[PostCom logo]


Association for Postal Commerce
1901 N. Fort Myer Dr., Ste 401 * Arlington, VA 22209-1609 * USA * Ph.: +1 703 524 0096 * Fax: +1 703 524 1871

Postal News from December 2007:

December 31, 2007

The Postal Regulatory Commission is soliciting public comment on the degree to which the Postal Service’s operations and financial results comply with the policies of title 39. Comments by interested persons are due on or before January 30, 2008. Reply comments are due on February 13, 2008.

The following reports have been posted on the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General website (http://www.uspsoig.gov/) today. If you have additional questions concerning the report, please contact Agapi Doulaveris at 703.248.2286.

From Royal Mail: "On Monday 7th April 2008 our new prices will come into effect. If you would like to look up the new prices, just view the document below to get straight to the updated price table for that particular service. Read more about the new prices." Here are some other goodies brought to our attention by one of our correspondents.

If U.K. addressing is important to your company, check out the Postcode Address File (PAF®) pages posted on the Royal Mail web site..

MediaWeek has reported that "With core categories like auto and tech still wobbly, a threatening ad recession and prognosticators downshifting their outlooks for spending, 2008 is, indeed, turning out to be another challenging year; and compounding the projected ad softness come soaring prices in postal, paper and elsewhere. Print’s pains extend to the newspaper industry. A survey of more than 500 newspaper executives by Len Kubas Consultants found that most projected declines in ad revenue for 2008. Execs at large newspapers were most pessimistic."

According to Czech Business Weekly, "Czech postal service operator Česká pošta (ČP) plans to operate its own pharmacies in the future to better use the network of post offices. ČP CEO Karel Kratina said the company was interested in over-the-counter drugs. He added that CP is also considering the distribution of books as a way to better use its fleet of vehicles."

The Lancashire Evening Post has reported that "Preston council bosses are set to approve a plan to slash the authority's postal bill by more than £17,500 – by dumping Royal Mail for its second class mail. The cabinet is expected to agree that all such mail will be delivered by rival operator TNT, with first class mail and special deliveries still handled by Royal Mail. It could ultimately lead to all deliveries being switched from the Royal Mail."

Logisitics Management has said that "When it comes to understanding the many facets of supply chain operations, few have DHL Express CEO Hans Hickler beat."

Forbes has reported that "Swiss economic minister Doris Leuthard said she wants to see the Swiss postal service liberalised."

The New York Times has noted that "in the course of their daily rounds, New York’s letter carriers face any number of unpleasant surprises. In May, the Postal Service rolled out National Dog Bite Prevention Week in response to the biting of 3,184 carriers in 2006. More recently, however, the agency added an unlikely item to the catalog of potential threats to postal workers: people who want to get their mail."

December 30, 2007

Smallbusiness.co.uk has noted that "SMEs [small-to-medium enterprises] should use the internet and postal marketing in a 'complimentary way' to ensure maximum effectiveness, says a marketing expert. James A Matthewson, a tutor for the Institute of Direct Marketing and founder of My Digital JAM Limited, states that email and direct mail have been proven to be very effective when used together, as have search engine adverts and local radio campaigns. He says: 'Integration of marketing is key – testing channels to identify what they do best is a smart way to approach it.' 'For SMEs, it's all about profit, so ensuring their activity delivers a positive return on investment is key, ' adds Mr Matthewson."

The San Francisco Chronicle has reported that "A federal appeals court ordered a San Francisco judge on Friday to reconsider his ruling requiring United Parcel Service to give its deaf employees a chance to compete for jobs as drivers of small delivery trucks."

December 29, 2007

According to the Associated Press, "More than 80 percent of Americans now own cell phones — a statistic Jupiter Research analyst Neil Strother equated with "carrying a potential advertising channel in their pocket." [You lucky ducks!]

December 28, 2007

On the Postal Regulatory Commission web site:

Richard Miller, executive director of the International Mailers Advisory Group (IMAG) has urged his members to get involved in the ongoing dialogue with the Postal Service over the structure and pricing of its international mail and package services. Others who are not members of IMAG also are encouraged to contact Miller.

Engadget has reported that "Sounds like the video download game in't as easy as the biggies make it out to be. Wal-Mart, whose download store has been open all of a year and a couple of weeks is already shutting down, apparently abandoning the effort after its tech partner HP discontinued whatever technology it was running the thing." See also the Washington Post.

According to the Motley Fool, "In another few days, the holiday frenzy will be over for international deliverers FedEx and United Parcel Service, and U.S. economy watchers will figuratively place stethoscopes to the company's chests. After all, they're both economic bellwethers, but FedEx now will have a new -- and potentially expensive -- IRS note to lug with it on its runs."

From the Federal Register: "The Postal Regulatory Commission is establishing a docket to develop a record which will allow it to meet statutory requirements pertaining to a review of nonpostal services. It solicits comments from the Postal Service and others to assist in this task. Initial briefs due June 18, 2008; reply briefs due July 2, 2008. See Supplementary Information section for additional dates. Submit comments electronically via the Commission's Filing Online system at http://www.prc.gov."

According to the Associated Press, "U.S. House members spent $20.3 million in tax money last year to send constituents what's often the government equivalent of junk mail."

December 27, 2007

The Postal Regulatory Commission is scheduling two technical conferences on one aspect of the Postal Service's compliance report that will be filed shortly with the Commission. To provide interested persons with as much notice as possible, the Commission has issued a notice on its website -- announcing conferences on January 11 and January 23, 2008.
 
[PostCom logo

PostCom welcomes its newest member: Parascript, LLC 6899 Winchester Circle, Suite 200 Boulder, CO 80301-3696  represented by Kaz Jaszczak, Director of Product Planning and Operations

The Courier, Express and Postal Blogspot has noted that "Both the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal are reporting that Fox and Apple have reached an agreement to set up a movie rental service. In this service,users would download a movie from the iTunes store at a cost of $2.99 for one month's rental. This is cheaper than anything offered by Netflix or Blockbuster by mail and every video rental store. This service also offers the convenience of immediate delivery, even if the immediate delivery may take as much as two hours, and restrict the use of a home computer or home computer network during that period."

From PR Newswire: "Valassis, the nation's leading marketing services company, will launch a unique consumer brand named RedPlum. The rollout campaign, which will begin in January 2008, will rely primarily on Valassis' own advertising vehicles ranging from free- standing inserts and Polybags to its Direct Mail Package, which will retire the ShopWise(R) name in January. In collaboration with the brand launch, Valassis will introduce redplum.com, a dynamic, interactive destination for value, savings and special deals in an array of categories including grocery, beauty, travel, electronics, home and entertainment."

AFX has reported that "FedEx Corp. has said its FedEx Freight and FedEx National LTL subsidiaries will implement 5.48% general rate increases, effective Jan. 14. The general rate increases will apply to interstate and intrastate traffic, and certain shipments between the United States and Mexico and Canada, FedEX said. Rates for other operating companies within FedEx Corp., specifically FedEx Express and FedEx Ground, will not be affected."

South Asian Media Net has reported that "The government has decided to raise postal charges from January 1. From January 1, Bangladesh Postal Department will sell a post card at Tk 1.50 instead of Tk 1 and envelop at Tk 3 instead of Tk 2. Besides, an additional 20 per cent service charge will be added to the actual cost of all foreign mails."

December 26, 2007

According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, "The appeal of sending mail the traditional way has remained despite the unpleasant reputation of the country’s postal system and the advent of electronic mail and mobile phones that could send messages in the wink of an eye. Public trust in the postal system has also deteriorated due to “allegations of corruption, inefficiency, thievery, pilfering and nondelivery (of mails and parcels),” admits Postmaster General Hector Villanueva. From 5 billion letters sent annually through Philippine Postal Corp. (Philpost) a decade ago, the figure is now down to 290 million."

Magazine editor Dan O'Rourke has reported that PARCEL magazine has just posted Joe Loughran's annual UPS Rate Analysis. This detailed account of the new UPS rates will help you fine-tune your budget and adjust your transportation plan to take advantage of best pricing. We thank Joe for the tremendous in-depth analysis. Please visit www.PARCELindustry.com to see the entire analysis.

The a report by the Congressional Research Service on the "Franking Privilege: Historical Development and Options for Change" can be found at http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34274.pdf

JCNNetwork has reported that "Japan Post Holdings Co. said Wednesday its predecessor Japan Post incurred a net loss of 442 billion yen in April-September, compared with a net profit of 237.7 billion yen a year before. A special loss of 1,419.5 billion yen, stemming from a change in accounting methods to report pension costs, weighed down on the bottom line."

The Times of India has noted: "Thousands of packages are delivered via speedpost everyday. But is the process foolproof? Not entirely. Director Postal Services, Swati Pandey, however, claimed that speedpost was 98% safe. "At all stages, the employees work in groups and are supervised. The only time when a package is handled by an individual is when the delivery man carries it," she said. "Indian Postal Services is such a big industry that handling more than 10,000 packages a day does not guarantee cent per cent safety."

December 25, 2007

From the Detroit Free Press: "QUESTION: Which country answers the most letters to Santa? ANSWER: France. Last year, it responded to 1.4 million letters from 126 countries. This year's total was expected to be even higher. Advertisement About 60 temporary secretaries for Père Noël, as Santa is known there, fill envelopes with a variety of colorful form letters in French. "Santa Claus is French, there's no question," said Marie-Pierre Seize, head of customer relations for La Poste, France's postal service. Germany responds to the letters in 16 languages. "People write to Germany because the real Santa Claus lives here. ... We want people to understand Santa's answers," said Sylvia Blesing, who oversees Santa's Angels at the Himmelpfort post office, north of Berlin. In Canada last year, 11,000 postal volunteers answered more than a million messages, usually in the language in which they were written. Any letter with "Hohoho" in the address is automatically sent to Canada, where H0H 0H0 is among its postal codes."

December 24, 2007

The New York Times has asked: " Have you sent out your holiday cards this year? What about your e-cards? If your second answer was yes, you are in good company. Once seen as the tacky, last-minute substitute for pen and paper, e-cards have become more acceptable this holiday season, especially in the corporate world, where LinkedIn and Facebook have become popular places for sending holiday greetings. In other words: It’s no longer just a Merry Christmas. It’s another networking opportunity. Many companies are embracing electronic greetings, which are cheaper, greener and more versatile than traditional cards and often look more sophisticated to pixel-trained eyes. Now that people have grown more nimble with online video, point-and-click holiday greetings have become a new palette for creativity, while static paper cards may induce a wince rather than a joyful noise."

The Financial Times has reported that "The high hopes that greeted a transatlantic trade deal ostensibly ending a dispute over online gambling have been almost immediately dashed by a look at the small print. The European Union last week hailed an agreement with Washington to open up its warehousing, courier and testing service sector as compensation for closing the online gaming market to foreign companies last year. But within 24 hours of the deal being unveiled last week, the US issued a "clarification" that left European companies doubtful of the deal's benefits, and trade experts questioning whether it would stick. The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) said the US Postal Service had allowed foreign competitors to handle overseas mail for 20 years. All it was doing was making the decision legally binding so it could not be reversed. Sensitive sectors such as domestic delivery and storage at ports and airports would remain closed."

The BBC has reported that "Complaints about the late arrival of online deliveries have risen by a third in the run-up to Christmas, according to a government advice service. Consumer Direct says it has received 3,000 complaints in six weeks. Royal Mail says the "vast bulk" of Christmas post will arrive on time and online retailer Amazon says its delivery success rate is above 99%."

According to Sify, "Don't be surprised if you see British citizens queuing up in post offices in India to post Christmas cards to friends and family in Britain. Many Britons have found that the Indian postal system is cheaper and more reliable than Royal Mail."

The Kent News has reported that "People should not to blame the postman if packages are not delivered in time for Christmas Day, said an MP. Roger Gale, the Conservative MP for North Thanet, said that Royal Mail’s senior management were at fault for late arrivals after they imposed later start times and cost-cutting measure on postal workers. He said some blame lay directly with chairman Allan Leighton and chief executive Adam Crozier."

Business Week has reported that "The catalog remains one of the best ways to reach consumers during the holiday season. So when an activist Web site called Catalog Choice contacted the likes of L.L. Bean, Williams-Sonoma (WSM), and Harry & David and asked them to take thousands of people off their mailing lists, the retailers knew they had a public-relations problem. How did they respond? Some—mostly outdoorsy brands like L.L. Bean and Lands' End (SHLD)—made soothing noises. Others blew off the Web site (and subsequently, the people declining their catalogs), and have done nothing with the names. Still, despite being less than three months old, Catalog Choice has managed to spook an industry. Consider the Nov. 29 e-mail from the Direct Marketing Assn. Bearing the subject line "JUST SAY NO," it warned retailers that Catalog Choice's "priority is to eliminate catalogs as a marketing medium. It is not in your interest to further their efforts!"

December 23, 2007

Newsroom America has reported that "Most of Belgium was bought to a virtual standstill on Friday as a 24 hour general strike affected transport, schools and government services. Postal workers at sorting offices walked out on Thursday evening and airport authorities warned of possible disruption to flights."

The Times has reported that "Royal Mail faces an angry consumer backlash this weekend over more than 2m parcels and letters lost or delayed in the Christmas post. Customers across the country are in danger of being left without their presents as postal workers are overwhelmed by the £10 billion boom in online shopping. The backlog has allegedly been compounded by postal workers deliberately failing to deliver presents to save time on their rounds. Yesterday, at depots round the country, customers were being forced to brave the winter chill and wait in long queues to reclaim their Christmas parcels."

December 22, 2007

WCPO has noted that "College mailrooms are groaning under the weight of packages these days as more students are buying and selling items online. The buying habits of today's students are nothing like they were several years ago, said Sandi Taylor, purchasing and mail services manager at the University of Redlands, where the volume of packages has increased 30 percent since 2004. "Students today are so tech-savvy and they have more money," Taylor said. Surges in online book-buying, cell phone purchasing and eBay ordering are forcing some colleges to expand their mail centers and to invest in high-tech devices to track the packages."

The Peterborough Telegraph has reported that "a pensioner has branded Royal Mail "Scrooges" after all of his friends had to pay to receive his Christmas cards. Keith Bowdery was furious when he found out his pals were having to traipse off to collection points and pay £1.16 to pick up the cards he had sent them. The postal service refused to deliver the cards because they were 5mm too big. But the 71-year-old from Coniston Road, Gunthorpe, Peterborough, said he had even asked at his local post office in Werrington Green to check if the cards measured up."

The Associated Press has reported that "FedEx Corp. disclosed Friday that it has received an IRS challenge to its business model for contracting with independent drivers for the company's FedEx Ground division. FedEx said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that the IRS "has tentatively concluded" through a 2002 audit that contract drivers with FedEx Ground should have been classified as company employees. The IRS decision is the latest in a series of attacks on FedEx Ground's system for contracting with independent pickup and delivery drivers who own and maintain their own trucks while lacking access to work benefits provided for company employees."

The Akron Beacon Journal has reported that "A proposal to move about two dozen post office jobs from Canton to Akron might be scuttled. Canton Area Local Postal Workers' Union President Carmine Russo said he has learned that U.S. Rep. Ralph Regula, R-Navarre, was able to pass legislation in Congress that would keep the jobs in Stark County. A provision in the fiscal year 2008 appropriations bill directs the General Accountability Office (GAO) to review the Postal Service's Area Mail Processing consolidation plans for several locations nationwide, including Canton. That plan had called for relocating some of the work from Canton to Akron."

December 21, 2007

From the U.S. Postal Service DMM Advisory:

We have posted the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the implementation of Intelligent Mail® barcodes on Postal Explorer at http://pe.usps.com. We are sincerely interested in your feedback and for the first time have set up a special email address at imb@usps.gov to receive your questions and comments. Due to the end of year backlog, the Federal Register is not likely to publish this notice until the first week of January. We will accept comments for 45 days after the notice is published in the Federal Register.

The notice provides the technical specifications required for mailpiece, tray and container Intelligent Mail barcodes. Additionally the notice proposes that in January 2009, we will require mailers to meet one of two options using Intelligent Mail barcodes to access automation prices for letters and flats. The first option, referred to as “Full Service” Intelligent Mail, will require the use of unique Intelligent Mail barcodes applied to letter and flat mailpieces, trays, sacks, and containers, such as pallets, and the submission of electronic mailing documentation. The second option, or “Basic” Intelligent Mail, will only require mailers to apply Intelligent Mail barcodes on mailpieces and not on trays and containers. Accordingly, starting in January 2009, automation prices will no longer be available for the use of the POSTNET barcode.

Swissinfo.ch has reported that "Switzerland's postal authority - Swiss Post - has put a new service online to make life easier for its customers."

Mailers Council executive Robert McLean has reported that "The FTC was to submit a report ".identifying Federal and State laws that apply differently to the United States Postal Service with respect to the competitive category of mail . . . ." However, the report won't be published until after January 15. According to the staffer in charge of the project, "The Commission has had a lot on their plate this month, and felt that they would like more time to review the report. January 15 was chosen because that's when the new Congressional session begins."

Forbes has reported that "Deutsche Post World Net AG's chief financial officer John Allan said a minimum wage for postal workers recently approved by Germany's government will have 'no immediate effect' on the company's cost structure."

Parcel magazine has just posted Joe Loughran's annual UPS Rate Analysis. This detailed account of the new UPS rates will help you fine-tune your budget and adjust your transportation plan to take advantage of best pricing. We thank Joe for the tremendous in-depth analysis. Please visit www.PARCELindustry.com to see the entire analysis.

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

The International Herald Tribune has noted that "G.P. Sawant never charged the prostitutes for his letter-writing services. Not long after the women would descend on this swarming, chaotic city, they would find him at his stall near the post office, this letter writer for the unlettered. They often came hungry, battered and lonely, needing someone to convert their spoken words into handwritten letters to mail back to their home villages. The letters ferried false reassurances. Sometimes, suspicious parents would board a train to Mumbai and turn up at Sawant's stall, which a daughter had listed as her address. Sawant greeted them kindly but revealed nothing about the woman's work or whereabouts. Such is the letter writer's honor code: When you live by writing other people's letters, you die with their secrets. But now the professional letter writer is confronting the fate of middlemen everywhere: to be cut out. In India, the fastest-growing market for mobile phones in the world, calling the village or sending a text message has all but supplanted the practice of dictating your intimacies to someone else."

The Philadelphia Inquirer says you should "Pity the poor Costa Rican postman. Sure, he doesn't have to deal with sleet or snow. But consider what passes for an address here: From the Tibas cemetery, 200 meters south, 300 meters west, cross the train tracks, white two-story house. It might be difficult for GPS addicts to comprehend, but Costa Rica doesn't have a standardized system of addresses - at least not ones that can be typed into MapQuest. Mail is just one problem. Emergency crews, cab drivers, utility workers and delivery people spend an inordinate amount of time on cell phones and knocking on doors to find out where they are supposed to be."

PrintWeek has reported that "The DMA (U.K.) has warned the government not to place an "unrealistic burden" on businesses to fund a universal postal service when it publishes its review next year. Secretary of state for business John Hutton announced the review on 17 December, outlining the government's commitment to maintain the universal service while investigating the impact of opening the postal market to competition two years ago. DMA head of postal affairs Alex Walsh told printweek.com: "I think that it is appropriate to review exactly what the 'universal service' is in the light of increasing use of electronic media by consumers, and not place an unrealistic burden on business users to support it."

The Washington Post has reported that "For the first time in 35 years, the U.S. fertility rate has climbed high enough to sustain a stable population, solidifying the nation's unique status among industrialized countries. The overall fertility rate increased 2 percent between 2005 and 2006, nudging the average number of babies being born to each woman to 2.1, according to the latest federal statistics. That marks the first time since 1971 that the rate has reached a crucial benchmark of population growth: the ability of each generation to replace itself." [Ultimately, that will mean more delivery stops.]


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

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

The PostCom Bulletin is distributed via NetGram

The National Association of Postal Supervisors Legislative and Regulatory Update -- December 20, 2007 has been posted on this site.

Industry Week has reported that "Document process automation solutions provider Esker recently released results of a survey of over 150 North American billing and invoicing managers regarding customer invoicing practices and preferences. Results suggest that while many companies are reaping the efficiency benefits arising from electronic invoice formats and automation, 88% of respondents still saw room for improvement with manual processes surrounding invoices sent via physical mail."

According to Newsday, "Online retailers enabled procrastinating holiday shoppers this year by offering free standard shipping until late in the season. But behind these e-commerce operations lies another critical enabler: delivery companies armed with a beefed-up workforce, planes, trucks and hundreds of miles of conveyor belt."

From Business Wire: "New research has found that 9 in 10 British people send Christmas cards and of those, 62% still sends them by post. Furthermore, the research commissioned by new online postal greeting card service Greetz (http://www.greetz.co.uk) shows that over three quarters of people (77%) actually prefers to receive real cards sent in the post."

Newsday has reported that "workers at TTPost offices throughout the country staged a second day of protest action yesterday to highlight their dissatisfaction with the TTPostal Corporation over salary negotiations for the period 2005/2007. According to the Trinidad and Tobago Postal Workers’ Union (TTPWU) General Secretary Reginald Crichlow, the majority of workers heeded the union’s call and stayed off the job."

AllAfrica.com has reported that "the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz) this week began the hunt for a new Director General (DG) to replace incumbent Cuthbert Chidoori who quit his job in August after clashing with government over industry issues."

Dow Jones has reported that "Mexico's postal service said Thursday it aims to be self-funding with annual revenue of more than 10 billion pesos ($923.9 million) by 2012 under a five-year modernization plan. In a press release, the postal service, or Sepomex, said to reach that goal, it will increase the number of mail carriers to 30,000 and open about 500 new offices by the end of 2012. Sepomex currently has about 20,000 employees, 1,370 offices and annual revenue of about $250 million. As part of its modernization program, the postal service will implement a tracking system for packages and has reached an agreement with the postal employees union to improve productivity. Most firms in Mexico use private package delivery companies because of reliability problems with the postal service."

The Postal Regulatory Commission has published a "Notice And Order Concerning Review Of Nonpostal Services" (Docket No. MC2008-1). The Commission is initiating this docket to fulfill its responsibilities under section 404(e) of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act.

December 20, 2007

The Government Accountability Office has posted on its web site its latest report on "Postal Service and Mailing Industry Mail-Related Recycling: Accomplishments and Postal Opportunities—Interim Results."

The APWU has written to all members of the U.S. House of Representatives, asking them to co-sponsor and support the Mail Network Protection Act, which would require the Postal Service to bargain with unions before committing to significant subcontracting. The legislation (H.R. 4236) was introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) on Nov. 15.

icBerkshire has reported that "with the closure threat hanging over post offices across west Berkshire and Reading there was anger this week when it was revealed the Royal Mail chairman is having his term of office extended and could be in line for a hefty bonus. Allan Leighton could receive almost £180,000 in performance-related payments on top of his £20,000 salary, and will now stay on until at least March 2009, a year beyond his current contract."

Reuters has reported that "Package delivery company FedEx Corp on Thursday reported a lower quarterly profit, citing weak U.S. economic growth and high fuel costs, but the results beat analyst estimates. FedEx also issued an outlook for the current quarter that fell short of analyst estimates, sending the company's shares down." See also the Financial Times and Air Cargo World.

From the U.S. Postal Service: "The Move Update standard currently applies to mailings of First-Class Mail. Effective November 23, 2008, the minimum frequency for Move Update will change from 185 days to 95 days prior to the date of mailing and the Move Update standard will also be required for all Standard Mail. In order to comply with the Move Update standard, mailers must update an address used on a mailpiece in a mailing for any class of mail with an approved method."

Press Release: "The launch of a Digital Order Form from YUDU Media, the UK’s leading provider of digital catalogues, is set to end the complications of fax orders for catalogue companies and increase order intake efficiency. According to YUDU Media, 75 per cent of their B2B catalogue clients still use fax for the majority of orders which can be time consuming and confusing for both the customer and processing team."
 
[PostCom logo

PostCom welcomes its newest member: BearingPoint 1676 International Drive McLean, VA 22102-4832 represented by Marc Greathouse, Managing Director, Public Services

The U.S. Postal Service has posted on its site a 2007 update to its Strategic Transformation Plan.

From PR Newswire: "Authentidate Holding Corp., a worldwide provider of software and web-based services that enable enterprises and individuals to exchange information securely and conduct trusted business transactions, today announced that it has received a non-compliance notification from Nasdaq dated December 18, 2007 stating that for the last 30 consecutive business days, the closing bid price per share of the Company's common stock has been below the $1.00 minimum per share requirement for continued listing as set forth in Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 4450(a)(5). The letter has no effect on the listing of the Company's common stock at this time."

From Business Wire: "As the mailing industry marks the first anniversary of landmark postal reform legislation, Pitney Bowes Inc. offered an upbeat assessment of the work that has been done to implement the law’s provisions, and of the implications the new law has for anyone who sends or receives mail."

According to Radio Netherlands, "Once again a number of internal borders are being scrapped in the European Union. As per 21 December 2007 there will no longer be any border controls between the 'old EU' and nine recently acceded member states." [Oh sure, sure, sure. Just try and mail something. Then tell me whether the borders have gone away.]

Gibbons Stamp Monthly has reported that "Royal Mail will be increasing the prices of both first and second class stamps next April. The price of first class stamps will rise from 34p to 36p, while second class stamps will go up from 24p to 27p." See also MSN Money.

Report of The U.S. Department of the Treasury On Accounting Principles and Practices for The Operation of the United States Postal Service’s Competitive Products Fund can be found on the PRC website. In receiving the report, Postal Regulatory Commission chairman Dan Blair said that "the Commission appreciates the hard work of the Department of Treasury and its staff on these difficult issues. We look forward to studying Treasury's recommendations over the next few weeks."

According to the President of the National Association of Letter Carriers, "we have entered a new era, the era of the “Office of Inspector General,” which has taken over from the Postal Inspectors—and from the Postal Service itself—key elements of employee monitoring, investigations and law enforcement. How is the OIG doing? In the past year, in just three cities—Houston, Texas, and Battle Creek and Grand Rapids, Michigan—OIG agents brought charges that resulted in more than 100 removals. In virtually every case, the improperly suspended carriers were returned to work with full back pay, including lost overtime. The total cost to the rate-payers was well over $1 million, plus hundreds of thousands of dollars for replacement labor during the wrongful suspensions and the high cost of litigating the removals through the grievance-arbitration process."

The Herald-Journal has noted that "Rickke Russell wrote a letter to her friend on a small piece of tissue paper, folded it up tightly and taped it to the leg of a pigeon. The pigeon was then released from the window of the fifth-grader’s classroom and flew 6 miles to Hyde Park, where Rickke’s teacher removed the letter, put it in an envelope and mailed it. Rickke is part of Kirk Jorgensen’s fifth-grade class at Woodruff Elementary School, and her letter’s journey was part of what Jorgensen and his students believe to be the only operating pigeon postal service in the world. The class now calls the system “p-mail.” [Editor's Note: If Congress continues to peck away at the integrity of postal reform with appropriations bill riders and so forth....this may become the only hard-copy message delivery system that's left....Are there service performance standards for P-Mail?....Can a pigeon handle a 2 lb flat?....]

The Sofia Echo has reported that "The market for postal services in Bulgaria in 2007 was expected to reach 200 million leva, Plamen Vachkov, chairperson of the State agency for Information Technology and Communication (SAITC), said at a meeting with Edouard Dayan, director general of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) international bureau. Largest part of the market, 67 per cent, was taken by non-standard services, mostly courier services. SAITC said it expected the decline in use of standard postal services to end when alternative suppliers would enter the market. The traditional provider of standard postal services, Bulgarian Postal Services, has a marketshare of only 30 per cent, while in 2004, it held half the market, Dnevnik said. Dayan proposed to private operators, who took part in the meeting, to organise themselves in a Balkan pool and become collective member of the UPU. UPU would finance activities to improve the quality of services and Bulgarian members could apply for support, Dayan said. Dayan added that internationally, postal service were no longer just delivering letters, but had become intermediaries in e-commerce and money transfer."

Forbes has reported that "The upper house of Germany's parliament has approved the introduction of minimum wages to the postal industry, a move the lower house and the cabinet have already approved."

The Sioux City Journal has reported that "A provision in a just-passed Senate appropriations bill would prevent the U.S. Postal Service from consolidating mail processing services until it meets certain requirements. In a news release, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said the provision would require the USPS to further review its decision to close Sioux City's mail processing center and consolidate it with Sioux Falls. The provision is nonbinding, but such recommendations are normally followed by federal agencies, Harkin said in the release." See also a similar story in the New York Daily News.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has notified UPS that a new contract covering approximately 240,000 UPS employees has been certified approved and ratified.

Air Cargo World has reported that "Massachusetts fined FedEx Ground $190,000 for "intentionally misclassifying" 13 pickup and delivery drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, raising the stakes in a nationwide battle over the carrier's independent contractor business model."

December 19, 2007

Editor's Update: Earlier, we reported on a piece that appeared in the Financial Times that the U.S. had struck a "bilateral deal that would provide European businesses, such as TNT of the Netherlands and Deutsche Post of Germany, with unspecified new opportunities in the US postal and courier market." Inquiring minds want to know: What got bargained away? As it turns out...nothing. There were no new concessions given to anyone regarding access to U.S. postal markets.

From Business Wire:

From the Federal Register: "The Postal ServiceTM establishes modern service standards for its market-dominant products. Section 301 of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, Public Law 109-435, 120 Stat 3198 et seq. (December 20, 2006) requires the Postal Service, after consultation with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), to establish by regulation within a year of its enactment, a set of modern service standards for its market-dominant products. This notice responds to that requirement by establishing the required regulations."

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

After the German Parliament gave a clear vote for the introduction of a minimum wage for mail delivery personnel last Friday, TNT applied to the Ministry of Employment for a special minimum wage rate.
Following the German Parliament’s minimum wage decision, publishing house Axel Springer AG - majority stakeholder of mail service provider PIN Group - reacted swiftly by announcing last Friday that it would no longer provide financial support for the PIN Group.
Frank Heemskerk, State Secretary in the Dutch Ministry for Economic Affairs, has made a clear statement against a partial liberalisation of the domestic mail market in Holland.
Following massive criticism, Post Danmark has decided to refrain from cutting back its services. The Danish post had intended to cut back this service from next year, but citizens and their local representatives as well as liberal coalition party Venstre and Transport Secretary Carina Christensen have been lobbying for some time to maintain the service, which is particularly popular among older people.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) wants an extensive and public review into whether Canada Post’s monopoly on outgoing mail should be abolished.
Germany’s Hermes Logistik Gruppe has applied to the Ministry of Finance to be exempted from VAT.
Leading US online DVD rental company Netflix will have to use different dispatch bags or pay around 12 euro cent extra per consignment. U.S. Postal Service has issued an ultimatum, according to »eFluxMedia« (9.12). Although the amount seems negligible, it would affect Netflix’s cost budget considerably, as the company dispatches over 1.6m items daily.
British regulator Postcomm has rejected Royal Mail’s proposal for so-called "zonal pricing".
The executive board and supervisory board of Austria’s Österreichische Post agreed on a package of measures designed to reposition the post’s parcel and logistics segment.
DHL wants to set up its own B2C network in England. This is the first time that the Deutsche Post subsidiary takes on deliveries of parcel and express consignments to private individuals outside its domestic market.
TNT Express is aiming for the pole position in emerging markets such as China, India and South America while at the same time defending the market leadership achieved in Europe last year.
Nippon Express and Kintetsu World Express as well as Japanese airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) intend to jointly enter the express market.
10 companies have put in a bid for Korea Express, one of the country’s leading CEP service providers.
Spanish trade unions have called for a strike among postal workers on the 19, 20 and 21 of December. Daily »El Adelantado de Segovia« (10.12) reported that the unions were protesting against unequal and inadequate wages.
The Spanish franchisee of UPS subsidiary Mail Boxes intends to enter the mail market.
Last Thursday Deutsche Post inaugurated the first of its so-called Post 24/7 service islands in Berlin. Post 24/7 consists of a cash machine, statement printer, packing station, stamp vending machine and post-box, and Deutsche Post is putting up 30 of them in Berlin and 15 each in Bonn and Dortmund. The post will extend the feature to other cities if response to the pilot scheme is positive.
Next year India Post will deploy a cargo aircraft for the first time in its history.
Employees of Mexican post Sepomex do not appear very happy with their freshly negotiated work contract.
 

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

The Stamp Collecting Roundup has noted that "The USPS News Link reports that the Sun City, AZ, Main Post Office is using pedal power to lower its fuel costs. According to the report, its letter carriers ride bicycles on 37 delivery routes — saving USPS $24,000 in annual gasoline costs at current prices. Bicycle delivery conserves 7,800 gallons of gasoline annually when compared to Long Life Vehicle delivery and eliminates 25,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions."

As the Miami Herald has noted, "With the holidays approaching, the volume of mail headed to service members in Iraq has skyrocketed. In one 24-hour period last week, 788,473 pounds of mail came into Iraq, according to the U.S. military's Postal Operations Division in Kuwait. Compare that with a 24-hour period in July, when soldiers received a mere 294,808 pounds."

China Post Logistics, the country's top logistics firm, plans to raise over $2 billion in a Hong Kong and Shanghai stock market listing in 2008, sources said, amid mounting foreign competition in the booming sector. The company, run by the state operator of the country's huge postal system, is expected to raise at least $2 billion in total on both markets, though it was too early to tell how much it could rake in eventually, one of the sources familiar with the deal told Reuters.

In a letter to the editor of the PostCom Bulletin, National Academy of Public Administrators fellow Murray Comarow offers some comments on an opinion piece written by James Montanye on the need to end the Postal Service's monopoly.

The Postal Regulatory Commission is looking for contractors to do some of the heavy lifting in preparation of its report on universal service, the letter mail monopoly, and mailbox access. In an open letter to the chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission, National Academy of Public Administrators fellow Murray Comarow offers some thoughts on the matter.

Forbes has noted that "Axel Springer AG said it expects to write down the value of postal service provider PIN Group AG, in which it holds a majority stake, by up to 620 mln eur this year after talks with the other owner to finance the business failed."

The Washington Post is encouraging DC residents to "Break out the holly, as well as the last-minute holiday cards. The nation's capital has received an early Christmas present: the restoration of the Washington, D.C., postmark. Out with the old -- the SUBURBAN MD and SOUTHERN MD postmarks -- and in with WASHINGTON, DC for at least 90 percent of the stamped mail originating in the District. The news was announced yesterday by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), who stood in the lobby of the National Capitol Station Post Office to declare that she had holiday greetings for the city."

The House of Representatives at 5:18 pm has unanimously passed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reform bill (S. 2488) that passed the Senate by unanimous consent on December 14. The bill aims to fix some of the most persistent problems in the FOIA system, including excessive delay, lack of responsiveness, and litigation gamesmanship by federal agencies. Following today’s approval by the House, the OPEN Government Act will be sent to the President's desk for approval.

Independent.ie has reported that "compensation is now available for late letters and shoddy postal services. The 'Complaints and Dispute Resolution Guidelines' for postal service providers will see this implemented over 20 of Ireland's 31 postal service providers. Comreg yesterday issued the guidelines, which cover An Post, but also companies like Cyclone Couriers, Olympus, and Nightline, some of Ireland's larger courier firms. The new guidelines do not cover larger delivery firms such as Fedex, DHL and SDS, but this may change when the postal service industry is liberalised under EU laws in 2011 and is opened up to greater competition."

The Financial Times has reported that "All Nippon Airways plans to challenge DHL and Federal Express in Asia by joining forces with two Japanese transport groups to launch a door-to-door express parcel service. The airline will take a 34 per cent stake in the venture, targeting business-to-business customers, according to a memorandum of understanding signed yesterday."

The Standard has reported that "The Postal Corporation of Kenya has embarked on a Sh100 million project to revamp its courier services. Mr Fred Odhiambo, the chief executive officer said the programme was geared at reclaiming its dominance in the courier services."

December 18, 2007

Below we reported that "Chairman José E. Serrano successfully included a provision in the omnibus appropriations bill for FY08 that blocks the Postal Service from moving forward on a plan to consolidate the Bronx Postal distribution center operations into the Manhattan-based Morgan Postal Distribution Facility until Congress and the Government Accountability Office are satisfied that the consolidation is merited." What follows is a link to the entirety of the conference report language providing revenue foregone monies and addressing network realignment/AMPs."

Reuters has reported that "Axel Springer AG said it rejected an offer to buy out its majority stake in loss-making mail service PIN because would-be buyer and PIN Chief Executive Guenter Thiel could not assure PIN's future."

The Financial Times has noted that "Most pin pricks are harmless - this one is acutely painful. Managers at Axel Springer, Germany's largest publisher of newspapers and magazines, must be ruing the day they laid eyes on Pin Group, a rival to state-owned Deutsche Post in German mail delivery. Having spent about half a billion euros to take control of Pin this year, Springer has since been threatened by government plans to increase the minimum wage for all postal industry workers, in effect protecting the state's monopoly. If, as looks likely, parliament waves the law through on Thursday, an asset with a book value of €650m will be practically worthless. Springer has few options but to find a buyer or wind it down."

According to Startups.co.uk, "Businesses deserve an ‘efficient and cost effective’ postal service and any review of the market must take this into account, it has been claimed. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) made the comments in response to business secretary John Hutton’s announcement of a ‘comprehensive review’ of developments in the postal services market since its liberalisation two years ago. The review will look at trends in future market developments and the likely impact on Royal Mail, other carriers and consumers."

The Daily Record has reported that "the Royal Mail have been accused of creaming off millions of pounds from customers confused by postal charges. An investigation by trading standards officers revealed punters were overcharged at Post Office counters when sending parcels. Millions more who put the wrong stamp on Christmas cards are leaving family and friends to stump up a £1 handling fee plus the excess when the postie delivers their festive message. Consumer group Postwatch yesterday condemned the double whammy as "unacceptable"."

The Washington Post has reported that "Statehood may still be a dream on the horizon, but at least the D.C. postmark is coming back. A new system of processing would ensure that the majority of D.C. mail receives a D.C. postmark, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and D.C. Postmaster Yverne P. Moore announced today at a news conference at the North Capitol Station Post Office. Norton, who asked the post office to restore use of the postmark after she learned that its use had been in decline, said the announcement was a "very good reason to say happy holidays to the District of Columbia. Not only from me but from the postal service."

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has reported that:

Media and printing company Transcontinental Inc. signalled Tuesday that it is not interested in purchasing the entire operations of struggling rival Quebecor World Inc. While Transcontinental wants to continue to grow, it plans to focus on very specific niches that have proven successful. These include direct marketing, digital media and outsourced printing of U.S. newspapers. The Globe and Mail quoted sources as saying American printing giant R.R. Donnelly and Sons and private investment funds Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Cerberus Capital Management were among potentially interested buyers.
The union representing postal workers says safety may not be the only reason Canada Post is moving rural customers to super-box sites. "One of our major concerns is that Canada Post is looking at this as a back door, a way to cut costs and to save money and cut jobs down the line," Jean-Francois Savoie, a representative of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, told CBC News Monday.
As if making toys were not enough! It seems that mail from children around the world is also keeping Santa's elves hopping this year. The Universal Postal Union, the United Nations agency that connects national post offices worldwide, says Santa will get more than six million letters from hopeful children around the world this year. The letters with be variously addressed to Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, Father Christmas, Pere Noel or one of the many other names the bearded gentleman is known by around the world.

According to postal commentator and PostCom Vice President Kate Muth, "It is easy to criticize the Postal Service and other large organizations because they move slower than more nimble free-market enterprises. That’s the nature of the beast. And it’s also easy for some of us in the industry to shoot down Postal Service ideas without offering any constructive proposals. That’s not fair either. But many Postal Service customers have good ideas about how to improve the mail business."

Add this to your reading list. Be sure to check regularly http://courierexpressandpostal.blogspot.com:80/. It's latest in valuable sources of postal and logistical news and information available on the web site. This site is owned and operated by Alan Robinson, a well-respected postal and logistical services veteran.

Reuters has reported that "A committee of European Union lawmakers on Tuesday approved EU plans to open the bloc's 88 billion euro ($130 billion) postal markets to full competition, setting the stage for final approval next month. The European Parliament's transport committee voted 37 to 2, with six abstentions, in favour of market liberalisation."

Chairman José E. Serrano successfully included a provision in the omnibus appropriations bill for FY08 that blocks the Postal Service from moving forward on a plan to consolidate the Bronx Postal distribution center operations into the Manhattan-based Morgan Postal Distribution Facility until Congress and the Government Accountability Office are satisfied that the consolidation is merited. [Editor's Note: We regret to note that the congressional unraveling of last year's postal reform has begun.]

Reuters has reported that "The head of Axel Springer's troubled postal business PIN Group is quitting and withdrawing an offer to buy the unit, according to a magazine report on Tuesday, casting uncertainty over PIN's future. Last week, German publisher Springer pulled the financial plug on its loss-making mail service company and said it was looking to sell its majority stake."

From the U.S. Postal Service: "Postal Service employees everywhere now have access to a new cutting-edge human resources (HR) system to meet the demands of the information age. Rollout of the technology phase of the PostalPEOPLE initiative, the largest implementation of its kind in the federal government or private sector, was completed in October."

Air Cargo World has reported that "DHL's losses in the United States appear to be deepening and the express carrier is looking closely at the entire operation even as it struggles with its major North American air service provider. But DHL is concerned with larger issues, including a sharp decline in its air express business in North America over the last year that helped drag down overall profits at parent Deutsche Post World Net in the third quarter. DPWN Chairman Klaus Zumwinkle told analysts in Germany last month the company must look at how to "restart the whole thing" next year, but he rejected any idea that DHL would scale back in the face of problems in the United States."

The U.K. Postal Services Commission (Postcomm) has said that "Postcomm, the independent regulator for postal services, welcomes the Government’s review of the UK postal services market, which was announced earlier today. Postcomm looks forward to cooperating fully with the review which comes at a time of profound change for the market. The regulator’s official submission to the review will be published in due course."

There's a nice piece on USPS CFO Glen Walker in CFO magazine. Check it out.

According to Public Citizen, "Under the U.S. Constitution, no administration can unilaterally change U.S. commitments under a trade agreement, so hopefully the Europeans know that the Bush administration’s offer to bind more sensitive service sectors to WTO jurisdiction is meaningless unless Congress approves such a proposal. Whatever the Bush administration is considering trading away to get out of its current WTO gambling mess would have to be approved by Congress. Depending on the scope of commitments, the notion of putting the U.S. postal services and safety testing under WTO jurisdiction also could prove explosive in Congress."

The Financial Times has reported that "Online gaming companies in Europe were dealt a blow yesterday as the European Union accepted a US offer to open some other services markets as compensation for shutting foreign companies out of America's lucrative gambling industry. The EU said the bilateral deal would provide European businesses, such as TNT of the Netherlands and Deutsche Post of Germany, with unspecified new opportunities in the US postal and courier, research and development, storage and warehouse sectors." [Makes you wonder....What just got bargained away?]

The Wall Street Journal has reported that "With Web companies now beginning to dominate the market for local ads online, newspaper publishers are scrambling to change the way they sell ads, hiring sales teams that specialize in the digital market and creating new editorial packages to sell. But it may be a case of too little, too late."

The Telegraph has reported that "The Government has extended Allan Leighton's tenure as chairman of Royal Mail."

The BBC has reported that "Postal workers in Staffordshire have gone on strike over the suspension of nine colleagues. The industrial action at the Burslem depot in Stoke-on-Trent affects the ST6 post code and is due to continue until 2 January. Royal Mail bosses and the Communication Workers Union met on Monday in a failed last-ditch bid to avoid the walk out. It affects 32,000 homes and businesses but Royal Mail said 200 managers had been drafted in to handle deliveries."

As The Independent has noted, "The Government is launching a comprehensive review of developments in the postal market since Royal Mail, Santa's sole helper for almost 350 years, lost its monopoly two years ago. The review, which will report back next summer, will assess changes in the UK mail market since it was liberalised on 1 January 2006; study the impact of competition on Royal Mail, which remains the largest player in the industry; and look at the way future trends may affect stakeholders such as customers and alternative carriers. The maintenance of a universal postal service, which allows an individual to post a letter to any destination in the country, will underpin the inquiry as it also looks at ways of sustaining the provision." See also The Herald and the International Herald Tribune.

December 17, 2007
 
[PostCom logo

PostCom welcomes its newest member: J.Crew 770 Broadway New York, NY 10003-9522 represented by Michael Braaten Vice President, Print Production

Sky News has noted that "Postal authorities in Canada are trying to track down a "rogue elf" who has been writing obscene letters to children, supposedly on behalf of Father Christmas."

The Financial Times has reported that "Germany yesterday entered the next round in its fierce political battle over the minimum wage as the country's labour minister said he saw last week's deal on basic pay for postal workers setting a precedent for other sectors."

AllAfrica.com has reported that "A recent postal policy consultative conference resolved that a tenable postal sector policy is what the people of Botswana need now. This decision by stakeholders at the conference was arrived at after it was discovered that Botswana does not have a specific postal sector policy that takes into account developments in the postal sector worldwide and in the country itself."

According to The Peninsula, "A pair of postage stamps designed by Qatar's General Postal Corporation (Q-Post) was selected by the Arab League as the first common stamp for all member countries."

Newindpress has reported that "I M G Khan, Secretary to the Department of Posts, on Sunday said the Universal Postal Union (UPU) is likely to prefer India's Department of Posts, one of the biggest postal services in the world, for outsourcing postal services across the world."

MENA-FN has reported that "The Director General of state-owned Emirates Post (Empost) announced that the company is planning to start discussions with financial advisers next month on the sale of 49 percent of its shares to the public, Gulf Daily News reported. He pointed out that the postal company would choose three lead managers and complete a valuation before starting the initial public offering (IPO), adding that the valuation of the offering may reach $817 million."

The Philippine Information Agency has reported that "In its efforts to hasten movement of mails in Eastern, Visayas, the Philippine Postal Corporation (PhilPost), Region 8 headed by Regional Director Fabioleta P. Ferraris recently opened new mail routes in Southern, Leyte and Northern Samar."

The BBC has reported that "The government has announced a review of UK postal services to examine how increased competition in the industry has impacted Royal Mail."

According to Russia Profile, "On Oct. 8, President Vladimir Putin named Andrei Kazmin the new head of Russia’s postal service, whose network of branches is twice the size of Sberbank’s. Kazmin, who headed Sberbank for 11 years, is widely credited with having masterminded the transformation of the unwieldy Soviet-era institution into a competitive modern corporation. Under Kazmin, Sberbank’s market capitalization grew a staggering 107 times over to $95.7 billion as of Nov. 1, 2007, second only to Gazprom. Kuzmin’s new home, the Russian postal service, employs some 415,000 people and has more that 40,000 offices across the country. Every year, the postal service processes approximately 1.5 billion letters, 38 million parcels, and 200 million money transfers. Putin has entrusted Kazmin with the daunting task of modernizing the organization. Unlike Sberbank, which has undergone a drastic infrastructural overhaul in the past decade, the postal service has done little to make its operations more efficient and its brand more attractive. Completely government-owned, its services are notoriously irregular. Communications Minister Leonid Reiman has claimed that it takes from three to seven days for a letter to get from one regional center to another, but it is not uncommon for local mail to travel for weeks across the city of Moscow."

According to the Globe and Mail, "Login records for scores of small businesses that use Canada Post's business shipping website are available online as a result of a Web server glitch, leaving sensitive information such as names, addresses and shipping details vulnerable."

Forbes has reported that "Deutsche Post AG rival TNT NV plans to introduce its own, lower pay scale in response to the German government's planned introduction of a minimum wage in the postal sector, Financial Times Deutschland reported. 'We will insist on the independence of our pay structure and if necessary do so via the courts,' TNT Post Germany CEO Mario Frusch told the newspaper."

December 16, 2007



If you haven't yet seen it, you should. The Mail Moves America Coalition has launched its web site.

 

According to the New York Daily News, "The U.S. Postal Service doesn't track how many people get general delivery, but local mail officials say the general delivery lines have been getting longer in the past few years - and so are the stacks of mail for the service."

The Olive Press has reported that "postal workers in Spain are to stage a three-day walkout in protest at low salaries. The strike, which will run from December 23 to the end of Christmas Day, has been organised by trade unions UGT and the postal workers’ representatives SLC. “Postal workers do not believe they are remunerated sufficiently to deal with the workload they are given,” a UGT spokesman said. The walkout, which has been timed to cause maximum delay over the busy festive period, is also a protest over equal opportunities."

AFP has reported that "The head of Axel Springer, Europe's largest newspaper publisher, which plans to stop investing in a private postal service because of German minimum wage laws, blasted the Berlin government for ignoring a conflict of interest."

December 15, 2007

The Financial Times has reported that "Axel Springer, the German publishing group, yesterday put Pin Group, its domestic logistics subsidiary, Pin Groupup for sale after the Berlin parliament passed a controversial minimum wage bill for the postal sector which the company claims will make it impossible to compete."

General Dynamics Robotic Systems has been awarded $40 million as a subcontractor to Northrop Grumman Corporation on the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) Flats Sequencing System (FSS) program. The program will further automate the USPS’ flats mail technologies. General Dynamics Robotic Systems is a part of General Dynamics Land Systems (Sterling Heights, Michigan), a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD). The sophisticated sorting system is designed to sort large envelopes, magazines, newspapers, catalogues and circulars into delivery point order. The FSS sorts mail at a minimum rate of 37,000 pieces an hour.
 
[PostCom logo

PostCom welcomes its newest member: OfficeMax 1590 1st Avenue Ottawa, IL 61350-4823 represented by Timothy Gable, Director, Production Services

December 14, 2007
 
 
The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:

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

The PostCom Bulletin is distributed via NetGram

The following reports have been posted on the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General website (http://www.uspsoig.gov/) today. If you have additional questions concerning the report, please contact Agapi Doulaveris at 703.248.2286.

From the U.S. Postal Service: The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was updated today. The latest price cap for market dominant products is available on the Postal Regulatory Commission’s Web site (prc.gov). Customers who would like an indication of the potential average price change for each market dominant class can refer to the Commission’s Web site. We’ll use the DMM Advisory to keep you informed of the monthly updates."

From CSRWire: "Consumers can "ship green" this holiday season thanks to Climate Counts' on-time delivery of a new shipping sector ranking. DHL (and its parent Deutsche Post World Net) and the U.S. Postal Service lead the rankings, with UPS and FedEx both lagging. Climate Counts also released a new "Holiday Shopping Guide" of 60 well-known companies’ climate commitment. Holiday shoppers can download and print the pocket-sized guide at ClimateCounts.org."

As Bloomberg has noted, the "German wage vote riles Deutsche Post competitors."

Reuters has reported that "German publisher Axel Springer said on Friday it was looking to exit the postal business and was willing to sell its majority stake in mail service company PIN Group. Springer has been considering all options for its stake in PIN ever since the government last month agreed to impose a minimum wage in the sector higher than that paid by PIN. "

The Associated Press has reported that "Germany's lower house of parliament on Friday approved instituting a minimum wage for letter carriers -- putting an end to an issue that has fueled tension in the left-right coalition government. The measure will introduce a de-facto hourly minimum of between 8 euros and 9.80 euros ($11.75 and $14.40) for letter carriers. The German letter delivery market is scheduled to become fully open to competitors of former monopoly Deutsche Post AG on Jan. 1, the same day the minimum wage agreement takes effect. The measure was approved 466-70 with 16 abstentions in parliament's final session before the Christmas holiday. It still needs upper house approval, but the governing coalition has overwhelming control there and it is expected to be passed easily."

According to the Wall Street Journal, "United Parcel Service Inc. is ramping up for its busiest day of the year, with 22 million package deliveries expected Wednesday. But once the holiday rush is over, the Atlanta company and its incoming chief executive will have to wrestle with daunting challenges that include the slowing U.S. economy and UPS's sheer enormity."

Dow Jones has reported that "Germany's lower house of parliament Friday approved a bill that will introduce a minimum wage for letter carriers, a move that critics say will protect partially state-owned postal service provider Deutsche Post AG from competition. The bill was approved by 466 of the 552 votes cast, while 70 voted against it and 16 abstained. Labor Minister Olaf Scholz defended the bill against sharp criticism that it would cost jobs, saying such claims were "nonsense" and that competition would increase in the postal sector next year. "There will be competition for the best management, but no competition for who pays the lowest wages," Scholz told the lower house ahead of the vote. "What we agree on won't cost any jobs. The opposite is probably true."

According to the Financial Times, "When German legislators vote on a law today imposing a minimum wage for postal services, one of the largest groups of opponents will be in the Christian Democratic Union. While two opposition groups and the Social Democratic party, co-ruler in the coalition, will endorse the bill, guaranteeing adoption, at least 20 CDU MPs will reject it, in a serious indictment of the political judgment of Angela Merkel, the chancellor. Ms Merkel has defended the move as social policy. But it now appears she was the victim of a ploy by an alliance of trade unionists, centre-left politicians and Deutsche Post, the former state monopoly, to defeat the liberalisation of the postal market due next month."

According to the Globe and Mail, "Canada Post was forced to halt the delivery of some letters from Santa Claus yesterday after a number of children received responses that were more naughty than nice."

The Star has reported that "Canada's consumer watchdog has issued a warning about customs brokerage fees, saying it has received a growing number of complaints about these often-unexpected costs of importing goods from the United States. Meanwhile, a Statistics Canada study played down the extent of cross-border shopping, saying the increase this year was "insignificant," despite a soaring dollar."

The Yorkshire Post published an op-ed piece by George Thomson, general secretary of the National Federation of SubPostmasters, calling for support for Royal Mail's efforts to wean the wheat from the chaff within its retail system.

December 13, 2007

Israel Post Company Ltd. is moving forward with the introduction of financial services at its branches. Sources inform ''Globes'' that Israel Post recently published a tender for the selection of a consultant to advise it on the tender. The deadline for applications is December 27.

From the U.S. Postal Service: "We issued new Customer Support Ruling (CSR) PS-328, Mailing Coins and Similar Items in Window Envelopes at Automation Letter Rates, to clarify the mail preparation requirements for these types of mailpieces. Coins or tokens visible through a window envelope must be affixed to one of the components in the mailpiece, covered in a second wrapping, and streamlined within the envelope as described in the new CSR. The coin or token cannot interfere with the address or the barcode."

The Houston Chronicle has reported that "U.S. long-haul truck drivers can continue to spend as much as 11 hours a day behind the wheel, after a federal agency refused to return to lower limits sought by safety advocates. The U.S. Transportation Department, in an interim rule issued Tuesday, sided with the trucking industry and upheld a 2004 increase in daily driving time from 10 hours. The rule also keeps a 14-hour daily limit for drivers to be on duty."

As the American Postal Workers Union has noted, "Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA) has asked his congressional colleagues to co-sponsor legislation he introduced last month that would require the Postal Service to bargain with unions before engaging in significant subcontracting."

Joy Online has reporte that "The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ghana Post (GP), Professor Addo Fenning, has urged the GP to take decisions that will catalyse the development and modernisation of the postal network and improve its efficiency through the application of information and communication technology (ICT) in all facets of postal transactions."

Javno has reported that "The Croatian Foreign Affairs and European Integrations Ministry on Wednesday forwarded a protest note to Italy voicing harsh protest against the issuing of an Italian postal stamp with images of the city of Rijeka and the writing “eastern land that used to be Italian” (Fiume – terra orientale gia’ italiana)."

From PR Web: "Here's a little surprise for consumers just in time for the holidays. AG Interactive, Inc., the eCard division of American Greetings Corporation, has launched a new line of seasonal cards that folks will soon discover in their mailboxes -- their postal mailboxes." [Wow! Paper greeting cards that can be mailed. They are portable. They'll even fit in your pocket. You can fold them. No boot-up time because they're always "instant-on," and they require no batteries....What a concept!]

According to Forbes, "Economic Affairs State Secretary Frank Heemskerk has rejected a request from postal company Sandd BV for a partial liberalisation of the Dutch domestic postal market next year, the Economic Affairs Ministry said."

The Bath Chronicle has reported that "A watchdog group says a Royal Mail pricing shake-up has created more losers than winners.A survey conducted by Postwatch South and West has shown that 39 per cent of businesses have found their postage costs have increased since Royal Mail moved to pricing mail by size last year."

Fleet News has reported that "The Royal Mail has confirmed that it is to stop its employees from using their own vehicles for work. More than 8,000 of the Royal Mail’s 120,000 staff currently use their own transport while at work."

December 12, 2007

From PR-Inside: "Pitney Bowes Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire the Pitney Bowes business division, including inventory, and stocks, equipment, customers, employees and other assets of CL Computers Pte Limited and CL Computers (M) Sdn Bhd., the company that has served as its distributor for the mailstream markets in Singapore and Malaysia."

Online Media has reported that "the benefits of e-mail can be green in more ways than one, according to David Maher, vice president of Fidelity's communications & advertising. Maher, speaking at MediaPost's Email Summit, gave attendees a chuckle by showing a photograph of one customer sitting next to a huge pile of paper mail received from Fidelity in a single week. Fidelity is saving many millions of dollars per year on paper and USPS mailings (which were costing $4 a pop, multiplied by several thousand per day)."

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

At an analysts’ conference in London last week, TNT’s CEO Peter Bakker delivered a positive summary of his company’s change of strategy, which began in 2005. Mr Bakker said TNT’s sale of its logistics and forwarding segment had been successful and had made it possible to invest around 3bn euros in the optimisation of the capital structure. Next year would see the start of the second phase - "Grow And Build Value" - which is set to be completed by 2012.
German publishing house Axel Springer Verlag, the majority shareholder of the PIN Group, will reach a decision regarding the insolvency of its holding this Friday.
The Danish government could be forced to sell yet another large packet of Post Danmark shares within the next two years or else face payment of a steep invoice from private equity firm CVC.
In future, it will be easier for senders of bulk printed matter in Britain to receive compensation for lost, late and damaged consignments. Postcomm has drafted a proposal together with Royal Mail and consumer protection organisation Postwatch, Postcomm announced on 5.12. The aim is to make both the application and evidence procedures simpler and more customer friendly.
Pos Malaysia Bhd suffered a decline in turnover and saw profits cave in by more than 30 % during Q3 (30.9).
Rabobank intends to use Australia Post’s network in order to increase its presence in the domestic market. According to »Australian Business« (6.12), the bank focuses chiefly on so-called agribank business. Through a partnership with the post, Rabobank will be in a position to provide its customers in Australia’s rural areas with commercial banking services.
Schweizerische Post’s dense network of post offices gives the post a strategic advantage over its private competitors in the parcel market. Swiss regulator PostReg came to this conclusion after comparing a number of parcel service providers.
The French La Poste is selling its subsidiary Europe Airpost (2006 turnover: 242m euros, 25 aircraft) to Irish Air Contractors.
News agency »AP« (6.12) reported that DHL Express intends to end its USAsia flight co-operation with Northwest Airlines in October next year. Instead, the integrator will co-operate with Polar Air Cargo from 31 October 2008.
DPD is launching a pilot test for express freight services in the Czech Republic. DPD Max is designed as a next-day delivery service in response to growing demand for distribution services.
Deutsche Post has announced a reduction in mail postage rates for business customers from the beginning of 2008.
Office supply specialist Office Depot has decided to use Spring Global Mail for the distribution of its European business mail in future. Thus, the joint venture of Royal Mail, Singapore Post and TNT will carry out delivery of 175m catalogues every year in 10 European countries.
Malta Communications Authority has reprimanded Maltapost for delivering non-franked and unstamped mail.
EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes sees the minimum wage for post staff in Germany as proof that liberalisation of the EU mail market has not been taken far enough yet.

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

Transport Intelligence has reported that "The World Food Programme (WFP) has announced that UPS and TNT have joined forces for a humanitarian cause by offering free warehousing facilities to the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depots (UNHRD) in Ghana and Panama. That development follows discussions between UPS, TNT and global logistics provider Agility on common industry-wide support for humanitarian operations. The depots stock vital supplies such as high-energy biscuits, drugs and other rapid response equipment essential for emergency operations."

According to the Canadian Jewish News, "A regional conference of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) has passed a resolution supporting the boycott of Israel and pledging an educational campaign about “the apartheid nature of the Israel [sic] state.”

  Blackanthem Military News has reported that "A nine-month postal employee training program for 27 Iraqis was recently completed in mid-November. The training took place in Baghdad; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Amman, Jordan. The training program was provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region Division as part of the Postal Point of Service (PPOS) project for Iraq. The PPOS project is a key step in helping the Iraqi Post Office (IPO) modernize their services to be better able to effectively and efficiently serve the Iraqi populace."

Roger Kodat, Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary, will be leaving his current post on December 14 to assume his new duties with JP Morgan Chase's team marketing treasury products to the Federal government. Kodat was one of the Administration's key players in the push to enact postal reform.

In response to a request from the Association for Postal Commerce to the Postal Regulatory Commission asking the Commission to modify the deadlines for the submission of comments and reply comments that the PRC established in Order No. 48 of Docket No. PI2008-1, the Commission announced that it will revise the due dates for comments as follows: Initial comments are due no later than January 18, 2008; reply comments are due no later than February 1, 2008. This extension will afford interested persons ample opportunity to address the Postal Service’s service performance measurement proposal substantively.

The Hindu has reported that "Mysore is likely to emerge as a “technology hub” for postal services in South Asia. With the Postal Training Centre (PTC) here already in the forefront of developing innovative technologies for the improvement of postal administration in 22 postal circles across the country, India Post is strongly vying for bringing the proposed South Asian Postal Technology Centre to Mysore. India Post has sent a formal request to the Bern-based Universal Postal Union (UPU) and the Asia Pacific Postal Centre in Bangkok for considering Mysore as the venue for establishing the premier centre to train officers from South Asian countries in developing state-of-the-art technology in postal matters."

December 11, 2007

From the U.S. Postal Service: At today’s meeting, the Board of Governors approved:

Botswana Post, one of the oldest mail institutions in the country has been changing shape since the introduction of the Pinagare Policy. The policy has improved the accessibility of mail and offers diversification of products and service delivery.

The Bahrain News Agency has noted that "Bahrain has achieved the first rank for the third consecutive year in offering the best postal services among GCC states.

According to KHOU, "Neither rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night can keep the postal service workers from doing their jobs -- except, it seems, in one Houston neighborhood."

The Buffalo News has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service just decided to grant Bank of America a new discount on the letters it sends. The Postal Service claims this will result in savings of $5.5 million."

As Government Technology has noted, "Continued financial challenges and increased competition call for the U.S. Postal Service to manage its 34,000 facilities as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. GAO and others have identified key facility management challenges, including the need to (1) capture and maintain accurate facility data, (2) adequately maintain facilities, and (3) align retail access with customer needs. This report assesses Postal Service efforts to overcome these challenges and implement leading federal practices." For more information, check out "U.S. Postal Service Facilities: Improvements in Data Would Strengthen Maintenance and Alignment of Access to Retail Services," GAO-08-41, December 10, 2007, Summary (HTML) Highlights Page (PDF) Full Report (PDF, 61 pages)

The Financial Post has reported that "yesterday was shaping up to be a slow news day -- when suddenly duelling press releases flashed across the news nets to reveal a David and Goliath battle, a struggle between truth and falsehood, between good and evil, between the private sector and state monopoly, between corporate freedom and union power, a holy battle that pits Canada Post and its union, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, against a small group of private mail-handling firms."

Dutch News has reported that "A majority of MPs are positive about a proposal by postal firm Sandd to allow a limited liberalisation of the postal market, reports Tuesday’s Financieele Dagblad. Sandd’s proposal is intended as a temporary arrangement following last week’s announcement that a fully open market has been indefinitely postponed. The plan would allow newcomers on the market, such as Sandd itself, to deliver a certain volume of the post that is currently under the monopoly of TNT (letters weighing under 50 grams)." See also NIS News Bulletin.

According to Reuters, "Germany's Economy Ministry plans to curtail the tax privileges of Deutsche Post so that only postage stamps will be exempt from value added tax (VAT), a German newspaper reported on Tuesday. Competitors of Germany's biggest mail delivery company have complained that Deutsche Post has an unfair advantage over them because it is the only firm which has enjoyed sweeping VAT exemption privileges.

Transport Intelligence has reported that "Austrian Post entered the Serbian and Montenegro parcel market, so further extending a presence in Central and south-eastern Europe which already included subsidiaries in Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia, through the acquisition of City Express d.o.o. in Belgrade."

The international mail issue should be subject to a comprehensive and public review said the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) in response to statements made by the Canadian International Mail Association (CIMA).

December 10, 2007

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

The Association for Postal Commerce has filed today with the U.S. Postal Service two sets of comments pertaining to the Postal Service's proposed rule on new address standards for [1] letters and [2] flats mailed at presorted, carrier route, and automation rates.

The Canadian International Mail Industry claims that "the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) is working overtime to oppose the passage of Bill C-14 (an Act to Amend the Canada Post Corporation Act) by misrepresenting facts and providing inaccurate information about an international mail industry that has competed fairly and contributed significantly to the Canadian economy for more than 20 years. Bill C-14 is but one sentence that speaks only to the delivery of mail from Canada to a final destination outside of Canada. It has absolutely nothing to do with the delivery of domestic mail, which is clearly a part of Canada Post's exclusive privilege and does nothing to, nor is it intended to diminish this exclusive privilege."

Forbes has reported that "TNT NV will look 'very thoroughly' at all options, should the German government approve the postal minimum wage that is reportedly pushing Axel Springer AG to consider winding up its mail services unit PIN Group by Christmas. The upper house of the German parliament, in which German states are represented, is likely to decide on the minimum wage at its meeting scheduled for December 20."

Business iAfrica has reported that "For the first time in its history, Mozambique's national postal services utility — Correios de Moçambique — will from next year introduce rural banking services. Currently the postal service utility operates postal and courier services which are only viable in urban centres. The utility has been widely ignored by many people because of alleged poor service."

The Nigerian Tribune has reported that "the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) has been able to intercept about 15,129 counterfeit cheques worth about N55 billion related to Advance Fee Fraud."

The Financial Times believes that "True competition in the ­German postal market seemed further away than ever on Sunday as one of the main competitors to Deutsche Post, the state-controlled monopoly, threatened to close itself down if, as expected, a minimum wage is introduced."

According to Reuters, German publisher Axel Springer is preparing around 600 million euros ($873.4 million) in writedowns for its mail-delivery unit PIN Group, the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper reported on Monday.

The National Association of Major Mail Users has reported that "Canada Post has announced the Library Book Rates in effect since 2005 will remain in place through 2008. Maintaining the Library Book Rate for another year will provide all stakeholders with a better opportunity to ensure that the library’s community concerns are understand and taken into consideration – and that the Library Book Rate continues to be available to eligible libraries in the future. To quantify the financial impact for Canada Post, participating libraries are using electronic shipping tools to capture specific data. The 2008 parcel services price book and quick reference charts, specific to each customer’s Parcel Services Agreement, are in the mail."

December 9, 2007

eFluxMedia has reported that "Netflix, the largest on-line rental service for DVDs in the United States, was given an ultimatum by the U.S. Postal Service to change the mailer or charge an additional 17 cents a mailer in order to cover the additional costs of approximately $21 million a year that add up to the labor services – as every package requires to be manually handled. In the meantime, Blockbuster, Netflix’s biggest competitor, seems to have no such problems. According to Karen Raskopf, the spokesman for Blockbuster, they “looked carefully at the design of our envelopes and we worked with the post office to make sure they could go through the machines and that the DVDs would be safe”. Steve Swasey, a Netflix representative, stated: “"We're in full compliance with U.S. Postal Service regulations and specifications […] If the specifications of the post office were to change, we would change the mailer as necessary. We've already gone through 40 to 50 iterations of the mailer since Netflix started shipping DVDs a decade ago.” He also added: “We save them about $100 million a year. We pick up the returns from the post office. They are not delivered to Netflix, even though we're paying for it.”

The Telegraph has reported that "Royal Mail is facing an investigation over claims that letters are being delivered late because postmen are failing to complete their rounds. The mail watchdog, Postwatch, will look into the issue after receiving complaints from the organisation's staff as well as customers. Problems with postal deliveries have been blamed on new working practices introduced after strikes by the Communication Workers Union, and a new 56mph speed limit for lorries, which means that mail is arriving later at sorting offices."

December 8, 2007

AFP has reported that "The PIN Group, a private postal services company which will announce layoffs of more than 1,000 of its 9,000 employees, could go bankrupt. Axel Springer, Europe's biggest newspaper publisher and 65 percent owner of the group, envisages "stopping PIN payments, if necessary," reported Der Spiegel, citing sources close to the powerhouse publishing company."

The Association for Postal Commerce (PostCom) has filed a letter with the Postal Regulatory Commission asking the Commission to modify the deadlines for the submission of comments and reply comments that the PRC established in Order No. 48 of Docket No. PI2008-1. This docket sets forth a Notice of Request for Comments on the Postal Service's Proposed Service Performance Measurement Systems for Market-Dominant Products. The PRC's order sets due dates of Jan. 7, 2008, for comments and Jan. 21, 2008, for reply comments. PostCom argues for a new deadline in its letter to the PRC, noting that the Notice has not yet appeared in the Federal Register and even if it should appear there in the next few days, which is uncertain, interested parties would have less than 30 days to comment on a matter of great importance to the mailing community. Further, with two major holidays between now and the PRC's deadline of Jan. 7, interested parties actually have even fewer working days to submit comments.

According to the Financial Times, "Berlin's creation of a minimum wage for postal services is the government's worst policy mistake and Chancellor Angela Merkel is alone to blame for a "populist" drift in German politics, according to the leader of the country's largest opposition party."

As Internet Retailer has noted, "While retail web sites work to differentiate themselves from stores with web-only features, personalized services, detailed imaging and other tactics, there always will be one thing that separates sites from their bricks-and-mortar counterparts: a reliance on delivery services to fulfill online customers’ orders."

According to the Washington Continent, "D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, Democrat, made a formal request to D.C. Postmaster Yverne P. Moore this week to restore the Washington, D.C. postmark on mail originating in the nation’s capital."

Sustainable Life wants to tell you "How to stem the tide of unwanted postal intrusions."

The Associated Press has reported that "Call it a special delivery. A postal carrier pocketed dozens of greeting cards he was supposed to deliver to get at the cash inside, postal inspectors said."

According to NPR, "The United States Postal Service says that, since being ordered by Congress to break even, it can no longer afford to subsidize the nonprofits' shipping costs through M Bags. M Bags are large duffel bags that nonprofit organizations use to bulk-ship textbooks overseas to impoverished regions around the world."

WISN has reported that "The United States Postal Service is apologizing for mistakenly sending out postcards warning some Milwaukee residents their mail could stop because a crime was committed in the area." See also Milwaukee Business Journal.

Arab Times has reported that  a "specialist team has been assigned the task of privatizing the postal sector. The first step will be to establish a joint-stock company. The government will be the major shareholder and a certain percentage of the company's shares will be floated for public subscription."

December 7, 2007
 
 
The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:

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

The PostCom Bulletin is distributed via NetGram

Panorama.am has reported that "The Public Services Regulatory Committee approved today the procedures of defining and reconsidering the tariffs of the universal services of the Armenian Postal Service. Armen Arshakyan, tariff policy department head of the committee said that universal services include the delivery of letters, boxes of up to 20 kg, press to the regions as well as delivery of special importance documents."

RIA Novosti has reported that "Andrei Kazmin, the former chief of Russia's largest state-owned bank Sberbank, has been elected head of the Russian postal service, the IT and Communications Ministry said in a press release Friday. Former chief Igor Syrtsov resigned in October to be appointed aide to the communications minister." See also CNews.

According to the Financial Times:

Europe was last night heading towards an increasingly divisive row over moves by the German government to insulate its partially privatised postal monopoly from competition by imposing a sector-wide minimum wage. Yesterday the Dutch government reacted to the German move - which disadvantages its own TNT - by announcing it was postponing the planned January 1 liberalisation of its postal market in retaliation. The German decision, backed by Angela Merkel, chancellor, has already been strongly criticised as "unnecessary" by Jean-Claude Trichet, European Central Bank governor.
Last week, the German government decided to apply a minimum wage to the postal industry. In response, a competitor of Deutsche Post, the part-privatised former monopoly, has announced big job losses, while yesterday the Netherlands government postponed the full liberalisation of the Dutch mail market planned for January. These two events alone should cast doubt on the Berlin government's decision to enforce a minimum wage of €8-€9.80 an hour for postal workers. Add the fact that the rate appears high by international standards and against other minimum wage levels in Germany. Mix into the brew that it was negotiated by Deutsche Post with the Verdi trade union in full knowledge that it would have to be adopted by financially weaker competitors. The deal looks like a cynical manoeuvre by Deutsche Post to render uncompetitive rival operations in a soon-to-be-liberalised market.

As one writer to the Sun Sentinel put it: "Long lines, no stamp vending machines, fewer window clerks, they want you to buy your stamps at your local supermarket or online. Perhaps it is time for the United States Postal Service to change its name to the United States Postal Company. After all, services are being reduced or done away with. Conveniences such the stamp vending machines and the "postal store" for quick "stamps-only" purchases have disappeared. The USPS claims they are doing this to cut costs and save money. That's the excuse every company gives when it cuts customer service. They never lower their costs by eliminating or consolidating upper management positions, just their direct contact with their customers."

As Seeking Alpha has noted, "The OIG’s audit report did include the possibility of a surcharge, but that prospect followed two other recommendations that were not noted in those articles. The first was that postal management identify the specific characteristics making these envelopes “non-machineable.” The second was that they “notify affected mailers” and have Postal Engineering test any new style envelopes. The presumption in the actual report is that only envelopes still requiring manual sorting after the first two steps had been followed would be charged for manual labor services. There’s a big gap between the actual report and the blog postings. Figuring out the problem, having a chance to fix it and being fined only if you don’t is not the same as inferring the fine could be imminent right now. Netflix has changed their envelopes dozens of times since first launching. The current envelope has been in use for two years and now it may get a review and upgrade."

Forbes has published a report that:

Axel Springer AG's PIN Group plans to circumvent new minimum wage laws for German postal workers by contracting mail delivery services at publishing houses and regional mail service companies.
Oesterreichische Post AG plans to close 7 of its 21 distribution bases for parcels and will transfer one-tenth of the 2,000 employees working at the bases to its mail segment, according to an unsourced report in the Viennese daily Die Presse.

Transport Intelligence has reported that "At its annual meeting with analysts in London, the management of Dutch mail and express operator TNT gave a wide-ranging update on the company's present strategy. Just a year and a half after buying the UK courier network of catalogue company JD Williams, they announced that TNT would be restructuring its loss-making operation. According to a spokesman talking to TI after the event, a number of options are presently being considered and these are believed to include some form of disposal. TNT management said it is reviewing its operations after what it referred to as "recent protectionist developments" in the German mail market. TNT's management was pressed on its plans for North America. It said it did not want to develop a domestic operation there."

The Press and Journal has reported that "A blunder by staff at a north-east mail depot has left 4,500 Christmas letters lying in a basement for almost a year, it emerged last night. The Press and Journal can reveal that thousands of first-class letters which should have been delivered for last Christmas were discovered in an area of the Aberdeen Mail Centre which has not been used since that time."

December 6, 2007

According to MarketWatch, "Makers of high-production printers and systems have the direct-mail marketing industry in their sights, promoting the use of high-end digital printers with software tools to help advertisers personalize marketing content. Personalized marketing is advertising directed to an individual that's sometimes based on past activity and elicits a response that can often be tracked."

MSN Money has reported that "The Christian Democratic Union of chancellor Angela Merkel is facing a potentially damaging split after the state of Lower Saxony, a CDU stronghold, said on Thursday it would reject the creation of a minimum wage for postal services in parliament's upper house."

Letter volumes are stabilizing, the growth in parcel volumes is continuing, and postal revenue is sharply up: these are the three major trends highlighted in the worldwide postal statistics for 2006, published today by the Universal Postal Union.

The DM Bulletin has reported that "Mail watchdog Postcomm is proposing a series of measures that would end Royal Mail's current compensation regulations for delayed items for companies sending bulk mailings. The proposals, which were formulated from a public consultation and discussions with Postwatch and Royal Mail, would remove bulk mail from a regulated compensation scheme for delayed items in April 2009."

Media Daily News is reporting that "newspaper publishers and analysts now say next year will probably be just as tough for the troubled industry as 2007. With shareholders staking their hopes on a turnaround in 2008, this is bad news for newspaper stocks."

The Guardian has reported that "The Dutch government will postpone the full opening of the Dutch postal market, which was originally due from January 2008, Junior Economy Minister Frank Heemskerk told a parliament committee on Thursday."

The BBC has reported that "Postal officials are investigating why as many as 1,300 checks hadn't arrived in ZIP codes 40201, 40202 and 40203, mainly around downtown, while some in 40211 were trickling in yesterday."

The Courier-Journal has reported that "Postal officials are investigating why as many as 1,300 checks hadn't arrived in ZIP codes 40201, 40202 and 40203, mainly around downtown, while some in 40211 were trickling in yesterday."

The National has reported that "POST PNG and City Pharmacy Ltd have formed a venture to provide postal and health services in areas without access to full pharmaceutical outlets. The Post PNG management is spearheading this initiative."

MENA-FN has reported that the "Universal Postal Union (UPU) is mustering the support of regional postal organisations for its International Express Money Order service which is designed to provide speedy electronic money transfer through the postal network backed by the UPU-developed IFS (international financial services) software."

MoreRFID has reported that "Catalyst, a business unit of CDC Global Services, has announced the worldwide launch of XPS, an Integrated Cross-Carrier Packing and Shipping System. Catalyst's XPS is a comprehensive, powerful and easy to use solution that simplifies all aspects of packing and shipping. It seamlessly integrates with SAP as well as leading third party parcel carriers' systems to deliver complete visibility and control over all aspects of order fulfillment from the warehouse to the customer."

According to WFAA, a postal "customer finds 'return to sender' won't work, but flow can be slowed."

EUX.tv has reported that "Deutsche Post Chairman Klaus Zumwinkel came under fire Thursday for selling share options after it became clear the German government would push through a minimum wage for the sector."

Expatica has reported that "Coalition party Labour PvdA wants to postpone further liberalisation of the postal market, but coalition party Christian democrat CDA has still not taken a stand on the issue. This emerged on Thursday morning as trade unions demonstrated in front of Parliament for better employment conditions for postal delivery personnel."

The Guardian has reported that "Hard-left lawmakers in the European Parliament are mounting a rearguard attempt to derail EU plans to open up the bloc's 88 billion-euro ($129.5 billion) postal markets to full competition from 2011. The EU assembly is due to take a final vote on the measure next month after the plan was adopted by a broad majority, 512 to 155, in a preliminary vote earlier this year. The measure was also backed by EU states. The final vote was expected to pass uneventfully but the communist-led GUE/NGL bloc and Green Party members have tabled over 70 amendments, including one to scrap the measure."

The Azerbaijan Business Center has reported that "The Ministry of Communications & Information Technologies of Azerbaijan continues realizing the three-year programme of post services development. Deputy communication minister Iltimas Mammadov said that for the last three years they are going to restructure around 3,000 post offices of Azerpoct (Azerbaijan State Post Company) on the principle of “universal postal services”. “In this connection we opened around 110 new post offices in remote populated points last year and 85 ones this year. In 2008 we expect to open 300 ones more to be designed to render universal services,” Mammadov said."

December 5, 2007

A three-member arbitration panel led by neutral chairman Herbert Fishgold issued its award today, establishing the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement between the Postal Service and the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association (NRLCA). The award establishes a four-year contract (from Nov. 20, 2006 to Nov. 20, 2010), affecting approximately 68,000 career employees and 55,000 non-career employees who deliver mail to residences and businesses on rural delivery routes.

From PR Newswire: "Valassis and ADVO announced plans to retire the ADVO name at the end of the year and move forward as Valassis, the nation's leading marketing services provider. Great strides have been made since the integration began nine months ago when Valassis acquired the country's largest direct mail marketer, based in Windsor, Connecticut."

Business Credit Management has reported that "Today, delegates from the IIR's joint Electronic Invoicing and Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) conferences came together, joined by DHL ( http://www.dhl.com ), the global market leader in the international express and logistics industry, to share e-invoicing experiences. On the brink of a huge change in the payments world, the events provided a timely opportunity for delegates to question key members of the European Commission, European Central Bank and European Payments Council (EPC), as well as listening to the experiences of businesses that have already embraced e-invoicing."

The Wall Street Journal has reported that "U.S. productivity soared and labor costs tumbled in the third quarter. Nonfarm business productivity swelled at a 6. 3% annualized rate between July and September, the Labor Department said Wednesday, up from the previous estimate of a 4.9% increase. Last quarter's gain was the biggest in four years and nearly triple the 2.2% rate in the second quarter. Productivity is defined as output per unit of labor. Labor is the most important cost to production of goods and services. If not matched by productivity, higher labor costs must be either passed through by a company in the form of higher prices to its customers or absorbed in the firm's profit margins. Productivity can also offset higher material and energy costs as well as the weaker dollar -- all of which have been highlighted as inflationary risks."

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

Investment banks have valued Poste Italiane's market value at between 14 and 15bn euros. What is more, the news agency »Reuters« (28.11) cites CEO Massimo Sarmi as saying that the post is ready for an initial public offering.
Deutsche Post, the union ver.di and the employers' association Arbeitgeberverband Postdienste e.V. confirmed an agreement on the area of validity for the minimum wage in the postal sector. A restriction of the wage agreement to businesses, which predominantly forward mail consignments for third parties in a buinesslike or professional manner, created the necessary basis for the generally binding declaration.
The PIN Group reacted to the German government's decision to introduce a minimum wage with the announcement of cutting 1,000 jobs. TNT Post reacted to the introduction of a minimum wage by cancelling a planned cooperation. The company disclosed that business activities of the planned cooperation with Hermes Logistik had been cancelled with immediate effect.
The European Commission approved government funding worth about 886m euros to Royal Mail.
Following the German government's decision to introduce a minimum wage in the postal sector, TNT plans to lobby for the Dutch parliament to postpone the liberalisation of the domestic postal market, which is planned for 1 January 2008, the news agency »Reuters« (30.11) reports.
Banking services, microfinancing and information services - therein lies the future for the Indian postal network.
Motshoanetsi Lefoka - this is the woman who is supposed to steer the South African Post Office (Sapo) from its crisis. Corruption, theft, inefficiency, poor service, losses in the business and recession - these are all problems, which the new CEO is now expected to solve better than her predecessor Khutso Mampeule.
UPS has confirmed that the Indian subsidiary UPS Jetair Express will be cooperating closely with the CEP and logistics operator AFL Private Limited (turnover 2005/2006: 156.3m euros) from the beginning of next year.
Korea Express, one of the biggest CEP services in the country (turnover 2003: 908m euros), appears to be for sale.
time:matters, which by its own accounts is the market leader in the German Special Speed business, is stepping up its activities in the European business.
In the future, DHL Korea will have to pay compensation for consignments delivered late.

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

As the Financial Times has noted, "Twenty minutes into the interview and Nigel Underwood has not yet mentioned computers. Whatever technology means to the chief information officer for DHL Logistics, it does not seem to include a compelling enthusiasm for hardware or software. He grins in agreement: "This is a people business. Technology is the enabler but it is the people who make the difference."

Spiegel Online has reported that "Germany's postal services market is to be opened up to competition as of January. But plans for a minimum wage for postal workers is threatening liberalization as one of Deutsche Post's main rivals announces major job cuts and another pulls out of the market for private customers."

According to People's Daily, "The U.S. overseas mail delivery is expected to increase by 200 percent this holiday season, NY1 news channel reported on Tuesday. The surge in military personnel in Iraq is contributing to the overall increase, the paper said. The postal service is expected to deliver 20 million pounds of mail to military installations overseas this holiday season."

The Kansas City Star has reported that "environmental groups are offering a way for consumers who feel snowed under by paper to go online to opt out of catalogs they don't want. And the effort appears to be gaining support from retailers, who see it as a way to cut costs. Analysts say that many merchants are monitoring the Web site, weighing whether it might benefit them. Fifty already have opened accounts in active support of the movement, including L.L. Bean, Lands' End, Brookstone and Tiffany & Co. Al Bessin, a consulting partner with Lenser, which advises the catalog industry, said that higher paper and postal costs — and a drop in response rates — make the old approach of mailing."

The Las Cruces Sun-News has reported that "Las Cruces Postmaster Le Gretta Ross-Rawlins say she is confident that Santa's little helpers in blue are ready to take on the busiest mailing season of the year this December. City Manager Terrence Moore said the volume of complaints for late mail and poor customer service peaked during the holiday season in 2006, but that he hadn't had any complaints in several months."

The Philadelphia Daily News has reported that "A federal judge threw out a complaint by an Olney woman who sued the U.S. Postmaster General for race and gender discrimination after she was dismissed from her postal job in June 2005."

ABC.az has reported that "On December 5-6, European Committee of Postal Regulation (CERP) is to conduct its 37th plenary session in Baku. The Ministry of Communications & Information Technologies of Azerbaijan informed that the session will involve over 50 representatives of 25 countries, including CERP head Jean Luc Dutordoit."

The Malta Independent has reported that "The Malta Communications Authority has reprimanded Maltapost for delivering mail which did not show any mark of payment, nor indicated who provided the postal service. The authority has ordered Maltapost to make itself identifiable as the provider of the service. The authority said that since the beginning of this year, Maltapost has been delivering a substantial amount of postal articles that do not carry any stamp/postal mark indicating payment of postage and/or fees on a postal article. Furthermore, no other mark is visible indicating that the provision of postal service is actually being made by Maltapost."

Forbes has reported that "Mail distribution company TNT NV said it is 'not afraid' of facing financial repercussions if it decides to freeze or perhaps even abandon current cooperation agreements with local mail distributors in Germany."

According to the Washington Post, "The Washington, D.C., postmark is fading into oblivion, a casualty of the anthrax attacks of 2001. After two postal workers died at a Northeast facility, the Postal Service began farming mail to the suburbs. Now the only way to guarantee a D.C. postmark is to take it in person to a post office and ask a clerk to cancel it by hand. Otherwise, it's a spin of the roulette wheel."

The Postal Regulatory Commission has issued a "Notice Of Request For Comments On Service Performance Measurement Systems For Market Dominant Products." The Postal Service has submitted a formal proposal to the Commission setting forth several proposed systems for measuring the service performance of market dominant products.3 The Proposal describes the measurement approaches the Postal Service seeks to use to measure the service performance of its various market dominant mail products.

December 4, 2007

The Associated Press has reported that "Postal services company PIN Group said Tuesday it is going to lay off 1,000 workers following the German government's decision to introduce minimum wages for letter carriers. The company said there might be further layoffs that could hit especially hard the unskilled and formerly longtime unemployed persons now working for the company."

From PR Newswire: "DST Output this month celebrates a decade of providing electronic presentment and payment solutions to hundreds of its customers for consumer and CSR (customer service representative) viewing via the Web, and retrieval solutions via CD/DVD. The longstanding leader of printed statements and other customer communications is also looking toward the future: Its "eSolutions" offerings have demonstrated strong growth in recent years as consumer adoption rates of online billing and statement delivery have increased."

Press Release: "BCC Software, a BÖWE BELL + HOWELL company and a leading developer of highperformance solutions for professional mailers, announces the addition of Chris Lien to its executive team. Lien, a mailing industry veteran and a widely recognized expert on postal issues, address quality and comprehensive mailing technology development, was named Executive Vice President effective December 1, 2007."

From PR Newswire: "As part of the program of reforms undertaken by the Algeria Post Office (Algerie Poste) to improve and extend the services it offers, modernizing its information systems and making them more secure has become an increasingly vital imperative. To achieve these aims, Algerie Poste has chosen to work with Bull - the European information systems architect to support the company in upgrading its information systems, and so successfully strengthen its policy of delivering ever more innovative solutions for its customers, with their constantly evolving requirements."

According to IOL.co.za, "Mail theft remains a serious problem for the South African Post Office in spite of a reported 40 percent increase in profit in the first half of the 2006/2007 financial year."

According to Public Servant Daily, the "Public sector is saving millions with postal services agreements."

In Marketing, you too can read about "Canada Post's second life. The hope is younger shoppers will start perceiving Canada Post in a more modern light. Not everyone agrees. Second Life is "far too niche and far too esoteric for Canada Post," says Mike D'Abramo, director of research and strategy at Toronto agency Youthography. Of the 286,000 Canadians who've registered on the site, he estimates only a modest percentage are active users. And while D'Abramo admires Canada Post's move into e-commerce, the virtual post office needs to do a better job offering products for a younger audience-like customizable stamps-rather than standard stamps, coins and collector packs. "They're the post office... they aren't going to be cool [just] by trying to be in cool spaces."

According to Smart Money, "United Parcel Services Inc. (UPS) will move the headquarters for its logistics distribution division from Biel/Bienne, Switzerland to Brussels, Belgium, resulting in the transfer of 85 employees, Belgian daily L'Echo reported Monday. The move follows the company's decision to locate the company's European headquarters in Brussels. The Swiss headquarters will close in May 2008."

The News has reported that "The Pakistan Post will soon introduce the scheme of money transfer through mobile phone services, said the Director-General Pakistan Post, Arshad Khan."

As the BBC has noted, "The recent industrial dispute at the Royal Mail may have ended. But 165,000 staff at the group, including Post Office and Parcel Force employees, still face big changes to their pension scheme."

According to the Deseret Morning News, "Consumers have a variety of options for reducing the amount of bulk mail coming to them."

DM News has noted that "Although most direct mailers are confident that the US Postal Service's new rate-setting regulations will be preferable to the old system, which has been in place since the 1970s, how and when future rate changes will go into effect are still a source of speculation."

The December 4, 2007 issue of the National Association of Postal Supervisors Legislative Update is available on this site.

December 3, 2007

Here's an interesting piece from Business Week: "Stroll through the C-suite at many companies, and it's an easy bet which executive is a dead man (or woman) walking: the chief marketing officer. It's not hard to see why companies are grappling with this. As recently as five years ago, the CMO's role was much simpler. Chief marketers devised a brand message, hired an advertising agency to create clever ads, managed promotions, and then waited for their bonus or pink slip. "You would run a major ad campaign and trust it," says Jim Speros, a veteran marketing executive who is currently CMO at Marsh & McClennan (MMC). But that won't fly in a world where blogs, social networks, and cell phones are fast changing not just where ads go but how people shop....Perhaps we should just call for the end of the CMO position," Advertising Age editorialized on Oct. 29. "Put the job out of its misery. It isn't really working anyway, is it? Let's just divvy up the responsibilities among the chief sales officer, the chief information officer, the chief operations officer, and the chief financial officer. The CMO was having too much trouble trying to figure out how to get them to understand marketing anyway. And CEOs were having too much trouble defining the CMO role and making heads or tails of what the value was."

From the Federal Register: "On Tuesday, December 4, and Wednesday, December 5, 2007, Postal Regulatory Commissioners and advisory staff members will tour the United Parcel Service facility in Louisville, Kentucky and meet with company officials. The purpose of the tour is to observe company operations."

Forbes has reported that "TNT NV's TNT Post and Hermes Logistik Gruppe said they have cancelled plans to offer mail services to retail clients and small companies after the German government decided to introduce minimum wages for the postal industry. " See also Reuters.

Yahoo! Finance has posted a summary report of UPS financials.

NOW OPEN...Attendee registration for the spring National Postal Forum happening May 18-21, 2008 in Anaheim, CA!

ABC Money has reported that "analysts who attended Oesterreichische Post AG's recent capital markets day expect the postal services group to raise its job cuts target."

Forbes has reported that "EU commissioner Nelie Kroes is planning to investigate the German government's decision to introduce minimum wages for postal workers. Kroes will investigate whether the minimum wages are an unjustified preferential treatment of Deutsche Post.S"

The Financial Times has reported that:

Fred Smith, the chief executive of FedEx, the logistics giant, has warned that global growth will not be enough to counter a US slowdown, raising doubts over corporate America's ability to export its way out of a sluggish domestic economy. The warning from Mr Smith, a respected business leader whose company is both a gauge and a beneficiary of globalisation, will deepen investor pessimism over the prospect that the world economy could "decouple" and survive a US downturn unscathed.
Allan Leighton is expected to stay on as Royal Mail chairman beyond March next year to continue modernising the postal operator after one of the most bitter industrial disputes for several years.

PostInsight has posted some of the presentations given at the FEDMA Postal Workshop Delivering The Future of Postal Services, Brussels, 22nd November 2007.

Brudirect has noted that "The future of traditional postal services, over the past decade at least, is looking glum due to the increasing popularity of more convenient and quicker methods of communication. But postal services will not be deemed obsolete just yet."

December 2, 2007

As Barron's has noted, "Western Union has 320,000 agents handling transfers in more than 200 countries, where it is able to piggyback on existing infrastructure like postal or grocery outlets that keep its capital investment relatively small and the prospect of 20% returns possible. And it's serving a huge marketplace as workers increasingly range the globe. The World Bank estimates there are now nearly 200 million immigrants -- about 3% of the global population. Roughly 60% of revenues are derived from outside the United States."

According to one writer for the New York Times, "The pneumatic tube system continued to operate, carrying about a third of the city's mail, until the end of 1953, when amid a political fight over the post office's lease with the company that ran the network, it was decided that the system was too expensive to operate and that it was more efficient to use trucks. The tubes themselves were abandoned in place and are no longer functional. This alternative to highway transport should be brought back, especially for shuttle routes between airports and downtown central offices, and updated with new technologies. If we had a pneumatic tube system between the airports and the city's general post office in Midtown Manhattan, we could reduce the number of diesel-burning, mail-carrying 18-wheelers on the city's streets."

December 1, 2007

Reuters has reported that "German publisher Axel Springer is considering exiting its postal business after the German government's decision this week to impose a minimum wage for workers in the sector."

According to the Journal News, "E-mailing holiday cards at Christmas and Hanukkah may be the last taboo when it comes to electronic communications. The number of electronic cards, or e-cards, is a fraction of the 6 billion paper cards sent year-round in the United States, including Christmas, which generates the most cards, according to the Greeting Card Association."

From 24-7: "ShipGooder.com is a search engine that allows visitors to quickly search FedEx, UPS, DHL and the U.S. Postal service for the best shipping rates. ShipGooder's service is provided free of charge, and does not require visitors to create an account or register any personal information. Additionally, the designers of ShipGooder chose not to clutter its pages with advertising, which can be distracting and confusing to visitors.In the highly competitive market for web search applications, faster and simpler is better."