint
presentation on USPS finances by Postal Service chief financial officer
Glen Walker has been posted on this site.
May 8, 2008
The
Chicago Tribune has reported that "A federal jury has awarded a black
woman more than $380,000 in her racial discrimination lawsuit against the
U.S. Postal Service. Sheryl Rogers, a former night shift mail sorter at the
Des Moines Post Office, testified during the trial that the harassment
included chants of racial epithets by her co-workers. The jury awarded
Rogers $382,500 on Tuesday after hearing five days of testimony."
From Post Denmark:
"Even though today the option is available for the Danes to receive some of
their mail by e-mail, e-Boks (an electronic mailbox), online banking and SMS
or to visit websites for information, there is still a large preference for
receiving a physical letter. A survey (Qualitative strengths of the letter
in a digitised everyday life) which Tranberg Marketing has conducted for
Post Danmark demonstrates that this is the case. The Danes were asked how
they prefer to receive information from business enterprises, public
authorities, trade unions, humanitarian organisations and sports clubs.
Replies showed that, regardless of type of information, the letter is
preferred for receiving information from business enterprises and public
authorities. For receiving information from business enterprises, 62 per
cent prefer a letter, 17 per cent an e-mail, while 11 per cent prefer to
receive the information in their e-Boks. For receiving information from
public authorities, 58 per cent prefer a letter, 23 per cent an e-mail,
while 12 per cent prefer to receive the information in their e-Boks."
Advertising
Age has reported that "It seems marketers and TV executives are having a
half-full, half-empty kind of argument over TV's prowess. The results of a
survey on consumer media habits commissioned by the Television Bureau of
Advertising, out this week after the study was conducted by Nielsen Media
Research, show that adults spend a little over half of their media hours
with TV. Meanwhile, a recent survey of marketers and advertisers by the
Association of National Advertisers found many were losing confidence in TV
as a medium. Focusing on the 25- to 54-year-old demographic, the Television
Bureau of Advertising (TVB) survey found that 53% of their total daily media
hours are spent with TV, more than all other mediums combined, and that more
of them are reached by TV than other mediums. The survey also showed that TV
advertising overwhelmingly remains the most influential with 81.4% of the
25-54 adult segment, compared with advertising on internet (6.5%),
newspapers (5.8%), radio (3.9%) and magazines (2.3%)."
Each
year, a diverse group of talented mid-career executives participate in the
rigorous one-year Sloan Fellows Program in Innovation and Global Leadership
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. PMG Jack Potter recently
announced that Operational Requirements and Integration Manager Marc
McCrery and Pricing Strategy Manager Michael Plunkett will
represent the Postal Service this year when the program starts in June. When
the two finish the 12-month curriculum, they will receive a Masters in
Business Administration.
The
House Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of
Columbia has held a
postal oversight hearing
concerning “The U.S. Postal Service, Post-PAEA: What’s Next?"
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PostCom welcomes its newest member: Motorola, Inc. 2010 Corporate Ridge, Suite 500 McLean, VA 22102-7855 represented by India Berkholtz Enterprise Account Manager India.Berkholtz@Motorola.com Voice: 703-288-2784 www.Motorola.com |
The
following are just some of the links you can find on the
PostInsight web site, these pertain
to financial performance reports.
Postcomm, the U.K.'s independent regulator for postal services, today
welcomed the emerging views of the independent review panel on the UK postal
services market. See also "The
challenges and opportunities facing UK postal services" a paper that
aims to establish a body of evidence which has widespread support as a basis
for evaluating the full range of choices open to policy makers over the
short and long-term."
Mail On Sunday has reported that "Royal Mail warned today that it cannot
keep delivering letters to every home in Britain for the same price without
radical changes. In a red alert, it said the "universal service" is losing
money for the first time since records began. Without urgent help, chief
executive Adam Crozier said the "one-price-goes-anywhere" service will
struggle to survive."
According to
Business Green, "The global postal industry has this week unveiled
ambitious plans to measure its carbon footprint, and instigate a range of
initiatives to slash its environmental impact. According to conservative
estimates, postal services worldwide employ over five million staff and use
over 600,000 cars, vans and trucks, and hundreds of aircraft to deliver
mail. However, while it is known that the sector has a significant
environmental impact through both travel-related carbon emissions and the
millions of tonnes of paper it transports each day, there are no official
figures on its carbon footprint."
The
Star-Ledger has reported that "postal workers across New Jersey will
participate in the national "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive. Residents are
asked to leave non-perishable donations in a bag near their mailbox on
Saturday morning before their letter carrier arrives. It will be taken to
the local post office and delivered to a local food pantry. People may also
bring food items to their local post office on Saturday. Donors are asked
not to include glass items or expired food. Sponsored by the National
Association of Letter Carriers and the Campbell's Soup Company, the drive is
the largest single-day food drive in the nation. More than 10,000
communities participate in the effort nationally, typically collecting more
than 70 million tons of food."
According to the
BBC, "A slump in the number of stamped letters being sent in the UK has
seen Royal Mail profits fall by 30.4% in the year to the end of March. The
firm made £162m in what it said was a time of "difficult challenges" after
the opening up of the postal service." See also the
Press Association, the
Financial Times, and
The Times.
ThisIsLancashire has reported that "Leyland based training organisation
PeoplePost, has joined a select list of just 20 UK companies that hold
licences issued by the UK postal regulator, Postcomm at a time of profound
change in the £7bn postal industry. PeoplePost will join existing licence
holders Royal Mail, TNT, DHL and UK Mail in the recently liberalised
marketplace. Postal licences are valid for a period of ten years."
May 7, 2008
PostCom
member Quebecor has reported that "Many independent truckers have initiated
a strike in Northern California, lining their trucks bumper to bumper
outside of Union Pacific's rail terminal, aggressively protesting all
transactions at the terminal and slowing all progress to a crawl in response
to the lack of support for elevated diesel prices. Union Pacific has placed
an embargo on all Intermodal loads heading to Oakland and Lathrop, CA
Intermodal facilities in order to protect these shipments from potential
delays. The embargos are currently affecting Union Pacific's Pacer
Stacktrain and 40' containers moving through steamship lines."
Lenser
Corporation CEO John Lenser told his
catalog marketing customers "what catalog mailers should
do when contacted by Catalog Choice about taking downloads of files of
individuals who have registered with Catalog Choice and have requested that
the mailer's catalog not be mailed to them. If a mailer has refused to
accept these files, Catalog Choice has posted the refusal on their website
resulting, in some instances, in consumers calling customer service and
complaining. While the DMA has taken the position that Catalog Choice is
unneeded given their own "Do Not Mail" preference services, I no longer
believe this position is in the industry’s best interest. Catalog Choice now
has over 736,000 registered accounts of those who have requested that one or
more catalogs not be mailed to them and registrations are growing by
thousands each week. Therefore, I am recommending that catalog mailers move
forward and accept Catalog Choice's merchant agreement and accept their file
downloads. The negative repercussions for not doing so, at this point,
outweigh any advantages of not joining. It is naive to pretend they do not
exist."
At
today's Postal Service Board of Governors meeting, Board Chairman Alan
Kessler announced that the governors had formed a new committee, the
Government Relations and Regulatory
Committee, which would be responsible for interfacing with the Postal
Service's stakeholders. Chairman Kessler said the committee would
provide the governors a direct line of communication to stakeholders,
including Congress and postal customers, without the need to loop
communications through management. New Secretary of the Board Julie Moore
will make herself available to stakeholders, Kessler added, and the
committee would begin making a series of appointments to invite
representative stakeholders in to discuss their concerns and thoughts about
the postal system. Governor Thurgood Marshall Jr. will chair the committee,
with Governors Barnett, Williams and Bilbray rounding out the committee.
According to
Hellmail, "Last year’s postal strike was, in part, an attempt to halt
the madness in the industry that Royal Mail employees have seen for a long
time. Now that the proposed and actual changes in the industry are reducing
standards for all except those large companies who can increase their
profits by exploiting the changes forced upon The Post Office and Royal
Mail, namely cheaper labour, and costs, less obligation on services offered,
and bucket-shop discount prices for access to Royal Mail systems and
networks."
From
the
U.S. Postal Service: Despite cost-cutting measures, the U.S. Postal
Service ended the second quarter with a net loss of
$707 million, driven by a continued decline in mail volume resulting
from the current national economic climate.
Year-to-date total mail volume is down by 3.1 percent compared to the
same period last year. If the trend continues, this will be only the seventh
year total mail volume has decreased in the last 50 years and could be the
largest decline since 2002. “Weakness in the housing and credit markets,
both of which are heavy users of mail, are leading the declines in mail
volume,” Postmaster General John Potter told the Board. “While mail volume
may rebound with the economy, it is clear we need to accelerate our efforts
to seek new structural and process changes to remain economically viable and
to further improve customer service.”
24Dash has reported that "The closure of scores of post offices in
London will start next month but seven branches on an original hit list are
now to remain open."
DMM Advisory:
"The Federal Register published our
[USPS'] final rule [PDF]
| [HTML]
changing the address standards for commercial flat-size mail, which we
posted previously on Postal Explorer. The new standards are effective March
29, 2009, and require mailers to place delivery addresses in the top half of
all Periodicals, Standard Mail, and Package Services flats mailed at
automation, presorted, or carrier route prices. Additional standards relate
to address characteristics and apply to all commercial flat-size pieces."
Environmental Expert has reported that "The United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) and the Universal Postal Union (UPU) have agreed to work
together to slash the CO2 emissions caused by members of the postal sector.
UNEP will help the UPU calculate the volumes of greenhouse gases generated
by the postal sector, using a clearly-defined methodology. The UPU's
International Bureau is shortly to launch a survey of the organization's 191
member countries, to collect data on the sector as a whole, including
buildings and vehicles, the mileage these vehicles cover, and the volumes of
fuel consumed. Once this information has been gathered, UNEP will help the
UPU develop a method to quantify the greenhouse gas emissions generated by
the postal sector." See also
BusinessGreen.com.
The
litany of regret continues within the British press over the success or the
lack of it stemming from postal reform.
From
PR Newswire: "Beginning next week, customers will be able to take
advantage of some of the best bargains in the shipping market when the U.S.
Postal Service launches new prices for its expedited mail products: Express
Mail and Priority Mail." See also the
Washington Post.
PostCom Members!! The latest issue of PostCom's
PostOps Update has been posted on this site.
Information on Intelligent Mail Barcodes, report by the Great Addressing
workgroup, operations changes to support service performance measurements,
start-the-clock, critical entry times, and service performance measurement,
flats sequence sorting and mail entry, PostalOne! update. Attached to
Postal Policy Report 02-08 dated May 6, 2008 is a 2 page power point file on
flats volume that may be used in your own presentations if useful. If you
encounter problems accessing the document, please contact Caroline Miller,
cmiller1@postcom.org.
May 6, 2008
According to
Business Week, "Coupons are making a comeback. In the face of rising
food prices and a slowing economy, consumers are clipping coupons once
again. Only, they don't need scissors and a local newspaper so much as a
computer, printer, and maybe a mobile phone."
Reuters has reported that "Barnes & Noble Inc, the world's largest
bookseller, said on Tuesday it will sell digital and print magazine
subscriptions though its online segment, BN.com."
According to
Reuters, "Newspapers seeking to compete with the Internet are likely to
become free and place greater emphasis on comment and opinion in the future,
a survey of the world's editors showed on Tuesday. The report, conducted by
Zogby International for the World Editors Forum and Reuters, revealed that
newspaper editors were still optimistic about the future of their
publications but believed they would have to adapt further for the digital
age. According to the survey, 56 percent of respondents believed that the
majority of news, be it via print or online, would be free in the future."
Syslore Ltd. Itella Mail
Communication and the Finnish software company Syslore Ltd. have signed
a contract for the delivery of an address recognition system for mail
sorting and electronic message delivery services. By adopting the Syslore
mCorrection® Receiver Matching EngineTM (RME) fuzzy matching system, Itella
will improve the address and receiver recognition quality in their hybrid
and electronic message delivery service and increase the level of automation
in their mail sorting process. mCorrection RME system incorporates
new-generation computing algorithms that can recognise faulty, inaccurate
and incorrect address and receiver data more effectively and more precisely
than was possible before. The system will be deployed to all Itella address
recognition processes by 2010 in Finland and abroad.
From
ProNews: "May, 2007 postal rate case.
Flat size mailers received a blow to the chin in the form of one of the most
onerous rate increases in recent memory on flats. This particularly impacted
mailers of small catalogs and other self-mailers. The USPS advised flats
mailers to re-design their mailpieces into automation letters often called
"slim jims" in order to avoid the significant increases in flats postage
rates. As a result many mailers have followed the advice of the USPS and
these types of letter-size booklets and folded self-mailers have been
significantly increasing in volume. The Postal Service now says that many of
the letter automation designs being used, while in compliance with existing
Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) specifications, cannot be processed on letter
sorting equipment."
From
Media-Newswire:
"The United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) and the Universal Postal
Union ( UPU ) have agreed to work together to slash the CO2 emissions caused
by members of the postal sector. Under the agreement signed in Berne last
week by Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP, and Edouard Dayan,
Director General of the UPU, UNEP will help the UPU calculate the volumes of
greenhouse gases generated by the postal sector, using a clearly-defined
methodology. The UPU's International Bureau is shortly to launch a survey of
the organization's 191 member countries, to collect data on the sector as a
whole, including buildings and vehicles, the mileage these vehicles cover,
and the volumes of fuel consumed. Once this information has been gathered,
UNEP will help the UPU develop a method to quantify the greenhouse gas
emissions generated by the postal sector. The UPU and UNEP will then offer
postal operators a range of solutions to cut these emissions, and will
monitor the impact of these measures from year to year."
Management Today
has reported that "Big business is the surprise benefactor of
competition in the postal market, according to a new report. The end of the
Royal mail’s 350 year monopoly in 2006 has seen a boom in competition in the
bulk mail business, with a consequent lowering of prices and (arguably)
improvement in service offered to large organisations. That sounds
suspiciously like good news for a change."
PR Watch has noted that "A
recent blog about the pro-junk mail lobby and its front group Mail Moves
America, a coalition of businesses that oppose efforts to create a
legislated "Do Not Mail" list to protect citizens from being showered with
unwanted junk mail, drew many comments. Junk mail is clearly a hot topic
that arouses strong emotions on all sides. As electronic mail moves closer
to overtaking paper mail as the medium of choice for written communication,
it is clear that the Post Office remains an essential way to communicate and
transfer goods. Still, many people are overwhelmed with junk mail and have
little idea how to stop it."
Caribbean
Net News has reported that "postal service for the people of the US
Virgin Islands, Delegate to Congress Donna Christensen has asked the US
Postal Service’s Inspector General, David Williams to investigate the
unacceptable level of USPS mail service in the territory."
BBC has
reported that "The liberalisation of the UK postal service has produced "no
significant benefits" for either households or small businesses, a report
has said. That is the initial finding of an independent review of the UK
postal sector commissioned by the government. It warned there was now a
threat to the Royal Mail's financial stability."
According to
Bloomberg, "Deutsche Post AG, Europe's biggest postal service, replaced
the head of the DHL Express unit's U.S. operations as the company tries to
turn the division around. Ken Allen, 52, previously chief of DHL Express in
eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, is taking over from Hans
Hickler, Chief Executive Officer Frank Appel said at the annual shareholders
meeting in Cologne, Germany, today. Hickler will remain on DHL Express's
global management board, said Nicole Mommsen, a company spokeswoman.
Hellmail has reported that "The figures on prosecutions for theft at
Royal Mail make for shocking reading, particularly for a service based on
trust. Granted we do live in a more crime-ridden age with values such as
honesty and integrity seemingly less important for some, but the main reason
I started Hellmail was because I lost three parcels I was expecting, in one
week. The only information Royal Mail would supply at that time, was that
there 'had been an incident' - but they were not prepared to elaborate
further. I was told I could do nothing and that the senders had to make a
formal claim. I never did find out why my parcels did not arrive, and could
only deduce what may have happened after reading almost a year later, about
three men posing as postal workers, literally picking up mail sacks. It had
gone on for months."
Traffic
World has reported that "FedEx Corp. has awarded a four-year grant
totaling $1 million to Teach For America to support its goals to grow in
scale and diversity. Teach For America is the national corps of top college
graduates who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools
and become lifelong leaders in expanding educational opportunity for all
children."
Union Network International has noted that "The UNI affiliate, the EPMU,
and the newly merged Postal Workers Union of Aotearoa (PWUA), have made
joint claims for a new collective contract for postal workers in New Zealand
Post. the claims include a wage rise and a number of claims around hours of
work and shift rosters including the PWUA claiming that there be a 5 day
week for postal delivery staff (now a 6 day week)."
From
Business Wire: "R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company has developed a unique
variable trim co-binding technology designed to provide customers with a
critical strategic advantage as they seek to maximize postal savings. This
industry leading capability allows for variably sized products to be
co-mailed into a single, cost effective mail stream."
According to Jane Littrel, retired postmaster, in a letter to the
Des Moines Register, "On the surface, the "do not mail" legislation
proposed in several states appears to be a good thing. But, when the entire
picture is considered, it falls into the "be careful what you wish for"
category."
According to
BloggingStocks, "When you need to ship a package, which company first
comes to mind? According to last year's Battle of the Brands non-scientific
poll, an overwhelming majority said they favored United Parcel Service Inc.
over FedEx Corp. Higher fuel surcharges, a weak economy, reduced domestic
package volume, and a recent push from the U.S. Postal Service have impacted
both of these international shipping companies in the past year, but
Americans still want the same quality service at a discount price."
May 5, 2008
USPS.OIG: The latest 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.
The
New York Times has wondered "Can print media survive the transition to
the Internet? A faltering economy is heightening the pressure on newspapers
and magazines to find a sustaining future online, as the flight of readers
and advertisers to the Web accelerates."
Federal
Register:
The Postal Service has posted today its official rules
for the
2008-2009 CASS/MASS Cycle M. The link below will take you to the
Official Rules Release document. The Postal Service also has posted
answers to questions raised by industry in its comments on Cycle M. If
you need additional information or have specific issues the USPS can help
you with, please feel free to call the USPS Certification Department at
800-642-2914. National Customer Support Center. CASS/MASS Certification
Dept. Phone: 800-642-2914 Fax: 901-681-4440 Email:
cassman.ncsc@usps.gov
JP.DK has reported that
"The arrival of foreign competition and liberalisation of the national
postal service may result in new postal codes Liberalisation of postal
services may be the demise of the nation's 40-year-old postal codes as the
system, devised and administered by Post Danmark, may undergo drastic reform
in the upcoming liberalisation of the nation's postal service. One proponent
of such a reform is Citymail, Post Danmark's only competitor."
The
Wall
Street Journal has reported that "The Associated Press and more than 100
of its member newspapers are launching a service Monday that will make news
stories available on Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone and other mobile devices."
The
New York Daily News has shared its thoughts on "How to lick higher
postage prices."
From
PR Newswire: "Endicia is hosting a series of educational, 30-minute
webinars entitled "May 12, 2008 USPS Price Change -- Endicia Makes It Easy,"
led by Senior Product Specialist, Mike Colegate. Colegate explains the new
discounts, USPS offerings, shipping pricing and more."
From
Business Wire: "FedEx Truckload Brokerage, Inc., a subsidiary of FedEx
Custom Critical, Inc., can now meet its customers’ needs for truckload
shipments between the U.S. and Canada. When the company launched in January
2007, it focused solely on U.S. shipments. With the addition of Canadian
coverage, customers can now receive truckload solutions for select
provinces, including Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta."
From
the
U.S. Postal Service: "Effective May 12, prices for Express Mail, the
Postal Service’s premier overnight service, will be lower at the weights and
in the delivery zones used by most customers. Also, the Postal Service will
offer price incentives for both Express Mail and Priority Mail, its two- to
three-day shipping service. Online users and commercial Priority Mail
customers will see lower prices, while high-volume Express Mail shippers
will get quarterly rebates and price reductions. These savings are now
possible due to a recent change in federal law."
The National Association of Major Mail Users
has noted that "New Council Director, Jim Wiseman, Transcontinental – RBW,
is currently finalizing the agenda in collaboration with Dale Bemben,
Product Manager, Publications Mail, for the planned Council meeting, May
27th. Agenda items will include a status report on address correction for
publishers, an important program that has positive ramifications for other
types of mail. Members will be sent their meeting information shortly."
Bloomberg has reported that "Deutsche Post AG, Europe's biggest postal
service, rose the most in more than three months in German trading after the
company said first-quarter operating profit increased and met its forecasts.
Deutsche Post gained as much as 65 cents, or 3.2 percent, to 20.88 euros,
the biggest jump since Jan. 24, and was up 2.8 percent as of 11:54 a.m. in
Frankfurt. That pared the stock's decline this year to 12 percent. Earnings
before interest and taxes, excluding one-time gains or costs, increased from
a year earlier and were ``in line with our targets and guidance,''
Bonn-based Deutsche Post said in a statement today. Business ``was very
satisfactory.'' The company is scheduled to release figures for the quarter
on May 14."
The
Philadelphia Examiner has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service
commissioned Burlingame-based TrackingTheWorld to create the world’s first
letter-tracking GPS device that will ensure letters never again are lost in
the postal Bermuda Triangle. Dubbed the Letter Logger, the device stores GPS
coordinates throughout its journey and stores information on its micro-SD
flash memory card so the post office can keep tabs on the letter’s location.
The Letter Logger weighs just two ounces and is 3.9-by-1.5 inches. It is
placed inside a regular No. 10 envelope and can operate for two weeks. The
recipient of the chip can then upload the GPS data onto their computer and
see the envelope’s route on Google Earth."
The Bangkok
Post put it rather succinctly, "R.I.P. the telegram."
According to the
Times Leader, "Community members and groups looking for ways to support
U.S. troops fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere overseas can take
advantage of programs offered by the U.S. Postal Service and the Adopt a
U.S. Soldier program, online at
www.adoptaussoldier.org."
IndyBay.org has reported that "The day after International Workers Day,
San Francisco postal workers showed their strength at the Bryant Annex at
Bryant and 15th Street. About 100 workers threw up a lively picket line that
stretched half a block, demanding the removal of Mail Carrier Supervisor Ron
Malig because of is his chronic abusive behavior. This was an informational
picket, and so did not block the entrance to the post office. The action
happened from 4 to 7 p.m., and was called for by the National Association of
Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO, Golden Gate Branch 214. The picketers carried
signs reading, “Ron Malig Is Hostile and Cruel,” “It’s Impossible To Work
With Ron Malig,” and “First Class Stamp 42 Cents, Gallon of Gas $4, Being
Abused By Ron Malig, Priceless.” The picketers chanted with gusto, “What Do
We Want, Ron Malig To Go, When Do We Want It, Now!”
May 4, 2008
Royal
Mail has been requested by
Postcomm, the UK postal regulator, to demonstrate that industrial action
last year, which saw mail pile up in delivery and sorting offices, was
wholly the result of transformation plans, and that the industrial action
only had caused a drop in quality of service.
One
writer for the
Star Gazettee maintains that "Based on the amount of junk mail I get, it
is the only industry in the U.S. that is thriving and not affected by the
economy, the cost of oil or the billion-plus people in China who we blame
for the rising price of everything. That's why junk mail officials keep tabs
on postal customers. Without our mailboxes to stuff, the junk mail industry
would collapse and the nation would plunge into a recession, depression and
regression."
The
Sun Coast Daily has reported that "Australia Post has embarked on a
major redevelopment of its Nambour mail-processing facility and is upgrading
its other Sunshine Coast delivery centres in preparation for major
population growth."
May 3, 2008
DM News has reported that "Despite efforts by the US Postal Service as
well as some direct mail service companies such as Pitney Bowes, news about
the Intelligent Mail barcode (IMB) may not be reaching the majority of
mailers."
RTE News has
reported that "Postmasters throughout the country have backed an appeal by
the St Vincent De Paul to keep rural post offices open. Both organisations
want the Government to make it obligatory to maintain branches and have
warned of the damage their closure could have on the disadvantaged."
United Press International has reported that: "Canadian
postal workers are bent on eliminating delivery to rural areas based on
safety concerns, officials said. The Ottawa Citizen reported Saturday there
are 843,000 roadside mailboxes in Canada, and Canada Post is spending $500
million to review the safety of each of them using criteria developed by
three consulting firms.
The latest issue of
the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:
May 2, 2008
The latest copy of the National Association of Postmasters of the U.S. electronic governmental affairs newsletter is available on the NAPUS web site.
Be sure to read "NAPUS Helps Deflect Overseas Ballot Privatization."
Federal
Register:
The USPS has
published in the Federal Register its proposed Intelligent Mail Barcode
implementation rules. Comments must be submitted by May 30, 2008, and the
USPS at the MTAC meetings earlier this week encouraged stakeholders to
submit comments with their key issues as early as possible, even if it means
submitting additional comments closer to the closing date.
The
Ottawa Sun has reported that "Canada Post's new union president is
warning Canadians that their mail delivery could be in jeopardy and hundreds
of jobs could be lost."
Canada NewsWire has reported that "Purolator Courier Ltd. and Teamsters
Canada have reached a new tentative agreement for a contract renewal for
Purolator's couriers, package handlers, transport truck drivers and
owner/operators across Canada."
As
Hellmail has noted, "Health and wellbeing initiatives introduced by
Royal Mail Group could hold the key to reducing the impact of absence across
the UK’s worst performing sectors and deliver savings of £1.45 billion a
year, a study by the London School of Economics revealed today. In its ‘
Value of Rude Health’ report - the result of a unique, year-long study - the
London School of Economics also calculated that the value of Royal Mail
Group’s approach to tackling absence could bring more than 94,000 people
absent through illness or injury back into work more quickly."
The Star has
reported that "Deutsche Post AG, Europe's biggest postal service, will raise
wages for 130,000 employees to avert a strike that would have brought German
mail delivery to a halt. Deutsche Post and the Ver. di. labour union agreed
to a 4 per cent pay increase effective Nov. 1 and another 3 per cent raise
starting in December 2009, the Bonn-based mail carrier said in a statement
yesterday. Employees will also receive a one-time payment of 200 euros ($310
U.S.).
Traffic
World has reported that "DHL Express, a leading provider of global
express services, has today announced it will improve its carbon efficiency
by 30 percent by 2020. The company has set strict targets, reducing
emissions per package sent, ton transported and square meter of real estate
used initially by 10 percent by 2012, and by 30 percent by 2020 when
compared to 2007 levels."
May 1, 2008
You
can find the "Preliminary Revenue, Pieces, And Weight By Classes Of Mail And Special
Services For Quarter 2 Fiscal Year 2008 (Jan. 1, 2008-Mar. 31, 2008)
Compared With The Corresponding Period Of Fiscal Year 2007" posted on the
Postal Regulatory web site.
AllAfrica.com
has reported that "The director of information and communication in the
Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Benjamin Dikki, has revealed that
the postal policy and new postal legislation are near completion after both
documents were subjected to extensive stakeholder sensitisation. He listed
the objectives of the postal reform including; "to grant the postal sector
sufficient autonomy to run its own affairs; guarantee all segments of the
population access to universal service; provision of quality services which
support the Universal Service Obligation (USO); separate between operators,
regulator and policy makers; ensure an open, liberalised market with equal
opportunity for all competitors; guarantee economic viability of the public
postal operator; ensure that the population had access to services according
to the technological evolution of the postal service; and ahieve quality
standards similar to best international practice."
Federal
Register:
The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service will meet on Tuesday, May
6, 2008, at 11:30 a.m.; and Wednesday, May 7, 2008, at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30
a.m. at USPS headquarters in Washington, DC.
According to the
Timmins
Daily Press, "For an organization that relies heavily on communicating
with members of the public, Canada Post has sure blown it when it comes to
eliminating its
parcel
pickup service in downtown Timmins. Without any notification whatsoever
to any member of city council or citizen in this community, Canada Post has
decided to basically contract out its parcel service to two Shoppers Drug
Mart locations - one west of the downtown core and another in the new
location which recently opened further down Algonquin Boulevard East.
Businesses and citizens who had become used to picking up and dropping off
parcels at Canada Post's downtown terminal at the corner of Balsam Street
and Second Avenue will now have to travel to either one of the Shoppers
locations. This is certainly not the end of the world, but by proceeding
with a major decision like this and not telling any of its customers is
certainly not a good way to conduct business."
The Borneo
Bulletin has reported that "To upgrade the quality of mail services as
well as the mail process in the country, the Postal Service Department
employed the services of a consultant from the Asian-Pacific Postal College
(APPC), Bangkok, Thailand."
According to
Thaindian News, "Swiss Post International (SPI), one of Europe’s leading
postal organisations, Thursday launched its Indian operations in partnership
with Mail Order Solutions (MOS). According to the agreement, MOS, an
India-based company specialised in offering direct marketing (DM) solutions
to advertisers and marketers, will operate as a sales agent of SPI in the
country, said a MOS spokesperson."
As
DC Velocity
has noted, "From the pony express to its experiments with missile-based mail
delivery, the USPS has never been shy about trying new ventures. Now it's
making a play for a bigger share of the international business-mail market,
and Paul Vogel's in charge."
The
Office of the Federal Environmental Executive is pleased to announce the
recipients of the 2008 White
House Closing the Circle (CTC) Awards. (Congratulations to the U.S.
Postal Service on winning five of these awards.) This annual program is
required by Executive Order 13423, Strengthening Federal Environmental,
Energy, and Transportation Management, and recognizes outstanding Federal
environmental stewardship
The
Jerusalem Post has reported that "The Canadian Union of Postal Workers
passed a resolution at its national convention in April supporting the
international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel,
labeling it an "apartheid state" and calling on the Canadian government to
increase humanitarian aid to the Palestinians."
Hellmail has reported that "The Communication Workers Union which
represents most postal workers at Royal Mail, has responded to Postcomm's
Strategy Review for further changes to the UK postal market. The CWU, which
has been a consistent critic of the liberalisation of the UK postal market,
says that deregulation in the UK was too soon and that Postcomm has put the
pursuit of competition ahead of safeguarding the USO. The union said it was
also strongly opposed to any ownership separation of Royal Mail’s
activities. The CWU did not agree such separation has been successful in
other regulated industries and did not see a need for greater accounting
transparency and that moves to split Royal Mail should not be at the expense
of an efficient and integrated Royal Mail. "The nature of Royal Mail’s
operations makes it an unsuitable candidate for such a costly,
time-consuming and unpopular exercise." it said."
From
Canada NewsWire: "Reaching out a helping hand to Canada's small business
market, UPS Canada today announced the launch of a new advice-oriented
podcast series called Logistically Speaking. Hosted by Canadian small
business expert, journalist and blogger, Rick Spence, the podcasts will be
available for download through iTunes and other podcast directories, as well
as on UPS.com."
The Hill has reported that "Senate Democrats have spared Federal
Express, for the time being, from a labor-backed provision that would give a
big boost to its rival, the United Parcel Service (UPS). The Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill being debated on the
Senate floor does not include language that would make it easier for unions
to organize workers at FedEx. While FedEx has won a reprieve, the fight is
not over."
Dow Jones
has reported that "The European Commission Wednesday cleared EUR1.1 billion
in aid paid by the Italian government to the country's post office, Poste
Italiane, to cover the cost of providing a nationwide postal service."
Chennai Online has reported that "The Central Region of the Tamil Nadu
Postal Department has achieved the highest business of Rs 1,017 crore from
the 'Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI)' during the year 2007-08, against a
target of Rs 690 crore, Post Master General (Central Region) S P Rajalingam
said Wednesday."