Post & Parcel: James Cartledge talks to Purolator International President John T. Costanzo about his company's expansion ambitions in North America and beyond.

Dutch News: Junior economic affairs minister Henk Bleker is to press ahead with plans to abandon compulsory post deliveries on Monday, he told MPs on Wednesday. Bleker told parliament the law on postal delivery needs modernising because fewer letters are being posted. PostNL said last year it wanted to stop Monday deliveries but is currently prevented from doing this by law. At the time a majority of MPs voted against the idea.

Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers: Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform and the leading sponsor of the postal reform bill, H.R. 2309, informed the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers yesterday that Section 403 of the bill will be deleted when the bill goes to the House floor for a vote later this summer. The Alliance had strongly opposed Section 403, which would have eliminated nonprofit postal rates over a 12-year period.

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

French La Poste is accused of not paying their non-permanent staff for overtime.
German companies spent more on online marketing than on addressed and unaddressed mail for the first time ever in 2011.
New Zealand's technology vendor Blackbay is developing an augmented reality software for couriers, parcel deliverers and other deliverers in co-operation with the University of Canterbury.
U.S. based Postmates Inc. proves that it is possible to be innovative even in the traditional city courier business. The company which launched operations with a start-up capital of almost 1.4m euros in San Francisco in September 2011 describes itself as a 'same day urban logistics & delivery platform'. With its currently 60 couriers- mainly bike messengers - the company primarily offers on-demand purchase for consumers and supply services for local retailers.

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.)

Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: With the May preliminary financial results now out, the Postal Service appears likely to complete this year in better financial shape than expected when forecasts were made last September. Volume remains stronger than expected for the full year and even the slowdown in the economy this Spring appears to have done little more than push volumes and revenue back to original expectations. Given that the next two quarters should see growth double-digit growth in parcel volumes and an unprecedented level of political campaign spending on mail, the Postal Service faces the challenge of improving service quality while adjusting its staffing operating plans to handle higher volumes than it expected when current operating strategies were approved.

Federal News Radio: With only 23 real work days left, Congress is running out of time to pass an assortment of critical bills from Postal Service reform to cybersecurity to fiscal 2013 spending bills. "That means that Congress can't get that much done, but it's not surprising that they will not get that much done given the partisan split that we have right now," said Tevi Troy, a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute, and a former deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services during the George W. Bush administration, in an interview with Federal News Radio. "Obviously, the President is Democrat and would not pass any bills the House Republicans passed and then you have the Democratic Senate who are not taking up the Republican bills coming from the House anyways. I think we will are going to see some logjams for a while." "There is not a lot of interest in passing bills when both sides think they will be in better position come November," Troy said. "It's not best way to run a railroad, but this is the way we are running this railroad."

Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: National Review has reported that the Obama Campaign has spent $14.7 million in postage between April 1, 2011 through May 31, 2012. This is 9.9% of the campaign's total spending during this period. If one assumes that postage is only half of the cost of mailing, then the nearly $30 million that the Obama campaign appears to have spent on postage, mailing list management, printing, and mail piece design is greater than what it spent on any other means of reaching voters other than television.

Post & Parcel: The struggling US Postal Service has now funded 105% of its pension benefit obligations and built up a $13.1bn surplus – but can't touch any of it without Congressional action.

PostCom Members! The latest report on the Postal Service's delivery service performance has been posted online.

Talk Radio News Service: During a discussion on the future of the United States Postal Service held on Capitol Hill Tuesday, Dr. Sheldon Garon, a professor of History and East Asian Studies at Princeton University, said the USPS might experience greater revenues if additional services are implemented at post offices across America. Despite a hunger strike held by the Community and Postal Workers United aimed at discouraging privatization, Garon said that partnering with the private sector, if postal banking is restored, would allow access to low income and younger customers. Garon emphasized, however, that in order for these services to come to fruition, laws need to be changed.

BusinessWire: Research and Markets (ht tp://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/h5gp7d/guide_to_worldwide) has announced the addition of the "Guide to Worldwide Postal-Code and Address Formats" report to their offering.

June 26, 2012 

Chief Marketer: It's amazing how some in Congress who allege to be pro-business can so misunderstand the needs of certain enterprises that may help keep their constituents clothed for one thing. But that's what seems to be happening with parts of H.R. 2302, the House version of this year's postal reform bill. At least so far as some catalogers are concerned. Part of the bill calls for increasing the rates on "underwater products" --mail categories that don't bring in enough revenue to cover their mailing costs. Catalogs are such a category and the bill calls for raising their rates. Hamilton Davison, president of the American Catalog Marketers Assn. is trying to rouse organization members living in Republican Congressional districts to hassle their Congress people early and often enough to get them to pull that underwater provision from the bill.

RIA Novosti: The Russian Post is among the world's worst postal services, outperformed even by counterparts in countries such as Angola, Honduras and Mongolia, a new study showed. Russian Post, a state-owned monopoly, increased its profit 65 percent to almost 800 million rubles ($24 million) in 2011.

Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation: Postal services throughout the world are losing sales to electronic alternatives and the after-effects of the Great Recession. Nevertheless, most foreign posts in developed nations that report their financial results to the Universal Postal Union (UPU) are profitable. Many occasionally lose money, but few stay in the red year after year. The U.S. Postal Service, in contrast, has lost money continuously since 2007 — $25.3 billion of red ink through 2011 — and it warns of steeper losses ahead. What factors explain why USPS has become one of the developed world's sickest postal services financially?

CPIFinancial: The new company Pos Ar-Rahnu will offer Islamic pawn broking services in Malaysia's network of more than 700 post offices. Pos Malaysia has acquired Bright Emerald Sdn Bhd, through which the joint venture will operate, renamed Pos Ar-Rahnu. Three of the businesses four directors will be appointed by Pos Malaysia, the bank will provide the fourth. In a statement to investors, Pos Malaysia said its Pos Ar-Rahnu unit would be offering loans based on Shari'ah principles, as well as acting as an auctioneer or dealer in gold, silver, jewellery and other precious items. The statement said, "The collaboration would enhance the product offering at Pos Malaysia outlets, besides providing an alternative to distribute micro credit convenience to small-time entrepreneurs who have difficulty in obtaining financing from banks.

Cabume: Domino Printing Sciences has acquired the fledgling developer of a high speed postal inkjet technology for £6.5 million, though it is prepared to go as high as £10m should the firm exceed expectations, an achievement Domino says would be significantly earnings enhancing for the group.

Post & Parcel: Polish Post took too long to modernise and missed the chance to benefit from the opening of Poland's postal market, according to a damning report from parliamentary watchdogs.

Eco-Business: The postal system could become the first industry in the world to eliminate carbon emissions as it seeks to buy carbon credits under the new global trading system. Speaking at the second Sustainable Development Seminar for Postal Operation in Asia and Pacific Countries in HCM City yesterday, said: "The carbon emission fund in postal services should be submitted at the Universal Postal Union's (UPU) next meeting." (The UPU is a department of the UN.)

Businesslife: The Channel Islands Competition and Regulatory Authorities (CICRA) have launched its first pan-Channel Islands consultation on the measure of the quality of postal services in Guernsey and Jersey with the aim of implementing a joint approach to regulating the services.

Washington Post: The U.S. Postal Service has overfunded its federal pension obligations by nearly 105 percent, or $13.5 billion, for the federal fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2011, according to a report issued Monday by the agency's inspector general. The inspector general suggested reverting the surplus money to the Postal Service. But the Office of Personnel Management is not permitted to return surplus contributions to federal agencies. That would require an act of Congress.

"Transitioning from POSTNET barcodes to Intelligent Mail barcodes" -- NOTE: The previous Alert for this webinar gave the wrong date. The correct date is THURSDAY, JUNE 28.

Canada NewsWire: The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) released a research paper today showing that the postal strike and lock-out in June 2011 did not have a negative impact on the economy, contrary to what the federal government and others claimed at the time.

At the Postal Regulatory Commission:

• USPS Statement of Revenue and Expenses, May 2012
• USPS National Trial Balance, May 2012

June 25, 2012 

At the Postal Regulatory Commission: Docket No.2012-30The United States Postal Service (Postal Service) hereby gives notice of a minor change in classification governing Express Mail International (EMI). The change adds the EMI Padded Flat Rate Envelope as another Flat Rate Envelope option in the EMI product category. The dimensions (12.5 inches by 9.5 inches) of the EMI Padded Flat Rate Envelope are the same dimensions as the EMI Flat Rate Envelope. In addition, the price for the EMI Padded Flat Rate Envelope ($29.25 to Canada and $38.00 to all other countries that offer EMI service) is the same as the price for the current EMI Flat Rate Envelope and EMI Legal Flat Rate Envelope. Finally, all other standards (e.g., maximum weight limit of 20 pounds) that apply to the EMI Flat Rate Envelope and EMI Legal Flat Rate Envelope, also apply to the EMI Padded Flat Rate Envelope. The minor change is designed to increase customer Flat Rate Envelope options.

The Blaze: A group of current and retired U.S. Postal Service workers is holding a four-day hunger strike on Capitol Hill that started today. The strike is intended to pressure Congress to act on the Service's budget problems. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has thrown his 95 lbs. of support behind the strikers. "Make no mistake about it, there is an effort to try to privatize even more postal services," said Kucinich. "And this would inevitably result in less service, and higher costs for postal service for the American people." Kucinich, however, has opted not to participate in the actual strike. The man's gotta eat.

The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General invites you to comment on a new audit project: Surface Visibility – Transportation Use of Data – 12XG027NL000. The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) plans to audit Surface Visibility data usage. This self-initiated audit addresses cost control. This will be a nationwide audit.

The following reports have recently 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.

• Carrier Contributions to Revenue Generation and Customer Service (MS-AR-12-005). Our report determined that carriers contribute to U.S. Postal Service revenue through the Customer Connect® and Rural Reach® programs by identifying sales leads for the Postal Service's Sales staff. If districts with low program participation adopt the best practices of districts with high participation, there might be an opportunity to increase sales leads and revenue. We estimate that if the Postal Service could grow these programs by 5 percent, it could increase revenue by $18.7 million annually. Management could also enhance the process for collecting data on the services carriers provide to allow better evaluation of delivery changes and measure rural customers' needs.
• City Delivery – Excess Routes (DR-AR-12-002). Our report determined that opportunities exist to improve street efficiency in districts using fewer than the projected carrier street hours. In the 10 districts reviewed, the Postal Service projected 500,000 more street hours than needed during fiscal year 2011, creating an excess capacity of 33 city routes and vehicles. By eliminating the 33 city routes and transferring vehicles to rural delivery operations, the Postal Service could reduce rural delivery costs.
• Pension and Retiree Health Care Funding Levels (FT-MA-12-002). Our report determined the Postal Service has funded its pension benefit obligations at nearly 105 percent and is currently overfunded by $13.1 billion. Although the Postal Service continues to implement changes to align costs with revenue, action is needed now to use current and future surpluses to remain a viable business. Further, the Postal Service is required to fully fund its future retiree health care benefit obligations and has funded nearly 50 percent of that obligation. As an alternative to the annual prefunding payments, which has been difficult, we estimate the Postal Service's fair market value of real property totals $85 billion and would be enough to cover the remaining unfunded obligation of $46 billion.

At the Postal Regulatory Commission: The U.S. Postal Service's Form 8-K has been posted on the PRC web site.

Sato ri Software: Satori Software is pleased to announce the election of Corey Smith, Satori Software vice president of production mailing solutions, to the Mailing & Fulfillment Service Association (MFSA) Board of Directors.

Globle Newswire: R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company has introduced a series of applications for its new ProteusJet Multiweb platform. ProteusJet enables sophisticated credit, telecom and cable, retail and insurance marketers to manage one-to-one communications to maximize revenues. The integrated piezoelectric 4-color inkjet technology and fully automated mail assembly lines create mailings targeted to the individual needs and interests of millions with precision, speed and familiarity.

Global Times: The State Post Bureau of China, the country's postal industry regulator, Monday granted 260 postal enterprises and e-commerce sites, including 360buy.com, a leading online retailer, with licenses to operate courier services in the domestic market. Industry analysts say that major e-commerce enterprises have been investing in their own logistics networks across the country in order to scale back operating costs.

Reuters: Some U.S. Postal Service workers in Washington, D.C., launched a four-day hunger strike on Monday to urge that massive upfront retirement program payments be dropped as a way to bolster the cash-strapped mail agency. The hunger strike by 10 postal workers is part of days of protests aimed at pressuring Congress to eliminate a 2006 requirement that the agency pay retiree health benefits 75 years in advance. Hunger strikes and protests are planned in other cities, including Seattle, Chicago and New York, according to a statement by Communities and Postal Workers United, a group opposing post office closures that is organizing the events.

Talk Radio News Service: At press conference Monday, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) insisted that United States Postal Service provides Americans more benefits than just mail delivery, including jobs that provide a livable wage for middle class Americans.

PRNewswire: The U.S. Postal Service recently hosted the 2012 USPS Sampling Innovation Symposium, an information forum featuring consumer packaged goods (CPGs) and advertising agency leaders from across the nation to develop creative strategies on growing a home-delivery product sampling program. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe made introductory remarks calling on the group to come up with great ideas to do great things with the Postal Service as it seeks new revenue sources. "Product sampling is big business and an opportunity for the USPS to utilize its expansive network to reach millions of potential customers," said the Postmaster General. "Both retailers and brands are constantly seeking new and exciting ways to impact consumers—and the U.S. Postal Service has the best infrastructure to deliver those products." The opportunity to energize USPS's relationship with its customers through product sampling with a comprehensive, end-to-end solution led to the first-ever symposium. Key leaders in consumer-packaged goods and advertising agencies participated in group brain-storming sessions, developed business growing opportunities and collaborated in crafting innovative new ideas. The fast-paced event was planned and facilitated by Lisa Kent of the innovation, strategy and marketing firm, The Luminations Group.

The PostCom Quarterly is now available for your review.

Please join the Association for Postal Commerce for a free webinar on Tuesday, July 17 at 1:00 Eastern as Jessica Dauer Lowrance, Executive Vice President, PostCom explores a "deep dive" into S 1789 and HR 2309. As pressure continues to mount on postal reform, learn what provisions are in the different bills, their implications, and how they will affect you and the mailing industry. After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeetin g.com/register/602241081

Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: In a note to clients, J.P Morgan notes that the coming changes in Postal Service Service Standards could have a negative impact on the financial health of American businesses.

Environmental Leader: The US Postal Service's carbon emissions rose 0.7 percent from 2010 to 2011, from 12.31 to 12.39 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. The service's revenues, net profits and mail volume all shrank over that time period, according to USPS' 2011 sustainability report. The rise came from a 2.2 percent increase in the Postal Service's scope 3 emissions. In 2011, scope 3 GHGs accounted for 62 percent of emissions. USPS's scope 1 and 2 emissions fell about 1.7 percent year-on-year and have fallen 11 percent since 2008.

Holland Sentinel: What impediments lie in the path of re-booting household mail delivery in a mode that makes fiscal sense for today? First is a populace that has little tolerance for doing with less. We are a people whose passion for eradicating waste in government ends abruptly at our own doorsteps. We cheer the goring of others' oxen, but heaven forbid ours gets poked. No less powerful though are the 546,000 postal workers who are represented by four different unions, all of which are adamantly opposed to any cut in service. They work for an agency that loses $5 billion on revenues of $66 billion. They are on life support with an $11 billion federal bailout, which is more than likely borrowed money. If this were FedEx, I suspect they'd be back at the bargaining table wondering what concessions in wages and benefits it would take to keep their company solvent and their jobs secure.

Wall Street Journal: Members of the law-school class of 2011 had little better than a 50-50 shot of landing a job as a lawyer within nine months of receiving a degree, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of new data that provides the most detailed picture yet of the grim market for law jobs. The numbers suggest the job market for law grads is worse than previously thought. Only about 8% of 2011 graduates landed full-time, long-term jobs at larger firms with more than 250 attorneys. More than 20 schools reported that fewer than 40% of their graduates had secured jobs.

Scoop: New Zealand Post said it is ending its joint-venture courier arrangements with DHL after eight years, by buying its partner out. NZ Post will buy DHL's 50% share of their joint-ventures Express Couriers in New Zealand and Parcel Direct Group, which owns Couriers Please in Australia, for an undisclosed sum. Express Couriers operates the CourierPost, Pace, Contract Logistics and Roadstar brands. The partners will continue to have a contract relationship, DHL providing international express delivery for NZ Post and NZ Post providing such services to DHL in the New Zealand and Australian markets.

NorthWest Indiana Times: U.S. Postal Service is filling rural carrier associate posts.

Washington Post: A small but determined group of postal workers and supporters will travel to Washington today to stage a four-day hunger strike to protest the U.S. Postal Service's deteriorating finances and service and Congress's failure to address the situation. The strikers will make their stand days before the postal service makes changes that will end overnight delivery of up to 20 percent of the country's first-class mail, as mail-sorting hubs are shuttered. The group, Communities and Postal Workers United, formed this spring, with rallies in several cities to protest a range of planned cuts to postal services. Organizers plan to kick off their strike with a 10 a.m. press conference at the Capitol on Monday with Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D- Ohio) the only member of Congress so far who has publicly supported the effort. On Tuesday, the activists will march to the Capitol from the postal service headquarters at l'Enfant Plaza; on Wednesday, they plan a protest in front of the Washington Post offices on 15th Street. The strike is scheduled to end Thursday with a rally in front of postal service headquarters, where protesters say they will try to meet with Postmaster General Patrick Donohoe.

KVOA: A rally to protest the closure of the Cherrybell Main Post Office, and the elimination of hundreds of jobs, is planned for Monday. Organizing group Jobs for Justice says folks can turn out from 7am to 9am at the Postal Workers Union office at 2937 E 22nd Monday morning. The Cherrybell office is one of 461 mail processing locations nationwide the Postal Service has identified for consolidation. The Tucson office is on the list for consolidation by February 2013.

Puget Sound Business Journal: Amazon.com recently disclosed that it had settled a mysterious investigation by the U.S. Postal Service for a "nominal amount." Amazon never revealed what the investigation was about, and didn't specify the terms of the settlement. But now the details are coming to light.

The Republic: The Sioux City distribution center that the U.S. Postal Service closed last fall won't stay empty for long. A local company that sells animal feed and nutrition products wholesale, Consumer Supply Distributing, wants to buy the building for future expansion.

Advertising Age: The nation's 100 biggest advertisers boosted 2011 total U.S. ad spending by 4.8%. But you wouldn't know spending was on the rise if you looked only at last year's measured media. Measured spending for the top 100 actually slipped 0.2%. A double-digit measured-media gain for internet display spending and a small increase in TV did not make up for losses in newspapers, magazines and radio. So where's the money going? Into unmeasured disciplines—a vast pool that includes various digital plays (search marketing, online video and some forms of social media), promotion and direct marketing. The appeal is clear: Marketers are putting money into disciplines that directly connect them with targeted consumers.

June 24, 2012 

F ort Wayne Journal Gazette: Fred Smith has taken FedEx from an idea in a college essay to the world's biggest cargo airline over the past four decades. Now the company has to figure out how to plan for the founder's eventual departure.

Boston Globe: New Hampshire's two U.S. senators are urging the U.S. Postal Service to hold a community meeting in a northern New Hampshire town where post office hours have been cut back to half an hour a day. The Postal Service last month abruptly announced its post office in Sugar Hill would be open from 10:15 to 10:45 each morning. It had previously been open from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on weekdays and 10:30 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. In a letter to a postal service official, Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Kelly Ayotte asked that a community meeting be scheduled so that residents, government officials and business owners can ask questions and offer their thoughts on the future of retail postal service in Sugar Hill.

The Frederick News-Post: According to some of its workers and retirees, the U.S. Postal Service is being starved. Malgo Schmidt, an Occupy Frederick member, and Steve Bruns, a retired postal worker who lives in Spring Ridge, plan to participate in a protest in Washington from Monday through Thursday to bring attention to changes that they say are causing the Postal Service to struggle. Bruns said Friday that he, Schmidt, and at least a dozen other people from around the country will be on a hunger strike during that time period.

Green Autoblog: FedEx has been quite serious about adding electric vehicles to its fleet, saying in 2011 that it would more than double its number EV vehicles. Of course, all that meant was going from 19 to an expected 43, but it's the start of removing some tailpipes. Plus, with overall big green vehicle ambitions, FedEx In some cases, going EV means using the Nissan NV200 EV prototype in London. In others, it means partnering with upstart Amp Motors to convert two 14,000-pound GVW trucks for FedEx to test in Washington, D.C. This proof of concept, all-electric step van could be a huge first step, as FedEx has said it hopes to convert 9,000 vehicles to EV power. Amp also has a contract with Navistar for a similar van project.

Dayton Daily News: Fast-food joints such as Papa John's and Wendy's are winning the satisfaction of diners at the expense of full-service restaurants, JetBlue is satisfying airline customers, and the U.S. Postal Service is gaining on FedEx and UPS.

June 23, 2012 

Wall Street Journal: New accounting rules are likely to show that public pension plans could face hundreds of billions of dollars in additional liabilities, putting new pressure on state and local governments to act. The revamped rules expected to be approved Monday by an accounting-standards group will force governments to record pension costs sooner than they did before and disclose shortfalls more prominently. The changes also will force some public pension funds to calculate retirement benefits using more conservative assumptions.

Global Atlanta: Business and government leaders in the United States can learn from their northern neighbor how to see beyond their traditional trading partners to reach a new wave of consumers in developing countries, a top United Parcel Service Inc. executive said June 21. Emerging markets have consistently outpaced growth in industrialized countries in recent years, putting the onus on the developed world to reach the rising middle class in Latin America and Asia for future trade, UPS Chief Operating Officer David Abney told the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto.

DMM Advisory: IMb™ Services Update

• Reminder — PostalOne!® Release 31.0.1: A patch to repair known issues in PostalOne! ® Release 31.0.1 will be deployed during the scheduled maintenance window from 4 a.m. through 8 a.m. CDT on Sunday, June 24, 2012. This will be done in a rolling fashion and there will be no planned outage during the software deployment. There is not a new Mail.dat® client with this release.
• The World of MIDs, CRIDS, and the Business Customer Gateway Webinar - will be held Thursday June 29, 2012, at 1 p.m. EDT. Focus will be on Customer Registration IDs (CRIDs) and Mailer IDs (MIDs) and how to obtain them. Attendees will learn about the ways mail owners and mailing agents can acquire an MID, when and how it is used in the Intelligent Mail® barcode, electronic mailing information and receipt of Full-Service data. Complete webinar information can be found on the RIBBS® landing page at https://ribbs.usps.gov

June 22, 2012 

Knowledge @ Wharton Today: "The U.S. Postal Service's 'Plan to Return to Profitability'"

Tribune242: Minister of State in the Ministry of Transport and Aviation Hope Strachan said the postal service must be reformed if it is to remain relevant. #This is due in large part, she said, to changes in technology and instantaneous forms of communication which have virtually wiped out conventional forms of mail delivery.

At the Postal Regulatory Commission: Job Vacancy Announcement

DMM Advisory: Mobile Commerce and Personalization Promotion Begins Soon Starting July 1, this summer's mail and mobile commerce promotion encourages mobile marketing technologies that link print to digital channels and also encourages using personalization, another best practice. Business mailers will get an upfront 2 percent postage discount if the mailpiece features a technology that can be read or scanned by a mobile device — technologies like quick response (QR) codes, Microsoft Tags, Snap Tags, digital watermarks and image recognition. Importantly, the technology must lead recipients to either a mobile-optimized Web page where they can purchase an advertised product or service from a mobile device, or to a mobile-optimized and personalized Web page tailored to the recipient. The promotion applies to both automation and presort First-Class Mail® and Standard Mail®, letters, flats and cards.

Post & Parcel: One of the UK's largest local authorities is abandoning first class mail and developing a new hybrid mail system after April's 30% price hike at Royal Mail.

Post & Parcel: DHL Express is testing out a new all-electric vehicle in Toulouse, southern France, delivering parcels in the city centre. The company said it is trialling a light vehicle made by local manufacturer Helem, called the Colibus L7C2. It is specially designed for short journeys in urban areas, with a range on a single charge of 80km and a top speed of 70 km/h (43 mph). The vehicle has a payload of 750 kg, and a rear volume capacity of six cubic metres, although this will be extended with goods also being carried within the cab of the vehicle.

New York Times: After a yearlong field test in five regions, United Parcel Service has ordered the production of 150 delivery trucks with bodies built of composite plastic panels. The company said that relative to the aluminum-bodied P70 package car, as the company's equivalent vehicle is known, each plastic-body truck would lower fuel consumption by 40 percent.

Post & Parcel: Postal Digest – News from PostNord, PostNL, Poste Italiane and Austrian Post.

BtoB: Email volume increased in the first quarter of the year compared with the year-earlier period; open rates—along with other key email metrics—rose as well, according to a report from multichannel marketing company Epsilon and the Direct Marketing Association. According to "Q1 2012 North America Email Trends and Benchmarks," email volume increased 21.4% in the quarter over the year-earlier period. Despite the added volume, open rates also increased 12.6%, and now reflect an overall 26.2%. Nonbounce rates remained strong, at 96.5%. The number of triggered email messages grew 14.5%, accounting for 2.3% of total email volume, the study found. Open rates for triggered messages were 75.0% higher than nontriggered messages, with 119.0% stronger click rates.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Establishing a National No-Print Day probably seemed like a good idea, a way to draw attention to wasteful paper usage and to position Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc. as a company on the right side of the copier. But then the company's campaign jammed up against a Sewickley-based printing organization that represents an industry shrunken by an increasingly digital society and looking to shed its reputation as the bad guy on environmental issues. Now, as Toshiba tries to turn over a new page with the printing industry, it looks as if "National No-Print Day" may instead become a reduce-office-waste day.

Post & Parcel: Brazil Post – Correios – has become the first Latin American postal operator to sign up to the global environmental monitoring initiative run by the International Postal Corporation (IPC).

At the Postal Regulatory Commission: Docket No. N2012-2: On May 31, 2012, the Commission issued a notice and order concerning the Postal Service's request for an advisory opinion on the Post Office Structure Plan. 1 To further explore issues raised in these proceedings, a hearing on the Postal Service's direct case shall take place on July 11, 2012 at 9:30 a.m. in the Commission's hearing room.

MarketWatch: The president of Postal Savings Bank of China since its 2007 reorganization has been led away by investigators looking into high-stakes financial fraud.

CBS6Albany: A former U.S. Postal Service employee has admitted to bilking the federal government out of more than $18,000 in workers' compensation benefits. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Syracuse says 53-year-old Tomas Dombroski of North Syracuse pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to workers' compensation fraud by collecting about $18,350 in benefits over the past two years.

This summer's Mobile Commerce and Personalization Promotion provides business mailers with an upfront 2 percent postage discount on qualifying Standard Mail® and First-Class Mail® letters, flats, and cards with a 2D barcode that can be read or scanned with a mobile device. The mobile barcode must direct the recipient to either a mobile-optimized purchasing site or a mobile- optimized and personalized web page/URL (PURL) that is tailored to an individual. For program information, go to https://www.usps.com/mobile-bar code.htm. Registration began May 1 for mailers and started June 10 for mail service providers. If you are an MSP and registered prior to June 10, but wish to use the eDoc enrollment feature, you will need to log on to the Business Customer Gateway (BCG)/Incentive Programs before the promotion start date of July 1, 2012 to identify yourself as a Mail Service Provider. If you are an MSP and will submit your own mailings (in addition to mailings for other customers) you must also select the MSP designation after June 10. The promotion runs July 1 through August 31, 2012. Registration will remain open through August 30 and must be completed in advance of mailing. An MSP Incentive Programs Guide is available for download on RIBBS using the following link: https://ribbs.usps.gov/mobilebarcode/documents/t ech_guides/MSPIncentiveProgramsEnrollmentGuideV2.pdf

A new Network Rationalization Summer 2012 site consolidation spreadsheet containing more detailed information than the original Summer 2012 site list is now available on the following two web pages:

• http://about.us ps.com/news/facility-studies/welcome.htm
• https://ribbs.usps.gov/importantupdates/NetworkRationaliza tionConsolidationsSummer2012.xls

Please join the USPS for an encore webinar on "Mail Transport Equipment (MTE)," hosted by USPS Network Operations on Monday, July 2, 1:30 - 2:30 pm Eastern Daylight Time. Mail Transport Equipment (MTE) includes trays, sleeves, flat tubs, sacks, pallets, and rolling stock used by both mailers and the Postal Service to move mail throughout the network. Participants in this webinar will learn learn how the Postal Service serves the MTE needs of mailers of all sizes. The presenter will cover the process for fulfilling MTE orders, and the process for redistributing MTE from areas with excess to those where more is needed. Information will be provided about the large quantities of new MTE arriving now through late summer, as well as the debut of a new MM tray material being tested by the Postal Service. Webinar participants will also learn the latest on MTE web-based ordering, which will be phased in starting in early Fall 2012. Instructions for participating in the webinar appear below.

From a phone, dial: 866-966-6305; Meeting ID: 1957429
To attend the web conference and join with audio: (1) Browse to: http://meetingplace4.usp s.gov/join.asp?1957429 (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 access the recording of this meeting (only if applicable) (1) Please navigate to \http://meetingplace3.usps.gov. (2) Click Find Meeting to search for this meeting using Meeting ID 1957429.

June 21, 2012 

USPS Lite Blue: PMG Pat Donahoe has announced that a serious health condition has forced Chief Information Officer (CIO) Ellis Burgoyne to take a leave of absence. While Burgoyne recovers, Donahoe has appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Joe Corbett to temporarily fill the CIO position. Finance and Planning VP Steve Masse will become the CFO during this period. Cynthia Sanchez-Hernandez, currently manager, Finance and Planning, will take over as Acting Finance and Planning VP.

Post & Parcel: Ahead of next month's launch of a parcel terminal network in Ireland, John Tuohy, chief executive of parcel carrier Nightline, discusses the issue of who controls the final mile in the e-commerce chain.

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

• In keeping with the PostalVision2020/2.0 conference theme of "Platform Possibilities," the agenda included interactive panel discussions with postal and digital industry experts, each panel looking at a different aspect of the platform concept, peeling back the "layers" or "planks" of the platform. PostCom concludes its PostalVision2020/2.0 coverage with highlights from the panel discussions.
• Matt Swain, associate director, document outsourcing, InfoTrends, at last week's PostalVision2020/2.0 conference reported on customer communications trends and the communication impact of continuing digital disruption. Among the data imparted were recent survey trends that show customers prefer hardcopy for some communications, but digital for others.
• Mark Schoeman, President, Colography Group, gave the PostalVision2020/2.0 conference attendees an update on package shipping market statistics. The Colography Group surveys millions of businesses over the years to find out how they ship, what they ship, and all kinds of data points to determine what is going on in the package shipping market, Schoeman said.
• PostCom executive vice president Jessica Lowrance at last week's PostalVision2020/2.0 conference gave an update on legislative postal reform being considered in Congress. The Senate has passed a postal reform bill (S1789), but the House has yet to pass legislation. Looking at the Senate bill and key House bills not yet passed, Lowrance said neither will provide the $22 billion the USPS has said it needs in its five-year plan.
• On June 15, 2012, Senator Thomas Carper (D-DE), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security, wrote a letter to the Postal Regulatory Commission to express his concern "about the length of time it sometimes takes the Commission to issue advisory opinions."
• The Association for Postal Commerce (PostCom) last week submitted to the USPS its comments in response to the USPS' advance notice of proposed rulemaking concerning proposed implementation of a Full-Service Intelligent Mail requirement for automation prices in January 2014. PostCom told the USPS that it supports a move toward an IMb Full-Service offering "with appropriate incentives to compensate mailers for the costs to qualify for and maintain ongoing eligibility compliance, and which utilizes user-friendly, streamlined, and automated processes and systems."
• Collins and Carper not amused with governors' statements re: S. 1789. FedEx reports quarterly earnings. Approps bills restrict USPS cost cutting. Direct mail still works. No-Print Day backlash. USPS Pitches to retired postmasters. FedEx steps up cost-cutting. FedEx UPS no longer economic bellwethers. PostCom webinar on pending postal legislation. Congress second guessing USPS on market dominant NSA. Alaska pols press USPS for more.
• An update on notices published in the Federal Register.
• An update on notices regarding changes to the Domestic Mail Manual.
• 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

Post & Parcel: Åland Post is upgrading its mail processing operations with a new sorting machine using OCR technology from Neopost and Finnish firm Syslore. Åland Post is upgrading its mail processing operations with a new sorting machine using OCR technology from Neopost and Finnish firm Syslore. Åland Post, the state-owned postal operator in the Åland Islands, the islands in the Baltic Sea which are self-governing though part of Finland, has been looking to upgrade its sorting infrastructure for some time.

At the hearing held today on the nominations of James C. Miller III and Katherine C. Tobin for terms as Govenors of the Postal Service, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said that she was extremely disappointed by the "intemperate reaction" by the postal governors to S. 1789. She said she was particularly disappointed that both nominees hold similarly to these criticisms. "It is not helpful," she said, "to have nominees criticizing the one bill that has made it through the Senate." Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE) said that Sen. Collin's comments reflect his own feelings as well.

PRWeb: Datatech SmartSoft, an industry-leading provider of address verification and mailing software, today announced the release of MailSpotter, a new service for mailers that tracks the progress of mailings as they work their way through the postal system. Using the IM barcode, MailSpotter takes raw scan data from the USPS as mail passes through postal facilities across the nation and turns it into easy-to-read charts, graphs and tables that lets a mailer know exactly what has been delivered, where, and to whom. Additionally, MailSpotter includes a powerful QR Code creation and tracking feature that can generate unique QR codes for every single recipient. Every time a QR Code is scanned the mailer can receive real-time text or email alerts with details on who scanned it, and where it was scanned.

2Merkato: The Ethiopian Postal Service Enterprise, Ethiopia's sole mail carrier has won two bronze awards from the Universal Postal Union it announced. The enterprise won the first award for its efficient Emergency Message Service according to Ziyen Gedlu, Head of the Communications work process with the EPSE. The second award was given in recognition of the enterprise establishing a mechanism for complaints management said Ziyen. The award will help the postal service to enhance its competitiveness she noted. The awards will be presented to the General Manager of the EPSS at the 25th Universal Postal Union conference to held from the 24th Sept to the 15th of Oct. in Qatar.

BGR: Mobile phone sales in Asia-Pacific have surged and are on track to top conventional computer sales, a top Google executive said Wednesday. Aliza Knox, managing director of commerce for Google Asia Pacific, said smartphones and tablets were becoming the primary tool for individuals to access the Internet in the region, and that the Mountain View-based company is preparing to address that, Agence France-Presse reported. "Asia has an insatiable appetite for mobile," the executive said during a forum at the CommunicAsia telecom fair in Singapore, adding that Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and South Korea already have higher smartphone penetration rates than the United States.

KYIV: The Ukrainian parliament has settled the procedure for the purchase of postal services, stamps and envelops with stamps from state-run enterprise Ukrposhta.

PR-Inside: The UK's largest online parcel delivery service has reminded companies not to forget about the importance of finding a reliable delivery company when they are pursuing an online e-commerce strategy. In recent years there has been a major push by firms all over the world to take advantage of the digital revolution and increase sales via the internet. And now new technology has seen the focus shift to include mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.

Bloomberg: United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS)'s 5.16 billion-euro ($6.5 billion) cash offer for TNT Express NV begins tomorrow and runs through Aug. 31 as the U.S. company seeks to expand in Europe with the biggest deal in its 105-year history. TNT Express, which agreed to accept the bid of 9.50 euros a share on March 19, will hold an investor meeting in Amsterdam on Aug. 6 to brief its shareholders on the takeover, the companies said today in a joint statement.

Sun Journal: First Class mail soon will take a little longer to reach all corners of Maine: What took one day will now take two, maybe three days. It's part of a national U.S. Postal Service change in service standards beginning July 1.

BusinessWire: Precision Software, a division of QAD Inc. and a leading provider of transportation and trade management solutions, announces a new partnership with DYMO™ Endicia®, a leading provider of shipping and mailing postage technology, thus increasing the level of U.S. Postal Service® (USPS) offerings for Precision's customers. With this partnership, Precision Software now offers an integration framework to DYMO Endicia's application, allowing customers to take advantage of shipping directly with the U.S. Postal Service and processing a broad range of USPS destination offerings with greater ease and efficiency.

Washington Post: The Smithsonian's National Postal Museum has begun construction to expand the Capitol Hill museum with a new gallery showcasing a collection of more than 20,000 objects. The museum is expanding in its current location next to Washington's Union Station. It is taking over the former Capital City Brewery restaurant space to create a new 12,000-square-foot gallery. The William H. Gross Stamp Gallery will be named for its primary benefactor. Gross, founder of Pacific Investment Management Co., donated $8 million to fund the expansion.

National Association of Major Mail Users: In January 2013, Canada Post will be launching new Induction Business Rules. For most customers, the rules will not change their mail deposit activities. The rules will be implemented in phases, with close collaboration for any customer impacted. The attached note provides more details on this, and Canada Post is proposing a more comprehensive presentation and Q&A session at upcoming NAMMU meetings. NOTE: The new indudction rules were implemented already in Manitoba with very low customer impact. Canada Post is starting the roll-out in Quebec in July 2012, with the GTA later in 2012. Canada Post expects to complete this by end-February 2013.

Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: The Postal Service's customer interface systems (i.e. FAST, IMB, Postal One, Click ‘n Ship, label printing, Postage purchase, etc.) were out as much as twelve hours on Sunday June 17. Problems with the customer interface was noticed by some commercial customers as early as 8 a.m. Consumers and small business began reporting problems on Twitter around 11 a.m. on the east coast. Problems on digital interfaces for business customers appeared to have been resolved by 8 p.m. on the east coast. Consumers and small business customers that use the Postal Service's web site continued to experience problems to nearly 11 p.m. The immediate impact of the shutdown of customer interface systems was likely minimal. Most customers had made their decision to use the Postal Service for print communications or parcel delivery long before the systems problems made printing labels, paying for postage, or arranging for acceptance was attempted on June 17. The customers that were likely most likely to switch to an alternative supplier on June 17th were small business and consumer parcel shippers that were using carrier websites to print labels and pay shipping charges.

Post & Parcel: US postal regulators have noted "substantial" opposition to a $107m mailing contract proposed between the US Postal Service and one of its largest direct mail customers. The terms of the Negotiated Services Agreement (NSA) with Valassis Direct Mail were filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission back in April, but since then 40 opponents have filed dissenting views. On Friday, the regulators issued a call for more evidence in their review, stating that they have not received enough evidence from either side to form a judgement.

Federal Times: Don't look now, but a key piece of the U.S. Postal Service's downsizing drive this year is at risk of getting smoked before it even gets started. It's the piece that involves closing or consolidating 48 mail processing plants in July and August. As part of that effort, the Postal Service is seeking a legally required advisory opinion from the Postal Regulatory Commission on a related proposal to revamp first-class mail delivery standards. The problem is that the commission doesn't plan to issue that opinion until early September—after the downsizing is already supposed to have happened. That doesn't sit well with the American Postal Workers Union, which represents some processing plant employees. In a 29-page complaint filed last week, the union called on the PRC to bar the Postal Service from proceeding until the opinion comes out. The commission plans to rule on the APWU complaint by July 1, a spokeswoman said today, and its decision in that case will be binding. Not surprisingly, Postal Service lawyers argue in a rebuttal today that the union doesn't have a legal leg to stand on. But they acknowledge that even a short-term delay to the plant closings "will have real consequences." That's because the Postal Service has already agreed to suspend any further closings from September through December to avoid disruption to mail balloting in this November's elections or shipments during the lucrative holiday shopping season.

June 20, 2012 

Wharton Strategic Management: The United States Postal Service (USPS) is in dire financial straits -- and the solution will involve painful restructuring. The reason: Like many large, once successful organizations, the USPS failed to adapt to sweeping technological changes that have altered how Americans do everything from paying bills to communicating with friends and family. With the USPS facing a possible cash crunch this fall, the service is scrambling to cut costs, and legislators in Washington, D.C., are debating a new law that would transform the organization. The question now is whether the overhaul of the postal service will position it to survive in the decades ahead, or whether instead it will continue on its current path to irrelevance. "The world is changing, and the institution is not changing in ways that are consistent with that," says John Kimberly, a Wharton management professor. "The tsunami has caught up with it."

Wall Street Journal: FedEx Corp. Chief Executive Fred Smith predicted fundamental changes in the global freight business, with air carriers facing more competition from ships and the industry putting more focus on providing clients with customized, door-to-door delivery options.

Kuwai t News Agency: The 21st meeting of the Ministerial Committee for Postal Service, Communications and Information Technology of the Gulf Cooperation Council kicked off here on Wednesday. Minister of Communications and Information Technology in Saudi Arabia and Chairman of the meeting, Mohamed Jamil Mulla expressed his hope for a successful outcome of the meeting, hoping it would contribute to the development of the postal sector, telecommunications, information technology and promotion of all aspects of joint coordination in this important sector.

Post & Parcel: Russian Post has signed an agreement with the regional government of Bashkortostan to partner on improving postal services in the Russian republic. The agreement signed by Russian Post's deputy director general Igor Mandrykin and Bashkortostan prime minister Azamat Ilimbetov pledges to help save unprofitable post offices in the republic between the River Volga and the Ural Mountains. It also pledges to support modernisation of the postal network within the republic, pushing for increased automation of processes and investment in IT systems.

Hellmail: Neopost and RPost, the inventor of Registered Email services, have announced that Neopost will provide their business customers with the ability to send RPost Registered Email messages for time-stamped legal delivery proof, encrypted documents and email messages in compliance with data privacy mandates, and documents and forms sent to obtain recipient legal electronic signatures. The service may be used with the customers' current desktop, web or mobile email software and email addresses. The Registered Email recipient does not require any special software to receive, open, read, sign or reply to Registered Email messages. Neopost is the top ranking mailroom solutions company in Europe and second in the world.

Mediapost: The report, titled "Call-Based Ads: Eliminating the Unknown From Advertising," provides a historical context, explains the foundation for growth and provides market forecasts. It also highlights data from BIA/Kelsey's ongoing "Local Commerce Monitor" study, highlighting that small-business advertisers report a phone call, even more than a personal visit to their store, can become the most valuable new business lead. The research firm expects to release the full report next week at a conference in San Francisco.

Brand Republic: Responses from the 300 UK organisations surveyed in the 'Global data quality research report 2012', found that the companies are reacting slowly to the emergence of smartphones and the opportunity to use the mobile channel as a competitive differentiator. Despite the rapid growth of smartphone penetration, the survey reveals that 40% of UK companies currently fail to collect any mobile data at all. Joel Curry, managing director at Experian QAS, said: "Today, organisations will go to great lengths to validate an email or postal address using the latest technologies, yet many of these same companies will completely ignore a mobile number, despite the fact that solutions exist for authentication. "With more and more potential customers consuming information and shopping through their smartphones, this could prove to be a very costly mistake for businesses facing some of the toughest competition yet in today's economic environment."

Scoop: Mobile Augmented Reality software that will enhance the ability of courier and postal companies to make more ‘first time' deliveries is being developed by the University of Canterbury's HIT Lab NZ (Human Interface Technology Laboratory New Zealand) under the Ministry of Science and Innovation's (MSI) Technology Transfer Voucher initiative.

Gazette: As the U.S. Postal Service searches for an additional location in Bethesda, U.S. Rep. Christopher Van Hollen Jr. (D-Dist. 8) is calling on the USPS to relocate a facility at 6900 Wisconsin Ave. due to lack of parking.

Cyprus Mail: Postal services will send SMS text messages to people when their items arrive so that they can be picked up at any time from automatic post office boxes, Communications Minister Efthymios Flourentzos yesterday said. He was talking at the Nicosia offices in Prodromos, which inaugurated Parcel24 on a pilot basis. Customers will be sent a code through SMS to access the post boxes. Flourentzos said that postal services were trying to innovate even though there was a financial crisis. Other cities should get the service later in the year, he said.

From the Federal Register:

• Postal Regulatory Commission NOTICES New Postal Products , 37077-37078 [2012-14959][TEXT ] [PDF]< /li>
• Postal Service NOTICES Product Changes: Parcel Select and Parcel Return Service Negotiated Service , 37078 [2012-14936][TEXT ] [PDF]< /li>

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

French La Poste remains committed to its plans to offer internet broadband access.
Stage win for Swiss Post in the year-long legal battle with RPost: The commercial court in Zürich has dropped the case which was filed by the U.S. company and demanded that RPost should pay all the court costs and a party compensation to Swiss Post. Last week the post officially confirmed that there are no further legal proceedings between Swiss Post and RPost currently pending in Switzerland.
The volumes on Portugal's postal market fell considerably in the first quarter again. Last week the regulatory authority Anacom reported a mail volume of 267.8m items, down 9.4% from the same quarter last year. At the same time Portugal's 62 private postal operator marginally improved their market share to 3.0% (Q1 2011: 2.8%).
Eesti Post suffered yet another legal setback. The Estonian Supreme Court ended a 14 months legal dispute at the beginning of June and rejected an appeal against a decision by the competition authority. The case is about Eesti Post's pricing of access products.
Top-executives of China's Postal Savings Bank are obviously involved in a corruption scandal.
China's express and postal services continue to record exorbitantly high growth rates.
In search of a new strategy Pos Malaysia plans to reposition itself in the coming years. According to the recently published five-year plan (2013-2017) revenues from the direct mail, digital services and financial services units will be developed considerably to reduce the company's dependency on the mail business.
The Lithuanian post bought its partner - passenger transport company Kautra - out of the joint venture Baltic Post.
DHL plans to expand its business in India in the long term with investments in the three-digit million area.

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.)

Harvar d Business Review: The business models of metropolitan daily newspapers in the U.S. pretty much set them up for failure once the Internet arrived. And even if they'd succeeded, their news operations would be endangered anyway. The business model that the owners of the metro dailies gravitated toward in the decades after World War II was this: 1) establish monopoly, 2) milk that monopoly. The monopoly was on the delivery of printed advertising messages into homes in a given city or (better) metropolitan area: department store ads, supermarket ads, car dealer ads, and, most of all, classifieds. [EdNote: It be gone.]

Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: For the twelfth consecutive quarter FedEx has increased the proportion of shipments handled by its FedEx Ground subsidiary over the same quarter the previous year. The continued rapid growth of FedEx Ground's SmartPost service reflects the continuing increase in business-to-consumer shipments that FedEx transports for its customers.

Government Executive: With lawmakers deadlocked over how best to enact comprehensive U.S. Postal Service reform, the agency is in danger of missing its two retiree health benefit prefunding payments due this year, risking default. A 2006 law requires USPS to pay $5.5 billion annually to prefund retiree health care benefits. Its fiscal 2011 payment deadline was extended from last September until August 2012, and its fiscal 2012 payment is due by Sept. 30. Postal officials say they do not have that money. "We have never defaulted before and it is not something we want to do," USPS spokesman David Partenheimer said. "That is why it is so important that Congress passes comprehensive legislation that resolves this issue once and for all." But reform doesn't seem to be too close on the horizon. Just last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced a spending bill that includes a provision that's at odds with postal reform legislation the Senate passed earlier this spring. The provision, proposed by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., would ensure that six-day delivery continues and would prohibit some post office closures in 2013. The Senate postal reform bill allows for the possibility of switching to a five-day delivery schedule if the agency cannot improve its finances through other cost-cutting measures within two years. The House's version of postal reform, which would restructure USPS' health prepayment obligations, is not slated for consideration in the full chamber until after July 4.

June 19, 2012 

Post & Parcel: The Universal Postal Union has selected Irish-based company Afilias as the registry operator for its forthcoming .post project. The UN-affiliated global postal group said the agreement with Dublin-based Afilias brings its top-level domain for postal e-services one step closer to implementation. Under the deal, the infrastructure should be put in place by Afilias so the .post project can go live this year. The UPU has been developing the .post project since securing the rights to the top-level domain in 2009. The idea is for national postal services to be able to offer digital mail services in which customers would have email addresses ending in ".post" rather than ".com" or equivalents. The top level domain would also allow websites with addresses ending in ".post".

Alaska Native News: In response to recent reports of drug trafficking through the U.S. Postal Service into Southeast Alaska, Senator Mark Begich and Congressman Don Young today wrote to federal officials calling for a coordinated response between federal, state, and local law enforcement to crack down on the illegal flow of drugs through the mail.

Advertising Age: With one automatically checked box, Microsoft is challenging the advertising architecture of the web. In the weeks since Microsoft announced that its Internet Explorer 10 browser will ship with "do not track" as the default setting, marketers and agencies have been reaching out with one overarching question: What gives? Until now, industry consensus was that an opt-out of targeting should be a decision made by the user. Microsoft helped create that consensus through its participation in the Digital Advertising Alliance, a consortium of trade groups that has been attempting to establish self-regulation over the industry.

Reuters: FedEx Corp is stepping up cost-cutting measures to beef up profit as sluggish global economic growth curbs shipping volumes and increases customer demand for lower-priced delivery options. Shares of the world's No. 2 package delivery company rose 2.5 percent early Tuesday after it reported adjusted quarterly profit above analysts' estimates and said it was looking to cut costs further in the absence of significant economic recovery in fiscal 2013. Moderate global economic growth that keeps shippers conservative will continue into the next year, FedEx told analysts on a conference call. The massive volume of goods moved by FedEx makes its shipping trends a closely watched indicator of consumer demand and economic growth. "We believe US domestic and global economic conditions will be impacted by the European debt crisis, slowing growth in Asia," Chief Financial Officer Alan Graf said on the call. "These weaker global economic conditions have driven a shift by our customers from premium services to our deferred products. We expect that trend to continue in 2013." FedEx said it faces cost increases in fiscal 2013, including higher pension expenses and depreciation costs. The company, whose fiscal 2013 began earlier this month, told analysts it will provide more detail on its new cost-cutting initiatives in October at its investor meeting.

ARCEP: ARCEP is mandated by law to evaluate the net cost of La Poste's contribution to national planning and development in accordance with the methodology set out in Decree No. 2011-849 of 18 July 2011. Article 3 of this Decree provides that lost revenue taken into account in the net cost calculation shall be equated with revenue attributable to additional network coverage including, as appropriate, revenue resulting from the duly noted intangible benefits La Poste derives from it, less the revenue which, without this network, would be transferred to the contact points it otherwise maintains. This evaluation is subject to the constraint laid down in Article 4 of the same Decree which provides that ARCEP must ensure the exclusion of any duplication with the calculation of La Poste's other public-service missions. The first evaluation of the net cost incurred by La Poste in financial year 2010 gave rise to ARCEP Decision No. 2011-1081; for that financial year, ARCEP worked on the hypothesis that demand would be wholly retained if there were no additional network coverage (no lost revenue) and did not take account of the impact of possible intangible benefits because there was not enough data for assessing their value. However, with the studies available to it, in particular the study commissioned from WIK Consult in 2010, ARCEP has now pinpointed three benefits that could be included in its 2012 evaluation of the net cost incurred by La Poste in 2011 under the head of its obligation to maintain a territorial presence, namely: (1) the advantage of having an extensive network; (2) brand image; (3) advertising infrastructure ARCEP is launching a public consultation on this analysis.

Fedex: FedEx Corp. today reported earnings of $1.73 per diluted share for the fourth quarter ended May 31, which includes a previously announced $0.26 per diluted share non-cash aircraft impairment charge at FedEx Express. Excluding this charge, earnings were $1.99 per diluted share in the fourth quarter compared to $1.75 per diluted share a year ago. "FedEx delivered strong earnings results for fiscal 2012 due to the outstanding performance by FedEx Ground.

Gizmodo: "The Faceless Organization That Knows Everything About You"

Washington Post: The Senate committee on Monday released details and an analysis of its bill, joining the House, which earlier had released its own bill language. Both bills would continue two long-running requirements affecting the U.S. Postal Service: that it must deliver mail six days a week; and that it cannot use funds in the bill to close small post offices. Those provisions, along with new Senate language limiting closings of mail processing plants, set off a dispute in the Senate committee over whether such restrictions would undercut a broader postal reform effort that could allow USPS to make cutbacks in each of those areas under certain conditions.

Hellmail: It was announced today that the Isle of Man Post Office's revolutionary new digital product, "ePostbox" is being made available to a global audience. Last year, Isle of Man Post Office signed a landmark contract with Swiss Post to launch ePostbox - a product that introduces a radical new way for customers to receive their mail. For many residents on the Isle of Man, ePostbox has changed the traditional way of receiving mail. For the very first time, customers subscribing to ePostbox have been given total control over each piece of mail they receive wherever they are in the world. Customers are able to fully access and manage their physical post using their smart phone, PC and once an account has been set up, also via an iPhone and Blackberry App.

Direct Marketing News: Despite the perception in the marketing industry that direct mail and telemarketing are less effective than digital channels, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has found that direct mail boasts a 4.4% rate, compared to email's average response rate of 0.12%, says Yory Wurmser, director of marketing and media insights at the DMA. Depending on how one crunches the numbers, direct mail has a response rate of up to 10 to 30 times that of email — and even higher when compared to online display

Output Links: On Friday, June 15, 2012, The Print Council expressed strong disappointment with Toshiba America Business Solutions for its announcement to have a "No-Print Day" on Oct. 23, 2012. Printing Industries of America's President and CEO Michael Makin encouraged the U.S. printing industry to reject Toshiba America Business Solutions' National No-Print Day. "Needless to say, we find such a proposal ridiculous and an insult to the more than 800,000 Americans who owe their direct livelihood to our industry," said Makin. "Toshiba claims that our industry has failed ‘to make the link between printing waste and its negative impacts on our landfills, natural resources and the environment.' This is patently untrue. Our industry has long led the way utilizing sustainable processes. The primary raw material for printing is paper, which comes from trees, which are a renewable resource – so renewable that today, our country has 20 percent more trees than it did on the first Earth Day, which was held more than 40 years ago," added Makin.

From the Federal Register: Postal Regulatory Commission

• Post Office Box Service Enhancements, 36585 [2012-14902][TEXT ] [PDF]< /li>
• Postal Rate Changes, 36585-36586 [2012-14890][TEXT ] [PDF]< /li>

June 18, 2012 

Federal News Radio: The Postal Service is offering retirees the opportunity to come back and work part time as postmaster relief employees. Under the plan, postmasters eligible for optional retirement or those under the current Voluntary Early Retirement offering would still receive annuity payments, although the work would not further increase the amount of the annuity. Postmaster relief employees would work in post offices where service is being reduced to 2-4 hours per day, according to USPS. Those rehired would earn $11.76 per hour. Full-time postmasters earn an average of $29.85 per hour, according to May 2011 figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Street: FedEx -- like its compatriot United Parcel Service -- is no longer a straight-up economic indicator. For one, FedEx is benefiting from a sizeable move to online shopping. This results in a big increase in shipping, but it's a move that is secular. It has nothing to do with the cycle of the economy. You need to factor that in. If FedEx comes in light despite this added new business, it speaks very poorly of the economy. Likewise, a beat does not automatically mean that good fortune is shining back upon global business at large. People are just shopping with the likes of Amazon more. Moreover, FedEx's pension costs might kick earnings in the shin, but fuel costs have lightened and that could help. Also, a serious restructuring might be in the cards.

The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General invites you to comment on the following: This week's "Pushing the Envelope" blog topic: Not Yet Closing Time. Last month, the U.S. Postal Service announced a plan to reduce the operating hours at 13,000 locations. Our blog this week looks at that plan and how it impacts rural post offices. Do reduced hours make sense, or is there a better plan to reduce operation costs? Share your thoughts on this week's blog. New audit projects have been started on the external website.

• Timeliness of mail processing in the P&DC Network – 12YG032NO000. This audit will identify and compare the amount of delayed mail at Processing and Distribution Centers nationwide. We will use data analysis and on site observations to identify those sites with the highest proportions of delayed mail and identify causes for the delays.
• Contract Data Management – electronic Facilities Management System (eFMS) – 12YG034CA000. As a result of the Postal Service's organizational redesign in FY11, the authority and responsibility for all procurement contracting actions within the Postal Service (with the exception of real estate and related services contracts) were consolidated within the Supply Management organization. Real estate contracting authority continues to be delegated to the Facilities organization.
• International Outbound Package Sorting – 12RG029EN000. During a visit to an ISC in February 2012, we learned that a great deal of labor is expended in the processing of International Outbound Packages. We learned that many packages come in without the country code embedded in a scannable label. Because of this, a step in the process had to be instituted to ensure all packages had a country code assigned before the automated system could correctly sort items by destination country. This process involves approximately six personnel for an entire shift in order to keep the mail moving. It's possible that having a country code embedded in all labels before they arrive at the ISC would reduce the labor expended on the current process. This process is likely occurring in the same fashion at all five ISC's. We are initially going to consider the process overall in the event the audit team can identify additional efficiencies in the process.

Please join the Association for Postal Commerce for a free webinar on Tuesday, July 17 at 1:00 Eastern as Jessica Dauer Lowrance, Executive Vice President, PostCom explores a "deep dive" into S 1789 and HR 2309. As pressure continues to mount on postal reform, learn what provisions are in the different bills, their implications, and how they will affect you and the mailing industry. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeetin g.com/register/602241081

The Miami Herald: More than two dozen members of Congress — led by U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, and including Florida Rep. Connie Mack — have written Postmaster General Patrick Donahue to ask for a "detailed justification" for the proposed deal. The Newspaper Association of America also asked the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission to nix the proposal between the Postal Service and the Valassis company. The problem isn't the discounted rate, per se — if that rate were applied in a manner that's fair to competitors. But the way the rules have been written, the deal essentially grants one company postage rebates ranging from 20 percent to 36 percent for new mailings containing advertising by national retailers.

WhatTheyThink: The second Postal Vision conference drew 150 attendees to Washington DC's L'Enfant Plaza Hotel. This was two Metro stops from the real decision makers, i.e., Congress and the United States Postal Service. No one from Congress could squeeze it in but USPS' new Digital Solutions President and Strategic Planning Manager were in attendance as well as representatives of the two primary Postal Unions for the two-day duration. The USPS, as the core of this intertwined trillion dollar business directly impacting the employment livelihood of nearly 9 million citizens, was intellectually chopped, diced, and casseroled back together by truly some of the most intelligent, degreed and experienced academic, political, high tech consultants and association executives on this planet.

June 17, 2012 

Reuters: United Parcel Service Inc is seeking EU regulatory approval for its 5.2 billion euro ($6.6 billion) purchase of Dutch peer TNT Express to reinforce its position as the world No. 1 package delivery company. In addition to boosting its leading position in Europe, the deal will also give UPS access to TNT's stronger networks in the fast-growing Asian and Latin American markets. TNT is twice as big as UPS in Europe.

ThisIsMoney: Royal Mail stood accused this weekend of boosting profits ahead of privatisation by cutting a massive 6,500 post box collections. In the 12 months to March 2012 Royal Mail cut 9,689 collections from some post boxes, while adding 3,236 at others - resulting in a net loss of 6,453 collections. The collection figures were disclosed after a Freedom of Information request by shadow postal affairs minister Ian Murray, who said he believed Royal Mail was cutting costs ahead of privatisation. 'They are trying to fatten up the coffers to make it sellable. Collections are being reduced while prices are increasing.'

BBC: The Home Office says it has no current plans to force the Royal Mail to store data on all letters and postcards passing through its system. The provision is included in the government's draft communications data bill, published this week. But the Home Office said the bill would just maintain existing powers relating to postal data.

The American Interest: The Postal Service's problems are legion. Staffing costs are far too high, and the agency is unlikely to remain solvent without significant cutbacks and massive office closures. Meanwhile, the USPS has suffered a steady decline in both mail volume and revenue. Email has largely replaced paper mail as the primary means of long distance correspondence, as efficient and cheap private parcel delivery services such as UPS, FedEx, and DHL have largely cut them out of the market. Yet while these problems are serious, they should not have been surprising.

June 16, 2012 

Dead Tree Edition: Chastizing the Postal Regulatory Commission for taking 12 months to issue an opinion on ending Saturday delivery, Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE) is asking the panel to work faster on other proposals to streamline the U.S. Postal Service.

June 15, 2012 

At the Postal Regulatory Commission: Sen. Thomas Carper -- At a time when the Postal Service is reporting losses of $25 million a day and is doing all it can to head off financial collapse, there is a clear need for postal management to take a number of steps to streamline operations and adjust the Postal Service's network and product offerings to reflect the changing demand for hard-copy mail. This has meant — and will continue to mean — that the Commission will be called upon to examine the Postal Service's proposals and give its thoughts on the advisability of what has been proposed. In the past, the Commission's findings through the advisory opinions it issues have been of great value to the Postal Service, Congress, and postal customers. I have been concerned, however, about the length of time it sometimes takes the Commission to issue advisory opinions. This was especially the case with regard to the advisory opinion on the Postal Service's proposal to eliminate Saturday delivery, which took 12 months to complete. I believe that opinion also suffered from a lack of focus on the key issues that I believe needed examination during the debate about moving to five-day service. I put forward two recommendations for the Commission to consider as it seeks to improve its operations.

Post & Parcel: "Creating a digital reputation for the US Postal Service"

WREX: Governor Pat Quinn visited Rockford Friday to sign a bill that will allow judges to consider harsher penalties for crimes against postal workers.

DC Velocity: Streamlite Inc., an Atlanta-based company that aggregated small parcels for businesses and pushed them through the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) network for low-cost deliveries to consumers, abruptly shut its doors last night after it lost what it called a "critical customer." Like other parcel consolidation providers, Streamlite picked up clients' shipments, calculated postage, sorted the packages for the proper postal facility, and pushed them into the postal network for final delivery. High-volume mail order companies and e-commerce merchants like the model because they are able to obtain low USPS rates for their bulk shipments. However, parcel consolidation services don't command high margins, and market penetration by the three big parcel players—UPS, FedEx Corp., and DHL—has put further pressure on the smaller providers that once made up the lion's share of the provider universe.

The Telegraph: Customers could unwittingly have been missing the post because Royal Mail has axed thousands of extra collections from pillar boxes across the country

'HuffPost: The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is currently hemorrhaging. Sure, its losses have dropped from an absolutely awful September 2011. In that month it ran an astonishing $10-billion deficit. However, today the USPS is anything but thriving -- and this is hardly surprsing. Founded in 1775, its "business model" is pretty much the same as it was more than 200 years ago. And that needs to change. The second annual Postal Vision 2020 was held this week with a theme of platform possibilities. I spoke about how Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are innovating with the help of their ecosystems. My message to the Postmaster General: Think bigger. While expansive, the postal service has to fundamentally rethink things to remain relevant. Private sector alternatives and the rise in digital distribution mean that business for the USPS won't continue as usual. Building a standalone "platform" is not the solution.

DMM Advisory: IMb™ Services Update

• PostalOne!® Release 31.0.1: A patch to repair known issues in PostalOne! ® Release 31.0.1 will be deployed during the scheduled maintenance window from 4 a.m. through 8 a.m. CDT on Sunday, June 24, 2012. This will be done in a rolling fashion and there will be no planned outage during the software deployment. The current Mail.dat® client will continue to be used; there is not a new Mail.dat client with this release.
• "Building the Intelligent Mail® Barcode" Webinar will be held on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 1 p.m. EDT. It is part of a series to help mailers transition to the Intelligent Mail® barcode and will provide information on the steps you need to take to use Intelligent Mail barcodes. To join the event, copy and paste this link in your browser and click "Join Now" https://usps. webex.com/usps/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=395032381

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

• The PostalVision2020/2.0 conference held earlier this week provided a platform for the USPS, postal industry and digital industry to continue engagement to look at the role of the Postal Service in the digital arena. The conference focused on envisioning the future postal ecosystem in America, examination of the USPS' physical attributes, and exploration of digital influences, trends and products, using a "platform approach"to look at each layer or "plank" of the platform.
• Postmaster General Pat Donahoe this week at the PostalVision2020/2.0 conference made sure that participants were reminded of the Postal Service's current financial situation and ongoing financial challenges if meaningful legislative reform is not passed. "From the Postal Service's perspective in 2012," he told the conference participants, "we need to solve the issues facing our industry." "We need to put ourselves on good financial footing," he said, "so we can have a bright 2020."
• The American Postal Workers Union has filed a complaint at the Postal Regulatory Commission to halt the implementation of the Postal Service Network Optimization plan until the Commission issues its advisory opinion.
• Recently appointed USPS president of digital solutions Paul Vogel told the PostalVision2020/2.0 crowd that the USPS has been considering the same issues raised at the conference and that the first step it sees toward a digital strategy is to build on its existing brand reputation to extend to the digital arena. He touched on some things the USPS would consider and some things not high on its list in terms of digital strategy ideas, and said his team is newly created but comprised of younger people.
• Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) Chairman Ruth Goldway earlier this week at the PostalVision2020/2.0 conference told participants that while the USPS has to get its financial situation resolved, there are areas it should focus on for the future. She said that the USPS has spent almost all of its creative energy in the last four years on cost cutting measures, and said it needs to shift its focus to include strategies for future growth. She laid out six potential strategies the USPS could pursue in the future.
• Mohammad Adra from the USPS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) told the PostalVision2020/2.0 participants that there are three revolutions impacting the postal sector: the internet revolution, a logistics revolution, and a manufacturing revolution. "But when facing a revolution," he said, "we can't forget reality and that new revolutions in the physical world are coming." He said the question today is whether we are at a constitutive moment where cultural and political decisions need to be made, and if so, what are those decisions in terms of the postal ecosystem?
• PV2020/2.0 keynote speaker Phil Simon, author, of "The Age of the Platform, How Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google Have Redefined Business," told the conference attendees that having a business model that uses an integrated set of "planks" enhanced by vibrant ecosystems are what puts the capital "P" in "Platform" vs. "platform" which is simply a technology platform of the likes that have been around a long time (e.g., phone lines, operating systems, etc.).
• According to Jody Berenblatt, Senior Advisory, GrayHair Advisors, "thanks for John Callan and his team for recognizing that our future is, in part, a result of the actions we take now and for pulling us together to engage in this timely conversation. We are three Presidential elections away from 2020. We are living in a time of pervasive uncertainty. Forecasting for just two to three years is a challenge. Our plates are full with projects to adjust to regulatory requirements. Federal mandates to go digital combined with high customer expectations require investment and process changes. On the other hand, 2020 is not that far away and it is evident that we will still need a healthy hard copy distribution network."
• According to Chris Lein, Vice President of Software Marketing for Bell and Howell, "as the USPS continues to optimize its delivery network, significantly changing labeling lists and sortation schemes, mailers need to also consider optimization of their postage process. Commingled mailing, whether done digitally, physically, or both is still and effective way to reduce overall postage and mail preparation costs."
• USPS publishes amended Reply Rides Free report. APWU seeks to stop consolidations until PRC issues opinion. April credit card direct mail volume hits 25-month low. Do small businesses need the USPS anymore? Vice Chairman Langley submits letter to Congress on USPS POStPlan. Postal pension "refund" is a disguised taxpayer bailout. USPS introduces PayPal as online shipping payment option. No customers participate in Mail Works Guarantee. USPS releases fourth annual sustainability report. PRC both dismisses and grants complaint case. Paper: On the origin of email and why the USPS may now embrace it. International Hybrid Mail Coalition is launched. CRS's "The USPS: Common Questions About Post Office Closures." NextGen PV2020 needs NewGen participants. Missing the digital dialogue...again. PV2020 walks the walk on digital.
• DMM Advisory Updates
• Updates from the Federal Register that affect the mailing industry.
• An update from the USPS Office of Inspector General.
• A review of postal news from around the world.
• Postal previews.

Hey! You've not been getting the weekly PostCom Bulletin--the best postal newsletter anywhere...bar none?  Send us by email your name, company, company title, postal and email address. Get a chance to see what you've been missing.

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Des Moines Register: It's true that the Postal Service is in need of restructuring to accommodate the decline in mail demand and adapt to the 21st century. However, the mails provide an important service to the public that is as valuable as education and defense. They cannot be replicated by the private sector. Just try sending a letter or light present or check to someone for 45 cents by any other carrier. We cannot rely on the Internet to service our communication needs, nor could we rely on United Parcel Service or FedEx to pick up all of the slack. And they would they do it for the price. The absence of the Postal Service would disproportionately hurt poor communities and individuals — those with the least access to the Internet depend on the mail to pay bills and taxes and to stay in touch with friends and family.

Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: The Washington Post has reported that the Senate Appropriations Committee passed the finance and general government appropriations bill that 1) retained maintained the requirement that the Postal Service provide 6-day delivery and 2) prohibited the Postal Service from close small post offices in FY 2013 and prohibited closure of mail processing facilities before 2014 and not until a study by the USPS Inspector General. The appropriations bill sponsored by Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) and raised objections from Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) who argued that the Appropriations Committee action effectively picked apart S.1789, a bill that she cosponsored, which the Senate had recently passed.

Post & Parcel: A new International Hybrid Mail Coalition has been established to push for the Universal Postal Union (UPU) to adopt a worldwide payment system to support international hybrid mail. The aim of the new Coalition is to carry out research as well as advocacy activities to ultimately encourage the UPU to include a neutral payment platform for international hybrid mail within its terminal dues system, the system that posts currently use between themselves to pay for delivery of international mail.

eCommerceBytes: As the U.S. Postal Service continues its financial freefall and lawmakers consider legislation to free the agency of costly labor obligations, another debate is percolating about whether and how the organization can reinvent itself as a sustainable entity in the digital age. "It's probably the richest broke company in America," Frederic Rolando, president of the National Association of Postal Letter Carriers, said in a panel discussion this week at the PostalVision 2020 conference. But Rolando argued that the problems facing the Postal Service are structural, too deeply ingrained simply to be resolved by cutting benefit costs and reductions in the workforce and infrastructure.

Washington Post: A bill advancing in the Senate that would require continued six-day delivery of mail and discourage the closing of postal facilities threatens to undermine a broader postal reform that already has passed the Senate, a main sponsor of that original legislation said Thursday. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a sponsor of the original bill, and Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) squared off over the issue. Collins said language in Thursday's spending bill, sponsored by Durbin and approved on a party-line vote by the Senate Appropriations Committee, would put the original "comprehensive reform in jeopardy." That Durbin-sponsored bill would require that six-day delivery "shall continue without reduction," that none of the money from the bill could be used to close small post offices in 2013, and that certain mail processing facilities — including two in Illinois — could not be closed before 2014 and not until after a study by the postal inspector general. Durbin added that he would "make no apologies" about the new provision regarding processing facilities, saying it would only require that facilities be given "a second look" to determine whether a closing is justified. Collins ultimately did not offer an amendment to remove the postal provisions, meaning they will be part of the spending bill when the full Senate votes on it. [EdNote: Ah, yes. Bipartisan harmony.]

Multichannel Merchant: Although direct mail response rates dropped nearly 25% in the past decade, mail campaigns still hold a significant edge over digital channels according to the Direct Marketing Association's 2012 Response Rate Report.

MyPrintResource: While offering mailing services can deliver a new revenue stream for print service providers, it's important to remember that it's an entirely new business requiring different knowledge and skills, says Jim Workman, Assistant Vice President, Center for Technology and Research, Printing Industries of America. Mailing is a complex business, requiring the printer stay on top of postal regulations that change frequently. It requires the ability to clean, sort, and manage address data files, all the while client postage costs are kept to a minimum and mail gets delivered on time to the right recipient, reports Workman. An increasingly critical area is that of security—you must be able to insure 100% protection of your client's financial information. Navigating through postal regulations and requirements can be frustrating, so your first step as mailing partner is to make sure you understand your client's goals and objectives

UPS: The HP ePrint app and Public Print Location service, now offered at participating The UPS Store locations. This easy-to-use, full-service printing solution is perfect for those road warriors, like my dad, who travel and need a place that can provide print services wherever they go. Statistics show that 80 percent of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of a The UPS Store location,making this solution a convenient on-the-go printing option for last minute reports, projects, or presentations. Another plus – the HP ePrint app can be downloaded straight to your Smartphone, and provides locations and directions to the nearest The UPS Store location. All you have to do is select a file to print from your Smartphone, find the location closest to you, submit a job to be printed, then take the job code into The UPS Store where its associates will print and have your documents ready to go. And the best part is – anyone can use it!

TechNewsWorld: President Barack Obama on Thursday signed an executive order intended to make broadband construction along federal roadways and properties in the United State more effective and up to 90 percent cheaper. Building a nationwide broadband network will strengthen the U.S. economy and put more Americans back to work, the president said. The executive order will require the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, the Interior, Transportation and Veterans Affairs as well as the U.S. Postal Service to band together and offer carriers one approach to leasing federal assets for broadband deployment.

The Star: Pos Malaysia Bhd will be diversifying its income stream to reduce its dependency on the mailing business, according to group chief executive officer Datuk Khalid Abdol Rahman. "We want to reduce our dependency on mail. "We will look into opportunities to diversify revenue by venturing into high growth areas. We will also expand into the digital business," he said in a briefing to announce the second stage of its transformation plan and financial results.

Computerworld: New Zealand Post plans to bring a digital mail product to the market this year after trialling three technologies. Last year it signed a trial licensing agreement with digital postal mail provider Zumbox - said at the time to be the world's first platform for digital postal mail. "This was a technology solution explored by New Zealand Post during the development phase in early 2011," says communications manager John Tulloch. "Zumbox is one of three technology options we investigated in a prudent and thorough process to find the most appropriate platform partner. "New Zealand Post chose not to pursue the Zumbox solution in December 2011, as it was decided to pursue a bespoke build option which will provide the flexibility New Zealand Post requires as it develops the platform IP and subsequent solution road-map." Tulloch won't name the platform but confirms it is one of the two others trialled. A select committee review of NZ Post last year commented that NZ Post seemed somewhat slow to respond to changes in technology and the climate for postal services.

June 14, 2012 

Sprint: "Sprint Pushes the Envelope to Reduce Paper and Its Environmental Footprint" At the Sustainable Brands Conference, Sprint Nextel, named No. 3 on Newsweek's 2011 Green Rankings, unveiled how it will help change the face of customer invoicing and direct mail with an inventive two-in-one reusable envelope. The new ecoEnvelope™ allows customers to receive and remit payment using the same envelope – making bill payment easier, minimizing mail costs, reducing paper use, and lowering environmental impact. The shift to ecoEnvelope was part of Sprint's broader commitment to responsibly procure printing paper as reflected in its recently updated Paper & Print Procurement Policy. The policy highlights Sprint's commitment to support sustainable forest management, work with environmentally and socially responsible suppliers, purchase paper with more recycled content, and optimize its paper use.

Vancouver Courier: The future is uncertain for almost 2,000 postal workers based at Canada Post's huge mail-sorting plant in downtown Vancouver. Just over a year after announcing more than half of them would move to a new plant in Richmond, Canada Post may be changing its mind.

PRNewswire: Demonstrating its continued commitment to sustainability excellence, the U.S. Postal Service recently published its 2011 Annual Sustainability Report which highlighted achievements, including a 7.4 percent decrease in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from a fiscal year (FY) 2008 baseline. The reduction of almost 985,000 metric tons of CO2 is equal to removing nearly 200,000 passenger vehicles from the road for a year.

The Economist: I am still waiting for the re-invention of paper. That's right, paper. What we call paper today has evolved over centuries from stretched animal skins to papyrus to wood paper pulp. It is lightweight, foldable, easily transportable, readable in bright light and relatively cheap. However, in its current "wooden" form, it is not immediately reusable, not searchable and comes with an environmental cost. While there have been several attempts to date to create high quality digital paper (e.g., Plastic Logic), none has yet delivered a user experience as good as the iPad with the benefits of the traditional paper form factor.

Congressional Research Service: "The U.S. Postal Service: Common Questions About Post Office Closures" Kevin R. Kosar, Analyst in American National Government, June 13, 2012

Union Leader: In the most recent plan designed to staunch the flow of red ink, the U.S. Postal Service has proposed cutting retail hours at post offices across the country — and sometimes reinventing the position of postmaster.

eCommerceBytes: The head of the regulatory body that oversees the U.S. Postal Service outlined a broad vision for putting the money-losing agency on a path to long-term sustainability by exploring a series of new business lines. In a keynote address at the second annual PostalVision 2020 conference on Wednesday, Ruth Goldway, the chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission, emphasized the value of the assets the Postal Service provides and suggested that its best bet for revival is to play to its strengths. Echoing others who have argued that the Postal Service cannot achieve financial viability simply though deep cuts to its workforce and network of facilities, Goldway urged the agency to think creatively about how to leverage its infrastructure in ways that would be attractive to a broader range of private firms than the commercial shipping providers with which the agency currently has processing and delivery deals.

Global Address Data Association: The Global Address Data Association (GADA) of New York and Xplor Italy (The Electronic Document Systems Association) announce the successful launch today of the International Hybrid Mail Coalition following a meeting in Rome of the founding members. The mission of the organization will be to engage in research and advocacy to promote the inclusion of hybrid mail communication models within the Universal Postal Union regulatory environment. This will provide a neutral settlement and exchange system within the UPU's terminal dues system. It is anticipated that this will encourage broader use of international direct and transactional mail because settlement rates and schedules will be transparent from both the postal and user perspectives. The founding members of the Coalition are Roggero e Tortia, Rotomail, Doxee, Click2Mail, DOCAPOST, Michael Schiffer, CM Trading, and Postel. The Coalition with soon have a website at www.hybrid-mail.org, and offices at both GADA in New York and Xplor in Milan. For information on the coalition, including membership levels and fees, readers may contact Mr. Prescott at mailto:Charles@globaladdress.orgCharles@globaladdress.org Mr. Barboglio at enrico.barboglio@xploritalia.it< /a>.

CNET: Time Inc., once a prominent opponent to selling magazine subscriptions for the iPad, has reached an agreement to offer subscriptions to all its magazines for Apple's tablet.

Wall Street Journal: Nokia Corp. on Thursday announced sweeping changes to its business, including 10,000 additional job cuts and a broad management shake-up, as the Finnish handset maker cut its earnings outlook for the third time in a little over a year. Nokia, which is being battered by bruising competition both at the expensive end of the market from Apple Inc.'s AAPL -0.70% iPhone, and from cheaper devices running Google Inc.'s GOOG -0.71% Android software, said competition in the mobile industry had hit its smartphone business "to a somewhat greater extent than previously expected." It warned that the operating loss at its main mobile devices unit would be larger than it had earlier indicated. The new round of restructuring measures comes as the combination of Nokia's accelerating cash burn along with its continued steep fall in handset sales is starting to fray investor nerves. [EdNote: Okay, substitute "Postal Service" for "Nokia" and you'll have a general picture of the USPS of today.]

Postalnews Blog: The APWU filed a complaint with the Postal Regulatory Commission on June 12 seeking to stop the Postal Service from implementing Phase 1 of its consolidation plan, which calls for the USPS to consolidate 48 mail processing plants this summer and to lower service standards effective July 1. The USPS cannot implement the changes without first obtaining an advisory opinion from the commission, the complaint says. Federal law requires the USPS to seek an advisory opinion from the PRC whenever it plans to make nationwide changes in service, but the commission doesn't expect to issue a formal opinion on the plan until close to Labor Day.

StockMarketWire: Escher's Riposte counter automation software has been selected by Swazi Post, the national postal operator in Swaziland. Swazi Post will use Riposte to modernise its postal network to offer new revenue generating products and services while at the same time reducing the existing cost base.

Government Executive: The leader of a letter carriers union said a comprehensive bill to reform the U.S. Postal Service should include a mandate to establish a business commission with representatives from the agency's many stakeholders. Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, told Government Executive that such a panel would ensure that ideas for new revenue streams and ways to deal with USPS' mandate to prefund retirees' health care benefits were handled objectively.

Business Day: THE Communication Workers Union (CWU) wants hundreds of South African Post Office (Sapo) temporary workers to down tools tomorrow in protest against labour brokers — a mere week after workers appeared to accept an interim solution believed to have ended a four-month long strike.

Electric Light & Power: The U.S. Postal Service notes that intelligent mail is the technology platform for the next generation of mailing services, features and products. Specifically the technology involves applying a new suite of bar codes to mail pieces, trays, pallets and other mailing containers. The Postal Service promotes intelligent mail because it expands the ability to track individual mail pieces and provides customers with greater visibility into the mail stream. When used with services such as address change, intelligent mail more easily can connect a mail piece back to a specific mailing, record or both within the customer database.

The Times of India: Data shows that this is a growing trend in the 12,185 post offices in the Tamil Nadu region, which includes Puducherry, after India Post decided to embrace internet mailing and e-banking system. The department's e-post and e-bill services in Tamil Nadu have seen a steady rise in the number of customers in the last three years, compared to the 66,000 people who used it in the year 2009. "We decided to target the rural population who may not have internet access, or have email ids, but need a letter to reach in just a couple of hours," said a postal department official.

V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai, Ph.D. -- "Email is the full--�scale emulation of the interoffice, interorganizational paper--�based mail system. The origin of email, as discussed, provides a new clarity on why the USPS may now embrace email. The mail system, whether it be paper or electronic, consists of a set of interlocked parts common across both, such as mailboxes (e.g. Inbox), registered mail (e.g. return receipt), security, notification, retries, sorting, address book, transport and delivery, universal accessibility regardless of skill (e.g. no one needs to be a postmaster or a computer scientsist to send a paper mail or an email), etc. This fact makes email a natural extension of USPS core service offerings." [EdNote: Dr. Ayyadurai was one of the speakers at PostalVision 2020. He was invited to participate for his well-known belief that the Postal Service may well have a role in the digital arena."

Hellmail: Mark Bigley, Chief Executive of Secured Mail, yesterday urged the mail industry to prepare for the changing landscape. Mark Bigley, Chief Executive of Secured Mail, said: "The industry is changing and we all need to look to the future and ensure it remains strong and competitive. There are still reall opportunities for growth within the sector.

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

State-aid repayments imposed by the EU-Commission (CEP-News 05/12) pushed bpost into the red in 2011.
The National Council of Switzerland spoke out in favour of a further liberalisation of the postal market last week.
Deutsche Post rolls out a new strategy for its E-Postbrief product.
French La Poste has been pilloried for abusing consecutive temporary employment contracts again.
The Russian post plans to expand especially in the express and financial services sector.
The new postal law passed the parliament in the Czech Republic. With this step the country has fulfilled the prerequisites for the full liberalisation of its postal market which has to be completed until January 1 2013 according to the EU Directive.
FedEx grounded another 24 aircraft due to weak demand in the USA.
CEOs in France's state-owned companies will earn significantly less than they do currently. It was now revealed that the new elected French government plans to cut the salaries of managers in state-owned companies. The annual wages are to be capped at about 20 times the pay of a company's lowest-paid worker. French La Poste's CEO Jean-Paul Bailly would see his salary cut by around one-third to one-half due to these plans.
The Spanish government restructured the administration of state-owned companies. The stake in Correos and 17 other public enterprises will be administered by the state-owned holding Sepi (Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales).
Japan Post Group plans to introduce a more performance-related pay for its employees. In the future the post will conduct five-degree performance assessments for all its employees.

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.)

At the Postal Regulatory Commission: Docket No. C2012-1: Complaint of the Associated Mail and Parcel Centers, et al.

To efficiently and effectively fulfill its statutory responsibilities and to afford Complainants and the Postal Service a forum to air their views, the Commission establishes Docket No. MC2012-26 as a placeholder for an elective filing by the Postal Service under 39 CFR 3020.30 concerning its enhanced services for Post Office Box service. In opting for this approach, the Commission stresses that it has not made a determination whether one or more of the service enhancements is a new product. Because no appropriate notice of these changes has been filed and these rules require, among other things, submission of "such information and data, and such statements of reasons and bases, as are necessary and appropriate to fully inform the Commission of the nature, scope, significance, and impact of the proposed modification," (39 CFR § 3020.32(i)) the Commission concludes that such a filing would afford the parties a more efficient, less costly means to address the issues in dispute. 16 Pending resolution of that proceeding, assuming the Postal Service makes the requisite filing, Docket No. C2012-1 will be held in abeyance.

June 13, 2012 

IBNLive: The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has started a financial literacy initiative in partnership with India Post, to take the equity cult to small towns and cities of India.

Associated Press: France's finance minister has unveiled a plan to cap the pay of top executives at state-owned companies at (EURO)450,000 ($562,140).

At the Postal Regulatory Commission: The American Postal Workers Union has filed a complaint concerning the Postal Service's network optimization plan.

Press Release: Window Book, Inc. will be exhibiting their latest innovative Postal products at the MFSA Annual Conference, June 24-27, 2012 in Asheville, NC.

Dead Tree Edition: In a stunning display of greenwashing and ignorance, a U.S. branch of Toshiba has proclaimed October 23 National No-Print Day. To raise awareness "of the impact printing has on our planet" and of "the role of paper in the workplace," Toshiba America Business Solutions is asking people and companies not to print or copy anything that day.

The Cap Times: Despite some efforts by Congress to protect rural post offices and processing centers, deeply misguided U.S. Postal Service managers continue to plot to carve up and cut back this essential agency. Just how real is the threat by the Postal Service brass to shut down thousands of local post offices nationwide? Very, very real. Confirmation of that fact came last week when the National Trust for Historic Preservation added post offices across the country to its list of most-endangered buildings.

Post & Parcel: The US Postal Service is going into digital services – but will not be developing its own digital postal mailbox, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe revealed yesterday. Giving the keynote address at the first day of the PostalVision 2020 Conference close to USPS headquarters in Washington DC, Donahoe said that the digital postal services market was now "wide open" for USPS to seek new revenues. But he said as far as he was concerned, there were already private sector companies in the business of providing digital mailboxes, so said it would not be an area for USPS to pursue.

eCommerceBytes: Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe on Tuesday offered a cautiously hopeful vision for remaking the U.S. Postal Service into a sustainable entity for the digital age, so long as it can win the blessing of Congress and its employee unions to restructure its crippling labor costs. In a keynote address here at the second annual PostalVision 2020 conference, Donahoe touted the key role the agency he oversees plays in an array of industries, ranging from paper products and forestry to logistics and printers. Much of his optimism for the future of the Postal Service is staked on the growth in the agency's parcel business that has been a more or less direct byproduct of the surge in online shopping.

From the Federal Register: Postal Service NOTICES Privacy Act; Computer Matching Program , 35432-35437 [2012-14308][TEXT ] [PDF]

The latest issue of Postal Technology International is now available online.

The Mail: Royal Mail signals end of the 'Sorry, you were out' card: Now your postman is allowed to deliver your parcel to a neighbour.

Heritage Foundation: Calls to refund "overpayments" by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to the retirement of postal workers are misguided. The estimates of overpayments are inflated by overly optimistic assumptions, as recent years have demonstrated. A refund would leave taxpayers on the hook for future shortfalls in USPS retirement funding. The better choice is to follow the private-sector practice of using the current surplus—whatever it is—to defray future retirement payments. Instead of giving the USPS a questionable refund, Congress should require it to make comprehensive reforms that recognize new realities and enable it to restructure its operations accordingly.

June 12, 2012 

A Jeff Jarvis Tweet from PostalVision 2020: Listening to the Postmaster General sounds a lot like listening to a newspaper or magazine publisher. You know what I mean.

OpenForum: Many small-business owners still use the Post Office as a critical part of their marketing and communication strategy. Here are the top 10 reasons they want the USPS to survive.

San Diego Reader: In a June 5 report, the IG's office blasts San Diego's mail carriers for wasting time and money on the job, and suggests things they need to do to improve their delivery speed. The auditors took out their apparently hidden cameras and stop watches and "determined the San Diego District could use at least 6 minutes less street time per day on each carrier route, or about 83,900 workhours annually.

CNN:Th e head of the U.S. Postal Service said Tuesday that if the service doesn't cut costs and Congress fails to act, it's going to be in the same dire straits as Greece. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe drew chuckles from a group of postal policy conference attendees by comparing the beleaguered, indebted Postal Service to the beleaguered, indebted nation. See also Bloomberg.

Freedom Daily: There is no excuse for nationalizing the transport of small envelopes. In more than 200 years, the government has yet to reveal a genius for the task. As long as the mail is carried by a tenured bureaucracy with no incentive to move quickly, service will continue to be slow, expensive, and doubtful.

Mintel: The cool-off in credit card mail that began in the winter of 2011 looks set to continue, at least for now, according to Mintel Comperemedia. In April, 260 million offers for new credit cards were received by US households, down 33% from the 390 million offers US households received during April of last year. This is the lowest estimated monthly mail volume tracked in the past 25 months.

At the Postal Regulatory Commission: Posted on the PRC website: Amended Data Collection Report for Reply Rides Free:
(1) http://www.p rc.gov/Docs/82/82932/Amended%20DataCollRpt.pdf; (2) http://www.prc.gov/Docs/82/82932/Amended%20USPS%20RRF%20Data%20Rpt.xls

Directions: MarketMAPS, America's leading provider of US postal geographies, announced today the addition of ZIP+1 and ZIP+2 geographies to their monthly updated, CASS Certification compatible suite of postal data products. These new postal boundaries help businesses target direct mail, manage sales and marketing data, and plan delivery routes with a level of detail and precision appropriate for their business and applications. Integrating USPS postal data with NAVTEQ and TIGER street data, MarketMAPS creates postal geographies that cover a detailed area that is smaller than a ZIP Code, yet larger than a ZIP+4. ZIP+1 and ZIP+2 geographies address those applications where the ZIP Code is too large of an area, while the ZIP+4 is too small. These new postal boundaries combine ZIP+4 geographic areas to form more detailed postal geographies.

NewsInEnglish.no: The Norwegian postal service (Posten Norge) announced Tuesday that it will shut down 149 post offices by 2014, with only 29 surviving the massive closures in Norway plus one on the Norwegian-controlled Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. The move will affect around 1,000 postal employees and it's already been approved by the Norwegian Parliament.

American Postal Workers Union: The APWU assailed a "modified" USPS consolidation plan at a hearing before the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) on June 7, and notified the panel that the union will file a complaint seeking to stop the Postal Service from consolidating mail processing facilities and reducing service until after the PRC issues an advisory opinion on the plan.

Hellmail: Lithunania Post (Lietuvos paštas) has aquired Baltic Post in a move to strengthen delivery options through automated parcel terminals. Self-service parcel terminals have already proved popular with users and and the acquisition of Baltic Post is regarded as strategically important.

Oman Daily Observer: Oman Post Company launched its new website. This will help the company achieve its objectives aiming at developing the postal services to keep pace with market requirements and to meet wishes of the both citizens and residents. Oman Post website came to pursue the government's direction to provide all its services through the umbrella of the e-government in all sectors.

New York Times: Concerns grew on Monday that Italy could be the next victim of Europe's financial infection, leading nervous investors to sell Italian stocks and bonds and damping euphoria over a weekend deal to bail out Spain's banks. The main fear is that Italy cannot grow its way out of a recession fast enough to pay a mountainous national debt. Because Italy does not have enough economic growth to generate the money itself, the government will probably have to borrow it at high interest rates, adding to an already heavy debt load. [EdNote: Gee. For a moment I thought they were talking about the Postal Service. You know . . . . Senate bill "euphoria" . . . . "mountainous debt" . . . . "does not have enough growth."]

Alaska Native News: As communities throughout Southeast Alaska report significant volumes of illegal drugs transported via the United States Postal Service (USPS), Senator Murkowski is asking the Postmaster General to address the matter, possibly by devoting additional US Postal Inspection Service resources to the area or increasing collaboration with local law enforcement agencies to reduce the flow of drugs into Southeast.

Interest.co.nz: Kiwibank and its parent New Zealand Post are seeking help with their plan to spend tens of millions of dollars modernising and upgrading ATMs, self service technology and cash management services as they look to reduce queues and spruce up branches deemed "tired" by customers.

The China Post: Bosses of China's postal bank and a regional city lender are among the latest financial bigwigs caught up in spreading corruption investigations. See also Bloomberg Businessweek.

The Daily News: Readers of our Sunday editions are probably familiar with material from national advertisers that's folded into the product. We call them "pre-prints" because they're printed elsewhere and we distribute them (for a fee) along with the newspaper. Newspapers are not and have never been the only alternative for these advertisers, who also have access to direct mail companies that employ the U.S. Postal Service to deliver the same type of product. Newspaper companies offering advertisers total market coverage also will utilize the USPS to distribute the circulars to non-subscribers. It's a fairly well-balanced, competitive market, but the Postal Service is prepared to unbalance it in an ill-conceived and unfortunate way.

AdPulp: Local advertisers in New Orleans are not happy about the recent announcement from New York-based Advance Publications that The Crescent City's daily newspaper, one of the oldest in the nation, will be printed just three days a week starting this fall. It's not that Advance wants to move away from paper. They simply don't want to pay for the infrastructure, when putting out a digital version of the paper is so cheap, by comparison.

Buffalo News: The Postal Service is in terrible shape, probably the worst in its history. Its very existence is under attack by digital communications: e-mail, texting, online shopping and bill-paying and more. It is a problem that is familiar to many industries including music, publishing and travel. We are in the midst of social and economic change that is profound and unstoppable. Adapting to it requires skills that Donahoe has not displayed.

The Association for Postal Commerce (PostCom) has filed comments in response to the USPS' advance notice of proposed rulemaking outlining its plan to require Full-Service Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) for letters, cards and flats for automation prices beginning in January 2014.

Federal Times: Last month, Postmaster General Pat Donahoe announced the launch of a "digital solutions group" intended to sniff out potential money-makers in the online sphere. More recently, the USPS inspector general has singled out one in particular: Putting the agency in the digital authentication business. With the world of online commerce rife with fraud and identity theft, the Postal Service is uniquely positioned to play a key part in the market for digital authentication services, according to the inspector general. Not only does it enjoy a high degree of public trust, but it is legally required to protect privacy, the report says, adding that some European posts already have such ventures under way.

June 11, 2012 

Wall Street Journal: Investors fled from Spanish government debt on Monday, an immediate rejection of the country's planned bank bailout by the constituency it most desperately needs to impress: the buyers of its own government bonds. The market rout puts Spain and the euro zone in a dire position. The bailout plan—in which Spain agreed to accept up to €100 billion ($125 billion) to recapitalize banks—was hatched to alleviate the concern that Spain itself could be dragged down by the declining fortunes of its lenders. BUT confidence in Spain is deteriorating, not rising. Behind the action is a swirl of concern about Spain, its banks and the mechanics of the bailout. [EdNote: This is NOT the kind of reaction American market analysts had hoped to see. Angela Merkel, this is your wake-up call.]

Post & Parcel: The US Postal Service has extended its payment options for customers using its online postage application, Click-N-Ship, to include PayPal.

Hellmail: RPost, the inventor of Registered Email services, last week announced that it has been granted a patent (USPTO 8,161,104) which comprehensively covers the tracking of email openings by means of embedded web links – the technology widely used by marketers to measure the success of their campaigns. RPost is set to license its patented technology to tens of thousands of email marketers, social media companies, and cloud-based businesses, and vigorously pursue infringement proceedings against those that don't comply. The covered tracking methods are being used by nearly every email marketing service, task management platform, and social network service as the basis of their analytical offerings. RPost estimates that more than forty billion messages a year are covered by its new patent.

June 10, 2012 

Courier Press: Taxpayer-funded congressional mail reports from the year's first quarter indicate 8th District Rep. Larry Bucshon spent 10 times more money on a newspaper insert than on mass mail pieces. Bucshon's expenditure of $35,113 to distribute 149,245 inserts was reported in the non-mail category of "mass communications." The reporting category of "mass communications" is relatively new. Those alternative means of communication, such as e-newsletters, are generally less expensive and harder to quantify than mass mail. Capturing the costs of unsolicited "mass communications" has been problematic compared to Postal Service data-driven mail costs. The mass communications costs are sometimes theoretical and difficult to estimate, such as the listenership for a radio advertisement alerting constituents to a town hall meeting or the readership for a newspaper ad. In addition, because it relies in part on self-reporting, House offices inevitably do not always report expenditures in the same way.

The Ledger: The USPS is not a "service unwilling to change" with "extremely generous employee salaries and benefits." Rural letter carriers are flexible, hardworking public servants who undergo yearly evaluations to match wages with mail volume. This ensures we're paid only for the work we do. Postal employees gave up the right to strike 40 years ago to earn the right to negotiate, so gains in salaries and benefits since then have not been strong-armed, but bargained for fairly. We have worked with the Postal Service, not against, to bring our carriers out from under the poverty line and into a career where they can live, work, and retire with dignity and fair compensation. So, when it comes to the long-term viability of the Postal Service, labor unions are not the problem — Congress is.

June 9, 2012 

DutchNews: Dutch postal group PostNL plans to create 1,200 jobs for people on welfare benefits or employed through sheltered work schemes for the handicapped, the company said on Saturday.

9WSYR: As the US Postal Service struggles to stave off bankruptcy, it is using some unprecedented means to solve its financial woes. The agency said last month that it will move forward with mail processing consolidations and staff reductions in an effort to generate billions of dollars. In addition, the agency is pushing for "every door direct mail." The shipping service caters to small businesses looking to mail in bulk, with postage rates starting at 14.5 cents. The approach is providing a win-win situation for both the postal services and some businesses. Sardo's owner Mike Canestrare credits the marketing effort with a 20 percent increase in business for his pizzeria on South Avenue. "It's a form of direct mail where we actually get to select the routes without having the individual addresses and it's actually affordable," he said. Previously, Sardo's flyers were mixed in with those of other businesses and were often overlooked.

June 8, 2012 

DMM Advisory: IMb™ Services Update

• Reminder: PostalOne!® Release 31.0.0 Deployment — will require an extended maintenance window to complete all software updates. There will be a PostalOne!® outage from 8 p.m., Saturday, June 9, 2012, through 9 a.m. CDT, Sunday, June 10, 2012. A mandatory Mail.dat® client download will be available immediately following the software update.
• Reminder: PostalOne! Release 31.0 Deployment to Test Environment for Mailers (TEM) — will occur on Monday, June 11, 2012, and PostalOne! TEM will be unavailable from 4 a.m. through 4 p.m. CDT.
• FAST® Release 21.0 Deployment: The FAST® production system will not be available on Sunday, June 10, 2012, from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. CDT. During this time, the FAST On-line application and FAST Web Services will not be available. FAST Release 21.0 will deploy to TEM on Monday, June 11, 2012, from 8 a.m. to 12 noon CDT. During this time, the FAST On-Line application and FAST Web Services will not be available.

Lake Stevens Journal: Eight protesters will be staging a hunger strike at D.C. postal headquarters and in the halls of Congress beginning June 25, the final week before the U.S. Postal Service downgrades delivery standards for first class mail. Beginning July 1, overnight single piece first class mail delivery will end. "The Postmaster General is sending the service into a death spiral," said Matt McAulifee, a postal mailhandler and hunger striker from Denver. "By slowing the mail, one to two days, the postal service will drive away customers. Businesses will switch to online billing and patrons will switch to online payment. Those most dependent on the mail - the elderly, the poor and rural communities - will be hit the hardest." "We will not stand by as our beloved postal service is destroyed," said Tom Dodge, a hunger striker and postal worker from Baltimore. "We will shame Congress and denounce the Postmaster General. We will engage in dramatic actions on Capitol Hill and at the USPS Headquarters to turn up the heat on decision makers." Sympathetic hunger strikes and other local protest actions are being organized by Communities and Postal Workers United, a national grassroots network.

Inquisitr: Business and individuals who ship freight via Federal Express (FedEx) will be be paying more in fees as of July 9. On that date, its FedEx Freight subsidiary unit is raising its shipping rates by 6.9%. The rate increase may be a reflection of rising fuel costs which has driven operational expenses upward in virtually every U.S. industry and are generally passed along to the end user and/or consumer.

Post & Parcel: Three more postal operators – Austria Post, Latvia Post and MaltaPost – are set to join the International Postal Corporation's integrated parcel delivery network later this summer. The additions will take the E-Parcel Group (EPG) up to 29 members as of 1st September, including operators spanning much of Europe, Scandinavia and the Baltic republics, as well as the US Postal Service. The EPG was created in 1996 by nine operators in northern Europe seeking to provide a business-to-business parcel service allowing two-day delivery with a supporting infrastructure including track-and-trace capabilities.

T aipei Times: Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo has pledged to conduct a comprehensive review of the personnel system at Chunghwa Post after the state-run postal company was listed by the Council of Labor Affairs as the nation's third-largest sweatshop.

eCommerceBytes: Next week, a diverse group of government officials, labor leaders, members of the shipping industry and others will gather in Washington for a two-day event that will focus a wider lens on the financial crisis facing the U.S. Postal Service than the typical policy discussions about how to preserve the faltering agency.

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

• The Association for Postal Commerce Board of Directors met in Washington this week to discuss a number of postal issues affecting the use of mail for business communication and commerce. Among the topics discussed: postal legislative reform, network optimization, post office closing plans, USPS initiatives regarding small business IMb services, post boxes with assigned street addresses, new product plans, and more.
• The Postal Service has filed its request for an advisory opinion on its newly released Post Office Structure Plan (POStPlan), an initiative to examine and consider changes to current operating methods and conditions including hours of operation, utilize to provide retail and other services and products at approximately 17,728 post offices, stations, and branches.
• The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has issued a report, The U.S. Postal Service's Use of Contractors to Delivery Mail: Background and Recent Developments. This report focuses on use of non-USPS employees to delivery mail. Currently, the USPS and the National Association of Letters Carriers (NALC) and the National Rural Letters Carriers Association (NRLCA) are in collectively bargaining. According to CRS, "if the parties cannot come to a satisfactory arrangement, Congress may be approached to consider the matter."
• In order to meet customer expectations, the U.S. Postal Service will honor requested in-home dates for non-machinable, nonbarcoded letters and flats that are entered at the DSCF or DDU as saturation, high density, or basic carrier-route. Eligible mailings will include a designator label (see attached) affixed adjacent to the routing placard to identify the mail as non-machinable and specify requested in-home dates.
• The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) provided its report for the first six months of Fiscal Year 2012. The OIG said it conducted 1,648 investigations that lead to 250 arrests and more than $315 million in fines, restitutions, and recoveries, of which nearly $48.0 million went to the Postal Service.
• According to the Courier, Express, and Postal Observer, "billers of all types should use the month of June to promote their on-line bill presentment and payment by focusing on the change in First Class service standards. By doing so they should be able to both reduce their billing and payment processing costs as well as reduce the risk of unfavorable publicity when customers learn after the changes go into effect that the Postal Service no longer can deliver their bills on time with the service standard change."
• The USPS has filed at the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), as part of its ongoing request for a non-binding advisory opinion on its service standard changes (PRC Docket No. N2012-1), information that shows the volume distribution of First-Class Mail (FCM) by current service standards as well as the service standard changes the USPS will make in Phase 1 and Phase 2 of its implementation plan. The Phase 1 changes take effect July 1, 2012, and the Phase 2 changes are scheduled to take effect in February 2014.
• Since the USPS inspired this renewed assault on our industry by developing EDDM, I think the USPS should be responsible for cleaning up the mess they created. When it comes to producing unaddressed advertising mail our industry gets all of its information from the Postal Service. They own, manage, update, and distribute the information used to produce and deliver EDDM mail. The Postal Service knows when new homes are added to routes, when route realignments change route numbers for existing addresses and when people move into and out of neighborhoods, regardless whether they file a change of address card (COA) or not.
• House must deliver on postal reform. APWU to file compliant case at PRC on USPS service standard changes. Industry Alert: USPS moving ahead with network rationalization. Why does the Postal Service cling to a money-losing monopoly? Senator Carper launches new Facebook timeline to highlight House's failure to deliver postal reform. USPS concerns with bid to cut government $1B mailing spend. Why magazines deserve more ad revenue than they're getting. Jeff Williamson named USPS Pricing VP. Informal discussions on early-out, incentives between USPS and APWU. PostCom's newest member.
• DMM Advisory updates.
• Updates from the Federal Register that affect the mailing industry.
• An update from the USPS Office of Inspector General.
• A review of postal news from around the world.
• Postal previews.

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Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: s Last June, Bloomberg BusinessWeek announced to Washington DC subscribers that it was switching to alternative delivery. (See: BussinessWeek Fires the Postal Service) BusinessWeek has continued to expand its use of alternative delivery so that now nearly 25o,000 weekly issues are no longer delivered by the Postal Service. Bloomberg will likely have reached that milestone by this month after shifting 45,000 subscribers to alternative delivery this year. By the end of 2012, it hopes to have 300,000 of its 860,0000 weekly subscribers delivered by a carrier other than the Postal Service.

R euters: As more newspapers cut back on print to reduce costs and focus on their websites, a troubling trend has emerged: online advertising sales are stalling. A flood of excess advertising space, the rise of electronic advertising exchanges that sell ads at cut-rate prices, and the weak U.S. economy are all contributing to the slowdown, publishing executives and observers say. The New York Times Co gets 10 percent of its revenue from digital ad sales and 35 percent from print ads. Print and digital subscriptions generate 48 percent of revenue, while miscellaneous sources account for the rest. [EdNote: What? No "Newspaper Choice" telling newspapers consumers should have the right to choose whether or not they want the ads that newspapers want them to read? What? No "Newspaper Choice" complaining about the loss of trees just to print newspapers?]

The Peublo Chieftain: The U.S. newspaper industry is rallying together to oppose a plan by U.S. Postal Service to give one of the nation's largest direct-mail companies a discounted rate on mailing advertising. The Postal Regulatory Commission is expected to decide by Thursday whether to approve the proposed agreement between Valassis Direct Mail and the Postal Service. The federal mail service is pushing for the agreement as a way to boost its own revenues, but critics, such as the Newspaper Association of America, are arguing the agreement would give direct-mail companies an unfair advantage that would sharply undercut newspaper advertising.

Notes from the May 16, 2012, MTAC Focus Group sessions have been posted on the Postal Service's RIBBS web site (and on this site). There are eight sets notes, each of contains notes for all sessions of one of the "track"/focus area (such as Product Development), or to all sessions attended by a particular class of mail (such as Periodicals). These notes, as well as slides and presentations used in the Focus Groups can be found under the "Important Information" bar on the MTAC page of RIBBS at: https://ribbs.usps.gov/index .cfm?page=mtac From now on, most messages conveying information specifically related to MTAC will be sent from the MTAC email address (MTAC@usps.gov. The USPS staff will monitor the MTAC in-box, and respond to all messages received there. You will continue to receive important news and information about the U.S. Postal Service via Industry Alerts sent from the IndustryAlert@usps.com address. Your feedback and opinions are important, so please let us know -- using any means of contact you like -- if you have questions, comments or suggestions regarding the content and format of the MTAC webpage, the new email address, or any other aspect of the MTAC program. [EdNote: Kudos!!]

• Visibility Service Performance Measurement
• Payment Acceptance
• Product Development
• First Class Mail
• Periodicals
• Standard Mail
• Package Services
• Preparation and Entry Operations

Wall Street Journal: Dish Network Corp. Chairman Charlie Ergen said a new ad-skipping feature that has infuriated major broadcast TV networks is a "competitively necessary" response to the explosion of cheap Internet video. That Web video threatens the pay-TV ecosystem, he added, and it is partly caused by the TV networks themselves. In a rare interview, Mr. Ergen for the first time explained publicly his rationale for introducing the ad-skipping service called Auto Hop last month. The reclusive satellite TV pioneer said the broadcast networks, several of which have sued Dish over the ad-skipping feature and have refused to run Dish ads promoting a Dish digital video recorder, have been "more emotional than realistic." With the new service, Mr. Ergen aims to force the networks to develop "more meaningful" ads, using, for example, demographic targeting of viewers. "Ultimately, broadcasters and advertisers have to change the way they do business or they run the risk of linear TV becoming obsolete," he said.

Save the Post Office: The United States Postal Service has abandoned the American people. At the direction of its Board of Governors and through the efforts of its primary officer, the Postmaster General, it has abandoned its mission of service and its basic responsibilities to the citizens of this country. In place of an uplifting vision of binding the nation together, the leaders of the Postal Service have embraced a cynical view that denies the traditional American commitment to community and to building a solid national foundation in favor of a purely individualistic pursuit of selfish greed. The leaders of the Postal Service have been aided and abetted in their actions by a Congress that is no longer able to act in a bipartisan way to serve the interests of the people of the United States. Blame can also be laid at the feet of the various employee organizations. With few exceptions, the unions and management associations have increasingly accepted a corporatized postal system that redefined service into little more than a huckster's sales pitch.

National Journal: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor made something of a splash after Politico quoted him saying legislating was pretty much done for 2012. Senate Democrats waved around the article on the Senate floor, crying out that the American people deserved better than for Congress to just pack it in for the year. But the fact of the matter is, there's not a ton of legislating that WILL get done in this election year. When asked about which bill was MOST likely to be passed before the end of the year: postal reform; student loans; the farm bill; the transportation bill; or the Violence Against Women Act, Insiders on both sides of the aisle were split. Of the major bills left to consider this year, which of the following do you think is most likely to pass: postal reform; student loans; the farm bill; the transportation bill; or the Violence Against Women Act?

	Democrats (23 votes)	Republicans (22 votes)
Postal reform	9%	0%
Student loans	30%	36%
Farm bill	30%	9%
Transportation bill	4%	9%
Violence Against Women Act	13%	27%
other	13%	21%

For Democrats the top two responses were student loans and the farm bill, which each got 30 percent of the vote.As for why Postal reform could happen, another Democrat said, "It's suicidal for the GOP to let interest rates double on July 1."

Government Executive: Postal Regulatory Commission officials and union leaders pressed the U.S. Postal Service on Thursday on its modified plan for streamlining facilities, revealing that the cash-strapped agency still has many gaps in its analysis of its cost-cutting efforts. The American Postal Workers Union plans to file a complaint with PRC because the union remains unsatisfied with USPS' estimates for loss in revenue as a consequence of the change in service standards. The union is asking that USPS be prohibited from changing its standards without receiving the advisory opinion of the PRC. The commission plans to issue a formal opinion on the USPS modified plan by Labor Day.

The White House: Stephen Crawford , of Maryland, to be a Governor of the United States Postal Service for the remainder of the term expiring December 8, 2015, vice chairman Alan C. Kessler, resigned.

Post & Parcel: In its last financial year SingPost Group's revenues increased by 7.7% to S$565.8bn, with an underlying net profit of S$149.6bn, a 1.2% improvement on the year before. (A Singapore dollar is worth approximately $0.80 USD). Mail provides about 59.2% of the Group's revenue, with 30.5% from logistics and 10.3% from retail. With a heritage reaching back to 1858, the company listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange in 2003 now has over 4,000 permanent staff and supplementary workers.

June 7, 2012 

BizTimes: What should the United States Postal Service be in the future and who will it serve? From a printer's perspective, I would say the USPS should continue to deliver the mail ... HARD COPY mail. But as mail volumes continue to decline, the USPS is trying to find new business opportunities and revenue streams. Some have said that the USPS needs to keep up with the times and develop a digital strategy. As Congress continues to debate postal reform legislation that is critical to get the Postal Service back on solid financial footing, stakeholders and interested parties will be discussing the long-term future of the USPS. It will happen at this year's PostalVision 2020 Conference in Washington, D.C., on June 12-13. Quad will be participating on a panel representing various segments of the mailing industry. The discussion will focus on the importance of maintaining a viable USPS, and what we are doing to incorporate a multichannel approach to add value to printed products and the mail.

Foli o: This morning, MPA announced that its president and CEO Nina Link will step down at the end of 2012. FOLIO: spoke to Link, following the news, to gain more insight into what this means for the association and the industry as it continues its unprecedented evolution, in the midst of trying to recover from severe economic strain. Link led MPA through one of the worst recessions in recent history. The organization itself experienced a 40 percent drop in revenue between 2006 and 2010, from 16.7 million to $10.1 million, according to IRS filings. Contributing to that was a dramatic slash in income from membership dues, from $10.1 million in 2008 to $5.4 million in 2010. The drop was caused mostly by a reduced membership fee, as the number of member companies was largely retained. To cope with these challenges, MPA downsized from a staff number in the low 40s to, now, roughly 30. Remaining nimble, Link says, is key for the association to remain vital to the industry. Also key is a commitment to priorities—especially advocating for the industry in Washington, on issues such as postal reform.

The Westside Gazette: America's postal service is being starved to death, according to five protesters who will be staging a hunger strike in the halls of Congress, beginning June 25th. The activists claim that a 2006 Congressional mandate, which forces the US Postal Service to prefund retiree health benefits 75 years in advance, is sending the service into a death spiral. Not only would the postal service have been profitable without the mandate, say the strikers, the USPS has also overpaid tens of billions into two pension funds.

Online Athens: Government workers didn't lose jobs in droves like their private sector counterparts during the recession, but the jobs of thousands of Georgia teachers and postal and social service workers are now threatened, further dampening the state's tepid economic recovery.

Post & Parcel: PostNL has launched a new facility that allows its commercial clients to run quick identity checks of their customers in real time. The Dutch postal service said people increasingly wanted to buy products and services through an account, and the new online customer acceptance service would make this more attractive, particularly when ordering items online. The service operates online and in real time, checking a customer's name and address, and whether they have ever been involved in bankruptcy proceedings. PostNL clients, including online merchants, can then decided quickly whether to allow their customers to make purchases through an account.

WIVB: Congressman Brian Higgins is calling for Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe to step down. H iggins sent a letter to United State Postal Service Board of Governors Chairman Thurgood Marshall Jr. asking that he replace Donahoe. Higgins letter says that under Donahoe's leadership, the postal service has made many changes that lack transparency and accountability.

DMM Advisory: POSTNET Barcode Discontinuation Correction On Wednesday, June 6, a revision to the POSTNET™ Barcode Discontinuation final rule was posted on the Federal Register website and it will be posted soon on the Postal Explorer website under Federal Register Notices. This document corrects the May 3 final rule that discontinued price eligibility based on the use of POSTNET™ barcodes on all types of mail. The correction merely adds Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) revisions regarding Periodicals automation letters and flats that were inadvertently omitted from the original final rule. The effective date is January 28, 2013.

PostCom welcomes its newest member: GrayHair Advisors, 124 Gaither Drive, Suite 160, Mount Laurel, NJ 08054-1719 represented by Jody Berenblatt, Senior Advisor.

Seeking Alpha: Talk of sales of virtual goods is all the rage these days, as online companies seek the golden goose for making money from nothing. Until then, the ugly reality of e-commerce is that when people buy your stuff you have to send that stuff to them. Even as the world becomes more and more connected virtually, some things still require putting rubber to road. Despite what you've heard about the demise of the US postal service, sending stuff is still very big business. According to eMarketer, US e-commerce sales in 2012 will grow by 13% over 2011 totals, reaching $343.4 billion by the year's end. They go on to forecast continued steady growth going forward, albeit at a declining rate of 1% per year, as the US market reaches saturation. For most online retailers, third-party delivery services provide the final link in the supply chain, and often the only human-to human interaction in the transaction. So for all intents and purposes the face of the delivery person is the face of the seller. Delivery is a crucial part of the customer experience. Perhaps the most important part. Which is why so many e-tailers choose to outsource the job to professionals.

Post & Parcel: Switzerland's National Council has rejected a proposal by the country's communications union to bring in new rules to guarantee a certain level of access to full-service post offices across the country. The Syndicom union had filed back in September 2010 to request added protections for universal service, requiring postal services to be run by contracted staff, with costs of providing full post offices in rural areas met by income from postal banking. In a debate this week, the National Council, one of the houses of the Swiss Federal Assembly, saw concern about the closure of post offices, particularly in rural areas, and move to alternative access points run by partners. Doris Leuthard, the head of the Swiss government's Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications said that "ofr customers, it does not matter who provides postal services, it is important they be provided at a good quality and at a reasonable price – whether the staff providing these services have an employment contract with the Post or with a third party."

MyPrintResource: Congress is a bit of a mess this year and there is little confidence that anything of significance will get done. Postal reform seems to be something of an exception. Virtually everyone puts this on the "must do" list. However, if they fail to get this done before the August recess, it could easily be delayed until the "lame duck" after the election.

Gizmodo: Now that they're packing touchscreens and backlights, eReaders have enjoyed a bit of a resurgence as of late. And LG hopes to keep the ball rolling with its flexible ePaper technology that's now available in the surprisingly thin and light Wexler Flex One. Unfortunately, the first flexible ereader still can't roll up like a good paperback.

USPS PVDS Alert: USPS VP Frank Neri alerts field of issues surrounding the incorrect refusal of shipments with 8125s showing both DNDC and DSCF discounts claimed.

The Association of Magazine Media: Nina Link, President & CEO, MPA – the Association of Magazine Media, announced today that she will step down from her position at the end of 2012. Ms. Link informed the MPA Executive Committee this morning of her decision. Michael Clinton, Chairman of the MPA Board of Directors, and President, Marketing & Publishing Director, Hearst Magazines, said that MPA has retained the executive recruiting firm of Blinkhorn, L.L.C, to conduct a search for a successor to Ms. Link.

Direct Marketing News: UPS and digital engagement platform provider Bridgeline Digital signed a multiyear agreement to integrate Bridgeline's digital marketing services into UPS's warehouse management system, said Bridgeline's senior director of marketing, Brian Bolton, and UPS's marketing director for global logistics and distribution, Alan Amling. The agreement, offered as an end-to-end service for b-to-b and b-to-c e-commerce providers, combines Bridgeline's two main digital strategies, Total eCommerce and iAPPS Commerce and UPS' logistic and fulfillment services. Until now, Bridgeline could not accommodate customers with their warehouse management needs, nor could UPS directly provide users with a pre-integrated platform vendor, Bolton said. "As a result, we were both losing deals to competitors," Bolton added. UPS delivers thousands of e-commerce shipments and partners frequently to do so, Amling said – noting that this agreement concerns only the warehousing arm of UPS. The package delivery company can now process Bridgeline's client orders, as well as provide "real time info on inventory availability and shipping costs," Bolton said.

Postal Consulting Services Inc.:

• USPS has advised its field offices that multiple entry discounts can be claimed on a single PS Form 8125. The USPS issued a clarification to its field offices of the policy in response to issues mailers were having with field offices accepting these shipments.
• The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) today during testimony at the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) concerning Docket No. N2012-1 (USPS request for non-binding advisory opinion on service standards changes), advised the PRC that it will be filing a complaint case at the PRC concerning the USPS' recently-announced implementation of service standard and network changes. The APWU said it will request in its complaint case that the USPS not be allowed to proceed with implementation of the service standard changes prior to receiving an advisory opinion from the PRC. According to the existing procedural schedule, the PRC will not conclude its proceedings until July 20, 2012 and then would need to consider the testimony prior to issuing an advisory opinion. The USPS announced its plans to implement Phase 1 of its service standard changes on July 1, 2012.

TMCnet: The IAB Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, backed by IAB Europe and IHS (News - Alert) Screen Digest, has launched a coalition effort to determine just how big the mobile advertising market actually is. Today, that effort bore fruit as the coalition announced its findings that the global mobile advertising market represented a $5.3-billion market value in 2011 alone.

Times Union: To many, email is the ultimate cheap form of communication to their audiences. From the marketer's perspective, it seems virtually free and unlimited. But think again. Do the people you send your emails to want to receive them? According to Epsilon's Consumer Channel Preference Study (Dec 2011), the majority of American's prefer receiving information via the mail rather than email. That's right – paper! Delivered by the U.S. Postal service. And depending on the type of business you have they even TRUST mail more than email.

Government Executive: The Postal Regulatory Commission emphasized its advisory role to the U.S. Postal Service during a public meeting Wednesday in explaining why it has not taken a larger role in debates over whether to focus on rural or urban post office closings. PRC Chairwoman Ruth Goldway said the commission has not taken a more vocal role to switch the conversation from closing rural offices to urban ones because its relationship with USPS is chiefly a responsive one. Goldway stated at the start of the meeting that PRC currently is set to advise USPS on four contentious proposals: to change nationwide service standards; to consider changes to operating hours at up to 17,000 post offices; to offer enhanced services related to post office boxes; and to file for a Negotiated Services Agreement with marketing company Valassis. "It's going to be a very difficult three months for us," she acknowledged.

From the Federal Register:

• Postal Regulatory Commission NOTICES Proposed Post Office Structure Plan , 33788-33790 [2012-13775][TEXT ] [PDF]< /li>
• Postal Service RULES International Service Change; Timor-Leste , 33640-33642 [2012-13637][TEXT ] [PDF]< /li>

In order to meet customer expectations, the U.S. Postal Service will honor requested in- home dates for non-machinable, non-barcoded letters and flats that are entered at the DSCF or DDU as saturation, high density, or basic carrier-route. Eligible mailings will include a designator label (see attached) affixed adjacent to the routing placard to identify the mail as non-machinable and specify requested in-home dates.

Advertising Age: Why did Microsoft throw a grenade into the self-regulatory program last Thursday, when their Internet Explorer team announced via blog post that they intended to launch IE 10 with Do Not Track (DNT) as the default setting? There's no shortage of opinions about what consumers know and don't know about tracking. But, like with nutrition labeling, the goal needs to give them the best tools to make their own decisions, not make the decisions for them.

The Japan Times: Japan Post Group plans to introduce performance-based pay while cutting seniority-based compensation, in a bid to improve employee morale, sources said. Japan Post Group is expected to introduce the new salary system as early as April 2014, the sources added. Under the new system, the amount of performance-linked pay will be decided based on five-degree performance assessments of each employee. An average postman may see his or her performance pay rise by up to 13 percent or fall by up to 6 percent. Performance-linked compensation will be paid on top of seniority-based salaries, which will be reduced by 20 percent from present levels. Performance assessments will also affect retirement allowances.

June 6, 2012 

Congressional Research Service: The U.S. Postal Service's Use of Contractors to Deliver Mail: Background and Recent Developments, Kevin R. Kosar Analyst in American National Government, May 29, 2012.

Post & Parcel: UK postal regulator Ofcom has bowed to a request by Royal Mail to keep business mailers paying retail First Class stamp prices for the return of undelivered mail, rather than metered/franked mail rates. But, it said the issue should be looked into more closely.

Postalnews Blog: National Association of Letter Carriers -- A number of members in Delaware have reported receiving an e-mail from Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), one of the bill's chief sponsors, asking them to sign a petition calling on the House of Representatives to take up S. 1789. Click here to see the petition. The petition misleadingly claims that the Senate bill "will save taxpayers billions, save millions of middle class jobs, and keep thousands of post offices open." Call Sen. Carper's office and ask him to take down this misleading petition, because:

The USPS receives no taxpayer funds and hasn't for decades. The bill specifically targets the elimination of 18 percent of the workforce (nearly 100,000 middle-class jobs) by allocating surplus FERS pension funds for employee buyouts—that is, it does not save jobs but cuts jobs instead. The bill merely slows the pace of post office closings since it still mandates the massive pre-funding of future retiree health benefits (which no other agency or private firm must do) and it fails to recover surplus CSRS pension funds that could cover the full cost of such benefits.

Sen. Carper's petition follows the posting of a very misleading graphic on the senator's website that seeks to embarrass the House into action by highlighting the mounting financial loss at the Postal Service while the House dithers. The graphic shows a running tally of the loss—$25 million per day—but it fails to tell visitors that 96 percent of that loss in the second quarter resulted from the unique and unfair pre-funding burden that Congress imposed in 2006.

BusinessWire: QuadDirect, a division of Quad/Graphics, Inc., is setting new records in direct mail production and distribution savings at its Effingham, Ill., facility following a multimillion-dollar investment in new commingling mailing and inline manufacturing equipment and systems. A year-long expansion project – including two additional high-speed letter sorters for commingling operations – has helped make the 579,000-square-foot facility a direct mail powerhouse in Quad's expanding direct mail platform.

Post & Parcel: Finland's postal operator Itella has sold off its printing business in Germany through a management buyout, but looks set to take a EUR 14m hit from the deal.

Politico: Serious legislating is all but done until after the election, so House Republicans are left to do little more than position themselves on the so-called fiscal abyss of expiring tax rates, government funding and borrowing limit. On Tuesday, Cantor all but predicted 2012 substantively over.

Post & Parcel: Belgium's bpost reported a EUR 57.4m loss today within its latest annual results, thanks to its requirement to repay EUR 291m in state aid back to the government.

Business Ghana: A three-month strike by South African postal workers came to an end on Wednesday, raising hopes that mail would again be properly delivered in Africa's largest economy.

Chicago Tribune: The National Trust for Historic Preservation on Wednesday will name its annual list of America's 11 most endanagered places and this year--in addition to the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr. and a gym where boxing legend Joe Frazier once trained--the list includes historic U.S. post offices, one of which is in west suburban Geneva. The Washington, D.C.-based Trust is citing the Geneva post office as an example of bureaucratic bungling. Last year, it said in a news release, the deficit-plagued U.S. Postal Service named nearly 4,400 post offices that it planned to consider closing. When legislators and the public complained, according to the Trust, the Postal Service announced it would cut operating hours instead. The shifting positions, the Trust claims, are leaving historic post offices facing an uncertain future.

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

Despite a decline in mail volume Posten Norge slightly increased its revenues and achieved a considerably improved result in the first quarter 2012.
Swiss Post tightens its austerity measures. Just a few weeks after the postal operator declared a huge austerity package (CEP-News 18/12), CEO Bucher announced further belt-tightening measures.
2012 will be a difficult year for Poste Italiane due to the decline in its traditional postal business. CEO Massimo Sarmi told the Senate's industrial committee that the company expects a drop in mail volume by 10% this year.
Deutsche Post plans to increase its operating profit by up to 45% until 2015.
Given its high losses in the previous year, Spanish Correos plans to diversify its service portfolio.
The creation of a postal bank is apparently still on Russian Post's agenda.
After Canada Post slid into the red for the first time in 17 years last year (CEP-News 19/12) the company now also recorded a deficit in the first quarter 2012.
In an undercover report investigative journalist Günter Wallraff revealed scandalous labour conditions at GLS Germany. The journalist investigated intermittently for half a year at subcontractors working for GLS. According to his report work shifts of 12 to 14 hours were the norm - for fixed gross salaries between 1.200 and 1.300 euros. Additionally, overtime was not paid.
UPS officially rejected claims that it would divest TNT Express' national companies in Germany and the Benelux region in the course of the takeover.
'Precarious labour conditions are also a reality at delivery firms in Austria'. A spokesman for the union Vida told daily news »Die Presse« (31.05) that he estimates that 'one-third to one-half of the 30,000 employees in the parcel sector are affected by precarious labour conditions'.
PostNord has reorganised its parcel business in Denmark in the course of the restructuring programme which was announced at the beginning of March.
Given Itella Logistics' losses last year (-10.7m euros) the Finnish Post apparently gets down to business with the restructuring of this unit.
UPS plans to increase the throughput at its European hub in Cologne.

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.)

Wall Street Journal: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker won a recall election Tuesday, dealing a blow to organized labor, unsettling President Barack Obama's re-election strategy and signaling to Republican lawmakers across the nation that challenging government unions could pay political and fiscal dividends. The vote capped a contentious 15-month battle that polarized Wisconsin, long a centrist state, with union members and Democrats protesting angrily against Mr. Walker's signing in March 2011 of a law removing most collective-bargaining rights from public employees.

New Statesman: The European credit rating agencies (CRAs) regulator European Securities and Markets Authority (Esma) allocates only €150,000 for onsite CRA investigations, which is less than the €161,000 for postage and telecommunications, and a fraction of its €20.3m total budget, according to a new study by think-tank Infrangilis. The study, Rating Sovereign Raters (pdf), also revealed that the bold political words on supervising credit rating agencies (CRAs) that rate sovereign debt are not always backed up by resource commitments.

Times of Malta: A decision approving the revised tariff structure proposed by MaltaPost plc for postal redirection services has been published by the Malta Communications Authority. This decision follows a public consultation process that was initiated on May 23. The postal redirection service allows an addressee who has moved to a new address to continue receiving mail, bearing the previous address, for a period of time.

From the Federal Register: Postal Service RULES POSTNET Barcode Discontinuation , 33314-33315 [2012-13636][TEXT ] [PDF]< /p>

Federal Times: It looks like the end of the road for a long-lived inquiry into possible misappropriation of funds by a (now former) Postal Regulatory Commission employee.

Ottawa Citizen: The push from members of the public to release information illuminating Canada's postal code boundaries is pitting the federal government against its Crown corporation responsible for delivering mail.

Modified Network Plan and Revised Service Standards The Postal Service is moving ahead with the rationalization of its network. The implementation will be executed by modifying service standards in two phases. The first phase will begin July 1, 2012, and the second phase will start on February 1, 2014. Should changes in circumstances warrant, this phased approach will allow the Postal Service to reconsider implementation of the second phase. The plan is to retain all current business mail entry units (BMEUs) for the time being. Should the Postal Service decide to relocate or consolidate any BMEU operations, mailers will be given 120 days advance notice and BMEUs will be relocated or consolidated to nearby locations to minimize the impact on mailers. The Postal Service is committed to simply and clearly communicating all changes throughout the implementation process. The Final Rule on Revised Service Standards for Market-Dominant Prices was published in the Federal Register on Friday, May 25, 2012. To read the final rule and access supporting materials—including the list of sites that will be impacted by mail processing consolidations this summer, and service standard directory files and maps that apply the business rules to the current network—click on this link to the Information for Mailers web page http://about.us ps.com/news/facility-studies/welcome.htm. The Information for Mailers page will be updated as additional information becomes available. A new way to stay informed about USPS news is through Industry Alerts. To subscribe, email industryalert@usps.gov and put "subscribe" in the subject line.

June 5, 2012 

Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: Amazon now has opened 20 parcel lockers in New York City. This includes fifteen in the borough of Manhattan, three in Queens and two in Brooklyn. In total, Amazon has now opened thirty parcel lockers with the other ten in the Seattle metropolitan area. In the eight months since Amazon installed 8 locations each in Seattle and New York, it has more than doubledaccess to this delivery technology. Expansion of parcel lockers should shift delivery business away from UPS, FedEx, and USPS. Parcel lockers and warehouses will make fulfillment by Amazon more attractive.

Futurity.org: Two-thirds of US adults now use at least one mobile media device in their daily lives, according to the survey recently conducted by the Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) at the University of Missouri. "The increased use of mobile devices does not yet appear to have accelerated the switch from print to digital news consumption as earlier surveys suggested," says Roger Fidler, the program director for digital publishing at RJI. "Forty percent of mobile device users indicated in our survey that they still subscribe to printed newspapers and news magazines. This percentage was almost identical for non-users of mobile devices."

Staten Island Live: Rep. Michael Grimm (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) has opposed the closure of the Manor Road mail facility, and even spent a day working as a letter carrier to see what postal workers go through every day. And today, Grimm is picking up the endorsement of New York's postal unions in his bid for a second term in the House. Grimm will rally and hold a press conference with union presidents and members representing the New York State Association of Letter Carriers, the National Postal Mail Handlers Union and the National Rural Letter Carriers Association.

The Hindu Business Line: The Department of Posts will be setting up about 1,000 ATMs in different parts of country by 2014, according to Ms Manjula Prasher, Secretary, Department of Posts, Government of India.

Post & Parcel: The US Postal Service will be helping one of its largest customers – the federal government – to reduce its use of the mail, but said today it is concerned about the loss of revenue associated. Altogether, federal government agencies spend more than $1bn a year mailing out communications, but last month the General Services Administration issued instructions for government bodies to make an effort to cut down on their mailing costs. The GSA, the federal procurement agency, wrote to the heads of federal agencies to encourage various practices to reduce mailing costs.

Advertising Age: Most ad agencies and clients are unfairly bundling magazines with newspapers in the print category, and as a result, magazines are having a difficult time selling advertising. This, at a time when their readership is actually increasing among younger adults.

S en. Thomas Carper: Today, as postal losses surpassed $1 billion since the U.S. Senate passed its bipartisan bill to reform the U.S. Postal Service, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), co-author of the 21st Century Postal Service Act and chairman of the Senate subcommittee that oversees the Postal Service, launched a new Facebook page - "Priority Fail" - to trace the timeline of the House of Representatives' failure to act on comprehensive postal reform legislation.

Postal Service: 2012 Special Incentive Offer FAQs - Postmasters

Sen. Lisa Murkowski: Senator Lisa Murkowski has sent a letter to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, directing the United States Postal Service to do more to fill the 3 vacant positions at the Skagway Post Office – after hearing near-unanimous public concern during her recent trip to Skagway. "During my visit to Skagway, Alaska last week I learned that the lack of staff at the post office has had an intolerable impact on nearly everyone in the town, including your Postal Service employees," Murkowski writes.

ERR News: A 14-month legal battle between Eesti Post and the Competition Authority ended in a decisive loss for the national postal carrier on June 4 when the Supreme Court refused to hear its appeal against a price reduction mandate. Eesti Post had originally turned to the courts last April seeking the cancellation of an order issued by the authority in mid-March, which mandated that the carrier lower the prices it was charging its largest competitor, Express Post, for the use of its services. The Competition Authority found that Eesti Post was charging Express Post prices that were unfairly high, thereby failing to meet its obligation to provide outside companies access to the network under the same conditions it offered its own subsidiaries.

Advertising Age: "There are now signs that the economy in both the United States and Canada is improving, and we expect an expanding economy to have a positive impact on print advertising in consumer magazines, which will continue to fare much better than print advertising in newspapers," PricewaterhouseCoopers wrote in its report, which was composed before last Friday's discouraging jobs report. "Consumer magazines benefit more from an expanding economy than do newspapers, whose classified advertising -- which would benefit from economic growth -- is migrating to the internet." Print advertising, which suffered in the first half of the year, will ultimately grow 0.2% in 2012.

Wall Street Journal: Mobile ad networks are using new techniques to target iPhone users by circumventing Apple Inc.'s earlier efforts to protect user privacy. Apple last summer said it would stop allowing app makers to use a unique identifier embedded in iPhones and iPads to track users as they move from app to app, which is an important way for advertisers to position their ads for appropriate audiences. To avoid the limits of Apple's rules, ad networks that serve advertisements within mobile apps have started using new identifiers that collect information like location and preferences as the user moves across apps.

Americ an Postal Workers Union: The APWU has engaged in informal conversations with the Postal Service about financial incentives for retirements and separations, but no official offers have been made or discussed, union President Cliff Guffey reports. "We expect the Postal Service to make a formal request to negotiate over early-outs and incentives after several other outstanding issues have been addressed," he said.

Postalnews Blog: PMG Pat Donahoe has announced the selection of Jeff Williamson to be vice president, Pricing. Williamson is a 2012 graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), having represented the Postal Service as a Sloan Fellow and earned a Master of Science degree in management. Prior to his appointment as vice president, he was manager, Performance and Field Operations Support. He joined USPS in 2004 as manager, Network Modeling and Development. He also is a former manager, Network Development and Support. In this role, Williamson designed the Network Distribution Center system, which positioned the network for service improvements and cost savings.

Art Daily: The Smithsonian's National Postal Museum announces the launch of the Global Philatelic Library website, a centralized information gateway to the world's greatest philatelic research. Founding partners include the National Postal Museum and Smithsonian Libraries in Washington, D.C., the Royal Philatelic Society London and the American Philatelic Research Library in Bellefonte, Pa.

CFRA: The union representing Canada Post workers is calling for new security measures for the mail. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers says the Crown Corporation should consider scanners or x-ray machines to look at the mail.

RTT News: Deutsche Post DHL on Tuesday said it will make a one-time payment of 516 million euros in the third quarter as the additional value added tax or VAT payment as decided by the German financial authorities. The German postal and logistics firm expects the payment to reduce its third-quarter net profit by 265 million euros as it had already formed reserves in previous years. Despite this impact, the company confirmed its previous guidance for the full year.

The Postal Service is moving ahead with the rationalization of its network. The implementation of network rationalization will be executed by modifying service standards in two phases. The first phase will begin July 1, 2012, and the second phase will start February 1, 2014. Should changes in circumstances warrant, this phased approach will allow the Postal Service to reconsider implementation of the second phase. The plan is to retain all current business mail entry units (BMEUs) for the time being. Should the Postal Service decide to relocate or consolidate any BMEU operations, mailers will be given 120 days advance notice, and BMEUs will be relocated or consolidated to nearby locations to minimize the impact on mailers. The Postal Service is committed to simply and clearly communicating all changes throughout the implementation process. The Final Rule on Revised Service Standards for Market-Dominant Products was published in the Federal Register on Friday, May 25, 2012. To read the final rule and access supporting materials -- including the list of sites be impacted by mail processing consolidations this summer, and service standard directory files and maps the business rules to the current network -- click on this link to the Information for Mailers web page: http://about.us ps.com/news/facility-studies/welcome.htm. As additional information is available, the Information for Mailers page will be updated.

June 4, 2012 

Wall Street Journal: Google Inc. has repeatedly tried, and largely failed, to crack the market for local business advertising. As early as next month, the Internet company will try anew, as it trains its largest-ever assault on the roughly $20 billion market. Google plans to have its newest small-business service—which at one point it was calling Business Builder—up and running as early as July, said a person familiar with the matter.

Postal Regulatory Commission:

• On May 31, the Postal Regulatory Commission issued Order No. 1361 establishing Docket N2012-2 to provide a public hearing and issue an advisory opinion on the U.S. Postal Service's Post Office Structure Plan (POStPlan). The primary focus of the proposal is to reduce costs by changing operating hours at approximately 17,700 of the 32,000 postal retail locations nationwide. The Service's previous plan, the Retail Access Optimization Initiative, to close 3,700 post offices has been put on hold. Vice Chairman Nanci E. Langley will serve as "Presiding Officer" for this docket. "This proceeding will provide all interested persons with a full opportunity to provide input," said Vice Chairman Langley. "At the same time, the Postal Service has said it would like to be able to begin to implement its plan in September, and the Commission will conduct a timely review with this in mind."
• Postal Regulatory Commission Office of the Inspector General, Semiannual Report to Congress, October 1, 2011 through March 31, 2012

Post & Parcel: Nordic postal operator PostNord is continuing its restructuring plans with the merging of its DPD Denmark franchise into its Post Danmark business. The Swedish-based company said the merger would come into force on 25th June, and should see DPD Denmark sites closed, with staff transferred to Post Danmark. PostNord has had franchise rights for the DPD parcel delivery brand in the Nordic region since 2001, at the time through Sweden's Posten AB. DPD is part of the GeoPost Group, which is owned by France's La Poste.

The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General invites you to comment on this week's "Pushing the Envelope" blog topic: Every Door Direct Mail: Coming to a TV Near You. The U.S. Postal Service's Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) product provides small business customers with an easy way to advertise using direct mail. The "If it fits, it ships" letter carrier appears in new television advertisements and promotes the simplicity of using EDDM. Check out the new commercials in today's blog. Do they do a good job of addressing the needs of small businesses?

MTAC meetings notes are available on RIBBS. https://ribbs.usps.gov/mtac/documents/tech_guides/2012/minutes/MTAC0512/

The Postal Service has added information to its RIBB site on Modern Service Standards. Service standards are now broken by Destination and Origin entry, as well as Interim Origin Entry. There is also a link called Mail Entry Planning Guidelines. https://ribbs.usps. gov/index.cfm?page=modernservice

Post & Parcel: Royal Mail is working with London company ePages Software to provide a new platform to help SME retailers set up websites and ecommerce operations. The service offers a range of packages for small and medium-sized enterprises with differing needs, from a basic marketing option, which includes help with email and postal marketing, websites and an option providing a full eShop. In each case, users are offered data lists of 1,000 to 2,000 sales prospects, along with a set number of email and postal mailshots each month, as well as up to 40% off parcel postage via Parcelforce.

The USPS has posted on its web site the list of 48 potential facility consolidations for Summer 2012: https://ribbs.usps.gov/importantupdates/NetworkRationaliza tionConsolidationsSummer2012.xls

New York Times: Almost two weeks ago, The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, which is owned by Advance Publications, announced that it would cut back its print schedule to just three days a week. Newspaper executives across the industry lament the loss of the daily print paper, but concede they might follow the same path. By cutting back on print publishing, newspaper executives are betting they can wean loyal customers and advertisers from their daily print newspaper habit, while at the same time driving them to their own Web site. Some industry analysts warn that readers raised on a daily newspaper appearing at their door will lose a sense of loyalty if it arrives only a few days a week. It is like having CBS and NBC going dark on nights when they do not sell much advertising. [EdNote: Looks like more than the USPS is looking at cutting days of service. And all for the loss of advertising......Oh yeah. I forgot. To many newspapers, advertising is termed "junk".......except when they distribute it.]

Welcome to PostCom Radio A PostCom Postal Podcast Join PostCom President Gene Del Polito as well as two long-time postal veterans Bob Brinkmann and Art Sackler in a discussion about Negotiated Service Agreements

PC Magazine: The heart of this growth concept is based on the fact that Facebook is gathering a database of extremely detailed profiles of its users. The assumption has been that it would use that information to match advertisers up with the right consumers as those folks use the social network. But, if you look at media where advertising is successful, it becomes clear that it works best when the advertising is related to the content. When I spend time with a medium related to my interests, I am much more open and attentive to advertising. Extending value to advertisers and brands beyond the walls of Facebook is key to Facebook's real value, in my opinion. This model could be completely disruptive not only to Google, but the vast majority of advertising networks.

Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: Save the Post Office made an important point in its analysis of the financial impact of the PostPlan, the Postal Service assumed that cutting hours will not impact demand. Not including any analysis on the impact of the reduction of hours on revenue illustrates the haste that the Post Plan was presented. More than likely the Postal Regulatory Commission or some party will demand the Postal Service to do an analysis of the impact of hours change on revenue.

YNetNews: The Israel Postal Service is planning to expand in one-day express delivery service to reach all communities nationwide. The Knesset Economics Committee approved the measure, which was so far limited to only 84 communities.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: When the U.S. Senate approved a bipartisan postal reform bill late in April, there was talk that the U.S. House would move quickly to forge its own plan, mindful of the river of red ink at the Postal Service and the need for change to save money. But almost six weeks later, postal legislation still hasn't shown up on the House floor, and it is not on the schedule again this week. And with the House off next week, that means no postal bill until late in June - at the earliest. "When will the House take action?" asks Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) on his Senate web page, as he joined with other Senators in an opinion piece on the Politico web site Sunday, pleading for action by the House.

Politico : The Senate has passed a bipartisan postal reform bill designed to preserve the U.S. Postal Service and put it on a solid financial ground for the next generation of Americans. It's now the House's turn. Our Postal Service is in financial free fall. The Senate bill represents a now rare occurrence in Washington: bipartisan compromise. No one got everything he or she wanted — but our bill puts the Postal Service on a path toward financial stability in a way that is economically responsible. We believe the Senate approach is the most responsible way to address the Postal Service's financial crisis. The Senate bill addresses one of the Postal Service's most pressing financial obligations — its promised retiree health care benefits. It now owes $46.2 billion to cover the costs of these promises to future retirees. That liability is not going away. But we can restructure the payment schedule to ease the Postal Service's immediate financial pressure. Our bill would ensure that the Postal Service can keep its retiree health care promises to workers without shifting the burden to taxpayers.

Federal Times: "How legislation would rein in workers' compensation."

June 3, 2012 

Pakistan Observer: The delivery agents of the Pakistan Post have expressed concerns over step-motherly attitude with them in the upgardation. Postal sources said that postman was in grade 5 and delivery agents in grade-6 but after upgardation postman has been upgraded to grade-7 while delivery agents were not upgraded.

Dead Tree Edition: The U.S. Postal Service and American publishers are locked in a lose-lose relationship. Maybe they should consider a divorce. For every dollar it spends on delivering newspapers and magazines, USPS claims it only receives 75 cents in postage. Meanwhile, notes the Columbia Journalism Review (in Postage due: The USPS is running out of money. Where does that leave magazines?), magazine publishers are growing worried about the increase in customer complaints regarding lost, damaged, and late issue. They fear coming changes will only make matters worse. New interest in bypassing the Postal Service by using private delivery services was much in evidence at a recent magazine-industry summit, CJR reports. But publishers also pointed out a major barrier to private delivery: Their subscribers want "to get their magazines in their mailboxes, rather than tossed at the end of the driveway like a newspaper. By law, only the USPS can put mail in mailboxes." Maybe the Postal Service would be better off loosening its grip on the mailbox monopoly by granting an exception for periodicals.

June 2, 2012 

Courier, Express, and Postal Observer: The Postal Service has petitioned the Postal Regulatory Commission to make Parcel Post a competitive product. (Docket No. 1012-13) If approved this would remove nearly all parcel products offered by the Postal Service from price and service regulations.

EurActiv: Members of a key committee in the European Parliament are set to demand a delay in reforms as plans to subject Europe's postal sector to full liberalisation by 2009 sparks fury among postal workers across the continent. Postal workers across Europe will carry out a mass strike action on 6 June in what they say is an attempt to "save the universal postal service in Europe", amid fears that rapid liberalisation will destroy public operators, resulting in a weaker customer service and big job cuts.

Attention Postal One! Users:  

• PostalOne!® Release 31.0.0: The Deployment of PostalOne!® Release 31.0 will require an extended maintenance window to complete all software updates. There will be a PostalOne!® outage from 8:00 p.m. CDT on Saturday, June 9, 2012 through 9:00 a.m. CDT on Sunday, June 10, 2012. The new client version of Mail.dat will be available for download immediately after the maintenance window and will be required for use with this release.
• Test Environment for Mailers (TEM) PostalOne! Release 31.0 will deploy to the Test Environment for Mailers (TEM) on Monday, June 11, 2012. PostalOne! TEM will be unavailable from 4:00 a.m. through 4:00 p.m. CDT.
• PostalOne! Release 31.0 Webinars will be held on June 5, 6, and 7 2012. The webinars will cover changes to PostalOne! and provide updates on various mailing incentives and mailing requirements. Complete webinar information, including log on and times, can be found on RIBBS under Intelligent Mail Latest News.

Bloomberg: The U.S. Postal Service's inspector general has been asked by the Securities and Exchange Commission to oversee a probe of possible misconduct in the SEC's watchdog office, according to two people briefed on the matter. David Williams, who has been at the Postal Service since 2003, will use his investigators to review allegations against former SEC inspector general H. David Kotz, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision hasn't been announced. Williams, who was a special agent with the U.S. Secret Service, has been an inspector general at five agencies, including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Treasury Department and the Social Security Administration, according to his official biography. He also was awarded the Bronze Star and the Vietnamese Medal of Honor for his service in Vietnam.

June 1, 2012 

Reuters: As the U.S. Postal Service limps along, bleeding billions of dollars every financial quarter, congressional leaders are looking to a group of outspoken rural lawmakers for help with a dramatic restructuring of the agency. Rural Americans say they regard their local post offices as the centers of their communities. With UPS and FedEx service limited or more expensive in some areas, many rely on the Postal Service to deliver medicines, while families need it to pay bills and small businesses and craftsmen use it to ship goods to customers. The lawmakers representing these communities have fought bitterly against plans to close more than 3,600 post offices, end Saturday delivery and scale back overnight delivery - moves that have been proposed to get the Postal Service on better financial footing. Now Republican backers of a controversial bill to overhaul the Postal Service by creating oversight groups to close facilities and cut costs are courting rural lawmakers in hopes of getting a proposal voted on in the U.S. House of Representatives this summer. The timing is tricky. Members of Congress want legislation to help the service avoid default on two payments totaling $11.1 billion to the federal government before the November 6 presidential and congressional elections, which could quiet talk that a taxpayer bailout of the USPS could be needed. But lawmakers in tough races, particularly in rural areas, do not want to have to defend voting for legislation that could lead to the closure of post offices in their districts.

Save the Post Office: Last week the Postal Service submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission its Request for an Advisory Opinion on POStPlan — the plan to reduce the hours at 13,000 small post offices. These downgraded offices will be called Remotely Managed Post Offices (RMPOs), meaning that the full-time postmaster responsible for administering the office will be located at another post office. Along with the Request, the Postal Service submitted a Library Reference that contains a spreadsheet with the financial data used to calculate each office's proposed status. The spreadsheet also has other information, like whether the post office was previously studied for discontinuance. It includes all the post offices set for reduced hours, as well as 4,600 post offices that will be upgraded to Level 18 as part of POStPlan. You can download the spreadsheet from the PRC website her e. The whole thing is too big for Google Docs, but we've put up an abridged version showing just the financial data, here.

Publishing Business Today: At D: All Things Digital, the change reverberating among attendees was the adjustment happening to every aspect of technology. The word of the week has clearly been "disruption." "Everything is being disrupted, including education, stock prices, business models and even our own industry," said Esther Dyson, an investor and technologist, noting that the power shift with tech giants is changing. "It's also clearly a world where you can't count on anything anymore. Google, Facebook, Microsoft and others are simultaneously friends and enemies. There's clearly a shift in their alliances."

24/7 Wall St. Wire: TIME magazine, the last of the large weekly news and business publications, will not last in its current form for more than another year or so. A growing mountain of evidence shows TIME will have to cut its publication frequency, lower its subscription base or migrate almost entirely to the Internet.

CNET: Microsoft's decision to turn off Web site tracking by default in IE10 is not sitting well with advertisers. The Do Not Track feature prevents third-party Web sites from tracking your online activity. Web sites that receive the Do Not Track, or DNT, signal from your browser are supposed to honor that request, just as telemarketers are not supposed to call people on a "do not call" registry. The ability to know where you go and what you do online concerns many users and privacy advocates. But advertisers use such information to determine how and where to target their ads.

B2B: Database list prices continue to fall in key b2b areas, with aggregated email database prices down 17.39% from the year-earlier period and business postal lists off 15.56%. Some of the steepest price declines were seen in business magazine postal lists, with controlled-circulation magazine lists off 3.55%, to $136 per thousand names, and paid circulation business magazines down 4.48%, to $128 per thousand names.

WHEC: Remember all those phony emails that purport to be from your bank, asking you to click on a link and turn over your account information? Cyber experts say criminals have moved on and are using new methods. A cyber security banking official told a House committee Friday that criminals are now sending emails claiming to be from someone other than your bank. Newer scams use The National Automatic Clearing House Association, the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, the U.S. Postal Service, private delivery firms, telecommunications companies and social media providers. One thing hasn't changed. Once an unsuspecting user clicks on a link, he or she is redirected to a server that downloads malicious software onto the victim's computer. The software captures the user's online banking credentials as they are typed. [EdNote: Thought about placing more of your trust in the mail?]

Air Cargo World: The U.S. and Canadian governments have agreed to mutually recognize each other's airfreight screening protocols. Under a new agreement, belly-hold cargo screened in either the U.S. or Canada won't have to be re-screened once it's uploaded on a passenger aircraft in the other nation.

Post & Parcel: Postal Digest – news from USPS, La Poste, An Post and PostNord

DMM Advisory: IMb™ Services Update

• Reminder: PostalOne!® Release 31.0.0 Deployment — will require an extended maintenance window to complete all software updates. There will be a PostalOne!® outage from 8 p.m. CDT, Saturday, June 9, 2012, through 9 a.m. CDT, Sunday, June 10, 2012. A mandatory Mail.dat® client download will be available immediately following the software update.
• PostalOne! Release 31.0 Deployment to Test Environment for Mailers (TEM) — will occur on Monday, June 11, 2012, and PostalOne! TEM will be unavailable from 4 a.m. through 4 p.m. CDT.
• PostalOne! Release 31.0 Webinars — will be held on June 5, 6, and 7, 2012. The webinars will cover changes to PostalOne! and provide updates on various mailing incentives and mailing requirements. Complete webinar information, including log on and times, can be found on RIBBS under Intelligent Mail Latest News.
• FAST® Release 21.0 Deployment: The FAST® production system will not be available on Sunday, June 10, 2012, from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. CDT. During this time, the FAST On-line application and FAST Web Services will not be available. FAST Release 21.0 will deploy to TEM on Monday, June 11, 2012, from 8 a.m. to 12 noon CDT. During this time, the FAST On-Line application and FAST Web Services will not be available.

AllThingsD: There are many miraculous things on the Web today; advertising is not one of them. So said Walt Mossberg, in conversation with Google's Susan Wojcicki and Sundar Pichai at the D: All Things Digital conference on Thursday. But with one caveat: Google seems to serve the right ads when people want them. Google is obviously doing something right — the company raked in $8.1 billion in revenue in its most recent quarter, the lion's share of which was made from its ads business. Compare that to Facebook, whose ads are notoriously scattershot and still nascent in its online advertising strategy. [EdNote: And what would people say about advertising in the mail?]

Bloomberg: Russia's Federal Property Management Agency proposed that OAO VTB (VTBR), a state-run lender, consider forming joint venture with Russian Post to work in the country's regions, Kommersant said today, citing a letter from the agency's acting head Gleb Nikitin.

Australian Financial Review: Australia Post has landed an important first blow in the battle of the electronic mailbox by signing up Telstra as its first official customer. On Thursday both companies signed a memorandum of understanding to commit the telco to using Australia Post's Digital MailBox to deliver electronic versions of bills to customers. The move strengthens Australia Post's case against its only rival in the space Digital Post Australia, which is a joint venture between Salmat, Computershare and the technology provider Zumbox.

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

• Representative Dennis Ross discusses the Postal Service and its need for legislative change. He says that it will demand tough choices, and "too many politicians are trying to protect their turf, and too many union bosses are trying to protect their cash flow from dues. My mission is to protect the taxpayer and save one of America's oldest institutions. I intend to deliver."
• The Postal Service published its unaudited April results with the Postal Regulatory Commission. USPS lost $1.6 billion in April 2012. The Postal Service's controllable operating loss for the month was $129 million. The total loss was due to the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund prepayment of $1.0 billion and a workers compensation adjustment of a negative $432 million. The Postal Service's revenue was 1.3 percent below planned and 3.8 percent below the same period last year.
• According to the USPS OIG, "the Postal Service is in a position to enhance an important part of the infrastructure for online commerce by authenticating digital and physical identities. This will allow more consumer-friendly applications involving sensitive information, thus facilitating new eGovernment and eCommerce opportunities while securing important privacy protections for all users."
• USPS offers buyouts. Catalog Choice and its junk mail-zapping app acquired by TrustedID. PostalVision 2020: The future starts now. UPS expands delivery coverage for early morning service. Survey says tablets driving web sales. House GOP ‘working' to bring postal bill to floor. New CPI figure available. Ross renews call for Postal Service reform. PRC to hold hearing on modified USPS plan. USPS submits monthly report on IMb to PRC. USPS provides mapping tool to industry. FedEx looking for input. USPS provides full service release schedule for 2013. USPS launches picture permit website.
• Updates from the Federal Register that affect the mailing industry.
• An update from the USPS Office of Inspector General.
• A review of postal news from around the world.
• Postal previews.

Hey! You've not been getting the weekly PostCom Bulletin--the best postal newsletter anywhere...bar none?  Send us by email your name, company, company title, postal and email address. Get a chance to see what you've been missing.

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Slashgear: Here in the US, when there's a story about the Postal Service it's pretty much always negative these days. But in Europe, it's a very different situation. The Post Office service across the pond has decided to roll out near field communication (NFC) technology to around 11,500 branches, making it easier than ever for customers to pay for their shipping services.

Jakarta Post: State postal company PT Pos Indonesia expects to book profits of Rp 200 billion (US$20.8 million) this year, larger than the Rp 144.9 billion profit it booked in 2011.

Romania Insider: Romania's National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) applied a EUR 11,000 fine to Total Post for having breached the right reserved to state owned Romanian Post to deliver mail under 50 grams, at a price below RON 2 per item. This is the second fine applied by ANCOM to the company, after a first in October last year, which was one fifth of the current fine. Until 2013, when the postal services market in Romania will be open to competition, the Romanian Post has sole rights to carry mail under 50 grams, being the universal service provider in the postal sector throughout Romania.

Indypendent: As Congress dallies, postal workers and community activists are turning to civil disobedience to combat the sweeping cuts planned for the Postal Service. Ten postal worker and community activists in Portland, Oregon, were arrested May 24 when they occupied the city's University Station post office, refusing to leave and blocking the closure of the office's retail desk. Nearly 100 supporters rallied outside as the activists inside held their ground, singing and holding banners proclaiming "Occupy the Post Office" and "No Closures! No Cuts!" Police hauled them out after an hour and a half. The occupation was organized by members of Communities and Postal Workers United, a cross-union network of postal worker activists.

Editor's Note: The PostCom web site has now been made "mobile-friendly." Check it out on your smartphone.

At the Postal Regulatory Commission: Billing Determinants for Quarter 2 of FY 2012 - Market Dominant Products Billing Determinants and International Market Dominant Billing Determinants

• http://www.prc.gov/docs/82/82844/BillingDeterminants_Q2FY_20120531162157 .pdf
• http://www.prc.gov/docs/82/82844/Q212_MKT_DOMINANT_INTL_BD.xls