Post & Parcel: Russian Post is seeking to expand its network of post offices in metropolitan areas, to cope with public demand for postal services. And, the postal operator is seeking federal support for a major modernisation plan that could include upgraded sorting facilities and the implementation of new technologies.

Indiana News Center: The U.S. Postal Service plans to conduct a study at the Fort Wayne Processing and Distribution Facility for possible consolidation of some operations into the South Bend Processing and Distribution Center.

Arkansas Online: Mail delivery has continued for most Arkansas residents in the wake of the devastating spring storms that have left 13 dead in the state. David Camp, the Arkansas District manager, said those displaced can call for mail at their local post office.

Daily Mirror: Postal trade unions said yesterday that they had no faith in the committee that was established to look in to their allegations against the Post Master General (PMG) and said that they would be taking severe trade union action if no justice is meted out. The unions when questioned said they were being suppressed and frightened by parties close to the PMG, but would nevertheless continue with their trade union actions against the PMG.

Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: President Guffy is right to warn APWU members to not use their vote on the USPS contract to vent anger at Republican politicians. APWU members need to look at the contract and decide whether they can live with the changes in workrules and in particular the possibility that many positions will follow a non-traditional full-time schedule. They need to determine whether the changes in workrules and contracting-out provisions create opportunities for APWU members that did not exist before and could create opportunities for APWU members to work with the USPS to work with the Postal Service to create products that could compete with presorters. 

American Postal Workers Union: Guffey to Union Members: Some very powerful politicians have set their sights on postal employees, APWU President Cliff Guffey has warned, and union members must respond decisively. “Anti-labor members of Congress have said the union’s tentative Collective Bargaining Agreement is too favorable to workers,” the union president noted. “They favor contracting out virtually all of our jobs."

• Contract Management Data (CA-AR-11-002). In 137 of the 139 contract actions we reviewed, we found postal employees did not adequately record contract data into the postal contracting management system. System design limitations contributed to 73 percent of the errors, and employee input errors accounted for 27 percent of the errors identified. These issues, which involved contracts valued at approximately $2.1 billion, affect the transparency of the reported data and could result in erroneous decisions based on incomplete and incorrect contract data.
• Facility Optimization: Great Lakes Area (DA-AR-11-005). We determined the Greater Michigan District has 700,000 square feet of excess interior space. By optimizing the excess space through disposal, outleasing, subleasing, or development, the Postal Service could realize more than $19.9 million over typical and remaining lease terms.
• Internal Controls over the Contract Close-out Process (CA-AR-11-004). Postal Service personnel did not always follow contract close-out procedures or records management requirements. Of the 649 contracts we selected for review, we were able to review only 539 contract files, because postal employees could not locate 110 contract files at the time of our site visits. Of the 539 contract files we reviewed, we determined 381 were missing required close-out documents, the contracts had expired and had not been properly closed out, or data were not always reliable.
• St. Louis Information Technology and Accounting Service Center (FT-AR-11-009). During our audit, we noted that overall the Postal Service complied with laws and regulations that have a direct and material effect on the financial statements. Throughout the year, we reviewed internal controls over financial reporting and identified control issues regarding international mail, money orders, transportation, eTravel, leases, journal voucher entries, and account reconciliations.

Posted on this site are slides from a recent presentation given at postal headquarters:

• USPS Headquarters Organizational Chart
• Financial Update
• Every Door Every Date Update
• Chief Information Officer Update

Press Release: "Farrington Transportation Adds Co-Mail To Mailing Services"

USNews: Baby boomers who sign up for Social Security benefits on or after May 1, 2011 will no longer have the option of receiving a paper check in the mail. Individuals newly applying for Social Security or other federal benefits will need to choose an electronic payment method beginning next week. Retirees already receiving their payments by paper check have until March 1, 2013 to switch to direct deposit.
 

LIVE! From the National Postal Forum "Live from the NPF" will be presented as a panel discussion covering the NPF events of the days and discussions of key topics facing the mail industry. GrayHair Software, Inc., industry-leading provider of the SelectSolutions cloud-based platform, announced they are proud to be a sponsor of PostCom's live webcasts. Broadcasts are scheduled for Monday, May 2, and Tuesday, May 3, beginning at 1:00 p.m. Pacific time. Watch them at www.grayhairsoftware.com

Independent.ie: An Post plans to cut 2,000 jobs by the end of 2015 after losses at the company soared to €25m last year. But chief executive Donal Connell will retain his pay package of €500,000 a year.

The Guardian: The government wants to privatise the Royal Mail. But what would the new service look like? An examination of how the Dutch do it exposes unhappy customers and exploited workers

The League of Postmasters and NAPUS have sent a letter and legal opinion to PRC chair Ruth Godway outlining their opposition to the USPS’s proposed changes to the rules governing post office closings

PostEurop News, Quarter I, 2011

Auctionbytes: DYMO Endicia and ABOL Software launched a new, free shipping-integration software for Amazon sellers that reduces the time needed to prepare Amazon shipments and makes package tracking and order history management simpler.

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

• The USPS on April 28, 2011, published in the Federal Register its proposed rules requiring use of a unique tracking barcode on all commercial parcels – except Standard Mail parcels – claiming presort and destination entry prices by January 2012, and encouraging use of unique tracking barcodes by providing free Delivery Confirmation service on all commercial parcels except Standard Mail parcels. Comments are due to the USPS by May 31, 2011.
• The Association for Postal Commerce (PostCom) on April 25, 2011, submitted its comments on the USPS' proposed rules published March 24, 2011, in the Federal Register [see PostCom Bulletin 14-11] outlining a new option for mailers to combine Standard Mail flats and Periodicals flats within the same bundle, when placed on pallets, and to combine bundles of Standard Mail flats and bundles of Periodicals flats on the same pallet. PostCom raised concerns that the USPS' proposed rules differ from those used during the pilot test of the combined mailing concept, stressed that entry flexibility is needed, urged the USPS to re-visit the required presort bundle piece minimums, and opposed the proposed restriction that only IMb Full-Service mailings be allowed participation.
• The Association for Postal Commerce (PostCom) on April 28, 2011, submitted its comments on the USPS' proposed rules published March 14, 2011, in the Federal Register [see PostCom Bulletin 11-11] outlining changes in mail preparation requirements for mail entered at origin, either as an entire mailing or as the residual volume for Plant Verified Drop Shipment (PVDS) mailings. PostCom urged the USPS to work more constructively with industry in formulation of new requirements that will increase mailer costs, focusing on an approach which would provide some benefit to mailer in complying with the requirements, or some trade-off to make such requirements more palatable to mailers whose costs will increase. It also asked the USPS for clarification on many aspects of its proposed rules and recommended that clarification be published allowing the industry a brief additional comment period to respond once those requirements are better explained.
• Postal union brings back work, but divides it. Delegation: Postal closures unlawful. Upstart to challenge FedEx, UPS & USPS. Post Office merger war on workers. Regulation: the hidden tax. PostCom comments on mobile barcode promotion. PRC Chairman poses questions in mobile barcode docket. Upcoming MTAC session. USPS requests extension on Collaborative Logistics test.
• An update on DMM Advisories issued by the U.S. Postal Service.
• An update on postal rules and notices published in the Federal Register.
• An update from the USPS Office of Inspector General.
• A review of postal news from around the world.
• Postal previews

The PostCom Bulletin is distributed via NetGram

April 28, 2011 

The Journal: The Communications Workers Union (CWU) has said that the 1,900 workers who will leave An Post by 2015 will only do so "through voluntary leaving and by agreement". The union was responding to An Post announcing today that they would continue with their staff rationalisation plans for the next four years. The 1,900 number includes the 330 who left An Post last year, according to RTE.

Postmaster General Donohoe of the appointment of Giselle Valera as Vice President and Managing Director, Global Business, effective June 1, 2011.

The slides from today's webinar on USPS' New National Process to Assist in Mailpiece Design Support have been posted on this site.

At the Postal Regulatory Commission:

• R2011-5 Comments of the Association for Postal Commerce
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72617/R2011-5 comments_PostCom.pdf
• MT2009-1 Order No. 720 - Notice and Order Granting Temporary Extension of Collaborative Logistics Market Test
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72633/Order720.pdf
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72633/Order720.doc

Press Release: Fairrington Transportation will be the sponsor of PCC Night – the main social reception at the National Postal Forum (NPF), scheduled for Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Ballroom. More than 2,000 guests from the mailing and postal industry are expected to attend. The NPF will be held May 1-4, 2011 at the San Diego (CA) Convention Center. "Fairrington is proud to sponsor the National Postal Forum," said Fairrington Transportation also announced today the purchase of a new SIM 36-pocket co-mailer for installation in its Bolingbrook IL consolidation center.

DMM Advisory: The Postal Service™ has issued two in a continuing series of revised or new Customer Support Rulings. They are posted on Postal Explorer® (pe.usps.com):

• Revised PS-054; Requester Records - Periodicals Publications, includes a new policy statement concerning "email requests" to a requester Periodicals publication.
• New PS-336,  Identification of Nonprofit Standard Mail® Matter, provides policy guidance to customers and postal employees concerning the correct and permissible identification of nonprofit mailings.

From the Federal Register:

Postal Service
PROPOSED RULES
Intelligent Mail Package Barcode Implementation for Commercial Parcels ,
23749–23755 [2011–10244]	[TEXT] [PDF]

• Postal Ping Pong Diplomacy: Opportunity Knocks For The U.S. Postal Service. As many posts around the world are downsizing due to decreased volume, China Post is aggressively expanding. The Postal Service is well positioned to establish a partnership that connects and fosters China and U.S. markets. Read more and share your thoughts at http://blog.uspsoig.gov.

• Review of Global Business System Dispatch – 11RG015CRR000. The purpose of this audit is to review the performance of the Global Business System (GBS) – Dispatch System, a web-based Postal Service application used to dispatch civil and military mail within the continental United States and abroad at military installations in Korea and Japan. The GBS-Dispatch System is able to build receptacles and containers and generate required Universal Postal Union documents for carriers and Foreign Postal Administrations. The GBS-Dispatch System also shares dispatching information with internal Postal Service systems, foreign posts, and transportation providers and provide operational analysis and planning reports.

• Review of Project Phoenix – 11RR006IT000. Project Phoenix, also known as the Multi-Channel Customer Experience Improvement Project, is a management initiative to improve the underlying information technology that supports three key revenue-generating channels: the website (usps.com), the contact center, and retail. We will review the Phoenix solution to determine if management’s intended objectives are being met to support the business strategies of the organization.

• Administration and Area Cost Allocation Controls – 11RG014CRR000. This audit will evaluate controls over the collection, allocation, and reporting of Headquarters administration and area costs. Although total Administration and Area Operations costs were $13.3 billion in FY 2010, this audit will focus on one component of those costs, the $3.3 billion in Headquarters and Area Operation costs. (The remaining $10 billion in costs are service wide expenses that have no direct relationship to mail volume or specific products). The review will assist in determining whether Headquarters and Area Operations costs are properly classified as institutional, volume variable or product-specific, and whether certain group-specific costs are properly allocated between market dominant and competitive products.

April 22, 2011 

Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: We have a situation that home/small business users find themselves facing a situation that easy access to the Internet may become more difficult and the computer and networking hardware that they use cannot keep up with the changing technology without expert assistance. What does all this technical talk have to do with mail? It means that overcrowding of mobile and web-based communications may make mail a critical backstop during what will likely be a decade or more long transition to greater network capacity and computer and networking equipment that can easily handle new web addressing standards. This does not mean that consumers and businesses will slow the push of many forms of mail-based communications, and in particular transaction related documents (i.e. statements, checks, payments and bills) to electronic alternatives. But it does mean that mail will continue to provide a critical communications role for those that do not want to be lost among the thousands of communicators crowding the information superhighway until speed of that highway slows to a crawl when network capacity or addressing problems makes the Los Angeles rush hour analogy appear apt.

Des Moines Register: The small communities in Iowa are experiencing another blow to their community identities: the closing of local post offices. The U.S. Postal Service is systematically closing post offices in Iowa's communities under the pretense of making the mail delivery system more efficient. The USPS has several options to lower costs: End Saturday delivery; shorten the post office hours; put a postmaster in charge of several small post offices rather than require a postmaster at all post offices; or share a postmaster between two small offices, with morning hours and afternoon hours at each post office.

Bluefield Daily Telegraph: A bipartisan delegation of West Virginia and Virginia lawmakers are claiming federal laws prevent the U.S. Post Master General from closing a local postal distribution center and several community post offices.The letter alleges the postal service is “trying to balance its books by unfairly targeting rural postal facilities.” The U.S. Postal Service has stated post office closures are needed in the face of growing financial concerns for the agency.

PIWorld: PRIMIR recently published a new 420-page research study, “Trends & Future of Direct Marketing.” It examines direct marketing and particularly how printed direct marketing channels are faring in light of a host of new non-print direct marketing options. E-mail, Websites, social media, and mobile channels, among others, all pose threats to print.

The Chronicle Herald: Workers at a Canada Post call centre in Antigonish knew it was coming, but they say getting layoff notices the day before the Easter weekend was just rotten. See also the Edmunton Journal.

Telegraf: Arrears of "Belposhta" to "Mail of Russia" on money transfers between the two countries amounted to RUB195 million ($6.9 million dollars). Belarusian postal operator is unable to repay, because it can get currency for this, reported "Belposhta" first deputy general director Hennadi Demyanenko. "One can't buy the currency to settle accounts with the Russian side," he was quoted by RIA "Novosti" news agency. Thursday, April 21, "Belposhta" stopped receiving international remittances in the Belarusian rubles. According to Hennadi Demyanenko, the problems with currency in Belarus caused the tenfold increase in transfers' amounts - including to Russia. Deputy Director of "Belposhta" explained that the transfer to Russia - one of the legal schemes by which citizens of Belarus can convert local currency into the foreign one. As for the "Post of Russia," the administration of the operator does not know how much they can wait for the debt repayment without breaks in payments to customers.

April 21, 2011

"Upon consideration of the evidentiary record and the arguments made in the initial and reply briefs of the parties, the Commission concludes that the Postal Service has unduly discriminated against GameFly in violation of 39 U.S.C. 403(c). The Commission confirms evidentiary rulings made by the Presiding Officer; finds that GameFly is similarly situated to Netflix and Blockbuster; concludes that Netflix and Blockbuster have been given a number of preferences, including various forms of manual processing coupled with the avoidance of the non-machinable surcharge; and determines that the Postal Service has failed to present adequate and legitimate justifications for these preferences. To remedy this unreasonable preference, the Commission orders the Postal Service to establish two parallel rate categories within First-Class Mail for round-trip DVD mail. One category establishes that DVDs sent as presorted First-Class Mail letters to subscribers will not be subject to the non-machinable surcharge when returned. The other rate category provides that DVDs mailed as First-Class Mail flats to and from subscribers will not be subject to an additional ounce charge. [1006] The Postal Service is given 60 days to implement this remedy. "

• National Payroll Hours Summary Report, Pay Periods 06 through 08, FY 2011
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72535/Payroll%20Hours%20PP08.pdf
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72535/Payroll%20Hours%20PP06.pdf
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72535/Payroll_Hours_PP07.pdf
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72535/Letter_NPHS_PP6-8-FY2011_001.pdf

GADA News

Attention RIBBS Users. The Postal Service disabled RIBBS® on Friday April 15, as a precautionary measure for the protection of our customers and the USPS. We have completed an extensive review process and we anticipate RIBBS will be available publicly this morning . In an effort to ensure our customers receive the needed products that were previously fulfilled through the RIBBS site, we are implementing contingency processes to fulfill data to users on physical media. Users will be contacted by the respective program help desks with information concerning additional fulfillment options. Feel free to contact RIBBS support through ribbs@usps.gov if you have any questions.

MMD Newswire: The U.S. Postal Service has initiated a new service with Hongkong Post that is structured to foster growth in e-commerce. The new ePacket service expands the array of options offered to e-commerce merchants in Hong Kong seeking to reach consumer markets in the United States. The ePacket shipping solution features tracking and Delivery Confirmation in the Postal Service network for lightweight goods and merchandise ordered by consumers in the United States from merchants in Hong Kong. ePacket service offers consumers in the U.S. and e-commerce merchants in Hong Kong with in-process scanning information and Delivery Confirmation notification available through Hongkong Post's tracking system and through Track and Confirm at usps.com.

Neopost: Bob Sheehan, a long-time member of the Neopost Leadership Team (and a member of PostCom's Board of Directors) has decided to retire from Neopost USA. Vincent DeAngelis will join the company as Vice President, Postal Relations. DeAngelis comes to Neopost USA after spending the last four years at Pitney Bowes in various leadership positions, the most recent as Vice President Postal and Carrier Solutions. He also spent more than 20 years with the USPS as Manager of Ad Mail Sales Development in Windsor, CT, and Regional Director of the New York Sales Center before being named National Director of Sales and Business Development and Director of Brand Management, Value Added and Special Services, in Washington, D.C.

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

Spanish Correos was back in the black in 2010 despite a decline in turnover.
TNT Post faces a fundamental restructuring in Germany. Specialist journal »DVZ« (19.04) reported that the business portfolio will be streamlined, loss making segments be stopped and jobs will be cut.
Austrian Post still relies on layoffs and austerity measures despite its remaining de-facto monopoly. Last week CEO Pölzl told journalists that around 800 jobs - around 4 per cent of the workforce in Austria - will be cut every year.
The joint venture of Swedish Posten and Post Danmark alters its name after just two years (CEP-News 26/09). The annual general meeting consented to change the name to PostNord AB.
The universal service obligation in the UK will remain in the hands of Royal Mail for at least 10 years. Last week the British government published several amendments to the new postal law, including an assurance that Royal Mail will be committed to guarantee the universal service.
The signs are standing for industrial action at Canada Post.
Since Tuesday morning Swiss Post stands trial on charges of money laundering at the district court of Solothurn.
Given its branch network’s annual deficit of 22m euros, New Zealand Post announced restructuring measures. Chief executive Brian Roche announced branch closures and layoffs.
Switzerland’s privately run postal operators want to ’utilise the margins available for more competition with regard to the implementation of the new postal law’.
In Austria a conflict between newspaper publishers and Austrian Post looms. The dispute is triggered by the new service offer of Austrian Post to deliver bundled leaflets wrapped in a foil pack. An Austrian Post spokesman confirmed to daily news »Standard « (15.04) that the post will offer the delivery of the bundled advertising supplements two times a week probably starting at the end of 2011/beginning of 2012.
DHL obviously coped well with the withdrawal from the US domestic market. The company stopped the domestic service offer at the end of 2008 (CEP-News 45/08) due to horrendous losses - insiders speak of around 10bn euros. Now DHL plans to invest some 28m euros in its Cincinnati airport hub. Ian Clough, CEO of DHL Express USA, confirmed to news agency »Bloomberg« (14.04) that international volume grew annually by 10%. With this DHL exceeded its original growth target by 15%.
A significantly lower letter volume caused a 60m euros loss of turnover for Irish An Post.
German privately run postal operators Arriva and RegioPost Pfalz took over Karlsruhe based Stadtbrief.

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.)

Ithaca Journal: The announcement of the new Tompkins County program to reduce landfill waste by establishing a "Do Not Mail" registry needs examination on a much broader level. Certainly, the issue of environmental sustainability is an important one. However, there are other factors that should have been taken into consideration.

Reuters: Malaysian conglomerate DRB-Hicom has won the bid to buy a stake in national postal company Pos Malaysia Bhd for 623 million ringgit ($206 million), Business Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. DRB-Hicom is expected to sign an agreement with state investor Khazanah Nasional, which owns the 32 percent stake in Pos Malaysia, early next week, the paper said.

Overnight Prints: In hopes of boosting revenues and its current 3.1 percent share of the American media advertising market, the United States Postal Service is launching a new program to demonstrate the effectiveness of direct mail to major advertisers. The program, known as "Mail Works Guarantee," will provide advertisers that mail between 500,000 and a million direct mail pieces over the course of two years a postage refund of up to $250,000 if their campaigns don't meet set objectives

  Wireless Federation: The Italian Post (Poste Italiane) has partnered with the World Bank for the construction of IT platforms in developing countries. Poste Italiane will collaborate with the World Bank, sharing its expertise and technology solutions with the engineers involved in the development projects aimed at emerging markets. The cooperation will be developed in particular in digital services, with reference to e-Government programs and the establishment of logistic platforms for postal services, in IT services, MVNOs, mobile banking, and a range of postal services.

Hellmail: TNT Post has become the first company in Europe to install a new high-speed letter sorter from Pitney Bowes.

Appleton Post Crescent: The U.S. Postal Service said it's moving all mail processing operations from its facility in Oshkosh to Green Bay by Sept. 30 in an effort to save money.

Lancaster Newspapers: The U.S. Postal Service says it could save about $2 million a year by shifting more than 30 mail-processing jobs from the Harrisburg Pike plant to Dauphin County or other areas of the country. But the local postal workers union is skeptical of what are the first official projections of a proposed consolidation, saying they overestimate the savings while underestimating the number of workers impacted.

From the Federal Register:

Postal Regulatory Commission
NOTICES
Postal Service Rate Adjustment ,
22157–22158 [2011–9543]	[TEXT] [PDF]

April 14, 2011 
 

KMTV: The United States Postal Service plans to conduct a study at the Twin Falls Customer Service Mail Processing Center for possible consolidation of some operations into the Boise Processing & Distribution Center. The study is similar to one conducted five years ago. According to a news release issued by the Post Office, the need for the study comes as the Postal Service faces one of the most difficult challenges in its history.

CTV: Hundreds of Canada Post workers are taking a strike vote in Winnipeg Wednesday. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has been negotiating with Canada Post since November without reaching a deal. They say frustration with a new mail delivery system is a main sticking point.

The Borneo Post: We are unable to announce just as yet' was the initial remark made by Khazanah Nasional Bhd's (Khazanah) managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar at the start of a press conference held at the sidelines of the second-day Invest Malaysia 2011 Conference here yesterday. Notably, the managing director was referring to Khazanah's divestment of its shares in national postal company Pos Malaysia Bhd (Pos Malaysia), which had been under a slew of speculations with regards to potential bidders for the divestiture.

WYFF: A Simpsonville store owner said he terminated a deal with the United States Postal Service after the USPS refused to allow him to display a flag in a mail drop-off area.

The Telegraph: Postal workers' unions have claimed victory as the Government said the Royal Mail would remain the sole provider of the universal service for "at least the next 10 years".

Hellmail: Pitney Bowes has launched a new hybrid mail service aimed at driving unnecessary spend and inefficiency from everyday, office-generated communications. The Pitney Bowes Hybrid Mail service is targeted towards enterprises, not-for-profit organisations and the public sector all of which struggle to identify and contain costs associated with the print and despatch of communications generated in the office. Pitney Bowes estimates that uncoordinated, ad-hoc office-based print and mail processes are creating an unnecessary private sector spend of 6bn across UK, France and Germany and 2bn across the public sector in these countries*. The Hybrid Mail service brings immediate control and cost-efficiency to the operation.

Bloomberg: Deutsche Post AG (DPW)'s DHL Express unit is rebuilding its U.S. operations around international shipments after a $9.6 billion "disaster" in domestic deliveries. After firing 15,000 people and closing 75 percent of its outlets in 2008, DHL Express U.S. is expanding and may beat the volume goal it set that year by 15,000 packages a day in 2011, Chief Executive Officer Ian Clough said in an interview.

Attention Business Customer Gateway Customers System maintenance to the 800 number has been completed. The phone system is up and operational. The PostalOne! System WAS NOT AFFECTED by this maintenance. If, you experience any issues that require support, please contact us at 1-800-522-9085. Date: Wednesday 4/13/11 System operational: 10:00 PM cst We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Oregon Daily Emerald: The U.S. Postal Service office once housed in the EMU will be replaced later this spring by a private company that will offer all the services previously provided by the former University office. Kaitlyn Lange, ASUO senator and member of the EMU Board of Directors, has mentioned the transition for several weeks to her colleagues in ASUO Senate meetings and now says the arrival of a United Parcel Service Store has been confirmed. Lange made an announcement at the Feb. 23 Senate meeting about the EMU Board's work through focus groups to find an independent service to replace the outgoing Postal Service on campus.

AFL-CIO: American Postal Workers Union President Cliff Guffey has been elected a vice president with the AFL-CIO.

Attention Business Customer Gateway Customers Due to system maintenance the 800 number will not be accessible between 7:00pm and 10:00pm Central time on 4/13/2011. The PostalOne! System WILL NOT BE AFFECTED. If you experience any issues that require support, please email us at postalone@usps.gov. We will send an update when the phones are operational. Date: Wednesday 4/13/11 Phone System down: 7:00 PM System operational: 10:00 PM We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

April 13, 2011

Attention RIBBS Web Site Users. The RIBBS website has been restored and is currently available for public information access. Data fulfillment updates provided to authorized users through RIBBS are in the process of being restored on a prioritized basis and will require approximately 2 days to complete. The security concerns that prompted the United States Postal Service to take the RIBBS website offline on April 7th have been addressed and additional steps have been taken to strengthen RIBBS security. Visitors that accessed RIBBS on or prior to April 7th should take appropriate action to review and monitor their computer systems to ensure all protective security measures are up-to-date. Thank you for your cooperation while we completed our efforts to restore RIBBS operation.

Hellmail: The Communication Workers Union, which represents thousands of postal workers at Royal Mail, today said it welcomed the amendments to the Postal Services Bill published by BIS.

Awoko: The Sierra Leone Postal Services can be rendered in-effective if innovations are not mapped out to resuscitate that institution in the face of advance information and communication technology which has transformed the world into a global village.

Wall Street Journal: A program to compensate federal workers injured on the job is susceptible to fraud and abuse, the Postal Service office of the inspector general is expected to testify on Wednesday afternoon. "Investigations have found fraudulent claimants working as martial arts instructors, landscapers, hairdressers and mechanics," Postal Inspector General David Williams said in prepared testimony. "Even when a claimant is convicted, DOL [Department of Labor] is slow to terminate benefits." Bill Siemer, the Postal Service's inspector general for investigations, is expected to testify for his boss.

Good grief! FAST EXTERNAL ROLLING OUTAGE! ATTENTION FAST CUSTOMERS: Please be advised that the FAST system is undergoing an unscheduled maintenance procedure that may affect connectivity to the on-line application from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm CST. Questions and inquiries should be directed to the FAST Help Desk at FAST@usps.com or by telephone at 877-569-6614

In case you missed the PostCom webinar on Make the Most NPF 2011, at least you can still review the slides used during the webinar. The slides have been posted on this site. Your recording for Tue, 12 Apr, 2011's Webinar has been stored for you at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/913201913.

The latest National Postal Forum Update has been posted on this site.

Wall Street Journal: American Express Co. is pumping money and technology into a fledgling company that wants consumers to pay for purchases by using their mobile-phone number. Other established card companies also are racing into the mobile-payments business by joining with technology firms. MasterCard is teaming up with Google Inc. and Citigroup Inc. to embed technology in Android mobile devices that will allow consumers to make purchases by waving smartphones in front of a small reader at the checkout counter. Discover Financial Services Inc. also is teaming up with mobile-phone carriers on a venture called Isis that will enable customers to pay for goods with smartphones.

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

TNT Post is dead - long live PostNL.
Norway seems to be on the verge of breaking with the common European postal policy.
'The full opening-up of the letter market which took place in 2008, has not changed the situation on the market significantly so far'. The German Federal Network Agency states in its annual report that the market share of Deutsche Post's competitors levelled out at around 9%.
As expected French La Poste's general assembly approved the capital increase of 2.7bn euros last Wednesday.
CTT- Correios de Portugal's management board is currently hit by a scandal. CTT confirmed that marketing director Marcos Afonso Vaz Batista is accused of falsifying his curriculum vitae.
'We can be satisfied with the solid results we achieved in 2010'. In the course of the presentation of the annual results 2010, Johnny Thijs, CEO of bpost, was contented with the results despite a decline in profit.
The business development of TNT Express in this year was more volatile than originally expected. On Friday the company reported that the operating profit decreased by 25m euros (=-32.5 %) in the first three months of the current fiscal year. While business develoment was satisfying in Europe, the international express volume decreased due to an increased oil price according to a press release.
Belgium's competition watchdog authority assumes that bpost has abused its dominant market position. According to the accusations, bpost hampered its smaller competitors with discriminatory pricing and terms.
In the face of the continued protests of employees Sri Lanka's Postmaster General Dissanayake was fired by the responsible ministry. On Friday minister Kumaratunga announced that the PMG was relieved of all his duties with immediate effect. He further announced that a special committee will investigate the activities of the former Post Master General. The unions cancelled the strike call shortly after the Minister's press conference.
DHL Express Austria now plans to meddle in the domestic market too.
The Dutch competition watchdog authority approved the take over of Deutsche Post's subsidary Selekt Mail (turnover: around 55m euros) by its competitor Sandd.
DHL Global Mail places new emphasis on internet trade. The subsidiary of Deutsche Post offers a specific e-commerce parcel solution on growth markets in Asia.
Spanish Correos terminated its contract with the service company Speedtrans for customs clearance of imported parcels on short notice. The termination was caused by massive complaints of consumer protection organisation FACUA.

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.)

• Allegations of Inaccurate Time and Attendance Records (HR-AR-11-001). At the locations we reviewed, management controls ensuring accurate reporting of employees' workhours were insufficient. Specifically, we found supervisors did not complete required forms, follow procedures for documenting schedule changes, or follow policies for deleting clocked time inappropriately charged.
• Fiscal Year 2010 Financial Statements Audit San Mateo Information Technology and Accounting Service Center (FT-AR-11-008). During our audit, we noted that overall the Postal Service complied with laws and regulations that have a direct and material effect on the financial statements. Throughout the year, we reviewed internal controls over financial reporting and identified control issues regarding vehicle sales requests and eBuy purchases. Further, we identified issues regarding relocation service payments, shuttle service payments, and management of capital personal property.
• Postal Service Patent Management Continuation (DA-MA-11-002). We partnered with an intellectual property management firm to look at the Postal Service's management of its patent portfolio. Our evaluation of the Postal Service's active patents showed that strategic management of existing and new patents could result in significantly increased revenue.

Danbury News Times: The U.S. Postal Service began a study this week to evaluate moving its remaining mail processing operations in Wheeling to Pittsburgh. The Postal Service moved Wheeling's outgoing mail processing operations to Pittsburgh last year. That decision eliminated the automatic Wheeling postmark. American Postal Workers Union Wheeling Area Local President Don Bentz tells The Intelligencer that about 12 jobs would be affected if the remaining operations are consolidated.

Hellmail: The Government has today published a number of amendments to strengthen the Postal Services Bill. The changes incorporate feedback from MPs, Lords, Royal Mail, other postal operators and the Communication Workers Union, as well as other interested parties.

PRWeb: The U.S. Postal Service honored 13 out of 20 thousand Postal Service Suppliers for FY 2010 last month, and Lean Sigma Professionals is among this very elite group. Lean Sigma Professionals provides consulting and training services in Lean Six Sigma methodologies and was awarded the Supplier Innovation Award for 2010.

The Winfield Daily Courier: The U.S. Postal Service is taking the wrong approach in planning to decide which post offices to close based on sales, foot traffic, hours of operation and other volume-related statistics. This is biased in favor of big-city, congested post offices that ironically can be within easy driving distance to other postal outlets in the same vicinity. Not so with rural post offices. If you close one of them down, you deny postal patrons any reasonable access to mail services simply because of their remote locations from the big city.

Dead Tree Edition: You could call it Welfare for Endangered Congressmen, but it's officially known as the franking privilege. Congress members are supposed to use the franking privilege only for non-political mailings. But as election time rolls around, you can bet you'll get more newsletters from Congressman Blowhard about the wonderful things he's been doing -- especially if the opposing party has put a target on his back.

Hellmail: Postal and logistics company Estonian Post, has appealed to the administrative court, asking to suspend the enforcement of the Competition Authority precept. The complaint is based on the precept of the Competition Authority, under which the Authority determines how Estonian Post must provide a mail forwarding service to another postal service provider. However, the postal law in Estonia leaves the right to shape the content of the service and agree upon the price with the other postal operator.

KCAU: Five years ago, the Postal Service threatened to close down Sioux City's only mail processing center, in hopes of saving money in a tough economy.

iNews880: Imagine walking into work today to find out your pay will be cut in half. That's what happened to Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers (RSMC) in St. Albert on Tuesday. President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Bev Ray, says the decrease is significant and came without warning. "Canada Post had presented each RSMC with a letter advising them that affective April 11 their routes would be impacted, which would result in a reduction of up to $28,000 a year in annual income," she said. Ray adds as many as 18 employees are affected by these proposed cuts.

The Dickinson Press: The Postal Service says customers affected by flooding in eastern North Dakota have some options if mail carriers can't get through because of closed roads. Post offices are open and mail delivery is being attempted, but the service says some customers may be within service for an extended period. See also Plains Daily.

KRTV: Montana's Secretary of State says the U.S. Postal Service's proposal to move Helena's mail processing to Great Falls could have a major impact on the election process. Linda McCulloch sent a letter to Montana's Congressional delegation asking them to take a closer look at the impact this would have on mail ballots.

The Star: Government investment arm Khazanah Nasional Bhd has yet to decide on the buyer of its stake in Pos Malaysia Bhd, although it has completed the evaluation of the proposals submitted by bidders.

April 12, 2011 

At the Postal Regulatory Commission:

• R2011-5 United States Postal Service Notice of Market-Dominant Price Adjustment
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72480/Not.Pr.Ad.MobileBarcode.pdf

• MC2011-24 Order No. 714 - Notice of Classification Changes
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72475/Order_No_714.pdf
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72475/Order_No_714.doc

Attention RIBBS Web Site Users: Remediation of RIBBS continues to be addressed by the USPS. Our security provider, Symantec, has released a software AV pattern to address this exploit which should also soon be available through other security vendors. Again, the Postal Service advises anyone who accessed RIBBS within the past two weeks to check with their technology security organization or security providers for any needed software updates. We are still planning to restore RIBBS to use by end of day Tuesday 4/12/2011. If any delays are encountered, we will provide updated communication. If you need assistance during this time, please send an email to ribbs@usps.gov .

Hellmail: Responding to the Independent Commission on Banking report today (Monday), campaign group, the Post Bank Coalition says the need for a Post Bank is as great as ever. The group is calling on Government to set up a working party to examine how a bank owned and run in the public interest could be made into a reality. Post Bank Coalition said: "The Post Bank Coalition is delighted that the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) has recognised the importance of the great national post office network in helping local economies and, in particular small businesses, manage financial transactions efficiently and fast.

Could Radio Frequency Identification Make The U.S. Postal Service The Premier Delivery System? With Americans projected to spend $190 billion  in online shopping this year, package delivery represents a large revenue opportunity for the U.S. Postal Service. Would upgrading the manual bar code tracking system to an automated radio frequency identification help make the Postal Service the delivery service of choice for shoppers?  LINK here to share your opinion.

• Patch Management Processes – 11RR005IT000. Patch management is the process of using a strategy and plan of what patches should be applied to which systems at a specified time. A patch is a piece of software designed to fix a problem with, or update a computer program or its supporting data. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs and improving the usability or performance. We will conduct this audit to evaluate the effectiveness of Postal Services’ oversight and monitoring of their patch management process. Our review will cover procedures governing operating system and database patching.

In a letter to the editor of the Washington Times, David Williams, Inspector General of the U.S. Postal Service wrote that "In The Washington Times on March 28, Ryan Cole characterized the Postal Service’s $75 billion retiree benefits overpayment as “USPS taxpayer-subsidized CPR” while invoking the name of Lysander Spooner, a 19th-century postal entrepreneur. Moving forward from 19th-century postal history through the 20th century and into the early 21st century, today’s Postal Service is subject to annual and pre-funding benefit payments of $11 billion a year. Addressing the Postal Service’s benefit-fund issues is not taxpayer subsidized CPR but correction of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s long history of miscalculations, which includes the $75 billion overcharge for the Postal Service’s Civil Service Retirement System pension payments. In essence, for 40 years, the Postal Service paid its and the federal government’s inflationary costs. The Postal Service’s benefit funds are funded entirely by postal employees and the sale of postage. If benefit-fund overpayments were returned, the money would not be used for Postal Service operations. The surplus would be used to make annual benefit payments. Using employee money for postal operations would be as wrong as putting it in the federal employee benefit fund; both would be improper. This is not a bailout."

Daily Mirror: Postal employees were due to launch an overtime strike action citing several demands starting from today, Trade Unions Federation of the postal service said.

DMM Advisory: Postage Statement 3602-R Corrected. A typographical error on line B14 in Part B of the new April 17, 2011, PS Form 3602-R, Postage Statement has been corrected. The correct price is 0.338. The corrected Postage Statement is available online at usps.com/prices — the ‘Postage Statements’ link can be found under the ‘Related Links’ section at the bottom of the page.

Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: One of the most confusing parts about the new APWU - Postal Service Contract is how the Postal Service deals with excess employees. This is particularly important for employees affected by plant consolidations and declining single-piece first class mail.

Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: The new contract with the APWU gives Postal Service management significantly more flexibility to dealing with short term staffing problems like what occured in Toledo. The new Postal Support Employees classification provide the Postal Service with an ability to hire staff quickly when forecasting errors that underestimate expected volumes or changes in the number of expected transfers of existing employees reduces the numnber of existing Postal Service employees that the facility now handling mail processing has available to work.

April 4, 2011 

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform: The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will be holding "Are Postal Workforce Costs Sustainable?" hearing on April 5 at 9:30. The hearing will be streamed live at http://oversight.house.gov. Witnesses: Witnesses The Honorable Louis J. Giuliano Chairman, Board of Governors United States Postal Service; The Honorable James C. Miller III Governor United States Postal Service; Patrick Donahoe Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer United States Postal Service; Cliff Guffey President American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO

APWU: Several questions have been posted on the APWU's Facebook page regarding the Tentative Agreement for a new contract. Union officers address the questions regarding Clerk Craft positions in small offices.

The Association for Postal Commerce submitted reply comments today in Docket No RM2010-13, Consideration of Technical Methods to be Applied in Workshare Discount Design.

Multichannel Merchant: Now that the Postal Regulatory Commission has issued its advisory opinion on the U.S. Postal Service's quest for five-day mail delivery to Congress, it's still unclear how the advice will affect the proposal.

Please click below to view the report recently posted on the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General website (http://www.uspsorg.gov). If you have additional questions concerning a report, please contact Wally Olihovik at (703) 248-2201 or Agapi Doulaveris at (703) 248-2286.

• City Delivery Efficiency Review – Chicago District (DR-AR-11-004). We determined Chicago District carriers used approximately 16 minutes more per carrier route than carriers on the average route in the nation. Although numerous factors were involved, our review determined district management did not always provide sufficient review and oversight of units’ office operating efficiencies and coordinate with mail processing facilities to ensure mail was received timely and in a condition that promoted office operating efficiency.
• Huntington, WV Processing and Distribution Facility Consolidation (Report Number EN-AR-11-003). A valid business case existed to consolidate mail processing operations from the Huntington P&DF into the Charleston P&DC to achieve cost savings of approximately $3.5 million annually. We identified additional savings of $105,166 in annual maintenance costs and an increase in transportation costs of $13,361 during fieldwork. Management corrected both discrepancies during our review and this should not impact the consolidation. We believe an on-site implementation team would assist with the consolidation but are not making a recommendation because we addressed this issue in a separate audit report.
• Implementation of Lima, OH to Toledo, OH Area Mail Processing Consolidation (EN-AR-11-004). Management did not ensure on-time performance and customer service were improved or maintained during the consolidation of Lima, OH mail processing operations into Toledo, OH. As a result, postal customers were negatively impacted. We found that significant degradations in service occurred after the Postal Service transferred all operations and volumes from the Lima P&DF to the Toledo P&DC, and management did not project these degradations in the AMP proposal.
• Customer Service Operations Realignment in the Hawkeye District (MS-AR-11-002). We identified 65 small delivery offices in the Hawkeye District that management can relocate to nearby delivery offices with sufficient excess floor space to absorb their operations. We estimate that the proposed realignment would allow the Hawkeye District to reduce retail customer service costs by between $1.7 million and $3.2 million annually over the next 10 years.

Bloomberg: The U.S. Postal Service, which has reported losses for five consecutive quarters, would save $3.8 billion over four and a half years under a labor agreement with one of its labor unions. Also see Government Executive.

Hellmail: The Communication Workers Union has warned that unless Royal Mail honours agreements made in March 2010 and comes clean on its present financial statues, it may consider industrial action. The row erupted following the recent announcement that employee colleague shares would soon be worth nothing and that an urgent programme of mail centre closures in London would have to go ahead to reduce operating costs.

New Audit Projects: LINK here to visit our audit project pages. This week we opened the following new project(s): (Please share any information you may have that would help with this audit currently in progress by clicking on the link below):

AuctionBytes: Having trouble with the U.S. Postal Service? The feds want to hear about. Online sellers who have been frustrated by problems with the post office have a little-known ally in the Postal Regulatory Commission, an independent regulatory agency that extends to mediating complaints about service.

NAPUS: Today, NAPUS and League leaders and their legislative staffs met to coordinate strategies to challenge the Postal Service’s proposed regulatory changes, which if implemented, would result in countless communities being denied their rights to protect post offices in rural areas.  The Postal Service’s plan would streamline the review process for closing post offices, which would include determining whether a post office has sufficient workload to remain open and whether alternatives to provide postal services can be located.

Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: Recently, the USPS-OIG issued a report on the consolidation of Lima Ohio processing into Dayton Ohio plant. The USPS-OIG conducted the investigation at the request of Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH). The audit showed that the transition did not go smoothly.

PRC: The Postal Regulatory Commission will hold its open session of the monthly meeting on April 6 at 11am at Commission Headquarters. The open session will be audiocast live.

MetroNews: The Spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service says a lot of money will be saved now that all of the mail processing operations that had been done in Beckley and some of the mail processing operations that were handled in Huntington have been consolidated. That processing and distribution work is now happening in Charleston.

Derby Evening Telegraph: The price of a first class stamp goes up by 5p to 46p today and by 4p to 36p for second class post. But the Royal Mail is insisting they are still among the lowest prices in Europe.

• Delivering In New Ways. Sorting, handling and receiving packages and letters; dissemination of advertisements and advertising materials; distribution and dissemination of
  advertising materials; distribution of publicity materials
• Delivering Trust. Sorting, handling and receiving packages and letters; dissemination of advertisements and advertising materials; distribution and dissemination of advertising materials; distribution of publicity materials; distribution of samples for publicity purposes; sample distribution
• Every Door Direct Mail. Sorting, handling, and receiving packages and letters; dissemination of advertisements and advertising materials; distribution and dissemination of advertising materials; distribution of publicity materials; distribution of samples for publicity purposes; sample distribution
• EPACKET. USPS EPACKET. Envelopes and boxes of paper or cardboard for shipping and packaging; sorting, handling, and receiving packages and letters; pickup, transportation and delivery of packages and documents by various
   modes of transportation
• Sampling Through The Postal Service. Envelopes and boxes of paper or cardboard for shipping and packaging; sorting, handling and receiving packages and letters; dissemination of advertisements and advertising materials; distribution and dissemination of advertising materials; distribution of publicity materials; distribution of samples for publicity purposes; sample distribution; pickup, transportation and delivery of packages and documents by various modes of transportation.

Toledo Blade: Mistakes were made. That's the conclusion of a U.S. Postal Service Inspector General's report on the transfer of mail last year from Lima, Ohio, to Toledo so it could be scanned, postmarked, and sorted.

Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: The Economist posted a chart developed by Julia Coronado of BNP Paribas that illustrates why the economy stubbornly refuses to exhibit a recovery-like bounce. Ms. Corado says in her notes, "While consumers are spending there has been no sign of pent up demand. Real consumer spending on goods fell off its pre-2008 trend line during the recession and has since resumed its former pace with no indications that a surge in spending to make up for lost time is imminent." For the mailing industry, the trend in consumer spending presents both good and bad news. The good news is that mail that grows with consumer demand (advertising) should grow at a rate approaching the growth rate prior to the recession, subject to the challenges of increased electronic competition. The bad news is that volumes would not soon bounce back to the pre-recession trends even if electronic competition did not exist.

April 3, 2011 

The Telegraph: The Royal Mail has suspended deliveries to an entire street after a postal worker claimed she was bitten by a Jack Russell terrier.

Roll Call: The legislative pace in the Senate has slowed to a crawl, and it looks like it’s about to get even slower. Since Republicans took control of the House in January, the two chambers have been operating mostly independently of each other from a legislative standpoint. Senators on both sides of the aisle said the debate over how to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year and the looming clash over raising the debt ceiling have poisoned the well for House-Senate negotiations on other legislative items.

The Daily News: At one time, perhaps, neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night could stay the U.S. Postal Service from the swift completion of its appointed rounds. But in these days of email, text messages, digital tablet readers and recession economics, both USPS revenues and the demand for USPS services are on an unmistakeable decline.

Deccan Herald: Packages originating from abroad, especially the West, and bound for Bangalore are most likely to be stolen at the sub-foreign post office on Museum Road by the India Post personnel. Breaking into foreign parcels, usually containing consumer goods like apparel, toys and other non-durable items, and outright stealing by workers of India Post, which is faced with crores of rupees in annual losses and creeping institutional obsolescence, has assumed notoriety.

Hellmail: To reduce regulation, Postcomm has to allow the market to find its own level, or at least close the gap between Royal Mail's relatively cost-effective services and those of its competitors. The principle being that Royal Mail would be hard-pushed to introduce further hikes without seeing an even more rapid decline in customers. All of this would have far more going for it if there were national end-to-end alternatives but there are none unless you count B2B and of those that are left, access is difficult, restricted, or exceedingly limited. The vast majority of the alternatives out there are either re-badged or else still use the Royal Mail network in some way.

April 2, 2011

Postalnews Blog: A new Inspector General report on the consolidation of the Lima processing center into Toledo shows a “staggering” level of service failure, according to Rep. Jim Jordan, who requested the audit.

BGR: According to a report filed by Bloomberg, online retail giant Amazon is toying with the idea of launching a mobile payments service. Citing two anonymous sources, the publication notes that the service would “let consumers pay for goods in brick-and-mortar stores using their mobile phones.” Amazon is purportedly testing payment technologies based on NFC (Near Field Communications) in an effort to expand its Payments service. This is the company’s latest venture into the mobile world. \

PC World: African mobile-phone users are increasingly turning to their devices for functions beyond making calls, said speakers at a Massachusetts Institute of Technology panel discussion on Friday. In a continent with limited infrastructure, phones serve as income boosters, a teaching tool and wallets, according to speakers during a session at the Africa 2.0 forum. The predominance of pre-paid phones in Africa means that "air time is exactly equivalent to cash," said Nathan Eagle, CEO of Txt Eagle, a company he started in 2008 that aims to help mobile-phone users in developing nations earn income with their handsets.\

The Telegraph: Any move to give Royal Mail the freedom to set its own prices would be controversial. It comes as the company prepares to increase the price of stamps by 12 per cent next week, a jump three times the rate of inflation. A first class stamp will climb from 41p to 46p However, setting its own prices would allow the company to bolster its faltering finances, which have been hit by consumers and businesses switching to email and a huge pension deficit. The company estimates it makes a loss of 6.4p on every stamped letter that goes through its network.

Postalnews Blog: The USPS Office of the Inspector General has released a report on the dramatic increase in overtime usage by the US Postal Service. This won’t come as big news to readers of this blog- we told you in January how the USPS had already spent almost a billion dollars in overtime in the first quarter of this fiscal year- and we first told you about the sudden increases in overtime usage exactly a year ago, on April 1, 2010. What might be surprising is the fact that the OIG actually used a copy of our April 2010 story “As USPS cuts staff, overtime pay jumps” that someone posted on FederalSoup.com as a basis for its investigation!

At the Postal Regulatory Commission:

• Postal Service Active Employee Statistical Summary (HAT report), Pay Period 07, FY 2011
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72430/HAT_Report_PP07_FY2011.pdf
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72430/letter_HAT_4-1-2011.pdf
• On-Roll and Paid Employee Statistics (ORPES), March 2011 (Pay Period 07, FY 2011)
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72429/ORPES_MAR_PP07_2011.pdf
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72429/letter_ORPES4-1-2011.pdf

Hellmail: UK postal regulator Postcomm, today published the latest in its series of consultations on initial proposals for the scope and form of regulation of postal services for 2012 and beyond. Today’s publication focuses on the core question of whether there is a need for ex ante regulation of Royal Mail’s prices beyond 2012 and, if so, what that regulatory framework might look like.

The Mailers Technical Advisory Committee has formed a new workgroup. This one deals with Seamless Acceptance. The WG Co-Leaders are Bob Rosser or Erv Drewek or USPS WG Co-Leaders Garrett Hoyt or Marty McGuire.

Bloomberg: Shipping companies FedEx Corp. (FDX) and United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) are among five companies committing to a partnership with the government to reduce fuel consumption in their vehicle fleets to help cut U.S. oil imports, the Obama administration said.

Multichannel Merchant: Catalogers, brace yourselves: Your postal rates could increase 22% this year or next, according to Hamilton Davison, executive director of the American Catalog Mailers Association. The Postal Regulatory Commission this week issued its Annual Compliance Determination. According to the ACD, the USPS has "repeatedly failed to utilize existing pricing options to address the growing Standard Mail intra-class cross subsidy. It is directed to take appropriate action to end the intra-class cross subsidy."

April 1, 2011 

Khaleej Times: UPS, has announced the UAE launch of UPS Import ControlSM, the most comprehensive inbound shipping solution available. With UPS Import Control, businesses in the UAE are able to initiate shipments and UPS package collection in another country, with delivery anywhere in the over 100 countries and territories covered by the service, whether this is to their own business, or to a third party. These “self-shippers” can also manage the creation of shipping labels, commercial invoices and billing information through UPS’ WorldShip software.

Aberdeen American News: We shouldn't be surprised at some of the ideas the U.S. Postal Service has for cutting back and saving money. Instead of letters, most folks send email. Bills are paid online. The post office lost the package game years ago to FedEx and UPS. It's obvious the postal service needs to make some big-time adjustments. Recent changes and new suggestions for Aberdeen and Brown County service show the good, the bad and the ugly of mail delivery

National Association of Letter Carriers: The National Association of Letter Carriers has entered into a new Joint Alternate Route Adjustment Process (JARAP) with the United States Postal Service for 2011. There are three documents that must be read in conjunction to fully understand the JARAP 2011 process. The memorandum of understanding M-01746, the joint guidelines M-01747 and the joint training document M-01748. Key changes to the agreement include a new 3999 review process, selection of the 3999 that is closest to the selected street time, an expedited bidding process option for entire zones that are optimized under COR and NALC COR technicians to ensure COR is used fairly in future JARAP adjustments.

The following report has been posted on the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General website (http://www.uspsoig.gov). If you have additional questions concerning a report, please contact Wally Olihovik at (703) 248-2201 or Agapi Doulaveris at (703) 248-2286.

Overtime Usage (HR-AR-11-003).  We reviewed the Postal Service’s overtime usage in FY 2010 and found it paid $2.86 billion in overtime compared with $2.44 billion in FY 2009, representing an increase of 17.2 percent, or $419.5 million. We also determined that, although overtime usage increased, overall workhours were reduced by 77.3 million and costs by $1.51 billion during this period. According to management, this increase in overtime usage was due to a reduction in personnel, mail rerouting, and equipment deployment delays and updates.

Madison.com: Residents in 36 Wisconsin counties will be able to dispose of unwanted drugs and help keep the Great Lakes cleaner just by using the postal system.

At the Postal Regulatory Commission:

• CP2011-64 Order No. 708 - Order Approving Changes in Rates of General Applicability for a Competitive Product
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72426/Order_No_708.docx
  http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72426/Order_No_708.pdf
• MT2011-3 Notice of Market Test Name Change from Marketing Mail Made Easy to Every Door Direct Mail Retail or EDDM Retail. http://www.prc.gov/docs/72/72425/20110320NameChangeNotice.pdf

Sunday Observer: The Ministry of Postal Service with the support of University of Moratuwa is in the process of networking with 634 main post offices countrywide including the North and East, Minister Jeewan Kumaratunga said. Over 3410 sub- post offices are to be networked within two years. On the completion of networking we plan to provide additional services to customers, according to Minister Kumaratunga. The Postal Department Posts plans to introduce Track and Trace system for the first time in Sri Lanka, the Minister added.

Hellmail: Hungarian postal operator Magyar Posta said that cooperation with the Tesco store chain had been a significant business success with Magyar Posta delivering some 350 million advertising magazines for Tesco, and behind this performance, outstanding service quality which realised an optimal price/value ratio. With nearly 20 years of successful business relations between the two companies, the operator won the right to distribute Tesco direct mail in 2007 with Tesco regarded as one of its key accounts.

Politico: The unemployment rate dropped again in March, to 8.8 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday. The economy added 216,000 jobs last month, the government said.

News-4-Us: Australia Post has apologised for the use of unroadworthy postal bikes at Palmerston in the Northern Territory in 2008.

Daily News Journal: As the United States Postal Service goes through the process of possibly eliminating post offices, it should be done with a balance between the head and the heart. To not take every individual location into account on its own merit and beyond its self-sufficiency would be a history-altering mistake.

Hellmail: A report published today by UK Consumer body, Consumer Focus, highlights people’s experiences of the new Post Office Local (PO Local) scheme which could see around 2,000 traditional sub-post offices replaced.