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Postal News from November 2001

November 30, 2001 -- The President of the United States has announced his intention to name George A. Omas as Chairman of the Postal Rate Commission and Tony Hammond as Postal Rate Commissioner.

November 30, 2001 -- The Financial Times has reported that "Dr Neville Bain, chairman of Consignia would stand down at the end of the year and a successor would be chosen as quickly as possible, Patricia Hewitt, trade and industry secretary, told MPs yesterday. The service being provided by the post group was 'simply not good enough', she said. Facing complaints on the postal service from all sides, Ms Hewitt said the government had given the Post Office greater commercial freedom and an independent regulator to enable it to improve performance." See also the report in the Guardian (U.K.)

November 30, 2001 -- Reuters has reported that Federated Department Stores, Inc. has said it will pull the plug on its Bloomingdale's retail Internet operation and scale back its Macy's Web site to focus less on apparel and more on housewares, gifts and jewelry. Federated also said it will close its Macy's catalog, which was primarily a marketing tool for the Web site.

November 30, 2001 -- The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available on this site.

November 30, 2001 -- According to CNN, "as the ongoing threat of anthrax injects fear and danger into the circulation of letters and packages, online delivery alternatives are getting a second look from businesses and government agencies seeking reliable and safe ways to communicate with customers and partners. Some of the benefits of e-mail and secure online delivery services include cost savings and convenience, according to Dana Gardner, research director at Boston's Aberdeen Group."

November 30, 2001 -- The Journal of Commerce has reported that "Airborne Express said it will begin phasing in general rate increases for its domestic shipping products, effective Jan. 2, 2002."

November 30, 2001 -- Reuters has reported that "many United States post office workers who took antibiotics to protect themselves from anthrax infection suffered adverse reactions to the drugs, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)."

November 30, 2001 -- According to Air Cargo World, "in their bid to get more time-sensitive goods out of the skies and onto the ground, expedited truckers appear to be finding unlikely allies in a surprising base of new customers: the air carriers and air forwarders themselves. Even as they compete with truckers for the hearts and skids of shippers, traditional air operators are deciding that shippers may have a cost-conscious point and they are following their own customers to specialized road networks around the country, according to executives in the air and trucking industries."

November 30, 2001 -- Traffic World has reported that "Danzas has acquired Austria's largest airfreight forwarder, Cargoplan/Cargoline, in a bid to strengthen its position in Central and Eastern Europe. The Austrian company, which was the exclusive agent for Air Express International for 25 years, has subsidiaries in Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovenia, as well as in Western Europe and North America."

November 30, 2001 -- According to DM News postal commentator Cary Baer, "the future of the postal service, as we know it, is at risk. The question before Congress and the Bush administration is whether they will provide the support necessary to keep the postal service afloat."

November 30, 2001 -- According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, "postal workers and other package handlers wearing latex gloves as a precaution against anthrax, should be aware of latex allergy symptoms."

November 30, 2001 -- The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) announced the results of a preliminary study on the impact on certain gem materials of the irradiation process the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is using to kill anthrax and other biological agents that might be contained in the U.S. mail. In most cases, the process produced dramatic changes in the color of the gem materials. The testing was conducted with the cooperation of SureBeam, which makes the irradiation equipment the USPS is using. SureBeam is a subsidiary of Titan Corporation, of San Diego. The equipment is a type of linear accelerator that creates a beam of high-energy electrons typically used to kill the microorganisms that can contaminate food. Coincidentally, this is the same type of ionizing radiation that is often used intentionally to change the color of some gem materials.

November 30, 2001 -- The Associated Press has reported that "administration health officials told Congress Thursday that $3 billion is needed to prepare for bioterrorism, twice as much as President Bush is requesting. Some lawmakers suggested the president was shortchanging the problem."

November 30, 2001 -- Die Presse (Austria) has reported that "Osterreichische Post, the Austrian postal services company, is to close a number of its offices, but not as many as had first been planned. The company plans to close a number of main offices. At the moment, of the 2300 post offices in the country, 1750 are making a loss."

November 30, 2001 -- TietoEnator Corporation has sold its remaining shareholding in Atkos Oy to Finland Post Ltd. At the beginning of 2001 TietoEnator owned 49 percent of Atkos (formerly Atkos Printmail Oy) and Finland Post 51 percent. The Post increased its holding to 80 percent at the beginning of February. Underlying the share transactions is the aim of the two owner companies to raise efficiency by concentrating on their core businesses and operations that support them. Atkos is the largest provider of electronic document management, printing and direct marketing services in Finland.

November 30, 2001 -- The Nordic Business Report has noted that "the Swedish postal services company Posten has received a framework contract for services and products for electronic signing and identification from Statskontoret (the Swedish agency for administrative development). The services are to be used to enable secure web services for citizens."

November 30, 2001 -- Forbes has reported that "the U.S. Postal Service kicked off its holiday delivery season by cautioning that mail service might be slow this year. Its private sector competitors, by contrast, are expressing confidence that they will get packages to their destination on time, even if volume is as heavy as last year. Wall Street analysts have worried that shippers like FedEx (nyse: FDX - news - people) and United Parcel Service (nyse: UPS - news - people) would experience softening demand this season. But investors have driven the stocks for both shippers upward in the weeks since Sept. 11, though much of that is probably due to the annual holiday surge in shipping."

November 30, 2001 -- Eyefortransport.com has reported that "For the second consecutive year FedEx has won the Best Transportation Web Site award in the Web Marketing Association's 2001 WebAwards, in addition to winning Best Portal Web Site and Standard of Excellence honors. Also, eWeek ranks FedEx No. 2 in its annual list of leading e-business innovators, just behind General Electric, in its recently published FastTrack 500."

November 30, 2001 -- According to European news sources, "Correos y Telegrafos, the Spanish postal service, and French counterpart La Poste have signed an agreement to develop an express parcel service in Spain. The service will be expanded internationally at a later stage."

November 29, 2001 -- According to DM News:

November 29, 2001 -- The minutes of the November 8 meeting of the Postal Service's Mailers Technical Advisory Committee have been posted on the USPS' RIBBS web site.

November 29, 2001 -- Reuters has reported that "in the age of anthrax fear, letters and cards from the American home front to U.S. military personnel can be replaced by e-mail, the Pentagon said."

November 29, 2001 -- All mail that was irradiated after being detained inside the anthrax-contaminated Trenton mail facility will be placed inside plastic bags with a written notice identifying it as having been sanitized.

November 29, 2001 -- The Associated Press has reported that "some 1.5 million pieces of mail quarantined at a postal facility in Washington D.C. will be irradiated in New Jersey to kill any potential anthrax spores."

November 29, 2001 -- WDSU has reported that "the postal service says that it is taking no special precautions with holiday mail this year, which is good news for people wanting to send holiday gifts and cards to loved ones."

November 29, 2001 -- WJLA has reported that "anthrax-related troubles are spilling into the US District court system. Thousands of DC residents who've been called to jury duty are being asked to fax or hand-deliver their replies. In fact, the latest summonses from the federal court jury administrator specifically order prospective jurors not to mail the enclosed questionnaire."

November 29, 2001 -- According to the Associated Press, "the government's plan to rid the Hart Senate Office Building of deadly anthrax bacteria inspires little confidence, senators with offices there told EPA chief Christie Whitman." Oh for heaven's sake, just go back to work!

November 29, 2001 -- According to L'Echo  (Belgium), "Brussels-based employees of La Poste, the Belgian post office, held an improvised demonstration yesterday in the town centre. The rotating strike reached the capital after having paralysed almost all post and distribution offices in Wallonia. Only 55 to 66 per cent of rounds were stopped, according to unions. Almost two thirds of post offices were closed. Only the Brussels X sorting office was totally paralysed."

November 29, 2001 -- The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service will conduct its monthly meeting in Washington, DC, at Postal Service headquarters located at 475 L'Enfant Plaza, SW, on Monday and Tuesday, December 3-4, 2001.

November 29, 2001 -- Eyefortransport.com has reported that "OmniRush allows users of CRM and SQL databases to trigger FedEx shipments using a powerful, database-driven architecture."

November 29, 2001 -- InternetWeek has reported that "a growing number of companies that make and sell consumer products are testing a budding technology that could transform the way industries use the Internet to track goods in their supply chains. The technology, under development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, takes over where bar codes leave off."

November 28, 2001 -- Direct Newsline has reported that "the House Rules Committee has  voted against giving the U.S. Postal Service $500 million to pay for mail sanitation equipment. The 8-2 vote killed an amendment to an $20 billion Defense Department appropriations bill that would have been the first installment of funds on the $3 billion that Postmaster General John Potter requested to help pay for equipment to rid the mails of biological agents such as anthrax."

November 28, 2001 -- The latest issue of PB Insights is available on the PB Insights web site.

November 28, 2001 -- According to the Milwaukee Business Journal, "consumers have been slower to embrace paying bills online than industry executives expected, but the recent anthrax scare may heighten their interest."

November 28, 2001 -- Congress Daily has reported that "the White House has shown no sign of budging on its desire to hold the line on spending, despite continuing Democratic demands for more money to combat terrorism and aid areas affected by the Sept. 11 attacks. Referring to an earlier deal between congressional appropriators and the White House to hold fiscal 2002 spending to $686 billion and keep the supplemental at $40 billion, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer today declared, 'A deal is a deal is a deal.'"

November 28, 2001-- The Wall Street Journal has reported that "what was billed as a climactic battle over reform now looks set to end in the most Japanese of fashions: a muddled, inconclusive draw. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who vowed to shake up public-sector corporations and slash wasteful government spending, has agreed to a compromise that makes some significant cuts but leaves the door open for the corporations to live on in reduced form." What's not clear is what this means for Japanese postal reform.

November 28, 2001 -- Dow Jones has reported that "Allied Irish Banks PLC (AIB), Ireland's largest retail bank, signed a deal Wednesday with the Irish postal service, An Post, for 1000 post offices to become outlets for AIB."

November 28, 2001 -- According to Die Welt (Germany), "it has never been seen before in the entire history of Germany's anti-trust office: the competition regulator has vetoed the acquisition by Deutsche Post of a majority interest in the express delivery group Transoflex and at the same time suspended its ruling, allowing the state postal services group to continue to operate its subsidiary. Now it is up to the courts to decide the outcome and that could take years." See also Suddeutsche Zeitung.

November 28, 2001 -- The Independent (U.K.) has reported that "the Royal Mail issued a fresh warning last night of heavy job losses among its 200,000 staff after its parent company, Consignia, crashed to a £281m loss for the first half of the year."

November 28, 2001 -- Associated Press has reported that "the Postal Service expects to deliver just as much holiday mail as last year, and officials on Tuesday asked mailers to help curb anthrax anxiety by printing clearly and using return addresses on letters and packages." See also the story by GovExec.Com.

November 28, 2001 -- Bloomberg News has reported that "Fedex Corp. Chairman Frederick Smith says his company is engaged in one of the most significant transformations in corporate history....His plan, which he hatched a decade ago, is for FedEx to expand from its original business -- shipping documents by overnight plane -- to shipping packages of all sizes and shapes, with trucks as well as planes and at speeds selected by customers. It's a shift long awaited by investors. FedEx earns an operating profit margin of 5.5 percent. Rival United Parcel Service Inc. earns 15.5 percent, mostly because of its 80.3 percent market share in U.S. package deliveries via truck."

November 28, 2001 -- CNET News has reported that "next month, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company will begin charging a fee for the use of its online payment service, PayDirect. The company will charge 30 cents plus 2.5 percent of the cost of each transaction made using the service. The new fees, which will begin Dec. 17, are comparable to those charged by other online payment services including PayPal and eBay-backed Billpoint."

November 28, 2001 -- According to InternetWeek, "Online shopping may be convenient, but it has yet to win the hearts and minds of many who fear their private information will be compromised or stolen outright. According to a Jupiter Media Metrix survey, fears persist about the security of credit card numbers and personal information among those who online, as well as offline. According to the survey, 59 percent of shoppers who eschew online purchases for trips to brick-and-mortar stores are afraid their credit card data will be pilfered. More than half -- 54 percent -- said they are worried their information will be sold to other merchants."

November 27, 2001 -- According to the Nordic Business Report, "Finland Post has established a new company to provide information technology (IT) services to the group."

November 27, 2001 -- According to the Washington Post, "the Postal Service, a $70 billion organization whose roots stretch back to the Pony Express, has seen mail volume drop by 7 percent since the terrorist attacks, declines not experienced since the Great Depression. It has lost $634 million in revenue since Sept. 11 and projects $2 billion in losses this fiscal year -- on top of $3 billion in expenses to buy devices to detect and kill anthrax spores."

November 27, 2001 -- As DM News has reported, a critical vote in the House Rules Committee will likely occur today to consider additional money for the U.S. Postal Service.

November 27, 2001 -- The Financial Times has reported that:

November 27, 2001 -- The Royal Mail: A Cornerstone of civilization or a vestigial Victorian institution?

November 27, 2001 -- As the Arizona Republic has noted, "oil prices are falling and there is even talk of a worldwide petroleum price war, but airlines and shipping companies are clinging to fuel surcharges imposed last year when prices were on the rise." Now why is that?

November 27, 2001 -- According to Le Soir (Belgium), strikes continue to plague the Belgian postal service.

November 27, 2001 -- According to Financial Times Deutschland, "German logistics group Stinnes is planning to strengthen the activities of its transport subsidiary Schenker next year according to chairman Wulf Bernotat. This will involve acquisitions in the US. The company is also fine-tuning its land based operations in Europe in order to see off its number one competitor Danzas."

November 27, 2001 -- According to Dow Jones, "sorting complications have delayed the delivery of some 500,000 pieces of mail that was locked inside the Hamilton postal facility when anthrax was discovered there. The mail, most of it third-class, was expected to be delivered beginning Monday. The mail has been irradiated one trailer at a time over the past two weeks. It will now go out no earlier than Thursday, postal officials said. Some businesses that had prepared third-class mailings asked the U.S. Postal Service to remove time-sensitive items from delivery."

November 27, 2001 -- The U.S. Postal Service has published in the Federal Register a "final rule that provides a new preparation option that allows mailers to place flat-size automation rate mailpieces together in packages with flat-size Presorted rate mailpieces of the same mail class. This new option is called "co-packaging'' and will be available beginning March 31, 2002 for use with First-Class Mail, Periodicals, or Standard Mail."

November 26, 2001 -- Xinhua has reported that "postal rates for mail within Zimbabwe and abroad go up this week."

November 26, 2001 -- According to Infoworld, "as the ongoing threat of anthrax injects fear and danger into the circulation of letters and packages, online delivery alternatives are getting a second look from businesses and government agencies seeking reliable and safe ways to communicate with customers and partners."

November 26, 2001 -- Canada Post is telling its customers that "although many municipalities in Quebec have amalgamated or will be doing so in the next year, the time has not yet arrived for residents and companies of the new towns and cities to change their mailing address."

November 26, 2001 -- European sources have reported that "the British Post Office has crashed into the red in the first half of the year after its operating loss rose fivefold and it was forced to take a massive write-down on its ailing Parcelforce operation. The results put a serious question mark over whether Consignia, the parent company of the Post Office's operations, can continue to operate Parcelforce.

November 26, 2001 -- Aftenposten has reported that "Posten, the Norwegian postal services, is continuously slimming down and is to cut 3,000 man-labour years in 2002."

November 26, 2001 -- According to Svenska Dagbladet, Posten, the Swedish state owned post office, saw its profits fall during the first nine months of its operational year when compared to its performance a year ago.

November 26, 2001 -- Wirtschaftsblatt has reported that "Osterreichische Post AG, the Austrian post office, plans a partnership with small foodstores, under which postal services will be offered in the food outlets."

November 26, 2001 -- According to the Nordic Business Report, "the mail distributor CityMail Sweden has unveiled a new digital postal service called g-desk. Targeted at both businesses and private persons, g-desk provides an Internet-based letter-box which a subscriber can access through a password-protected web page. The system will allow users both to receive their mail directly to the computer screen and to pay bills. The bill payment feature is designed to function regardless of which bank the subscriber uses. G-desk was developed by Nomodi Technology AB, which says the system can be up and running in a company in a few hours. CityMail plans to offer the service across Sweden, with users being able to receive mail free of charge."

November 26, 2001 -- The Nonprofit Times has reported that "nonprofits can expect higher costs, more delays and greater challenges in reaching donors after bio-terrorists infected the nation's postal service with anthrax, industry experts said. For some organizations, the early consequences of the latest terrorist attacks are already happening."

November 26, 2001 -- As David Broder has noted in the Washington Post, "As a rule, procedural votes in the House of Representatives are about as important to the citizenry as yesterday's tide table. But one scheduled to come up this week could affect the lives of you and millions of other Americans." Particularly the provisions concerning the Postal Service.

November 24, 2001 -- Mobile Computing has reported that "following numerous anthrax scares, worries about handling mail are almost as strong as concerns over late-arriving payments as a reason people cite in signing up to pay bills online, a new study has found. According to the nationwide survey by Boston-based strategy firm Dove Consulting, 32 percent of respondents said the threat of anthrax has made them consider receiving utility and other statements online rather than in the mail. The rest said the anthrax scare has not changed their habits."

November 24, 2001 -- The Guardian (U.K.) has reported that "a row over job security and "backdoor privatisation" could lead to the first nationwide postal strike in Britain for more than 13 years, union leaders warned. Branch representatives of the Communication Workers' Union from across the country will meet in London next week to consider balloting for industrial action after it emerged that Consignia, formerly the Post Office, is considering recommendations that could lead to the closure of its loss-making Parcelforce operation."

November 24, 2001 -- The New York Times has reported that "the initial but extensive testing for anthrax at two postal centers near the home of the 94-year-old woman who died from inhalation anthrax this week turned up no trace of the spores, nor did a battery of samples taken from her home."

November 24, 2001 -- According to KCRA-TV, "usually the post office advises Americans this time year about sending packages early, but in light of the anthrax attacks, this holiday season, the post office is simply saying mail anything, anytime. The U.S. Post Office is already suffering a dramatic decline in mailings, and fears an even worse fate for the holidays."

November 23, 2001 -- The Associated Press has reported that "the president of a major postal employees union [American Postal Workers Union] says he will recommend his members refuse to work in buildings where any trace of anthrax remains, because of continuing uncertainty about their safety."

November 23, 2001 -- According to Brendan Miniter, assistant editor of OpinionJournal.com in a commentary published in the Wall Street Journal, "in the war on terrorism the first thing the post office needs to do is surrender -- to market forces. The anthrax scare has only underscored what we've known for a long time: The U.S. Postal Service is no longer the efficient and secure organization it needs to be....The Postal Service is a bloated bureaucracy. Real reform will only come when it loses its monopoly and is forced to make hard decisions. Those reforms would include closing down inefficient offices and downsizing some of its 850,000 employees -- both politically tricky propositions today. Supporters of the current system will claim no company can make a profit in the postal market and that universal service requires a monopoly. This simply isn't true."

November 23, 2001 -- According to the Cato Institute's Edward Hudgins in a recent commentary published in the Washington Times, "the Postmaster General is asking Congress for $5 billion to help the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) recover from anthrax attacks and to make the mail safe. But the USPS is unlikely to recover from the downward financial spiral it was in before the September 11 attacks, and a bailout could delay the inevitable privatization that would help postal customers and the American economy."

November 23, 2001 -- CargoWeb News has reported that "the number of Internet users in Germany is continuing to rise, as is the number of online shoppers, and the distribution of goods acquired via e-commerce. Deutsche Post said around 14 of the 24 million Internet users now shop regularly or occasionally on the Internet. According a study sponsored by Deutsche Post, delivery plays a particularly important role. It must be reliable and affordable, or not incur any additional costs at all. Users are keen for retailers to accept liability for lost and damaged items and would also like a convenient option for returning goods with a money-back guarantee.

November 23, 2001 -- Neue Zurcher Zeitung (Switzerland) has reported that "Schweizerische Post, the Swiss post office, will grant a pay rise of 3.2 per cent, but rejects further material demands by the communication workers' union. The union informs that it intends to contact the arbitration commission, arguing that the post office is not following up moderate demands."

November 23, 2001 -- According to The Times of India, "disillusioned with the fixed quota of mail delivery given by Indian airlines, the West Bengal postal circle will depend more and more upon private airlines for its mail delivery."

November 23, 2001 -- According to Jordan Times , Minister of Post and Telecommunications Fawaz Zu'bi said that the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications will be cancelled within the coming three months and will be substituted with a ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology. Zu'bi said the government is seriously considering selling off its shares in Jordan Telecom, adding that no final decision has been taken in this concern. According to Zu'bi, postal services will be separated from the ministry to make way for the creation of a postal company totally owned by the government which later be privatized.

November 23, 2001 -- The Financial Times has reported that British "postal workers may take strike action after a warning from managers that Consignia employees should consider self-employment or risk being unemployed."

November 23, 2001 -- According to the Nordic Business Report, Sweden's state-owned postal services company Posten reported a drop in its operating profit for the first nine months of the year. The weaker result was due to lower mail volumes and increased investments.

November 22, 2001 -- According to the Guardian (U.K.), "today, Consignia aspires to introduce later, more expensive and less frequent delivery of letters. Recently it announced a scheme to charge for early deliveries, or what it styles a "premium service". There is a further threat of "new-style deliveries" (which turns out to mean non-deliveries) and another to remove early morning collections from postboxes....The current Post Office's aversion to letters of both varieties is illustrated by its decision to call itself Consignia. In order to emphasise that it is a "modern postal service" ie, a postal service that can no longer be depended upon to deliver letters and parcels at a useful hour, or even at all, Consignia now avoids any verbal hint that it might still be involved with olde worlde stamps and hairy string and bits of paper with squiggly marks on them....The service always gets worse, not better. Log on to the letter-free world that is the Consignia website and it is almost impossible to establish."

November 22, 2001 -- La Tribune (France) has reported that "the French secretary of state for industry, Christian Pierret, has told a gathering of France's mayors in Paris that the French government has no intention of dismantling the network of the French post office (La Poste). He was attempting to ally trade-union fears about the effects which the merger of the competitive activities of the French deposit and consignment office (CDC) and the French co-operative savings bank Caisses d'Epargne is likely to have on the financial services provided by La Poste. 

November 22, 2001 -- Le Monde (France) has reported that "La Poste, the French national postal services group, is pursuing the restructuring of its parcels activity. After closing down Dilipack, the group also plans to terminate the activities of DPD France, its other express business parcel delivery service, acquired in 2000 and controlled by holding company Geopost."

November 22, 2001 -- L'Echo (Belgium) has reported that "the Belgian cabinet has called for two reports to be drawn up into Belgian postal services operator La Poste. The first report, which will be put together by La Poste's administrative board, will concern modernisation and management plans for the group. The second will analyse La Poste's financial situation. Many ministers believe that the two reports constitute only the first stage in the government's attempts to bring the management of La Poste back under control."

November 22, 2001 According to the Christian Science Monitor,"like the airlines, which received a government boost after Sept. 11, the US Postal Service now needs a leg up. Postmaster General John Potter said he needs $2 billion to offset the loss of revenues after the anthrax attacks and another $3 billion to pay for increased security, such as buying supplies to better protect employees who handle the mail. The post office is doing its part to cut costs. But a rate hike for first-class letters was just recently enacted, and another increase is on the books for 2002. If Congress does nothing, consumers will bear the brunt during an economic recession. A one-time infusion of money toward maintaining the integrity of this necessary institution makes sense. It should not, however, be used to help pay for a projected loss of $1.35 billion in 2002."

November 22, 2001 -- Post Danmark, the Danish post office, has issued a profit warning for this year. According to Post Danmark, the reduction is attributable to the new agreement regarding public servants within the company, in addition to an additional tax payment.

November 22, 2001 -- Reuters has reported that "Dutch postal, express and logistics company TPG NV (TPG) has said that its Turkish joint venture TNT Lojistik had acquired Turkish logistics company Cargotech."

November 22, 2001 -- InfoWorld has reported that "reverse logistics, the art of processing returns and the bane of the online e-commerce industry, will get a much-needed boost this shopping season as logistics company Newgistics and the Spiegel Group use Web services to collect and integrate return information into backend systems. Newgistics is partnering with such point-of-return parcel centers as AIM Mail Centers, Associated Mail & Parcel Centers, Handle with Care Packaging Store, Neighborhood Postal Centers, Pak Mail, Parcel Plus, PostalAnnex, PostNet International Franchise, and independently owned centers, totaling approximately 4,000 locations in the United States."

November 22, 2001 -- As ECommerce News has noted, "it's been an emotional and unsettling autumn, and that has not been good for economy. But how that will influence holiday spending, and whether it's spent online or offline, we have yet to find out. Only 11 percent of shoppers said the Internet will be their first choice for holiday shopping, an Accenture study found. The most likely to benefit from such sentiment are traditional offline retailers with a strong online presence."

November 22, 2001 -- As ZDNet News has noted, "If you struggle to keep up with today's e-mail volumes, what will you do when you get ten times as many messages from a variety of devices that send you e-mail alerts? Part of the problem is that if you were going to design a system for business communication, e-mail as we know it today would not be the result. A checklist of required attributes would probably include security, integration with other knowledge processes, awareness of the user’s presence and location, device-independence, role-based as well as person-based facilities, and efficiency from the user’s perspective. E-mail is practically the opposite of what we would build."

November 21, 2001 -- The United States Postal Service's report to the Postal Rate Commission on its NetPost Mailing Online experiment for fiscal year 2001, accounting periods 7 through 13 is available for public review on the PRC's web site..

November 21, 2001 -- CEP News (Courier- Express- and Postal-Market News) has reported that: 

Check out the latest issue of CEP News for the details on these and other news items affecting the courier, express, and postal market around the world.

November 21, 2001 -- Sending holiday cards to loved ones is a century-old American tradition most people plan to continue despite anthrax scares and the tragic events of Sept. 11. These are among the findings of a national survey conducted this month by an independent market research firm at the request of American Greetings, the world's largest publicly held greeting card company.

November 21, 2001 -- With several nthousand troops in the Middle East responding to America's terrorist threat -- and tens of thousands more armed forces personnel on watch around the world -- AmazingMail(TM) announces the launch of "Operation Postcards from Home." AmazingMail (www.amazingmail.com) lets well wishers create and send real color postcards from any Internet-connected computer -- anywhere in the world. Photos can be uploaded, or art and photography can be selected from the AmazingMail online galleries. Each postcard includes a personalized message of up to 800 characters. AmazingMail then prints the postcard in a secure facility. By the next business day the United States Postal Service takes over, delivering to recipient mailboxes and military locations.

November 21, 2001 -- InternetWeek.Com has reported that:

November 21, 2001 -- Traffic World has reported that:

Contact Traffic World for subscription information to an excellent transportation-logistics newsweekly.

November 21, 2001 -- "Calling all elves! If this year is anything like Christmas past," BusinessWeek has noted, " United Parcel Service (UPS ) could hire as many as 90,000 part-time, temporary employees -- nearly the size of Proctor & Gamble's entire global workforce -- to help ship an anticipated 325 million packages for the holidays."

November 21, 2001 -- The Daily Telegraph (U.K.) has reported that "the [British] Post Office plans to scrap the second post, in which more than three million letters are delivered, as part of the biggest shake-up of delivery services in its history. The figure represents four per cent of daily deliveries and Post Office bosses regard it as an unjustifiable burden on what they admit is a shambolic service. These include charging customers an annual fee to guarantee their mail is delivered before 9.30am. Another plan is to give people who leave home before the first post arrives the option of collecting their mail from a delivery point on their route to work such as a sorting office, railway or petrol station."

November 21, 2001 -- A coalition of corporations and nonprofit agencies launched "Network for Good," an online portal aimed at helping charities strengthen their connections with people seeking to donate, volunteer or speak out on issues. The ePhilanthropy Portal was founded by the AOL Time Warner Foundation and AOL Inc., the Cisco Systems Foundation and Cisco Systems Inc. and Yahoo! Inc.  in partnership with about 20 nonprofit foundations and associations that seek to foster use of the Internet for civic participation and philanthropy. The Web site was designed to aggregate and organize content and resources, making it easier for consumers to give of their time and money. Nonprofits increasingly are looking for alternatives to ever cost-increasing mail.

November 21, 2001 -- According to Forbes.com, "businesses are slashing prices left and right. Tech and telecom equipment that used to fly off the shelves at premium rates is now heavily discounted. Many retailers are starting their post-Thanksgiving sales before the holiday. Even coffee sellers--such as Starbucks, whose sales are up--wouldn't dream of raising prices in the current economic climate. But FedEx did it. Today the company said it is boosting rates an average of 3.5%, effective Jan. 2. The rates, somewhat predictably, almost match an increase that United Parcel Service announced Nov. 2." See also the report by Bloomberg.

November 21, 2001 -- According to the Associated Press:

[Editor's Note] While you're at it, get a copy of the report on the quality of postal services in developing countries by Consignia's Dr. Tim Walsh that calls on governments, operators and postal bodies to "take more seriously" their responsibilities for the development and reform of postal infrastructures. The 60-page report examines the state of postal services across the developing world and reviews the nature of postal change programmes from Africa to Latin America and from the Caribbean to the Middle-East. For the first time, all the World Bank sponsored postal reform projects since the mid-1990s have been evaluated, as have national reform efforts. The report identifies the causes of poor performance of postal services in developing countries and pulls no punches in setting out the particular responsibilities of governments in establishing the right policy environment conducive to postal services' improvement.

November 21, 2001 -- Polaris International, manufacturers of the Bio-Shelter System have launched another revolutionary new product for the War Against Terrorism, " The Safe Mailroom Shelter." (You're kidding me, right?)

November 21, 2001 -- The U.S. State Department said it has resumed its worldwide diplomatic pouch service today nearly a month after suspending due to the discovery of anthrax in several of its mail facilities.

November 21, 2001 -- De Financieel Ekonomische Tijd (Belgium) has reported that "Pierre Klees, chairman of Belgian public postal group De Post, still has confidence in CEO Frans Rombouts. However, Mr Klees wants the management to stop making acquisitions and concentrate on consolidation. The modernisation of the company can indeed be done more gradually now that the EU Commission has postponed the liberalisation of the sector by at least three years."

November 21, 2001 -- According to Suddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), "Deutsche Post AG, the German postal services company, is more attractive than ever, one year on from its stock market flotation."

November 21, 2001 -- The Scotsman (United Kingdom) has reported that "more than 160,000 postal workers across Britain could be balloted for strike action if negotiations on their pay claim collapse this week, it has been revealed. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said workers were fed up with being blamed for management failures and had been warned by management that there would be no support for its five per cent pay claim."

November 21, 2001 -- According to De Standaard (Belgium), "the Belgian government wants an answer to the question if the reorganisation of public postal service company De Post is threatening to turn into a financial disaster."

November 21, 2001 -- According to Comtex, the Russian "express mail market, the capacity of which is about $100 million a year is mostly controlled by international companies: 51% belongs to DHL, 19% - toTNT, 10% - to UPS, 7% - to FedEx and 13% -to EMS 'Garantpost.'"

November 20, 2001 -- As the Federal Times has noted in a recent editorial, "the U.S. Postal Service needs a bailout and one should be approved. But policy makers should not make the mistake of believing a bailout alone will save the troubled agency."

November 20, 2001 -- Dow Jones has reported that "U.K. parcel delivery firm Business Post Group PLC (U.BPG) said Tuesday its UK Mail subsidiary has been awarded a license to operate postal services for business customers. The license, effective April 1, 2002, was awarded by Postcomm, the industry regulator and will run initially for a one-year trial period. Under the terms of the license, UK Mail will collect post from business customers in U.K. locations including Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London and Manchester. It will sort and transport the mail to the relevant local Royal Mail office, which will undertake the local sort and final delivery." See also the report in the Financial Times.

November 20, 2001 -- Eyefortransport.com has reported that "Deutsche Post Ventures has acquired an interest in Essen, Germany-based MediaSec Technologies GmbH. MediaSec Technologies develops solutions involving every aspect of digital watermarks and is consequently active in the document security (e.g. identity cards) and multimedia content fields (e.g. video recordings)."

November 20, 2001 -- If you haven't been there in a while, be sure to check out http://www.postinsight.pb.com/. Among the items posted are: "Universal Service and Commercial Reform" is a presentation by Dr. Ulrich Gygi, CEO, Swiss Post. (MORE PRESENTATIONS FROM POST-EXPO, GENEVA); "How to Get a Competitive Edge from Automation in the Postal Logistic Chain" is a presentation by Benny Lundgaard, Operations and Logistics, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Denmark; "The Power of Direct Mail," and more from the National Postal Forum.

November 20, 2001 -- The South China Morning Post has reported that Hong Kong "postal charges will rise in April as planned - the first increase in six years. Postmaster-General Luk Ping-chuen said there was no reason to further postpone the rise despite growing calls for cuts in public service fees and charges amid the economic downturn. Postage was originally set to be raised last month."

November 20, 2001 -- Delivery Point Services, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Siemens Dematic Postal Automation L.P., has announced  that it has acquired Super Sort Corporation in Hicksville, New York. Effective immediately, Super Sort Corporation will change its name to Delivery Point Services, Inc. The company provides mail presort services to major business mailers and lettershops, allowing them to take full advantage of presort discounts offered by the U.S. Postal Service.

November 20, 2001 -- The Associated Press has reported that according to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "whoever sent anthrax-laced letters by mail probably didn't realize postal workers would be infected instead of their prominent targets."

November 20, 2001 -- Will others learn from the experience of a Texas businessman who abandoned direct mail for email-based marketing?

November 19, 2001 -- The Detroit News has reported that now that he's been "elected to a five-year term as Teamsters President, James P. Hoffa's top priorities include negotiating a new contract with United Parcel Service, ridding the union of government supervision and playing a major role in next year's congressional elections."

November 19, 2001 -- The Belgian newspaper, De Standaard has reported that "Belgian French-speaking liberal party PRL wants stricter controls on public companies. A proposal to that effect will be submitted to parliament this week."

November 19, 2001 -- The European paper, L'Echo, has reported that "unions representing staff at the Belgian post office have called for rolling strikes in the country's three main regions. The unions have been angered over the proposed closure of 400 unprofitable post office branches by 2005 as part of a large-scale restructuring plan." See also the report in De Standaard.

November 19, 2001 -- According to Le Figaro, "the SUD-PTT union at French post office La Poste issued a warning to strike on 2 January over the conditions of the switch to euro notes and coins....La Poste intends to hire 3,000 temporary workers between 13 December and 16 February, and use 1,000 young employees and those who have taken early retirement, in order to cope with the increased activity."

November 19, 2001 -- The British newspaper, The Birmingham Post, has reported that "postal group Consignia will launch a Midlands-based joint venture to send bills and statements to customers of utilities and other companies. The organisation is linking up with business services group Opus Trust to create a new firm, Optecon, which will operate from Leicester. The company can print and dispatch 250 million mail items a year and will offer firms the chance to include messages on bills."

November 19, 2001 -- According to Les Echos (France), "Herve Schricke has been put in charge of the new IT and communication-sector venture capital division of the French post office (La Poste). He was formerly managing director of the French publishing company Omnigain, a division of the portal Meilleurtaux.com."

November 19, 2001 -- South American Business Information has reported that "the [Argentine] Government has reduced the costs of the postal operator Correo Argentino by Pesos $10mil annually by including it in the Competitiveness Plan (for tax exemptions)."

November 19, 2001 -- According to the Wall Street Journal:

November 19, 2001 -- Kyodo News International has reported that "a group of [Japanese] lawmakers calling for thorough privatization of the state-run postal services agreed at a meeting Friday to demand the deletion of a legal clause that bans the privatization of the new public corporation slated to take over the postal services in 2003....Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi has long called for privatizing the three postal service operations of mail, postal savings and insurance, and seeks entry of private firms into the postal services in concurrence with the 2003 launch of the new public entity. But some ruling party lawmakers, who have vested interests in postal services, are strongly opposed to the move."

November 19, 2001 -- InternetWeek has reported that "International Paper has signed a strategic alliance with Micromem Technologies, Toronto, Ontario, to develop smart packaging technology that tracks products through their manufacturing and retail cycle.."

November 18, 2001 -- The Washington Post has reported that:

November 17, 2001 -- According to the San Diego Daily Transcript, "Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) has been called a lot of things in the past two months. Now, you can add to that list the terrorist version of the 'Grinch That Stole Christmas'....The Greeting Card Association (GCA) says that more than 60 percent of the 7 billion cards that are sent out each year are mailed during the Christmas holiday season. A survey by advertising agency Euro RSCG Worldwide finds that the recent anthrax attacks will cause some people to think twice before sending greetings through the mail. fewer greeting cards means fewer stamps being purchased from the U.S. Postal Service."

November 17, 2001 -- In his report to the membership, American Postal Workers Union President William Burrus said that: "The interest arbitration process continues and postal management through its lawyers continues to press the reduction of wages and benefits for postal employees....Arbitrator Goldberg has made it clear to the parties that it is his intent to conclude the hearings on November 17, 2001 even if it means additional or longer hear dates. The union and management have completed their direct case and at the next scheduled date of hearing, November 15, the union will continue its case in rebuttal. Following the union=s rebuttal, postal management will present sir rebuttal followed by closing statements of the parties. Agreement has been reached to file briefs within five days after the closing of the hearings. Following receipt of the briefs and an opportunity to review them, the arbitration panel will meet in executive session to fashion an award."

November 17, 2001 -- The Associated Press has reported that "the doses of radiation the Postal Service plans to use to sterilize mail that may contain anthrax could destroy some prescription drugs and other medical products....The Postal Service pledged to find a way to separate shipments from mail-order pharmacies so that drugs aren't irradiated."

November 17, 2001 -- Reuters has reported that "James P. Hoffa has declared an early victory in the race for president of the 1.4 million-member Teamsters union after holding a commanding lead over challenger Tom Leedham."

November 16, 2001 -- According to the Irish Times, "An Post claims new targets for next-day postal deliveries set by the telecoms regulator, Ms Etain Doyle, are unnecessary and unattainable. The development is the latest sign of strain in the relationship between the State company and Ms Doyle's office, which has regulated its business since September last year."

November 16, 2001 -- As the Providence Journal has noted, "For years, C. Hamilton Davison, who has battled raising the price of postage stamps, saw the U.S. Postal Service as an 'ossified bureaucracy.' But during the last six months Davison has had a unique opportunity to study the $65-billion-a year business that delivers mail six times a week to 135 million addresses. Now, he says, 'some of my judgments have been wrong.'"

November 16, 2001 -- DM News has reported that "to help restore public confidence in the nation's postal system, the Mailing and Fulfillment Service Association announced a campaign yesterday to educate consumers and businesses on the safety measures already employed by the mailing industry....The association retained Dittus Communications, a Washington based public affairs firm, to work on the program."

November 16, 2001 -- According to the French newspaper, La Tribune, "Christian Pierret, the French secretary of state for industry, the minister with responsibility for supervision of French post office La Poste, has said that the management of the company informed a National Assembly commission on 7 November that it was in favour of veritable postal bank. He adds, however, that both commercial banks and the staff of La Poste are against this development. Staff, he says, fear the consequences of a possible threat to the group's unity. The minister concludes that whilst the government is in favour of increased management flexibility for La Poste, it is opposed to a dismantling of the post office."

November 16, 2001 -- The Board of Directors of United Parcel Service, Inc., at its regularly scheduled meeting, today declared a quarterly cash dividend of 19-cents per share on all outstanding Class A and Class B shares. The dividend is payable on Jan. 4, 2002, to shareowners of record on Nov. 27, 2001.

November 15, 2001 -- De Financieel Ekonomische Tijd has reported that the "Belgian Post Group (BPG) wants to close over a third of the 1,350 post offices in Belgium, as they are unprofitable. The social consequences will be limited as the operation will be spread over five years and part of the staff will be transferred to the new-style post offices which will be opened from May 2002. A limited number of the 400 offices to be closed may still be saved via agreements with the local authorities. Under the terms of these agreements, councils would pay the rent of post office buildings while BPG would supply the staff."

November 15, 2001 -- Neue Zurcher Zeitung has reported that "the Brazilian government yesterday launched a plan to open 3,000 small post offices throughout the country by the end of 2003. The new post offices will be opened in shopping centres and commercial areas and will offer the same services as larger offices."

November 15, 2001 -- The Financial Times has reported that "the [U.K.] Post Office has chosen Tele2 as its long-term partner for telephony services following the successful launch of The Post Office's new calling cards on October 15, 2001, also in conjunction with Tele2. Tele2 will provide the telecommunications expertise and infrastructure and The Post Office the branding and distribution network. This new 'pay as you go' home phone service offered by The Post Office and Tele2 will be positioned as a low cost offering for national long distance, international and fixed to mobile calling, bringing customers substantial savings."

November 15, 2001 -- The Danbury News-Times has reported that "three companies that process photographic film by mail have been assured by the U.S. Postal Service that their mail will not be irradiated in the nationwide effort to prevent anthrax contamination, a spokeswoman for a Connecticut company says."

November 15, 2001 -- CEP News (Courier- Express- and Postal-Market News) has reported that:

Check out the latest issue of CEP News for the details on these and other news items affecting the courier, express, and postal market around the world.

November 15, 2001 -- The U.S. Postal Service has published in the Federal Register a "final rule amends section D042.2.0 of the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) by adding section D042.2.8 to provide procedures to identify when an office business center (OBC) or part of its operation is considered a commercial mail receiving agency (CMRA) for postal purposes."

November 15, 2001 -- In an editorial, the Connecticut Post wrote: "We applaud Congress, and U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., in particular, for its willingness to move quickly with an appropriation for the postal service to address the anthrax situation....But we think the Bush administration and Congress is correct in offering a lukewarm reception to still yet another request from Potter seeking up to $6 billion to offset expected revenues losses from the anthrax scares. We also warn against those special interests who will try to weigh the appropriation bill for the USPS down with pet projects, particularly so-called postal reform measures that are extremely controversial and totally unrelated to the safety of the mail and the protection of our nation's postal workers." Riiight. And totally unrelated to the viability of a postal infrastructure that's on the brink of fiscal collapse. Please...gimme a break.

November 15, 2001 -- Financial Times Deutschland has reported that "a court has ruled that Deutsche Post AG, the German postal services operator and former state monopolist, must allow the market for deadline deliveries of letters to be opened to competitors (the company otherwise still has a monopoly on letters weighing up to 200 grams). Deutsche Post had lodged a complaint against the awarding by the postal regulator of a licence for deadline deliveries. The court based its decision on the fact that the basic services of Deutsche Post do not include the same-day delivery of letters or their delivery on a date specified by the customer. It rejected the former monopolist's argument that the awarding of the licence represented a circumvention of its exclusive right."

November 15, 2001 -- New government statistics place First International Bank, a business unit within UPS Capital, as the eighth-largest lender by dollar volume in the U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) guaranteed loan programs for 2001.UPS Capital (www.upscapital.com) is a wholly owned subsidiary of UPS and is a key component of UPS's business strategy of enabling the flow of goods, information and funds. Combined with other UPS subsidiaries, UPS Capital's financial services can leverage technology, transportation, e-commerce and logistics solutions for total, efficient supply chain management, allowing companies to focus on their core businesses.

November 14, 2001 -- As Direct Newsline has reported, "Postmaster General Jack Potter Tuesday gave the Senate Appropriations Committee a finely detailed request for nearly $1.3 billion to help fund the purchase of mail-sanitization equipment, better security systems and other operational essentials. The money would fund the Post Office through next June. The PMG's four-page request calls for: $307 million for hazard detection equipment; $245 million to acquire chlorine-gas biological sanitizing systems; $97.9 million for modifying the heating air conditioning and ventilation systems in its processing plants; and $48.5 million to implement new mail screening initiatives, among other items.The PMG also asked for $182 million to cover the costs of disruptions and re-handling of the mail." See also the report in DM News.

November 13, 2001 -- The MRU Consultancy has just finished the study "Private Postal Operators in Europe", which describes the market distribution as well as the general situation in seven European letter markets. A copy of the table of contents of this report and a form for ordering a copy of the report have been posted on this web site.

November 13, 2001 -- The Mailers Council, the nation's largest coalition of mailers and mailing associations, today called on Congress to quickly approve a special appropriation for the United States Postal Service.

November 13, 2001 -- There are some new frequently asked questions and answers regarding mail transport equipment and sanitizing mail on the Postal Service's web site www.usps.com. To get to them - go to the website, then click on "Security of the Mail", then click on "Making the Mail Safe for Business", and then click on "FAQs for Business". Posted on this web site is a copy of the USPS' Recommended Best Industry Mailing Practices for Security.

November 13, 2001 -- The Financial Post has reported that "Canada Post says it has weathered 277 'incidences' in the mail since the anthrax scare began, mostly cases of powder spilling from packages and envelopes in post offices and postal plants. Many have forced shutdowns of facilities; this building has been evacuated once, and sections have been cordoned off for investigations....Canada Post says the disruptions have cost just "hundreds of thousands" in lost productivity. Meanwhile, its profits and mail volumes continue to increase. Even if more Canadians switch to e-mail for receiving and paying bills, Canada Post stands to benefit through its 45% stake in epost.ca"

November 13, 2001 -- According to the British newspaper, the Western Daily Press, "the leader of Britain's postmasters last night warned the Government he is about to step up the battle to save the rural network. Colin Baker, general secretary of the National Federation of SubPostmasters, said he would target Labour MPs to ask for help in preventing the closure of thousands of post offices."

November 13, 2001 -- The U.K. newspaper, the Evening Standard, has reported that "the [British] Post Office is to install fee-charging cash machines at 2000 locations countrywide. One in five post office ATMs is already charging customers UKpound 1 every time they withdraw money. News of the charges comes less than a year after banks were forced to scrap all cash-machine charges following Government threats and amid national outcry. Cash machines are currently available at just 500 post offices but the intention is to roll them out to at least 3000 branches over the next 18 months."

November 13, 2001 -- United Shipping & Technology, Inc. (US&T) has announced the appointment of former U.S. Secretary of Defense, William S. Cohen and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Jack Kemp to the US&T Board of Directors. United Shipping & Technology, Inc., through its brand name, Velocity Express, is the largest nationwide fully insured, customized, and networked same-day delivery and logistics solutions company in North America. The Company's focus is same-day scheduled and distribution service offerings with quality, on-demand capabilities.

November 13, 2001 -- According to TechWeb, "Americans already stuff their wallets with credit cards, driver's licenses, employee ID cards, and much more, so why not add a national identification card to the stack? Proponents argue that after the Sept. 11 attacks, smart cards are the ideal platform for a national ID card system. Widely used for a variety of tasks—from banking transactions to making phone calls—smart cards typically combine a magnetic strip and a bar code with a fingernail-size embedded digital chip. They're relatively secure from hackers, because several hours of hacking might compromise only one card, not an entire database."

November 13, 2001 -- The Times (London) has reported that "Consignia will no longer renew its contract with freight firm EWS next year following a decision by the postal operator to reduce the amount of mail being transported by rail. The move comes at a time when Consignia is carrying out a review of its business in order to cut costs and improve service."

November 13, 2001 -- According to eCommerce Times, "a study released Monday reported that U.S. consumers are not heading to online bill payment sites because of recent anthrax mail scares....The Jupiter Media Matrix study contradicted findings released last week by Gartner that there had been a 20 percent spike in online bill enrollment since the first reports of anthrax contamination began to surface. Jupiter found a long-range trend of steady growth for online payment will continue, regardless of the anthrax situation."

November 13, 2001 -- He may be against giving the Postal Service an appropriation for lost business since the atrocities of September 11, but, as the Denver Post has reported, "Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., had a surprise for the nation's stamp collectors last week. It turns out he was the key player behind Congress' little-noticed decision to direct the release of another of those fundraising semi-postal stamps. Those are commemorative-size stamps that raise money for specific causes through a surcharge placed on each stamp. Campbell long has wanted such a stamp to raise money to combat domestic violence. But his legislation to create such a stamp died quietly last year without getting a hearing. As a member of the House-Senate conference committee on the 2002 Treasury-Postal-General Government Appropriations Act, Campbell managed to revive his 'Stamp Out Domestic Violence Stamp Act of 2000' and insert it in the bill, which easily cleared both houses."

November 12, 2001 -- The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available on this site.

November 12, 2001 -- Post Danmark, the Danish postal service, is selling Posten Mailhouse, its printing and data division, to Stralfors, the Swedish B2B company.

November 12, 2001 -- The Board of Directors of Pitney Bowes Inc. has designated Monday, December 3, 2001 as the date for the spin-off of the company's office systems business as an independent, publicly-traded company under the name Imagistics International Inc.

November 12, 2001 -- A copy of the list of mailer concerns regarding the MERLIN program PostCom had presented to the Postal Service and the Postal Service's responses has been posted on this site. PostCom's report on the November 7, 2001 meeting of the Merlin Technical Advisory Group (TAG) also has been posted on this site.

November 12, 2001 -- As the Wall Street Journal has noted, "Before anthrax cases broke out last month in Florida, New York, New Jersey and Washington, visitors to the Postal Service's site, www.usps.com, used it mostly to look up ZIP Codes and buy the latest commemorative stamps. But after anthrax cases began turning up -- most linked to tainted letters -- a flood of calls from reporters swamped the Postal Service's media-relations department."

November 12, 2001 -- The Philadelphia Inquirer has reported that "for more than a decade, United Parcel Service Inc. has invested a billion dollars a year on computer technology - for cargo-tracking and management systems - and that has really paid off since Sept. 11, the company's chief executive officer said"

November 12, 2001 -- Radio Russia has reported that "starting as of today [10 November], the Russian Ministry of Antimonopoly Policy has introduced new tariffs for all postal services. The tariffs for sending postcards and letters will be raised by 30 per cent. The weight charge for sending parcels of a declared value will also go up 30 per cent. At the same time, the payment for the declared value will be reduced by 20 per cent."

November 12, 2001 -- Global express carrier TNT Express is the first in its field to provide customers with a worldwide mobile delivery service designed specifically for use on a PDA (personal digital assistant). TNT PDA services enables customers to request a pickup, track packages, check the price of a delivery, and receive news about TNT Express on their PDA direct from the TNT PDA Internet site, www.tnt.com.

November 11, 2001 -- The New York Post has reported that "New Yorkers are scrambling to get holiday jobs with the Postal Service - saying they're more afraid of being broke than getting infected with anthrax."

November 11, 2001 -- Ecommerce Times has reported that "Amazon.com has announced a US$5 million investment in Altura International, which operates the CatalogCity.com Web site. CatalogCity describes itself as an 'online mall for catalog shoppers' and features Internet access to mail-order favorites such as J.Crew, Hammacher Schlemmer and the Bombay Company."

November 11, 2001 -- The Associated Press has reported that "postal officials have moved Washington's central post office to another building after finding widespread anthrax contamination. The Postal Service moved mail-processing operations from its Brentwood facility to a location on V Street in northeast Washington Saturday. Officials discovered the Brentwood facility is so badly contaminated that it will probably take months to destroy the anthrax, which has killed two mail handlers, made 20 others sick and shut down several congressional buildings which got their mail from Brentwood."

November 11, 2001-- Borsen-Zeitung has reported that "Deutsche Post AG, Germany's postal services operator and one of Europe's leading logistics groups, revealed yesterday that it would start offering its property maintenance services to third parties. The group's first customer on the free market is Dorint AG, a German hotel group. Initially, Deutsche Post will provide property maintenance services to seventeen Dorint hotels."

November 10, 2001 -- Be sure to read one Marine's salute to his former postal comrades on Veterans' Day. By the way, November 10 is the U.S. Marine Corps'  birthday. "Semper fidelis."

November 10, 2001 -- The New York Times has a piece on the perils and fortunes of Pitney Bowes.

November 10, 2001 -- According to the Nikkei news service, "Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday urged Toranosuke Katayama, the minister of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, to fully open Japan's postal services to the private sector, as soon as a public postal corporation is established in 2003."

November 10, 2001 -- According to the University of Ohio's newspaper, The Post, "neither rain nor sleet nor dark of night has stopped the U.S. Postal Service -- but unless it gets help from the government, anthrax just might."

November 10, 2001 -- According to Internet.Com, "PostX , which combines postal mail with the advantages of the Internet and e-mail, Friday is celebrating the copyright of one of its core technologies. When the user action puts the cursor over the time stamp or sender identification, the computer connects with a location associated with the time stamp or sender identity identification."

November 10, 2001 -- The San Jose Mercury News has reported that "as the U.S. Postal Service begins to sterilize letters and packages with radiation, it faces daunting questions of logistics and safety."

November 10, 2001 -- As the Federal Times has noted, "while few dispute that the Postal Service needs several billion dollars to pay for safety equipment and cover the revenue shortfall caused by the terrorist attacks, some question whether a homeland security bailout by itself is the answer to its array of problems." By the way, the Federal Times is conducting an online poll as to whether the U.S. should "bail out" the Postal Service.

November 10, 2001 -- According to Selling Power magazine, "when it comes to delivering the goods where it really counts, no other company approaches the success record compiled by UPS. Besides serving every address in the 50 states, UPS also boasts access to four billion of the earth's six billion residents. It's no wonder the company's distinctive trucks symbolize one of the world's most recognizable and ubiquitous power brands on the planet."

November 10, 2001 -- United Parcel Service CEO Jack Kelly told Philadelphia Business that "for more than a decade, United Parcel Service Inc. has invested a billion dollars a year on computer technology - for cargo-tracking and management systems - and that has really paid off since Sept. 11. 'We know who a package came from, who it's going to, and in most cases what goods are in it,' Kelly said. Kelly talked about how technology developed by UPS - initially to provide new logistics and transportation services - can now help 'develop security solutions that won't slow down the flow of goods.'"

November 10, 2001 -- Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has reported that "Deutsche Post World Net, the German post office, is continuing to develop well despite the weak economy and the effects of the terrorist attacks on the US in September. Chief executive Klaus Zumwinkel dismissed as nonsense rumours that Deutsche Post would be hit by high costs over suspicions of Anthrax in Germany. Costs had amounted to 1m euros, he said, but no turnover had been lost. He added that the company would emerge strongly from the crisis, and raised the prospect of acquisitions by Deutsche Post."

November 10, 2001 -- The BBC has reported that "Bulgaria's Council of Ministers has approved an agreement on cooperation in post offices and telecommunications with Greece involving the exchange of information and specialists under various liberalization, consultancy and training programmes. Bulgaria and Greece will cooperate in research and design of post-office and telecommunications equipment."

November 10, 2001 -- The Associated Press has reported that "Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge voiced optimism Friday that the nation's anthrax threat was subsiding."

November 10, 2001 -- According to Traffic World, "Motor carriers' costs will rise 12 percent next year. That's despite lower diesel costs and driver compensation that has flattened in the wake of a sharp decline in tonnage levels this year, exacerbated by the Sept. 11 tragedies....Skyrocketing insurance premiums top the list of truckers' rising fixed costs that increasingly are unsupported by slackened demand for freight services."

November 9, 2001 -- The latest issue of PostCom's Tech-Notes has been posted on this site. This issue deals with the question: Why Is Address Quality So Important?

November 9, 2001 -- The Associated Press has reported that "a federal oversight panel declared Friday that Amtrak will not meet a congressional deadline for achieving financial self-sufficiency, a finding that forces Amtrak to draw up a plan for its own liquidation. The 6-5 vote by the Amtrak Reform Council does not mean Amtrak trains will stop running. Congress will review Amtrak's liquidation plan and a proposal to be drawn up by the council for a restructured national passenger rail system. Congress then will make a final decision about the future of Amtrak and rail service. Both studies must be done within 90 days." See also the report in the Journal of Commerce.

November 9, 2001 -- According to the Globe and Mail (Canada), "signs point to only modest growth in e-tailing this holiday season despite factors that might have been expected to send shoppers to the Internet in droves. Though North Americans are clearly uneasy over the threat of further terrorist attacks, relatively few seem inclined to abandon crowded malls in favour of cyberspace."

Novmeber 9, 2001 -- According to Reuters, "British online shoppers with busy schedules will soon no longer have to wait at home for their shopping to arrive -- they can pick it up from their nearest petrol station or convenience store. A report released on Friday by market analysts Datamonitor said there is a growing trend toward the establishment of pick-up points for online purchases in 24-hour shops like petrol stations or corner shops. Analyst Mike Philipps said the move would boost the unfulfilled potential of online shopping and provide relief for both frustrated customers and harassed e-tailers."

November 9, 2001 -- An update from the U.S. Department of State on current UPU issues has been posted on this site.

November 9, 2001 -- Declaring corporate leaders must speak out "when forces are at work that seek to disable global commerce," the chairman and CEO of UPS today reassured an audience here that terrorism attacks "simply do not threaten the lifeblood of the civilized world."

November 9, 2001 -- According to the Associated Press, "Americans reluctant to trust the Postal Service with millions of holiday toys and clothes with a can't-miss Christmas appointment might turn to rival haulers. FedEx and UPS are also expected to see a rise in shipments of online merchandise, as some surveys indicate more shoppers plan to avoid the mall and buy online."

November 9, 2001 -- Dow Jones has reported that "United Parcel Service Inc.'s (UPS) package volumes during the holiday season will be softer than previous years as customers react to the events and aftermath of the Sept. 11 attack." 

November 9, 2001 -- The Financial Times has reported that "Deutsche Post, Europe's largest postal services group, met expectations with its third-quarter results on Thursday and sounded an upbeat note for the rest of the year. Its optimism came despite the impact of the September attacks in the US and subsequent anthrax scares that have disrupted postal services in Germany and elsewhere."

November 9, 2001 -- Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has reported that "a court in Hanover has ruled against Deutsche Post AG, the German post office, in a legal dispute concerning postage charges amounting to DM6.3m. The court dismissed Deutsche Post's claim against Citicorp Card Operations GmbH, which in 1995 and 1996 sent out mail to customers in Germany via the Dutch post office, so as to avoid the higher postage charges imposed by Deutsche Post. The court ruled that Deutsche Post would have been entitled to send the letters back to the Netherlands, but had no right to claim compensation having delivered the letters."

November 9, 2001 -- Hoovers Online has reported that "the parcel delivery industry's first hand-held mini computer utilising state-of-the-art digital signature devices is here. It is the United Parcel Service's (UPS) DIAD II, otherwise called Delivery Information Acquisition Device II. DIAD II records, stores and transmits package information."

November 9, 2001 -- Eyefortransport.com has reported that "FedEx Freight, a provider of regional less-than-truckload (LTL) next- and second-day services and a subsidiary of FedEx Corp., has added three new positions to its Memphis-based senior management staff in order to focus on the growing regional LTL market and coordinate with its sister companies in the FedEx family.

November 8, 2001 -- Dow Jones has reported that "the Bush administration has rejected the idea that it is going to pour billions of dollars into the foundering postal service immediately. Instead, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the administration wants to use the fiscal year 2003 budget process as a way to assess the needs of the postal service and perhaps offer additional funding then. Fleischer also said that President George W. Bush has directed that the postal service be given $175 million immediately and said this should be enough money to deal with the short-term emergency created by the anthrax attacks."

November 8, 2001 -- The Postmaster General has told the Senate postal appropriations subcommittee that the Postal Service will suffer an expense of "$3 billion or more" to deal with the consequences of  the September 11 attack on New York and the subsequent anthrax attacks. He noted that the Postal Service is asking for an additional $2 billion as well to compensate the USPS for the business it has lost since September 11. A copy of the Postmaster General's testimony before the Senate postal appropriations subcommittee has been posted on this site. While the PMG was explicit about his needs, Senators on the subcommittee have signalled a willingness to appropriate for the September 11 and anthrax-related expenses, but not for the revenue lost due to declines in business. The subcommittee urged the USPS to "sharpen" its estimates to account only for that which is needed to cover the Postal Service's needs through June 2002. See also the report by Reuters, the Associated Press, the Washington Post, GovExec.Com, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal.

November 8, 2001 -- The Postal Service has posted on its web site a statement of its regrets concerning the ignored 911 pleas for help by an anthrax-infected postal worker who subsequently died..

November 8, 2001 -- The mailing service industry supports U.S. Postmaster General John Potter's request to Congress today for an economic stabilization package to help the agency ensure the safety and viability of the U.S. Postal Service.

November 8, 2001 -- DM News postal commentator Cary Baer wrote: "The terrorist attack on the mail that fatally infected two postal workers with anthrax has cast a pall over the U.S. Postal Service and the vital role it performs. Let's hope there is a technological solution that will quickly restore confidence to this part of our country's infrastructure. Anthrax is a serious issue for the USPS, but rather than continue discussing it, let's change the subject to the three R's: rates, redesign, and reform."

November 8, 2001 -- The Postmaster-General of the Nigerian Federation Alhaji Musa Argungu, has identified inadequate national infrastructure as the bane of postal services in the country.

November 8, 2001 -- The Associated Press has reported that "the Postal Service, battered by anthrax attacks that have left two workers dead, others sick and the public nervous about its mail, is turning to Congress for financial help. Postmaster General John Potter has said the attacks will cost the post office billions of dollars, and estimates of damage and loss of revenues have ranged from $3 billion to $7 billion or more." See also the report in the Wall Street Journal.

November 8, 2001 -- Postal board chairman Robert Ryder was quoted by Good Morning America as saying: "Extraordinary expenditures will be required," Robert Rider, chairman of the Postal Service Board of Governors, said this week. "We strongly believe these costs should not be borne by our customers through increased rates." He said these costs should be considered part of homeland defense

November 8, 2001 -- A copy of PostCom's comments on the Postal Service's draft transformation plan can be found on this site.

November 8, 2001 -- Brooks Bower, chairman and CEO of Papercone Corp., has taken over the reigns as chairman of the board of directors for the Envelope Manufacturers Association.

November 8, 2001 -- The Envelope Manufacturers Association has released its 2002 Outlook for Envelopes. Over the next six months, the committee predicts: recycling material prices will stabilize after dropping to a two-year low of under $200 per ton; conservative buying will hold White Wove Paper Inventory to moderate levels; envelope shipments will remain sluggish; with sluggish envelope shipments, total envelope billings will decline slightly; the value per thousand envelopes will finish the year around $16.96; with the rising costs of labor and materials, if the value per thousand does not increase in 2002, we can expect to see a decline in profitability. The report is available to non-members for $10. If you would like to receive a copy of this report, please contact Barbara Monson at 703-739-2200 or bmmonson@envelope.org.

November 8, 2001 -- CNN.com has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service said Wednesday it has been plagued in recent days by nearly 12,000 hoaxes, threats and suspicious mail incidents -- an average of 654 daily -- that have resulted in the evacuation of 429 postal facilities for varying amounts of time. As of Wednesday, 26 people have been arrested for anthrax-related hoaxes and threats, the Postal Service said. In reaction, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are trying to iron out the details of legislation aimed at stopping the flood of hoaxes....Meanwhile, the Postal Service and the FBI announced Wednesday that the reward for information leading to the arrest of those behind the anthrax attacks has been increased from $1 million to $1.25 million, thanks to a $250,000 contribution by the advertising company ADVO."

November 8, 2001 -- In response to the current anthrax-in-the-mail scare, the federal government has bought eight such irradiation devices, with an option for 12 more, for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). At $5 million per device, they are possibly the USPS's most expensive attempt to quiet public fears about bioterrorism. But will the devices actually make the public safer? Or will irradiating our letters, bills, catalogs, mail-order do-dads and holiday presents have unintended health and environmental consequences, either in the long or short term? Unfortunately, the government isn't answering those question, or hardly any questions at all, about mail irradiation. Unable to get such information, consumer advocates and activists who cut their teeth struggling against irradiated foods have filed a number of public information requests.

November 8, 2001 -- According to the British paper, the Evening Standard, "Christmas may be coming and the geese getting fat - just don't expect a seasonal greetings card dropping on your mat. Not if you live in America anyway. Reliant on a Yuletide surge to boost profits - in the US, 60% of their £5bn revenue came at Christmas last year - card makers are bracing for a downturn. With anthrax scares creating near-hysteria, the greatest Christmas tradition of all, next to trees and turkeys, looks like falling victim to the terrorists. Big business is rethinking its scatter-gun policy of sending out thousands of cards to customers and potential clients in favour of e-mailed seasonal greetings."

November 8, 2001 -- According to Online.ie, "the [Irish] Government is considering updating Ireland's postal laws after it emerged that somebody who sent anthrax through the Irish postal system could escape with just a £10 fine. In answer to a query by Fine Gael TD John Bruton, the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has admitted that the penalty for a summary offence is just £10, while a conviction on indictment could warrant a 12-month prison term. When hoax anthrax scares emerged throughout Ireland in recent weeks, the Government warned that those responsible could face jail terms of up to five years."

November 8, 2001 -- Der Standard has reported that "Osterreichische Post AG, the Austrian post office, is reported to be seeking a possible successor to the company's current head, Anton Wais. OIAG is thought not to be satisfied with the performance of the current four-man board of Osterreichische Post, with particular concern over the slip in turnover from letter delivery. Management sees the stable company turnover of Sch15.18bn (1.1bn euros) and the 10 per cent slip in Ebit to Sch98.9m as being within budgeted figures. Meanwhile, the acquisition by Osterreichische Post of a 74.9 per cent stake advertising material distributor Feibra for a purchase price of Sch380m is now official."

November 8, 2001 -- On October 16, 2001, the U.S. Postal Service published a Federal Register notice announcing proposed changes in rates for International Priority Airmail (IPA), International Surface Air Lift (ISAL), and Publishers Periodicals. Written comments on proposed changes must be received on or before November 15, 2001, and should be addressed to John Reynolds, Manager, International Pricing, International Business, U.S. Postal Service, 1735 N. Lynn Street, Arlington, VA 22209-6020.

November 8, 2001 -- According to Reuters, "the U.S. Postal Service will not be able to improve mail safety and protect the public without a multibillion-dollar bailout package from Congress, postal officials said."

November 8, 2001 -- Danzas has signed a pilot agreement with Canadian CCEWeb Corp., a global service provider to financial institutions and facilitator of @GlobalTrade, Internet based trade processing and document management. The parties have agreed to work together to enhance cross border trade by linking together the informational and physical logistical requirements.

November 8, 2001 -- According to European sources, "Switzerland's Post Office said it will offer an internet-based payment service starting in February 2002. The 'Yellowbill' service will allow customers with Post Office accounts to make and receive payments through a secure internet connection. According to the Post Office, companies generating large volumes of invoices have expressed interest in using the service."

November 7, 2001 -- Postmaster General John E. Potter, and other postal executives met with American CEOs who represent the $900 billion dollar mailing industry in a united front against terrorism in the mail. A very critical sector of the economy, the mailing industry accounts for nearly 8 percent of the domestic Gross National Product, employs 9 million workers and depends on the mail both as a conduit of commerce and as a vital communications link. Joined by a single purpose - to assure consumer confidence in the safety and integrity of the nation's postal system - attendees pledged their ongoing support of the U.S. Postal Service and their concerted effort to keep mail safe and viable.

November 7, 2001 -- At its most recent meeting, the Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service depicted an agency battered by uncertain economic times, under attack by terrorists and experiencing the grief of losing some of its own employees.

November 7, 2001 -- According to the Associated Press, "The union representing workers at the Bellmawr post office has decided to seek an injunction ordering the facility closed until tests can prove that anthrax has been eliminated from the building. The South Jersey Area American Postal Workers decided on court action after a government-hired contractor cleaned the wrong machine Tuesday, union president Tom Woodford said. Cleanup crews worked on a different unit instead of the computer screen of a barcode sorting device that had been found to be contaminated with anthrax spores."

November 7, 2001 -- According to the Washington Post, "steep revenue losses and a decline in mail volume are likely to lead the U.S. Postal Service to ask for at least $5 billion from Congress this week. Postal Service officials reported yesterday that revenue in the last two months was as much as $900 million below forecast and that mail volume sank in September by 6.6 percent and further in October, a gloomy financial picture linked to the economic downturn and the terrorist attacks. On Thursday, Postmaster General John E. Potter will testify before a Senate appropriations panel as to the costs, including lost revenue, that the Postal Service says it has incurred since Sept. 11. He has previously estimated that the agency will need several billion dollars in assistance. Technology costs alone could reach $3 billion, and some experts say the lost revenue could be double that." See also the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

November 7, 2001 -- Reuters has reported that "U.S. postal officials said Tuesday the impact of anthrax and the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. mail system will be long-lasting and cost the agency billions of dollars....Richard Strasser, chief financial officer for the post office, said he expects revenue for the Oct. 6 to Nov. 2 period will be $400 million to $500 million below expectations....The bad news could not have come at a worse time for the post office which has said it would lose an estimated $1.35 billion in this fiscal year even before the anthrax scare occurred. Last year, it lost an estimated $1.65 billion, its second consecutive year in the red. The recent news adds confusion to an already cloudy economic front within the post office which has been battling declining levels in mail volume, rising costs and a slowing economy....'We recognize extraordinary expenditures will be required' to cover lost business and new technology following the anthrax attacks, said Robert Rider, chairman of the Postal Service's Board of Governors.' We strongly believe these costs should not be borne by our customers through increased rates,' he said."

November 7, 2001 -- According to the Associated Press, "given the anthrax scare that has swept the world, a British food company's decision to send 6,000 samples of flour through the mail was called 'inappropriate' Tuesday by a postal workers union. The Communications Workers Union, which represents 300,000 postal and telecommunications workers, said the small boxes of Glutafin Flour Mix could cause false security alerts as Britons guard against anthrax letter attacks that have struck the United States."

November 7, 2001 -- Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) President Tom Schatz last week joined other taxpayer groups -- Paul Beckner of Citizens for a Sound Economy, Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union, Amy Ridenour of the National Center for Public Policy Research, Rick Merritt of PostalWatch, and Hank Hough of the 60 Plus Association -- to send President George W. Bush the following letter regarding potential postal reform: "Unfortunately, there has been discussion in Congress, at the Postal Service, and in the media that the current crisis has provided the much-needed impetus to enact legislative initiatives which purport to "reform" the Postal Service. It is the opinion of the undersigned groups that now is precisely the wrong time to simply throw more money at the longstanding problems facing the USPS or to allow the current crisis to be used to precipitate ill-advised legislative changes, which would further enhance the Postal Service's monopolistic powers without materially improving its systemic problems."

November 7, 2001 -- The Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) said that it strongly supports the request for emergency financial assistance that the United States Postal Service will be making Thursday to Congress as part of the nation's homeland security effort.

Novmber 7, 2001 -- According to CNN.com, "the U.S. Postal Service said Tuesday the anthrax mail attacks would cost the service well into the "billions of dollars" -- money it will seek to recoup from Congress. Spokesman Azeezaly S. Jaffer called the expense a 'one-time cost' stemming from the service's need to purchase sanitizing equipment and other clean-up measures to protect Americans from anthrax. He said the revenue estimate for September 5 through October 8 is about $300 million less than the pre-September 11 projection and that mail volume has declined by 6.6 percent since the terrorist attacks. Postmaster General John Potter will seek a congressional rescue when he testifies Thursday before a Senate panel, Jaffer said, because "it is not the intent of the Postal Service to pass this one-time rate" on to consumers with a rate hike."

November 7, 2001 -- Dow Jones has reported that "the Czech government is considering offering investors a piece of the national postal service in what could become the country's first privatization through an initial public offering."

November 7, 2001 -- According to the Wall Street Journal, "investigators are giving a bleak assessment of their anthrax investigation, even as public health officials grow more optimistic that the outbreak, which began more than a month ago, has run its course." The Journal also has reported that "Congress took a few moments away from fighting anthrax, terrorists and recession last week to focus on another urgent matter: cheap seats for chicks. Trying to resolve a first-class mess in the world of menagerie mail, Congress voted to give the U.S. Postal Service the power to force airlines to carry 'day-old poultry' and other 'live animals' at bargain fares."

November 7, 2001 -- Mail-Well Inc. has announced that it was beginning production of safety-oriented envelopes in response to fears of anthrax spreading through the U.S. postal system. Grayling Industries has announced a new postal isolation and inspection glovebag (Isobag) designed specifically to enable safe handling of letters and small parcels for mailroom operations. Belgian particle beam accelerator maker Ion Beam Applications has signed a contract with the U.S. Postal Service to sterilise mail amid an outbreak of anthrax in the country.

November 7, 2001 -- The Financial Times has reported that "the [British] Post Office has announced a deal with the Link network to manage universal banking services. These will be aimed at adults who until now have been excluded from the mainstream banking system."

November 7, 2001 -- According to the BBC, "the Croatian Post Trade Union will go on strike as of midnight Wednesday [7 November] because the Croatian Post (HP) does not want to sign the adjusted content of a collective agreement." And pity the Royal Mail. Its  managers were forced to deliver letters in part of east London after postmen and women staged a wildcat strike following a fresh dispute.

November 6, 2001 -- As the Pittsburgh Post Gazette has noted, "Even before anthrax attacks that left two postal workers dead, there were warnings that the U.S. Postal Service was in trouble. The agency, required by law to operate without taxpayer subsidies, had racked up an operating deficit of $1.7 billion through September as a slowing economy cut into mail volume and revenue. There were predictions it could end the year more than $2 billion in the red....But as bad as all of that sounds, it's nothing compared with what observers fear could happen in the wake of the anthrax-by-mail attacks. If Americans pull back on their use of mail at a time the agency is confronting sharply higher bills for security and worker protections, the dire GAO predictions could occur much sooner than anyone could have expected, threatening the Postal Service's primary mission to provide universal mail service throughout the country."

November 6, 2001 -- USA Today has reported that "the U.S. Postal Service might begin marking letters and packages to try to reassure Americans that their mail has been inspected for anthrax and cleared for delivery."

November 6, 2001 -- FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp., has announced an enhancement to FedEx International Priority DirectDistribution(SM) (IPD) service that enables shippers to consolidate multiple-recipient shipments under one international air waybill, clear customs through a single gateway as one consolidated shipment, and deliver to multiple recipients in up to 12 different EU countries from the U.S. and many points in Asia.

November 6, 2001 -- According to Dow Jones, "only 5% of online shoppers say they're likely to do more of their holiday shopping online because of recent terrorist incidents, new survey data suggest. The data from Goldman Sachs & Co., Harris Interactive and Nielsen/NetRatings appear to contradict recent surveys and news reports suggesting consumers' anxieties about possible terrorist attacks are prompting them to avoid malls and retail stores in favor of the Internet."

November 6, 2001 -- The Financial Times has reported that "TPG, the Dutch post group, has maintained its full-year forecast of at least a 20 per cent rise in net income from continued operations but warned that it would have to broaden its logistics operations in order to maintain organic growth at current levels. The company said while the mail division was expected to perform strongly in the fourth quarter, difficult trading conditions would continue at express and logistics."

November 6, 2001 -- According to the Japanese newspaper, the Daily Yomiuri, "the Japanese government's long-standing fast-track system, under which a handful of bureaucrats with elite academic backgrounds are automatically promoted to the highest echelons, is not likely to be a feature of the public postal services corporation to be launched in April 2003. Under the proposed new personnel system, any employee in principle will be promoted to a senior managerial post if he or she demonstrates commitment and shows outstanding job performance regardless of academic background."

November 6, 2001 -- The Wall Street Journal has reported that "there's a new anthrax warning, but this one comes from securities regulators. Since terrorists unleashed the potentially lethal bacteria, which has caused four deaths and 18 known cases of infection, a number of companies have stepped forward with purported ways to prevent mail contamination. While some of these approaches may be legitimate, securities-industry regulators warn that investors should view such claims skeptically. Many companies claiming their products can address the anthrax threat have thinly traded stocks that aren't followed by Wall Street or medical experts who could verify their claims. And some are attracting attention via promoters on the Internet, who get paid to recommend shares and often stand to profit when they rise."

November 6, 2001 -- Secrets Development Company, launching an entirely separate network for converting conventional mail to fully electronic delivery with its invention of the SeDeC Mail Receiver, announced today it will undertake an aggressive licensing program to acquire high-tech expertise in five technologies: Plasma-type color monitor, core and RAM memory, color ink jet printer, wireless telecommunications and voice command systems.

November 6, 2001 -- Metamail Inc. has announced plans to begin deploying the company's next generation e-mail technology designed to provide consumers with a safer, more convenient way of receiving and paying bills online.

November 6, 2001 -- -- Pitney Bowes Inc. has announced its co-sponsorship of the Emergency Mail Ops Seminar to be held November 16, 2001 at the AMA Conference Center in Washington, DC. The seminar is sponsored in conjunction with Postal World, the leading independent source of news and guidance for mail operations professionals. The seminar will deliver timely practices and procedures to help mail center managers make smart decisions in the challenging days and weeks ahead.

November 6, 2001 -- Postal reform was one of the main topics of a recent National Public Radio report on anthrax, postal labor and the Postal Service.

November 6, 2001 -- The Associated Press has reported that "postal inspectors are gearing up to sort through decontaminated mail for clues to the anthrax-by-mail threat, while mail addressed to the government continues to be set aside for decontamination. Sorting of the sanitized material is expected to begin this week, and material that isn't found to be suspicious will be sent on to its original addressee."

November 5, 2001 -- Handlesblatt has reported that "Deutsche Post AG is set to face tougher competition on its home market. TNT Post Groep (TPG) of the Netherlands and Hermes General Service (HGS), a subsidiary of German mail-order giant Otto-Versand, have set up a joint venture that is to compete against Deutsche Post on the mass-mail delivery market. TPG and HGS intend to ensure that their new joint venture, EP Europost AG, will not just be a niche player, operating in the shadow of Deutsche Post. Germany is Europe's largest market for mass mail deliveries such as catalogues and mailshots. The segment accounts for around one quarter of the letter-delivery market"

November 5, 2001 -- According to Dow Jones, "the U.S. Postal Service is interested in the electron-beam sterilization system developed by Iwasaki Electric Co. (J.IWA or 6924), which is believed to be effective in combating anthrax. Iwasaki's wholly owned U.S. subsidiary, Energy Sciences Inc., has been offering technical explanations on the system to the postal service, but it has yet to win any orders."

November 5, 2001 -- As the Associated Press has asserted, "Yes Virginia, Santa Claus still wants your letter. As many as 60,000 letters to Santa arrive each year in the small Alaska town of North Pole, where volunteers answer them on behalf of the jolly old elf. Postal staffers in Alaska had worried about how they would handle so much mail this year while dealing with the anthrax threat. They feared they might have to leave the letters unopened. But Postal Service officials decided Thursday to let the tradition continue."

November 5, 2001 -- According to the Orange County Register, "despite fears of anthrax contamination and threats of other terror attacks, America's major mail and package deliverers don't expect much impact on their traditionally heavy year-end holiday business. U.S. Postal Service mail volume had already declined prior to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because of the slowing economy and has continued to decline since. Domestic business declined 11 percent at Federal Express and 2.1 percent at United Parcel Service in their latest quarters, which included Sept. 11, but neither will break out numbers for before and after the attacks. Under the federal Airline Stabilization Act, both companies will receive reimbursement for business lost because of the air-traffic shutdown ordered after the attacks. The Postal Service delivers an average of 680 million pieces of mail each day, FedEx about 2 million packages, and UPS 2.3 million pieces."

November 5, 2001 -- Reuters has reported that "Dutch postal, express and logistics company TNT Post Group (TPG) has reiterated its 2001 full year outlook for net income from ordinary operations to rise at least 20 percent."

November 4, 2001 -- The Washington Post has reported that "Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), during a Friday afternoon visit to the Waldorf postal distribution center, proposed as much as $1.5 billion in additional federal funding for the U.S. Postal Service to deal with the anthrax threat. After touring the center and talking with employees, Hoyer said the Postal Service deserves federal aid to deal with the anthrax threat and resulting additional security measures. He characterized the funding as similar to -- but much lower than -- the $15 billion airline industry bailout funding recently approved by Congress. The additional money could be used for technology upgrades and advanced methods and equipment to detect or destroy poisonous materials contained in the mail, Hoyer said, adding that the funding could be inserted into legislation as soon as early next year."

November 4, 2001 -- The Associated Press has reported that "dozens of postal inspectors will go to Utah in February to screen letters and packages addressed to Olympic athletes, officials and the media."

November 4, 2001 -- The Bergen County Record (NJ) has reported that "it's a strange new world for Robertson and thousands of letter carriers who work for the U.S. Postal Service. Many have delivered mail on the same routes for 10 years or more and their customers are like family. But with the anthrax scare hovering over them like a cloud, they're confronting a public that's growing increasingly worried the deadly bacteria will arrive at their mailboxes."

November 4, 2001 -- According to the Daily Yomiuri (Japan), "a Sendai-based organization of special post office heads from six prefectures in the Tohoku region has been accused of receiving 110 million yen in kickbacks from its suppliers. Special post offices handle mail, but--except in rare cases--do not deliver it, and their staffers are not government employees. Postal officials said Thursday the Sendai-based group held back 8 percent of payments given to them by special post offices to pass on to suppliers of postal merchandise. The organization introduced the suppliers to the post offices and used part of the kickbacks, which were pooled off the books, to make donations to election campaigns."

November 3, 2001 -- GovExec.Com has reported that "Congress passed the fiscal 2002 Treasury-Postal appropriations bill Thursday, leaving only a presidential signature between civil service employees and a 4.6 percent average pay raise in 2002. The $17.1 billion spending bill passed easily in the House on Wednesday with a 339 to 85 vote. Senators approved it 83 to 15 on Thursday and sent it to President Bush for his signature. The bill includes a 3.4 percent raise for members of Congress, which would raise the cap on Senior Executive Service salaries. SES salaries are tied to congressional salaries. Currently, pay caps keep executives at the top three of the six SES pay levels at the same salary level. In eight cities, federal executives at the top four levels are all paid the same."

November 3, 2001 -- The Associated Press has reported that "anthrax has been found in the office mailbox of a New Jersey woman with skin anthrax, the state's only victim outside the postal service."

November 3, 2001 -- The treatment of 32 FedEx employees for suspected anthrax exposure prompted the FEDEX PILOTS ASSOCIATION to voice serious concerns about the handling of mail for the U.S. Postal Service.

November 2, 2001 -- According Le Figaro, "the extent to which the French post office (La Poste) should be allowed to develop its financial services will be high on the agenda when the organisation negotiates its 2002-2005 contract with the French state....La Poste's ambitions do not rest there, however. In the face of opposition from France's banks and insurance companies, the post office is seeking authorisation to extend the range of its financial services. At present, its contract with the state prohibits La Poste from selling damage insurance policies or issuing loans to people who do not hold a La Poste housing-loan savings account."

November 2, 2001 -- Check out the latest issue of CEP News for news affecting the courier, express, and postal market around the world.

November 2, 2001 -- The 4th Annual e-post Summit will be held on 20th and 21st March 2002 at the Café Royal in London. The focus will be "on real-world, practical case studies on how to incorporate strategic e-business to reduce your costs and increase value added services." For more information, check the E-Post Summit web site.

November 2, 2001 -- The Wall Street Journal has reported that "direct-mail veterans say e-mail marketing represents a relative bargain. On average, it costs about 18 cents to send a letter bulk rate. By comparison, an outbound e-mail costs as little as half a cent to deliver. 'I have seen dozens of clients increase their interest and activity in e-mail marketing,' says Larry Kimmel, chairman and chief executive of Grey Global Group's Grey Direct."

November 2, 2001 -- Dow Jones has reported that " Deutsche Post AG said it had closed a mail center and a delivery office in the eastern state of Thuringia as a result of an apparent anthrax case there. In a statement from Bonn, the partially privatized mail company also said it had established crisis committees across the country to ensure the health of postal workers and the smooth functioning of postal operations. The mail center that was closed is in Gera, while the delivery office that was shut is in Rudolstadt."

November 2, 2001 -- United Parcel Service (UPS) has announced that its 2002 rate increase will be in line with changes it has implemented during each of the past several years. The rate change will take effect Jan. 7, 2002, which is one month earlier than in previous years. Customers also have been given a full 60-day notice of the change in response to research indicating they prefer a schedule more in line with their year-end budget planning. On average, rates for UPS commercial ground services will increase 3.5 percent and the residential premium will increase from $1.05 to $1.10.

November 2, 2001 -- The Denver Rocky Mountain News has reported that "the U.S. Postal Service halted sales this week of all pre-stamped envelopes in a move tied to the investigation into the mail-borne anthrax attacks. The envelopes feature a light blue eagle or other symbol printed in the upper right hand corner as evidence of postage paid. They were the same type used in three of the East Coast anthrax letters, including those sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw and the New York Post. A nationwide directive issued Monday from Postal Service headquarters in Washington, D.C., instructed all post offices to remove the envelopes from sales counters and vending machines."

November 2, 2001 -- The Associated Press has reported that "the U.S. Postal Service has announced it will provide free mail service to members of the armed forces taking part in the action against the Taliban in Afghanistan. The post office said the action was taken at the request of the Defense Department and covers all participants in Operation Enduring Freedom."

November 2, 2001 -- According to Reuters, a U.S. postal worker was arrested and charged with sending an anthrax hoax letter and tampering with mail because she was aggrieved at her post office's response to this month's germ attacks.

November 2, 2001 -- Dow Jones has reported that "New Jersey has asked for immediate federal help to test every post office for anthrax and track the germ's path in three tainted letters sent out of a Trenton post office. Acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco asked the new Office of Homeland Security to send forensic experts, lab personnel, medical investigators and other staff."

November 2, 2001 -- European news sources have reported that "Post Danmark, the Danish post office, is holding talks with Deutsche Post, its German counterpart, regarding a collaboration agreement. Post Danmark will solve its problems from three weeks ago, when Posten of Sweden dashed Post Danmark's hope of a Nordic parcel alliance by pulling out of Pan Nordic Logistics, the Scandinavian logistics company owned by the three Scandinavian post offices. Posten entered an alliance with La Poste of France instead. According to Mr Buksti, The Danish and Norwegian post offices will enter alliances through Pan Nordic Logistics. An alliance with Deutsche Post would be at least as strong as Posten's alliance with La Poste."

November 2, 2001 -- European sources also report that "Spanish postal services company Correos y Telegrafos is to strengthen its business strategy in 2002. The initiative will include refurbishing the branch network, which will become a tool for the sale of postal, banking and consumer products. One of the new strategies will be to reach agreements with big services companies such as electricity and telephony companies, which are cutting down on their networks of high street shops. The aim is to sell neutral consumer goods, which do not identify the company with any brand that could be wrongly interpreted as favourable treatment of the public operator."

November 2, 2001 -- CNN.com has reported that "the United States Postal Service (USPS) has put a new system into place to help crack down on alleged terrorists' illicit money flow. The Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance System, developed by the USPS and New York-based Information Builders, is poised to become the de facto standard in suspicious-activity reporting throughout the government and the financial services industry. Although the system isn't being used yet, USPS officials say it's ready to be put into action once Congress and other regulatory agencies finalize new regulations on reporting procedures."

November 2, 2001 -- As the Canadian newspaper, The National Post, has noted, "'There are no guarantees that the mail is safe.' Those words, uttered late last month by John E. Potter, the U.S. postmaster general, provide the best argument yet that consumers are better off receiving their household bills online than in the mailbox. Laurel Cesila, director of marketing with New Jersey-based Paytrust Inc., one of a host of U.S. firms providing electronic bill payment services, said interest in its services has spiked since the first deadly anthrax spores were detected in the postal system." The Post reported also that "Yahoo! Canada has made an arrangement with epost, the electronic postal service that delivers the mail online for Canada Post. Bills distributed online at epost.ca will also be available from the Yahoo! Canada Web site finance.yahoo.ca."

November 2, 2001 -- The Memphis Commercial Appeal has reported that "FedEx is responding to inquiries about potential anthrax exposure from its employees, a company spokesman said. This comes as worries increase about anthrax spores sticking to other pieces of mail at postal facilities. FedEx runs the bulk of its $7.2 billion U.S. Postal Service contract from the superhub at Memphis International Airport. Since Aug. 27, FedEx has transported more than 3 million pounds of Postal Service express, priority and first class mail a day."

November 2, 2001 -- DHL Airways, Inc., the U.S. all-cargo airline that provides domestic and international air transportation for the DHL Worldwide Express network, has announced a reorganization and realignment of management responsibilities, resulting in the completion of their senior management team.

November 2, 2001 -- AAA, the nation's largest leisure and motoring organization, has named Airborne Express (http://www.airborne.com) its Preferred Supplier of the Year -- the second time Airborne has won the prestigious award.

November 2, 2001 -- File this under: "Gimme a break!" The Washington Times has reported that "the U.S. Postal Service has bought millions of protective masks to guard its 700,000 workers who handle mail against inhaling anthrax spores, but postal workers are not allowed to use the masks until they are trained under Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rules....According to OSHA officials and regulations, the workers must undergo hours of training and pass a "fit test" before they can be allowed to use the protective masks, which are like those worn by construction workers who install drywall and can be purchased at hardware stores."

November 2, 2001 -- A reporter for the Mercury News has said that "there are a lot of things that scare me -- death, taxes, politicians, homemade preserves of uncertain provenance, cleaning the second-story rain gutters. But I am not afraid of the mail. I figure my chances of contracting anthrax from a letter on any given day are roughly equal to my chances of being nibbled to death in my own kitchen by a pack of rabid marmots....Although it's been a good five or six years since the Net achieved critical mass, electronic bill presentation and payment systems are still not ready for prime time."

November 2, 2001 -- Moving.com, an Internet relocation services network, has shifted all change of address services free of charge. Moving.com's content, including ChangeAddress, is featured on over one hundred partners across the Internet. ChangeAddress, an online address notification application, simplifies a tedious part of the moving process for America's 44 million annual movers.

November 2, 2001 -- Business Day has reported that "the South Africa (SA) Post Office will apply strict financial controls and crack down on widespread corruption, after being given a generous subsidy by government this week."

November 2, 2001 -- CHAX, the leader in checks-by-fax technology, announced the expansion of the use of checks-by-fax "to avoid concerns over contaminated mail."

November 2, 2001 -- According to Dow Jones, "dominant postal operator state-owned New Zealand Post Ltd. has been criticized for giving inadequate training to recruits for its new commercial bank, which is scheduled to open early next year."

November 2, 2001 -- The British newspaper, The Independent, has reported that British postal watchdog, Postwatch, has accused the Royal Mail yesterday of implementing a "covert" plan to abandon early-morning collections at 24,000 letter boxes across the country. Postwatch, a mail monitoring group, said only a third of postboxes would have a collection between 7am and 9am.

November 1, 2001 -- The Commander-in-Chief, James N. Goldsmith, of the 2.7 million members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States and its Ladies Auxiliary has denounced the failure of the U.S. Postal Service to protect U.S. postal workers, many whom are veterans, from the recent anthrax attacks.

November 1, 2001 -- PostCom has filed its comments with the Postal Service on its initial discussion of a transformation plan for the USPS.

November 1, 2001 -- The Wall Street Journal has reported that "in the middle of an anthrax scare, the U.S. Postal Service is trying to hire as many as 40,000 temporary workers for the holiday season. It's proving to be a surprisingly easy sell. With unemployment rising, the temporary postal jobs, which in some regions can pay more than $11 an hour, are in high demand."

November 1, 2001 -- As the Wall Street Journal has noted, "after years of using cornstarch-based products to help ink dry faster and reduce static cling, the publishing industry suddenly has a strange problem on its hands. Along with sugar, sand and Sheetrock dust, cornstarch, the simple flour used for centuries to thicken sauces and gravy, is the latest formerly inoffensive product to be regarded with dread given its similar appearance to the white powder containing anthrax that has been sent through the mail in recent weeks."

November 1, 2001 -- The Associated Press has reported that:

November 1, 2001 -- 7-Eleven Inc. said it has reached a five-year deal with telecommunications company Verizon Communications  allowing the convenience store chain's customers to pay telephone bills and order long distance and other services at Internet kiosks in its stores. The kiosks' current capabilities include ATM transactions, Western Union money orders and money transfers, and check cashing. The kiosks are in test in 94 stores in Texas and Florida. Based on the results, 7-Eleven said its expects a national roll-out in 2002. Too bad the Postal Service sees little value in providing access to retail services in non-USPS outlets.

November 1, 2001 -- Dow Jones has reported that "Dutch postal and logistics company TPG (TP) is preparing for a decline in mail volumes and is planning costs saving of EUR320 million at its mail unit PTT Post."

November 1, 2001 -- According to Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, the Lebanese Postal Company will record its first positive profit next year. Lebanon is the only country in the Middle East whose postal service is run by the private sector.

November 1, 2001 -- According to Kyodo News International, "calls for gradually privatizing the mail service were dominant at a government-commissioned study panel meeting convened Wednesday to discuss steps to create a new public entity in fiscal 2003 to take over the state-run service. Many panel members supported opening the mail service to private companies in a step-by-step manner, as rapid privatization would undermine the current ''universal service,' in which collection and delivery of mail is uniformly available anywhere in Japan, to the detriment of the planned public entity's financial base. At present, the Postal Services Agency monopolizes the mail service. Planning to open the service to private businesses from fiscal 2003, the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications has asked the study panel to recommend steps to establish the new public entity that will take over three postal services -- mail, savings and insurance -- from the government."

November 1, 2001 -- Financial Times Deutschland has reported that "Airborne could soon find itself the object of a takeover by Deutsche Post of Germany. It is rumoured that Deutsche Post chairman Klaus Zumwinkel is holding talks with Airborne.