May 15, 2008

The New Nation has reported that "Speakers at a day-long workshop here today said quality service has become indispensable to make the Bangladesh Postal Service profitable and sustainable in the competitive globalisation age."

Reuters has reported that "Despite a slowing economy and growing competition from the Internet, the U.S. Postal Service aims to break even in 2008 by increasing its package delivery business by about 10 percent, a top executive told Reuters on Wednesday. The Postal Service will eventually be profitable, but that goal must be balanced against giving customers the best price possible, said Patrick Donahoe, the chief operating officer and deputy postmaster general."

The BBC has reported that:

WSLS has reported that "Senator Jim Webb, along with a bipartisan group of seven Senators, today called on the United States Postal Service to issue the Purple Heart stamp on a permanent basis as a “forever” stamp. In a letter to Postmaster General John E. Potter, the Senators praised the reissuance of the Purple Heart stamp at the new 42-cent First Class rate but urged that the stamp be made permanent to honor servicemembers and veterans who have been awarded the Purple Heart."

The New Nation has reported that "Speakers at a day-long workshop here today said quality service has become indispensable to make the Bangladesh Postal Service profitable and sustainable in the competitive globalisation age."

Economic Times has reported that "The face of Indian postal department is changing, under pressure from modern communication systems. Gone are the days when post offices were used for screening and distributing letters. Today, it is entering into every possible business segment, be it money exchange or logistics. With a network of 1,55,516 post offices in every nook and corner of the country, India Post is all set to conquer new frontiers."

According to Zf.ro, "Compania Nationala Posta Romana (Romanian Post Office Company) estimates it will employ more than 35,500 people by the end of this year, 400 more than last year, despite the gradual elimination of 2,650 jobs."

May 14, 2008

If you haven't been there in a while, take a look at the newly designed web site for the Postal Regulatory Commission.

Experian QAS has noted that "New developments across the Atlantic could prove to have an impact on the direct mail marketing sector in the UK. With consumers becoming increasingly environmentally aware, Canada Post has warned that it is looking into taking steps to reduce the volumes of junk mail being sent out to households across the country. While clamping down on this area of marketing could mean the national postal service takes a financial hit in the short-term, Laurene Cihosky, senior vice-president of Canada Post's direct marketing division, has stated that if this issue is not addressed soon "there may come a day when we're not distributing any mail". Significantly, the organisation sees the way forward as being the increased adoption of data quality systems to eliminate waste mail, rather than the total eradication of postal advertising in general."

An Officer of the Postal Regulatory Commission is designated to represent the interests of the general public in public proceedings that come before the Commission. The Commission has posted on its website a list of individuals that have been designated Public Representatives in the Active Cases pending before the Commission.

From Business Wire:

• The American Red Cross will honor FedEx with its prestigious Henry Dunant International Partnership Excellence Award at the organization’s Heritage of Service Dinner this evening. This award is given to an individual or organization whose international work exemplifies or inspires the humanitarian values of human dignity, respect, compassion and assistance in support of the American Red Cross mission.
• FedEx Corp. has announced Brian D. Philips has been promoted to president and chief executive officer of FedEx Kinko’s. Philips, executive vice president and chief operating officer of FedEx Kinko’s, has been acting CEO since March 31.

According to the Associated Press, "The U.S. is proposing that dozens of countries ease their airline ownership rules in an effort to spur international investment in the industry, a State Department official said Tuesday. The proposal would change restrictions in the current, mostly bilateral system that require airlines to be owned and controlled by nationals of the two participating countries."

From PR Newswire: "To help alleviate the high costs of carrier insurance, Zoovy, Inc. a leader in e-Commerce technology has formed a strategic partnership with U-PIC Insurance services. U-PIC is an insurance provider offering full coverage for packages shipped through most major carriers, while offering substantial discounts ranging up to 80% off competitor pricing. Zoovy merchants are now able to take advantage of this service to decrease their operational costs and thus increase overall profit."

Business Week has reported that "Mail and express delivery company Deutsche Post AG saw first quarter net profit fall 18 percent as its Postbank unit lost earnings tied to the financial markets crisis, the German mail and logistics company said Wednesday." See also Bloomberg.

May 13, 2008

The Evening News has noted that "Royal Mail slated for slow deliveries."

PostCom extends its congratulations...and thanks...to the National Association of Letter Carriers for its work in behalf of the nation's hungry. Kudos!

Dow Jones has reported that "Postal giant TNT NV's performance was back on track in the second quarter, according to its Chief Executive Peter Bakker."

According to Robert Schrum of the Lexington Institute, "Yesterday the price of a First-Class stamp rose by a penny. With gas now costing nearly four bucks a gallon, a 42-cent stamp might not sound like much. But while stamp prices climb, the Postal Service keeps offering sweetheart deals to bulk mailers and the postal labor unions."

The Yorkshire Post has reported that "sixty three post offices across West Yorkshire are facing the axe in the latest wave of closures to be announced today. The Tories have already pledged to fight the closures – the first to be announced since the local elections – while one Yorkshire MP described them as a "huge blow". Calder Valley is the hardest-hit constituency in today's closures, with seven branches facing the axe. In total, around 18 per cent of the 345 branches in West Yorkshire are facing closure as part of the Post Office's controversial plans to close 2,500 branches to cut losses."

According to Director of Finance, "Poor UK postal services are forcing an increasing number of companies to seek alternatives to the state provider - which principally means TNT or UK Mail. They now handle more than one letter in five delivered in Britain and could easily double that, very possibly taking a majority of the mail. The more successful the private providers become, the weaker Royal Mail will be. But this is not a classic model of splitting market share: these new rivals to the state monopoly are not only competitors of Royal Mail, they are its customers too. The newcomers collect post and sort it but they hand it to the government-owned mail business to deliver to customers’ doors. Gaining market share and shrinking the Royal Mail business further thus puts the private companies’ own business at risk too. Delivery depends considerably on critical mass to give economies of scale, but without the state organisation to deliver the post, UK Mail and TNT, part off the Dutch post office, have no business."

According to MediaDaily News, "Amid all the dire talk of falling revenues at big newspaper publishers, some good news gets lost: Many smaller operations are doing quite nicely--even during an economic downturn. Above all, smaller newspapers are benefiting from their still-unchallenged ability to deliver local audiences for local advertisers."

Precision Marketing has reported that "Postcomm, the independent regulator for postal services, has refuted suggestions that it will recommend a reduction in postal deliveries."

ZDNet India has reported that "The Yahoo Internet Location Platform provides programmers "with the vocabulary and grammar to describe the world's geography in an unequivocal, permanent, and language-neutral manner", the site said. "The Internet Location Platform is designed to facilitate spatial interoperability and geographic discovery; users can traverse the spatial hierarchy, identify the geography relevant to their users and their business, and in turn, unambiguously geotag, geotarget, and geolocate data across the Web."

Sky News has reported that "There are no plans to get rid of the Saturday postal delivery, according to the Post Office Minister. Pat McFadden told Sky's Jeff Randall Live that the Government, the Royal Mail and the postal watchdog are all determined to maintain the current delivery service."

Press Release: "Vertis Communications, the premier provider of print advertising and direct marketing solutions to leading retail and consumer services companies, today launched “Vertis Optimal Postage,” a predictable and cost-effective mailing solution that will provide marketers a guaranteed flat-rate postage and processing fee. This new service addresses rising postage rates across standard-class, letter-size mail, including handling and freight surcharges. The vision of Vertis Optimal Postage is to provide industry-leading, guaranteed-rate postal processing with the highest delivery predictability to Vertis customers."

As B2B magazine has noted, "As U.S. postal rates continue to rise each year—including a projected increase of around 4% this May—direct marketers are continually challenged to offset these costs, which can represent up to 65% of total direct mail project budgets. Yet many marketers fail to focus their cost-reduction efforts on postage, trying instead to reduce expenses involving printing, materials and other campaign elements."

The latest copy of the National Association of Postmasters of the U.S. electronic governmental affairs newsletter is available on the NAPUS web site.

DMM Advisory:  Be sure to check the Postal Service's DMM update. The latest issue provides information on rate changes and mail preparation requirements. This is ESSENTIAL reading.

May 12, 2008

The Postinsight web site has a link to a recent paper by Bradley Tisdahl, strategy analyst at Pitney Bowes, on household generated mail in the U.S. Key findings include: - U.S. household generated mail, or mail which is primarily consumer originating, has been in a steady decline over the past six years. - Changes in consumer behavior based, in part, around electronic substitution, have led to a reduction in the amount of mail individuals send, but despite these changes it still accounts for around 10 percent of the total mail mix in the U.S. - Electronic substitution appears to have a greater impact on transaction based mail, most notably bill payments. - Correspondence mail volume, like greeting cards, is stable overall. However, on a per capita basis, it is also in decline. Looking forward we recognize three key levers that impact household generated mail: regulatory changes, continued technological innovation and expansion, and consumer behavioral shifts. We predict that there will be continued declines in overall household generated mail, however, changes are not likely to take place suddenly."

The Financial Times has reported that "Pat McFadden, post office minister, will today risk further political damage to the government by making clear he will press ahead with controversial closures. Mr McFadden will tell the annual conference of the National Federation of Subpostmasters that the post office network has no choice but to continue to reorganise itself and modernise if it is face the challenges of "lifestyle, technology, and competition". He will argue that the key objective of the programme - "which can get lost in the heat of the debate about individual post office closures" - is to increase the sustainability of the remaining network of 11,500 outlets."

From Business Wire:

• Pitney Bowes Inc. Executive Chairman Michael J. Critelli today informed the company’s board of directors of his decision to retire as executive chairman and as a director of the company at the end of 2008. Critelli has worked for Pitney Bowes since 1979, when he joined the company as a staff attorney in the legal department. His rise through the company included successful leadership positions as general counsel, chief personnel officer, president of Pitney Bowes Financial Services, and vice chairman. He was named chief executive officer in 1996, and chairman in 1997. He stepped down from the CEO role in 2007 when he was named executive chairman. Critelli has left an indelible mark on the history of Pitney Bowes, according to Martin. Among Critelli’s many achievements, Martin cited the strategic repositioning of the company to focus on growth opportunities in its core mailstream business. To achieve this, Critelli led the divestiture of the fax and copier business, and the financial services businesses unrelated to the mailstream. As CEO, Critelli also embarked upon an aggressive acquisition and organic investment program that has led Pitney Bowes into faster-growing new businesses in adjacent markets, including software, marketing services, mail services, and expanding international opportunities.
• Newgistics Inc., the only provider of a postal-based, intelligent logistics solution for forward and returns shipping, today announced that Vice President of Business Strategy David Plemons has been elected as president of the Parcel Shippers Association (PSA).

From the U.S. Postal Service: "For the past several weeks, we’ve been beating the drums about the new era for the Postal Service that begins May 12. The new era has begun. Today, USPS combines its established reputation as a trusted, reliable service provider with an unmatched delivery and retail network, with the ability to offer competitive pricing."

According to Transport Intelligence, "Royal Mail said its [recent dour] results were dominated by the profit fall in the letters business where overall market volumes had declined by 3.2% year on year "in line with other major European postal markets". However, Crozier said the last year had seen "strong" revenue growth from Parcelforce Worldwide and GLS, the group's UK and European parcels businesses, "both of which operate in tight, highly competitive markets." [EdNote: It looks as if the U.S. Postal Service will be looking to the packages market for its near-term revenue gains.]

As MediaPost has noted, "Newspapers and the substantive journalism that has long been their hallmark are fighting for survival–and they might just be able to help each other. Newspapers can reinforce their own value online by reinventing and delivering more of the contextual analysis and in-depth reporting that’s all too scarce in the slapdash interactive marketplace. It is a race against newspapers’ plummeting subscription and advertising dollars, and consumers’ diminished expectations for pithy information. There are no quick fixes."

UPS Freight today announced it has reduced transit times on nearly 1,000 traffic lanes originating in metropolitan areas in the Southwest and Southeast to points across the United States. Transit times have been reduced by one or two days from points in 11 states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. The customer improvements are being made without adjusting rates. [EdNote: Imagine that. Improved service at no increase in rates. What a concept!]

The Guardian has noted that "Addressing 600 sub-postmasters, minister Pat McFadden will defend his government's policy of opening up postal services to more competition. And he will be told that 3,000 more post offices could close if the government allows benefit payments to be handled entirely by competitors. This debate shows up everything wrong in our debate over postal services. They are on the way to becoming a heritage industry, romanticised over by the able-bodied and the urban but used only by the isolated and financially excluded. Ever since the turn of the decade, as benefit payments, TV and driving licences were all shifted away from the post office, more and more branches have shut, while ministers and civil servants have come round to the unspoken view that the only sensible thing to do with vast tracts of the postal network is to manage its decline."

The Financial Times has reported that "Just because the “final mile” is a natural monopoly does not mean that the ex-monopoly should automatically still run it. An alternative approach would be for the government to set service standards and then put the contracts up for auction. The service would still be financially supported through the fees charged to other mail users. But the threat of not winning the contract – or of losing it if performance was poor – would encourage efficiency."

The Times has reported that "Business customers are deserting Royal Mail and most firms do not find the postal group an efficient organisation to work with, a study by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) for The Times has revealed. The BCC sought the views of nearly 1,000 businesses throughout the country about their use of Royal Mail and their experience of the organisation. Sixty-eight per cent said that they did not find the postal group to be a “professional, efficient organisation to do business with”; 55 per cent said that Royal Mail was less reliable than it was five years ago and only 8 per cent thought that it had improved. In a striking example of how much electronic communication has hit the use of postal services, nearly 86 per cent of businesses said that they used the internet and e-mail for transactions that they would have put through Royal Mail five years ago."

May 11, 2008

According to the Augusta Chronicle, "As postal rates continue to inch upward, it places the question into business owners' minds: What really needs to go out with the mail?"

The Harrisburg Patriot New has reported that "Local businesses might not like paying more for their mail, but some say they appreciate a new law that annualizes postal rate hikes and limits them to inflation. However, one major mailer -- Bookspan, the Upper Allen Twp.-based book club -- is expressing concern over rising postage rates."

As the San Diego Union-Tribune has noted, "But rather than curse the Internet, the Postal Service is embracing it. Its Web site, usps.com, requires little more than a few mouse clicks to purchase stamps, design greeting cards, order shipping boxes and print shipping labels from a home computer. More important, the Postal Service has formed strategic alliances over the last several years with major companies and online retailers such as eBay and Coldwater Creek to protect its lucrative package-shipping business from competitors like FedEx, UPS and DHL Express. But rather than curse the Internet, the Postal Service is embracing it. Its Web site, usps.com, requires little more than a few mouse clicks to purchase stamps, design greeting cards, order shipping boxes and print shipping labels from a home computer. More important, the Postal Service has formed strategic alliances over the last several years with major companies and online retailers such as eBay and Coldwater Creek to protect its lucrative package-shipping business from competitors like FedEx, UPS and DHL Express."

The Washington Post has reported that "The funds that pay pension and health benefits to police officers, teachers and millions of other public employees across the country are facing a shortfall that could soon run into trillions of dollars. But the accounting techniques used by state and local governments to balance their pension books disguise the extent of the crisis facing these retirees and the taxpayers who may ultimately be called on to pay the freight, according to a growing number of leading financial analysts." [EdNote: Thank God all of this was addressed in PAEA.]

Globes Online has reported that "The government is to indemnify the Postal Bank against future prosecutions arising out of the provision of banking services to banks in the Palestinian Authority (PA). Officials are currently thrashing out the extent of the indemnification and the manner in which it will be provided with Ministry of Finance Accountant General Shuki Oren. Israel Post Company Ltd. director general Avi Hochman has made it clear that without the guarantee of full indemnification by the state, Israel Post would not provide banking services to Palestinian banks. The Postal Bank has requested indemnification in the event it is prosecuted for offenses under the Prohibition on Money Laundering Law (5670-2000), or the Prohibition on Terrorist Financing Law (5765-2004)."

May 10, 2008

Internet Retailer has noted that "Looking to cooperate more with its competitors, the U.S. Postal Service is hoping to expand its package returns service through major carriers UPS, FedEx Corp. and DHL, says Jim Cochrane, acting vice president of ground packages at the U.S.P.S. But while none of the three big carriers have yet to publicly express an interest in the service, the Postal Services’ sole returns partner for now, Newgistics Inc., plans a major expansion of the service this year, Newgistics CFO Mike Twomey says."

According to the New York Times, "Cellphones have become consumers’ most personal technological devices. Some industry executives, along with consumer groups and security experts, are concerned that unwanted text messages on phones will be an even greater headache than unwanted computer messages. Cellphone spam is particularly annoying to its recipients because it is more invasive — announcing itself with a beep — and can be costly. American consumers are expected to receive an estimated 1.5 billion unsolicited text messages in 2008, according to Ferris Research, based in San Francisco, which tracks mobile messaging trends. That is nearly double what they received in 2006."

WCCO has noted that while stopping mail delivery on Saturday may seem a logical alternative for a Postal Service under stress, the decision to do so is more complex than initially perceived.

According to Hellmail, "a rapid downturn in profits on letters at Royal Mail, already putting pressure on the 'one-price deliver anywhere' universal service, is prompting rumours in terms of possible solutions. One idea making the rounds is the abolition of Saturday deliveries although Royal Mail is vehemently against such a proposal and it would impact on other postal providers feeding into Royal Mail's network. It seems an unlikely scenario and would mark a real step backwards for postal services, particularly since Sunday collections have already gone.

The Washington Post has reported that "in a recent survey by the Gallup Organization, both the U.S. Postal Service's Northern Virginia District and the Capital District (which includes Montgomery County, Prince George's County and parts of Southern Maryland) emerged with five-star customer service ratings. Among 80 postal districts nationwide, Northern Virginia is one of only four to notch the distinction for 10 consecutive quarters, starting in 2006, when the Postal Service began tracking customer satisfaction through the Five Star Customer Service Program."

The American Chronicle is wondering "so what is the best way to get your mail? It´s common knowledge that most city dwellers use a mailbox stuck to the side of their home or apartment, while rural folks use a roadside/curbside mailbox."

The Sun has reported that "Royal Mail will pay £800 bonuses to its 160,000 posties in the next month, it emerged yesterday. The payouts come despite the postal service making a full year pre-tax LOSS of £77million — compared with a profit last year of £313million. It is Royal Mail’s first pre-tax loss since 2003-04 and comes after the first national postal strike in 11 years."

Teletext has reported that "A postal consumer group has denied claims it will advise Royal Mail to end deliveries on Saturdays. A spokesman for the Postcomm group said: "There is no truth in this suggestion. The status quo is totally enshrined in law."

The Telegraph has reported that "Postal deliveries on Saturday may be discontinued under plans by the industry regulator to save money for the Royal Mail."

MTAC minutes for the April 30 - May 1 General Session Meeting are now posted on the MTAC website (http://ribbs.usps.gov/mtac.htm).

The latest copy of the National Association of Postal Supervisors electronic governmental affairs newsletter is available on this web site. NAPS President Ted Keating, in his Congressional testimony at a House postal oversight hearing, called for aggressive efforts to provide the Postal Service with additional revenues to offset its sagging financial health."

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