March 31, 2009

According to WWSB, "In a continuing effort to improve productivity and increase efficiency, the Postal Service plans to move originating mail processing and distribution operations from the Manasota Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC) to the Tampa P&DC. The transition will begin October 1, 2009 and be completed by April 1, 2010."

WHIZ has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service is holding a public hearing to talk about its proposal to move some mail processing operations out of Zanesville and into Columbus."

WIBC has reported that "Kim Yates with the Greater Indiana District of the Postal Service says several administrative positions are being eliminated in Indiana, affecting 70 employees. But she says those cutbacks will be transparent to the public, so service at local post office retail counters and carrier delivery will remain the same."

The Telegraph has reported that "Bruce Greig, chief operating officer of ViaPost, believes the online postal pioneer has the potential to disrupt Britain’s physical mail market. First there was mail, then email, but now there’s something in between - courtesy of ViaPost, which is pioneering a hybrid mail service that allows people and businesses to send physical letters over the internet. It runs an internet postal operation that allows letters to be sent electronically to central servers and then printed out and delivered by the Royal Mail through the so-called “last mile” system used by courier companies."

Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) introduced legislation in the House of Representatives on March 24 that would restrict USPS subcontracting. The Mail Protection Act (H.R. 1686), which is backed by the APWU, is modeled on a bill the Congressman introduced in November 2007 (H.R. 4236). The bill [PDF] would require the Postal Service to bargain with postal unions before engaging in significant subcontracting, and would require the USPS to submit to arbitration if management and the affected unions were unable to reach agreement. It would apply to any private contract involving mail processing, mail handling, or surface transportation of mail, provided that over a 12-month period the contract involved the equivalent of $5 million or 50 work-years.

The latest blog posted on the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General’s Internet site “Pushing the Envelope.” The public, mailers, postal employees, and other stakeholders are invited to weigh in on the online discussions taking place.  To view the site, visit http://blog.uspsoig.gov/.    Postal Service Financial Challenges.  There are concerns the Postal Service could end this year without enough cash to pay its bills.  In testimony last week, the Postal Service asked Congress to allow for a slower rate of funding of its retiree health benefits and to give the Board of Governors the flexibility to move from 6-day to 5-day delivery.  Do you think these are the only options?---The best options to stabilize the Postal Service’s spiraling financial downturn?  What do you think are the best options for the Postal Service?   You can visit Office of Inspector General’s public website at:  www.uspsoig.gov.  If you have additional questions, please contact Communication and Work Life Director Agapi Doulaveris at 703.248.2322.

From Business Wire: "FedEx SmartPost announced today that it has expanded its service into Canada for U.S. shippers by using the residential delivery capabilities of the Canada Post Corporation."

The Courier Mail has reported that "drug exporters are turning to the postal system in a bid to get illicit drugs into Australia."

Women in Logistics and Delivery Services has announced two upcoming events. Check out the WILDS web site for more information.

From PR Newswire: "Two prizes acknowledging excellence in those who publish works involving American postal history have been awarded to a university professor and a college student. Professor Anuj Desai, University of Wisconsin Law School, and Philip Glende, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of Wisconsin-Madison, received the Rita Lloyd Moroney Awards from U.S. Postal Service representatives in recognition of their important undertakings. The Rita Lloyd Moroney Awards are designed to encourage scholarship on the history of the American postal system and to raise awareness about the significance of the postal system in American life."

From PR Web: "Today at the On Demand Expo, PrintSoft Americas (www.printsoft-usa.com) announced a new offering, MailDirect Express, which provides design-online capability and multi-channel output for on-demand business correspondence. The solution saves time for corporate employees, speeds messages to customers and ensures brand-control and compliance standards are met even for ad-hoc correspondence."

The Economic Times has reported that "Officials at the India Post Insurance Directorate, the insurance arm of India Post, are upbeat about business prospects, while the rest of the industry is struggling to cope with a slowdown. The two major schemes of the company - postal life insurance (PLI) and rural postal life insurance (RPLI) - are logging good growth despite bad economic sentiments, the officials said."

As The Day has noted, "The US Postal Service losing streak continued in February, with the agency reporting a loss of $658 million, bringing the year to date loss for the fiscal year to $1.8 billion. The agency continued to aggressively cut employee work hours, which were down 12% from the prior year. That translated to a 7.3% decrease in wages and benefits. (The savings are inflated by 3-4% because 2008 was a leap year, so there was an extra weekday compared with 2009.) Revenue, meanwhile was down 12.8%. The slide in revenue accelerated from January’s 11.8% decline, but that number is also slightly inflated by the extra day in SPLY. The sharpest drop was in standard mail, down 22% from February 2008. The decrease meant that there was actually less standard mail than first class in the system for the month, reversing recent trends. First class mail volume was down 12.7% compared with last year. Year to date, the USPS has processed about 11 billion fewer pieces of mail than it had at this point a year ago."

As the Postalnews Blog has noted, "The US Postal Service losing streak continued in February, with the agency reporting a loss of $658 million, bringing the year to date loss for the fiscal year to $1.8 billion. The agency continued to aggressively cut employee work hours, which were down 12% from the prior year. That translated to a 7.3% decrease in wages and benefits. (The savings are inflated by 3-4% because 2008 was a leap year, so there was an extra weekday compared with 2009.) Revenue, meanwhile was down 12.8%. The slide in revenue accelerated from January’s 11.8% decline, but that number is also slightly inflated by the extra day in SPLY. The sharpest drop was in standard mail, down 22% from February 2008. The decrease meant that there was actually less standard mail than first class in the system for the month, reversing recent trends. First class mail volume was down 12.7% compared with last year. Year to date, the USPS has processed about 11 billion fewer pieces of mail than it had at this point a year ago."

Advertising Age has reported that "Local media continue to absorb a good part of the brunt of this recession. A new study from financial-analysis firm SNL Kagan forecasts that local TV stations and radio broadcasters will suffer through two years of ad-revenue downturns, with 2009 declines widening from those in 2008." [EdNote: All the more important, then, is the Postal Service's efforts to make local, saturation, carrier route mail more accessible to local merchants.]

March 30, 2009

To facilitate navigating the abundance of Intelligent Mail information located on RIBBS, a Resource Map has been developed and posted on the site.  The Resource Map describes the array of Intelligent Mail guides, from beginner-level to more advanced, as well as specifications and manuals.   You can find the "Resource Map" listed under “Intelligent Mail,” then “Guides,” at http://ribbs.usps.gov/index.cfm?page=intellmailguides.  This information will show you how to take full advantage of the suite of Intelligent Mail barcodes so that you can reach the right audiences at the right times!

From the Postal Regulatory Commission:

U.S. Postal Service Performance Fiscal Year 2008: The Postal Regulatory Commission today issued its Annual Compliance Determination (ACD) of the U.S. Postal Service Performance, which details the financial and service performance of the Postal Service for fiscal year 2008. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA) requires this determination annually (39 U.S.C. §3653). The Commission’s report was prepared after a 90-day review of the Postal Service’s 2008 Annual Compliance Report (ACR) and supplemental material, evaluation of public comments, and an assessment of data and information provided in several technical conferences. The review focuses on pricing results, service performance, and financial transparency. [MOST RECENT ADDITIONS TO THIS LIST]

C2008-3 POR 37-Presiding Officer's Ruling Establishing Procedural Schedule and Ruling On Miscellaneous Motions
Link: http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62781/POR37.pdf [MOST RECENT ADDITIONS TO THIS LIST]

Rule: Daily listing
CP2009-26 Order No. 197 - Order Concerning Priority Mail Contract 5 Negotiated Service Agreement
Link: http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62778/Order_No_197.doc
http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62778/Order_No_197.pdf

MC2009-21 Order No. 197 - Order Concerning Priority Mail Contract 5 Negotiated Service Agreement
Link: http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62778/Order_No_197.doc
http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62778/Order_No_197.pdf

MC2009-19 Order No. 198 - Notice and Order Concerning Request to Add Seven Postal Services to the Mail Classification Schedule Product Lists
Link: http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62779/Order_No_198.docx
http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62779/Order_No_198.pdf

From the Postal Bulletin:

"The Postal Service™ is revising the allowable tolerance for a Mail Evaluation Readability Lookup Instrument (MERLIN) barcode readability verification to eliminate the 80–89 percent threshold. The Postal Service is also revising the process for mailers who request an appeal when a mailing processed on the MERLIN or manual barcode verification falls below the acceptable tolerance for barcode readability verification. The Postal Service has allowed a three-tiered barcode readability verification threshold for letter and flat mailings. The threshold allows for mailings that score from 90 to 100 percent to pass the verification. Mailings with a verification result from 80 to 89 percent have additional postage calculated based on the actual percent of error applied to the total automation price pieces in the mailing. Mailings with a verification result below 80 percent have additional postage applied based on 100 percent of the total automation price pieces in the mailing. In either case, additional postage is assessed for the difference between the automation prices and the nonautomation prices....[more]"

The Journal of Commerce has reported that "Rates for truckload services will fall about 4 percent this year as U.S. shippers seek to lock low spot market pricing into long-term contracts, a transportation industry analyst said. In a report released March 30, Justin Yagerman of Wachovia Securities said rates are “in the shipper’s favor for now” as demand is falling faster than carriers can pull capacity from the market."

Here is what IBM is telling its customers to do in a new white paper entitled: "Strategies for the New Economy: Customer Smart and Channel Wise:"

• Get smart about your customers
• Get wise about your channels
• Aggressively vary pricing options

[EdNote: How would you rate the Postal Service against such criteria?]

Oxford Mail has reported that "More than a third of first class post arrived late in an Oxford Mail investigation into Royal Mail’s service. Tests by the paper showed just 65 per cent of first class letters achieved the company’s next day delivery standard – compared to its target of 93 per cent. It is a worse result than last year’s test by the Oxford Mail, when 80 per cent of psot arrived on time."

From PR Web: "Direct mail is increasingly becoming more expensive than ever before, with postal rates raising an average of 11.7% in the past year. If we assume there are five costs when sending direct mail; List rental, printing, writing, design, and postage. The question is how do we increase ROI? The answer is a simple one. Increase accuracy. But how do we do that? A solution to this problem has been developed by a document indexing company in Boston called P2E Scanning Services. The problem of how to stop continuously mailing to an undeliverable address is solved by capturing the addresses and comparing it to your mailing list, making each mailing more accurate. Before now there had not been an affordable solution to this problem, but P2E has developed a process of scanning and capturing addresses off of envelopes, converting them into editable text, and compiling a do not send list. The benefits are evident, not only are you making your list more accurate but you are saving money on printing, as well as postage. Three of the five main costs involved in direct mailings. By eliminating undeliverable mail, we have increased our accuracy by 5%, cut printing costs, and cut postage costs, greatly increasing ROI."

From PR-Inside: "Chinese Postal Sector Research Report 2008 - companiesandmarkets.com adds new report.

Parcel magazine has published a guest commentary from Postal Regulatory Commissioner Ruth Goldway.

DMM Advisory: May 11 Price Change Update – First-Class Mail Automation Flats. "In response to customer feedback, we will not implement the mandatory tray-based preparation for First-Class Mail automation flats. Mailers may continue to prepare First-Class Mail automation flats in either bundles or trays under current standards. We will include this revision in our final Federal Register notice for the May 11 price change."

Media Daily News has reported that "The magazine industry, which has historically opposed time-spent-with-media metrics as fair basis for comparing the involvement consumers have with various media, is warming to the idea, albeit, with a caveat. Instead of looking at all minutes of media usage as equal, the Magazine Publishers of America today is releasing an analysis that assigns a relative value to each minute consumed, and not surprisingly, consumer magazine stack up very well vs. other major consumer media on that basis, including TV, radio, the Internet, and even the other major consumer print medium, newspapers."

According to Advertising Age, "Most of the many, many sites aggregating other people's content can't deliver that much traffic, and some don't even try. What's more, a vast swath of readers couldn't care less about anything deeper than a headline, which is a problem for the nation's beleaguered journalistic institutions as they try to find a sustainable model for newsgathering on the web."

From PR Newswire: "Experian Marketing Services today announced it will host a Webinar aimed at educating direct marketers and mailers on the upcoming 2009 postal rate increases and what they can do now to create effective plans and budgets for their mailings. Mailers and catalogers have been fooled in past years with numbers that don't add up when it comes to budgeting mailing costs. The typical rate change of 3.8 percent is not all inclusive of each mail class and type of mail, and direct mailers need to take this into account now in order to stay successful through the next year. With the new mailing rate adjustment going into effect on May 11, 2009, now is the perfect time for mailers to prepare a cost-conscious mailing strategy. This free Webinar features Experian Marketing Service's top mail experts - Steve Lopez, vice president of Postal Affairs, and Mike Yapuncich, vice president of List Processing - presenting the hard numbers on the rate changes, the impact of the change on a variety of mail types, and what steps mailers can take now to build a winning strategy around these cost increases. The Webinar will be held on Wednesday, April 1, 2009, at 2 p.m. EDT, and registration is free. To register, visit https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/270751728."

On C-SPAN: "Dan Blair offered his perspective on the fiscal stability of the U.S. Postal Service, and he responded to telephone calls and electronic mail. Last week, he testified on the topic before the House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce."

PostCom postal consultant Kathleen Siviter has reported that:

• At the IDEAlliance conference being held this week in Florida, USPS senior vice president of intelligent mail and address quality Tom Day announced that not only is the USPS postponing the use of Performance-Based Verification (PBV) to assess additional postage for non-compliance with move update requirements for both First-Class Mail and Standard Mail (as the USPS announced late last week), but the USPS also will re-think the penalty itself and how it is applied.  Day said that applying the single-piece FCM rate for FCM, or the 7-cent penalty for Standard Mail, across the whole mailing "is a pretty stiff penalty."  He told the IDEAlliance conference that the USPS decided this was not the time to take a hard line with move update compliance.  Day cautioned that the rules that have been in effect for some time still will apply -- in other words, mailers must work to meet the move update requirements -- but said the USPS will not use the PBV process to determine compliance.
• Also at the IDEAlliance conference today, mailers voiced their objections to the USPS announcement in the March 26, 2009 Postal Bulletin (http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/bulletin/2009/pb22255/html/info1_002.html#ep1403491) that it plans to raise the barcode quality threshold from the current 80% to 90% effective May 11.  After May 11, automation mailings verified on MERLIN must meet the 90% threshold to avoid assessment of additional postage for barcode quality errors.  Mailers criticized the USPS for not working with industry prior to announcing the change, and expressed concerns that with the new Intelligent Mail barcodes (IMb) being implemented in May, raising the quality threshold should be delayed.

In writing about the Postal Service's present fiscal crisis, Deseret News has said that "A private business couldn't sustain losses like that very long. But then, no other such private business (or even quasi-private, as is the Postal Service) exists because the Constitution specifically provides for it. "Congress shall have power ... to establish post offices," it says. Reliable and quick mail service is essential to any nation. Without it, commerce would cease and payments would be in doubt. And without a government-established postal service, the nation's far-flung rural residents especially would be vulnerable. The recession may be exaggerating losses for the moment, but that writing on the wall is becoming clearer each year. The Postal Service has to get smaller. It has to concentrate mostly on the important stuff and on the people who have few alternatives. It may have to eliminate Tuesdays, or even another day as time goes by. America still needs reliable mail delivery to remain strong, but it has to learn how to guarantee this more intelligently before too many more billions of dollars slip through the cracks."

According to What They Think, "Quebecor reports $654M loss."

From PR-Web: "Window Book has successfully completed the USPS Intelligent Mail® tray label certification process and is now a certified vendor for producing 24-digit Intelligent Mail tray labels. The new 24-digit barcode label will soon be replacing the 10-digit and 10/24 transitional barcode labels which are currently used by the Postal industry. Mailers can use DAT-MAIL now to produce 10/24 tray and sack tags for testing or live jobs and 24-digit barcode on April 6, 2009. Mailers can be assured that when they use DAT-MAIL to produce their tray and sack labels they are complying with new requirements for USPS® Intelligent Mail Full Service."

Brandweek has reported that "For all the fuss over new media, the old-fashioned TV is still by far the most popular medium for all consumers, both young and old. In fact, on average, consumers spend only about two minutes a day watching free TV via the Internet and not even a full minute watching mobile video."

Online Media Daily has reported that "Loc-Aid Technologies is expected to announce today that it has signed agreements with several North American carriers to aggregate location-based data across networks. The deal will enable brands to target advertisements, coupons and product information to consumers. "Location-based technology will allow advertisers to send consumers the correct advertisements, which in turn will raise CPMs and CPCs."

Hellmail has reported that "Romanian Post and Advance Payment Solution Ltd (APS), the European leader in the provision of prepaid cards, have concluded a partnership to launch the very first prepaid payment card in Romania. It is hoped that the 'Romanian Post Cashplus Prepaid MasterCard' will help a significant number of Romanians lacking a bank account or credit card. The card offers consumers an alternative payment method without the need for a bank account or solid credit history."

The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum will host about 20 Washington, D.C., teens working together to present the “Green Ways to Move the Mail Family Day” Saturday, April 4, from 1 to 4 p.m. Participants will tackle the environmental challenges involved in delivering the mail. Families can tinker in a “green” vehicle “invention lab,” discover the “shocking” history of electric cars in the Postal Service and sit behind the wheel of a mail truck and following mail’s journey through children’s books about the mail.

Dead Tree Edition has reported that "The chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission was only partly correct when he told Congress this week that postal rates seem likely to rise less than 1% next year. There's actually a good chance that the rates for market-dominant classes (such as Periodicals, Standard, and First Class) won't increase at all in 2010. But that may not be all bad news for the U.S. Postal Service."

Radio Netherlands has reported that "Members of the Committee to Save Mail Carriers demonstrated in the centre of Utrecht today to protest against the liberalisation of the postal market. According to the committee, TNT mail carriers will see their salaries fall by 15 percent due to the proposed changes to the postal market. A few weeks ago, unions and TNT Post signed an agreement in principle on the 2009 collective labour agreement; under the terms of the deal, mail carriers and sorters will see their salaries fall by five percent as of 1 April. Over the coming years, the wage cuts will amount to 15 percent. The protesters are demanding, "a decent, living wage".

March 28, 2009

The Washington Post has reported that:

• The job market is bad and getting worse, the stock market is down steeply for the year, and housing prices are still falling. Despite it all, there are early -- and highly tentative -- signs that the deep freeze in Americans' spending is turning into a mere chill.
• Big paper companies could each get hundreds of millions of dollars in cash payments from the Treasury this year by taking advantage of an alternative fuels tax credit in the 2005 highway bill, according to company filings and Wall Street analysts.

The Alaska Journal of Commerce has reported that "Alaska legislators and air carriers fear that the U.S. Postal bypass mail system may be moved out of state despite solving increased bypass mail rate issues with the Postmaster General. You could have heard a pin drop as announcements were made about the future of bypass mail at the Alaska Air Carriers Association's postal service meeting with airline managers on March 3 in Anchorage. Air carriers in attendance got the news that mail specialists located in Alaska are being offered early retirement or to be relocated to Denver."

Softpedia has reported that "Security researchers warn that a new malware-distribution campaign serves a Trojan horse through fake DHL delivery-tracking e-mails. Once installed on a computer, the backdoor also advertises rogue security applications. The malicious e-mails have subjects of the form "DHL Tracking number ########" (where # represent random digits and capital letters). The message contained inside informs users that, "We were not able to deliver postal package you sent on the [date] in time because the recipient's address is not correct." The e-mails aim at peaking the interest of potential victims by encouraging them to open an attached .zip file, posing as a DHL invoice. "Please print out the invoice copy attached and collect the package at our office," the fake messages reads."

The Financial Times has reported that "The Swedish and Danish postal services, which are seeking merger approval from Brussels, have offered concessions in return for a green light. The move comes after other postal services in the region, including in Norway and Finland, have expressed reservations about the deal and its anti-competitive consequences." See also the Wall Street Journal.

The March 27, 2009 issue of the National Association of Postal Supervisors NAPS Legislative & Regulatory Update has been posted on this site. NAPS Urges USPS to Cut Top Management Ranks.

 
The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:

• Despite the Postal Service’s potential to lose $6 billion and 20 billion pieces of mail this year, it took awhile for a House hearing this week to consider the real problems confronting the USPS. Postmaster General Jack Potter and Postal Service Board of Governors Chairwoman Carolyn Gallagher fielded questions on the postmaster general’s compensation, the organization’s executive relocation program and an investigation into a Countrywide Financial Corporation home loan Potter received. The House subcommittee then turned its attention to the Postal Service’s increasingly dire financial situation by hearing from five panels of witnesses who attested to the USPS’ baleful prognosis.
• This week’s House subcommittee hearing provided a slew of interesting numbers and information about the USPS’s current financial situation.
• More than 200 customers and service providers submitted comments in response to the Postal Service’s proposed changes in mailpiece design characteristics and mail preparation for letters and flats; some of which the USPS proposed would take effect in May 2009 and some May 2010. Those submitting comments opposed many of the Postal Service’s proposed changes, because of the negative impact the changes likely would have on their industry marketplace as a result of increased costs to customers/service providers, further restricting mailpiece design creativity, and lessening the value of mail as a communications media choice. The Postal Service is expected to publish the final rule on the Postal Explorer section of its website as early as next week. PostCom presents highlights from the comments submitted to the Postal Service.
• The Postal Service will apply prices proposed for all mail owners to all Confirms subscribers, eliminating the mailing agent tier and reducing annual Confirm revenue.
• The Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation released a new Postal Service paper the at the controversy regarding whether the USPS should eliminate the sixth day of mail delivery. Although the paper does not make any specific recommendations, this sums up its perspective: “No one truly likes the idea of moving to five-day-a-week mail delivery. However, if mail volume continues falling, the argument for eliminating the sixth delivery day will become progressively stronger...”
• Todd Butler of Butler Mailing Services says Postal Service engineers and other employees are oblivious to the costs and complexities of mailpiece redesign for mailers, and the negative effects they have on mail volumes.
• Association for Postal Commerce Vice President Jessica Dauer Lowrance and President Gene Del Polito express their views about the Postal Service and its FY 2009 Integrated Financial Plan.
• Jacob Hornberger, founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation, explains his opposition to the Postal Service’s mail monopoly.
• In this opinion piece, Berkshire Company CEO Mark Fallon offers up some ideas on solving the problems facing the Postal Service.
• USPS to implement CASS/MASS Cycle M August 1, 2009. USPS posts Quarterly Statistical Report to PRC. Postal Service introduces new MTAC workgroup. PRC issues second notice of proposed rulemaking.
• EU faces new pressure to look into Swedish, Danish postal merger. PostCom represented at UPU session.
• Postal previews

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On the PRC web site:

Rule: Daily listing
R2009-2 Notice of Amended Market Dominant Price Adjustment
Link: http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62774/Notice_Amended_Price.doc
http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62774/Notice_Amended_Price.pdf

DMM Advisory - Standard Mail Move Update Postponed – Confirm Service Prices Adjusted. "We filed an amended notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission to postpone the Move Update noncompliance charge for Standard Mail and to adjust our prices for Confirm service. We extended implementation of the Standard Mail Move Update noncompliance charge from May 11, 2009, to January 4, 2010. The charge applies to Standard Mail mailings that fail to fully comply with the Move Update standards. Delaying implementation allows extra time to provide our Standard Mail customers with additional feedback from our new postage verification systems, but does not relieve mailers of their obligation to comply with the Move Update standard if they intend to claim automation or Presort prices. The new Move Update verification procedures will not be used to assess additional postage for First-Class Mail or Standard Mail at the time of mailing until January 2010.  However, as noted above, customers are still required to comply with the Move Update standards in the DMM.

We also adjusted our May 11 prices for Confirm service by eliminating separate mailing agent and owner subscription prices. All Confirm subscribers will the pay the same subscription price, based on service level. We also adjusted our May 11 prices for Confirm service by eliminating separate mailing agent and owner subscription prices. All Confirm subscribers will the pay the same subscription price, based on service level.  

March 27, 2009

Graphics Arts Online has reported that "Its finances deteriorating, the U.S. Postal Service faces another hurdle as a major city advances toward restricting a key revenue stream for the agency, and the printing industry—direct mail. This week a San Francisco City government committee advanced a non-binding rule calling for a statewide Do Not Mail registry in California. Unsolicited mail is "archaic, obnoxious and unnecessary," says city supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who was the force behind San Francisco's ban of plastic bags. Efforts to limit direct mail in various states are tracked by Mail Moves America, a Washington-based mailing industry advocacy group."

The following is a report from Steve Lopez of Experian from the UPU in Berne, Switzerland:  "PostCom was represented in person at the Consultative Committee (CC) by Pitney Bowes, Experian and Quad Graphics.  Pitney Bowes presented a project on revenue protection (of which they are chairing this workgroup for PostCom) and Experian presented on the addressing issues which they too are chairing on behalf of PostCom.  Experian provided two speakers from QAS, an Experian company, to discuss the needs for accurate data available from Postal Operators in order to provide more access for private sector companies to provide services globally.  The addressing presentation created a lively dialogue between many members of the CC, the Director General of the UPU and the private sector which evolved into almost an hour long conversation.  Gene Del Polito remarked to the Director General that now is the time to address electronic addresses with physical addresses and evolve the mindset of the UPU to drive commerce for all sectors globally.  The addressing group also reported on the need to organize the Global Addressing Summit soon so that it would raise addressing issues for all stakeholders.  This conversation will take place during the next addressing workgroup meeting held in April via teleconference."

"With the world in the grips of a financial crisis, what effects are being felt in the postal sector? As Posts ask themselves what this crisis will mean for them, Universal Postal Union takes a closer look at the bigger picture and finds that all is not doom and gloom. Times are tough for the United States Postal Service (USPS). Other Posts around the world are also sounding the alarm bells in their latest financial results. For those Posts requiring injections of capital to shore up infrastructure or boost reserves, it seems not to be a good time to seek a cash-rich investor. Traditional candidates like private equity firms have themselves been feeling the pinch, with worldwide stocks nose-diving. When the chips are down in the business world, one of the first postal casualties is direct marketing. For those posts able to bank savings and offer term deposits, the cash registers could start ringing. Another opportunity ripe for the picking is in the area of remittances, even though this sector will also feel the heat from a suffering global economy. Despite the trouble ahead facing postal operators, what is clear is that the global financial crisis could also open the door to new business opportunities. Only the Posts can decide whether they play or pass." 

According to one writer for Advertising Age, "Online or in print, we need newspapers. There are no substitutes. Magazines, TV channels and websites don't do the same things. Not even close. Our industry needs newspapers -- but just as important, so does humankind. The world needs the kind of journalism practiced by newspapers when they're at their best. The local investigative pieces. The foreign correspondence. The war reporting. Without them, news goes unreported. Viewpoints are narrowed. Governments can run amok. So why aren't we creating more newspaper advertising? Part of the answer is undoubtedly fashion. "

Logistics Online has reported that "The turbulent economy has knocked the less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation industry off balance, according to the Supply Chain Consortium's Domestic Transportation Report."

Media Daily News has reported that "the fourth-quarter results for newspapers aren't surprising. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2007, print revenues plummeted 20.6% to $9.3 billion, while online revenues fell 8.1% to $778 million, according to the Newspaper Association of America on Thursday. Together, total print and online revenues fell 19.7% to just under $10.1 billion. The revenue figures make it virtually certain that this year will see the closing of more big regional daily newspapers and bankruptcy declarations from even more big publishers. The quarterly figures from the NAA reflect the confluence of two trends in a perfect media storm -- a long-term shift in print ad dollars to the Internet was accompanied by one of the worst economic downturns in American history."

Reuters has reported that "The European Commission extended on Friday its review of the planned merger of Sweden's Posten and Danish counterpart Post Denmark after the companies offered remedies to address competition concerns." See also Dow Jones.

According to Time, "It is considered bad form to blame people for a catastrophe after it happens, unless someone involved has committed a felony. In the case of newspapers, how the house caved in is worth a hard look. It says a great deal about how industries that do not have to fail, fall apart anyway. What is rarely mentioned is that the best CEOs spend most of their time thinking about what will put their companies out of business and doing something to prevent this catastrophe. The heads of publishing companies have spend most of the last 20 years worrying about the costs of organized labor, the price of printing paper, and postal rates. It seems obvious to most average people now that the control, and to some extent the creation of content, began moving rapidly to the Internet as long as eleven or twelve years ago. Not a single large print media company chief saw that at the time."

The Boston Herald has reported that "Superman may be more powerful than a locomotive, but he can’t beat the U.S. Postal Service. A Framingham man who runs a program that sends comic books to military personnel overseas says he may have to cut back because his mailing rates have doubled. Chris Tarbassian of Operation Comix Relief tells The MetroWest Daily News the price jumped from $2.58 per shipment to more than $5 after he was told he could no longer ship comics at the less expensive media mail rate. The nonprofit sends comics to about 500 men and women each year." 

From the Federal Register:

Postal Regulatory Commission
PROPOSED RULES
Treatment of Non-Public Materials Submitted By the Postal Service ,
13370–13386 [E9–6891]	[TEXT]  [PDF]

The Western Mail has reported that "anger over the Government’s plans to part-privatise the Royal Mail intensified yesterday amid a fresh row over the role of the chairman of the organisation’s pensions trustees. A letter from Jane Newall to Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, released in February, warned of “very severe” consequences for workers’ pensions if a partial sell-off did not go ahead. Other trustees complained that the letter, released on the eve of a huge demonstration by postal workers in London against the Government’s plans, had not been seen or discussed by them. Ms Newall has since written to pension fund members, making it clear that the trustees had no “political agenda” and were not suggesting that pensions faced huge cuts."

The New York Times has reported that "In a world with grocery store television screens, digitally delivered movie libraries and cellphone video clips, the average American is exposed to 61 minutes of TV ads and promotions a day. Some people may think that amount seems excessive. But “people don’t seem to be getting up and running away,” said Jack Wakshlag, chief research officer at Turner Broadcasting. In fact, adults are exposed to screens — TVs, cellphones, even G.P.S. devices — for about 8.5 hours on any given day, according to a study released by the Council for Research Excellence on Thursday. TV remains the dominant medium for media consumption and advertising, the study found. The data suggests that computer usage has supplanted radio as the second most common media activity. (Print ranks fourth.)"

On the Postal Regulatory Commission web site:

Rule: Daily listing
R2009-2 Notice of the United States Postal Service of Filing Amended Notice of Market Dominant Price Adjustment
Link: http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62772/Recalc%20of%20SpecServ%20Cap.xls
http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62772/Recalc%20of%20Standard%20Mail%20Cap.xls
http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62772/Amended%20Notice.pdf

"In accordance with 39 CFR § 3010.13(e), the Postal Service is hereby filing an amended notice of its market dominant price adjustment. In its Order Reviewing Postal Service Market Dominant Price Adjustments, the Commission concluded that “until the Postal Service can provide an adequate justification for separate mailing agent rates for Gold and Platinum tier Confirm service, those rates must be removed from Confirm, and both mail owners and mailing agents must be charged the same rates.” Order No. 191 at 72 (March 16, 2009). In response, the Postal Service plans to apply to all Confirm subscribers the prices that were proposed for mail owners."

"The Postal Service also intends to postpone the implementation date of the Move Update Non-Compliance charge for Standard Mail pieces, from May 11, 2009, to January 4, 2010. This new charge will be applied to Standard Mail that fails to comply with the Move Update standards. Delayed implementation will provide our Standard Mail customers with additional feedback from new postage verification systems. This change will reduce Standard Mail revenue over the rest of 2009 by about $4.5 million, and decrease the percent increase for Standard Mail from 3.781 percent to 3.759 percent."

In case you missed it, you can still view the House postal oversight committee hearing at Postalnews.tv

Bloomberg has reported that "President Barack Obama said employers are likely to shed more workers before an economic recovery takes hold in the U.S. and that some of the jobs lost to overseas competitors likely won’t come back."

The Guardian has reported that "The government's choice of a strategic partner for Royal Mail appears to be narrowing to just two suitors, according to the Communications Workers Union. In a letter to branch officials this week, general secretary Billy Hayes said the CWU had canvassed mail companies and unions in Europe over likely interest in the government's proposal to sell a minority stake in Royal Mail to an outside company as part of a package of reform. "As can be gleaned for the attached schedule [of replies], it appears that the choice for the government is narrowing down to TNT and the private equity group CVC," he wrote."

Guide2.co.nz has reported that "The issue of bonus payments by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) will be scrutinised at a meeting of company chairs next month. Fifteen SOEs paid over $46 million in bonuses last year, with NZ Post being the biggest spender, TV3 reported last night."

Hellmail has reported that "Deutsche Post DHL is to extend its carbon-neutral range to include letter mail outside Germany. It is the first mail provider in Germany to offer business customers carbon-neutral mail, advertising and press products to foreign destinations. "In 2008 we shipped more than 100 million carbon-neutral mail items inside Germany," said Jürgen Gerdes, Deutsche Post DHL Board Member for MAIL. "With demand from business customers rising continuously, we are now extending our GoGreen range to include worldwide mail products." DHL Global Mail, the Group's specialist provider of international mail services, will advise customers on using the new products. The carbon footprint of each of Deutsche Post DHL's GoGreen products and services is assessed and fully offset, enabling business customers to make an active contribution to protecting the climate."

The Business Journal of Cincinnati has reported that "DHL Express Inc. is considering relocating its package sorting operations back to its former sorting hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. The German-owned parcel delivery service on Thursday was awarded provisional approval by the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority Board for a package of incentives related to a potential expansion of DHL operations at CVG."

The Cleveland Plain Dealer has reported that "U.S. postal inspectors are investigating complaints about a green "Parcel Tracking Notice" consumers are finding in their mailboxes. The notice typically says a $50 package is being held for the recipient. To claim it, consumers are instructed to call a toll-free number (800-520-6160) and use a credit card to make a $6.95 payment. At first glance, you might think the notice is from the post office or a delivery service - as did the reader who sent it to me. But it's actually a postcard, a sales gimmick mailed by a Florida outfit that calls itself CCD, or Consumer Clearinghouse Distributors. Consumers who call the company's number, 1-800-520-6160, hear a recording telling them they've been selected to receive a "free" freshwater pearl necklace if they pay a $6.95 "storage release fee."

Press Release: "When you want to look at a Mail.dat file set for ad hoc analysis or production planning, but don’t want to take the time to import the files into a full-blown viewer, you’ll really appreciate the convenience of these easy-to-use macros. With one click, you can import any of these eleven key Mail.dat files into MS Excel - formatted, labeled, and ready for you to work on.   New Postal rates take effect on May 11, 2009 and the USPS wants Mail.dat both for input to PostalONE! and as documentation for the Intelligent Mail Barcode. It is more important than ever to be able to see the details of how our mailings are prepared.   At a cost of only $99 for each user, this is too good a bargain to pass up!   Don't delay! Email, phone, or mail your order to us at:   Peter Moore Software, Inc. 6019 Brigadoon Drive Niwot, CO 80503-8832 (303) 449-1908 · PJM@PeterMoore.com " 

DMM Advisory:

• PostalOne!  We are preparing PostalOne! release 20 to support the price change on May 11 and the Test Environment for the Intelligent Mail Full-Service option on May 18. We are also redesigning the interface mailers use to access PostalOne! and the Facility Access Shipment Tracking (FAST) system. If you use PostalOne! or FAST, please logon between March 30 and April 14, so we can capture your profile information and migrate it to the new Business Customer Gateway. If you use both PostalOne! and FAST, logon to PostalOne! and we can capture your profile for both systems.

• Address Correction.  Mailers using the Full-Service option can retrieve change-of-address and nixie data by accessing reports online or via Mail.XML. Online reports are available in a comma-delimited (.csv) format through the Business Customer Gateway. With Mail.XML mailers can receive data on a regular basis or request it as needed.  For more information, see the Full-Service Option User Access and Reports Guide and the PostalOne! Mail.XML Technical Specification Guide.

• Intelligent Mail Tray Labels.  Mailers can use the 24-digit Intelligent Mail tray label for the Full-Service option starting April 6. We encourage mailers to test and certify their labels before mailing. You can learn about the certification process in the Intelligent Mail Tray Label Certification Guide or call the Barcode Certification Help Desk at 1-877-264-9693.

From Federal Times: "You’ll recall from this story yesterday that the Postal Service is in danger of running out of cash this year, barring new legislation from Congress. John Potter, the postmaster general, said he intends to keep paying salaries and operational expenses — but the Postal Service might have to forego its annual contribution to the retiree health benefit trust fund. What happens then? There won’t be an impact on retirees, because the trust fund covers future retiree benefits. The Postal Service currently spends about $2 billion annually to cover current retirees. The more interesting question is what Congress or the Treasury Department might do. And nobody knows the answer. I’m told, via the Postal Service’s legal department, the statute that created the trust fund is vague — it doesn’t specify any penalties for missing a payment. It’s uncharted territory."

March 26, 2009 

The National Association of Major Mail Users has reported on a recent association event focusing on "Partnering Initiatives with Canada Post." One speaker noted that:
• Canada Post has discovered that companies that use VAMs move more mail and erode less volume than non-VAM users.
• VAMs reduce the complexity of dealing with Canada Post.
• VAMs could assist Canada Post in promoting their DM (Direct Marketing) Online product.
• Canada Post is currently building a registry of companies that it can have customers partner with, if they choose. They will be launching a “Registered Members” program in the 3rd quarter of 2009 and it is free to join.
• Canada Post is not good at dealing with/maintaining/growing small customers and they are willing to give the registered VAM members access to them.
For more information, contact NAMMU.

According to the Ulster Herald, "The latest proposal, by Trade Minister Peter Mandelson, is to sell off substantial sections of the postal service. About 30% has been mentioned in preliminary reports, but there can be no one in any doubt that this 30% is merely the first tranche, the thin end of the wedge, as an overture to selling the entire concern. The increase in texting, e-mails, and other forms of electronic communications have meant that people who, not so long ago, would have written a letter or a postcard are now more likely to pick up a mobile phone. That is why the price of a stamp continues to increase. Some people wonder how, in the light of these developments, private business can aspire to make a profit when the public utility has not done so."

IPE has reported that "The pension scheme of the Swiss Post is once again missing billions, having already received several rounds of funding, so its sponsor company is now intending to plug the hole with more money."

Duane Morris Government Affairs LLC is pleased to announce that Daniel R. Moll has been named Managing Director of the Washington, DC office. [EdNote: Dan is well known to the Washington postal community from his years on the House's postal oversight committee, and his work as a consultant to Deutsche Post-DHL. Congratulations, Dan.]

Multichannel Merchant has reported that "Stating it is “not unsympathetic to the economic difficulties catalog mailers are facing,” Bank of America told the Postal Regulation Committee that letter mailers deserve the same sort of break when the U.S. Postal Service decides on its next cost increase. “These same [economic] challenges currently face all companies,” Bank of America said in its March 2 comments. “Thus, the consideration of the effect of price increases is shared by letter mailers as well as catalog mailers.” Bank of America said the arguments that catalog volumes are sensitive to postage costs and responses to catalog solicitations result in more mail volumes are not unique. “While it is true that catalog volumes are affected by postage costs and that catalogs exhibit some multiplier effect, these two factors are also shared by many postal products, including standard mail letters,” Bank of America said. “Because these statements are generally true of all marketing mail, they cannot justify mitigating catalog rates at the expense of other standard mail.”

Some questions and thoughts from the editor:

Part One

• In America today, 95% of all mail has a business transactional purpose. Consequently, mail can legitimately said to be predominantly a commercial medium. It's chief role in society today is to serve commerce.
• Advertising and marketing are key commercial activities that have a long relationship with the mail.
• Where is advertising and marketing going today? How is advertising and marketing evolving in today's economic environment?
• What is the role of mail in the development of commercial markets?
• What must be done to enhance the value and utility of mail as a medium for commercial development?
• Are the programs and activities undertaken today by the Postal Service designed to facilitate or frustrate economic development and commerce?
• What does the Postal Service need to do in terms of products and services to ensure that mail fulfills its role as an engine of commerce?
• Can anyone actually say they know the answers to all these questions?
• How can we discuss today's or tomorrow's need for a postal infrastructure without having the answers to these questions?

Part Two

• Question: Where do newspaper publishers get the money they need to support the production and distribution of their editorial products? Answer: Advertising
• Question: Where do magazine publishers get the money they need to support the production and distribution of their editorial products? Answer: Advertising
• Question: Where do radio broadcasters get the money they need to support the production and broadcast of their programming products? Answer: Advertising
• Question: Where do television broadcasters get the money they need to support the production and broadcast of their programming products? Answer: Advertising
• Question: Why then are people puzzled upon learning that the money that's needed to support the operation of a self-supporting universal mail delivery system also comes from advertising?

The Washington Times has reported that "Postmaster General John E. Potter on Wednesday defended his receipt of $135,000 in bonuses while asking a House subcommittee for approval to refinance employee health care benefits to prevent having to cut mail services. The chairwoman of the board of governors defended the compensation package as fair, particularly compared with private-sector competitors.:

The Financial Times has told its readers to "Look at UPS and FedEx. History has dealt America’s two main delivery companies very different levels of unionisation among staff. UPS, with an origin in logistics, is the largest single employer of Teamsters, the union with which it collectively bargains every six years. FedEx, on the other hand, started life as an airline and so is covered by rules designed to limit railroad strikes. The bulk of its delivery van drivers are contractors, not full-time employees."

From PR Newswire: "Letter Carriers union President William H. Young told a House hearing today that the survival of the U.S. Postal Service, endangered by the greed and recklessness of financial firms and Wall Street, could depend on whether Congress enacts bipartisan legislation that would save the Postal Service billions of dollars in how it funds health benefits for retirees. "We are not here today to ask for a taxpayer bailout, but we are here to ask the Congress for help," Young said in testimony to the House Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia. "At this moment, the survival of the Postal Service -- a venerable institution that is literally older than our country -- hangs in the balance," Young said. "The Great Recession we face today threatens to destroy the most trusted and universal connection most Americans have with their national government."

As the Washington Post put it, "If the U.S. Postal Service delivered mail by boat, it would be a sinking ship. A large hole in the hull, punched by a huge iceberg named Recession, is draining mail volume while it allows financial losses to flow in and drown the service in a financial swamp. The Postal Service is in dreadful shape and needs quick help from Congress to continue delivering the mail."

According to GovExec.com, "The roster of new federal pay and benefits decision-makers is lining up in the executive and legislative branches. The current leaders in the administration and Congress who will craft policies affecting the federal workforce are strong defenders of traditional employee benefits, as might be expected from a Democratic-controlled government. They have fought to preserve cost-of-living pay increases, opposed what they deemed to be unfair pay-for-performance systems, and worked to keep federal workers' health care costs low. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., , the federal workforce subcommittee's new chairman, also has touted his federal pay and benefit credentials since assuming a leadership role. He also has long personal experience with federal employee policies -- 17 members of his family work for the government, mostly for the U.S. Postal Service."

According to the Globe and Mail, "When it comes to their importance, there's so much more to small cultural magazines than their circulation. The value of cultural magazines shouldn't be calculated solely on the basis of circulation, nor should their funding. These magazines provide an essential service to the nation as incubators of creative innovation."

The Memphis Business Journal has reported that "The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said late Wednesday FedEx Corp. intends to “blackmail Congress” by threatening to cancel a multi-billion dollar airplane contract order if its FedEx Express workers are allowed an easier path to unionization."

FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp.has announced the expansion of its FedEx World Service Centers® (WSCs) with the opening of four new centers in Mexico City. The new FedEx WSCs , located at Insurgentes Sur Avenue, Polanco, Vallejo Road and Patriotismo Avenue, respond to the demands of FedEx Express Nacional, the Company’s new domestic express service that serves all 32 Mexican states.

On the Postal Regulatory Commission website:

• Rule: ACR2008 Order No. 196 - Order Concerning Motion to Make Core Cost, Volume, and Revenue Materials Public Link: http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62766/Order196.pdf 
• Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman Dan G. Blair underscored the need for further cost reduction measures by the Postal Service at yesterday's today before the House subcommittee which oversees the Postal Service. Blair told Subcommittee Chairman Stephen F. Lynch and subcommittee members, “Today, the Postal Service is facing dire financial difficulties that are likely to worsen before they improve. The current economic crisis has substantially impacted Postal Service volumes and revenues.”

The Associated Press has published a report on yesterday's postal oversight hearing. See also GovExec.com.

The Mailers Technical Advisory Committee has formed a work group designed to "Facilitate mail volume growth by identifying regulations or requirements that add no postal and/or customer value hence hindering mail growth and proposing modifications or elimination of those barriers as practical." It hopes for outcomes such as: 1.      Allow for greater flexibility in such things as mailpiece shape, graphics, postage payment and permit formats. 2. Allow marketers more creative options for producing direct mail pieces that stand out in the mailbox, increase response rates and can be processed efficiently. 3. Reduce the barriers to entry and costs of preparing mailings by simplifying or eliminating obsolete or restrictive make up and entry rules that add no postal or customer value. 4. Consider new rate categories for mailers who may value creative flexibility and ease of preparation over the lowest postage rates. 5. Remove barriers that may discourage the use of mail as an advertising channel for new business." Anyone interested in participating should contact: Wande Senne, Workgroup Leader.

March 25, 2009

On the Postal Regulatory Commission web site:

Rule: Daily listing
MC2005-2 Docket No. MC2005-2, Data Collection Report for HSBC NSA, Jan. 2008 - Dec. 2008
Link: http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62763/HSBC.EOY.Report.08.Complete.pdf
http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62763/HSBC.EOY.08.Appendix.xls

Testimony of Chairman Dan G. Blair on "Restoring the Financial Stability of the U.S. Postal Service: What Needs to be Done?" before the House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia
Link: http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62764/House%20Hearing%20March%202009%20th.pdf

From today's postal oversight hearing in the House: Documents and Links

•  Chairman Lynch's Statement (9 KB)
•  Rep. John McHugh Statement (103 KB)
•  Testimony of Carolyn Gallagher (225 KB)
•  Testimony of Charles W. Mapa (41 KB)
•  Testimony of Dale Goff (42 KB)
•  Testimony of Dan Blair (52 KB)
•  Testimony of David C. Williams (108 KB)
•  Testimony of Don Cantriel (34 KB)
•  Testimony of John F. Hegarty (1 MB)
•  Testimony of John Potter (525 KB)
•  Testimony of Phillip Herr (467 KB)
•  Testimony of Ted Keating (76 KB

The PMG got the expected questions regarding his compensation and his Countrywide home loan, but the real meat of the congressional questions had to do with the Postal Service's financial plight and its operational realities. The PMG told Congress that the key is mail volume. The USPS needs to grow mail volume, but there needs to be an understanding that not all the mail will come back. The most critical thing the USPS faces is that it will run out of money. The question then becomes who doesn't get paid. The structural aspects of the business need to be explored and rectified. He said he believed the USPS could be a self-sustaining enterprise for years to come, but not under the present business model. See also the USPS Press Release  on today's hearing and an accompanying "Fact Sheet."

Hellmail has reported that:

• The UK postal regulator, Postcomm, today announced that it has begun an investigation into the way Royal Mail prices access and retail packets services for business users. The Mail Competition Forum and TNT Post Group complained to Postcomm, in January and May 2008 that Royal Mail was creating a margin squeeze for some 2nd class packets services. Postcomm is to examine the margin allowed between the retail and access prices between 0-2kgs, whether it is sufficient for other operators to be able to access Royal Mail’s wholesale network profitably, and whether they are able to compete in the retail market. It will also look at the allegedly unfair differential pricing structures which exist between some Royal Mail retail and wholesale packets services.
• Belgian postal operator La Poste says it is committed to limiting to the maximum the impact of its activities on the environment. The company has announced its objectives aimed at reducing its emissions of CO2 by 35% before 2012. Already on track to improve its carbon footprint it anticipates a decrease in consumption of energy over the 2005-2012 period of at least 7.5%. In addition, La Poste has decided to only use recycled paper or paper from managed forests.
• Turnover at Swiss Post International was slightly lower in 2008 compared with 2007 as a result of exchange rates. Overall, turnover came to EUR 652 m, which was EUR 45 m less than in 2007. By contrast, profit at Swiss Post International went up by EUR 2 m to EUR 23 m (2007: EUR 21 m). 

The Future of Freedom Foundation wants to know: "The U.S. Postal Service has announced that another in its endless series of rate increases will take effect in May. The announcement raises a question that unfortunately too few Americans ever ask themselves: Why not simply abolish the Postal Service or at least repeal its monopoly on first-class mail delivery? The Postal Service says that its monopoly is necessary because without it, it claims, people in the mountains would be unable to get their mail. The rationale is spurious, however. After all, people in the mountains get their milk, bread, and other essential items without monopoly privileges being granted in those enterprises. Similarly, people in the mountains would figure out how to get their mail delivered as well. The U.S. Postal Service’s monopoly is an anachronism, one that not only provides a shoddy, expensive product but also one that violates America’s heritage of economic liberty. America’s postal monopoly deserves immediate repeal."

According to The Nation, "Communities across America are suffering through a crisis that could leave a dramatically diminished version of democracy in its wake. It is not the economic meltdown, although the crisis is related to the broader day of reckoning that appears to have arrived. The crisis of which we speak involves more than mere economics. Journalism is collapsing, and with it comes the most serious threat in our lifetimes to self-government and the rule of law as it has been understood here in the United States. After years of neglecting signs of trouble, elite opinion-makers have begun in recent months to recognize that things have gone horribly awry. Journals ranging from Time, The New Yorker, The Atlantic and The New Republic to the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times concur on the diagnosis: newspapers, as we have known them, are disintegrating and are possibly on the verge of extinction. In a nutshell, media corporations, after running journalism into the ground, have determined that news gathering and reporting are not profit-making propositions. So they're jumping ship."

PostCom has learned that postal staff at headquarters have been told it would be a good idea if they "spiffed up" their resumes. An ax could fall on more than a few heads.

"The United States Postal Service is planning to cut thousands of management jobs in the face of a $6 billion budget deficit. The agency will also offer early retirement to 150,000 workers and close six district offices. William Young, president of The National Association of Letter Carriers, tells FederalNewsRadio that USPS employees are just the latest victims of the economic crisis. "Nothing we did, nothing the postal service did and nothing the postal industry did caused this crisis," he says. "We're a victim just like everybody else in the country right now, and we're just doing the best we can to see this thing through."

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

Johnny Thijs, CEO of Belgium’s La Poste, presented some good business results for his company at a press conference last Thursday. 2008 saw a 2.2% increase in turnover (2.26bn euros) as well as a net profit growth of 53% to 179m euros for La Poste. "We were able to reestablish the financial equilibrium again after heavy losses in 2002 and 2003. Although this situation remains fragile, the positive profitability trend enhances the position and prospect of La Poste", Mr Thijs optimistically declared.
The Russian post intends to increase its turnover by almost 5% this year and - more importantly - remain in the black. In an interview with Russian businessoriented newspaper »Kommersant« (19.03) the post’s new general director Alexander Kiselyov stated this aim as well as the ambition to "turn the post into one of Russia’s most profitable state-owned companies". When it comes to modernising the post, emphasis must be on developing the postal infrastructure, setting up an aircraft fleet, developing express services and using "aggressive marketing", said Mr Kiselyov.
The U.S. Postal Service has announced another round of cost cutting measures in a bid to get out of the red.
France’s La Poste confirmed the takeover of the Romanian Hit Mail this Monday. The purchase was made through the subsidiary company MediaPost. Hit Mail consists of 5 companies with 550 employees, and generated a turnover of 7.8m euros last year. The company specialises in advertising mail in Romania.
Posten på Åland enjoyed a successful financial year in 2008.
Still in dire financial straits, Latvijas Pasts now demands that business customers make a monthly advance payment for mail deliveries.
Last year Liechtensteinische Post AG crossed the 50m CHF - 32.7m euros - turnover threshold for the first time.
Australia Post wants to make its international "Click and send" mail service popular among smaller enterprises. The service allows customers to prepare the documentation required for their international consignments online and then click to choose the dispatch mode (collection by the post or drop-off at the post office) and payment method.
Representatives of the Finnish and Norwegian post companies have voiced criticism over the planned merger between Post Danmark and Sweden’s Posten AB.
Posten Norge could be ordered to pay a fine of several million euros as well as making compensation payments for breaching competition laws.
The global economic situation has affected FedEx much more deeply than expected.
UPS is currently negotiating with Slovenian Intereuropa regarding the purchase of the logistics operator’s international parcel division.
GeoPost, the parcel express subsidiary company of the French La Poste, managed to increase its turnover - primarily through acquisitions - by 7.1 per cent to almost 3.3bn euros in 2008.
ABX Air and DHL have reached a settlement in their dispute concerning an alleged breach of contract.
As part of a global campaign by governments against price fixing in the air cargo industry, Japanese carriers have now been asked to pay up. Japan’s competition authority has found 12 leading carriers guilty of forming a cartel with the aim of raising air cargo prices.
TNT has announced an intensive cooperation with the Mexican CEP service Redpack.
Online shopping is popular in Finland, too.
DHL Supply Chain in Spain is offering buildings worth 15m euros for sale in order to absorb the decline in logistics activities.
The Eerste Kamer of the Dutch Parliament approved the new Postal Act this Tuesday. This means that the postal market in the Netherlands can be opened up completely on 1 April 2009.
Poste Italiane turned over more and earned more money in 2008.
Despite a decline in business triggered by the financial crisis, the South African post will still show a profit for last year.
The Greek post ELTA has put the third of its new, more modern mail centres into operation in Patras.
During the presentation of the annual results, Johnny Thijs, CEO of the Belgian La Poste, confirmed his interest in a stake in Tachimetafores ELTA, the express subsidiary company of the Greek post ELTA.
The introduction of a new air connection by China Post has accelerated postal communication.
Lufthansa Cargo is expecting business to weaken considerably during 2009 due to the economic crisis.
TNT Post is set to open at least 150 post shops in the Albert Heijn chain of supermarkets in the Netherlands in the next few years.
In Sverdlovsk an investigation is underway into an incident involving the Russian post and the WEFK-Ural bank. At the beginning of the year, the sum of 1bn RUB (21m euros) vanished from an account at the post’s Sverdlovsk branch. The money had been earmarked for pensions. Investigating a case of serious fraud, the public prosecution stated that the pension fund had sent the amount via the WEFK-Ural bank to the Russian post, where it vanished without a trace. The prosecutors further stated that the bank had experienced financial difficulties for some time and had filed for bankruptcy in February this year.

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.)

Welcome to PostCom Radio PostCom Postal Podcast Join PostCom President Gene Del Polito, PostCom Vice President Jessica Lowrance, and USPS Senior Vice President of Operations William Galligan in a discussion of  the Postal Service's plans to reorganize its mail processing and distribution network.

Politics.co.uk has reported that "in a question to Pat McFadden, Minister of State for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs, James expressed concern about Clause 20 of the Postal Services Bill, which would allow the Government to take both Royal Mail’s assets and deficits onto the same balance sheet.The most recent estimates put the Royal Mail pension deficit at £5.9 billion. By assuming liability for the pension scheme the Government is pledging to remove the deficit, through an injection of public money. The scheme also has £23.5 billion in assets, James is therefore concerned, that should these two funds be merged and spent in the same year, the public will have to bail out the full pension scheme of nearly £30 billion.

From USPS LiteBlue: "The Postal Service recently received approval from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to offer voluntary early retirement to eligible employees nationwide. Automation and technological advances coupled with mail volume reductions has the Postal Service continuing to look for ways to voluntarily reduce its workforce while maintaining excellent customer service. This offer is open to employees in those positions who meet the OPM conditions, and who are at least 50 years of age with 20 years of creditable federal service or any age with 25 years of creditable federal service."

The Tallahassee Democrat has reported that "A caldron of frustration is brewing in the Oak Ridge community. After nearly six months' worth of phone calls and complaints to the U.S. Postal Service, residents are still having trouble securing their mail. "It's ridiculous," Sheila Clayton said. "Mail is misdirected regularly, and it's getting out of hand." Clayton, 54, is one of several residents in the area who say that their mail has not been delivered or has gone missing."

Tax-exempt status for newspapers? Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, the provision that confers tax-exempt status to educational and religious groups, would be expanded to newspapers under legislation introduced by Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin to stem the newspaper publishing industry's march to financial failure. [EdNote: Great....Now let's see what Congress will do for its postal system.]

The March 25, 2009 issue of the National Association of Postal Supervisors (NAPS) Legislative & Regulatory Update has been posted on this site. Topics: (1) USPS to Face Tough Questions from Congress; (2) NAPS Leaders Prepare to Take the Hill.  

According to Hellmail:

• The Poste Italiane Group, led by Massimo Sarmi, announced a positive operating performance for the seventh consecutive FY, recording Net Profit of € 882.6 million, up 4.6% (€ 843.6 million in 2007), and Operating Profit of € 1.5 billion (1.78 in 2007). Total Revenue of € 17.9 billion, up 3.9%: in particular, results for the FY showed financial and insurance services holding up well (+ 2% and +7.7% respectively), with a small drop of 0.8% in correspondence.
• Swiss Post will be lowering some of its letter prices and simplifying its range as of 1 July 2009. This was the agreement reached between Swiss Post and the price supervisor. The agreement includes price advantages of around 200 million Swiss francs per year. Consumers and the economy will benefit as a result. The main measures involve making all letters subject to VAT and thus introducing a comprehensive price reduction for most business customers.

From PR Newswire: "Thanks to ChildFund Sweden (Barnfonden) and Posten (the Swedish postal service) children are able to connect with one another through the program, Post Pals. Post Pals is a classroom-based pen pal program that matches classrooms in Sweden with children in Christian Children's Fund-supported classes in The Gambia, Ethiopia, India, Philippines, Uganda and Zambia. But going beyond mere letter writing, the program also encourages the cultural exchange and enhancement of classrooms for children ages 8-12 through curriculum-based assignments. From an academic program perspective, Post Pals improves reading, writing, analytical and self-expression skills. Because it's integrated into the classroom, it infuses excitement and creativity with learning. But for these children, Post Pals allows the chance for expression; the chance to share their own voice and perspective in exciting new ways. The joy they find in art, writing, photography and song now holds even more meaning. Not only are they learning, they are becoming increasingly confident." [EdNote: OMG U hv 2 rt? BumR]

According to the PostalNews Blog, "Figures released by the US Postal Service show that the organization spent $78.4 million on relocating employees in the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2008. Of that, almost half, or $37.9 million went to “Residence Purchase and/or Sale/Lease”. The USPS home purchase program for relocated employees has been a subject of controversy since it was revealed that the USPS had spent $1.2 million to purchase the home of a South Carolina postmaster who had taken a voluntary lateral transfer to a position in Texas. Just under $15 million of the home purchase funds money went to Headquarters and Area staff, which account for less than four thousand of the postal service’s 632,000 career employees. A similar amount went to postmasters and supervisors, who make up a much larger share, about 54,000 employees, of the workforce. Employees of the Inspection Service and the Office of the Inspector General, about 3,900 total staff. got $3.4 million in home purchase benefits, down from almost $7 million the prior year. Home purchase benefits for clerks, carriers and mail handlers came to just over three hundred thousand dollars."

U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, today sent a letter to John E. Potter, the Postmaster General of the United States, urging him to consider the impact on small businesses of reducing the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) delivery week from six days to five. Snowe cited the potential negative consequences such an action could have on America’s roughly 27.2 million small businesses.

Federal News Radio has posted on its site an interview with USPS Deputy Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.

The Daily Mail has reported that "The Government will not support any further post office closures programme, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said today. He told peers: 'The closures of the past year were difficult but they were necessary. 'And I can say this afternoon to noble Lords that the Government have no intention of supporting any further programme of post office closures.'"

The Journal of Commerce has reported that "FedEx is holding billions of dollars worth of business – and jobs – over the heads of Congress and the Obama administration by conditioning future aircraft purchases on keeping its parcel drivers away from the National Labor Relations Act. The express carrier notes in its March 22 quarterly earnings report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that an option exercised in January to purchase 30 Boeing 777 aircraft is contingent on “there being no event that causes FedEx Express or its employees not to be covered by the Railway Labor Act.” FedEx also holds an option to purchase another fifteen 777s from Boeing. The condition puts pressure on lawmakers to withdraw language currently in the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill requiring FedEx Express workers to be covered under the more union-friendly National Labor Relations Act."

March 24, 2009

On the Postal Regulatory Commission web site:

• Rule: Daily listing.  Quarterly Statistics Report, Quarter 1, FY 2009
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62759/QSRquarter1FY2009.pdf; http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62759/Letter-QSR-Q-1-FY-2009.pdf
• Rule: Daily listing
  RM2008-3 Order No. 195 - Order Establishing Rules for Complaints and Rate or Service Inquiries
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62762/Order195.pdf
•  United States Postal Service Annual Report, 2008
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62761/Letter-USPS-Annual-Report-2008.pdf
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62761/annual_report-2008.pdf
  

DMM Advisory:  May 11 Pricing Change — New Postage Statements. The USPS has posted new postage statements on its forms page on the USPS web site (usps.com/forms) to support the May 11 pricing change.

Deutsche Post DHL has said that it "welcomes the announcement by the Dutch government to fully open up the Dutch mail market on 1 April 2009. Deutsche Post DHL has been operating in the Dutch mail market for a number of years through its subsidiaries DHL Global Mail and Selekt Mail and is one of the leading mail service providers operating there today."

As Hellmail has noted, "With the government about to take on the Royal Mail pension deficit as part of its Postal Reforms bill, the reality that public sector pension schemes are becoming too costly, is starting to hit home. Just how long can the country cover the cost of public-sector pension schemes?"

Yahoo! has noted that "On March 19, 2009, United Parcel Service, Inc. entered into an agreement with Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. and J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. to sell and the Underwriters agreed to purchase from UPS, subject to and upon the terms and conditions set forth in the Underwriting Agreement, $1,000,000,000 aggregate principal amount of 3.875% Senior Notes due April 1, 2014, and $1,000,000,000 aggregate principal amount of 5.125% Senior Notes due April 1, 2019 (the "Transaction"). The Company is filing this Current Report on Form 8-K so as to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission certain items related to the Transaction."

According to Dow Jones, "Banque Postale said Tuesday its net profit for the full year of 2008 dropped 44% to EUR302.6 million from EUR539.6 million a year earlier." [EdNote: So much for banking being the savior of posts and universal service.]

The Financial has reported that "The Siemens Mobility Division is to supply as many as 97 OMS-type flats sorting machines to Deutsche Post AG (DPAG). What makes this Open Mail System (OMS) machine unique throughout the world is its extreme speed.   The new generation of sorting machines is the first that is capable of handling up to 50,000 flats per hour. The order calls for delivery to begin in 2010 and to end by 2012."

Hellmail has reported that "In more recent years, the gradual decline in mail volume in the UK has seen Royal Mail postal delivery walks extended as others are absorbed. With that has come a wave of post office closures making mail storage for these walks often difficult. Lockable mail containers generally require planning permission and as a consequence, both press and TV have picked up on what seems to be a rise in unsecure mail sacks left behind bushes or bins. To combat the problem and also enable postal workers to stay out longer on deliveries, the Royal Mail is rolling out a scheme whereby two postal workers share a vam. It means that the mail is far more secure and presumably gets delivery workers to their walks quicker."

The latest blog entry has been posted on the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General’s Internet site “Pushing the Envelope.” The public, mailers, postal employees, and other stakeholders are invited to weigh in on the online discussions taking place.  To view the site, visit http://blog.uspsoig.gov/.    City Delivery Route Consolidation.  Due to mail volume drops, the Postal Service plans to consolidate more than 87,000 city delivery routes — which could affect as many as 50 million addresses nationwide.  Consolidating routes means some customers will receive their mail at different times — earlier or later in the day.  It also means customers could have a different letter carrier who will have to become familiar with a new delivery route.  Do you think consolidating city delivery routes will have a positive effect on the Postal Service’s bottom line?  Why or why not?  Will it be difficult for carriers — particularly those who walk their routes — to spend more time on the street?   You can visit Office of Inspector General’s public website at:  www.uspsoig.gov.  If you have additional questions, please contact Communication and Work Life Director Agapi Doulaveris at 703.248.2322.

In a postal perspective prepared for the PostCom Bulletin, PostCom Vice President Jessica Lowrance and PostCom President Gene Del Polito note that "The Postal Service is not without hope, and there are some initiatives underway that would make Congress' forebearance a reasonable policy and investment risk. Granting the Postal Service--and it's customers--the breathing room that's needed to actualize these key changes is essential. In fact, it not only would make good policy, it would make good business."

[Ed Note: The Postal Service does not like the CPI cap on its annual price changes. For December 2008, the CPI figured out to be 3.8%. For February, it figured out to be 3.2%. It should be grateful for small favors. Of course, a 0.5% difference to postage-paying mailers is anything but small.]

From the Postal Regulatory Commission:

• Docket No. RM2009–3: Notice of proposed rulemaking. SUMMARY: The Commission announces a new proceeding to address workshare discount methodologies in First-Class Mail and Standard Mail. The proceeding will allow certain issues raised in Docket No. R2009–2 to be fully addressed. DATES: Comments due May 26, 2009. ADDRESSES: Submit comments electronically via the Commission’s Filing Online system at http://www.prc.gov.
• Docket Nos. MC2009–21 and CP2009–26: The Commission is noticing a recently-filed Postal Service request to add Priority Mail Contract Mail 5 to the Competitive Product List. The Postal Service has also filed a related contract. This notice addresses procedural steps associated with these filings. DATES: Comments are due March 25, 2009. ADDRESSES: Submit comments electronically via the Commission’s Filing Online system at http://www.prc.gov.

The Press & Journal has reported that "Solidarity leader Tommy Sheridan stopped just short of calling for a general strike yesterday in a rallying call for action to fend off the privatisation of Royal Mail. Speaking on a walkabout in Inverness, the politician called for a “summit of action” to unite all public service unions in support of the Communication Workers Union (CWU)."

According to one SFWeekly Blog, "San Francisco's City Operations & Neighborhood Services Committee yesterday approved of a proposed "Do Not Mail" registry. Jim Wigdell is the regional spokesman for the United States Postal Service. Naturally, they oppose this measure -- but, Wigdell claims, not just because it would cause the USPS to shift from losing money profusely to whatever is more than profusely. It's about all the folks who depend on this industry. The full Board of Supes will vote on this possible measure on March 31."

The Washington Post has noted that "The news is that the U.S. Postal Service wants to cut its huge losses by letting 150,000 employees -- that's more than the population of Hampton, Va. -- take early retirement. The sideshow is the the postmaster general's compensation package. Both will be on the agenda tomorrow as Congress looks at the declining fortunes of the post office and the increasing compensation of its boss. The Postal Service says it is trying to save $100 million annually through a series of measures that include closing offices and eliminating positions. The cuts are needed because the nation's financial health is in the dumps and mail volume has sunk along with it. A big factor is the money the Postal Service must pay for future retiree health benefits. Without that, the service would have had a net income of $1.6 billion in fiscal 2007 instead of a $5.1 billion loss "

Hellmail has reported that "Slovenian Post has launched a new service called "your email", which allows subscribers to choose those areas which interest them most in terms of services and offers and, as far as we can ascertain, aims to streamline direct marketing so that both providers and customers are more evenly matched. The new service can deliver material to subscribers in the format they choose including email, SMS and MMS but it hopes that more concise data will ensure more targetted distribution for marketeers and more useful and relevant services for customers."

From the Federal Register:
 

Postal Regulatory Commission
PROPOSED RULES
Postal Rates ,
12295–12296 [E9–6197]	[TEXT]  [PDF]
NOTICES
New Competitive Postal Product ,
12406–12407 [E9–6419]	[TEXT]  [PDF]

March 23, 2009

Logistics Management has reported that "Kewill, a provider of logistics and global trade software, and returns management services and technology provider Newgistics, recently announced they have formed a partnership that will allow Newgistics’ customers to leverage Kewill’s technology to drive down costs and augment shipping processes."

RTE Business has reported that "A new report shows that 79% of post was delivered within one working day throughout the state in 2008. The Commission for Communications Regulation's sixth annual report on the quality of service performance of An Post says this is a modest 2% improvement on the service quality performance the previous year. However, ComReg adds that it still remains significantly below the 94% target set for An Post."

Forbes has reported that "Riot police have forced dozens of postal workers out of the French Finance Ministry where they were demanding more pay and no job cuts."

On Wednesday, March 25, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building, the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia will hold a hearing entitled, “Restoring the Financial Stability of the U.S. Postal Service: What Needs to be Done?” The Subcommittee will examine how the nationwide economic downturn, coupled with technological trends, has produced declining volumes and revenues for the United States Postal Service.  The Postal Service’s recent decision to close six of its 80 district offices, eliminate positions across the country and offer another early retirement opportunity makes the Subcommittee’s hearing very timely. The hearing aims to generate effective short and long term strategies to reduce costs and improve efficiency at the Postal Service. In addition, the Subcommittee will question the Board of Governors on Postal executives’ compensation packages. Witnesses’ testimonies, the Chairman’s opening statement and a 10 a.m. live broadcast of the hearing can be found on the Subcommittee’s website, federalworkforce.oversight.house.gov

The Journal of Commerce has reported that "The economies of thirty nations are expected to shrink in 2009, according the head of an international group focused on sustainable economic growth. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development expects growth in the 30-nation OECD area to be 'very negative' in 2009, its secretary-general, Angel Gurria, said March 20."

As Time has reported, "A recent Pew study found that fewer than half of Americans say that losing their local paper would hurt their civic life "a lot" and even fewer say they would miss reading it, partly, it seems, because they get their local news from other media, mostly TV. But since papers are the primary source for most other news outlets, a major link will be missing from the news ecosystem. If a paper does not cover a story, it is unlikely to be covered in the broadcast media, whose reporting staffs tend to be even smaller." [EdNote: Incidentally, that applies equally to the news reported on this site.]

Butler Mailing Service President Todd Butler wants to know: "Mail Piece Redesign: Is the goal to reduce processing costs or mandate the use of envelopes?"

Sindh Today has reported that "A postal service cargo, worth tens of thousands of rupees was hijacked by suspected militants of the Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) recently. The RPF is believed to be an armed wing of the proscribed Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA)."

First Post has a briefing on what's going on with Royal Mail.

Fuel Cell Today has reported that "Royal Mail, the postal operating authority for the United Kingdom is working with CENEX, PostEurop, the association of European public postal operators, and FuelCellEurope, the European association of fuel cell developers to develop a universal design specification for hydrogen fuel cell postal vans."

The Financial Times has reported that "Pressure is mounting on Brussels to open a full probe into a proposed €3bn merger of the Swedish and Danish postal services in the next few days because of implications for postal market liberalisation across the 27-country European Union bloc. The deal is the first big postal merger to be announced since EU lawmakers passed legislation requiring countries to open their postal markets, and get rid of remaining state monopolies, by 2011."

According to Wales Online, "the postbus is about to reach the end of the road in the county where it was pioneered. For more than 40 years, postbuses, which carry passengers alongside mail, have provided a travel lifeline for remote British communities. But many routes have been abandoned in Royal Mail efficiency drives, and Wales’ last three postbuses are due to end over the next few weeks."

Postalnews Blog has reported that "Figures released by the US Postal Service show that the organization spent $78.4 million on relocating employees in the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2008. Of that, almost half, or $37.9 million went to “Residence Purchase and/or Sale/Lease”. The USPS home purchase program for relocated employees has been a subject of controversy since it was revealed that the USPS had spent $1.2 million to purchase the home of a South Carolina postmaster who had taken a voluntary lateral transfer to a position in Texas. Just under $15 million of the home purchase funds money went to Headquarters and Area staff, which account for less than four thousand of the postal service’s 632,000 career employees. A similar amount went to postmasters and supervisors, who make up a much larger share, about 54,000 employees, of the workforce. Employees of the Inspection Service and the Office of the Inspector General, about 3,900 total staff. got $3.4 million in home purchase benefits, down from almost $7 million the prior year. Home purchase benefits for clerks, carriers and mail handlers came to just over three hundred thousand dollars."

Hellmail has reported that "Johnny Thijs, CEO of the Belgian Post office said that modernization of its structure and working methods was essential if it was to be prepared for future competition when full liberalization of market begins in 2011. His comments followed protests by Belgian postal workers earlier this month, unhappy about post office closures and what they say has been a systematic downgrading of jobs and large profits made by stakeholders in the service."

The New York Times has reported that "Responding to the financial crisis, American companies sharply reduced their spending on direct-mail marketing last year, according to the Winterberry Group, a marketing consultancy. Winterberry said this was the first such decline in more than 60 years of record-keeping. The company arrived at the figures by surveying 305 companies in the direct-mail industry. The cuts represented at least nine billion pieces of mail, according to Winterberry’s analysis of Postal Service reports. Not surprisingly, credit card and mortgage service solicitations dropped the most sharply, falling 21.8 percent and 38.8 percent in volume respectively, according to Mintel Comperemedia, a direct-mail tracking firm. Winterberry said the cuts were caused primarily by the financial crisis, but also by rising postal, paper and labor costs, which have pushed marketers toward online solicitations. Winterberry said 45 percent of the marketers in its survey were switching to cheaper paper and raw materials to cut costs."

Radio New Zealand has reported that "Snail mail is set to become even slower with New Zealand Post deciding it will no longer collect mail from street boxes on a weekend. The company will cut its collection days from six days a week to five days a week from mid April. New Zealand Post says there has been a significant drop in the amount of mail posted in street boxes on a weekend, and 95% of mail is sent on weekdays."

Wanna know who's making what over at the Postal Service? All you need to do is enter the pertinent information at the following URL: http://php.courierpostonline.com/data_public/datauniverse/usps/

March 22, 2009

Check out the National Association of Postal Supervisors Legislative Issues Brief.

The Long Beach Press-Telegram has reported that "Long Beach 5th District City Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske will request that the city attorney draft a resolution to oppose the shutting down of the United States Postal Service facility on Redondo Avenue. The USPS is conducting a study to determine if it should move some of the operations from the Redondo Avenue center to centers in Los Angeles and Santa Ana. "We do not want the Redondo (Avenue) facility closed or relocated," Schipske said." [EdNote: Fine. Now send Long Beach the bill to pay to keep Redondo Avenue open.]

March 21, 2009

Weekend Related Media Roundup

• According to Bloomberg, "Newspaper publishers may face more bankruptcies this year as advertising revenue plunges, according to an analyst for Standard & Poor’s."
• Reuters has reported that "U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Wednesday preserving a healthy newspaper industry was important and he was open to adjusting antitrust policy if it could help.
• According to Fortune, "The government's stimulus plan won't work as planned if we don't get consumers spending again. But in the nearly $800 billion package, there is one thing missing that would surely help accomplish this: advertising. To get people spending again, and the economy moving, the government needs to provide help for businesses in America to advertise their products and services. There's a reason that America is the largest consumer market in the world: It also happens to be the largest advertising market in the world. Advertising works -- and it has been proven again and again for over a century. It's a mistake to think of advertising merely as a cost -- it's an investment, and like all investments it can have a wide-reaching impact. Incentives for advertising need to be an important component of any plan to stimulate our economy."
• The Wall Street Journal has reported that "Donald Fries, publisher of Time magazine, is stepping down from his post at a crossroads for the Time Inc. title. Mark Ford, president of Time Inc.'s newsmagazine group, which includes Time, Fortune and Sports Illustrated, will take over ad sales for Time magazine as it faces a challenging ad market and as its rival Newsweek, a Washington Post Co. magazine, is undergoing a reorganization and redesign. Many at Time see that as an opportunity to gain a stronger competitive position."
• WWDMedia has reported that "Charla Lawhon, longtime managing editor of In Style, is leaving the magazine after a 15-year run. She will stay at the Time Inc. title until mid-April, after which she plans to join an online startup that will marry fashion, beauty and celebrity."
• The Wall Street Journal has reported that "WPP and Google are going back to school. The ad holding company and the Internet giant have teamed up to fund research on how ads in traditional and digital media work together to influence consumer choices."
• Media Life has reported that "President Barack Obama continues to have a high approval rating among Americans, including media planners and buyers, but those same planners and buyers are increasingly pessimistic about just how much good his stimulus plan will do for the media economy. Respondents also report that clients are increasingly nervous. Readers were asked: How are your clients reacting to the new president's recovery plans, the ongoing mess in the banking industry, and the sinking economy? The largest share, 41 percent, agreed with this statement: "Not well at all." They're calling a halt to a lot of spending. And what will be the biggest change to media with a prolonged ad recession? Readers could choose more than one answer. The largest share of respondents, 64 percent, chose this answer: "The slowdown will accelerate the ongoing move from traditional media to lower-cost, lower-out-of-pocket, more accountable media." Just 15 percent saw little change, agreeing with this statement: "Change will be minimal. Once recovery comes, advertisers will revert to their old habits, buying the media they were most comfortable with before the slowdown."
• Media Life has reported that "Just in the past month, two major newspapers, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Rocky Mountain News, have shut down, and another, the San Francisco Chronicle, could soon follow. Community papers across the country are suffering, resorting to layoffs and web-only publishing to cut costs and stay afloat. Yet outside the media community, it seems few people really care. That’s according to a study released last week by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, which finds that 42 percent of those polled would not miss their local paper if it shut down, and only 33 percent would miss it “a lot.” 
• Audience Development has reported that "A recent National Trade Circulation Foundation, Inc. (NTCFI) luncheon entitled “Drill Down and Discover More Tips to Succeed” offered attendees some food for thought regarding direct mail, e-marketing, telemarketing and other important topics."
• The E-Paper Reporter has noted that "the New York Times reports it has "more than 10,000 paid subscribers" to an electronic edition of the newspaper on Amazon's Kindle ebook reader. That's the first time a major newspaper has released numbers on how it's doing on Kindle - a platform lots of newspaper execs are eager to see turn into a saving grace for their industry." 
• According to journalist Albert Hunt writing for Bloomberg, "The fate of the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and other American newspapers, much less important economically, may more profoundly affect the destiny of the U.S."

Express Buzz has reported that "With the global meltdown, people fearing to invest in private sectors are going in for postal savings. Statistics reveal that the number of new savings accounts in post offices have increased considerably."

Voice of Nigeria has reported that "The Postmaster-General of Nigeria, Malam Ibrahim Mori Baba, has been elected the Chairman of the Strategic Board of Pan-African Postal Union (PAPU)."

NewsItem has reported that "Address changes have caused numerous headaches and frustration for some residents of this Northumberland County village. They want to know “who dropped the ball,” and when will the issues, which began in the beginning of the year, be resolved."

Here is the Associated Press' report of the Postal Service's cost-cutting efforts. Reports similar to this have appeared in many papers across the nation. All summarize or report on the announcement from the Postal Service noted below.

"U.S. Senators Judd Gregg and Jeanne Shaheen, and Representatives Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes today joined together in urging the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to reconsider its decision to close the New Hampshire and Vermont Postal District Office.  The USPS announced this afternoon that it intends to shut down the NH/VT District Office in Manchester, NH, and relocate its operations to Maine."

The Staten Island Advance has reported that "Making a direct appeal to the U.S. postmaster general to continue to process outgoing Staten Island mail at the Manor Road Post Office, Sen. Charles Schumer said today it would be "unacceptable" to do otherwise, even as a cost-cutting measure. In a letter to Postmaster General John E. Potter, Schumer noted that not only could it result in the transfer of 300 employees who now work at the Castleton Corners facility to Brooklyn or Queens, but it would mean the end of the Staten Island postmark if the borough's mail is processed elsewhere. "It is unacceptable that the United States Post Office is even considering shutting down the outgoing mail facility at the Manor Road Post Office," said Schumer. "... During this economic crisis, transferring these workers to Brooklyn or Queens would cost them time, transportation costs and could damage the quality of [mail] delivery for Staten Island." [EdNote: Oh? And what about the cost to the nation's postal system and all postal users? Having the Postal Service go Chapter 11 for the sake of Staten Island is "unacceptable" too. Who's going to pick up the costs associated with maintaining a redundant postal facility? Staten Island? Or everyone else? Let the politicking stop here.]

Information Age has reported that "Digitising incoming correspondence and storing it electronically for archival, compliance and customer service purposes has long been a burden at most large companies. In many cases they outsource the document management side of that a third party such as EDS or Xerox. So there is nothing too innovative about the decision of Zurich Financial Services Group to outsource its document management to Swiss Post, especially when standardised input process across multinational boundaries create globally searchable and accessible documents. But it is the sheer scale of the Zurich-Swiss Post contract that makes it noteworthy. The Swiss Post brief involved replacing the bank’s inhouse process with a cross-border operation covering six countries – the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Austria – and processing around 146 million documents annually, a mammoth task involving opening 240,000 items of physical mail a day and digitising 150,000 documents a day."

POSTAL SERVICE BOARD OF GOVERNORS Sunshine Act. Meeting Times and Dates: 6 p.m., Monday, March 30, 2009; 10 a.m., Tuesday, March 31, 2009; and 9:45 a.m., Wednesday, April 1, 2009. Place: Potomac, Maryland, at the Bolger Center for Leadership Development. Status: Closed. Matters to be Considered: Monday, March 30 at 6 p.m. (Closed) 1. Financial Matters. 2. Strategic Issues. 3. Pricing. 4. Personnel Matters and Compensation Issues. 5. Governors' Executive Session--Discussion of prior agenda items and Board Governance. Tuesday, March 31 at 10 a.m. (Closed) Continuation of Monday's agenda. Wednesday, April 1 at 9:45 a.m. (Closed) Continuation of Monday's agenda. Contact Person for More Information: Julie S. Moore, Secretary of the Board, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L'Enfant Plaza, SW., Washington, DC 20260-1000. Telephone (202) 268-4800.

According to The Nation, "Communities across America are suffering through a crisis that could leave a dramatically diminished version of democracy in its wake. It is not the economic meltdown, although the crisis is related to the broader day of reckoning that appears to have arrived. The crisis of which we speak involves more than mere economics. Journalism is collapsing, and with it comes the most serious threat in our lifetimes to self-government and the rule of law as it has been understood here in the United States."

Docket No. RM2008-1. The Postal Regulatory Commission has issued a second notice of proposed rulemaking to implement procedures governing the degree of confidentiality to accord information filed by the Postal Service and third parties with the Commission.  The proposed rules, issued pursuant to section 504(g) of title 39, prescribe the tests the Commission will employ to determine whether information filed under seal by the Postal Service and third parties with the Commission will retain its non-public (confidential) status or be subject to disclosure to the public.  In addition, the proposed rules set forth the test the Commission will apply to permit access to non-public materials.  Initial comments on the proposed rule are due 30 days after publication of the Order in the Federal Digest.

March 20, 2009

 The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:

• The Postal Service has announced it will close six of its 80 district offices. USPS is also eliminating positions across the country and offering another round of voluntary early retirements. These actions are expected to save the Postal Service more than $100 million annually.
• In an order filed March 16, 2009, the Postal Regulatory Commission gave the green light to implementing new prices proposed by the Postal Service to take effect May 11, 2009, except for Confirm service prices. PRC Commissioner Ruth Goldway dissented and objected to the Commission’s unwillingness to reject the Postal Service’s proposals, at least as they pertained to single-piece and workshared First-Class Mail. The PRC also established a rulemaking to consider workshare rate design methodologies.
• PostCom is clarifying information published in last week’s PostCom Bulletin 12-09 concerning the postage assessment for Package Services flats that do not comply with the new address requirements that take effect March 29, 2009. Bound Printed Matter, Library Mail and Media Mail flats that do not meet the new requirements will be assessed additional postage at the nonpresort flats prices within the appropriate class. A revised chart showing the requirements and consequences of non-compliance appears in this issue.
• Retired postal executive David Bakke discusses the consequences of the Postal Service’s use of binding arbitration.
• National Association of Letter Carriers President William Young says binding arbitration has been a success for the Postal Service, proving that “it can work fairly for workers, employers and consumers.”
• Attorney and postal commentator Murray Comarow defends Postmaster General Jack Potter’s executive compensation package in light of Potter’s responsibilities and achievements and U.S. law.
• Time Inc.’s Jim O’Brien takes issue with last week’s PostCom Bulletin article about the USPS sending mixed pricing signals for Periodicals class mail.
• Postal commentator and former PostCom Chairman Cary Baer takes issue with the Postal Service’s inability or lack of willingness to reduce the expense of NCOA mail.
• House postal hearing set for March 25. PRC verifies rate cap compliance. Alaskan Congressional Delegation, USPS reach agreement on future of bypass mail program. USPS Inspector General invites comments on blog posting. FedEx reports third quarter earnings.
• Dutch postal unions agrees to 15 percent wage cut. Deutsche Post considers shorter work hours.
• Whittier Mailing Products joins PostCom.
• Postal previews  

The PostCom Bulletin is distributed via NetGram

DMM Advisory:  Intelligent Mail^® Services Weekly Update. As the May 18, 2009, Intelligent Mail® services implementation approaches, we are establishing a weekly communication to keep you informed of our activities and to help you prepare for the new Basic and Full-Service options. Currently, we are preparing PostalOne! release 20 to support the price change on May 11 and the Test Environment for Full Service on May 18. We are redesigning the user interface mailers use to access PostalOne! and the Facility Access Shipment Tracking (FAST) system. If you use PostalOne! or FAST, please logon between March 30 and April 14, so we can capture your profile information and migrate it to the new Business Customer Gateway. We will post a new Guide to Full Service User Access and Reports to explain the new Gateway and how to retrieve Full-Service feedback, such as address correction and start-the-clock information.

CASS/MASS Cycle M. Address Management has received several questions regarding the implementation date for CASS/MASS Cycle M.  As a result, we thought it best to communicate through MTAC so everyone receives the same information.  CASS/MASS Cycle M will go forward as scheduled with an implementation date of August 1, 2009.  Any mailer who believes they need additional time should request an exception by submitting their request in writing to the Manager, Address Management, National Customer Support Center, US Postal Service, 6060 Primacy Pkwy, Ste. 101, Memphis TN 38188-0001 with appropriate justification.  Exception requests will be dealt with on an individual basis.  A short presentation on CASS/MASS beyond CASS/MASS Cycle M will be provided at the April MTAC meeting. 

From USPS NewsLink:

Today the Postal Service has announced it will close six of its 80 district offices. USPS is also eliminating positions across the country and offering another round of voluntary early retirements. These actions are expected to save the Postal Service more than $100 million annually.

The six offices closing — located in Florida, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington State — house administrative functions and will not adversely affect customer service, mail delivery, Post Office operations or ZIP Codes. The functions of these offices will be assumed by 10 surrounding districts.

The Postal Service’s districts are being re-aligned as follows:

• The Boston and Connecticut districts will assume the operations of the Massachusetts District.
• The Northern New England (formerly Maine) District will assume the operations of the New Hampshire/Vermont District.
• The Western Pennsylvania (formerly Pittsburgh) District will assume the operations of the Erie District.
• The South Florida and Suncoast districts will assume the operations of the Central Florida District.
• The Seattle and Salt Lake City districts will assume the operations of the Spokane District.
• The Northern New Jersey and Southern New Jersey districts will assume the operations of the Central Jersey District.

USPS will reduce administrative staff positions at the district level nationwide by 15 percent. In addition, more than 1,400 mail processing supervisor and management positions at nearly 400 facilities around the country will be eliminated, and nearly 150,000 employees nationwide are being given the opportunity to take an early retirement as part of a voluntary early retirement (VER) program. Managers are notifying employees who are impacted by these decisions. The Postal Service will send letters notifying VER-eligible employees starting April 6, 2009.

In the past year, the Postal Service has taken very aggressive cost-cutting actions, including:

• Cutting 50 million workhours;
• Halting construction of new postal facilities;
• Negotiating an agreement with the National Association of Letter Carriers that adjusts letter carrier routes to reflect diminished volume;
• Freezing salaries of all Postal Service officers and executives;
• Instituting a nationwide hiring freeze;
• Reducing authorized staffing levels at postal headquarters and area offices by at least 15 percent;
• Selling unused and under-utilized postal facilities;
• Adjusting Post Office hours to better reflect customer use; and,
• Consolidating mail processing operations.

The Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers has told its members that "With the entire postal community unified in its support of H.R. 22, which now has 195 cosponsors in the House of Representatives, one would think the bill has a pretty good shot to be passed. Before that happens, however, a pesky “scoring” problem has to be addressed. Since the tentative scoring of this legislative proposal reflects the creativity of the Congressional Budget Office, a creative solution probably is in order."

In a letter to the editor of the PostCom Bulletin, Time Inc. Vice President, Distribution & Postal Affairs Jim O'Brien said: "The Postcom Bulletin is widely recognized for accurate and insightful articles, but the article titled “USPS Signals Efficiency Through Workshare Prices" in the March 13 issue missed the mark.  The Postal Service did not send clear pricing signals to reward efficiency in the case of Periodicals Class mail.  The signals delivered in this latest rate increase do not all point in the direction of increasing efficiency." 

According to Trading Markets, "Postal and sizable express delivery companies in China reaped business revenue of CNY 8.06 billion in 2008, rising 17.2 percent from a year earlier."

From Federal Business Opportunities: "The United States Postal Service (“USPS”) is seeking information from parties interested in engaging in a long-term relationship as Supplier and/or alliance partner with the USPS to implement innovative solutions to enable USPS to efficiently and effectively manage its change-of-address (COA) program, while capturing the significant commercial opportunities presented when a postal patron submits change of address forms in connection with a move. Although the USPS desires at this time that interested parties be willing to fund all costs associated with the program, your response should address how the operating costs and potential future investments could be financed as well as your interest in taking on this role.:

The Herald has reported that "The cost to the taxpayer of absorbing the Royal Mail Group's multi-billion-pound pension deficit is set to rise, Postal Services Minister Pat McFadden has told MPs. Under controversial plans to part-privatise the Royal Mail, the government was set to fill a £6bn black hole in the pension scheme. However, Mr McFadden yesterday said that figure was based on a year-old valuation and that "the funding position of the scheme could well have worsened" since then."

Hellmail has reported that "The UK Government may have come up against a brick wall on its plans to part-privatise the Royal Mail. It had been widely rumoured that Dutch-owned TNT was interested in becoming a strategic partner but with banks unwilling to make loans and most postal operators already weathering a marked decline in business, thre are now serious concerns that even if part-privatisation were to go ahead, it could see up to 49% of Royal Mail sold for a knock-down price."

The Cambridge News has reported that "postal workers in Cambridge - the cycling capital of Britain - could be kicked off their bikes in a Royal Mail drive to save cash. Instead, many deliveries will be made by van, adding traffic to the city's roads, angry union officials claim. The move has been condemned by Cambridge city councillor Margaret Wright, who represents the Green Party, as "unbelievable."

There's an excellent piece on UPS shipping rates that has been published in Parcel magazine.

A copy of the most recent League of Postmasters News has been posted on this site.

"Transport Intelligence has announced today that it has launched its latest report, Russia Transport & Logistics 2009. The report is published at a critical time for the industry which, after a period of intense growth, has been severely affected by the global economic slowdown and credit crunch. This has meant that new transport infrastructure projects, sorely needed after years of underinvestment, are likely to be postponed or cancelled. According to the report's author, Raphael Chalogany, even during the good times the Russian business environment is one of the most challenging in the world. "Inefficiency, bureaucracy and corruption are rife and security is still a major issue for logistics companies and shippers," commented Chalogany. "Systemic structural problems combine with the vast geography of the country to create truly unique supply chain challenges." However despite these problems, the Russian market continues to offer some of the best long term prospects in Europe for logistics and express companies."

From today's Federal Register:

Postal Service
RULES
International Product and Price Changes:
	Correction ,
	11848–11850 [E9–6053]	[TEXT]  [PDF]
NOTICES
Meetings; Sunshine Act ,
11980 [E9–6331]		[TEXT]  [PDF]
11980 [E9–6332]		[TEXT]  [PDF]
11980 [E9–6333]		[TEXT]  [PDF]

As the New York Times has noted, "The FedEx Corporation said on Thursday that it was taking market share from competitors despite a recession that drove its profit down 75 percent."

Reuters has reported that "United Parcel Service has launched $2 billion notes in a two-part sale, said IFR, a Thomson Reuters service. The offering includes $1 billion in five-year notes expected to yield 230 basis points over U.S. Treasuries and $1 billion in 10-year notes expected to yield 255 basis points over Treasuries. The joint lead managers on the sale are Citigroup Global Markets and JPMorgan."

According to postal commentator Cary Baer, he's wondering: "I don’t know if I should get angry or just laugh at the recent USPS request inviting “commercial companies, entrepreneurs, and creative people  to inspire us."

The Periodical Publishers Association has reported that "Following the decision to transfer responsibility for postal regulation from Postcomm to Ofcom, the communications regulator has published details on how it intends to approach regulation of the sector. One of Ofcom’s first priorities will be to undertake a strategic review, consulting with stakeholders on a range of approaches to future regulation which secure the universal service.  In particular, it plans to assess the extent to which the market for the provision of postal services is meeting the reasonable needs of users.  It also proposes to seek views on how to best ensure a framework for access regulation which  is consistent with a duty to secure a universal postal service, promotes efficiency and effective competition, and provides benefits for business and residential users."

The Financial Times has reported that "FedEx on Thursday announced its second $1bn cost-cutting plan in two years after its quarterly profits plunged 75 per cent, far below Wall Street’s expectations. The package delivery company said the worsening global economy was forcing it to cut more jobs and pay, and reduce working hours as profits in the three months to the end of February plunged. FedEx has already slashed salaries for 36,000 of its 290,000 employees by up to 20 per cent. It said it would extend those pay cuts to include employees not based in the US, as well as cutting more jobs and working hours, reducing network capacity and making other spending cutbacks."

From MarketWire: "MarketResearch.com has announced the addition of eMarketer's new report "Newspapers in Crisis: Migrating Online," to their collection of Media & Publishing market reports. The "Newspapers in Crisis" report analyzes the trends that are contributing to a historic downslide in newspaper revenues and readership. For more information, visit http://www.marketresearch.com/redirect.asp?progid=67618&productid=2068831"

According to MSNBC, "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is trying to help rescue the newspaper industry. Pelosi sent a letter Monday to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder urging him to consider the financial situation of newspapers when reviewing requests for mergers and take overs. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy, chaired by Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga will take up the issue of antitrust law and the future of newspapers soon."

March 19, 2009

CNET News has reported that "Just like its predecessor a year ago, Silverlight 3 is clearly one of the stars of the Microsoft Mix conference under way here this week. This--or something like it--could have enormous potential for things like catalogs. This year's demo also featured Deep Zoom--combined with Silverlight 3's support for deep linking. The sort of experience I saw on the stage with Deep Zoom would seem to combine some of the best of the browsing and searching experience. It improves on aspects of a paper catalog; it has search, and the amount of low-level detail isn't constrained by the limits of the printed page. 

Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) has re-introduced her bill to end such restrictions and allow all eligible voters nationwide to vote by mail for any reason in federal elections. 

In preparation for the launch of Intelligent Mail services in May 2009, the Postal Service is conducting a series of Webinars to answer technical questions about Intelligent Mail barcode implementation.  The next webinar is Friday, March 20, 2009 from 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm Eastern Time. TO JOIN THE WEBINAR ONLINE:
1. Go to: https://uspostal.webex.com/uspostal/onst age/g.php?t=a&d=660285335
2. Enter your first and last name and email address.
3. Then click Submit.
The audio for this presentation is going to stream through your computer speakers using VoIP Technology.
For those who do not have access to a computer for this Webinar you can listen to audio only by dialing this teleconference number: 1-866-699-3239. Please enter the event ID number: 660 285 335 and press ##.
For online assistance, please contact WebEx Technical Assistance
Phone: Call 1-866-229-3239 (U.S. and Canada toll-free)

The Associated Press has reported that "Despite gaining new customers from the shrinking U.S. presence of DHL and lower fuel prices, the world's two largest package delivery companies are battening down the hatches as they prepare for weak global economic conditions to get even worse."

According to FoxNews, "As the U.S. Postal Service considers cutting delivery service in the face of dwindling mail volume and rising costs, the postmaster general received a big pay raise and a performance bonus last year, all authorized by Congress. Postmaster General John Potter's base salary climbed to $265,000 last year from $186,000 in 2007. He also received a performance bonus of $135,000. In all his total compensation -- salary, bonuses, retirement benefits and other perks -- topped $850,000, a spokesman with the U.S. Postal Service told FOXNews.com on Wednesday. At the same time, the Postal Service, an independent federal agency, is crumbling alongside the economy and as online communications increase competition. The Postal Service lost $2.8 billion last year when total mail volume recorded 202 billion pieces of mail, its largest single drop in history -- down more than 9 billion pieces from a year earlier." 

As National Academy of Public Administration Fellow Murray Comarow has noted, "Congressmen and the media have castigated the Postal Service’s governors for awarding Postmaster General John E. Potter $800,000 in compensation. Critics point out that the Postal Service is losing money, and compare the governors’ decision to the cupidity of banks and automobile companies whose boards have paid CEOs outrageous sums even as they lead their firms into the tank. Potter’s compensation “just doesn’t smell right,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, ranking Republican on the subcommittee that oversees the Postal Service. The subcommittee’s chairman, Rep. Stephen Lynch, is more specific, declaring that “the huge increase in pay for Mr. Potter is incongruent with the post office’s recent performance....In this critical juncture in our national life, Congress should focus on keeping the Postal Service alive and healthy. The Board of Governors and former Comptroller General David Walker have testified that its basic business model is broken. Collapse or serious weakening of the Postal Service will result in further unemployment and bankruptcies of many postal-dependent businesses. Scoring political points on the back of a respected Postmaster General deflects the central issue that Congress has yet to confront. Just demanding a businesslike operation is empty rhetoric. Congress must give the Postal Service genuine and flexible authority to manage this vital national institution.”

The DM Bulletin has reported that "Cello Group has said its strategy of integrating online capability with more traditional direct marketing approaches has proved successful as it revealed its Tangible division's annual profits are down 9.6%."

And here's a little tongue in cheek from The Onion: "Speaking on behalf of the overburdened World Wide Web, Internet representatives announced Monday that all Sunday e-mail service would be discontinued as part of a new cost-cutting measure. "Any correspondence sent after 11:59 p.m. on Saturday will now be delivered by noon on Monday," Internet spokeswoman Sharon Jervis said. "Users should expect further delays during national holidays or on days affected by adverse weather conditions." Jervis added that, starting Mar. 30, all e-mail attachments will also be charged by weight."

MediaPost has reported that "Most forecasts show traditional offline advertising spending declining and online showing a modest increase. But based on the sheer number of brand advertisers we've seen come to our network looking to do online what they can no longer afford to spend offline, I'd say the forecast for online growth is overly conservative. From ad production to media placement, the fact remains that online costs way less than offline."

The Age has reported that "Australian Postal Corporation has priced $325 million of five-year fixed rate notes, a 30 per cent increase on its minimum target because of the strong demand from investors."

The San Francisco Chronicle has reported that "Junk mail is changing from an everyday annoyance to a global-warming bad guy. Conservation groups are amping up the pressure to cut down the flow - such as credit card pitches, catalogs and supermarket circulars - in the name of saving landfills, transportation fuel and trees."

The Globe and Mail has reported that "For the second time in less than a month, public- and private-sector unions have called a nationwide strike that is expected to disrupt transportation and close schools and universities across France today. Unlike most French strikes, which occur as regularly as the seasons, this one has no particular trigger apart from a generalized sense of malaise over the deteriorating economy."

From eMediaWire: "Earth Class Mail, the world's leading provider of Internet-powered postal mail, announces the hiring of international product-management veteran Steve Zitkovich for the upcoming European rollout of the company's technology platform by Swiss Post's new online postal-mail division, Swiss Post Box. Earth Class Mail has also hired online and performance-based marketing executive."

Hellmail has reported that "The German logistics company Schenker has made a claim for compensation against Norway Post. The claim is based on concerns by Schenker that Norway Post were possibly in breach of competition laws after it introduced Post-in-Shops in the early 2000’s in which Norway Post demanded exclusive rights for the delivery of packages in Norgesgruppen, Shell and certain Hakon and Coop shops. Norway Post Norway Post said it would provide the ESA with its response before this date but refutes compensation claims by Schenker."

As Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman Dan Blair has noted, "On March 16, the Commission issued its review of the Postal Service’s price adjustments for market dominant products, determining that the increases for market dominant products are, on average, within the 3.8 percent price cap for each class of mail. The Commission also initiated a docket to afford the Postal Service and interested parties an opportunity to address the legal, factual and economic underpinnings of the methodologies used by the Postal Service to develop its First-Class Mail and Standard Mail discount rates. Work is also underway on three separate regulations – confidentiality, complaint and periodic rules – with a goal of issuing rules by the end of the month. These rulemaking proceedings represent part of the Commission’s continuing efforts to implement the PAEA in a manner designed to ensure Postal Service operational and pricing flexibility on the one hand balanced against the public’s interest in financial transparency and accountability on the other. Commission staff is also at work analyzing the Postal Service’s Annual Compliance Report, submitted on December 29, 2008. We expect to have our Annual Compliance Determination finalized by March 30."

The House Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia will hold a business meeting on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. in room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The subcommittee will hold a hearing entitled, “Restoring the Financial Stability of the U.S. Postal Service: What Needs to be Done?” The hearing will examine the financial stability of the USPS and discuss the short and long term strategies to reduce costs and improve efficiency. WITNESS LIST:

PANEL I - Mr. John E. Potter, Postmaster General & CEO, United States Postal Service
PANEL II - Ms. Carolyn Gallagher, Chairman, Board of Governors; The Honorable Dan Blair, Chairman, Postal Rate Commission
PANEL III - Mr. David Williams, Inspector General, Office of Inspector General, United States Postal Service; Mr. Phillip Herr,
Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues, United States Government Accountability Office
PANEL IV - Mr. Dale Goff, President, National Association of Postmaster of the U.S.; Mr. Charles Mapa, President, National League of Postmasters of the U.S.; Mr. Ted Keating, President, National Association of Postal Supervisors
PANEL V - Mr. William Burrus, President, American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO; Mr. William Young, President, National Association of Letter Carriers; Mr. John Hegarty, President, National Postal Mail Handlers Union; Mr. Don Cantriel, President, National Rural Letter Carriers Association

Press Release: "The Guide to Worldwide Postal Codes and Address Formats provides not only the "official" information from the postal authorities but also what mailers are seeing and experiencing day-to-day.   As in previous editions, the 2008 Guide includes sample addresses for each country, information on addressing, and changes in postal and addressing formats that have occurred since the previous edition, along with a review of what is expected in the near future.   230 countries and territories are covered by the report.   A one-year subscription to the Internet-based version including updates is included with the purchase of the print edition.  

In a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal, National Association of Letter Carriers President William Young took issue with a piece written by former USPS executive David Bakke and published by the journal. In his response, Young said that "Former postal manager David C. Bakke got his facts wrong and misled your readers with his March 17 letter concerning your editorial on the Employee Free Choice Act (“The Union Cudgel,” March 11).   “Most” Postal Service contract negotiations since 1971 have not gone to binding arbitration. For letter carriers represented by NALC, there have been seven negotiated contracts (including the last two 5-year agreements), four arbitrated contracts and one partially arbitrated settlement.  Moreover, the consequences for USPS customers have not been “costly” and Bakke is flatly wrong to claim it would be “difficult to find any other company” that is raising prices in this difficult environment.  Postage rates—and postal wages—have largely tracked inflation since 1971 and U.S. stamp prices remain among the lowest in the world.  UPS and FedEx hiked rates by between 5.9 to 6.9% in January – more than the 3.8% postage increase planned for May." 

The Pacific Daily News has reported that "Guam police yesterday discovered 1,886 more parcels linked to the investigation of the former Tamuning PostNet." 

March 18, 2009

  The International Herald Tribune has reported that "France braced for a huge protest march in Paris and a day of nationwide strikes Thursday aimed at pressing the government to support workers better during the economic crisis. Schools, hospitals, the postal service and public transport were among the services expected to be hit."

Yahoo! Tech has reported that "Time Inc. is experimenting with a customized magazine that combines reader-selected sections from eight publications as it tries to mimic in printed form the personalized news feeds that have become popular on the Internet. Called "mine," the five-issue, 10-week experiment also aligns readers with the branding message that its sole advertising partner, Toyota Motor Corp., has for its new Lexus 2010 RX sport utility vehicle: It's as customizable as the magazine carrying its ads. The magazine is free, but the print edition is limited to the first 31,000 respondents, while an online version is available for another 200,000. The "mine" experiment represents the latest effort by traditional media organizations to appeal to readers increasingly accustomed to picking and choosing what they read on the Internet. Online advertising, through growing, hasn't generated enough revenue to offset declines in print; personalized print products could help fill some of the gap."

The DM Bulletin has reported that "The number of direct mail items sent by charities declined last year for the first time, according to Royal Mail statistics."

  Want to know more about the Flats Sequencing System? The best way to learn is to see what the Postal Service is telling its own employees. We posted on this site a copy of one the USPS' FSS slideshows.

Posted on the Postal Regulatory Commission web site is a zip file that includes spreadsheets which document the FY 2008 financial impact evaluation of the Bank of America NSA.

MarketingWeek has reported that "Royal Mail is facing competition from TNT Post for its direct marketing delivery service for charities. Commercial rivals to Royal Mail have been hampered in the past in their efforts to attract charity-based business because only Royal Mail is VAT-exempt for charity mailings. However, TNT Post has entered a partnership with print management company Brightsource which will enable it to handle mail on behalf of charities."

According to the Herald Bulletin, "The best place to gauge the impact of the current recession on the United States Postal Service is in your mail box. An economic decline generally leads to a drop in mail volume, and we are seeing the biggest mail volume decline in history. When big mailers like the banking, insurance and housing industries struggle — mail volume also suffers."

Dow Jones has reported that "Dutch postal firm TNT NV said in a press statement Tuesday that it has expanded the coverage of its Economy Express service to and from Malta to an additional 75 countries worldwide."

The PostalNews Blog has a story about "Users Paid to Receive Direct Mail Through Incentive-Based Social Network."

Politico has asked: "Remember David Vitter’s omnibus amendment scrapping automatic pay raises in the Senate? The one that was shot down to avoid a House-Senate conference so the $410 billion package could pass the House? Well, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) fulfilled his promise to pass a stand-alone pay freeze on a quick unanimous voice vote Tuesday night. And Reid took a shot at Vitter when the bill quickly passed."

According to the Staten Island Advance, "Staten Island's postmark may fall by the wayside if the U.S. Postal Service implements cost-cutting measures that would reroute mail from the borough."

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

In France, La Poste reported few encouraging aspects to its annual results last week, with CEO Bailly announcing a 44% drop in profit.
Increasing turnover and decreasing profits - overall, 2008 was a very satisfactory year, according to Österreichische Post.
The Swiss government has said a clear no to plans for the post to offer money lending services.
"We want to turn Deutsche Post into a high-performance company and a winner within our industry." The opening words by CEO Frank Appel at last week’s presentation of "Strategy 2015" were indicative of would-be ambitious goals.
2008 figures for Norway’s Posten Norge show a growth in turnover and a collapse in profit.
Post Danmark enjoyed both a higher turnover and a profit growth in 2008.
Despite a slight decline in turnover (-0.3%; 268.6m euros) and an almost 13% drop in operating result (23.8m euros), New Zealand Post was able to maintain its net profit on a stable level during the first half (21.6m euros).
In a speech before the House of Lords last Wednesday, British business secretary Lord Mandelson delivered a vehement plea in favour of his own plans for part privatisation of Royal Mail.
"It is simply scandalous that La Poste shareholders get to split a billion euros between them, while we have to keep begging for further funds for post office staff." Belgian trade unionists were furious last week over government plans to pay out some of La Poste’s large cash reserves to shareholders.
The Finnish post Itella is struggling with a marked decline in volumes.
Austria’s Österreichische Post plans to expand the business of its Trans-oflex express unit in Germany.
Japan’s leading CEP and logistics operator Yamato, especially its biggest delivery services division, is also suffering the effects of the global economic downturn.
Japanese airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) is buying into Overseas Courier Service (OCS) with effect from the end of March.
US same-day services specialist Dynamex reported a decline in turnover and a collapse in profits for the first half 2008/2009.
The global recession has hit the French transport industry with full force.
Hamburg-based parcel and logistics operator Hermes said in an announcement published this Tuesday that the number of its German parcel shops had been increased from 13,700 to 14,000.
The Danes are in the lead in Europe when it comes to internet shopping.
2008 appears to have been a very good year still for the logistics industry in China.
Last Friday representatives of the Russian post and the Federal Association of Mail Order Traders met at the Russian Ministry for Post and Telecommunications to discuss cooperation problems and opportunities.
DHL plans to invest more than 6m euros in Sri Lanka over the next three years.
Letter postage rates in Vietnam are going up drastically from 1 May.
Schweizerische Post has postponed the planned increase of parcel rates.
DHL in the USA has officially confirmed negotiations with former air cargo partners regarding the continuation of their cooperation in the US. DHL had originally planned to replace carriers ABX and AStar with UPS.
The government committee in Japan, which regularly supervises the progress of the privatisation process of the post, has demanded more transparency when it comes to the sale of the post’s assets.
In the last few weeks Chinese media have repeatedly reported on plans for job cuts among international service providers operating in China.
Estonia’s Eesti Post has imposed a pay cut on its top management.
A professional magician could possibly cause United Parcel Service and the entire US air cargo industry to drastically tighten security regulations.
Former supervisory board chairman Klaus Zumwinkel and ex-CEO Kai-Uwe Ricke have come under massive pressure in connection with the Deutsche Telekom spying scandal. 

The MRU, founded in 1992, is the only consultancy in Europe, which has specialised in the market of courier-, express- and parcel services. For large-scale shippers and CEP-services in particular, the MRU provides interdisciplinary advice for all major questions of the market, as there are for example market entry, product design, organisation, and EDP.To learn more about the stories reported above, contact CEP News. (We appreciate the courtesy extended by CEP News to help whet your appetite for more of what CEP offers.)

Transport Intelligence has reported that "Despite the current weakness in demand for US freight transport services caused by economic recession, the long-term outlook for all modes remains bright. That is the conclusion reached by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) in its newly-released ATA US Freight Transportation Forecast to 2020."

Art Daily has reported that "The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum has announced the donation of the Travers Papers from the Jack Rosenthal family. The Travers Papers consist of hundreds of typed and handwritten pages, an unpublished manuscript and related post office documents from the Third Assistant Postmaster General Arthur Travers’ files (1840-1910.) The donation also includes 13 rare essays on stamp designs that were never issued.

The Associated Press has reported that "The Postal Service said economic woes were forcing it to delay the release of several new stamps scheduled for this year."

One of our correspondents has brought the following site to our attention. Check it out! http://fss.lettercarriernetwork.info/

Be sure to check out the latest postal white paper from the Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation. This one is entitled: "Is The Postal Service About To Eliminate One Day A Week Of Mail Delivery?"

On the Postal Regulatory Commission web site:

Rule: Daily listing
CP2009-26 & MC2009-21: Order No. 193 - Notice and Order Concerning Priority Mail Contract 5 Negotiated Service Agreement
Link: http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62724/Order_No_193.doc
http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62724/Order193.pdf

The Associated Press has reported that "FedEx Corp. reports earnings for the fiscal third quarter on Thursday. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst opinion related to the period."

March 17, 2009

Just in case you missed these highlights from yesterday's Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) opinion on postal prices:

• Regarding Confirm prices: "Unless and until the Postal Service can present a credible connection between customer status and cost causation, the large differential between the prices paid by mailing owners and the prices paid by mailing agents appears to be discriminatory on its face. For these reasons, the Commission hereby finds, pursuant to 39 CFR § 3010.13(e), as follows: (1) that the overall adjustment for Special Services complies with the statutory cap; (2) that the mailing agent rate for both the Gold and Platinum tier Confirm service is inconsistent with applicable law; (3) until the Postal Service can provide an adequate justification for separate mailing agent rates for Gold and Platinum tier Confirm service, those rates must be removed from Confirm, and both mail owners and mailing agents must be charged the same rates; and (4) in the event the Postal Service chooses not to attempt to justify separate mailing agent rates, it must recalculate the overall adjustment for Special Services and the banked residual cap amount.
• Regarding the Move Update Penalty Rate: "The surcharge is designed to provide an incentive to mailers to enter Move Update compliant mail and to increase the efficiency of Postal Service operations. Given the limited record available in this expedited review, the surcharge has not been shown to be  inconsistent with applicable law."

From Business Wire: "Amid resurgent voter turnout nationwide for the presidential election last November, the Pitney Bowes ReliaVote™ Mail Balloting System delivered outstanding performance in eighteen counties across five states from Washington to Florida, the company said today. Final reports from Pitney Bowes customers indicate that more than 4.2 million ballots were processed with the help of the ReliaVote™ Mail Balloting System. As voters have increasingly turned to mail ballots to record their votes for candidates, local election administrators have turned to Pitney Bowes for help improving the speed, accuracy and efficiency with which they handle the additional volume of election mail."

According to U.S. Postal Service retired executive David Bakke with regard to the Employee Free Choice Act, "The USPS has decades of experience with binding arbitration, thanks to the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970. The consequences have been costly for USPS customers. For years, most USPS contract negotiations have deadlocked and therefore have gone to an arbitrator (actually a three member panel). The result has been costly contracts with no linkage to productivity improvement, cost reduction, or product pricing. Salaries and benefits, including cost of living allowances, continue to increase, while revenue and mail volume decrease. Contracts become even more costly over time because arbitrators are called on to interpret contract provisions. This process creates an expanding set of procedures and work rules."

From today's Federal Register:

Postal Regulatory Commission
RULES
Domestic Mail Product,
11293–11296 [E9–5672]	[TEXT]  [PDF]
11296–11299 [E9–5755]	[TEXT]  [PDF]
Postal Service
NOTICES
Change in Rates of General Applicability for Competitive Products; Correction,
11384 [E9–5671]	[TEXT]  [PDF]

Here's an interesting item. It's the "NAPUS Action Guide for Preventing the Closing or Consolidation of Your Post Office."

AMEInfo has reported that "A delegation from the Republic of Philippines visited Emirates Post Group and its subsidiaries to discuss enhanced cooperation in postal and money transfer services between the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates."

Catalogue e-Business has noted that "The recent introduction of the British Standards Institute (BSI) standard PAS 2020 is the latest move from the Direct Marketing Association to highlight the industry’s commitment to helping the environment. Like CCTV, PAS 2020 should be neither a nuisance nor a hindrance unless you are doing something wrong."

According to CNET News, "You can reduce the conclusions from the sixth annual report on the state of the U.S. news media to a couple of words: Infinitely bleak. And that's taking the optimistic view."

The BBC has reported that "Making the Post Office the "people's bank" could secure its future and help those not served by banks, a coalition of MPs and interest groups is arguing."

According to Alaska Report, "Alaska’s Congressional Delegation has announced that an agreement has been reached with the Postmaster General over bypass mail rates. Included in an 84 page report from the Postal Regulatory Commission is the acknowledgment that the Alaska Congressional Delegation has expressed concern with the pending rate increase. In response, "the Postal Service indicates that it is working with shippers and air carriers in Alaska to change and simplify the acceptance of bypass mail." The Alaskan Congressional Delegation requested that mail be charged at a maximum of the 70 lb rate, and this is what has been delivered by the Postmaster General. Currently, bypass mail parcels in Alaska are either bundled and charged at their bundled rate or simply charged at their individual rate and loaded on pallets. With the May 11 price increase, those same parcels would cost $15.37 per parcel, up from the previous price of $11.54. Under the new plan, bypass mail parcels will not be bundled or individually metered, but rather presented to USPS on a full pallet with the weight being divided by the 70 lb rate to determine the postage. By unbundling the packages, the price will only increase by roughly 12-17% as opposed to the 40% rate increase originally anticipated." See also the Associated Press and the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

On the Postal Regulatory Commission web site:

• Docket No. RM2009-3 "Proposed Rulemaking on Workshare Discount Rate Design Principles"
  

  "In Docket No. R2009-2, the Postal Service proposes workshare discounts for First-Class Mail and Standard Mail that are not based on established workshare cost avoidance methodologies. In First-Class, the Postal Service did not use the existing benchmark, bulk metered mail, for calculating workshare discounts and instead based the discounts on presort First-Class Mail delinked from single-piece First-Class Mail. In Standard Mail, the Postal Service did not use the existing methodology based on costs avoided by shape between Basic and High Density, and High Density and Saturation. The expedited preimplementation review of proposed market dominant rate adjustments under section 3622 precludes any meaningful examination of departures from established rate methodologies and analytical principles.
  
  "The Commission is initiating this proceeding to afford the Postal Service (and interested persons supporting its rationales) an opportunity to address the legal, factual, and economic underpinnings of the methodologies used by the Postal Service to develop its proposed First-Class Mail and Standard Mail discount rates in Docket No. R2009-2. In addition, interested persons, including the Postal Service, may submit alternative workshare discount rate design and cost avoidance calculation methodologies."

• USPS Annual Total Factor Productivity - Annual Tables FY 2008

Yahoo! Tech has reported that "US newspapers are in a state "perilously close to free fall" and time is running short for them to find a business model and reinvent themselves, according to a study released on Monday. The Pew Research Center?s Project for Excellence in Journalism said its 2009 report on the State of the News Media was the "bleakest" it has issued since it began doing the annual studies six years ago. The report examined newspapers, online media, network, cable and local television news as well as news magazines, radio and the ethnic press."

The Associated Press has reported that "The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which has chronicled the news of the city since logs slid down its steep streets to the harbor and miners caroused in its bars before heading north to Alaska's gold fields, will print its final edition Tuesday. Hearst Corp., which owns the 146-year-old P-I, said Monday that it failed to find a buyer for the newspaper, which it put up for a 60-day sale in January after years of losing money. Now the P-I will shift entirely to the Web."

From PR Newswire: "Oce, an international leader in digital document management and delivery, announced that in independent testing, the Oce CS650 color system has proven to be a viable alternative to offset printing for direct mail without protective coatings. Printing Industries of America in conjunction with its Digital Printing Council compared the output of various digital presses to measure the durability of uncoated printed postcards under actual mailing and handling conditions. The Oce CS650 system was one of the top digital performers in all test criteria, including front side mailing and address side mailing. The system was also the top performer in the Sutherland Ink Rub test. The testing and results are presented in "Digital Printing and Survivability in the U.S. Postal System: A Printing Industries of America Digital Printing Council Research Study."

March 16, 2009

The latest blog has been posted on the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General’s Internet site “Pushing the Envelope.” The public, mailers, postal employees, and other stakeholders are invited to weigh in on the online discussions taking place. To view the site, visit http://blog.uspsoig.gov/.

FERS Flu: A Looming Epidemic? Postal employees hired since 1983 fall under the Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS). Unlike their Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) counterparts, FERS employees receive no service credit for unused sick leave upon retirement. As a result, some FERS employees may try to “use up” as much of their sick leave balance as they can prior to retirement — the “FERS Flu.” Because most federal and Postal Service workers will be under FERS by 2014, a widespread outbreak of the FERS Flu could have serious consequences to postal operations.

You are invited to comment on this and vote on whether you think FERS Flu is a risk for the Postal Service. You can visit Office of Inspector General’s public website at: www.uspsoig.gov. If you have additional questions, please contact Communication and Work Life Director Agapi Doulaveris at 703.248.2322.

On the Postal Regulatory Commission web site:

Rule: Daily listing

R2009-2 Order No. 191 - Order Reviewing Postal Service Market Dominant Price Adjustments

"On February 10, 2009, the Postal Service submitted to the Commission its plan to change rates for all its market dominant products. This is the second time the Commission has reviewed such adjustments under the regulatory authority established by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA). For the reasons described below, the Commission authorizes all proposed rate adjustments except the new Confirm annual fees for mailing agents to take effect."

Commissioner Goldway dissented. She said that "[t]he First-Class Mail prices proposed by the Postal Service fail to comply with the statutorily imposed workshare requirements of 39 U.S.C. § 3622(e), when analyzed under the established analytical methodology....The Postal Service appears to be flouting the cost avoidance methodology affirmed by the Commission for several years."

Commission Nanci Langley, while agreeing with the majority, also took the Postal Service to task for circumventing what should have been a more methodical and timely review of the Postal Service's instant cost and pricing methodology.

Deutsche Welle has reported that "One of the world's leading postal and logistics companies paid 20 million euros ($26 million) in pension claims to its disgraced former chief executive Klaus Zumwinkel, reported  the German national newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) in its analysis of  Deutsche Post's 2008 annual report. The news about Zumwinkel, who is currently living in a chateau in Italy's Lake Garda, unleashed cries of outrage from a panoply of German politicians and commentators. On Sunday, Bavaria's premier and CSU party chief Horst Seehofer told German newspapers the 20 million payout was  "scandalous." The Social Democrats (SPD) in Merkel's governing coalition were just as scathing. The huge pension payout comes at a time Deutsche Post had been hit by losses totalling nearly 1.7 million euros for 2008."  

According to Hellmail, "Traditional postal operators such as Royal Mail, face a barrage of competition not just from other postal operators but the growth in Hybrid Mail."

Advertising Age has reported that "Newspaper executives are spending 2009 tearing their hair out for giving away online news instead of charging for it, like they do in print. The nostalgia for properly paid content, however, overlooks the reality that newspapers got dangerously addicted to advertising long before digital came along. Just 78% of the Daily News' paid weekday circulation came from people paying at least half the basic price, down from 90% five years before. They got addicted to advertising, in fact, precisely because digital didn't exist yet to siphon away the ad revenue that piled up without major-market newspapers having to do very much to attract it. Readers were seen as eyeballs to sell to marketers, so the more of them the better. Discounted subscriptions and cheap home delivery proliferated. The big question is whether newspapers can still make a U-turn."

The Kenya Broadcasting Corporation has reported that "The Postal Corporation of Kenya has deployed a number of strategies geared towards revitalizing the postal and courier services in Kenya. The Corporation is set to launch video conferencing and hybrid mail in partnership with stakeholders in the industry in the next three month. The Post Master General Fred Odhiambo said the move is aimed at enhancing ICT capacity at the Postal Corporation."

Air Cargo World has reported that "Prompted by the UK Government's endorsement of a new report into the future of Britain's mail service, TNT says it wants to take a substantial stake in the organization. TNT CEO Peter Bakker commented: "Royal Mail and TNT have explored partnership opportunities in the past. The views of the Hooper Commission provide a clear framework for the UK postal sector going forward. Assuming the UK government implements these recommendations, I think that exploring a strategic partnership with Royal Mail makes a lot of sense for both our companies.'' Peter Mendelson, Secretary of State for the UK's Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, explained that the shift to electronic communication had cost the Royal Mail $750 million in lost profits in 2007 alone."

As FedSmith has noted, "In this economy, many of us are re-examining every purchase: do we need it, what does it cost and what are we getting for our money? For anyone sending packages — individuals and commercial shippers — the Postal Service can help you stay on budget. One reason the Postal Service is a better deal than other shipping companies is no matter the final destination — rural or city — a delivery is a delivery. There are no hidden surcharges."

Yahoo! Tech has reported that "South African mobile phone operator MTN on Monday said it was launching a banking service on mobile phones in 21 African and Middle East countries where access to traditional banks is poor. MTN is planning to offer a fully-fledged bank account on mobile phones called MTN MobileMoney which will allow users to pay for purchases or check balances. A credit card will be optional. MTN calls the service "a convenient, secure and affordable way for MTN subscribers to send money, buy airtime and pay bills using their cellphone". The service will be extended to the other 20 countries where MTN operates including Uganda, Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast which have a combined 90 million mobile phone users."

PC World has reported that "Indian outsourcer HCL Technologies has bagged an outsourcing contract from The Reader's Digest Association. The contract for about US$350 million involves delivery by HCL of IT infrastructure management, application development and other services. The contract is for a period of seven years, and involves HCL hiring an undisclosed number of employees from Reader's Digest. Some of the new hires will continue to work at Reader's Digest sites, providing on-site services, said a source close to the situation. HCL will use its global delivery centers in Poland, the U.S. and India, and on-site staff to support the operations of Reader's Digest in 45 countries and 14 languages across North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia, HCL said."

EarthTimes has reported that "Scania and Norway Post (Posten Norge AS) have signed a framework agreement under which Scania will supply all trucks with a gross weight exceeding 15 tonnes in a procurement covering three years, with the possibility of a one-year renewal. The agreement also includes repair and maintenance contracts. Deliveries will total about 200 trucks per year. The deal is one of Scania’s largest single deliveries of trucks in the Nordic countries."

From eMediaWire: "Integrated Documents Solutions (IDS), a document production specialist since 1997, has successfully developed the UK's first electronic next-day postal service. UK Mail, part of the Business Post Group, commissioned IDS in January 2008 to produce a system to allow their customers to generate and physically post letters directly from their computer or laptop."

The AuctionBytes Blog has reported: "Time and again I hear sellers talk about the challenges of selling overseas: high shipping costs, unreliable postal systems (Italy is frequently mentioned), liability if one doesn't pay the high costs for tracking/proof of delivery, and longer transit times. These are the realities of doing business, but eBay has raised the stakes by tying DSR feedback ratings (where buyers rate sellers on postage costs and delivery time) to exposure, discounts and seller performance. I'm hearing some sellers just give up on selling internationally. I suspect this decision varies greatly by category and price of the items sellers are selling. Some things are just easier and less risky to ship abroad, or have enough profit margin built-in that allow sellers to send them expedited."

The Herald has reported that "People living in some of the remotest communities in Britain face losing lifeline services following a decision by Royal Mail managers to axe postbus services in the Highlands. The move to scrap routes in Caithness, Sutherland and Ross-shire would leave only two buses serving hundreds of square miles and was condemned last night by politicians. The service provides essential transport links from remote rural areas to larger settlements or to the main transport network, where no normal bus service operates. Royal Mail says massive subsidies would be needed to keep the routes functioning, with some of the buses carrying fewer than 200 passengers a year. Loss of the transport links comes amid concern about government plans to privatise part of the postal network, and another wave of post office closures."

Hellmail has reported that:

• Swiss Post said it was working with the price watchdog to find an amicable solution regarding Swiss Post's letter and parcel prices. Until agreement has been reached it is postponing its new pricing activities for parcels and international mailings, originally planned for 1st April. The last time Swiss Post made adjustments to prices for shipping domestic parcels was six years ago, and said the rises were essential as the cost of mailing items over the counter had long since outstripped actual revenue and tansport costs had risen markedly. However, any increases have to be examined by the Swiss price regulator which was introduced to help ease the problems associated with large monopolies. Its main function is to look at at any proposed increases and make recommendations to Swiss authorities based on its findings.
• Norway reports a drop in mail volume of 22% over the last ten years, a scenario being played out by most postal operators across the world as more and more people buy into the internet revolution, and in particular, email. 

March 15, 2009

According to OhGizmo, "If you’ve ever wondered how long it takes the postal service to deliver something as simple as a postcard, then you’ll appreciate this concept. Created by the DAG-designlab, the Stopper postcard comes with an actual digital timer with an LCD display in the upper corner that will keep track of how long it’s been from when the postcard was sent, to when it arrives at its destination. Really nothing more than a curiosity killer, but clever nonetheless."

According to UPI,"Britain may postpone a planned partial privatization of the Royal Mail, fearing private buyers may not offer enough cash, The Sunday Telegraph reported. Citing unnamed postal union sources, the newspaper said the controversial move could be put off by the British government until the private bidders can find more capital to buy up to 49 percent of the publicly owned mail service."

From eMediaWire: "During the current economic crisis, with record-high unemployment, unfortunately, crime is also on the rise. An apartment complex located at the 6400 block of 47th Street in Sacramento, has been experiencing a significant problem with mail theft at their community during the last week. Someone has been opening the complex's main mail kiosk and stealing mail out of the residents' individual mailboxes."

According to Bloomberg, "Deutsche Post AG, Europe’s biggest postal service, probably paid about 20 million euros ($26 million) in pension claims to former Chief Executive Officer Klaus Zumwinkel, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported, citing its analysis of the company’s 2008 annual report. The annual report, published March 10, indicates that Zumwinkel, who resigned as CEO in February 2008, had his full pension entitlement paid out, which probably totaled 20 million euros before taxes, the newspaper reported today."

"The Government could delay plans to sell a stake in Royal Mail amid fears that private bidders might not offer enough cash, The Sunday Telegraph has learned."

March 14, 2009 (Including Postal News and a Related Media Weekend Round-up)

As Print CEO has noted, "companies are looking at various associated marketing initiatives...shifting from print media to more electronic tools and taking more of a rifle-shot apporach to target places where dollars are being spent. This reinforces even more the prediction...that the current economic situation we are experiencing, augmented by the severe structural change our industry is undergoing, will result in an industry that looks very different when this is all over.  It also reinforces the advice that printing firms must move their services beyond ink or toner on paper to survive and thrive in the new world of integrated marketing."   

As a writer for Audience Development has noted:

• "When I was doing research for the March issue’s direct mail feature, it was a little harder than I expected. Reaching out to b-to-b publishers didn’t even cross my mind -- most have long abandoned direct mail as a marketing source. Consumer marketers, on the other hand, are still using direct mail, but as budgets dry up and the pressure to cut down on paper and print costs rises, that well may be starting to dry up too. A recent study even stated that total U.S. direct mail spending declined by 3 percent to $56.7 million in 2008 and is expected to fall another 8 or 9 percent in 2009. When I turned to a few direct mail consultants for their views, I got some very interesting (and quite sobering) responses."
• Total U.S. direct mail spending declined by 3 percent to $56.7 million in 2008 and is expected to fall another 8 or 9 percent in 2009, according to a whitepaper released today by strategic consulting firm Winterberry Group. In “A Channel in Transformation: Vertical Market Trends in Direct Mail 2009",” Winterberry’s fifth annual study of trends in direct mail media, the decline in direct mail spending was also accompanied by a significant cutback in mail volume based on feedback from both mailers and service providers who support direct mail campaigns....Independent of the effects of the recession, rising postage rates, declining volumes, an increasingly complex array of postal regulations and other threats to delivery efficiency may compromise the viability of the Postal Service as the principal mail delivery channel.  

The Denver Post has reported that "The newspaper of the not-too-distant future will be customized by each reader to include only the news and information they want to see each day, then printed out at home or sent to a computer or cellphone, if an experiment by The Denver Post's parent company proves fruitful. MediaNews Group, the fourth-largest newspaper chain in the country and owner of The Denver Post, has trademarked the term "Individuated News" or I-News for a new media-delivery system that will be tested with the Los Angeles Daily News this summer. "You'll be able to choose the news you want about anything, whether you're a Detroit Red Wings fan or if you're green-oriented," said Mark Winkler, executive vice president of sales and marketing for MediaNews Group. "You become your own editor and publisher. The "individuated" stories selected by each reader are sent to a special printer being developed for MediaNews that each customer would have at home."

Bloomberg has reported that "Hearst Corp. is boosting subscription prices and has considered trimming the number of pages in its newspapers amid a “horrible recession” in ad sales, the head of the publisher’s newspaper unit said." Hearst may cut the number of pages of its printed newspapers and will seek more readers on handheld devices such as Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle and Apple Inc.’s iPhone." 

Newspapers & Technology has reported that "As part of its March 30 conversion to Web-centric distribution, Detroit Media Partnership said it will launch a trial with Plastic Logic to distribute the firm’s yet-to-be-released electronic display to readers who want to access electronic editions of The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press."

Marketwatch has reported that "Advertising revenue in the United States will drop 13% this year, but improve to a decline of just 1.5% in 2010, according to a new report from Barclays Capital."

Folio has reported on:

• Why publishers are walking away from publications that appear to be growing. “The problem is the publishing model,” University of Mississippi professor Samir “Mr. Magazine” Husni told FOLIO: recently. “It’s one that’s served us well since World War II, when we switched from a circulation-driven publishing model to an advertising-driven model. That’s when magazines got into the business of counting numbers, not finding customers that actually count. So, when the economy declines, and ad revenues disappear, magazines begin to show less ‘real’ growth." [EdNote: Volume versus value....Is there a message here from which the Postal Service can learn?]
• The most noteworthy—and, perhaps, troubling—moment during the Magazine Publishers of America’s fifth annual digital conference came when Slate editor Jacob Weisberg asked three panelists whether or not their print magazines would exist in 10 years, and what percentage of the audience’s would.

Publishing Executive has asked: "Can a magazine develop an online existence the way a newspaper can (The New York Times, for example)? It depends on who you ask—and whether that person thinks the magazine format has a viable future. Much of the debate over the future of magazines, in fact, centers on whether these fast, interactive online features have made the print magazine format soon-to-be obsolete. Paralleling this is a sense among many that old revenue models, built around a print monopoly and dependent on the fortunes of advertisers, do not reflect the reality of 21st-century culture and economics. It’s a common refrain these days, but while some publishers are banking on a digital future, others are thinking in terms not of print’s demise, but of what role it will play—the best channels for strategy and investment during a time when the fallout from a brave new media (and economy) is far from certain."

The Atlanta Journal Constitution has reported that "Using phony documents and the identities of a dead man and a 5-year-old boy in a test of post-9/11 security, a government investigator easily obtained U.S. passports. Despite efforts to boost passport security since the 2001 terror attacks, the investigator fooled passport and Postal Service employees on four separate applications, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office made public Friday."

The Press Association has reported that "Postal workers opposed to the Government's controversial plans to part-privatise the Royal Mail will take their campaign to the constituency of the Postal Affairs Minister. The Communication Workers Union will stage a march and demonstration in Wolverhampton, whose MP Pat McFadden is involved in taking forward plans announced by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson for a partial sale of the postal group." See also the Daily Mail and the BBC.

According to Logistics Management, "News that theU.S. Postal Service is gaining market share in the weakening domestic package shipping market, may have come as a surprise to many industry analysts, but one sage observer saw it all along."

Hellmail has reported that "Royal Mail sought to deregulate a number of business packet products and introduce a new pricing structure outside Condition 21 of its licence. Royal Mail considered that competition in relation to these items was sufficiently developed to protect the interests of users. In addition, Royal Mail asked Postcomm to remove the requirement for it to provide notification of changes (under Condition 7 of its licence) to those packet products from which the price control is removed (if there are any). Royal Mail was also seeking an exemption from Condition 7 for two additional packet products: Royal Mail Tracked and Mail Order Returns which are not currently price controlled, but Postcomm decided that the application lacked sufficient information of good quality, which is required under Royal Mail’s licence."

The Chicago Tribune has reported that "Millions of Americans receive online versions of their bills and bank statements. Now, a growing number of consumers are deciding that they don't need any physical mail, dealing with all their correspondence online. Instead of plodding down to the mailbox, they open their Web browsers. Rather than stuff file cabinets with paper, they keep their mail online. Analysts say it's too soon to tell whether digital mail is the next big thing, and skeptics, including the U.S. Postal Service, abound. Still, as consumers become more tied to the digital world, Web-based mail services are expanding."

The San Francisco Chronicle has reported that "First, he went to war and won a ban on plastic bags at large supermarkets and chain pharmacies. Now, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi is taking on an enemy that's just as ubiquitous: junk mail. Mirkarimi last fall introduced legislation that urges the state Legislature to create a "Do Not Mail" registry - one similar to the National Do Not Call list. He has now dusted off the measure, which would not directly ban junk mail in the city, and wants to get it to a hearing on March 23."

From Marketwire: "Canada Post feels compelled to respond to inaccuracies and misconceptions put forward today during public consultations on pension reform in Ottawa. Moreover, Canada Post wants to assure employees and pensioners that the company's pension plan, one of the largest defined benefits pension plans in Canada with approximately $12-billion in assets as of December 31, 2008, is sound and well managed. Canada Post manages its pension plan with the aid of external professional advisors to ensure it remains viable and amply funded for the benefit of past, present and future members. The plan is governed by the federal Pension Benefits Standards Act and regulated by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada. In accordance with best governance practices, the plan, investments and funding are also overseen by the pension committee of the Company's board of directors as well as a pension advisory council that includes representatives of all employees and retirees."

The Associated Press has reported that "Cargo shipper DHL says it is talking again with its current flying partners at its U.S. freight hub in southwest Ohio. DHL said last year that it was pulling out of the site in Wilmington and hiring United Parcel Service to sort and fly DHL packages in the United States. The move would mean a loss of 8,000 jobs at the Wilmington air park. An agreement to negotiate exclusively with UPS expired at the end of January, and DHL spokesman Jonathan Baker said Friday that the company is now also talking with others. The development raises the possibility that ABX and ASTAR, which currently fly DHL cargo from Wilmington, might be chosen to continue serving DHL."

In a press release, published by Window Book on March 12, the following staement was made: “The USPS is making system changes on May 18, 2009 and the resources will be stretched to their fullest. Therefore, they are suspending Intelligent Mail® CAT and Parallel testing applications as of March 31, 2009 until resources once again become available….It means if the mailers have not started their application for CAT and parallel testing by March 31, 2009, they may NOT be able to participate in the USPS Intelligent Mail® Full Service solution in November 2009.” This statement is incorrect. The Full Service option requires electronic documentation provisioning via Mail.dat 09-1 or the Postage Statement Wizard.  PostalOne! will be ready to accept Full Service Mail.dat and Postal Wizard files upon implementation of Full Service which is scheduled for deployment on May 18, 2009. The Postal Service is fully committed and ready to support any mailer that wishes to migrate to Full Service after the scheduled Full Service deployment date of May 18.  For information on how you can participate in the Full Service program, reference the Electronic Documentation and Intelligent Mail: Ready, Set, Go! guide located on ribbs.usps.gov at the following URL: http://ribbs.usps.gov/intelligentmail_guides/documents/tech_guides/eDocandIntelligentMailReadySetGov1_7.pdf

March 13, 2009

 
The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:

• The Postal Service said its most recent price adjustment will take effect May 11. Most mailers are just beginning to understand the effects these prices will have on their companies and mailing profiles. The Postal Service is giving its customers few ways to get around the price increases in this tough economy.
• The Postal Service this week told American Postal Workers Union leaders it is abandoning plans to outsource the work performed at 21 Bulk Mail Centers. Instead, the USPS will revamp the BMC network. The country’s financial crisis and the subsequent drop in the volume of flats prompted the change.
• The Postal Service this week told American Postal Workers Union leaders it is abandoning plans to outsource the work performed at 21 Bulk Mail Centers. Instead, the USPS will revamp the BMC network. The country’s financial crisis and the subsequent drop in the volume of flats prompted the change.
• The Postal Service this week told American Postal Workers Union leaders it is abandoning plans to outsource the work performed at 21 Bulk Mail Centers. Instead, the USPS will revamp the BMC network. The country’s financial crisis and the subsequent drop in the volume of flats prompted the change.
• Newspaper Association of America Vice President Paul Boyle says the Postal Service’s decision to enact a new rate that is double the rate of inflation on daily newspapers using High Density Enhanced Carrier Route to deliver of advertising inserts will cost the USPS dearly. He says the Postal Service’s “mistake” will drive newspapers to move their products out of the postal system, and others will have to “pay the freight.”
• Gene Del Polito explains and defends the Postmaster General’s compensation in this postal perspective.
• National League of Postmasters legislative consultant Robert J. Brinkmann examines the ideas and reasons behind H.R. 22, which would relieve some of the Postal Service’s financial obligation to fund retiree health benefits for the next eight years.
• President Obama signs omnibus appropriations bill. PRC hosts International Postal Regulatory Dialogue. USPS seeks innovations online. Postal Service OIG posts latest blog, invites comments. NALC national food drive set for May 9. Pitney Bowes CEO honored with volunteerism award. BSI Management Systems announces environmental certification service.

The PostCom Bulletin is distributed via NetGram

On the Postal Regulatory Commission web site:

Rule: Daily listing
ACR2008 "Notice of the United States Postal Service of Filing of USPS-FY08-NP36"
Link: http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62591/Notice.FY08.NP36.pdf

CP2009-26 "Request of the United States Postal Service to Add Priority Mail Contract 5 to Competitive Product List and Notice of Establishment of Rates and Class Not of General Applicability"
Link: http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62579/Request%20PM%20contract%205.pdf

MC2009-21 "Request of the United States Postal Service to Add Priority Mail Contract 5 to Competitive Product List and Notice of Establishment of Rates and Class Not of General Applicability"
Link: http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62579/Request%20PM%20contract%205.pdf

DMM Advisory: Reminder — New Address Placement Standards for Commercial Flat-Size Mail. New standards for commercial flat-size mail go into effect on 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. We proposed the new standards in the Federal Register on October 10, 2007, and published the final standards in the Federal Register on May 7, 2008, and in the Postal Bulletin on February 12, 2009. For Standard Mail and Periodicals mailings that are not in compliance, the appropriate First-Class Mail prices apply. As an example, Standard Mail or Periodicals automation flats with addresses not in the top half of the piece would pay the automation First-Class Mail flats prices appropriate for the weight of the piece. Presorted Bound Printed Matter, Media Mail, or Library Mail flats with noncompliant addresses are charged the nonpresorted flats prices within the same class of mail.

On the PRC web site:

Rule: Daily listing
CP2009-23 Order No. 190 - Review of Notice Concerning Changes in Rates of General Applicability for Competitive Products
Link: http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62566/Order_No_190.doc
http://www.prc.gov/docs/62/62566/Order_No_190.pdf

The Iowa City Press-Citizen has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service, facing a sharp drop in mail volume, will change its operations, staffing and facilities to match the decline, officials announced Thursday. The U.S. Postal Service’s Des Moines-based Hawkeye District, which includes more than 800 post offices across Iowa and the Quad Cities communities in Illinois, has seen total mail volume decline by nearly 12 percent this year. Iowa City Postmaster Doug Curtiss said the postal service has been reducing staffing as the volume of mail has declined, but he said the latest changes do not mean additional reductions."

From Mail Moves America: "The City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors will have a hearing on the non-binding resolution calling on the State of California to enact legislation to establish a Do Not Mail registry.  The hearing will be on March 23rd at 10:30." 

March 12, 2009

On Wednesday, March 11, the President signed H.R. 1105,  (P.L. 111-8) making omnibus appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009.  For the Postal Service, the measure includes $111,831,000 for payment to the Postal Service Fund, including $29,000,000 for repayment of revenue forgone.  An advanced appropriation of $82,831,000 (not available until October 1, 2009) is provided to continue free mail for the blind and overseas voters. [EdNote: This is NOT a bill that will do anything about the Postal Service's postal retiree health payments.]

The Associated Press has reported that "Saying he was "deeply sorry and ashamed," Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty Thursday to pulling off perhaps the biggest swindle in Wall Street history and was immediately led off to jail in handcuffs after his seething victims applauded in the courtroom. Court papers say Madoff hired many people with little or no training or experience in the securities industry to serve as a secretive "back office" for his investment advisory business. He generated or had employees generate "tens of thousands of account statements and other documents through the U.S. Postal Service, operating a massive Ponzi scheme," prosecutors said."

According to the Coshocton Tribune, "The U.S. Postal Service is conducting a study to move the mail processing at Zanesville to Columbus. This will affect all mail service within the 437-438 ZIP code areas. We know the Postal Service, as a result of this consolidation, will no longer be as efficient or capable of meeting delivery standards set by Congress in late 2006."

PrintWeek has reported that "The Royal Mail has launched a new online resource aimed at helping marketers get the most out of their direct mail campaigns and how it can integrate with other electronic media. The Mail Media Centre, which is being positioned at the UK’s top 3,000 advertisers and 500 key agencies, has been welcomed by figures in the direct mail industry calling it "a mature approach".

From PR Newswire: "The "Three Rs" take on a more modern meaning today as the U.S. Postal Service makes it easier for Post Office Box customers across the country to recycle their mail. "Read, Respond, Recycle" is the banner under which the Postal Service will reach out to postal customers with a convenient, environmentally responsible alternative to bringing home or discarding their PO Box mail. The Post Office Box Lobby Recycling program is expanding to 1,844 new sites, bringing the total of participating post offices to more than 5,900. The program builds on the success of similar programs that have been ongoing in the northeast part of the United States for more than 10 years. Lobby recycling helps divert paper waste from landfills, reducing the amount of virgin fiber from trees needed to produce more paper and eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from solid waste disposal."

Vietnam Net Bridge has reported that "The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) co-hosted a workshop in Hanoi on March 11 to create opportunities for Vietnamese and European Union (EU) businesses to explore and establish long-term partnerships. According to the MoIT, two-way trade value between Vietnam and Belgium last year reached US$1.4 billion, of which US$1.019 billion came from Vietnamese exports, up by 20 percent against 2007. However, Belgian investment in Vietnam remains modest. At the end of 2008, Belgium had only 32 projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital of US$77.6 million, ranking 37th among the foreign investors. Its investments mainly focus on heavy industry, food processing, agro-forestry development, transport, postal services, construction and jewellery making." 

Editor & Publisher has reported that "In the new edition of E&P's "Fitz & Jen Give You the Business" podcast: The United States Postal Service is at it again. Come spring, it plans to stick it to one of its biggest customers: newspapers. Editor-at-Large Mark Fitzgerald and Associate Editor Jennifer Saba aren't just talking about the countless small dailies and weeklies that use the USPS for delivery; big metros drop a lot of money with the Pony Express for distributing Total Market Coverage products."

The BBC has reported that "Concerns about the withdrawal of a post bus is to be raised in a forthcoming meeting between a Scottish Government minister and Royal Mail."

The DM Bulletin has reported that "Card supplier the Plastic Card Shop is launching an ecocard range, made out of recycled materials, so that businesses can produce loyalty programmes and gift cards while still adhering to their CSR policy."

According to Lancaster Online, "Times are tough at the U.S. Postal Service ... unless you happen to be the top dog. While the postal service's fortunes continued a downward slide, Postmaster General John E. Potter has seen his personal fortunes rise by 40 percent since 2006. In 2008 alone, Potter received a $264,000 annual salary and a compensation-and-retirement package (much of it deferred to later years) worth more than $800,000, according to the Washington Times. The compensation includes a $135,000 pay-for-performance bonus for "effective leadership" in 2008 &tstr; a year when the Postal Service recorded a $2.8 billion net loss. Potter apparently didn't ask for the salary boost. It was advanced by the Postal Board of Governors, with the blessing of Congress, first in 2006, when the postmaster's base salary went from $186,000 to $235,000. From that point forward, Potter's paycheck only has gotten fatter. His compensation also includes security, life-insurance premiums, parking, spousal travel and airline-club membership &tstr; perks usually reserved for corporate executives. Indeed, the postmaster is being treated as though he is a high-flying Wall Street dealmaker or Fortune 500 CEO, the guys who are paid fortunes while their companies are failing or have sought bankruptcy protection."

Guide2Nz has reported that "The New Zealand Post Group reported a flat half-year net profit, as its banking services segment continued to grow in importance while its postal services faltered. The state owned enterprise made a net profit of $52.8 million in the six months to December on revenue from operations of $656.2 million. Group profit before tax declined 6.7 percent to $69.9m. The interim dividend being paid to the Government is being cut to $6.9m, compared to $16.9m for the corresponding previous half year. Letter volumes were down about 6 percent, with the decline across domestic and international letters and unaddressed mail. The company said the fall off was caused by electronic substitution, economic climate, and competition." See also Scoop, the New Zealand Herald, and TVNZ.

According to the Los Angeles Times, "Millions of Americans receive online versions of their bills and bank statements. But Stark is one of tens of thousands who have decided they don't need any physical mail, be it love letters or advertising come-ons. Instead of plodding down to the mailbox, they open their Web browsers. Rather than stuff file cabinets with paper, they keep their mail online. Analysts say it's too soon to tell whether digital mail is the next big thing, and skeptics, including the U.S. Postal Service, abound. Still, as consumers become more tied to the digital world, Web-based snail mail services are expanding."

From PR Web: "Business Maiilers who are interested in participating in Intelligent Mail® Full Service by November 2009 when the initial published rate discounts start, should have started PostalOne!® CAT (Customer Acceptance Testing) no later than March 31, 2009. The Postal Service will begin to shift resources from currently helping companies with their PostalOne!® CAT and Parallel testing applications to Intelligent Mail® Full Service readiness and certification. They will start putting fewer resources into companies that want to get into PostalOne!® and more resources on those companies using PostalOne!® to complete Intelligent Mail Full Service testing. The Postal Service will start shifting their limited resources into certifying companies that have already started with eDocs to be Intelligent Mail® Full Service certified."

FinanzNachrichten has published the 2008 annual results for Österreichische Post AG. See also EasyBourse,

The Canton Repository has reported that "U.S. Rep. John Boccieri wants the U.S. Postal Service’s inspector general to investigate whether postal officials are telling the truth when they say the move of stamped first-class mail processing from Canton to Akron won’t affect delivery times."

The Financial Times has reported that "The “shrill” union opposition to government plans to part-privatise Royal Mail is making it harder to sell a stake in the state-owned postal operator, Lord Mandelson warned on Tuesday. The government is conducting negotiations over the sale of a 30 per cent stake in Royal Mail in tandem with legislation now going through parliament to effect the contentious deal."

You can find a copy of the UPS quarterly financial report on Yahoo! Finance.

From PR Newswire: "The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) announced today that the nation's largest food drive to combat hunger will be conducted this year on Saturday, May 9. On that day, letter carriers will collect non-perishable donations from homes as they deliver mail along their postal routes. The 17th annual NALC National Food Drive to "Stamp Out Hunger" is the largest one-day food drive in the nation. Carriers collected a record 73.1 million pounds of food in last year's drive. The drive is held annually on the second Saturday in May in over 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands."

The Norwalk Advocate has reported that "The Volunteer Center of Southwestern Fairfield County honored Martin with the nonprofit agency's Heart of Gold award for his work with literacy programs at Pitney Bowes, the Stamford corporation that is the world's largest maker of postal meters. Martin sits on the board of the Pitney Bowes Foundation and several other boards in three areas -- literacy, substance abuse and orphanages."

According to Forbes, "The cost of stamps keeps going up, but small and midsize businesses still need to mail catalogs, sale promotions, and reminders to clients and customers. Or do they? Online advertising expert Thomas Harpointner, chief executive of e-business marketing firm AIS Media, has some wise words about snail mail vs. e-mail. He addresses customers' online security concerns, the (unavoidable) pitfalls of spam, and the future of online marketing (hint: smartphones)."

The Baltimore Examiner has reported that "In what can only be described as further misuse of power and money, the United States Post Office has now come under fire. It was reported this past week that the USPS has been involved in the purchasing and selling of homes. This news comes on the heels of the Postmaster General appearing before Congress laying out the case for their financial crisis.   Postmaster General has come before Congress indicating that the service was considering cutting service a day during the week. This move was in response to troubling figures for fiscal year 2010, and the steady decline in the use of postal services.   Republican Senator Chuck Grassley from Iowa, the ranking republican on the Senate Finance Committee, has indicated his disgust with the situation and has insisted that the Post Office Inspector General issue an investigation of the matter. The office has indicated that a report is in the works."

The Barnacle has reported that "Minister for Works, Physical Development, Public Utilities and the Environment, Hon. Joseph Gilbert urged workers of the Grenada Postal Corporation (GPC) to be more productive in order to face the challenges ahead. The Minister along with the Board of Directors met with workers of the Corporation on Wednesday 4th March 2009, pledging his Ministry’s support to the Corporation’s success."

The International Herald Tribune has reported that "German mail and logistics company Deutsche Post AG could shorten worker hours if the current downturn continues to affect postal volumes, the company's chief executive said Wednesday."

The Press Association has reported that "The postal workers union has claimed it was being "gagged" after adverts it paid for as part of its campaign against part-privatisation of the Royal Mail were suddenly taken down. The Communication Workers Union bought space for adverts to appear at Westminster Tube station, close to Parliament, reading Keep The Post Public. The adverts were placed at the underground station on Monday and were due to stay for two weeks but the union said they had been taken down. Officials were told the reason was because the ads contravened a clause about "images or messages that relate to matters of public controversy and sensitivity".

SNP News has reported that "Speaking after Prime Minister’s Questions, at which Gordon Brown faced embarrassing questioning from his own backbenchers on plans for the part-privatisation of Royal Mail, SNP Postal Affairs spokesperson Mike Weir MP said: "Gordon Brown is on a collision course with his own party over plans to privatise Royal Mail. "It says something when the most uncomfortable questions to the Prime Minister are coming from his own backbenchers."

According to Hellmail, the British "Prime Minister has reaffirmed his commitment to postal reform."

The Nation has reported that "You may have heard that the United States Postal Service is in dire financial straits, having lost $2.8 billion in 2008 and on track to lose twice that much this year. Things are so bad that the Postmaster General recently asked Congress for permission to curtail mail delivery six-days a week. This matters because the USPS continues to provide a vital public service. The Post Office not only reliably delivers political periodicals like The Nation -- a class of content vital to a functioning democracy -- to anyone anywhere in the country, but the mails still serve to bind our vast populace together, with many post offices serving as de facto community centers. In this time of fiscal crisis, there is thankfully an easy way to support the USPS in the form of House Resolution 22. This arcane but very important legislation in the House, carrying 76 co-sponsors, calls for a change in the accounting treatment of retiree health benefits for USPS workers – a change that would not affect employee benefits, or raise government costs, but would make it far easier for the USPS to balance its books, as required by law, without drastic service cuts or layoffs."

B2B has reported that "Marketers haven’t suspended their use of innovative online approaches because of the harsh economy and tight budgets, but they have become more selective about the projects they pursue, said speakers at BtoB’s NetMarketing Breakfast on Wednesday. Greg Richards, director of global online strategy and user experience at direct mail company Pitney Bowes, described a new Pitney Bowes initiative aimed at answering customer queries about U.S. Postal Service rate changes on a Web site, rather than through costly call-center interactions." 

The Timaru Herald has reported that "New Zealand Post Group reported a half-year profit of $52.8 million, as the contribution from Kiwibank grew but postal services declined. The result for the six months to December was barely changed from the corresponding period a year earlier."

KTVO has reported that "A northeast Missouri woman's 1,100 baby chicks were lost in the mail, but now they've arrived at their destination."

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has released the 2009 Response Rate Report.   This report provides key budgeting and performance benchmarks to help marketers develop comprehensive, results oriented campaigns, as well as improve their overall performance.   DMA initially created this report to best answer the question:  “What is the typical response rate for a direct marketing campaign in my profession, and what channels will yield the best response?” 

Some findings from this year’s report: 

• Paid Search is less than 10 percent of overall marketing budgets (8.2 percent) but combined with organic Search Engine Optimization, Search is nearly a third of marketers’ online budgets.

• Outbound telemarketing had the highest rate of all media (4.4 percent for house lists and 2.9 percent for prospect lists).

• Thirty-five percent of marketing budgets are allocated to direct mail, although this number will likely shrink slightly in the coming years as digital media take an increasing share of marketing spending.

• Response rates were higher than in previous years, perhaps as a result of better list management and more sophisticated targeting.

• The Catalog and Retail segment outperforms other industries in direct mail response rates.

PostCom welcomes its newest member: Whittier Mailing Products, Inc. 13019 Park Street Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670-4005 represented by Steve Keithly Vice President & General Manager

 

Dow Jones has reported that "Deutsche Post AG has presented its new strategy that focuses on quality and new products at its mail unit and cross- divisional collaboration at its logistics division. As part of the plan, called "Strategy 2015," the company will rename Deutsche Post World Net, which encompasses the mail and logistics business, as Deutsche Post DHL. The holding company will remain Deutsche Post AG."

Geek Sugar has reported that a new "Fedex iPhone app makes waiting for a package less painful."

From PR Newswire: "Ken May and Bill Doherty are excited to join Warehouse86 Ventures, LLC as Chairman and CEO, respectively. Despite a down economy, Warehouse86 is anticipating growth and is looking forward to the advancement of the unique one-stop liquidation company under the new leadership."

BSI Management Systems has announced the development of a certification service for PAS 2020 that will enable mailers to demonstrate to both clients and regulators that they are taking environmental responsibilities seriously and taking steps to improve environmental performance relating to direct marketing activities. The specification focuses on establishing a set of environmental objectives, performance levels and indicators for different environmental aspects of a direct marketing campaign.  The indicators provide an indirect measure of a direct marketing campaign’s environmental impact.

March 11, 2009

The Guardian has reported that "Yesterday saw the second reading of the postal bill that will, if passed, see the break-up of Royal Mail – with a large part of it sold to a private bidder (possibly the none-too-squeaky-clean TNT, accused only this week of tax-dodging, union-bashing, wage-cutting and poaching Royal Mail business). Lord Mandelson opened proceedings in the Lords and denounced those who peddle "fiction" about this bill and the government's intentions for Royal Mail. Much of his obloquy was directed at those opponents of the bill who, he said, put out misleading information – such as the fact that Royal Mail was going to be broken up and not publicly owned any more. In the same speech he confirmed that 30% of Royal Mail is now up for sale, so it won't be publicly owned, it will be part publicly owned. But Mandelson was far from proving his opponents' inability to distinguish between fact and fiction."

From Alibaba: "Express Mail Service (EMS) is an international express postal service offered by postal-administration members of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) which created the EMS Cooperative in 1998 within the framework of the UPU, a specialized agency of the United Nations, to promote the harmonization and development of postal services worldwide. Currently EMS is offered by 153 of the 191 UPU member countries' postal authorities and an integral part of their normal postal services. Seven additional countries have arrangements to deliver EMS items. An independent auditor measures the express delivery performance of all international EMS operators and each member is awarded a Gold, Silver, or Bronze certificate depending on their yearly performance. These countries are recorded in the EMS Cooperative's Hall of Fame."

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

The Belgian La Poste’s high reserve funds seem to have whetted certain appetites. Steven Vanackere, Belgium’s minister of civil service and public enterprises, said last week that the post had more cash than strictly necessary for La Poste’s operations. Daily »Le Soir« (10.03) calculated that the post’s surplus reserve funds amounted to around 1bn euros. Apparently, shareholders are now claiming a large portion of that money. Mr Vanackere did not specify when such a "cash-out" might take place, stating that this was a decision for the shareholders to make.
Deutsche Post has demanded permission to retain its big customer VAT privilege for longer.
The French postal workers’ union CFTC wants the total working time for staff on consecutive temporary employment contracts to count as one period of employment.
The Swedish postal workers’ trade union SEKO Posten is accusing the post of replacing full-time jobs with part-time positions across the board.
The U.S. Postal Service has made an official declaration to the effect that the era of volume growth now seems to be over. In his speech at the World Mail & Express Americas conference in Miami, chief operating officer and deputy postmaster general Pat Donahoe warned delegates that the US postal sector would probably never again exceed the 200-billion items per annum threshold.
Post Danmark and PBS, a company specialising in payment systems, have taken over the digital mailbox service e-Boks.
The race for a majority stake in the Jordanian post is on. A 74% share in Jordan Post Company is said to be up for grabs. Postal, express and courier service providers are invited to bid as well as consortiums with at least one member from the aforementioned industries.
For DHL important key express markets in Europe showed a downward trend in 2008.
The Belgian post still seems to be interested in acquiring a stake in Tachimetafores ELTA, the Greek post Elta’s express subsidiary.
"ParcelNet was yesterday; Hermes is tomorrow" - the British B2C parcel service (turnover: 255.7m euros; 110 million consignments) will operate under the Hermes brand name with effect from 12 March.
The Russian post’s EMS service enjoyed a positive development in January despite the bleak economic situation.
A government-appointed committee looking at the future of the Brazilian post (CEP News 05/09) is primarily concerned with the privatisation of ECT, the trade union claims.
Eesti Post is not expecting to lose more than around 6% in turnover when the postal market in Estonia is opened to competition.
Government-owned Ukrpochta wants to open 245 mobile post offices by the end of this year. The Ukrainian post’s general director Taisija Zamkovaja said the introduction of mobile branches was part of the modernisation programme that is set to run until 2013. The mobile branches will serve and give citizens in more remote and less populated areas of the Ukraine access to the postal network.
Kenya Post (PCK) plans to enter the hybrid business.
British B2C parcel specialist Home Delivery Network (HDNL) will in future alert customers per SMS of the arrival of a consignment.
SkyPostal Networks, which operates a mail delivery network in South America and the Caribbean, has reinforced its network through an acquisition. Last week SkyPostal announced the takeover of Colombian Logistics Enterprises, Ltda, one of two private providers of international mail services in Colombia.
Last Thursday the Swiss Ministry for the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication (UVEK) announced the resignation of Peter Sany, member of Schweizerische Post’s board of directors, at the end of March. The official reason given was the Mr Sany resigns to avoid any conflict of interest in connection with his position as chief technology officer with UBS.

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.)

Press Release: "The Pitney Bowes Connection Center was established to help professionals build stronger connections with their customers through the use of various professional insights and opportunities.  The site features white papers, Webinars, podcasts, and other resources to assist executives in their professional development.  All resources on the site are free and can be shared with colleagues and customers." 

CNET News has reported that "By now, just about everyone who follows the media industry has heard of the deep fiscal troubles of The New York Times. But even as the paper does its best for all the news that's fit for newsprint, it is also conducting experiments aimed at moving itself into the forefront of digital journalism. At the Emerging Technologies conference (ETech) on Tuesday, Nick Bilton, the design integration editor and user interface specialist at the Times' research and development lab, spoke about "sensors, smart content, and the future of news," essentially a recap of some of the most forward-thinking projects coming from the tech-savvy minds at the paper of record."

From Globe Newswire: "Descartes Systems Group, a global on-demand software-as-a-service (SaaS) logistics solutions provider, acquired privately-held Scancode Systems Inc. (www.scancode.com), a developer and integrator of carrier-compliant parcel and less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping solutions, in an all-cash transaction."

Transport Intelligence has reported that "According to official figures released by China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's logistics market grew by 15.4% in 2008 to reach CNY2 trillion (US$290bn). Although dwarfing growth in many other countries, the rate slowed by 4.5 percentage points from the previous year. The NRDC stated that the lower growth in 2008 was due to severe weather conditions at the beginning of the year, the huge earthquake which occurred in part of the country in May and, of course, the fallout from the global economic slowdown."

"Mailers Council Executive Director Robert E. McLean issued the following statement in response to recent comments regarding the compensation for Postmaster General Jack Potter."

According to Hellmail, "Lord Mandelson's bill to part-privatise the Royal Mail has been voted through by the Lords in its second and final reading. That now leaves it up to the government to push it through the House of Commons in a somewhat bitter atmosphere but most still predict the bill will be passed, even if mostly through support by opposition members. Desite a rebellion by Labour MPS, a row which I suspect touches the very heart of new/old Labour ideals, its a bill that the government is determined to put into action regardless. In some respects, loading the entire affair on Mandelson was a master stroke as it distanced Brown from what is an unpleasant task to say the least. How often have we heard the Prime Minister mention the Royal Mail? Not too often."

The Guardian has reported that "Lord Mandelson has warned that "shrill" opposition to his part-privatisation of the Royal Mail risks lowering the sum the government realises by selling a 30% stake. The business secretary said yesterday that the dispute made it harder to find a partner, and hinted for the first time that he will accept Tory and Liberal Democrat calls to give Post Office staff a significant shareholding in the reorganised firm."

The Aberdeen Press and Journal has reported that "The postal workers union confirmed last night Labour MPs in the north and north-east are among those it is targeting in an attempt to halt government plans to part-privatise Royal Mail."

The Associated Press has reported that "Federal investigators say a magician who claimed he packaged himself and rode a cargo plane on a cross-country flight from upstate New York to Las Vegas was pulling off a hoax. Wade Whitcomb said he folded himself into a cramped wooden crate for the 26-hour trip on a United Parcel Service truck and a UPS plane. Whitcomb said he made the trip last November as a publicity stunt for a buddy's Web site. He posted videos of the purported trip shot with tiny cameras pointed out of the crate and one inside focused on him."

According to Robert Brinkmann, Legislative Consultant to the National League of Postmasters,"The battle to refinance retiree health benefits is in full swing on Capitol Hill. H.R. 22 has been introduced in the House and, to date, there is no Senate companion. There was some talk of trying to get this into the stimulus package, but that just didn’t work out for a variety of reasons. Consequently, we are looking first for appropriate champions for the issue in the Senate as well as appropriate vehicles in both houses."

According to Teletext National News, "A bid to kill off the Postal Services Bill was surprisingly withdrawn but ministers will face much stiffer opposition when it reaches the Commons." See also Hellmail.

"This is to provide clarification regarding plans to test sample folded self-mailers before developing new mailing standards. The intent is still to have test participants work through a coordinator for each participating member association. We plan to have a kick-off meeting and issue a template for documenting the specific characteristics and quantity of each design, along with the instructions for submitting samples. Participating companies will be given ample time to prepare and submit samples for testing. Your participation and help to make this a successful effort is appreciated."

The following has been posted on the Postal Regulatory Commission web site:

March 10, 2009

The National Association of Major Mail Users has reported that "There has been speculation in the press about a potential privatization of Canada Post Corporation - this despite the fact that the framework for the 2008 hearings by the Strategic Review Advisory Panel stated clearly privatization was not an option. The Panel’s report was submitted to government in December, and the Hon. Rob Merrifield, Minister of State for Transport, is reportedly preparing to release the report and recommendations this month. Privatization does not seem likely according to several industry observers, and given the insight provided to the Panel during the review process as well as website submissions, apparently would not be well received by Canadians or Canadian business at this point."

In a letter to the editor of the PostCom Bulletin, Paul J. Boyle, Senior Vice President/Public Policy, Newspaper Association of America wrote: "Like many of my colleagues in the postal community, I am a faithful reader of the PostCom Bulletin. I read it because it contains useful information, but it is also very entertaining, especially when the editor goes on one of his rants. From time to time, over the years, the PostCom Bulletin has taken aim at daily newspapers. This usually prompts a smile and a shake of the head. More than any other time, I feel compelled to respond to the editorial in the March 6, 2009 Bulletin on NAA’s filing before the Postal Regulatory Commission on the new postal rates. Unfortunately, by picking and choosing from NAA comments for heightened entertainment value, the central point of NAA comments was omitted." 

Viet Nam News has reported that "Postal charges for a letter will increase from VND800 to VND2,000 from May 1."

Reuters has reported that "Deutsche Post on Tuesday named Lawrence Rosen as its new chief financial officer, replacing John Allan, who will step down at the end of June."

The Earth Times has reported that "Canada Post, Canada’s postal service, has chosen the Multi-Channel Integration Server™ (MCIS) from AMC Technology L.L.C. to integrate their SAP CRM and Nortel contact center implementations. Resulting improvements in operational efficiency will decrease call times and enhance the customer experience."

According to PC World, "There's no question about journalism's ability to survive. It will make it. Whether it be by monstrous organizations or homemade blogs, the news will always be found. What most people have to get used to, now that e-Ink and URLs are here to stay, is the medium. While it's sad to see the old bastions go -- especially due to the massive staff cuts such changes imply -- now is a unique epoch in which we can witness the future of how events are reported."

According to the Wall Street Journal, "Few doubt the importance of consumer spending to the U.S. economy and its multiplier effect on the global economy, but what is underappreciated is the role of credit-card availability in that spending. Inevitably, credit lines will continue to be reduced across the system, but the velocity at which it is already occurring and will continue to occur will result in unintended consequences for consumer confidence, spending and the overall economy. Home price depreciation has been a more reliable determinant of consumer behavior than FICO scores. Hence, lenders have reduced credit lines based upon "zip codes," or where home price depreciation has been most acute. Such a strategy carries the obvious hazard of putting good customers in more vulnerable liquidity positions simply because they live in a higher risk zip code."  

The Washington Post has reported that "The Obama administration is aggressively reworking U.S. trade policy to more strongly emphasize domestic and social issues, from the displacement of American workers to climate change."

Docket No. MC2008-1 (Phase II) Review of Nonpostal Services: Presiding Officer’s Ruling No. 1 established procedural dates for parties to indicate their interest in conducting discovery directed to the Postal Service, for the Postal Service to advise on the availability of its witnesses for hearing, and for the Postal Service to identify the statements and materials that constitute its direct case in this proceeding.1 No party requests discovery of the Postal Service. Although no party sought discovery, the Presiding Officer intends to request additional information from the Postal Service regarding outstanding issues in this proceeding. Such requests will be forthcoming shortly.

eGov Monitor has reported that "The internet has become a convenient alternative to window-shopping and is shaping the way that consumers think about purchases. For example, 3 in 5 Europeans who have internet access at home have compared prices online before making a purchase, either online or in a physical store. From an EU perspective, there are still a number of structural barriers to a fully functioning online internal market. This is a pity at a time when consumers are celebrating the borderless nature of the internet. For this reason, this report focuses on the cross-border aspects of internet retailing."

As the government continues taking its Royal Mail reforms through Parliament, an ePolitix.com survey shows hostility to the plans.

The Financial Times has reported that "The postal workers' union is ratcheting up the pressure on Labour MPs who refuse to back its fight against government plans to part-privatise Royal Mail, by threatening to mount campaigns in their constituencies. MPs sponsored by other unions in particular will be targeted."

According to The Mirror, "Labour peers yesterday vowed to fight a Royal Mail sale "every step of the way".

DutchNews.nl has reported that "Postal unions have agreed a 15% wage cut for the 23,000 workers at TNT Post in return for a promise that there will not be any compulsory redundancies at the firm during the first three years of the pay deal."

Graphic Arts Online has reported that "Direct Group, a fully integrated direct marketing solutions provider, announced today that it has been awarded a $446,000 New Jersey Department of Labor grant awarded through Sewell, N.J.-based Gloucester County College (GCC). The grant, which will be used to expand the technical and leadership skills of the company’s 900-plus employees through training courses, is the largest customized training grant ever offered by the college’s Continuing Education Division."

According to noted sociologist Paul Starr writing in The New Republic, "We take newspapers for granted. They have been so integral a part of daily life in America, so central to politics and culture and business, and so powerful and profitable in their own right, that it is easy to forget what a remarkable historical invention they are. Public goods are notoriously under-produced in the marketplace, and news is a public good--and yet, since the mid-nineteenth century, newspapers have produced news in abundance at a cheap price to readers and without need of direct subsidy. More than any other medium, newspapers have been our eyes on the state, our check on private abuses, our civic alarm systems."

And an alternative point of view in The New Republic written by Yochai Benkler: "The heart of Paul Starr's characteristically thoughtful and well-researched argument is that a core aspect of American democracy has long depended on one-newspaper-town monopolies and a lack of media choice. First, because dailies were monopolies, they could charge very high fees from advertisers. These created the slack out of which newspapers could afford to subsidize those parts of the paper that were important public goods--news and investigative reporting. But these high fees from advertisers are disappearing. Second, part of the democratic role of newspapers has been the political education of the distracted masses. On their way to local job listings and sports pages, readers would inevitably stumble over the front page local corruption story; or coverage of a war. This incidental exposure created a minimally-informed citizenry capable of checking the worst excesses of corrupt government. The dispersion of attention, begun with cable and talk radio and crowned by the Internet, has led to a more inert and uninformed general public. The most politically engaged members of society have used the new diversity of offerings to flock together and become better informed than they could possibly have been in the past. But they are also more partisan. Because of these twin effects, the demise of the 20th century business model of newspapers threatens to undermine the way our democracy functions and to introduce a new era of corruption." 

MediaDailyNews has reported that "Hit with a double whammy of secular shifts in media consumption and a sharp economic downturn, McClatchy Co. said Monday it will cut another 15% of its workforce, equaling about 1,600 positions, beginning in the next couple of weeks. It will also cut salaries across the board, including a 15% reduction for Chairman and CEO Gary Pruitt."

BtoB has reported that "A pending postal rate increase, due in May and averaging about 4%, threatens to put further pressure on direct mailers and magazine publishers. “Partly due to the [U.S.] Postal Service's rising postal rates, as well as the slumping economy and falling response rates, the impact on direct mail has been called a death spiral,” said Jonathan Margulies, director of the Winterberry Group, an advertising and marketing services consultancy. According to David Straus, Washington, D.C.-based counsel for American Business Media, an association of business media companies, the typical magazine publisher member of ABM may see a postal increase as high as about 6.5%. “And unfortunately, there will be a small number in the 10%-to-11% range, those that mail with a large number of firm bundles,” he said. The postal rate hikes come at a particularly challenging time for magazine publishers. Media audit company BPA Worldwide said last month that as many as 15% of publications audited by the group will likely discontinue their BPA membership this year. Some publications have been shuttered, while others are dropping memberships to cut costs, according to BPA."

Hellmail has reported that "The Communication Workers Union said this week that plans by Lord Mandelson to part-privatise the Royal Mail conflict with the British constitution."

The Paypers has reported that "Danish payment systems and services operator PBS teams up with postal company Post Danmark to acquire the shares held by IT e-government services firm KMD in e-Boks, a digital mailbox service where Danish residents electronically receive and file all their correspondence with governmental institutions."

March 9, 2009

The latest blog entry has been posted on the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General’s Internet site “Pushing the Envelope.” The public, mailers, postal employees, and other stakeholders are invited to weigh in on the online discussions taking place.  To view the site, visit http://blog.uspsoig.gov/.    Click-N-Ship® — Have You Used It?  An OIG staffer tried Click-N-Ship® over the holidays and wrote about her experience.  The blog queries about your experience using Click-N-Ship® and what ideas you have for the Postal Service to promote or improve this service further.    You can visit Office of Inspector General’s public website at:  www.uspsoig.gov.  If you have additional questions, please contact Communication and Work Life Director Agapi Doulaveris at 703.248.2322.

NEW IN CONGRESS: HR 1251 Sponsor: Weiner, Anthony (D-N.Y.) Official Title: A bill to amend Title 39, United States Code, to provide that the United States Postal Service may not carry out a change-of-address request unless it first receives a signed confirmation that the request was in fact made by or on behalf of the addressee.

The Association for Postal Commerce (“PostCom”), the Direct Marketing Association, the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, and the Mailing and Fulfillment Service Association (collectively “PostCom et al.”) file these joint comments on the Postal Service’s proposed new standards for domestic mailing services (“Revised Proposal”).

PROGRAM REGISTRATION HOTEL Don't Miss the 43rd Annual PRINT DISTRIBUTION CONFERENCE March 29 - April 1, 2009 Sheraton Sand Key Resort Clearwater, Florida (PostCom is an IDEAlliance Partner) REGISTER ONLINE TODAY!

Press Release: "SPExpress, an Arizona based shipping and logistics company, announced today that Michael Heilman has joined the organization as Director of Business Development.  Mr. Heilman will manage all aspects of SPExpress’ sales and marketing efforts and will report directly to Mich Bayley, President and CEO of SPExpress.   Prior to joining SPExpress, Mr. Heilman held several positions within Airborne Express’ sales organization."

The United States Postal Service® invites commercial companies, entrepreneurs, and creative people to inspire us with:

	New business concepts
	Cutting-edge technologies
	Emerging trends
	Best practices
	Inventive processes
	Innovative approaches

Take the opportunity to tell us about the innovative concepts or business initiatives that you believe will help the United States Postal Service® succeed now and in the future.

You can submit a proposal online. Proposals are thoroughly and equitably evaluated. Relevant proposed business concepts should relate to any or all of these areas:

	New products and services
	Improved financial performance
	Enhancements to existing products, services or operations

To find out if your business idea proposal supports our vision and goals, the United States Postal Service offers an outline of our Corporate Strategic Direction. Our Strategic Business Initiatives Guidelines provide information on the kinds of ideas to submit.

The Brown Daily Herald has reported that "Beginning today, students will get an e-mail notification from University Mail Services when they receive most packages. Instead of the traditional yellow slips placed in mailboxes, students who have received packages from FedEx, UPS, DHL and USPS's Express, Certified, Insured and Delivery Confirmation mail will be notified electronically. Mail Services Manager Fred Yattaw said students will receive the postal tracking numbers of their parcels via e-mail, but they only need to provide their mailbox numbers to claim packages. Students will also be able to pick up their mail by providing the claim numbers."

Media Week has reported that "Royal Mail is launching an online advice centre, targeting leading advertisers and media agencies, with advice on improving the effectiveness of all forms of marketing. The new site, developed by digital and DM agency Digital TMW, launches today and aims to offer brands and media agencies advice on how to maximise return on marketing investment, featuring research from sources such as The Nielsen Company. The site will feature examples of the latest campaigns, media planning strategies and case studies across all marketing channels to help companies maximise their spend."

SNP has reported that "Lord Mandelson’s plans for the part-privatisation of Royal Mail are in "disarray" after the chief executive of Royal Mail launched an attack on TNT, the Dutch company which is front-runner to take a stake in Royal Mail. Adam Crozier, Royal Mail’s chief executive, accuses TNT of poaching customers from the Royal Mail’s profitable European parcels division, and has written to Lord Mandelson’s department demanding the UK government take action to stop TNT from further "damaging" its business."

From Business Wire: "Neopost has introduced a first-of-its-kind technology to the mail preparation process with its new PE-150, a “direct onto documents” Production Postage Printing solution. The PE-150 is a unique, high-speed metering system that literally transforms mailing procedures by applying postage and the Intelligent Mail® Barcode (IMB) directly onto letters and documents after the file has been created. The resulting postage can be displayed either through the address window or an extended return address window."

Reuters has reported that "Dutch mail company TNT NV (TNT.AS) said it had secured new collective labour agreements with several unions representing its domestic postal services staff, which it said will save 125 million euros ($158 million) per year. TNT, Europe's second largest mail and express group after Deutsche Post (DPWGn.DE), will book a one-time charge of 275 million euros to adopt the agreement with Dutch labour unions FNV, BVPP, CNV Publieke Zaak and VPP, it said in a statement on Monday."

The Baltic Course has reported that "Compared to January 2009 the average consumer price level in February 2009 rose by 1.1%. The average prices of goods rose by 1.3%, but prices of services – by 0.6%. Compared to February of previous year, consumer prices have increased by 9.6%. The cease of special offers set price increase for postal services."

From MarketWire: "Italtel, a leading company in the development and integration of products and services for next-generation IP/NGN networks, and Infoblox, a leading company in appliances for reliable and secure delivery of core network services, including domain name resolution (DNS) and IP address assignment (DHCP), will provide Gruppo Poste Italiane with the network infrastructure it needs to enable the company's employees to dynamically connect to the network, navigate it and access services, such as Voice over IP (VoIP), on it."

Transport Intelligence has reported that "TNT Express, the Netherlands-based global business to business express delivery company, is expanding its domestic and international air links in the Russian Far East region. On the domestic front, the company reported it had just launched two time-definite flights (linehauls) between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk and Vladivostok and Novosibirsk."

According to Hellmail, "As companies shed jobs and in some cases go altogether, the impact on Royal Mail this year is likely to follow the trend being felt in the U.S. and elsewhere, where mail volume has dipped markedly. Despite growth in small packets and parcels, a result of growth in ecommerce, overall the decline has continued. If anything, the Ebay boom has reduced an annual decline in mail volume but it has not stopped it. Royal Mail's product base has shifted enormously in more recent years with letters onlt contributing some 1% to profits. Uncertainty in the banking sector has already seem a drop in loan and credit card offers, which were a reasonably good source of revenue for the Royal Mail and as companies look to make savings in the medium term, advertising expenditure across a range of media is being cut back, evident by ITV's recent annmouncement that it has been forced to make savage cuts in order to bring it back into the black."

The Anchorage Daily News has reported that "Postal rates are scheduled to rise nationwide in May, and that means an increase in the cost of shipping rates for bypass mail services to rural Alaska. The state's congressional delegation and Gov. Sarah Palin have asked the U.S. Postal Service to intervene, saying they're concerned about the effect of the new rates on rural communities where people depend on the service but can least afford a price hike as they face rising fuel costs and increasingly dire economic conditions." 

PSNews has reported that "Australia Post has been urged to change its method of assessing community attitudes to proposed changes to postal services.    The Postal Industry Ombudsman, Professor John McMillan, who is also the Commonwealth Ombudsman, investigated the Agency’s method of judging community support for service changes and found it could be improved."

The Financial Times has reported that "The boss of Royal Mail has accused TNT, its Dutch-based rival and a front-runner to buy a stake in the British postal operator, of using underhand tactics to poach business ahead of a planned part-privatisation of the business."

March 8, 2009

Online Athens has noted that "The U.S. Postal Service plans to cut 17 positions and move some operations out of the Athens post office, which has been without a postmaster since the end of January."

The BBC has reported that "The plan to part-privatise Royal Mail is the "last throw of the dice" to secure the future of the postal service, Lord Mandelson has said."

eTaiwan News has reported that:

• Chunghwa Post Co. announced Sunday that it will no longer offer time-deposit service to profit-making corporations, with effect from Monday, based on the spirit of the Savings Law. Chunghwa Post, which maintains banking operations nationwide in addition to its postal services, said that over the past three months its time deposits have tripled, with the majority of new depositors being private business companies.
• Starting Monday, post offices will no longer accept fixed deposits from businesses, Chunghwa Post announced on its Web site. The interest rate on fixed one-month deposits offered by Chunghwa Post stands at 0.29 percent, or 2.9 times higher than the 0.1 percent available at regular banks, attracting more investors but costing the post office, reports said Sunday. The recent amount of money wired into term deposit accounts at Chunghwa Post reportedly increased threefold to NT$100 billion a month recently. 

Editor & Publisher has reported that "An upcoming increase in postal rates could severely impact the delivery cost of newspaper Total Market Coverage products. The Newspaper Association of America warns that a May 11 United States Postal Service hike will favor direct mailers over newspapers. "The rates will place newspapers at a substantial competitive disadvantage to national and local saturation advertising mailers in which newspapers compete for advertising in local markets," said Paul J. Boyle, senior vice president, public policy at the NAA. Newspapers use the USPS to deliver TMC products to non-subscribers, which contain inserts and coupons. The hike will raise prices by as much as 11% on those pieces. In addition, the USPS is offering an incentive program of deep discounts to national advertising mailers for new volumes. The newspaper industry spent $800 million with the USPS in 2006, the last time the data was collected by the NAA. Boyle thinks that number is much higher now."

For an alternative point of view, take a look at some excerpts from the most recent PostCom Bulletin

The Times has reported that "the business secretary, Lord Mandelson, was under renewed pressure last night to scrap the part-privatisation of the Royal Mail after a parliamentary aide quit her post and joined the Labour rebels."

March 7, 2009

  Hellmail has reported that "Italian postal operator, Poste Italiane, reports that it's CEO Massimo Sarmi, and the General Director of Posta Shqiptare, Arqile Gorea, have signed a cooperation agreement for the development of the Albanian national postal service."

The Daily Record has reported that "almost a billion elastic bands a year have to be bought by Royal Mail because so many are left littering the streets. The number of red bands used to bundle mail has more than doubled this decade, leaving the cash-strapped organisation with an annual bill of nearly £1million."

Air Cargo World has reported that "Commenting on the current debate by European leaders of nationalization versus globalization Scott Price, CEO of DHL Express Europe said, “Global trade is the engine for economic recovery and any move towards national protectionism creates the reverse."

The Guardian has reported that "Clegg urges staff stake in Royal Mail."

eTrucker has reported that "Frederick W. Smith, chairman and chief executive officer of FedEx, will lead a line up of high-ranking industry, government and academic leaders addressing, "The Global Green Initiative: Transportation in Transformation," to be held at The University of Memphis’ FedEx Institute of Technology, April 20-22. The challenges and opportunities facing freight and passenger transporters, in view of world energy, infrastructure and technology issues, will be the theme of the three day conference and technology exhibit. The event is organized by the non profit Foundation for Global Mobility and sponsored by a number of public and private entities."

The Alaska Public Radio Network has reported that "Alaska’s Congressional Delegation is warning that the upcoming increase on postal rates will have devastating consequences in Rural Alaska.  Parcel post rates are going up across the country on May 11th.   That increase will be most dramatic for Bypass Mail Customers and will amount to a 50% increase for the largest packages." Download the audio.

Guampdn has reported that "The Guam Police Department executed a search warrant at the former PostNet store at the BalTej Pavilion in Tamuning yesterday, recovering more than 900 parcels. The parcels allegedly were collected by PostNet but never mailed, said Aida R. Pierce, special agent of the GPD Property Crimes Unit. Some date back to mid-2008, she said."

From PR Newswire: "Valassis, one of the nation's leading media and marketing services companies, announced today that more consumers now have access to its RedPlum free-standing insert (FSI) through a distribution shift in select markets via consumers' mailboxes for free in the RedPlum Shared Mail Package along with their grocery and retail circulars. Consumers in a number of markets who already receive the RedPlum mail package in these areas will now find the coupon booklet inside."

According to The Ledger, the Postal Service should "Keep the Saturday deliveries, but eliminate Tuesday deliveries. Because when you think about it, how much valuable mail gets to your home on Tuesdays, anyway? My guess is - not much."

 
The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:

• The USPS this week posted its latest version of the guide that provides a framework for implementing the suite of Intelligent Mail barcodes. The Guide on Intelligent Mail for Letters and Flats also gives details on changes to existing electronic documentation needed to support full-service and basic mailings.
• The Association for Postal Commerce filed comments with the Postal Regulatory Commission urging the PRC to reject a Postal Service proposal to levy a seven-cent surcharge for mail that fails to conform with its Move Update requirements. PostCom said the “proposed surcharge is excessive, unrelated to the costs imposed on the Postal Service by nonconforming mail, and therefore unjust and unreasonable...”
• Many groups see the Postal Service’s recent announcement to increase postal rates as an act that could drive $800 million out of the mailstream. That’s the revenue in annual Standard Mail the Postal Service receives from newspaper Total Market Coverage programs, revenue that has been growing steadily for years.
• The Saturation Mailers Coalition last year held discussions with the Postal Service to present the group’s request for a rate and operations environment to help saturation mailers and the Postal Service build their mutual businesses.
• The Saturation Mailers Coalition last year held discussions with the Postal Service to present the group’s request for a rate and operations environment to help saturation mailers and the Postal Service build their mutual businesses.
• The governor of Alaska wrote to Postmaster General Jack Potter this week, asking him to delay a final decision on increasing Parcel Post rates. Sarah Palin said the postal rate increase has an “exponentially greater impact on Alaskans than those in other states due to the reliance of Alaskans’ on the bypass mail system for food and supplies.” She said the “new 4th class mail rate structure will raise the already high cost of living further and effectively cripple the already fragile bypass mail system.”
• Mary Ann Bennett of The Bennett Group examines the Intelligent Mail Barcode and discovers some interesting surprises for mailers.
• MTAC is looking for a few good groups. NAPUS says Obama budget will cut USPS employee benefits. USPS adds new info for MTAC Intelligent Mail Technical Integration Webinars.
• Postal previews  

The PostCom Bulletin is distributed via NetGram

According to Mark Fallon, President of the Berkshire Company, "The USPS does need to change. Some of the decline in mail volume is temporary, and an improved economy will help. But much of the mail volumes, especially bills and payments are gone, forever. Lower volumes don't mean lower expenses, as the number of delivery points – homes and businesses – continues to expand. To be successful, the USPS needs to bring in new leadership with a renewed focus on service, employee morale, and an efficient operating model. These challenges aren't competing priorities, but complementary issues. And bringing in an outsider may be the only way to be successful."

On March 4 and 5, Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) Chairman Dan G. Blair convened the first-ever “Postal Regulatory Dialogue” at the PRC office in Washington, D.C. to promote greater sharing of information and best practices among postal regulators at an interactive and practical level. Attendees included postal regulators from the State Post Bureau of the People’s Republic of China, Ecuador’s National Postal Agency, Japan‘s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and ANACOM, the National Communications Authority of Portugal. Also in attendance were representatives of the European Commission.

March 6, 2009

From the U.S. Postal Service: "Effective March 2, 2009, William Chatfield is detailed to the position of Manager, Mailing Standards. Bill is an experienced senior Classification Specialist in Mailing Standards and has been an integral part of the teams responsible for initiatives ranging from implementation of new prices and products, the Intelligent Mail barcodes and the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) restructuring."

Posted on this site is an update on the activities that been undertaken by the Mail Moves America coalition. This is an important coalition that deserves the support of everyone whose business interests are either linked to advertising and marketing mail or the preservation of a universal mail delivery system. Check out the MMA web site for more information. A copy of the coalition's membership application has been posted on this site. PostCom is an active member within MMA, and PostCom encourages your company to join and become an active supporting member. As Benjamin Franklin once told his colleagues at an early Continental Congress, "Gentlemen, either we all hang together or we surely will hang separately."

The DM Bulletin has reported that "Proof of how the recession is hitting the US direct marketing industry comes with news that the US Direct Marketing Association is to make a second round of job cuts, hard on the heels of redundancies it made in October. The Chicago-based association [EdNote: Actually, New York-based], which represents the $170bn-plus US direct marketing industry, is laying off 26 employees, a move the organization said was prompted by "economic pressures". It is also planning to rationalize its events calendar, through cancellations or merging conferences and seminars. The job losses have occurred in the association's research and education units."

Intelligent Mail Technical Integration Webinars PLEASE NOTE:  Due to the extraordinary customer demand to attend these webinars, we have expanded access to MeetingPlace lines.  This has necessitated new web conference information.  The new dial-in numbers and new URL are below. The Webinars will be conducted every two weeks on Fridays from 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 pm Eastern Time starting March 6, 2009.  Mailers are requested to forward their questions to imb@usps.gov at least four days in advance of the Webinar.  TO ATTEND THE WEB CONFERENCE AND JOIN WITH AUDIO (No earlier than 15 minutes prior to the start): 1) Browse to:   IM Technical Integration Webinar 2) After the MeetingPlace window is open, click the Phone icon (under the Participant List or in the upper right-hand corner). 3) Click Connect Me, validate or update your phone number and click Connect Me again. 4) When the system calls you press 1 to join. TO ATTEND WITH AUDIO ONLY: From a BlackBerry, select:      866-723-1693x10288185#1 From a phone, dial: Phone Number(s):        866-567-8049 Meeting ID:             0288185

The Hattiesburg American has reported that "The proposal to relocate the U.S. Post Office's outgoing mail operations from Hattiesburg to Gulfport won't be getting a stamp of approval from the Forrest County Board of Supervisors. A faction of postal workers, calling themselves the Committee for the Preservation of the Hattiesburg Postmark, appeared before the board Thursday asking for its support in killing the proposal."

The New York Times has reported that "The nation’s retailers reported sales results for February that were as bleak as those of recent months — yet they were also slightly better than Wall Street was expecting, and a tentative indicator that economic deceleration may be slowing. Retailing analysts cautioned against reading too much into the February figures, predicting that coming months would continue to be difficult for stores as consumers settled into more austere lifestyles."

Advertising Age has reported that "Conde Nast CEO Charles Townsend warned staffers Thursday that more cutbacks were coming. In a memo that began by saluting Conde's "world-class brands and remarkable employees," the CEO strongly implied that it would soon have fewer such brands or employees."

The PostalNews Blog has reported that:

• February employment figures filed by the US Postal Service show career staffing levels are down 4.4% from a year ago. The decline of 29,960 was across the board, affecting all employee categories. The largest decline was in the clerk craft, down 6.7% for a loss of 13,405 jobs. The smaller mailhandler craft suffered a loss of 3,144 jobs, or 5.5%. There were 10,337 fewer career city carriers, a drop of 4.8%. Job categories which had shown increases in earlier periods also showed declines in the current report, with Headquarters shedding 4.7% of its positions, or 135 jobs, and the Office of the Inspector General losing 12, or 1%. Non-career transitional carrier jobs were down by 222 positions, or 1.5%. Rural carriers showed the smallest decline, down 137 jobs or 0.2%.
• A posting on the NAPS member forum this morning indicated that NAPS had been informed by the USPS that the agency intends to close five of its 80 district offices. In a response posted later, NAPS President Ted Keating did not dispute the comment. 

According to the Northern Scot, "one of the issues of the day in Westminster is Lord Mandelson's plans to part-privatise Royal Mail. advertising Having listened to the views expressed by Royal Mail employees and Royal Mail's customers – which is pretty much all of us – it is clear that the great majority of people do not believe that this is the right way forward. The pressure placed on our postal services has been a constant issue in the past 10 years with seemingly campaign after campaign to protect this well-loved national institution. It seems to me that the main reason for the very tough financial situation that Royal Mail finds itself in, with very large liabilities and little or no profit, is very little to do with the effort put in by Royal Mail employees to make the organisation more efficient and everything to do with the lack of a positive policy towards Royal Mail by the Westminster Government."

People Management has reported that "Most of the Ireland’s commercial semi-state companies are in talks with their unions on a pay freeze for the remainder of the year at least. The Gas Board, utilities company Bord na Mona, the Dublin Airport Authority and postal service An Post, have all invited the unions to talks about payment of the first 3.5% pay increase that due under the national pay agreement agreed last September."

Dead Tree Edition has reported that "West Virginia Congressman whose district benefits from U.S. Postal Service pork is trying to prevent the Postal Service from delivering only five days per week. Rep. Nick Rahall and the other co-sponsors of the legislation have not suggested other ways for USPS to close its billion-dollar budget deficit. But here's one for you, Congressman: Shut down some of the Postal Service's superfluous mail-handling facilities in West Virginia, including the four in your district."

At a time when the U.S. Postal Service says it is experiencing a financial crisis, it purchased a $1.2 million home from an employee so he could relocate, a CNN investigation has found.

March 5, 2009

According to Dow Jones, "The U.S. Postal Service said it has gained market share in the weakening domestic package shipping market after being allowed to offer competitive pricing for the first time. The government agency said it has raised the estimated 15% share claimed at Sept. 30 last year for its priority mail service, much of it in the wake of the virtual withdrawal of German rival DHL from the market following a failed and costly six-year expansion. The postal service, or USPS, has emerged as the key competitor to United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS), the largest U.S. parcel shipper, and FedEx Corp. ( FDX), the biggest express carrier."

The DM Bulletin has reported that "The Information Commissioner said today he does not intend to introduce an opt-in regime for UK direct marketing, despite pressure from his European counterparts to do so. Richard Thomas, who is due to retire in June after seven years in the post, was speaking at the DMA's Annual Data Protection Conference this morning. Asked if he was, in his remaining time in office, planning a move towards an opt-in regime for offline communications as pressure mounts from other European countries, Thomas replied "no."Thomas, the outgoing Information Commissioner, told the DMA Annual Legal Conference this morning that he supports the principle of self-regulation for the controversial but potentially lucrative technique of online behavioural targeting, "

The U.S. Postal Service has posted its fifth revision of the Intelligent Mail Guide on its RIBBS web site.

DMM Advisory:  March DMM Update. Postal Explorer (pe.usps.com) is your source for up-to-date mailing standards. The Domestic Mail Manual is fully searchable and features fly-out menus, cross-reference links, and an extensive subject index. We updated our mailing standards with changes that have been made to: Express Mail and Priority Mail Reshipment Service; Intelligent Mail Pallet Placards; Detached Address Labels; Labeling Lists; May 11 Price Change — Price List Update.

According to The Mirror, "Royal Mail managers are guilty of arrogance by planning for privatisation before MPs have discussed let alone voted on the sale. Government Ministers don't always get their way in a democracy, particularly when a policy is deeply unpopular. Post Office executives may be licking their lips at the prospect of cheap shares and juicy bonuses. But managers jumping the gun may be left with egg on their face."

The Financial Times has reported that "A proposed merger between the Swedish and Danish postal services, which was first announced 11 months ago and would create a company with sales of about SKr45bn ($4.9bn), has finally been notified to Brussels for clearance under competition rules. This starts a formal timetable and could provoke reaction from rivals in the Nordic market."

Finchannel has reported that "J.P. Morgan has expanded its cash management relationship with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) by providing cash and check depository services to 24, or nearly one-third, of the USPS' 80 districts. J.P. Morgan is helping USPS more easily manage its cash flow, receive same day credit for deposits and eliminate idle cash balances. USPS has centralized a significant portion of the Postal Service's account structure via the bank's extensive nationwide Cash Vault Service and a daily concentration of funds to USPS' main treasury management account."

Hellmail has reported that "Deutsche Post has selected IVECO to be a further partner for its fleet of vehicles. Some 7,500 parcel delivery vehicles are currently in use for the DHL brand in Germany. Under the terms of the agreement reached at the end of February some 4,500 vehicles are to be replaced in the next three years with new IVECO vehicles. Deutsche Post intends to make a decision on the remaining 3,000 vehicles in 2011. IVECO has already supplied Deutsche Post with a variety of vehicles in the past."

NJ.com has reported that "A jury in New Brunswick has awarded a Flemington man $1 million in compensatory damages after finding that his bosses at United Parcel Service illegally retaliated against him because he complained about possible fraud in the company's northern New Jersey district."

Austrian Times has reported that "Eighty per cent of Austrians say they are unconcerned about planned post-office closures. Furthermore, 75 per cent say they are unwilling to pay more taxes to keep all post offices open, and only four per cent support the idea of generous severance pay for laid-off postal workers, according to the results of a recent poll by pollster oekonsult. Austrians are aware that national postal service Post AG has been partially privatised and has listed on the Vienna stock exchange. Two-thirds say it is unacceptable to complain about the consequences of privatisation, and 75 per cent don’t care whether Post is a private or a state company. More than 80 per cent agree Post must take appropriate measures to prepare for EU liberalisation of the postal market in 2011."

Finextra has reported that "PBS and Post Danmark acquire KMD's third of the e-Boks shares. e-Boks offers electronic forwarding and storage of mail for Danish citizens and companies. This means that PBS and Post Danmark now each own half of e-Boks."

From PR Newswire: "Yesterday, Congressman Jerry McNearney (D-Calif.) became the 76th Co-Sponsor of H.R. 22, a bill to refinance the Postal Service's retiree health benefits obligation. The bill, originally sponsored by Congressmen John McHugh (R-N.Y.) and Danny Davis (D-Ill.) is presently before the Oversight and Government Reform Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. H.R. 22 would require the Postal Service to continue to prefund its retiree health care obligations, but, because of the economic downturn, allow it to do so at a slower pace. Members of the National League of Postmasters visited the halls of Congress the first week in February to solicit co-sponsorships, and will continue their efforts throughout the country with daily telephone calls to congressional district offices."

The Daily Mail has reported that "A second ministerial aide from Lord Mandelson's department has joined the growing revolt over the part-privatisation of the Royal Mail. Labour MP Sian James, who is the Parliamentary Private Secretary to consumer affairs minister Gareth Thomas, has become the latest senior Labour figure to sign the motion opposing the plans. At least 11 ministerial aides have voiced their concern over the moves to sell off up to a third of the Royal Mail to a foreign rival. A number have indicated they are ready to quit over the issue, which has also caused deep divide within the cabinet."

Radio Fiji has reported that "Fiji’s only postal services provider Post Fiji is taking it’s services to another level. Last night they launched their new website www.postfiji.com.fj."

Live Webinar, Thursday, March 19, 2009, 2:00 p.m. ET. The Mind of the Multichannel Consumer as presented at the NEMOA Spring Conference

March 4, 2009

In an article written for Mailing Systems Technology, postal lawyer Joy Leong has asked whether the Postal Service is a government agency or a private corporation. Read the article, then you decide.

In comments filed with the European Commission regarding VAT Exemption, The AG Opinion and The European Postal Sector, Pitney Bowes wrote that: "It is essential that any change in the scope of VAT-able postal services do not bias customers’ choice of their preferred postage payment channel. VAT systems should in no way distort relative prices of access channels, and penalize the meter channel. Applying different VAT rates to different postage payment mechanisms would create multiple problems, from a legal, economic, operational, marketing, and technological standpoint."

PostInsight has reported that "Subject to the approval of the Supervisory Board, the duties and responsibilities of Mr. Wais will be assumed on an interim basis as of April 1, 2009 by Rudolf Jettmar, Chief Financial Officer and Deputy Chairman of the Management Board. The Supervisory Board will search immediately for a successor of Anton Wais in accordance with the legal guidelines of the Public Appointment Act. Anton Wais was appointed Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Executive Officer of Austrian Post on July 1, 1999. The legal independence of Austrian Post in 1999 and the subsequent restructuring of the company took place during his term of office. He also laid the groundwork for the international expansion of the Group and finally the successful IPO in the spring of 2006." See also Austrian Times.

The first Intelligent Mail® Technical Integration Webinar will occur this Friday March 6 at 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm Eastern Time. TO ATTEND THE WEB CONFERENCE AND JOIN WITH AUDIO (No earlier than 15 minutes prior to the start): 1) Browse to: IM Technical Integration Webinar 2) After the MeetingPlace window is open, click the Phone icon (under the Participant List or in the upper right-hand corner). 3) Click Connect Me, validate or update your phone number, and click Connect Me again. 4) When the system calls you press 1 to join. To attend with audio only: From a BlackBerry, select:  800-932-9280x10288185#1 From a phone, dial: Phone Number:   800-932-9280 Meeting ID: 0288185

PostCom Members!!! A special member-only briefing on the Postal Service's financial situation has been posted on this site. The briefing was prepared by Muth Communications. Just send an email for more information on how you can put Muth Communications to work for you.

As postal commentator Gene Del Polito has noted: "These are tough times. The economy has fallen off the ledge. The stock market has plummeted. Consumers are tightening their fists. And, to make matters worse, the Postal Service is facing the worst crisis it has ever faced since its founding by the new American republic. There have been staffing freezes, pay freezes, and employees have been told that even harder changes may still lie ahead. So, as humans often do when they get such unpleasant news, the search is on for someone to blame. Shortly after the presidential inauguration, the target of blame was the Bush Administration. Now with only two months under its belt, the target has shifted to the Obama Administration. Within postal circles, the one walking around with a target on his back is the person who is called Postmaster General."

From the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee: "At the recent MTAC meeting, it was stated that we will test sample folded self-mailers before developing new mailing standards. We would like the assistance of MTAC member associations that have an interest in folded self-mailers. Please email Don Harle (dharle@dmsolutions.com) with a copy to MTAC Program Manager Ernie Harris (ernie.harris@usps.gov) if you want to participate, and designate a coordinator within your association, by Thursday, March 12.  We plan to have a kick-off meeting and then issue a template for documenting the specific characteristics and quantity of each design, along with the instructions for submitting samples. Participating companies will be given ample time to prepare and submit samples for testing. Your members’ participation will help make this a successful effort."

PostEurop has announced the appointment of Maire Lodi as the new Operations Manager. Maire comes from Eesti Post where she was Manager of the Quality Department. She has extensive experience in postal operations and in particular quality and logistics, first joining Eesti Post in 1991 as Managing Director of the Saaremaa Postal region. In fact, an islander by birth, Maire was born and raised on Saaremaa island (Baltic Sea). At Eesti post she was promoted to the position of Operations Director, then Quality Director, and was handed the management of the postal logistics and quality department in 2007.

According to AllAfrica.com, "CAMPOST - Uncertainty Reigns as Contract with Tecsult Ends." It went on to note that "February 26 marked the end of the road for the Canadian company but no replacement has been announced yet. In one of the editions of CAMPOST's periodic bulletins, CAMPOST Magazine, Djamel Fethi Zoughlami, the General Manager of the corporation stated inter alia that CAMPOST was moving in the right direction. That was in 2008 barely a year after the signing of the contract between the State and the Canadian company, Tecsult International Limited." 

The DM Bulletin has reported that "Reader's Digest Association, one of the pioneers of direct mail marketing, has appointed legal advisors to look at restructuring options including bankruptcy, as it struggles against a weakening ad market. According to reports, the magazine publisher has hired Kirkland & Ellis to look at the possibility of pre-packaged or pre-arranged bankruptcy."

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

The situation is becoming increasingly unclear in the run-up to the parliamentary vote on part privatisation of Royal Mail.
Österreichische Post plans to close 293 post offices and instead open 450 so-called Postpartner locations.
Schweizerische Post is apparently increasingly turning to the outsourcing of certain activities to private companies.
Brazil’s post ECT achieved the best results in company history in 2008.
DHL consignment volumes have dropped significantly in the Asia-Pacific region.
UPS is abandoning its in-night business in Germany at the end of March.
Concerns about an impending protectionism are leading companies in the USA to take a public stand against it.
Postage on standard letters in France rose by 1 cent to 56 cents this Monday.
The Portuguese post Correios experienced a total of 80 strikes in 2008.
Jacques Rapoport, chief executive of La Poste’s branch network, has announced that the company will maintain its investments in the modernisation of the post offices.
DPD, the European parcel network of the French La Poste, has established itself in the logistics hub of Dubai.
Royal Mail largely achieved and even exceeded the quality specifications defined in the licence for its mail service in the third quarter of 2008.
Royal Mail has created an industry body for the Direct Mail industry in Britain. The Royal Mail-financed Mail Media Centre will provide clients with free information and tips. Besides news, it provides research and case studies for the UK’s top 3,000 advertisers and 500 agencies. The MMC will be launched on 9 March with its own Internet website (mmc.co.uk).
The executive board of the Swiss post has elected Ulrich Hurni as the new manager of the company’s PostMail sector.

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.)

Thaindian News has reported that "In yet another move to expand its basket of services, India Post has tied-up with ICICI Prudential for the collection of insurance premiums through Post Offices."

Air Cargo Asia-Pacific has reported that "Air cargo management must “strip the veils of illusion from their eyes” in combating the worst recession since the industry began 60 years ago. That’s the view of industry stalwart Julian Keeling, who said these illusions included the near obsession with China as the primary engine of growth. They also included offering complicated, expensive supply chain “solutions” to the shipper rather than concentrating on fast, reliable transportation of cargo."

According to one writer for the Santa Monica Daily Press, "A recent New York Times editorial by U.S. Postal Regulatory Commissioner Ruth Y. Goldway suggested converting the entire fleet of gas-powered USPS vehicles to all-electric as a way to obviate her responsibility for aiding and abetting in driving the USPS into the economic ditch. Her 11th hour panacea is to plunder taxpayers' pockets and squander tax dollars from President Zero's Porkzilla Act of 2009 to cover this conversion. Her suggestion entails the installation of solar panels on the rooftops of all USPS facilities nationwide as a cost containment measure from disbursements on fossil fuel expenditures that will then allegedly create green jobs while simultaneously making us feel fuzzy about ourselves and thus lend a thin justification for Ms. Goldway's continued employment as a well-paid government shill. Golly, don't break a nail, honey. If Ms. Goldway really wants to go "green" then a more "shovel ready" and simpler solution would be installing stationary bikes linked to capacitors while desk bound USPS bureaucrats pedaled our way to energy self-sufficiency."

The Financial Times has reported that "A proposed merger between the Swedish and Danish postal services, which was first announced 11 months ago and would create a company with sales of about SKr45bn ($4.9bn), has finally been notified to Brussels for clearance under competition rules. This starts a formal timetable and could provoke reaction from rivals in the Nordic market."

According to the Miami Herald, "South Florida's post-office box customers should be finding it easier to recycle their mail. Post offices now have 23-gallon recycling bins with a slim opening that are kept locked. Once customers have checked their P.O. Box mail, they can recycle anything they don't want to take home. Contents of the recycling bins are shredded."

The Industry Standard has reported that "The Netflix model works well enough for DVDs, but would it hold for something that costs more to ship and can be borrowed for free in any city? Apparently it can. Booksfree rents books the way Netflix rents DVDs. Sign up, agree to the monthly fee, and the service will send users books that can be kept as long as they remain subscribers. But Booksfree is not a perfect mirror of Netflix. Shipping is a bigger expense for books than discs, and Ross admits that postage costs represent about 43% of the company's revenue. Booksfree uses the cheaper and slower USPS media mail to send books to customers, and has "designed the service around shipping multiple orders to provide high value to our members and offset delivery times." This may explain why its cheapest plan -- $10 a month for two books at a time -- requires both books to be returned before any replacements are mailed."

The New York Post has noted that "the crisis that has rocked the nation's magazine publishers is also affecting its chief lobbying group, putting its president and CEO in the crosshairs. The Magazine Publishers of America has lost as members Elle publisher Hachette Filipacchi Media; Star and National Enquirer publisher American Media; and most recently New York magazine. Hachette and American Media were each paying somewhere between $300,000 and $400,000 in annual dues, sources said. New York Media paid less money. Those dues are about equal to the $740,000 that MPA President and CEO Nina Link takes home each year, which has become a lightening rod among some magazine publishers."

According to Newsosaur, "As a direct consequence of the breakdown in the traditional media business model, publishers today are cutting the quality and quantity of the content they produce at the very moment they should be investing more aggressively than ever in the sole distinguishing capability that powerfully differentiates them from the millions of websites that are siphoning away their readers and advertisers."

According to Media Life:

• In past recessions local advertising followed a familiar cycle, sinking during economic downturns, then rising back up as the economy regained its oomph. As local merchants saw more faces in their stores they returned to advertising in the area's media outlets. That's not going to happen this time. In this recession local ad spending will not spring back when the economy improves, at least not in terms of dollars spent. Merchants will return to spending but there will be a shift to lower-cost media--read the internet here--from traditional media such as newspapers.
• "Newspapers in general are very vulnerable for economic downturns, and when advertising is your only revenue you’re in real trouble," says Piet Bakker, professor of cross media content at the School of Journalism and Communication at the Hogeschool Utrecht in the Netherlands. The result has been a rash of mergers and closures in the industry, with more expected to come.
• The latest forecast for America's newspapers would suggest that extinction is not too far off. UBS figures newspaper revenues will be down 12.2 percent when the final figures are in for 2008 and tumble another 17.6 percent this year. Already, a number of papers around the country have cut circulation, or frequency, or both, and others have gone online only, scrapping their print editions entirely. More of that is widely expected to occur this year as the ad recession deepens. Yet media planners and buyers don't see print newspapers disappearing, certainly not anytime soon, and they're fairly upbeat about the changes papers could introduce to stem at least some of the declines. 

Publishing Executive has reported that:

• InformationWeek yesterday announced that four of its 2009 issues will solely be available as digital editions in the form of downloadable, interactive PDFs. The magazine said the digital issues are part of a broader green initiative to minimize its effect on the environment. As part of this initiative, the brand is launching InformationWeek Green Issues of the magazine.
• Hallmark announced its decision to shutter Hallmark Magazine and its accompanying Web site this week, despite its rising rate base and ad sales in 2008. Thirty-eight positions will be eliminated as the magazine's February/March issue marks its final one. There are no plans to continue the magazine online or as a digital edition.  

Advertising Age has reported that "Rising postage rates and fewer solicitations from banks and credit-card companies have conspired to drive down direct mail in 2008. A new white paper from the Winterberry Group, a strategic-consulting firm, found that direct-mail spending dropped 3% last year, and the falloff will accelerate to 9% in 2009. "Direct mail is not dead or even dying," said Mr. Margulies. "The nature of how people use it is changing fundamentally. And over the long term the dollars and volumes may never come back to the levels we had over the last few years, but there will be sustained and increased marketer attention in the things direct-mail media can do."

The U.S. Postal Service has filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission: (1)USPS Preliminary Financial Information (January 2009); (2) Mail Volume and Mail Revenue (January 2009); (3) USPS Preliminary Expenses (January 2009); (4) USPS Preliminary Workhours (January 2009).

The Postal Regulatory Commission has held a pre-hearing conference to determine the status of the complaint filed by Capitol One Services, Inc. concerning its ability to obtain a negotiated service agreement similar to that of the Postal Service with the Bank of America.  The Commission expressed its concern that, seven months after filing of the complaint, there is no indication that the end of the process is in sight.  Chairman Dan G. Blair stated, “The Commission has a reputation for expeditiously meeting its responsibilities.  This is the first litigated complaint proceeding since enactment of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act.  Unnecessary delays in this case may leave the impression that the Commission does not act promptly to resolve formal complaints under the new law.”  The Postal Service and Capitol One Services, Inc. submitted a proposed schedule for submission of the case for a decision in five months. The Commission urged both parties to accelerate the proposed schedule.

March 3, 2009

The Oldham Evening Chronicle has reported that "Royal Mail has declined an invitation to attend a public meeting to discuss concerns surrounding three Saddleworth sorting offices and mail deliveries. Protests grew after two local borough councillors received copies of a leaked document shown to local postal workers, members of the Communications Workers Union, which claims sorting offices in Uppermill, Greenfield and Dobcross would close."

The Shropshire Star has reported that "Outraged town councillors in Ellesmere have vowed to fight an “appalling” move by Royal Mail to close its sorting office in the town. Members of Ellesmere Town Council pledged to campaign against the proposals to close the Ellesmere delivery office and transfer the service to Oswestry when they met yesterday. Royal Mail has said it is reviewing its procedures and was considering closing the office."

Nasdaq has reported that "Austria's postal service, which became a public limited company three years ago, announced the closure of around 20 per cent of its post offices as a part of restructuring to be completed by 2011. Oesterreichische Post AG, as the service is officially known, said Tuesday that it planned to close by the year-end 300 of the remaining 1,500 post offices countrywide. This will be in addition to the nearly 1,000 offices it closed since 2000. Austria Post is outsourcing the postal service to businesses, such as grocery stores and pharmacies, reports say."

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle has reported that "Authorities say a Brooklyn mail carrier is among three people arrested in a scam that sought tens of millions of dollars in bogus tax refunds. Court papers filed in federal court in Manhattan this week say the plot involved about 8,000 electronically filed federal tax returns. Authorities say participants stole Social Security numbers to file fraudulent returns."

Dow Jones has reported that "President Barack Obama's planned fiscal 2010 budget would bring U.S. Postal Service worker benefits in line with those of other federal workers, a politically touchy maneuver that could save the federal government $9.4 billion over the next decade. According to the U.S. Postal Service, the Obama administration wants postal workers to pay 27% of their health insurance costs, up from the current level of 17%. The plan also calls for postal employees to begin paying 67% of their life insurance premiums. Both of these changes would bring postal worker benefits in line with benefits paid to workers at executive branch agencies. To do this, however, the Obama administration would need to modify federal law passed in the early 1970s that extends labor contract bargaining rights to Postal Service workers, a privilege not held by other federal employees. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has jurisdiction over legislation involving the Postal Service. As of Monday, no proposals had been submitted to the committee, committee aides said. The Postal Service has roughly 680,000 union-represented workers, according to membership totals of major postal unions."

In a letter to the Postal Regulatory Commission, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin wrote: "I am writing to express great concern regarding the pending increases in parcel post rates which are to be enacted May 11th, 2009. The mail price adjustment drastically increases the bypass mail rate which our Alaskan citizens rely on for supplies, food, and other basic necessities. The state of Alaska must oppose any parcel post rate increase at this time."

The latest postal blog entry has been posted on the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General’s Internet site “Pushing the Envelope.” The public, mailers, postal employees, and other stakeholders are invited to weigh in on the online discussions taking place.  To view the site, visit http://blog.uspsoig.gov/.    Free and Reduced Rates. Have you ever wondered why the Postal Service offers free rates for the blind, balloting materials for overseas voters, and items sent by some consular officials?  Read about this service and vote on whether you support reduced rates for nonprofit mail and other types of mail.   You can visit Office of Inspector General’s public website at:  www.uspsoig.gov.  If you have additional questions, please contact Communication and Work Life Director Agapi Doulaveris at 703.248.2322.

As MediaDailyNews has noted, "Undeterred by the ongoing economic meltdown, Hearst Corp. is preparing to introduce a new electronic reader with the goal of reviving and sustaining magazine and newspaper readership, according to the Web site of Fortune, which first reported the news last week. The new device from Hearst is expected to debut sometime later this year. Hearst will encourage other publishers to license the technology so they can deliver content, too."

Hellmail has reported that "TNT has been classed a top 100 Business Superbrand ahead of rival Royal Mail in a recent YouGov survey of the UK’s strongest B2B brands for 2009, having risen 31 places in the league table since last year. The survey was commissioned by Business Superbrands UK Ltd and canvassed the views of more than 1500 business professionals. Within the list of top 500 brands, TNT is ranked 87, ahead of Royal Mail at 99, its leading competitor in the UK postal market."

The Financial Times has reported that "Royal Mail is on the mat for private buyers."

Trading Markets has reported that "Deutsche Post has announced that it is still negotiating with United Parcel Service for a possible co-operation agreement for handling international parcel shipments."

The Arizona Star has reported that "During the last quarter of 2008, the Choate's U.S. Post Office that sits behind a paint store had higher sales than any other privately owned post office of its kind in the country. Choate's Post Office had sales of $1.5 million last year. By comparison, owner Terry Dean said national postal sales were down 20 percent for the year. Then he found out his sales were better than those of any other postal unit with accounting that is independent from the U.S. Postal Service. The shop doesn't add a surcharge to the price of postage. A percentage of postage sales is returned to Choate's as profit. Choate's customers say they come from across town because of the customer service. Employee Matt Merrell said the relationship is close enough that he often gets food and coffee from regulars." [EdNote: Hmmmm. An entrepreneur doing well. What a surprise.]

WhatTheyThink has reported that "Quebecor World Inc. has further expanded its co-mail offering with the addition of two new 30-pocket machines in the recently opened Somerset, New Jersey consolidation facility. This new capacity allows more publishers and catalogers to take advantage of the benefits of co-mail."

The Earth Times has reported that "Austria's postal service announced Tuesday it would outsource around 20 per cent of its post offices this year to prepare the company for the liberalization of European Union letter services in 2011. Oesterreichische Post AG, as the service is officially known, said it would close 300 of its 1,500 post offices, while enlisting 450 businesses such as grocery stores and pharmacies to start offering postal services."

From Business Wire: "R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company has been awarded a multi-year $175 million agreement by Orchard Brands, a leading multi-channel marketer of apparel and home products focused on serving the needs of the rapidly growing segment of women and men above the age of 55. Under the terms of the agreement, RR Donnelley will provide 100% of Orchard Brands’ catalog printing and postal logistics services for catalog mailings."

From PR-Inside: "SkyPostal Networks, Inc., the largest private postal network in Latin America, today announced that it has acquired Logistics Enterprises, Ltda, a privately held international cross-border mail service provider serving corporate accounts, and magazine printers and publishers in Bogota, Colombia."

The Washington Post has reported that "The National Association of Postmasters of the U.S. is warning its members that President Obama's budget plan would cut postal employee benefits. The association cites figures in the budget summary the administration released last week. A line item deep in the summary says "realign USPS (U.S. Postal Service) employee/employer benefit contributions." It offers numbers, but no explanation or details. "The proposal projects a 5-year cost savings to the Federal government of approximately $4.2 billion, and a 10-year savings of about $9.5 billion," reads the association's Legislative and Political Bulletin. "NAPUS and other postal employee groups have already communicated our displeasure to the White House and to Capitol Hill. Nevertheless, as it stands now, the proposal calls for USPS benefit contributions, on behalf of its employees, to be less than called for in existing union contracts and managerial consultative agreements."

From today's Federal Register:

Postal Regulatory Commission
NOTICES
New Competitive Postal Product ,
9316–9317 [E9–4414]	[TEXT]  [PDF]
9317–9318 [E9–4415]	[TEXT]  [PDF]

MediaWeek has reported that "Rodale, publisher of brands such as Prevention and Men’s Health, has cut  another 20 sales-side employees, most notably Prevention vp, publisher Bob Ziltz, while elevating the publishers of two of its fastest-growing titles. Rodale employs about 1,000 people in all. The newest round of layoffs provides another reminder that Rodale, while it’s fared better than some other publishers, hasn’t been immune to the ad recession. Back in November, Rodale slashed 111 jobs, or 10 percent of its workforce, citing a slowdown across all its businesses. That round of cuts also concentrated on the advertising side and included the shutdown of Rodale’s corporate sales and marketing arm that worked on big, multi-title ad deals."

Techdirt has asked: "What Dying Business Has Survived By Raising Prices On An Inferior Product?" Noooo! Guess again.

Posted on this site is a copy of the comments filed n behalf of PostCom in the PRC proceeding concerning the seven cent Move Update penalty the Postal Service indicated it would be imposing in its Notice of Price Adjustment. [EdNote: The comments submitted by others can be found on the Daily Listing of the Postal Regulatory Commission web site.]

March 2, 2009

Packaging News has reported that "Royal Mail has hit back at the Packaging and Films Association (PAFA) for its criticism of the sustainable mail standard. Matthew Neilson, Royal Mail head of environmental solutions, defended the standard for "reflecting the primary aim of increasing recycling rates of direct mail by households". He said the decision to exclude plastic wrappings was taken because of the small number of local authorities that currently accept them. "It is difficult for Royal Mail not to exclude polywrap while the focus remains on kerbside recycling and the opportunity for kerbside recycling of poly is so limited," said Neilson. However, he added that Royal Mail would continue to work with the Envelope Manufacturers Association on the environmental aspects of plastic wrapping."

The Standard has reported that "The Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK) is set to announce a Sh250 million investment to enhance its money transfer services and restructure the country’s mail system. The drumbeats of reform at the state corporation have been getting louder and the latest move will also see it begin a new process to trim excess fat by selling off some assets it considers ‘unnecessary’, to control runaway costs and position itself to pitch for both existing and new territories."

The U.S. Postal Service has posted its "Guide to Customer/Supplier Agreements" on its web site.

The Associated Press has reported that "Six in ten people around the world now have cell phone subscriptions, signaling that mobile phones are the communications technology of choice, particularly in poor countries, according to a U.N. report published Monday. By the end of last year there were an estimated 4.1 billion subscriptions globally, compared with about 1 billion in 2002, the International Telecommunication Union said. "There has been a clear shift to mobile cellular telephony," the agency said, noting that developing countries now account for about two-thirds of cell phones in use. In 2002, less than half of mobile subscriptions globally were in the developing world, it said."

According to Transport Intelligence, "The latest DPWN figures are riddled with write-offs and one-offs payments which make it harder to assess the true state of the company. However, it appears that the underlying picture for the group is not as bad as it could have been. Possibly due to its lower exposure to the US, the DHL Express business has not suffered as much as its big rivals although that may occur in the next couple of quarters. The logistics businesses also appear to be holding up surprisingly well but again it might just be too early to tell."

The International Herald Tribune has reported that "Thousands of Belgian postal workers have started a three-day strike to protest working conditions and the threat of job losses. Unions complain that too many small post offices are being closed and that thousands of employees delivering mail will be replaced by temporary workers on lower wages. The Belgian postal service employs some 30,000 people."

The Press Information Bureau of India has reported that "The Department of Posts (DoP) and the Central Statistical Organization (CSO) in the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MOSPI) have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding using the postal network for collection of data on prices of consumer commodities in selected villages to be used for compilation of Consumer Price Index (CPI) for rural areas by the CSO. DoP will first conduct a one-time survey and identify shops and outlets in selected villages from where data on prices of selected consumer commodities would be collected. The DoP will use its infrastructure and manpower for conducting the one time market survey and submit this data to CSO for finalization of items, specifications and identification of popular outlets patronized by the population in selected villages."

From PR Newswire: "Parascript, LLC, the image analysis and pattern recognition technology provider, today announced that it has partnered with Engineering Innovation, Inc. to deliver Parascript Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to Address N' Mail. Privately owned, Address N' Mail, is using the integrated solution to obtain greater discounts and efficiency in processing mail at its Melbourne, Florida facility and has obtained a return on its investment in nine months."

Transport Intelligence has reported that "DHL Global Mail in the US last week reported that it had been awarded a vendor partnership contract by the National Joint Powers Alliance (NJPA), a network of more than 26,000 municipal agencies across the country, for mail delivery solutions and services. Under that contract, stated DHL Global Mail, it would provide domestic and international mailing and shipping solutions for the municipal and educational agencies which made up the NJPA. DHL Global Mail, a one-stop shop for all international mail services, is a division of German global mail, express and logistics group Deutsche Post World Net."

The Times has reported that "The team behind Barack Obama’s online campaign network has joined the fight against the privatisation of Royal Mail, The Times has learnt. Campaigners say that they have gathered 30,000 e-mail addresses in a grassroots movement dedicated to defeating Lord Mandelson’s plan to sell off part of Royal Mail."

The Daily Mail has reported that "Royal Mail has been heavily criticised after admitting it more than doubled payments into the gold-plated pension pot of its chief executive, Adam Crozier. It revealed that multi-millionaire Mr Crozier received around £3.5million in pay, bonuses and pension contributions last year alone. But there was anger last night that a taxpayer-owned organisation was allowed to pay out such huge sums to someone who is effectively a civil servant. Figures from Royal Mail’s accounts make clear that it has found millions of pounds to plug a gap in the pension schemes of executives, including Mr Crozier, while neglecting ordinary workers."

The Grand Forks Herald has reported that "Recently in Minnesota and other states, residents have received notices of sweepstakes winnings on fake Publishers Clearing House letterhead with a bogus check for several thousand dollars. Fraudulent lottery and sweepstakes scams account for at least $30 million in losses each year in Minnesota. Many of the scams target the elderly."

The DC Examiner has reported that "A Fairfax-based U.S. Postal Service employee pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Alexandria to taking part in a scheme to steal more than $20,000 from the federal agency. Ralph Sears worked in Administrative Services Engineering for the U.S. Postal Service facility in Merrifield from 2004 to 2007. During that time, he and others used agency credit cards to buy more than $20,000 in products and meals, he admitted. Sears will likely have to pay the agency back and faces up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine when he is sentenced."

The Guardian has reported that:

• The government has opened the door for a future Conservative administration to privatise up to 49.9% of the Royal Mail without further legislation. Details of a new bill, due before the Lords next week, are said to have delighted the Tories since it goes further than the government's plan to ask for a 30% private stake in the postal service. A Conservative source, who has examined the bill line by line, said: "It would mean we could sell off another tranche of the Royal Mail if we wanted to do so without fresh legislation."
• Tens of thousands of Belgian postal workers will stage an all-out national strike tomorrow in protest at privatisation, jobs losses, a likely squeeze on pay and liberalisation of Europe's mail market in 2011. The strike by more than 30,000, followed by two further days of disruption, comes as Belgium's La Poste – and other continental operators – have been linked with buying the up-to-30% stake in Royal Mail to be auctioned by the UK government."

March 1, 2009

Slate has asked: "Are you allowed to send your bodily fluids through the post?"

The Philadelpha Inquirer has reported that "A dispute over the rights to the images of the historic post office murals almost forced the State Museum of Pennsylvania to pull the plug on the "Common Canvas" exhibit. In 2007, the museum informed the U.S. Postal Service that it would mount an exhibit featuring high-quality photographs of the New Deal-era murals of Pennsylvania. "We thought they'd be excited and happy," museum director Jack Leighow said. Instead, the exhibit touched off a skirmish between the Postal Service and the state over whether the artwork is in the public domain."

The Telegraph has reported that:

• CVC Capital Partners, the buyout firm which has made a number of investments in the postal services sector, is in talks with De Post-La Poste about the potential structure of a bid involving either or both companies. If the Belgian company, in which CVC is in the process of increasing its shareholding to 49.9pc, does participate in a bid, it would add to a cosmopolitan list of interested parties which includes operators from Denmark, Germany, Holland and Sweden.

• Lord Mandelson has warned Labour rebels that the party will be "inviting defeat" at the next election if the Government backs down over controversial plans to part-privatise the Royal Mail.

The Independent has reported that "the chief cause of Royal Mail’s huge losses was Britain’s keenness to comply with three EU postal services directives, designed to end national postal monopolies by 2010 and to promote “cross-border” integration of the EU’s postal services. As a result Royal Mail had to surrender the most profitable part of its operations, when bulk business mailing was opened up to rival firms. It still has to deliver business mail, for a knock-down price of 14p an item, while the 19 companies that bid successfully for the business of collecting and sorting them cream off all the profits."

Reuters has reported that "Business minister Peter Mandelson warned unions and party rebels on Sunday that their opposition to the part-privatisation of the Royal Mail could cost Labour votes at the next general election."

Portage Online has reported that "Brandon-Souris MP Merv Tweed has reintroduced a private members bill designed to protect the library book rate in Canada. Since 1997, Canada Post has allowed libraries to use a reduced postal rate on mailings of printed library materials to users and other libraries. Tweed says Canada Post has provided no guarantee that it will maintain the special rate past 2009."