![[PostCom logo]](../../postcom3.gif)
Postal News from December 2008:
December 31, 2008
According to
Reuters, "Online sales for the holiday period up to December 23 fell
3 percent from the same period last year, marking the first decline in
online spending since comScore Inc started tracking online sales in
2001."
According
to
Africa Business Daily, " At Posta, e-driven reforms pay off ."
The
Postal Regulatory Commission today established Docket No. ACR 2008
to review the Postal Service’s 2008 Annual Compliance Report (ACR) filed
on December 29, 2008. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of
2006 (PAEA) requires the Commission to review the ACR and make an Annual
Compliance Determination (ACD) within 90 days. The Commission’s ACD will
address compliance of rates and fees under applicable standards, as well
as whether service standards in effect during the period covered by the
2008 ACR were met.
As the
Associated Press has noted, "It's been a devastating year for the
nation's railroads, trucking companies and package shippers - the
companies on the "front lines" of the economic recession. Shipments have
plunged as retailers pulled back on orders and consumers tied their
purse strings tight in preparation for more hard times. Swiftly
accelerating oil prices through the first seven months of the year
crippled companies even more."
Media Daily News has reported that "The newspaper business got
another round of alarming (but not terribly surprising) news over the
last week, as three leading publishers revealed that ad revenues
essentially fell off a cliff in November. As the New York Times Co.,
McClatchy and Media General are bellwethers for the industry overall,
their weak results suggest that newspapers will see a year-over-year
fourth-quarter revenue decline in the double digits, possibly exceeding
20%. Online revenues, previously the sole bright spot on the books,
slipped 2.6% in November. Overall, this year's declines have compounded
a trend that started last year. In 2007, total advertising revenue fell
4.9% compared to 2006, making 2008 the second year of losses in a row."
According to
the
Greenville News, "The United State Postal Service mail processing
facility in Greenville will quadruple in size to consolidate services in
2010."
Business Week has noted that "Adam Parks is an avid reader of
digital books. But you won't find him downloading the 20 or so titles he
reads each year onto an electronic book device like
Amazon's Kindle.
Instead, Parks flips through pages—Web-site design manuals and Sun Tzu's
The Art of War are recent favorites—on his trusted iPhone. As
smartphones have
become more ubiquitous, so have the tools that make it easy for users to
download a book for a fraction of the cost of buying one elsewhere."
According to
Information Week, "Mobile banking is a common service in countries like
Japan, though
less than 10% of U.S. consumers use their
cell phones to perform banking transactions. The single biggest
factor for the low adoption rate is concerns over security, according to
a new report by Javelin
Strategy & Research. The report, titled "2008 Mobile Banking
Security Standards," said 47% of nonparticipants did not sign up because
of security. Despite the lack of large-scale mobile phone attacks, 73%
of consumers fear hackers could remotely access their phones. Those
surveyed also expressed concern that their sensitive mobile banking data
could be stolen with a
wireless signal despite encryption, and more than half were worried
about what would happen if their phone was stolen."
The
Philadelphia Inquirer has reported that "Exel
Inc. intends to eliminate 131 jobs in Philadelphia when it halts
operations at 3820 N. Second St. starting May 1. The company, based in
Westerville, Ohio, runs a distribution center for
General Motors Corp. at that location, according to a filing with
the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry. A $4.7 billion provider
of contract logistics services,
Exel is a subsidiary of
Deutsche Post World Net, the European postal company that also owns
DHL."
"The
Postal Service has released additional details on the voluntary
early retirement (VER) offer recently authorized by the Office of
Personnel Management (OPM) for USPS employees in clerk, mail handler,
supervisor of distribution operations, and supervisor of customer
services positions. The offer is open to employees in positions that
meet the OPM conditions and who are at least 50 years of age with 20
years of creditable federal service or any age with 25 years of
creditable federal service."
The
Fiji Daily Post has reported that "Post Fiji Limited handed over a
$371,772 cheque dividend for 2007 to the Government yesterday. Post Fiji
Chairman, Ioane Naivalurua said business for the company had been
satisfactory and this showed in its stable financial position. He said
Fiji’s postal service provider was doing well but he believed that 2009
would be a better year."
WKOW-TV
has reported that "The post office is making route changes around the
state, but, in the Village of Clinton, people are worried where that
might lead. Starting Saturday, the Beloit Post Office will be taking
over Clinton's rural routes. When some former employees of the post
office found out about this, they told people that is a precursor to the
post office shutting down. The US Postal Service said it acknowledges
the role the post office plays in communities. "We know that's important
we know a lot of times that's the livelihood of a community. We have no
plans and there are no plans to close the Clinton Post Office," stated
Don Kieler, US Postal Service. The Postal Service says has to constantly
make changes like these to stay competitive. "The mail volume is going
down, so like any other company, we're doing things to control costs,"
explained Kieler."
December 30, 2008
The Postal Service's
Comprehensive Statement of Postal Operations for Fiscal 2008 can be
found on the Postal Service's web site.
The November/December MailPro [HTML]
| [PDF]
is available now on
usps.com/mailpro. You’ll find informative articles on the new
shipping services prices, with answers to frequently asked questions;
our five-year strategic plan; and four new or updated Intelligent Mail
Guides. Customers can access current and past
issues of MailPro online or subscribe by sending an e-mail to
mncsc@usps.com. Include your name,
title, company name, complete delivery address, and daytime phone
number.
According to
the
Dead Tree Edition, "If you’re one of those sick people who like to
rubberneck at accidents, keep an eye on the U.S. Postal Service’s
Intelligent Mail Barcode initiative. It’s a train wreck waiting to
happen. Representatives of mailers, printers, and mailing-industry
vendors in such organizations as Idealliance and the Association for
Postal Commerce (PostCom) are nearly unanimous in their frustration with
the Postal Service’s lack of communication and planning regarding IMb."
The
Alaska Journal of Commerce has reported that "If Alaska's
transportation industry officials held up a crystal ball to predict what
the next year will bring they would see through the fog that there are
changes coming on the horizon. Two of the biggest issues in the upcoming
year will be the cost of fuel, and the future of the U.S. Postal
System's Bypass Mail Program."
Check out
the
Wall Street Journal piece on marketing and web 2.0. Then
check
out the article on "President-elect Barack Obama's call to improve
the nation's broadband infrastructure has cable and phone company
lobbyists maneuvering to get a leg up. Lawmakers in Congress want a plan
that will create jobs over the next two to three years while also
tackling the longer-term goal of improving the availability and quality
of high-speed Web access in the U.S." Stamps? What stamps? We
don't need no stinking stamps.
The
Philadelphia Daily News has reported that "Top officials of the U.S.
Postal Service and the American Postal Workers Union are monitoring the
serious mail problems in Philadelphia. But William Burrus, national
president of the APWU, warned of an even worse problem on the horizon
than "just the delay of the mail." With a nearly $3 billion loss in
fiscal '08, and a projected deficit of up to $5 billion in the current
year, the USPS is "close to not being able to sustain a national
postal-service system to the public," Burrus said. "I would not use a
word as strong as 'insolvent,' " he said. "But they are in enormous
debt. They are in very, very, bad circumstances. "If they continue on a
downward trajectory, it may happen sooner rather than later," he added."
The
BBC has
noted that "The Royal Mail is to launch a campaign to celebrate the 50th
anniversary of the postcode. It will stress the importance of using the
letters and numbers that make up postcodes on mailed items. Almost a
fifth of non-business letters, cards and packets are sent without a full
or accurate postcode."
December 29, 2008
The U.S. Postal Service has filed its
Annual
Compliance Report (ACR) for FY 2008 with the Postal Regulatory
Commission. Be sure to check the daily listing for December 29 for all
of the Postal Service's reports and work papers regarding its services.
Gear Live would like you to "Take a look at Zumbox, a startup that
is a nationwide paperless postal service. They have one virtual mailbox
for every street address which they estimate at 150MM+. To use the
service, after signup you type in your street address and view your mail
as an envelope. Use it to send mail to any other address, including your
bills, statements and personal mail. It costs nothing to receive mail
and you can send free a “small amount.” Businesses will pay an
introductory price of $.02 per address for large mailings."
Logistics
Management has reported that "As shippers huddle in a post-holiday
“damage control” mode, many of them are hoping the new White House
administration will provide some relief."
From
today's Federal
Register:
| Postal Regulatory Commission | |
| RULES | |
| International Mail Contracts, | |
| 79396–79400 [E8–30736] | [TEXT] [PDF] |
| Postal Service | |
| PROPOSED RULES | |
| New Standards For Letter-Size Booklets and Folded Self-Mailers, | |
| 79430–79435 [E8–30752] | [TEXT] [PDF] |
D
Pacific magazine has reported that "Fiji’s postal and
telecommunications services could be disrupted or halted next month if
some 1,200 workers go on strike. The union says the quasi-government
agency offered tiered wage hikes of between 1 and 3 percent per year.
The union believes its workers are entitled to a 5.8 percent salary
increase."
December 28, 2008
Hellmail has reported that "The Spanish postal operator Correos is
to increase charges on postal items from January 1st 2009. Inland
letters and postcards will require a 0.32 franking instead of 0.31 up to
20 grams and the 0.43 if they weigh between 20 and 50 grams. For
international letters and postcards, standard mail up to 20 grams will
be 0.62, and 1,29 for 20 and 50 grams. Interurban and international
tariffs up to 50 grams will increase by 2.04%, whereas the average
update of prices across all services in 2009 will be 2.66%."
The Times has reported that "Lord Mandelson is preparing to make
concessions over the part-privatisation of Royal Mail after warnings
that up to 100 Labour backbenchers will rebel against the government
over its plans. The business secretary is expected to offer a statutory
guarantee that no more than about a third of the postal service will be
sold to the private sector. Labour rebels have been concerned that
Mandelson’s plan, rushed out just before parliament’s Christmas break,
is a “slippery slope” towards full-scale privatisation. However, last
night a senior government source said Mandelson was ready to give ground
to the rebels: “The potential for rebellion is huge. There need to be
clear reassurances that we have no intention of pushing further.”
The Mirror has reported that "Campaigners are calling on Lord
Mandelson to ditch his plans for the partial sale of the Royal Mail.
They want the Business Secretary to back their plan to turn the network
of post offices into a new "People's Bank"."
The
Greater Triad Business Journal has reported that "FedEx
says it will delay the opening of its much anticipated sorting hub at
Piedmont Triad International Airport and initially hire fewer employees,
according to multiple press reports."
December 27, 2008
The
Staten Island Advance has reported that "With the flagging economy
triggering unprecedented losses, the United States Postal Service (USPS)
is reorganizing delivery routes on Staten Island in hopes of cutting
costs. The change is part of a nationwide effort to right an agency that
lost $2.8 billion last year after experiencing the largest percentage
decline in mail volume since the Great Depression."
The
Times of Malta has reported that "This Christmas saw a 52 per cent
increase in the amount of packages shipped to Malta over the same period
last year, with books, DVDs and CDs topping the list of the most popular
items, according to Maltapost. It comes as no surprise because some
items can be bought online for about half the price in Malta, according
to a simple analysis by The Times. Better still, most online shops
include free packaging, shipping and home delivery."
The
Mainichi Daily News has reported that "Losses caused by the
fraudulent use of a discount postal service totaled about 4.6 billion
yen between April 2007 and October 2008, Japan Post Service has
announced. Japan Post Service conducted investigations after finding out
that companies exploited a discount service intended for disabled groups
to send advertisements to consumers at a lower cost."
The Independent has reported that "More than 100 Labour MPs are
ready to defy the Government and join a guerrilla campaign against moves
to sell off a stake in Royal Mail. The backlash against the
part-privatisation – with plans being drawn up for protests around the
country – threatens to present Gordon Brown with his biggest rebellion
of 2009."
December 26, 2008
According to
Digital Trends, "New estimates put the number of active mobile
connections worldwide at about 4 billion - meaning, in theory, about
sixty percent of all humanity has a cell phone."
As
Wales Online has noted, "they
were once seen as bastions of queuing pensioners, but the nation’s
struggling post offices may have found an unlikely new saviour in a
generation of internet shoppers. In the past year post offices in Wales
say they have experienced a surge in sales of around 10%, largely due to
high-spending internet shoppers and fans of web-based auction sites such
as eBay. And over the next two years, Royal Mail says it expects
business generated from online sales and home shopping to increase by
around 20%, prompting claims internet shoppers could help prevent the
demise of this mainstay of the high street."
The
Asahi Shimbun has reported that "About 80 percent of mail sent
through a special discount postal service for disability support
organizations over a 19-month period was unqualified for the lower
rates, Japan Post Service Co. officials said Wednesday. The loss through
the abuse of the system totaled at least 4.9 billion yen, they said. Of
the roughly 188 million items sent under the system between April 2007
and the end of October this year, 148 million copies of 17 publications
did not meet the requirements for the discounts and mainly contained
advertising material for companies."
December 25, 2008
Fox News has reported that "As the economic recession deepens, more
and more states are turning to temporary furloughs to grapple with
severe budget shortfalls, prompting questions about whether the
cash-strapped federal government should try the same."
The
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has reported that
"The internet, which emerged this year as a leading source for campaign
news, has now surpassed all other media except television as a main
source for national and international news." See also
CNET News.
The Peninsula has reported that "Qatar National Bank (QNB), the
country’s leading bank, and Qatar Postal Corporation (Q-Post) have
signed an agreement under which Q-Post will provide comprehensive postal
services to the bank."
The latest
copy of the
National Association of Postmasters of the U.S. electronic
governmental affairs newsletter is available on the NAPUS web site.
December 24, 2008
MSNBC has reported
that "Three Bay area members of Congress — Reps. Gus Bilirakis, Kathy
Castor and Adam Putnam — say they intend to launch new congressional
efforts to create a free-mail-to-troops program for service members in
combat zones. The trio plan to push for passage of a bill in the
congressional session that will start in January. Such a program has
been estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to cost taxpayers as
much as $30 million over two years."
According to
Multichannel Merchant, "A few days after the U.S. Postal Service
revealed its proposed changes to slim-jim catalogs, the executive
director of the American Catalog Mailers Association says he’s happy
with the revisions. “Overall, I am pleased to see so many of the
concerns we have raised in discussions and prior comments on this issue
reflected in the soon to be published Federal Register notice, says ACMA
executive director Hamilton Davison. What’s more, he says the language
choices “clearly reflect a more customer-oriented perspective than we
have seen from the USPS historically.”
In response
to a member inquiry,
American
Postal Workers Union President William Burrus said: "There is no
question that under Potter’s leadership, decisions detrimental to the
Postal Service have been made; but I do not begrudge him a salary
commensurate with his responsibilities. Jack Potter is the Postmaster
General of the largest postal system in the world; he is the CEO of the
10th largest commercial enterprise in our country, which is second only
to Wal-Mart in the number of workers it employs. Despite the scope of
his responsibility, he is the lowest paid CEO of a major corporation in
our country."
According to
FinancialAdvice.co.uk, "News that first-class stamps in UK will rise
by 3p to 39p from April 2009, which is roughly twice the rate of
inflation, is seen by many as further evidence that the Royal Mail will
soon be sold off by the government. This latest rise comes on the back
of potentially tens of thousands of job cuts, a partial sell-off to
Dutch group TNT and concern about the state of the company's pension
fund. There are rumours that the taxpayer will need to inject
substantial amounts of money into the pension fund to steady the ship
ahead of a possible sell-off."
D
The
Financial Times has reported that "Postal prices will rise by an
average of 5.85 per cent from April 6, Royal Mail has announced - just
below the 6 per cent maximum permitted by the regulator. Much larger
increases will be charged to users of stamped mail, where the price of
the cheapest first class and second class stamps will rise by 3p to 39p
and 30p respectively. Business customers will pay on average 4.2 per
cent extra. The rises mean that stamped mail will remain loss-making,
with UK postal charges still among the lowest in Europe. The universal
one-price- goes-everywhere service is losing more than £100m a year, as
competition from digital communication eats into mail volumes."
Wales Online has reported that "a new £4.5m
Welsh Assembly fund for beleaguered post offices has been welcomed. The
One Wales Government’s Post Office Diversification Fund will be launched
next month to help sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses to develop
their businesses by providing money for such things as business and
marketing advice, advertising, training and some set-up costs for new
services."
The Reporter
has noted that "Local package shippers are noticing a difference among
those shipping gifts and other boxes to friends and family. Folks seem
to be waiting longer to ship items and seem to be choosing the cheaper,
and slower, options when sending the gifts."
|
Register Early and Save on Admission to 2009 National Postal Forum May 17-20 – Washington, DC. Postmaster General John Potter will deliver the keynote speech May 18. A closing gala reception will be held at the newly reopened Smithsonian National Museum of American History. An early registration price of $900 is offered through Feb. 28. Onsite registration increases to $995 for most attendees. For more information and to register, go to npf.org or call 703-218-5015. |
Federal
Register:
|
|
Postal Regulatory Commission: |
|
|
Postal
Service: RULES Bylaws of the Board of Governors, 78981–78991 [E8–30020] [TEXT] [PDF] NOTICES Product Change; Express Mail & Priority Mail Contract 1 Negotiated Service Agreements, 79199 [E8–30573] [TEXT] [PDF] Product Change; Express Mail Contract 2 Negotiated Service Agreements, 79199 [E8–30576] [TEXT] [PDF] Product Change; Parcel Return Service Contract 1 Negotiated Service Agreements, 79199 [E8–30609] [TEXT] [PDF] Product Change; Priority Mail Contract 2 Negotiated Service Agreements, 79199 [E8–30610] [TEXT] [PDF] Product Change; Priority Mail Contract 3 Negotiated Service Agreements, 79199–79200 [E8–30572] [TEXT] [PDF] Product Change; Priority Mail Contract 4 Negotiated Service Agreements, 79200 [E8–30611] [TEXT] [PDF] |
Media Daily News has reported that "At a time of year when
big magazine publishers normally are locking down annual
advertising rate increases for the coming year, demand for
magazine advertising is proving as volatile as the overall
economy, and media buyers expect corporate publishing deals to
stretch on to early 2009."
In a letter addressed to
House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi, House Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the
District of Columbia Subcommittee Chairman Danny Davis (D-IL) and
Ranking Minority Member John McHugh (R-NY) said:/p>
"We are writing to request that the text of H.R. 7313, introduced on December 9, 2008, be included in the economic stimulus package currently being developed. This bill would assist the U.S. Postal Service to address its serious financial constraints and would serve to protect existing Postal Service jobs.
"Challenging economic conditions are reducing mail volume
substantially. The Postal Service lost 9 billion pieces of mail in FY2008.
In addition, Congress statutorily required the Postal Service to begin
pre-funding its retiree health benefits obligation in 2006 and this
requirement is also placing a tremendous burden on the Postal Service.
The payment schedule statutorily mandated by the Postal Accountability and
Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA) requires the Postal Service to make an annual
payment ranging from $5.4 to $5.8 billion from 2007 to 2016. In addition,
under PAEA, the Postal Service makes a separate payment to the Office of
Personnel Management (OPM) for its annual retiree health benefit premiums
until 2016.
"Based on our conversations with the Postmaster General, it is clear that the Postal Service understands that it must constrain costs. The Postal Service reduced the number of employees by more than 100,000; offered a voluntary early retirement to virtually every employee in the Postal Service; and is exploring a variety of ways to consolidate its processes to achieve efficiency while maintaining service. However, the Postal Service's fixed network costs cannot be reduced immediately.
"To address the Postal Service's immediate financial distress, we believe Congress should amend the PAEA to leave the ten-year PAEA payment stream intact, but allow the Postal Service to pay its retiree health premiums out of the Retiree Health Benefit Trust Fund (RHBF), rather than make a separate payment to OPM. This option would simply accelerate a provision in PAEA, which states that after 2016, premium payments would no longer be paid separately, but would be drawn from the RHBF. We would note that at the end of FY2008, the RHBF had a balance of roughly $32 billion, so the goal of pre-funding retiree health benefits would continue.
"This change would ease the financial pressure while the Postal Service pursues the long-term actions necessary to address the network costs. It would also reduce the need for the Postal Service to borrow money from the Treasury for the sole purpose of depositing that money into the RHBF."
The
National Association of Major Mail Users
has told its members that "As you are aware, Canada Post re-gazetted on
October 18 the Transaction Mail (Lettermail) rates proposed for January
2009. The 60-day appeal period ended December 18, and the government now
makes the decision taking all comments into account.
"We do not have the final information at this point, however, it seems certain that:
The
Muskogee Phoenix has reported that "The postal agency announced the move
a few weeks ago, stating declining mail volume dictates the move next year.
While the Postal Service spokesman didn’t say delivery would not be
affected, he did say the move will save transportation and off-loading time.
A representative of the American Postal Union criticized the service, saying
the move would mean the Muskogee office would lose control of delivery. For
good or bad, modern technology, such as cell phones, the Internet and
e-mail, has made the Post Office less relevant today. It is slowly fading,
and the sorter move from Muskogee is another example of the decline of a
once vital service to every American."
According to the
Dayton Daily News, "Members of Congress from Ohio are questioning
whether express shipper DHL is providing all the money it promised to help
offset the economic devastation anticipated from the planned shutdown of its
U.S. freight hub in Wilmington and loss of at least 8,000 jobs. DHL said on
Tuesday, Dec. 23, that it has been making regular payments to provide all
the money it promised, including funding severance, retention and health
care benefits for the Wilmington-area work force and funding a facility at
its Wilmington airport to help workers find new jobs."
December 23, 2008
According to
Sky News, "Thailand Post has introduced a new international postal
service, EMS World, with an aim to meet its revenue target this year of 16
billion baht. Anusara Jitmitraparp, senior vice-president of the state
enterprise, said the new service would provide international delivery to
more than 90 countries, on par with private couriers such as DHL and Fedex.
"We want to strengthen our EMS service and inform customers about our
ability to expedite mail," Ms Anusara said."
TMCNet
has reported that "Thailand Post has introduced a new international postal
service, EMS World, with an aim to meet its revenue target this year of 16
billion baht. Anusara Jitmitraparp, senior vice-president of the state
enterprise, said the new service would provide international delivery to
more than 90 countries, on par with private couriers such as DHL and Fedex.
"We want to strengthen our EMS service and inform customers about our
ability to expedite mail," Ms Anusara said."
The Postal Regulatory Commission's "Annual
Report to the President and Congress" has been posted on the PRC web
site.
The latest issue of the
PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:
The
Daily
Herald has reported that "Consumers will have to pay a tad bit more to
use certain services at Nieuwe Post N.V. from January 2009. The Management
of Nieuwe Post announced what it called a “slight” rate increase of some
postal products which will take place on the basis of a government approved
formula. The formula, Nieuwe Post officials said, entails that the postal
rates for each of the regulated products in 2009 may not be increased by
more than 80 per cent of the price index figure. The applied increase for
2009 is 4.2 per cent. “This means, for example, that the current price for
sending a local letter of 20 grams will increase by 4 cents (from NAf. 1.06
to NAf. 1.10).”
|
Distribution & Postal Coordinator |
The
Vancouver Sun has reported that "Canada Post workers voted late Monday
night to end their month-long strike, accepting a deal with the national
mail agency that replaces a contract that expired in August."
One writer for
the
Wall Street Journal has written: "This morning, I found myself in line
at my local post office. It’s consistently one of my most loathsome chores —
especially during the holiday season. Once I reached the customer service
window, a postal employee presented me with a surprisingly profound
question. Did I want to spend $20 and have my item shipped priority mail, or
did I want to spend $45 to ensure that it arrives in Oregon before Christmas
day? Did I want delivery confirmation? Tracking...? What’s actually
necessary...? Standing at the post office counter, I wondered: Should I have
gone for FedEx?
UPS? Pack mule...? After a moment of
contemplation, I could see that the woman working the counter (and the
twenty or so people in line behind me) were frustrated. I had to make a
decision. I went for the $20 option, the cheapest one. Maybe next year, I’ll
consider the economics of the pack mule."
From
PR Web: "Window Book releases Postal Package Partner with new January
18th 2009 USPS domestic rates including the new Commercial Plus rates for
Express Mail and Priority Mail."
Transport Logistics has reported that "UK postal organisation
Royal Mail and the national government should look closer to home for a
business partner rather than to foreign players like
TNT Post (Ti
Logistics Briefing, Briefing, December 17), argues APC Overnight. APC,
which claims to be the UK's largest nextday parcel and document delivery
network organisation, said in a statement that existing UK market leaders
such as itself,
Parcelnet, Home Delivery Network and
City Link all presented viable alternatives to Dutch-owned TNT Post."
Radio New Zealand has reported that "New Zealand Post is concerned its
Christmas workload is down this year. Postal workers are handling up to five
million items per day - which is one to two million more than normal
volumes. But postal chief executive Peter Fenton says that is down about 4%
on other years, representing about 200,000 items of mail per day. He says
the postal service has heavy fixed costs and it is not easy to adjust
staffing levels according to mail volumes. He says the numbers of Christmas
cards are down and so are parcels from overseas. People are paying bills
online or at the counter rather than sending a cheque through the mail."
December 22, 2008
Anspress has reported
that "State postal service of Azerbaijan Azerpost will join international
money transfer system. According to the Ministry of Communication and
Information Technologies, the system will enable individuals to carry out
urgent electron money transfers."
According to the
New York Times, "After a pilot run in 2007, United Parcel Service is
once again adding bicycle carriers to meet its holiday demand. It’s a tack
that, like alternative fuel vehicles and other measures the company has
historically taken to reduce operational costs, provides an attending
environmental benefit in the form of reduced carbon-dioxide emissions."
Hellmail has reported that:
From the
Rand
Corporation: "The Role of the United States Postal Service in Public
Safety and Security: Implications of Relaxing the Mailbox Monopoly"
According to
Direct magazine's Larry Riggs, "before the passage of the 2006 Postal
Accountability and Enhancement Act, many mailer groups repeatedly called for
the U.S. Treasury to pick up the tab for the pensions of former postal
workers and free up USPS funds for postal purposes. That didn’t really
happen. In fact, the USPS still has to pay as much as $5.8 billion a year in
employee retirement costs and Reps. John McHugh and Danny Davis—two key
figures in the marathon postal reform fight—are set to introduce legislation
to give the USPS a financial break. All this begs the question about who’s
gonna pay to ensure that workers who spent their lives delivering the mail
and keeping the country together will be able to spend the ends of their
lives in relative comfort and security. The money has to come from
somewhere. Maybe it’s time for somebody in government to think a little
outside the box and realize you can’t make money on everything—that you must
provide essential services."
Outgoing
Time magazine President-Worldwide Publisher Ed McCarrick has told
Advertising
Age that:
"This is more difficult than any recessionary period I've seen in my 35 years here. I think it runs deeper. It runs across large categories of advertising. It runs across consumers in terms of what they're willing to spend for products. We all have to be enormously competitive these days. And margins are literally being cut to the bone. Ultimately, how do you define value? At the end of it, where will everybody wind up? Because you get to a place that eventually you can't cut any more, and you can't reduce costs any more without it cutting into the muscle and fiber of whatever it is. Your commodity costs are going up. Your postal and delivery are going up -- your print costs, which are oil-based derivatives. Publishers especially are getting hit with double-digit increases in the physical part of their process. You have clients and agencies who are demanding lower and lower out-of-pocket costs. At some point, where do you say, "Hey, this isn't worth it for me, to ultimately be doing my business this way"?"
The
Financial Times has reported that "Labour committed to a "wholly
publicly owned" Royal Mail at its party conference barely three months ago,
rebels pointed out yesterday, amid an escalating row over Lord Mandelson's
decision to part-privatise the postal operator. The business secretary is
determined the sale of about 30 per cent of Royal Mail to a private sector
rival should go ahead as quickly as possible, said aides. Lord Mandelson is
close to finalising the appointment of UBS, the investment bank, to advise,
insiders said yesterday. TNT, the Dutch postal operator, has already
expressed an interest in the sell-off, subject to agreement on the
government's pledge that Royal Mail's £7bn pension deficit will be funded
principally by the taxpayer. Ministers will make a statement on progress
after MPs return from the Christmas break on January 12. The legislation
required to effect the part privatisation is expected in the spring. But
Lord Mandelson is running into increasing opposition from his own party to
the move. MPs have already complained that the sale would break the spirit
of Labour's 2005 manifesto commitment to keep Royal Mail publicly owned."
AllAfrica.com
has reported that "The Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) will soon commence
alert system through mobile phones to notify customers of unclear letters in
their post office boxes. The Abuja Territorial Managers, NIPOST, Aliyu
Mahmoud said Thursday that "an alert system will be installed to alert
costumers of any notice or letters in their boxes" from the first quarter of
next year."
According to
ZDNet, "The theory that sophisticated direct mail is the sole preserve
of large companies conducting bulk mailings, no longer stands up. With an
ever-increasing range of new marketing technologies available small
organisations can reap the benefits of this cost-effective marketing medium.
"
Telegeography has reported that "The Republic of Ireland’s postal
service An Post is looking to launch its own-branded mobile phone service in
the summer of 2009 as part of a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) deal
with Vodafone Ireland."
The
Philadelphia Daily News has reported that "A South Jersey printer says
3,365 envelopes he mailed to Medicaid subscribers last month were destroyed
and returned three weeks later in hampers along with a withered orange, a
bottle of joint ointment, a videotape wall-rack, books, trash and unrelated
mail. Shrink-wrapped pallets of envelopes were mailed at the Bellmawr center
but were returned from bulk-mail centers in Jersey City, N.J., and Northeast
Philadelphia. Hamilton Press said it has used materials and mailing
procedures recommended by the Postal Service since 2002. But postal
investigator Richard Spanburgh blamed weak envelopes for the ordeal.
According to postal workers at the Southwest Philadelphia processing plant,
the APPS (automatic package-processing system) machine handles small parcels
but throws off too many rejects, which then must be processed manually."
From the Federal Register:
Canada.com has reported that "More than 2,100 Canada Post inside workers
are in the process of voting on a new contract offer to possibly end a
strike than began more than a month ago."
As one writer for
The Times put it: "there is an alternative reality where
the first post arrives before dusk. There used to be a
service that guaranteed next day delivery. It was called the
first class post. But now that's been downgraded to make way
for “special delivery” - essentially the same service but
now much more expensive. This whole process - by which first
class becomes second class, second class becomes message in
a bottle and special delivery becomes a way of subsidising
the chairman's handsome remuneration package and golf club
membership is just another example of a trend the late,
great Kingsley Amis identified - the great business
principle of 'Sod The Public'."
The Telegraph has reported that "UBS has been drafted in
to help the Department for Business, Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform with its controversial plans to
part-privatise the Royal Mail. Business secretary Lord
Mandelson is pushing through the changes after a review by
Richard Hooper concluded that radical new measures were
needed to revive the service."
The
Nigerian Tribune has reported that "the Postmaster
General of the Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Mori Baba, has
said that the system of addressing houses in the country is
one of the greatest obstacles to quick and smooth delivery
of letters and parcels by Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST).
"
December 21, 2008
The
New
York Times has reported that "Operation Santa has
resumed with a few tweaks, including the redaction of last
names and addresses with heavy black ink. And instead of
sending gifts directly to children, secret Santas must take
wrapped presents to the post office and provide the
recipient control number that corresponds with their letter.
The post office will then deliver the gifts."
According to
Polskie Radio, "even though the Internet has become our
main method of written communication, the traditional postal
service is still going strong, especially in the run up
towards Christmas. The reason? Many people still believe
that greetings are still sent best by mail, and not by
e-mail. Postal workers have also had their work cut out as a
record number of children have been sending letters to Saint
Nicholas. The Polish Post estimates that in December it will
deliver around 200 million letters and 5 million parcels. In
comparison, in other months the Polish Post delivers around
140 million items of mail."
The Southern has reported that "The premier privacy
trust study in America cites the Postal Service as sixth
among 200 of the “Most Trusted Companies for Privacy.” For
the fifth year in a row, the U.S. Postal Service has been
recognized by the Ponemon Institute for its best practices
in safeguarding U.S. consumers’ personal information among
private sector companies. This year, the Postal Service
moved up one position from last year’s listing."
The Hindu
has reported that "The indefinite strike by district postal
employees was called off following the "acceptance of their
long-standing demands by the authorities concerned."
December 20, 2008
According to
Reuters,
"Federal Express Corp's decision this week to force its
salaried workers to take at least a 5 percent pay cut and to
suspend its 401(k) match isn't just bad news for the
shipping giant's employees. Experts say the takebacks are an
ominous sign of things to come at many other U.S. companies
as businesses -- even healthy ones like FedEx -- adopt
defensive corporate crouches in response to the worst
economic downturn in decades. The moves also underscore how
much the tables have turned on U.S. workers as a result of
the economic crisis, which has put employers firmly back in
the driver's seat."
The
Hindu Business Line has reported that "Large number of
mail bags containing thousands of letters and other articles
have accumulated at the Head post office on this city
following the indefinite strike by the postal employees
working in the villages which entered the fourth day in So
nepat district and elsewhere. According to official sources,
atleast 125 branch post offices have been locked since
December 17 and their non- functioning have led to
inconvenience to the people living in the villages."
As
CNET's Charles Cooper has noted, "Michael Dell gets a
lot of the credit for pioneering the direct sale of PCs to
the public. The reality is that there is a legion of now
long-forgotten mail order entrepreneurs who came along
earlier. He just did it better than all the rest. So it was
with more than usual interest that I read a piece published
by InternetNews.com earlier this week in which Dell's
eponymous company claimed that sales alerts on Twitter had
resulted in about $1 million in sales."
December 19, 2008
The latest issue of
the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:
From the Postal Regulatory Commission:
DMM
Advisory:
An advance copy of the
Federal Register
notice proposing new mailing standards for letter-size booklets and folded
self-mailers is available on Postal Explorer at
pe.usps.com. The
new standards describe the characteristics required for automation and
machinable letter prices, including tab size, tab location, paper basis
weights, and mailpiece dimensions.
The
Postal Regulatory Commission today transmitted its
Report
on Universal Postal Service and the Postal Monopoly to the President
and Congress. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006
directed the Commission to identify the scope and standards of universal
service and the postal monopoly based on a comprehensive review of their
history and development. The report found that the public is generally
satisfied with the current level of universal service provided by the Postal
Service. While no changes to either
the universal service obligation or the monopoly are recommended at
this time, the Commission noted the serious financial situation currently
facing the Postal Service and the general economy. The Commission urged
Congress to use this Report as a
guide should a rebalancing of postal obligations become necessary to
ensure future universal service. The Commission affirmed the current USO of
providing mail service to all persons throughout the United States. Further,
the Commission determined current
law requires that the USO apply to both competitive and market dominant
postal products. The Commission is initiating a new public inquiry,
Docket No. PI2009-1, to allow interested persons to express their views on
this report.
WhatTheyThink has reported that "mail and messaging technology
specialist Pitney Bowes is at the vanguard of the wider industry’s calls to
ensure fairness and clarity in new EU-wide postal VAT principles that are
likely to emerge from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in 2009. Speaking
at the 11th Königswinter Seminar – the annual Postal Economics forum – Dr
Tim Walsh, VP, Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, Pitney Bowes, outlined the
industry’s concerns over the likely changes to EU postal VAT-exemption that
the ECJ are reviewing. Among these concerns is that the basis for future VAT
exemption be consistent with the EU tax principle of fiscal neutrality, not
least in respect of alternative payment options available to mailers."
From
PR Newswire:
"Royal Mail and the Government should look closer to home for a business
partner says APC Overnight, the UK's largest next day parcel and document
delivery network organisation. It says that existing UK market leaders such
as APC Overnight, Parcelnet, Home Delivery Network and City Link all present
viable alternatives to Dutch-owned TNT Post."
Hellmail has noted that "A German court has ruled this week that the
German government exceeded its legal authority by imposing a minimum wage
across the German postal sector. Dutch mail operator TNT argued that in so
doing, it made competing with Deutsche Post difficult and gave Deutsche Post
an unfair advantage. The court agreed, but the case is also to undergo
further examination by labour courts."
The
Wall Street Journal has reported that "CVC CAPITAL PARTNERS Group, a
U.K.-based buyout firm, is interested in taking a stake in the state-owned
postal service Royal Mail Group, according to people familiar with the
matter. CVC's interest in the Royal Mail comes in the wake of CVC's stake
purchases in Belgian and Scandinavian mail companies. CVC has been in talks
with bankers about making an offer, people familiar with the matter say."
The
New York Times has reported that "For decades of Christmases, it had
been a gratifying way to function as a substitute Santa Claus. Every holiday
season, thousands of New Yorkers trooped to Manhattan’s main post office and
sifted through heaps of dream-encased letters that children had scribbled to
the big guy at the North Pole. They picked out the ones that tickled the
heart and responded with gifts for otherwise empty stockings. Then came
Thursday. Gift-giving souls who reported to Operation Santa Claus at the
post office on Eighth Avenue and 33rd Street, looking for the familiar
cardboard boxes bursting with letters, were instead greeted with no boxes,
no letters and no explanation.A Postal Service official in Washington, after
an initial, limited acknowledgment of a “privacy breach,” said that at one
of the programs, not New York’s, a man whom a letter carrier recognized as a
registered sex offender had “adopted” a letter. Postal inspectors retrieved
the letter and notified the family of the child. The Postal Service,
indicating that the closing down of all of Operation Santa might be
temporary, said that it felt it was wise to take the precaution."
The
Financial Times has reported that "When John Mullen gets depressed he
takes a look at the "FedEx sucks" or "UPS sucks" websites. Naturally, as one
of the big three global parcel delivery companies, DHL has its own site
containing consumer criticism but Mr Mullen, chief executive of DHL Express,
prefers to gloss over that fact. The 53-year-old Australian-born manager has
had plenty of reason to study the sites in recent months as DHL goes through
a testing time. Founded in 1969 in the US, it was bought by Deutsche Post,
the German postal monopoly, in 2001 and then merged with Airborne Express,
another US company, in 2003. That integration was deemed a failure, and
after running up costs of about $5bn in the US, DHL was forced earlier this
year to announce it was abandoning domestic delivery in the region. Still,
DHL remains a global carrier with strong operations in many emerging
markets, such as China and Brazil."
Business First has reported that "Package carrier United Parcel Service
Inc. blames a drop in package volume for its decision to close its Next Day
Air night sort operations at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport,
according to a letter the company filed with the Texas Workforce Commission.
The change will cause the reduction of 72 staff positions -- all of which
will take effect after Feb. 8, Atlanta-based UPS said in its letter to the
TWC."
Posted on the Postal Regulatory Commission web site:
The Times has reported that "it is understood that Morgan Stanley,
Credit Suisse, UBS and Goldman Sachs pitched for the government work
yesterday and that Royal Mail will be separately advised by NM Rothschild,
its longstanding adviser. Royal Mail has also hired Slaughter and May, the
City law firm. The battle for the mandate will be hotly contested. With
lucrative mergers and acquisitions work thin on the ground since the credit
crunch, the Royal Mail disposal is one of the few deals of any size around.
TNT, the Dutch postal group, became the front-runner for a new “strategic
partnership” with the publicly owned mail business this week after Lord
Mandelson welcomed its expression of interest. It emerged yesterday that CVC
would also be interested in bidding. CVC acquired a 22 per cent stake in
Post Danmark from the Danish state in 2005 in a partial privatisation. CVC
and Post Danmark then together bought a 50 per cent stake in De Post - La
Poste, the Belgian postal service, in 2006. The private equity house could
structure a bid for the Royal Mail stake in a similar way, using one of its
portfolio companies as a vehicle."
The Tribune has reported that "Lord Mandelson was accused of driving
“the final nail into the coffin” of Royal Mail this week, as he unveiled
plans to invest in and modernise the company by partly privatising it.
Speaking as the Hooper review of the postal sector was finally published by
ministers, the Business Secretary said the Government was committed to
maintaining a universal postal service, but that falling letter volumes
meant that Royal Mail needed to innovate and become more efficient if it was
to survive."
December 18, 2008
Bloomberg has reported that "FedEx Corp. cut Chief Executive Officer
Fred Smith’s pay by 20 percent and will trim smaller amounts from U.S.
salaried employees as the package shipper struggles with the longest
recession in a quarter century. About 12 percent of the workforce will be
affected by the pay reductions, which will be 5 percent for U.S. salaried
employees and as much as 10 percent for senior executives. Hiring will be
frozen and contributions to retirement accounts suspended for at least a
year, FedEx said today in a statement."
The
Postal Regulatory Commission today released final regulations
establishing financial accounting practices and tax rules for the Postal
Service’s competitive products category.
Order No. 151 is
available on the Commission’s website,
www.prc.gov and
has been submitted to the Federal Register.
The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) required the Commission
to develop accounting rules and principles applicable to competitive postal
products. The PAEA also directed the Commission to develop rules for
determining the assumed Federal income tax on competitive products income.
The final rules in this order differ slightly from the proposed rules and
were designed to address comments of the Postal Service and the Public
Representative. Principal differences between the proposed and final rules
include:
The
BBC has
reported that "A strike planned by postal workers in five mail centres has
been called off."
Writing
in the
Wicked Local, one local APWU official said: "Millions of American
households and many small businesses depend on the Postal Service to deliver
their prescription medications, Social Security checks, legal documents and,
of course, letters and packages from family, friends and colleagues. We
deliver to more than 140 million addresses every day. This is a
responsibility our members and those in our sister unions within the Postal
Service take seriously. What we do ask is that you help us Save Our Service. Be assured, these
tactics are affecting the levels of service you have come to expect and our
members wish to provide. In certain instances, management representatives
are blaming our members for the delays and substandard services as opposed
to accepting responsibility for their schemes and telling you the hard
truth. To me such action is a display of cowardice and is symptomatic of a
management group that lacks accountability. the American Postal Workers
Union needs your help in our fight to return the United States Postal
Service to the prominence it enjoyed not so long ago. We have contacted
numerous elected officials throughout the Boston Metropolitan Area who
pledged their support to hold postal management accountable. We ask that you
contact them as well. Let them know that you do not appreciate dishonest
business practices and that you want service to be the most important part
of the United States Postal Service." [EdNote: "A house divided
against itself cannot stand." -- Abraham Lincoln]
The
Oxford Mail has reported that "Royal Mail has said it is confident of
getting services back to normal in time for Christmas following tomorrow’s
planned strike by workers."
Reuters has reported that "French state post office operator La Poste
will become a limited company but will only sell shares to public
institutions and will not be open to private investors, President Nicolas
Sarkozy said on Thursday. La Poste is looking to raise around 3 billion
euros ($4.3 billion) to help fund investment needed to face growing
competition after the liberalisation of the European postal services market
in 2011."
According to
The Drum, "Business Post plc has turned to b2b marketing agency
Marketecture to provide online marketing support for the launch of imail – a
postal service designed to provide a more cost-efficient and greener
alternative to traditional postal mail. Claimed to lower the cost of
producing and posting first class items by up to 60 percent and reduce the
carbon footprint of a letter by more than 80 percent, the service allows
users to send mail direct from their desktops for next day delivery across
the UK."
The
BBC has
a video clip on a village Christmas postal service run by the scouts has
been raising money for the local community.
The U.S. Postal Service has said it will announce its May 2009 postal price
changes in February.
The
American Postal Workers Union (APWU) has told its members that "the APWU
has initiated a
Step 4 dispute [PDF] with the Postal Service, protesting management’s
nationwide plan to eliminate or drastically reduce Tour 2 assignments and
employees. The dispute, filed Dec. 16 by union President William Burrus, is
in addition to an
Unfair Labor Practice charge filed by the APWU with the National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB) on Nov. 25.
The
Bradenton
Herald has reported that "Congressman Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, has
pledged to fight for the employees at the Manasota U.S. Postal Service
Distribution Center as they brace for the possible re-routing of jobs and
mail to a Tampa distribution center. Buchanan and local politicians toured
the center on Tallevast Road Tuesday in response to the recent announcement
of a cost-cutting study by the Postal Service. It has aroused workers’ fears
that the center could be closed altogether, putting its more than 350
employees out of a job. Postal Service officials denied during the tour that
there are any plans to close the center."
The Guardian has reported that "The Conservatives warned yesterday that
the government could be threatening a £22bn raid on Royal Mail's pension
fund. Alan Duncan, the party's shadow business secretary, said industry
sources had suggested the government could take over the pension fund's
assets to allow it to make public borrowing look smaller. But he warned that
with the fund's liabilities expected to rise to up to £8bn any such move
would saddle taxpayers with a huge bill in the future."
According to the Financial Times:
According to the
Yorkshire Post, "Lord Mandelson is right: the world is changing around
the Royal Mail, but the Royal Mail is not changing itself. The problem is
that the Post Office has found itself balanced on a precipice, torn between
the roles of a public service and a sustainable business. The debate about
the role of beleaguered sub-post-offices rests on this. Anti-closure
protesters say that they are a "lifeline" to the community, the place people
rely on for pensions and benefits. The Prime Minister is already embroiled
in a political revolt over plans to close thousands. The main postal union
is planning to strike tomorrow over mail centre closures, just in time for
Christmas. So the last thing Gordon Brown needs is the Hooper Report, which
describes the Royal Mail in its current form as "untenable", and warns that
the universal service is under threat without modernisation. And then there
is the small matter of the pension fund deficit, which is expected to reach
£7bn by next spring, and which taxpayers might be asked to fund on behalf of
the Treasury."
Leadership Nigeria has reported that "Determined to retrieve the huge
debt owed it by various organisations, governmental agencies, parastatals
and individuals, the Nigeria Poster Services, (NIPOST) Abuja territory has
set up a debt recovery commitee to go after the numerous debtors and
increase the fortune of the organisation."
The
Cebu Daily News has reported that "A week before Christmas, the Cebu
Central Post Office––once a beehive of activity in years past––is nearly
subdued in recent days with most of their mail consisting of either credit
card bills or promotional materials from magazines and call centers. “Almost
all are business mail. Out of 100 letters that we get, only 20 are personal
mails. There was a time when during Christmas time the sorting rooms are
filled with packages and letters. But the bulk of mail has decreased since
2005,” Post Master Walter Mayola said." [EdNote: Less mail, folks, is a
worldwide phenomenon. The huge volume days of yesteryear are rapidly
becoming only a memory.]
Precision Marketing has reported that "Royal Mail has welcomed the move
to change postal regulator from Postcomm to Ofcom. The postal operator says
the Government’s decision to implement change reflects the reality of the
marketplace, which is increasingly switching away from mail to electronic
communications."
The
Liverpool Daily Post has reported that "unions
have called off a postal strike that was set to hit Liverpool tomorrow after
a legal challenge by the Royal Mail."
The
Crewe & Nantwich Guardian has reported that "postal
workers in Crewe will go on strike tomorrow (Friday) in a battle to save
their jobs. Hundreds of workers at the Weston Road sorting office will join
in a 24-hour walkout days before the last posting date for Christmas."
[EdNote: And British postal employees wonder why the government is now
recommending the partial privatization of Royal Mail?]
As
the
Washington Post has noted, "Looks like Santa's sleigh will be a little
lighter this year. Delivery of packages and mail has been down with the rest
of the economy, and the shipping industry is counting on this week --
expected to be the busiest of the year -- for a final boost to lift it out
of its slump before Christmas. Retail experts are predicting that sales this
season could be the weakest in decades as consumers keep a close eye on
their wallets. Sales at stores open at least a year -- a key indicator of a
retailers' health -- fell 2.7 percent in November, according to one industry
trade group, the worst performance in at least 30 years. Online retail sales
are also expected to remain flat after several years of explosive growth.
That's bad news not just for stores but also for shipping companies. Fewer
gifts mean fewer packages mailed -- and less revenue for shippers."
Hellmail has reported that "According to the Parcel Post Index conducted
by the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, Swiss Post boasts the
second-lowest prices for parcel post in Europe. The Index is based on a
basket of parcel consignments which is weighted according to frequency. The
Parcel Post Index and the former Letter Post Index show that Swiss Post's
prices are within the least expensive third of postal enterprises in
Europe."
Reuters has reported that "Nearly 18 percent of households in the United
States have no traditional telephone and rely on wireless services only,
which is up several percentage points from a year earlier, the government
said on Wednesday. In the first half of 2008, 17.5 percent of households
were wireless only, up from 13.6 percent a full year earlier, according to
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." [EdNote: This
number will continue to grow. It means that portable communication devices
will become the primary means by which many people communicate and do
business. Expect the popularity of mail to continue to diminish.]
The
Hindu has reported that "Employees of Postal Department, attached to
various unions, held a protest demonstration here on Wednesday and urged the
Union Government to fulfil their long-pending demands. Members of All India
group ‘C’ postal employees association, All India postal employees
association (Postman and group ‘D’) and All India postal employees (extra
departmental) association staged a protest demonstration in front of the
Deputy Commissioner’s office for a while here and submitted a memorandum to
the Union Government through the office of Deputy Commissioner of
Bangalore."
The
Indian Express has reported that "Retail experts are predicting that
sales this season could be the weakest in decades as consumers keep a close
eye on their wallets. Sales at stores open at least a year -- a key
indicator of a retailers' health -- fell 2.7 percent in November, according
to one industry trade group, the worst performance in at least 30 years.
Online retail sales are also expected to remain flat after several years of
explosive growth. That's bad news not just for stores but also for shipping
companies. Fewer gifts mean fewer packages mailed -- and less revenue for
shippers."
From
PR Newswire: "DST Output's East Operation Center, located in South
Windsor, Conn., was honored as one of IndustryWeek magazine's 2008 Top 10
Best Plants in North America. The company's East facility is profiled with
other Top 10 winners in the January issue of IndustryWeek Magazine."
According to the
Financial Times, "If there is one message in Richard Hooper’s report on
the Royal Mail, it is that the UK state-owned postal operator is in such a
mess that only radical surgery can save it. Lord Mandelson, business
secretary, deserves credit for grasping a challenge Labour has avoided in
more than a decade of power. His support for the report’s findings means
Royal Mail could at last secure the private investment it needs. The postal
workers’ union will protest at what it fears is a creeping privatisation
that breaks a manifesto commitment to keep Royal Mail in public hands. But
the sale of a minority stake is the minimum needed to keep the business
afloat."
The Times has reported that "Labour faces losing a big union backer as
the rebellion against Lord Mandelson’s plans to sell part of the Royal Mail
gathers force. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) will ask its 250,000
members to approve a formal split from the party if the Business Secretary
presses ahead."
NBC4i asked: "What is it like to deliver the mail on the busiest
delivery day of the year? First At 4’s Ellie Merritt found out Wednesday;
she tagged along as carrier Brenda Barton delivered the holiday goodies.
Although Wednesday is the post office’s self-proclaimed busy day of the
year, it wasn’t what it once was."
Gulf Times has reported that "QATAR will host an Arab stamps museum in
2010 when the Cultural and Heritage Village at West Bay is expected to be
ready, Q-Post chairman and chief executive Ali Mohamed al-Ali said
yesterday. The Arab League, which oversees the operations of the museum now
located in Cairo, has agreed to transfer its entire collection to Qatar."
December 17, 2008
For
those who are interested. On this site you can find:
The
Federal Times has reported that "fifteen embassies have received
envelopes containing white powder, State Department deputy spokesman Robert
Wood said in a press briefing this morning in Washington. Tests have come
back negative in all cases save for The Hague, where results are still
pending. Wood said the department has no information on a possible motive
for the mailings. The white powder in each of the letters has been field
tested and come back negative for any harmful material, the FBI said in a
statement released this morning. All of the letters have been postmarked
from Texas and are similar in nature, the FBI said. An ABC News report says
11 U.S. embassies in Europe have received the letters. The FBI and Postal
Inspection Service are investigating the case. Meanwhile, the FBI has told
governors and the State Department to be on the lookout for additional
letters."
For the
fifth year in a row, the U.S. Postal Service has been recognized by the
Ponemon Institute for its best practices in safeguarding U.S. consumers’
personal information among private sector companies. This year, the Postal
Service moved up one position from last year’s listing.
According to the
DM Bulletin, "The recommendation to part-privatise Royal Mail made in
the Hooper Report has been welcomed by DM postal experts."
Docket No.
CP2009-16:
This
document announces a recently-filed Postal Service notice of a new
international mail contract. It addresses procedural steps associated with
this filing. On December 9, 2008, the Postal Service filed a notice
announcing that it has entered into an additional Global Expedited Package
Services 1 (GEPS 1) contract. GEPS 1 provides volume-based incentives for
mailers that send large volumes of Express Mail International (EMI) and/or
Priority Mail International (PMI). The Postal Service believes the instant
contract is functionally equivalent to previously submitted GEPS agreements,
and supported by the Governors' Decision filed in Docket No. CP2008-5.
Interested persons may submit
comments on whether the Postal Service's contract is consistent with the
policies of 39 U.S.C. 3632, 3633, or 3642. Comments are due no later
than December 19, 2008.
The
Philadelpha Daily News has wondered: "So where is the Christmas mail?
Where are the packages? Where are the letters? Where are the Christmas
cards? On what is normally one of the biggest mail days of the year, the
mail wasn't moving during yesterday's day shift at the U.S. Postal Service's
processing plant on Lindbergh Boulevard near Island Avenue in Southwest
Philadelphia. "There was no mail in there," said a day-shift postal worker,
who asked to remain anonymous. "The trucks are not coming in. We're supposed
to be busy, and we're not running the machines. "The
floors are empty," the worker said.
Postal workers on the day shift were
sent home without pay. "All of a sudden, there's no mail?" asked Gwen
Ivey, president of the American Postal Workers Union Local 89. "It's
unlikely that the plant wouldn't have mail in December." The processing
plant moves 6 million pieces of mail on an average day, and Ivey said
yesterday's lack of it was unprecedented."
It's
been reported in the
New York Times that "The mail-scanning service Earth Class Mail is
opening a new outpost in downtown Manhattan on Wednesday to cater to
jet-setters, business travelers, expatriates, nomads and anyone else who is
on the road too often to manage their snail mail. Earth Class Mail, a
Seattle-based start-up, offers services that take old-fashioned mail and
make it digital. Customers route their mail to one of the company’s offices,
where employees scan the outside of envelopes. Then, customers log in to
their Earth Class Mail accounts and select which pieces of mail are opened,
scanned and e-mailed to them, and which ones are left unopened, shredded and
recycled. The company’s Manhattan storefront will offer shipping services
and will also take packages, which is useful for city-dwellers who lack
doormen, said Ron Weiner, the company’s chief executive. And the Park Avenue
address (near Union Square) is ideal for anyone who “works in an industry
where your address means something,” he said."
According to the
Financial Times:
"Postal unions have spent the past week arguing about the speed at which members have to complete their rounds. If four miles an hour feels rushed for people charged with delivering our letters, imagine how they feel about Lord Mandelson's desire to deliver part-privatisation in mere months.
"The legislative hurdle may yet prove insuperable - at least until after an election. But Richard Hooper's report on the future of Royal Mail is still a landmark, particularly for Allan Leighton, Royal Mail chairman. He has been talking about these sorts of reforms since he took on the thankless task in 2002. The need to switch regulation from Postcomm to Ofcom is a particularly sweet victory for Mr Leighton only months before he steps down as chairman. It may turn out to be the only recommendation that can be pushed through quickly but at least Mr Leighton will be able to give his successor a clearer view of the route ahead.
"The situation for postal services in the UK remains, in Mr Hooper's words, "untenable". It's sad and strange, given Royal Mail's history and the commitment of successive governments to privatisations in other sectors, that the prospect of partial takeover by Dutch, German or American rivals looks like progress."
Also
from the Financial Times:
According to
The Times: "Six years ago a merger between the ailing Royal Mail, then
called Consignia, and TPG, the Dutch postal group now rebranded as TNT, was
attempted by the Government. The idea was that a more commercially savvy
organisation would inject more money and a better business sense into Royal
Mail. Six years on the plan has been revived for the same reasons. In the
interim Royal Mail has made only relatively small changes to its business
while its commercial environment has become tougher and its competitors have
become sharper. Royal Mail is often
compared unfavourably with its European rivals. A little like an elderly
relative who struggles with technology, the state-owned UK postal
operator is seen as slow, operating an unwieldy structure and lacking in
mechanisation."
The
Telegraph has reported that:
The
Evening Standard has reported that "Royal Mail
chiefs defended part- privatisation of the postal service today as it
emerged that Lord Mandelson will defy Labour MPs to press ahead with the
plan. Chief executive Adam Crozier
said the proposal to give a private firm a minority stake is "good news for
the company and for customers" and would increase efficiency and
profitability. His words came despite anger among some Labour
backbenchers over the plans outlined by Lord Mandelson yesterday, with MPs
linked to postal unions threatening to oppose the move outright." See also
eGov Monitor.
[EdNote: Somehow, I just can't imagine the U.S. PMG saying this sort of
thing.]
According to
Precision Marketing, British
postal regulator "Postcomm could soon cease to exist if it cedes
responsibility of regulating the postal market to Ofcom as proposed in a
report. The study by Richard Hooper, the former deputy chairman of media
watchdog Ofcom, proposes that Ofcom should maintain the Universal Service in
the wider context of the other changes taking place in communication
markets." [EdNote: There are those in the U.S. who would like to see the
Postal Regulatory Commission suffer a similar fate.]
According to the
Daily Record, "thousands of Royal Mail jobs could be lost after the
Government yesterday announced a part sell-off to Dutch giants TNT. Business
secretary Peter Mandelson said the move was essential to ensure the
long-termsurvival of the organisation. But union chiefs and opposition
parties warned the move could lead to more privatisation and many of Royal
Mail's 200,000 employees losing their jobs." See also
Reuters and the
Sunday Mirror.
From
PR Newswire: "The nonprofit 41pounds.org service (
http://www.41pounds.org) stops your
postal junk mail by contacting dozens of direct mail companies to remove you
from their marketing lists. The service covers everyone in your household
for five years and costs $41, including a $15 donation to the environmental
or community organization you choose. These partners include Outward Bound,
StopGlobalWarming.org, Habitat for Humanity chapters, Carbonfund.org and
others." [EdNote: Yup. It stops your mail. Eliminates your choice. And
will bring to an end a totally self-supported U.S. universal mail delivery
system. And won't 41pounds be proud....Idiots.]
Reuters has reported that "The European Commission opened infringement
proceedings against Slovakia on Wednesday for failing to reopen competition
in its hybrid postal sector. The EU executive, which is the bloc's top
antitrust authority, ordered Slovakia in October to drop an amendment of its
mail law which extended the monopoly of incumbent operator Slovenska Posta
to the delivery of hybrid mail services."
Logistics Manager has reported that "TNT has staked its claim to a
partnership with Royal Mail following a statement by business secretary Lord
Mandelson, that the government plans to bring in a minority partner to help
revitalise the business." See also the
Financial Director.
The
Coventry Telegraph has reported that "a war
of words has broken out between union leaders and Royal Mail bosses in the
run up to Friday’s 24-hour strike. Members of the Communication Workers'
Union claim vital talks were arranged with postal chiefs on Monday, but
nobody turned up. However, Royal Mail bosses are insistent that negotiations
were not scheduled to take place on Monday."
The
Press Association has reported that "A ministerial aide has quit in
protest at Government plans to partly privatise the Royal Mail. Jim McGovern
resigned from his position as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to
Business Minister Pat McFadden. The Dundee West MP said: "I believe a PPS
has to be fully supportive of proposals of the department which they serve.
In this case, I do not support what looks to me like partial privatisation
of the Royal Mail." See also
The Spectator and
Politics.co.uk.
CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU Consultancy, has reported that:
Last week, the board of Austria’s Österreichische Post reached a compromise on planned cost cutting measures. The board assured union representatives that the approx. 1,000 redundancies would be achieved solely through natural fluctuation and as part of a redundancy programme. The agreement is likely to have prevented a strike in the run-up to Christmas.
According to Massimo Sarmi, CEO of Poste Italiane, "We do not intend to close any post offices. We are aware of the social role played by Italy’s 14,000 post offices and we are trying to run our business model in a direction that will not require redundancies or closures." However, privatisation of the post, which has been discussed for years, is not an issue at the moment. "In times of crisis, you don’t talk about going public."
Before the backdrop of a slow economy in the Czech Republic, the post has drastically lowered its profit expectations for the current year.
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
Associated Press has noted, "An independent review of Britain's
state-owned postal service, due to be published Tuesday, was expected to
call for the company to be partly privatized and could result in the sale of
stakes in the business to foreign companies, according to media reports. The
review _ by Richard Hopper, a former deputy chairman of Britain's media
watchdog _ is expected to say that Royal Mail, which is burdened with a
multibillion-pound (dollar) pension deficit and falling sales, should allow
private, rival mail operators to buy stakes in the company and should close
half of its 71 mail centers, according to a report by The Times of London
newspaper. The Daily Telegraph newspaper said that Royal Mail already has
plans to sell at least a third of the company to a foreign postal company in
a deal worth around 3 billion pounds ($4.5 billion).TNT NV, a part of the
Netherlands' former state postal service, and DHL, the parcel carrier run by
Germany's Deutsche Post AG, are both interested in buying the stake,
according to the report."
The
Jakarta Post has reported that "nstead of giving in to faster
communication tools like email and mobile phone features, state-owned postal
company PT Pos Indonesia hopes to cooperate with telecommunication companies
in order to diversify services and keep business alive. Denpasar Post Office
head Akhmad Taufik on Monday said partner telecommunication companies would
provide payment services and send bill notifications to the companies'
post-paid subscribers thanks to the wide distribution network of the
country's postal system. "If there is no cooperation, we may close (our
office)," he said."
As the
Columbus Dispatch noted, "Christmas mail, like just about everything
else that involves spending money this year, seems to be in a slump. The
Postal Service predicted that yesterday would be the busiest day so far, and
it was. Postal workers canceled 2.13 million pieces of mail, including
packages, in central and southeastern Ohio. But that was down from last
year's busiest day, with 2.65 million pieces of mail. The Postal Service
originally had predicted that 2.6 million pieces would be mailed yesterday
in central Ohio, then looked at how people were cutting spending. They
lowered their prediction to 2 million. The actual number was worse than
originally expected."
The
USPS OIG has published two new topics on their blog site ‘Pushing the
Envelope’: “Mail Volume: What goes up….?”,
discussing declining mail volume, and “Moving less
mail” which focuses on the transportation implications of declining
volume. Check them out at
http://blog.uspsoig.gov/. Join in the discussion.
EdNote: People are beginning to get a little antsy about the May postal rate
increase. Inquiring minds want to know: How much will rates rise within the
bounds of inflation? That's a tough question to answer to the satisfaction
of everyone. The CPI chart posted on the
Postal Regulatory
Commission web site can provide some insight into what number will
represent the CPI cap. Whereas the number was 4.5% in October, you can see
it dropped to 4.2% in November. Some have speculated that the December
figure might still be a bit lower yet.
According to the
Dead Tree Edition, "Deflation of consumer prices means that next year's
postal rates will almost certainly average less than 4%, rather than the 5%
that most commentators were expecting until recently. The Consumer Price
Index decreased 1.9% in November, the Department of Labor announced today,
following a 1.0% decrease in October. The average increase in prices for
most classes of postage will generally be capped by the change in the
average monthly Consumer Price Index for 2008 versus 2007. The new rates are
scheduled to be announced in February and implemented in May. Another 1.9%
decrease in December would yield a rate cap of about 3.75%. No change in the
December CPI would yield a cap of about 3.9%."
According to
The Guardian, "If ever a company had an appropriate acronym, it would be
TNT, which blasted its way into the minds of the trade union movement, when
its lorries drove through printer picket lines outside the Wapping
headquarters of News International TNT helped revolutionise the newspaper
sector and is well on its way to doing the same thing to the postal
business, having opened talks with the government about taking a stake in
the state-owned Royal Mail."
As
Direct has noted, "Postal regulatory and appellate lawyer David Levy has
joined law firm Venable LLP as a partner in its Washington office. Levy was
previously with Sidley Austin LLP, where he practiced postal rate work since
1983. Over the years, he has represented many of the nation’s largest
mailers and their trade associations, including the Alliance of Nonprofit
Mailers, the Magazine Publishers of America, the National Postal Policy
Council and the National Association of Presort Mailers. He also counsels
large companies and institutions – including large banks, magazine
publishers and nonprofit organizations – that rely heavily on direct mail to
correspond with customers. [EdNote: PostCom's legal counsel, Ian Volner,
is a senior partner in the Venable law firm.]
According to
Internet
Retailer, "E-retailers are
continuing to experience problems using online shipping tools from the U.S.
Postal Service, which is reporting “intermittent system
interruptions” as the cause for the unavailability of services such as
shipping costs presented in online shopping carts. When the problems were
first reported last week, the Postal Service said it was working with
technology vendors to fix a situation that, at best, has left several online
shipping tools available only sporadically. A U.S.P.S. spokesman did not
immediately return a call for comment....The
lack of consistent service from the U.S.P.S. rate-finding software
has also made it difficult for the retailer to run free-shipping programs,
particularly on low-price products, because it is unable to figure the
shipping costs with each order’s profit margin."
As
Smart Brief has noted, "Overnight delivery services like UPS and FedEx
have become proxies for the U.S. economy. UPS alone counts 6% of the U.S.
GDP in its system at any given moment, according to TheStreet.com's Ted
Reed, who recently rode along with a veteran driver to get a feel for the
economy in Charlotte, N.C. Like many of its customers, UPS has been stung by
the recession, reporting a 10% decline in net income for the third quarter.
FedEx, meanwhile, slashed its 2009 earnings outlook based on "significantly
weaker macroeconomic conditions."
As
The Times put it: "The unions may not like it, but public sector workers
must accept that well-paid retirements have gone for ever. The combination
of recession and a public sector vastly swollen under Labour has turned the
inequity of the pension system into political tinder. “Taxpayers who are
struggling to build their own personal pension will be lumbered for decades
by the cost of covering public sector workers who retire years earlier on
risk-free pensions,” the CBI deputy director-general, John Cridland, said.
No doubt unions will threaten to strike over the rest of the plans for the
part-privatisation of the Royal Mail. For postal workers to go on strike on
the busiest day of the year, disrupting the post during what may be a pretty
grim Christmas for many families around the country, and in the same week
that ministers, or rather taxpayers, are bailing out their pensions, must be
the worst piece of PR since Cherie threw out the Downing Street cat. The
stupid unions who have been partly responsible for bringing the Royal Mail
to its knees will not recognise that, of course."
From
Business Wire: "SkyPostal Networks, Inc., the largest private postal
network in Latin America, announced that its President and CEO Albert P.
Hernandez was interviewed today on Wall St. Network's 3-Minute Press Show.
The audio interview can be accessed by visiting the Investors section of
www.skypostal.com or at
http://tv.wallst.net/3-minute-press/363/1449/SKPN/albert-hernandez/skypostal-networks-inc/.
Hellmail has reported that "The Hooper report, while a comprehensive
document, made it clear that drastic change was needed at Royal Mail both in
terms of operational and technological improvements but in terms of
industrial relations which were hampering much-needed change. The report
recommended that Postcomm be scrapped and that Ofcom take over the
regulation of the UK postal market with extended powers to root out
anti-competitive behaviour. Poor industrial relations between the CWU and
Royal Mail had also been identified as causes for concern The comprehensive
review underlined several key areas that had been identified as major
hurdles to the modernisation of Royal mail, stimulating competition, and for
the long term funding of the universal service." [EdNote: This is a piece
the Obama transition team should look over. It seems to echo, in part, the
comments of some long-time postal watchers regarding the U.S. Postal
Service.]
December 16, 2008
Luton Today has reported that "A planned 24-hour strike by Royal Mail
workers that could have disrupted festive postal deliveries in the Luton and
Dunstable area has been called off. Members of the Communication Workers
Union at the Dawson Road processing centre in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, had
scheduled the industrial action for December 19. But they now say they don't
want to penalise the public who have shown them such support." [EdNote:
Folks, you're a day late and a dollar short. You've already penalized and
ticked off the public.]
From
PR Newswire: "Shipping holiday packages to family and friends once
required a trip to the post office and a long wait in line. Instead,
December is now the busiest time of year for online shipping. To identify
which online shipping site was easiest for casual holiday shippers, User
Centric, Inc. (
http://www.usercentric.com), a Chicago-based user experience research
firm, compared FedEx, UPS, and the US Postal Service."
According to
The Guardian, "The longstanding crisis of service provision and
financial viability has its genesis in two decades of Royal Mail profits –
to the tune of £2.3bn – being siphoned off by the government as a source of
revenue to the Treasury, while recently private competitors have been
allowed to cherry-pick the most profitable parts of the market and, to boot,
to use Royal Mail's existing infrastructure to do so. The response to the
government-generated crisis has been for it to keep proposing further
deregulation and backdoor privatisation. Private business is not interested
in maintaining the universal service obligation of a flat-rate stamp price
for delivery to anywhere in Britain because money cannot be made out of
that. It is clear that only a publicly owned and controlled operation that
has as its purpose service provision, not profitability, can deliver the
universal service obligation by cross-subsidising some parts of the services
with the revenue from other parts of the service."
The Telegraph has reported that "As disclosed by The Daily Telegraph,
ministers said that the Government had accepted a recommendation that Royal
Mail should "forge a strategic minority partnership" with a private company.
Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, said a review into the Royal Mail by
Richard Hooper had concluded radical new measures were needed to revive the
service. As part of the deal the Government will take on the full pension
liabilities of Royal Mail. Its £22 billion scheme has a £7 billion deficit.
The Business Secretary said the Post Office network would be excluded from
any such partnership." See also
Reuters and
Bloomberg.
Newspapers & Technology has reported that "The Detroit Media Partnership
today said that it will cut home delivery of the Detroit Free Press and
Detroit News beginning in March. DMP Chief Executive Officer Dave Hunke said
DMP will restrict delivery of the Free Press Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays.
The News, which doesn't have a Sunday edition, will be delivered Thursdays
and Fridays. But both papers will continue to be printed, albeit in an
abbreviated form, the other days of the week. "We are here today because we
are fighting for our survival," Hunke said at a press conference outlining
the new strategy." [EdNote: Hmmm. Cutting days of delivery....Where have
I heard that discussed before?]
The
Press Association has reported that "The Government has opened the door
to foreign investment in the Royal Mail after signalling support for a
partner through a minority stake to bring fresh investment to the postal
business. Dutch postal giant TNT immediately expressed an interest in
exploring a "strategic partnership" with Royal Mail, a move warmly welcomed
by the Government. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said he would also
welcome other expressions of interest from other "credible partners", should
they come forward." See also
Sky News.
As
Hellmail put it: "One could almost call it a media frenzy this week. The
press today seem divided on quite what the future has in store for Royal
Mail but whatever changes are proposed, they're likely to be big ones."
Uni Global Union has told its members that "The Financial Times is
reporting that the UK government will today pave the way for the
part-privatisation of Royal Mail, as it publishes a report warning of the
financial pressures on the postal operator. The news paper which is
publishing leaked information about the report in an apparent "softening up"
process by the government, has said that the Royal Mail is "technically
insolvent" and drastic action is needed to fix the problems. Lord Mandelson,
the UK Business Secretary, is reported as backing the recommendation of the
independent Hooper review that Royal Mail needs an injection of private
sector capital. But it is claimed that he will rule out the full
privatisation. Government officials are dismissing reports that up to 50,000
jobs at Royal Mail could be at risk. But officials said the modernisation
that the state-owned company needed would inevitably result in job losses."
As
one writer for
PC Magazine has noted, "A few weeks ago PC Magazine ceased publishing
its print magazine, after 27 years of covering the technology industry.
These days it simply doesn't make economic or environmental sense for us to
print a magazine, load it on trucks, and send it across the country when the
same information can be delivered instantly online via PCMag.com. At about
the same time, my girlfriend gave me a love letter: a paperback book she
made herself with glossy pages, full-color photos, and a production quality
that would make any magazine art director salivate. How can she afford to
print a single book when big publishing companies lose money selling
hundreds of thousands of copies? Welcome to the world of print on demand."
The
Prague Daily Monitor has reported that "Czech postal services provider
Ceska posta has lowered its plan for this year's profit to Kc250m from the
original Kc504m. The reason for the cut is an economic slowdown in November
and a need to create provisions for investment in highly speculative
securities abroad which was made by the firm's previous managers."
The
Coventry Telegraph has reported that "union leaders have warned that a
one-day strike by postal workers in Coventry on Friday could just be the
start of a campaign of industrial action. They say that there would be more
disruption to the mail across Coventry and Warwickshire is expected during
December and the New Year if talks fail this week."
DutchNews.nl has reported that "Dutch postal company TNT is in the
running for a €3.4bn stake in British post firm Royal Mail, the Daily
Telegraph reports. The paper says one third of state-owned Royal Mail is up
for sale, which would mark the beginning of the full privatisation of the
company. Insiders tell the paper that TNT is a favourite candidate."
According to the
Evening Standard, "foreign firms were vying to buy up large chunks of
Royal Mail today after it emerged that Lord Mandelson has drafted a
£3billion plan to part-privatise the service. Under a shake-up, at least a
third of the company would be sold to a private firm. Dutch-owned TNT and
German-owned DHL are both keen to secure the stake."
According to
Personnel Today, "Calls for a radical shake up of Royal Mail are less
likely to lead to job cuts as the government will not agree to
part-privatise the organisation. A report delivered to ministers last week
by Richard Hooper, a former deputy chairman of Ofcom, is said to recommend
selling half of the state-owned group to private business, which would
result in closing 30 mail centres. But Business secretary Peter Mandelson is
said to have ruled out any plans privatisation this morning, although a full
report confirming the government's decision is due at 3:30 pm [10:30 EST]
today."
According to
Bloomberg, "Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s administration today will
detail plans for the government stake in Royal Mail Group Plc, the
state-owned postal service, as the European Union opens local deliveries to
competition. The announcement, due this afternoon in Parliament, may include
selling a share of the network to a foreign private postal company."
Management Today has written that "Given the state of affairs at Royal
Mail these days, opening up to half of the organisation to private business
and closing half of its 71 mail centres is probably as sound a suggestion as
any. Financial and organisational pressures have rendered the group far less
efficient than many of its sleeker commercial competitors, who now handle
one in three of every letter posted. One major hurdle is that the government
remains committed to maintaining the ‘universal service' - a millstone round
Royal Mail's neck which means it has to make daily deliveries to every UK
home, and collections from every postbox in the country. There are of course
other pressures: e-mail has hammered the market, as has a contraction in
business post due to the recession. Mail volumes are said to have dropped
7%, costing Royal Mail around £500m over the past few years. The group is
now handling 5m fewer items daily than two years ago. Then there's the small
matter of a voracious black hole in its pension pot: reckoned to be around
£7bn.The group's overall operating profit last year was just £162m on £9.4bn
of revenue." [EdNote: Is this where the U.S. Postal Service is heading?]
Docket No.
MC2008-1 (Determination of postal vs nonpostal
services): On December 12,
the U.S. Postal Service filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission a
request to "Sever from This Proceeding the Consideration of Those
Previously Unregulated Services That the Postal Service Asserts Are Postal
Services.” The
Association for Postal Commerce, along with Alliance of Nonprofit
Mailers, Magazine Publishers of America, Inc., National Postal Policy
Council, Parcel Shippers Association and The Direct Marketing Association,
has filed a reply to the Postal Service's request.
Bloomberg has reported that "Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s
administration today will detail plans for the government stake in Royal
Mail Group Plc, the state-owned postal service, as the European Union opens
local deliveries to competition."
For the third consecutive year the
Ecole
Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) is organizing it's Global
Postal Research and Education Network conference. This conference is aimed
at bridging theory and practice and is a place for executives, academics,
regulators and other industry stakeholders to meet in a neutral and academic
forum. The conference will be an occasion to find out the latest European
research results relative to the post, parcel, express and logistics
sectors, whilst drawing very practical conclusions from the experience of
players in the sector. This year's conference takes place at the EPFL campus
in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Monday April 27th 2009. The general theme for
the conference will be: New Business Models in a Changing Industry
According to
The Telegraph, "In a deal likely to be worth around £3 billion, at least
a third of the state-owned firm that runs Britain's postal network will be
sold to a private company. The move – which will see taxpayers footing the
bill for Royal Mail's £7 billion pensions black hole – will be seen as the
first step on the way to full privatisation of Britain's mail services."
The
Philadelphia Daily News has reported that "the announcement in late
August that the U.S. Postal Service planned to transfer 162 mail clerks made
no sense to veteran postal worker Nick Casselli. With hundreds of
overflowing unsorted mail bins blocking passageways at the Southwest
Philadelphia processing plant and a yearlong ban on overtime, Caselli said,
he knew there weren't enough clerks to process the daily mail. As a new shop
steward, Casselli set out to find out why. Using the "eyes and ears" of
co-workers, Casselli was first to uncover the Philadelphia post office's
dirty little secret."
Canada.com has reported that "Striking Canada Post workers rejected the
latest management offer in votes held across the country over the weekend.
More than two-thirds of the union's 2,140 members voted against the latest
Canada Post offer to resolve a walkout that has dragged on for more than a
month." See also
Market Wire.
December 15, 2008
CNN Money has reported that "The last Monday a week before Christmas has
traditionally been the busiest day of the year for the U.S. Postal Service
and people mailing holiday packages, but officials say the pace is down this
year because of the economy."
Postal blog editor Alan Robinson has noted that "In recent days, a
number of news articles focused on financial troubles across all media modes
that depend on advertisers for most if not all of their revenue. While all
advertising media are suffering, the economic downturn plus a switch to
Internet-based media has pushed print media, and in particular daily
newspapers, toward bankruptcy. As the largest deliverer of print
advertising, the question arises: Is the Postal Service facing the same
fate, or is there an opportunity in the decline of a direct competitor?"
Rediff has reported that "As the private sector continues to lay off
people to cut costs amid economic slowdown, the government too seems to have
frozen fresh recruitment at least in the department of posts."
According to Earth911:
The
Daily Mail has reported that "Taxpayers look set to be handed a
£7billion bill for the Royal Mail's future pensions, adding to the rising
cost of public sector retirements. A plan to restructure the postal service
could see its pension fund moved to the public purse, making future
generations responsible for unfunded liabilities. Rumours of the proposal,
expected to be outlined by Lord Mandelson this week, came as business
leaders called for action to limit the increasing burden of public sector
pensions. The Confederation of British Industry said the gap between pension
promises made to public sector workers and the amount put aside to pay for
them had grown to £1trillion." See also the
Financial Times.
According to
CBS4,
"It's The Busiest Mailing Day Of The Year."
The
Universal Postal Union's
December 2008 DMAB Update has been posted on this site. The Direct Mail
Advisory Board (DMAB) is a group of postal and industry organizations whose
mission is to "foster the growth of direct mail as a factor of economic and
market expansion by increasing market knowledge and developing the expertise
of stakeholders at all levels". Included in this report:
The
Glasgow Daily Record has reported that "Britain's postal services need
"radical surgery" to survive, a report out this week will warn. The review,
for Business Secretary Peter Mandelson, will call for savage cuts in sorting
services and the closure of more offices." See also
Public
Service Online and the
BBC.
According to
The Telegraph, "Royal Mail is facing financial disaster and should
effectively be part-privatised."
Media Daily News has reported that "As if there isn't enough bad news,
2008 has turned out to be the worst year in decades for magazines, as
measured by total ad pages. Through the middle of December, consumer
magazines are down 9.4% from last year, according to MIN Online; this
compares with a 7.8% drop in 2001. Worse, magazines don't appear to be
headed for a quick rebound like the last recession. Much of this decline can
be attributed to the recession, which officially began a year ago, according
to a recent analysis by the National Bureau of Economic Research. However,
the decline is more troubling in light of recent historical context: 2006
and 2007 were also slow years, with an average year-over-year growth rate of
just 1.25% per quarter. This was a period when the economy was supposedly
healthy, suggesting that magazines were already under attack from Internet
advertising and other new media. Now that the two trends are coinciding,
with secular media shifts reinforced by the economic downturn, there is no
telling where the bottom is, or if there is one."
December 14, 2008
 Welcome
to PostCom Radio and the PostCom Postal PodcastJoin PostCom President Gene Del Polito and Grayhair Software Vice President Angelo Anagnostopoulos in a discussion of the Postal Service's Centralized Account Payment System (CAPS) and its relationship to Intelligent Mail Barcode services. |
The
BBC has
reported that "The government has announced a review of UK postal services
to see whether increased competition in the industry has had an impact on
Royal Mail. The Royal Mail's 350-year monopoly ended at the start of 2006
when other licensed operators were given the right to collect and deliver
mail. Strike action by postal workers this summer damaged Royal Mail's
reputation. Business Secretary John Hutton said retaining the universal
postal service remained a "top priority".
The
Sunday Standard has reported that "ICT was supposed to spell doom for
the postal sector but BotswanaPost has managed to piggyback on technological
wonders to adapt to an altered business landscape. “At the close of the
year, work was at an advanced stage on an electronic money transfer product
that would not only expedite and improve on the security of transactions but
also offer customers value added services such as SMS notifications,” says
BotswanaPost’s board chairman, Martin Makgatlhe, in the just-released
2007/08 annual report. In partnership with the government, BotswanaPost has
also upgraded 24 post offices to become public information centers or
Kitsong Centers as they are more commonly known. The centers were set up
after a study undertaken by the Botswana Technology Centre established the
following: that rural communities needed ICT for agricultural and related
services as well as for long-distance education and to access external
markets to sell their produce; women in particular needed to access ICT
services from their homes while taking care of old-age family members and
children; and, communities wanted to access information on government
policies on business development initiatives and financial resources. Rural
communities have also benefited from what BotswanaPost calls “a newspaper
distribution solution” that has enabled The Botswana Daily News to reach
most destinations in the country on the day of publication. In her own
statement, Ruth Mphathi, who was acting director general at the time the
report was put together, says that this development “also allows for
extensive distribution of other national publications across the country.”
The Observer has reported that "Royal Mail's
pensions 'black hole' has more than doubled to some £7bn, placing
a 'ticking timebomb' under the country's most cherished state-owned
industry. The implications of the soaring pensions deficit are laid bare in
a long-awaited assessment of Royal Mail's operations submitted to ministers
in the past few days by Richard Hooper, a former deputy chairman of Ofcom,
who is chairing an independent review of postal services. The report is
expected to recommend 'radical surgery' and modernisation of Royal Mail's
operations - leading almost certainly to widespread job losses - as the
condition for maintaining a 'universal service' and letter deliveries across
the country six days a week." See also the
BBC.
Hellmail has reported that:
Finnish postal operator Posti (part of the Itella group) announced last week that a cooperation agreement between Edita and Itella's NetPosti services, offers Edita's customer companies more diverse ways of utilising electronic communications: they can transfer official consumer messages directly to NetPosti. The service enables Edita's customers to send messages to their own customers both by post and via the NetPosti service.
Xinhua has reported that "For the first time since 1949, the Chinese
mainland and Taiwan will begin direct air, sea transport and postal services
on Monday."
December 13, 2008
The
Times has reported that "A row broke out at Royal Mail last week after
the postal workers’ union claimed bosses were trying to get postmen and
women to double their walking speed to 4mph. British postal workers lag
behind their continental counterparts. Everyone else is speeding up, too.
Most people in Britain are walking 10% faster than they were 10 years ago,
according to researchers. Doctors have even found that it is good for us.
People who walk faster tend to live longer, according to the research,
unless they step out in front of a bus in their hurry. The slowness of the
British postie is said to be one of the reasons for the backlog in Christmas
mail."
Canada.com
has reported that "The union representing Canada Post support staff
currently on strike is urging its members to not accept the latest contract
offer by the Crown corporation."
Traffic World has reported that "for many parcel shippers, a major
concern once the goods reach their destination is not merely the basic
shipping costs but how those costs are handled in the organization. Many
shippers are anxious to get that parcel business away from being a mere cost
center to one that can actually reap profits and highlight the integral role
parcel distribution plays in a company. This past fall, Navigo Consulting
Group, Traffic World and PARCEL surveyed more than 660 shippers to find out
how shippers are confronting rising shipping costs and to provide benchmarks
for readers to measure and evaluate their own chargeback methods."
The
Universal Postal Union has reiterated its commitment to helping postal
operators worldwide better manage their CO2 emissions at the United Nations
climate change conference taking place in Poznan, Poland. Speaking at a side
event on green postal projects organized by PostEurop, an association of
European public postal operators, the International Bureau's Daniel Legoff
said the UPU was gathering information among its 191 member countries about
the global impact of their postal operations on the environment. About 30%
of countries have already responded to a worldwide UPU survey. The UPU will
continue to work closely with the United Nations Environment Programme and
postal organizations, such as PostEurop, on this issue. Once an initial
assessment has been performed, the organization will then develop an action
plan to help postal operators worldwide mitigate green-house gas emissions.
British postal regulator, Postcomm, has noted that "On 20 November 2008
Royal Mail submitted an application to Postcomm to remove the current price
controls (Condition 21 of its licence) for a number of packet products and
product formats. Royal Mail’s application is based on its belief that that
competition is sufficiently developed to protect the interest of users of
packet products. This application does not include the universal service
products used by customers when sending parcels and packets at Post
Offices."
Traffic World has reported that "Ron Carey, the president who led the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters through two major strikes before
being forced out of his leadership role, died Dec. 11. He was 72. Carey, a
long-time UPS employee and son of a UPS driver, was elected Teamsters
president in 1991 on a reform platform in the first secret ballot election
in the union's history. He frequently clashed with Teamster employers,
including UPS."
The
Philadelphia Daily News has reported that "U.S. Rep Bob Brady has called
for an investigation of the Southwest Philadelphia Postal Service's
processing plant by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. In a Dec. 5
letter, Brady asked Gene L. Dodaro, acting U.S. comptroller general, to have
the GAO investigate procedures at the plant after reports of chronic late
deliveries, missing mail, the undercounting of hundreds of thousands of
pieces of mail and serious understaffing at the $300 million plant in his
district."
The
American Postal Workers Union (APWU) has told its members that "When the
Postal Service announced a consolidation study in Manasota, FL, APWU’s Local
7136 swung into action without waiting for the first in “a series of
community meetings” that the USPS said it would schedule. Instead, the local
launched its own effort to inform the public about the plan, and prompted
the area’s largest city government to hold a special meeting. The local has
also launched a special Web site (www.keepthemailhere.com), at which local
citizens can sign a petition to encourage the Postal Service to keep the
375-worker facility in full operation. In late November, the USPS announced
[PDF] that it had initiated an “efficiency study” of the Manasota Processing
and Distribution Center, and said the study would be completed by the end of
the year."
The
Victoria Times Colonist has reported that "A judge has granted Canada
Post an injunction to stop striking inside workers from impeding the flow of
mail to postal depots across B.C. About 2,100 inside postal workers began
their strike Nov. 17 to back contract demands. The mail has been flowing,
since carriers, truck drivers and sorters are not on strike, but there have
been delays caused by striking workers walking slowly across entrances,
delaying trucks arriving and leaving."
The
St.
Cloud Times has reported that "A Sartell woman and former employee of
the U.S. Postal Service faces up to five years in prison when she’s
sentenced for stealing mail."
"Postal
officials shifted from denial to apology Friday as
KRQE News 13 continued its series of reports on a growing backlog of
undelivered mail in Albuquerque. Service Manager Matt Lopez now concedes the
post office is having delivery problems after all. He told News 13 that last
month the service cut staff by 5 percent which had the remaining carriers
adding new stops without overtime."
According to
Burnaby Now, "This week, a judge granted Canada Post an injunction to
stop striking inside workers from impeding the flow of mail to postal depots
across B.C. That isn't terribly newsworthy. Companies often get injunctions
when striking union members get a little too eager to slow down the work
flow. Picketers often walk slowly in front of delivery entrances - and on
rare occasions, actually stop work. So, injunctions during strikes are
pretty run-of-the-mill. What is interesting about this event, is that hardly
anyone has noticed that there's a Canada Post strike happening. For the
average Canadian who has become accustomed to the semi-regular pre-Christmas
extortion postal strike, this year it barely registers on the irritation
scale. It seems apparent that Canadians have become much less reliant on the
Crown corporation as their communication conduit."
As the
New York Times put it: "To the ever-growing list of signs of a teetering
economy, add this unexpected entry: Postal workers worried about jobs they
always believed came with the nearest thing this country offered to a
lifetime guarantee."
The
Liverpool Echo has reported that "postal unions will try to re-start
talks with Royal Mail next week ahead of Friday’s planned one-day strike."
The
editor of
Hellmail has noted that "Workers at several Royal Mail sorting offices
across the UK are to go on strike just days before final posting dates.
"Its a nonsense to suggest this isn't a deliberate attempt to disrupt Christmas post. Clearly through the timing of this, the whole point of these strikes is to maximise the disruption to postal collections and deliveries for customers at minimum loss to postal workers in an attempt to try and get Royal Mail to reconsider its plans.
"The public weathered weeks of disruption last year and patience has worn rather thin. The public as well as business don't like being held to ransom as part of an industrial dispute at the best of times, and even more so when their own jobs are under threat. So many families are split these days and we're hearing from many customers who are angry that presents to relatives and friends may not arrive because of yet another Christmas postal strike. Its fair to say that the population do understand the crisis faced my many postal workers but the timing of this industrial action has angered many. The mood is not the same this time around. "The danger now is that further industrial action will just convince the government that privatisation is the best course of action and any gains in terms of wages as well as terms and conditions, will vanish if that were to happen."
[EdNote: I mean....You gotta wonder....Are there days they actually go to work instead of strike?]
The
Memphis Commercial Appeal has reported that "FedEx officials said Friday
they are trimming 540 jobs at trucking businesses FedEx Freight and National
LTL because of economic conditions."
United Press International has reported that "Postal workers in Britain
say they are unfairly being forced to move at speeds made popular by the
British military during World War II. One postman, whose identity was not
revealed, said postal workers have been ordered by Royal Mail managers to
increase their speeds from 2.4 mph to 4 mph, the speed army general Lucian
Truscott had British troops move during the historic conflict, The Scotsman
said Friday." See also the
Northampton Chronicle & Echo.
Advertising Age has
reported that "The Detroit dilemma has hit Interpublic Group of Cos.-owned
Campbell-Ewald (the Postal Service's ad agency), which is slashing up to 100
employees, executives familiar with the matter said. The move, which would
reduce staff by less than 10%, is due to drastic budget cuts at key client
Chevrolet and the departure of other accounts, they said. Campbell-Ewald,
which had revenues of nearly $240 million in 2007, per Advertising Age
statistics, is one of several ad agencies that will be dealt a blow if the
U.S. government decides not to bail out automakers."
Yahoo! Tech has reported that "Parliament has approved a law making
Estonia the first country to allow voting by mobile phone. Lawmakers
approved a measure Thursday allowing citizens to vote by mobile phone in the
next parliamentary elections in 2011." [EdNote: Seems to do voting by
mail one better.]
Air Cargo
World has reported that "Cargo traffic for U.S. airlines fell 6.2
percent in October compared to the same month a year ago, but carriers got
some rare relatively good news in the beleaguered transportation market as
shipping grew from September to October. The overall decline in October
compared to the same month a year ago was an improvement over the 7.1
percent the carriers reported in September and cargo ton miles actually
advanced 5.4 percent from September to October, according to the Air
Transport Association."
The
Associated Press has reported that "The number of governors' offices
receiving letters containing suspicious powder has topped 30. The letters,
all postmarked in Texas, began arriving at governors' offices across the
country on Monday. So far field tests have indicated the powders to be
harmless, though the FBI said Friday that further testing is under way."
The
Daily Mail has reported that "Millions of cards and presents could
arrive too late for Christmas because of plans by postal workers to strike
next Friday. The cynical decision to walk out at the peak of the festive
postal rush was condemned by Royal Mail and consumer groups yesterday.
Around 120million letters and parcels are sent every day in December. The
strike organisers, the Communication Workers' Union, could not have chosen a
more damaging date in the entire calendar. December 19 is the day after the
deadline for posting second- class letters in time for Christmas and the day
before the first-class post deadline."
From
MarketWire: "Canada Post and the Union of Postal Communication Employees
(UPCE) have reached a new tentative agreement. The contract is subject to
ratification by the 2,140 members of the Union, a process expected to be
completed by Tuesday, December 16. Picket activity may continue until the
results of the vote are known. Members of the UPCE, represented by the
Public Service Alliance of Canada, have been on strike since November 17."
The latest issue of the
PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:
The Postal Service posted its latest version of the Guide on Intelligent Mail for Letters and Flats this week. The Guide provides a framework for implementing the suite of Intelligent Mail barcodes. In addition, it also describes what will be available in the first release of the “Intelligent Mail Program” in May 2009, and what is still to come in later releases.
The Postal Regulatory Commission’s public representative seems to have highlighted an incongruence in certain sections of PAEA and the Commission’s administration of the new postal law. He has called for a docket in which these issues can be more fully explored.
USPS employees at some local Philadelphia post offices say they have issues similar – fraudulent time-keeping, late or lost mail and chronic understaffing – to those published by the Philadelphia Daily News last week.
Postal Service Philadelphia District Manager Frank Neri tried to reassure residents of Philadelphia about their substandard mail service in this letter to the Daily News.
PostCom President Gene Del Polito sets the record straight about advertising mail in a letter to Time Magazine.
PostCom Vice President Jessica Lowrance has put together a list of thoughts and ideas about mailers and mail volume for Bob Bernstock, USPS’ President of Mailing and Shipping Services, in this postal perspective.
In this postal perspective, Kate Muth, president of Muth Communications, says the Postal Service must operate in the sunshine by sharing its plans and data with its stakeholders in a timely fashion, especially in this atmosphere of financial mismanagement and mistrust.
Finding the news on the PostCom website. Shipping, manufacturing volumes continue to drop, Con-Way says. Fall in express demand to hurt shippers. Scrap markets blasted by downturn.
TNT cuts express division forecast again. Legal loophole opens in Zumwinkel tax case. Czech Post to raise prices for parcel delivery. An Post Delivery quality gains stand. DHL, eBay strike Asia Pacific deal.
Postal Previews
The PostCom Bulletin is distributed via
NetGram
December 12, 2008
The
latest copy of the
National Association of Postmasters of the U.S. electronic governmental
affairs newsletter is available on the NAPUS web site.
From the U.S. Postal Service: "Online services available on usps.com
have been restored. Working with our external partners, we have corrected
problems that caused the interruptions in service and taken proactive
measures to ensure these problems do not occur in the future."
DMM
Advisory : "We (the U.S. Postal
Service) have tools to help you prepare for the January 18th shipping
services pricing change at usps.com/prices.
You will find many helpful materials, including price lists, downloadable
price files, Federal Register notices, and more. The Postal Regulatory
Commission verified yesterday that the new prices for shipping services are
consistent with the Postal Act of 2006. We’ll use the DMM Advisory to keep
you updated."
The
Mailers Council has reported that
"Postal employee reductions will continue next month. USPS EVP Tony
Vegliante has notified area and district employees that staffing changes
will be made beginning early 2009. Effective immediately he has frozen all
area and district job postings until further notice, including laterals and
downgrades. Exceptions will require approval by Vegliante’s office. Current
postings will be allowed, but the last date for processing changes will be
January 16."
According to
Media Daily News, the "Bottom Falls Out Of The Ad Market, Literally."
AllAfrica.com
has reported that "Kenya: New Media Law Provokes Protest, Arrests."
The
DM Bulletin has reported that "Direct marketing agency Entire has set up
a website called 'What is DM?', which invites the direct marketing industry
to discuss and develop a definition of what it does."
Online Media Daily has reported that "Web sites cluttered with ads hurt
the publisher, the consumer, and the advertiser, according to a study from
online media and technology firm Burst Media. Put another way, ad clutter
not only annoys audiences, but diminishes ad effectiveness, found the study
of over 4,000 Web users administered to better understand how clutter
impacts Web users' Web experience, as well as its impact on the perception
of advertisers who place ads on cluttered sites."
The
BBC has
reported that "postal workers from seven sorting offices are to take part in
a 24-hour strike over the merger of some depots."
According to
Advertising Age, "Magazines' print editions will continue this way for a
while, it seems increasingly certain, particularly as the recession
amplifies the abundant challenges already posed by digital media and
splintering audiences. There may never be a stable "new normal" for
magazine. But their print editions are being slowly distilled into cheap,
mass titles on one hand and luxurious niche books on the other -- with the
web in between."
The Postal Regulatory Commission:
The
St. Louis Post-Dispatch has recommended that "Next time you travel,
consider sending your own photos as postcards. HazelMail.com allows you to
upload your pictures and mail them anywhere in the world, with a
personalized message, for $1.50."
InsideBayArea
has reported that "Neopost USA will eliminate 240 jobs in the East Bay and
close its local operations, a move that deals a fresh blow to a regional
economy already staggered by job losses, a mortgage meltdown and a retail
slump. The staff reductions have materialized because a series of
acquisitions in recent years caused the Hayward operations to duplicate
other Neopost USA organizations."
WWLP has reported that "The backlog of undelivered packages results from
more than the usual crush of holiday mail, U.S. Postal Service employees
have been telling KRE News 13. Yet the Postal Service, which says it, too,
has taken hits from the sagging economy, reports that shouldn't affect
service to its customers. However snail mail is getting even more sluggish,
according to two USPS employees in Albuquerque. They didn't want to go on
camera but said overtime was recently cut, causing mail and packages to pile
up in at least two metro post offices just weeks before the holidays."
According to one
PC Magazine commentator, "print publishing is hugely flawed. It's slow,
with reviews of products appearing in print months after they have been
tested. Opinion pieces, weeks after the debate has moved on. You're reading
this column today online, but under the kindest of schedules, print
subscribers wouldn't get the same chance until January. Print media is
simply behind the times by design."
The Austrian Times
has reported that "Postal workers’ union chief Gerhard Fritz has warned that
yesterday’s (Weds) warning strikes were only "a taste of things to come."
The Japan
Times has reported that "The House of Representatives on Thursday voted
down a bill to freeze the planned sale of state-owned shares in Japan Post
Holdings Co."
The Daily
Nation has reported that "The new communications law gives postal staff
powers to open your letters. People whose letters would be considered
offensive or to contain obscene pictures will be liable to a Sh100,000 fine
and two years imprisonment or both. People will also not be allowed to use
words such as “letter box” anywhere in their private buildings as that would
imply such places are legitimate post offices. People who defy the section
will be liable to a fine of up to Sh5,000. According to the Bill, “any
person who affixes any placard, advertisement, notice, document or in any
way disfigures any post office will be liable to payment of Sh50,000 or one
year imprisonment or both”. The law will also restrict you from transmitting
certain messages through your mobile phone and other electronic gadgets. The
source of the messages will always be traced to senders."
December 11, 2008
According to
The Gallup Independent,"In just about any town in America, the long
lines at the post office have been the source of frustration for millions of
postal customers. And now that the holidays are here, they’re worse than
ever. But many Gallup postal customers are saying that the problems at the
local post office go way beyond long lines."
The
Northampton Chronicle & Echo has reported that "Postal workers have
called off a strike over plans to concentrate mail services in
Northamptonshire to avoid delaying post during the Christmas rush. Members
of the Milton Keynes branch of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have
decided to delay industrial action until after the Christmas period.
[EdNote: Isn't that thoughtful....]
The
Tipton
Conservative and Advertiser has reported that "U.S. Senator Tom Harkin
(D-IA) and Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-IA) have sent a letter to Mark Allen, the
Manager of Post Office Operations in Cedar Rapids calling for increased
communication with postal customers who are affected by the temporary
closure of the post office in West Branch. Harkin and Loebsack called for a
clear timetable for the reopening of the facility and for the Postal Service
to address the potential need for the establishment of a temporary facility
within city limits. The West Branch Post Office was closed on Nov. 29 to
install a new heating and air conditioning system. [EdNote: Do you think
anyone on the Hill actually thinks the PMG knows how to run his business?]
Postal commentator
Kate Muth has said "I’m beginning to worry that the Postal Service is
backsliding on transparency. While it might be living up to the letter of
the new law, it is not living up to the spirit. It’s now mid December, and
stakeholders still have not seen the Postal Service’s integrated financial
plan for fiscal year 2009. We are now almost a quarter of the way through
the fiscal year and the Postal Service’s Board of Governors still has not
voted on the plan. Pretty soon it will no longer be a plan. It will be
results, which should make the vote a lot easier."
From
MarketWire: "Quebecor World Inc. has announced it is deploying variable
trim and unique hybrid co-mail technologies that will increase its extensive
co-mail offering and generate greater postal savings for its Catalog and
Periodical customers."
The Sophia News
Agency has reported that "Bulgaria's Parliament voted Thursday to extend
the monopoly of the state-owned company Bulgarian Posts JSC until December
31, 2010. The present Postal Services Act envisaged that the state monopoly
over the transfer of internal and international correspondence would end on
December 31, 2008."
In a
recent piece that appeard in an
APWU publication,
it was said that: "Unable to come up with a way to justify the plan to
reward corporate mailers at the expense of local business owners and
citizens, the USPS decided to allow the Sioux City Processing & Distribution
Facility to continue with its normal operations." [EdNote: Reward
corporate mailers? Where does the APWU come up with this stuff? If you're
looking for a boggey man for the present state of the Postal Service's
network realignment distress, look in the mirror. The people within our
industry are getting sick and tired of being the APWU's and
environmentalists' scapegoat for all that ails America.]
The
Bradenton
Herald has reported that "With more than 40 postal workers in
attendance, the City Council instructed Mayor Wayne Poston to send a letter
outlining the city’s concern about possible loss of jobs at the U.S. Postal
Service Manasota Processing and Distribution Center." [EdNote: Perhaps,
then, the City Council should volunteer to cover the cost of postal employee
salaries and benefits.]
The
Prague Daily Monitor has reported that "Postal service provider Ceska
posta will raise the price of parcel delivery by up to Kc10 next year when
sending an ordinary package weighing less than 2 kilogrammes will cost Kc43
instead of the current Kc38, the company announced in a press release
Wednesday. The price of delivery of letters will not change.
Bloomberg has reported that "Deutsche Post AG will continue to buy
“small” companies in Asia as the financial crisis cuts their market value,
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, citing an interview with Chief Executive
Officer Frank Appel. The Bonn-based postal service will grow by a percentage
in the “higher single digits” in Asia this year, Appel told the newspaper.
The share of Deutsche Post’s sales in Asia will gain to 20 percent or more
by 2012, the newspaper said, citing Appel. Deutsche Post expects to meet its
full-year target for earnings before interest and tax of 2.4 billion euros
($3.16 billion) and is “confident” it will be able to pay a dividend for
2008, Appel told the newspaper."
The
Philadelphia Daily News has reported that "Nine days ago, Megan Brennan,
the Postal Service's regional vice president, wanted to see for herself the
hundreds of overflowing mail bins, rerouted mail trailers and allegedly
falsified mail-volume reports at the Southwest Philadelphia mail-processing
plant. When Brennan arrived - in response to the Daily News story on Dec. 1
- the processing plant was ready for her visit, according to a postal-union
official. A trucking firm had just hauled away 19 tons of so-called "waste"
mail to be destroyed, said Gwen Ivey, president of the American Postal
Workers Union Local 89 in Philadelphia.
"This was workable mail," she
said. Yesterday, Ivey told investigators from the Office of Inspector
General about the 38,000 pounds of
mail in 36 cardboard 5-foot-cubes, called gaylords, headed for destruction."
[EdNote: If this is true, this is PROFOUNDLY disturbing. Heads should
roll.]
The
Schenectady Daily Gazette has reported that while "FedEx and UPS have
refused to say how business is this holiday season, the U.S. Postal Service
has announced that its deliveries of packages and letters are below average.
According to The Associated Press, in cutting its profit forecast, the
delivery company acknowledged that the beleaguered economy has trumped lower
fuel prices and even the elimination of a competitor. The Postal Service is
predicting that packages and other mail volume will be down this season, as
it has been all year, according to spokesman Gerry Kreienkamp."
At
the same time,
Smart Money has reported that "FedEx Corp.'s (FDX) latest delivery to
Wall Street included a pessimistic outlook for coming months, as waning
demand for shipping continues to vex the parcel-delivery industry amid the
broad economic slump. The Memphis, Tenn., company said late Monday that
earnings for its fiscal second-quarter ended Nov. 30 will come in toward the
high end of its prior guidance. However, it followed the announcement with a
stark warning that the full fiscal year will be disappointing, with the low
end of the projected earnings range 26% below previous guidance. "Demand for
our services weakened sequentially throughout the quarter and global
economic trends continue to worsen, substantially reducing our second-half
outlook," Chief Financial Officer Alan B. Graf Jr. said in a prepared
statement."
As
the Sacramento Bee
has noted, "Problems with the U.S. Postal Service's Web site continued
through Wednesday, disrupting holiday shipping for businesses and
consumers."
From
PRWeb: "The US Postal Service is changing the Postage Rates for shippers
on January 18, 2009. Window Book is giving away a subscription to its Postal
Business Companion™ software that allows shippers to get the current and
future postage rates and compare. This new software includes the Priority
Mail rates, Commercial rates and new Commercial Plus rates. The Postal
Business Companion includes an easy-to-use postal mailing and shipping rate
calculator that lets you compare current rates vs. the new postage rates.
Shippers can quickly calculate the rate changes in dollar amount and
percentage ahead of the actual rate change and determine budget allotments.
It is a handy tool that does not require using the internet to use from
their PC or laptop."
The
Slovak Spectator has reported that "The average nominal monthly salary
rose year-on-year in all monitored sectors in October, with the biggest
increase recorded in the category of postal services and telecommunications
- 10.6 percent, the Statistics Office reported on Wednesday."
The
Economic Times has reported that "In response to a call by All India Dak
Karamchari Sangh, the postal employees across the country will go on an
indefinite strike from December 17 in protest against non-acceptance of
their "just and legitimate" demands by the Central government."
According to
The Sentinel, "a dispute is building up between union leaders and Royal
Mail over claims postal workers are being pressured into walking faster. The
Communication Workers' Union (CWU) said delivery staff were being told to
walk at a speed of 4mph, an increase over a previous target of 2.4mph. The
union said delivery workers were being pressed to complete "unrealistic"
rounds to gain financial savings. But Royal Mail said nobody was being
pressured." See also
The Guardian.
Online Media Daily has reported that "Marketers taking part in
MediaPost's Email Insider Summit this week wrestled with the question of how
aggressively to employ text messaging--either as a way to obtain email
addresses or as part of an integrated campaign. SMS, of course, offers huge
potential in that people have their cell phones with them most of the time.
But marketers suggested it's a very private arena and they run the risk of
appearing overly intrusive when they use it."
Docket No.
CP2009-15:
This document
announces a recently-filed Postal Service notice of a new international mail
contract. It addresses procedural steps associated with this filing.
Comments due December 12, 2008. Submit comments electronically via the
Commission's Filing Online system at
http://www.prc.gov. Further information, contact: Stephen L. Sharfman,
General Counsel, 202-789-6820 and
stephen.sharfman@prc.gov.
The National Association of Major
Mail Users (NAMMU) actively promotes and endorses the implementation of
sound environmental principles and practices. These include using 100 per
cent of post consumer content paper collected curbside, much of which is
currently having trouble finding downstream markets; and a highly targeted
delivery approach by which members can reduce their current Stewardship
Ontario dues allocation by contributing less material than is covered by
dues. The NAMMU Environmental Awareness Program includes the annual NAMMU
Environmental Awards that salute exceptional achievement and set an example
for the mailing industry; amendment of the Code of Ethics to more formally
include and reflect members’ environmental practices; and a consumer
awareness campaign that states the facts correctly.
December 10, 2008
Japan
Times has reported that "A bill to freeze the planned sale of
government-owned shares in Japan Post Holdings Co. was headed Wednesday for
defeat. The bill was rejected Tuesday by a Lower House committee and faces
another rejection in the chamber's plenary session Thursday."
Fedex Press Release:
"FedEx Express, the world’s largest express transportation company and a
subsidiary of FedEx Corp., and Modec today unveiled a state-of-the-art
electric commercial vehicle, the first of 10 to be added to the FedEx
Express fleet for use in the United Kingdom over the next few months."
The
RFID
Journal has reported that "three Middle Eastern countries—Qatar, Saudi
Arabia and the United Arab Emirates—joined together in a three-month pilot
earlier this year to test the suitability of employing radio frequency
identification as a tool for measuring the performance of mail delivery
services. The pilot, led by Qatar's General Postal Corp. (Q-Post) and also
including Saudi Post and Emirates Post, leveraged both passive EPC Gen 2
tags and active tags placed on approximately 3,120 test letters that
circulated among the three nations. Overseen by the Universal Postal Union
(UPU)— a United Nations agency that serves as the primary forum for
cooperation between postal organizations around the world—the pilot was
designed to determine whether RFID is a viable technology for measuring
quality of service as part of the agency's development of an affordable
global monitoring system (GMS) covering all UPU members. The GMS will be
used to provide precise diagnostic quality-of-service performance results
for inbound mail. The UPU's Quality of Service Project Group Steering
Committee, of which Q-Post is a member, is spearheading the initiative."
Mmegi Online has reported that "BotswanaPost had to put major capital
developments that would have stimulated revenue growth on ice due to
unavailability of funds, the parastatal's 2008 Annual Report has revealed."
Uni Global Union has told its members that "On December 3, one of UNI
Post & Logistic's Canadian affiliates, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers
(CUPW), asked a national arbitrator to issue an interim order demanding that
the employer stop imposing disciplinary sanctions on members who wear the
button and rescind its directive prohibiting the button. On December 5,
2008, the national arbitrator rendered a decision ordering the employer to
stop prohibiting bargaining unit employees from wearing buttons or stickers
and to stop imposing disciplinary sanctions on workers who wear the protest
button."
From the USPS: "The Postal Service website, usps.com, is experiencing
intermittent interruptions to some services. We apologize for the
inconvenience this is causing, especially at what is one of the busiest
times of the year for families and business owners. While we expect the
service to be completely restored quickly, we wanted you to be aware of
options to assist you and your customers as we continue to work around the
clock to resolve the situation."
Postmaster General John Potter has appointed Jean Picker Firstenberg,
former director and chief executive officer of the American Film Institute,
chairman of the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC), beginning in
January 2009.
Congressman John McHugh (R-NY), the father of modern American postal
reform, has introduced a bill (H.R. 7313) to allow the United States Postal
Service to pay its share of contributions for annuitants’ health benefits
out of the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund.
CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU Consultancy, has reported that:
The Ukrainian post Ukrposhta has enjoyed a clearly positive development during the first 10 months of the current financial year.
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.)
According to the
Daily Item, "The U.S. Postal Service wants to start delivering mail in
New Berlin, but rather than welcome the development, residents are up in
arms. Those who live in this small Union County borough worry the move could
undermine the community's sense of identity and may be leading up to a move
to completely shutter the local post office. Those were just some of the
many concerns expressed by an extremely vocal and highly emotional crowd of
about 90 residents who confronted postmasters from New Berlin and
Selinsgrove in a 90-minute town meeting Tuesday night at the New Berlin
Community Center." [EdNote: Some days you just can't win.]
Frank Neri, Philadelphia District Manager for the U.S. Postal Service
has written a piece for the Philadelphia Daily News about the mail service
situation in Philadelphia.
The
Greenville News has told its readers that "At least 2,550 Social
Security recipients in the Upstate have a new reason to sign up for direct
deposit of their monthly checks. They've learned the hard way that on a rare
occasion the check is not in the mailbox when it's supposed to be. And for
many people on Social Security, going an extra few days without that check
can really hurt. There's a much better way for Social Security beneficiaries
to get their checks. Social Security officials are using this matter of
delayed checks to remind people of the benefits of direct deposit."
MarketWatch has reported that "Demand for express shipping is
deteriorating rapidly with the economic downturn, overwhelming the benefits
from DHL's withdrawal from the U.S. market and from lower fuel prices,
according to a Tuesday note from J.P. Morgan. Shipping is viewed as a
benchmark for the economy, reflecting overall gross-domestic-production
growth or contraction. Earlier, the International Air Transport Association
forecast a 5% drop in cargo shipping for 2009, the first in decline in
growth in eight years."
The
Philadelphia Daily News has reported that "Postal inspectors, who are
investigating delayed and missing mail and allegedly phony daily mail
counts, have discovered "a lot" of late, unprocessed mail at the Southwest
Philly processing plant, a postal-union president said yesterday."
The
Sarasota Herald Tribune has noted that "About 25 percent less mail is
leaving Sarasota and Manatee counties this year, and the processing center
on Tallevast Road where Michael Sears works has none of its usual December
bustle. "One of my buddies in the staging area said, 'There is no mail,'"
said Sears, who has worked for the postal service for 27 years. "Usually it
is stacked up. This time of year, there ought to be mail everywhere. There
is nothing here. The economy is drying everything up." About 400 postal
workers such as Sears who thought they had secure government jobs may have
an anxious holiday season as they await the results of a study due Dec. 31.
The U.S. Postal Service is conducting the study to determine if the agency
can save money by moving some operations from the Tallevast Road plant to a
larger one in Tampa."
The
Earth Times has reported that "Austria's post offices were partially
closed Wednesday, as postal workers protested plans to downsize the mail
service. Employees at around 80 branches were on strike, but mail delivery
went on uninterrupted, Oesterreichische Post AG said in a statement. The
protests came one day before the post's management meets to discuss possible
restructuring plans for 2009."
Hellmail has reported that "Steve Lawson, editor for Hellmail, the
postal industry news site has condemned calls for pre-Christmas strike
action by Royal Mail workers. "Striking before Christmas won't make a jot of
difference to Royal Mail's need to modernise, but it will, as last year,
impact on customers more than anyone, and whilst I can see why they are
considering doing this, it will just lose them any remaining support and
respect they had from the public." he said."
TMCNet
has reported that "The Angolan minister of Telecommunications and
Information Technologies, Jose Carvalho da Rocha, announced this Tuesday in
Luanda, the modernisation of 163 post offices countrywide, in the framework
of the modernisation of the services in the sector."
The U.S. Postal Service has announced the launch of the new RIBBS™ website.
RIBBS has long been the primary technical resource for the mailing industry,
but the new site was enhanced with the business mailer in mind. The same
information that mailers have relied on for years is now available with site
indexes that are searchable from A-Z or by topic. Improved print
capabilities and drop-down menu navigation provide easy access to our many
products and services. Links to Intelligent Mail® services and the Flat
Sequencing System are also available. Visit the new and improved RIBBS site
today at ribbs.usps.gov.
ComputerworldUK has reported that "Royal Mail is looking for a services
contractor to deliver a human resources IT platform based on SAP enterprise
resource planning."
Yahoo! Tech has noted that "The Pulitzer Prizes, the most prestigious US
journalism awards, announced Monday they were expanding to include
online-only publications." [EdNote: A sign of the times.]
Advertising
Age has reported that "Cablevision may have laid off 100 employees at
Newsday, the recently acquired Long Island, N.Y.-based daily newspaper, just
last week. But Tom Rutledge, the media company's chief operating officer,
laid out an ambitious digital strategy designed to reinvent the newspaper's
coverage and distribution model. "Our goal is to do something nobody else is
doing, which is turn around [a print product]," he said. "We have the
ability to replace direct mail with
targeted advertising, with technology that's just being deployed."
CNET News
has reported that "Google has announced a partnership with several
publishers to bring complete catalogs of old magazines online. By using the
same scanning process that has been implemented for Google's Book Search
product, these titles undergo optical character recognition and are indexed
into Google's search engine."
December 9, 2008
In recently filed comments, the
Postal Service and the
Postal Regulatory Commission's Public Representative share different
points of view over the classification of several international postal
services as "competitive."
Postal
commentator Cary Baer believes that relative to the nomination of Robert
McGowan to the Postal Services Board of Governors,"[t]he best the industry
can hope for is that the nomination is not acted on by the current Congress.
Then perhaps we’ll have an opportunity to see what President Obama means by
change."
Internet
Retailer has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service said today it was
working with external technology partners to fix an intermittent problem
that has made several of its online shipping tools unavailable to shippers."
DMM
Advisory :
The
Postal Service has updated three technical guides and added a new guide
for customers who are implementing the Intelligent Mail® full-service
solution for their businesses. The guides indicate what functions will be
supported in Intelligent Mail Release 1 on May 11 and support Mail.dat
version 09.1. The USPS encourage customers to use these guides at
http://ribbs.usps.gov/files/fullserviceguides/ as they prepare for the
transition.
Monsters and Critics has reported that "Austria's postal workers
announced Tuesday they would hold a warning strike Wednesday to protest
planned personnel cutbacks and post office closures. To prepare the partly
state-owned Oesterreichische Post AG for the end of the state monopoly on
letter services in 2011, its management is reportedly planning to reduce the
25,800-strong workforce by 9,000 by 2015 and to close 77 per cent of post
offices."
The
BBC has reported that "Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU)
plan to walkout at Christmas in protest at full-time jobs being replaced
with part-time roles. The dates of the strikes have yet to be announced by
the union."
The
DM Bulletin has noted that:
One
of our correspondents has noted that
American Profile
has an interesting piece on "extreme" mail deliveries.
According to Ben Cooper, the exec who administers Mail Moves America, "New
Jersey bill A3419 -- the do not mail bill -- has been withdrawn."
According to
DM News, "While many companies consider e-mail or digital marketing as a
cheaper way to reach consumers, experts say they shouldn't eschew
traditional direct marketing at its expense, because smart companies who
continue a dialogue with their customers through a recession – using the
tactile, personal direct mail channel -- usually come out the better for it."
WYFF4.com has
reported that "Postal Service officials said Monday that human error was to
blame for the mishandling of more than 2,500 Social Security checks that
were delayed by several days last week. "In each case, the reason for the
delay was human error," he said. "Check distribution problems can include
mislabeling or mis-sending on our part, computer or distribution error on
the part of the issuing agency or addressing problems on the part of the
recipient." Individual pieces of first-class mail are not tracked, Spradlin
said, meaning that the Postal Service only knows there's a problem when a
customer calls." [EdNote: Hmmm. Seems like a job for Super IMb Man!"
The Vanguard
has reported that "ABIA State Territory of Nigeria Postal Services (NIPOST)
has intensified awareness educa-tion on the Stamp Duties Act, otherwise
known as Postal Stamp Duty, which makes it mandatory for all transactions
involving receipts, bills, payments, agreements and other financial
documents from N1000 and above to affix a N50 stamp on such documents."
Asahi Shimbun has reported that "Japan's privatization of postal
services is being imperiled by a compound crisis of political confusion and
failing management at the newly created postal companies. At the heart of
the political turmoil surrounding postal reform is a bill to freeze the
planned sale of government-held shares in Japan Post companies."
UPS has placed in service a new international hub here, improving access
to China and speeding the movement of express packages and heavy freight
around the world.
From
PRWeb:
"Aloha Forwarding (http://www.AlohaForwarding.com),
a Denver-based company specializing in package forwarding services for
residents of Hawaii and Alaska, is getting noticed in Washington, D.C. What
is so unique about Aloha Forwarding? "Our business model is very simple,"
says Aloha Forwarding President, Darrell Houghton. All you have to do is
have your package shipped to Aloha Forwarding in Denver, and we'll forward
your package to you using Priority Mail."
From
PR Newswire:
The
Philadelphia Daily News has reported that:
The Nation has reported that "DHL, the world's leading express and
logistics company announced a new strategic partnership with eBay, the
world's largest online marketplace. Through the partnership, DHL offers eBay
sellers in Asia Pacific the option of sending goods sold online through the
region's premier express services. With DHL express services, eBay sellers
in Asia Pacific can expect faster delivery times and competitive costs for
their international shipments. Compared to traditional mail, these services
are at least 50 per cent faster. From now till 31 January 2009, eBay sellers
will enjoy further promotional shipping rates• of up to 35 percent discount
compared to standard DHL rates for their shipment, while eBay PowerSellers
will enjoy an additional 10 percent discount. This promotion is available
for eBay sellers in 12 countries including Australia, China, Hong Kong,
Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan
and Vietnam."
The
Bradenton
Herald has noted that a "Postal official answers concerns regarding the
Area Mail Processing study currently under way at the United States Postal
Service Manasota Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC)."
Hellmail has reported that "A new study has claimed 95 per cent of
businesses who have moved mail service provider since the Postal Market
opened in 2006 are only achieving a small element of the cost savings that
are actually available to them. The research, from Altus, the UK’s leading
Independent Postal Estate™ management company, quizzed 200 businesses and
found the majority do not have the expertise, experience or know how needed
to take full advantage of an open Postal Market."
Bloomberg has reported that "FedEx Corp. fell 12 percent in late trading
after the second-biggest U.S. package-shipping company said annual profit
may be as much as one-third lower than analysts expected because of a
“significantly weaker” economy."
The Toronto Star
has reported that "A B.C. court has granted Canada Post an injunction to
stop striking workers from disrupting mail service in the province."
See also the
Financial Post.
ABC News
has reported that "When a federal court in Raleigh, N.C., sentenced Padgett
on Nov. 18 to three years of probation, a $3,000 fine, and 500 hours of
community service for delaying and destroying mail, the judge nearly
commended him. Locals thanked him and some out-of-towners went online to beg
him to take over their routes. "He was our spam filter," says Tom Glembocki
of Apex. That outpouring suggests that Americans are eager to junk junk
mail, which would explain the efforts now under way to create the equivalent
of the five-year-old "Do Not Call Registry" for the 100 billion pieces of
printed ads jammed into mailboxes each year."
December 8, 2008
Think
things are bad enough economically for postal? Take a gander at some of the
stories in today's
Newspapers & Technology:
You
might get lost if you go trying to find them on the Postal Service's web
site, so here they are:
So....Mail's deader than a door nail as a marketing tool, right? According
to
DM News and Pitney Bowes, you'd better examine that one again.
DM News
has a piece on USPS Mailing and Package Services President Robert Bernstock.
Still don't know much at the Flat Sequencing System? Then check out the
Postal Service's
Flats Sequencing Strategy--"All Things FSS" posted on the Postal
Service's RIBBS web site. Look also at the recently posted
YouTube video on FSS.
In a
letter written to the editor of Time magazine, PostCom President Gene Del
Polito wrote:
I'm counting to ten, still trying to contain my anger (and my profound disbelief) over the article written by
Jeremy Caplan on "De-Cluttering Your Mailbox." The anger and disbelief stems from the knowledge that Time
Inc. is one of the largest users of advertising mail as a means for prospecting for new mail order business and
for communicating with its customers. Did Mr. Caplan realize that he was biting the very hand that feeds him
with his characterization of such advertising mail as "junk?"
I'm also somewhat stunned that Time would have published such a poorly researched piece without
substantial editorial comment and correction. Mr. Caplan obviously didn't even bother googling "junk mail" to
learn that there is a wealth of information on the web showing that his prejudices about the environmental
impact of advertising mail is totally wrong. Here are a few of the URLs he could have consulted:And there are many, many more sources of responsible and well documented information.
- http://postcom.org/eco/Completed Internal Report on Initial LCI Model 7-1-08.pdf
- http://postcom.org/eco/eindex.htm
- http://postcom.org/eco/Mail%20and%20the%20Environment%20-%20final%209-24-08.pdf
I would hope in the future we will be able to see a higher level of journalistic integrity from the editors of Time
magazine, before it took evaporates from print into some computing cloud way out in the ethersphere.
What
can you get a postal geek for Christmas? Here's a thought recommended by one
of our correspondents. "Morality
and the Mail in Nineteenth-Century America" Author: Wayne E. Fuller.
The
New York Times has reported that "The economic downturn has decimated
the market for recycled materials like cardboard, plastic, newspaper and
metals. Across the country, this junk is accumulating by the ton in the
yards and warehouses of recycling contractors, which are unable to find
buyers or are unwilling to sell at rock-bottom prices. Ordinarily the
material would be turned into products like car parts, book covers and boxes
for electronics. But with the slump in the scrap market, a trickle is
starting to head for landfills instead of a second life."
Warehouse & Logistics News
has reported that "DHL is using Vitronic’s camera-based recognition system,
VIPAC, to identify barcodes and address information on parcel labels at its
new €300m distribution centre in Leipzig, Germany. It makes for swift,
automatic parcel sorting and dispatch, and allows the hub to process up to
60,000 items per hour. Owned by Deutsche Post World Net, DHL is a leading
global supply chain and express logistics carrier. It operates in 220
countries, has over 300,000 employees, and ships over 1.5 billion items each
year. DHL handles a wide range of goods from over 4,000 suppliers, and
offers unparalleled expertise in express, air and ocean freight, overland
transport, contract logistics solutions, and international mail services."
According to
Earth911, "The United States Postal Service makes it easy to order
supplies online so you can prepare your shipments at home. The added
benefits of greening your shipping practices this holiday season is easier
than you might think."
The
Pocono Record has reported that "Family and friends sending holiday
cards to Minisink Hills residents will have to check the ZIP code after this
Christmas. As part of government downsizing, the post office branch will be
closing its doors for good in January, and all who use the ZIP code for
their addresses will switch to East Stroudsburg's or Shawnee-on-Delaware's
numbers."
Media Daily News has reported that "The global advertising economy will
recede in 2009 for the first time since the industry's last recession in
2001, two of Madison Avenue's leading forecasters predicted in reports
released early this morning. Both WPP's GroupM and Publicis' ZenithOptimedia
Group predicted the global ad marketplace will decline 0.2% during 2009, but
differed on the degree to which the U.S. advertising economy - still nearly
half of all global ad spending - would decline." See also the
Wall Street Journal.
Online Media Daily has reported that "Online will be the one bright spot
in what will otherwise be the worst advertising recession since 2001, two of
the industry's leading forecasters predicted in new reports released early
this morning. While online ad spending growth will have its slowest year of
growth yet since it climbed out of the last ad recession, it will still grow
at rates that would seem healthy for the other major media."
The
Philadelphia Daily News has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service
apparently is taking complaints of postal workers and customers seriously,
after five days of Daily News stories about lost and missing mail and chaos
at the processing plant in Southwest Philadelphia. On Friday, Jim Gallagher
was appointed the new Philadelphia regional manager, replacing Frank Neri,
considered by many postal workers and the American Postal Workers Union to
be the architect of the chaos at the plant since it opened in 2006. Today,
Gallagher is to meet with Gwen Ivey, president of APWU Local 89, which filed
a complaint on Oct. 24 about senior managers allegedly ordering clerks to
undercount the mail by millions of pieces each week and about chronic
understaffing at the plant on Lindbergh Boulevard near Island Avenue."
According to the
Peoria Journal Star, "Consolidation efforts by some of the largest
worldwide express carriers may be a blessing in disguise for Peoria."
According to the
Houston Chronicle, "When postal inspectors want to catch a thief in the
ranks, the bait may be a little plastic gift card in a greeting card
envelope, just like the holiday cheer you may be about to stamp and mail."
The
Sacramento Business Journal has reported that "Financially strapped
McClatchy Co. is attempting to shed The Miami Herald, one of its largest and
most-respected newspapers, according to news reports. The Sacramento-based
company – owner of The Sacramento Bee and 29 other daily newspapers –
acquired the Herald as part of its $4.5 billion purchase of Knight Ridder
Newspapers Inc. in 2006. Now, the company, because of declining advertising
and heavy debt, is shopping the newspaper to potential buyers, according to
a New York Times report Saturday. The newspaper cited anonymous sources."
As
CNET News
has noted, "It's not hard to find examples of how the Web and blogging have
changed traditional journalism. Most of the country's major daily newspapers
have asked reporters to blog at the same time they write for their print
editions. InfoWorld, a stalwart tech magazine for three decades, dropped its
paper edition and went Web-only last April."
The
New York Times has reported that "The Tribune Company, the newspaper
chain that owns The Chicago Tribune and The Los Angeles Times, is trying to
negotiate new terms with its creditors and has hired advisers for a possible
bankruptcy filing, according to people briefed on the matter. Tribune is in
danger of falling below the cash flow required under its agreement with its
bondholders, but it is not clear how seriously Tribune is thinking about
seeking bankruptcy protection. Analysts and bankruptcy experts say that the
hiring of advisers, including Lazard and Sidley Austin, one of the company’s
longtime law firms, could be a just-in-case move, or a bargaining tactic."
See also
Media Daily News.
As
CNET News
has noted, "In a sagging economy, one of the first cuts U.S. companies make
is to their advertising budgets. Anybody who has ever worked in media knows
that when ad money dries up at newspapers or trade publications, pink slips
start to fly. And now heap on more bad news: at the same time traditional
print publications face an ad-revenue downturn they also are seeing
unprecedented competition."
So,
what does all this mean for the postal business? Well, according to
long-time postal watcher
Alan Robinson,
"One of the problems in the past few years is that some print media
companies were bought with lots of debt and an assumption that advertising
would not disappear. However, a combination of the recession and a switch to
the electronic media have overwhelmed these print media companies and they
are now at the brink of bankruptcy. As the mailing industry does not have as
public a profile as newspapers and magazines, not much is known about the
financial health of the major players that produce the mail. If they are in
as much financial trouble as the newspaper and magazine industries then it
may be a long time before the Postal Service returns to delivering the
volumes of advertising and periodicals that it did before the recession
began."
The Sentinel has reported that "customers in the ST postcode area are
suffering from the worst postal service in mainland Britain. Latest Royal
Mail figures show just 89.5 per cent of first-class letters were delivered
on time in the ST postcode area between March and September. That contrasts
with the national average of 92.8 per cent and 93 per cent in South Cheshire
between those dates. But Royal Mail can no longer link the poor service to a
series of strikes, which meant postal workers in Burslem spent last
Christmas on picket lines. Instead, union leaders are blaming Royal Mail for
transferring 80 overnight sorting office staff from Stoke's Leek Road depot
to Wolverhampton this summer."
A copy of the report of the
Postal Regulatory Commission Inspector General
has been posted on the PRC web site.
According to the folks at
Hellmail, "It seems barely a week goes by when I don't hear of a postal
theft which results in community service for the person found guilty. Whilst
I accept that such incidents also make it difficult for that person to find
alternative employment, these cases often cost thousands of pounds to bring
to court and do little in the way of providing a deterrant to would-be
thieves. Unfortunately UK prisons are overcrowded and there has in more
recent years been a drive to reserve custodial sentences to only the most
serious cases. Postal workers themselves, are on the whole, an honest bunch
and they are often the first to report a colleague that they feel isn't as
honest as he or she appears. To have cases hanging over the heads of a team
of workers is uncomfortable to say the least and the vast majority take
pride in their honesty and integrity so are quick to pounce on anyone not
playing the game. Its not in their interests to let such misdemeanours go by
unchallenged."
The
BBC has reported that "Royal Mail staff in Coventry have voted in favour
of taking strike action. The workers were balloted after a decision in July
to close the Bishop Street central sorting office in the city centre and axe
up to 500 jobs. The sorting office was closed in favour of building a hub in
Northamptonshire. Of those balloted 60% were in favour of action. Mick
Kavanagh, of the Communication Workers' Union, said the strikes could be
held before Christmas."
December 7, 2008
Yahoo! Finance has reported that "newly released figures on paper
shipments confirm the sector's rapid contraction as producers accelerate
capacity cuts in to retain pricing power."
One
Time magazine writer has asked: "Remember when going through the mail
was a thrill? These days Americans get an average of 18 pieces of junk mail
for every personal letter. From catalogs to credit-card solicitations, our
mailboxes are increasingly clogged with clutter. Dealing with unwanted mail
not only wastes our time (eight months over the average lifespan) but also
bears environmental costs. Paper spam eats up an estimated 100 million trees
each year, with 44% of junk mail ending up--unopened--in landfills."
[EdNote: Someone should have talked with this guy about not biting the hand
that feeds you.]
The British
postal regulator,
Postcomm:
The
Sunday Business Post has reported that "The introduction of a national
postcode system could mean benefits of €22 million for public bodies,
according to a new report. Ireland is the only country in the EU that does
not use national postcodes, and the Minister for Communications, Energy and
Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan, plans to bring proposals on the issue to
government shortly. A report by PA Consulting, which evaluated the monetary
benefits of national postcodes at the request of the minister, estimated
that it would save public bodies, including the emergency services, €22
million and would create efficiencies in all areas of social and economic
planning."
December 6, 2008
The Sentinel has reported that "more than 80 Royal
Mail drivers are are threatening to take strike action over the busy
Christmas period. The workers, who ship mail across North Staffordshire,
have been balloted over a dispute which broke out after some postal services
were switched to Wolverhampton. Andy Plant, branch secretary of the
Communication Workers' Union, said members feared their jobs were under
threat after Royal Mail started transporting Christmas post from
Wolverhampton in articulated lorries. They are worried this will put van
drivers' jobs at risk and claim it is leading to mail arriving late at
satellite offices across the region."
The
Philadelphia Daily News has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service has
shaken up its Philadelphia-area management after a week of stories in the
Daily News about late and missing mail deliveries. Frank Neri, the Postal
Service district manager for the Philadelphia metropolitan district, was
replaced yesterday by Jim Gallagher, a veteran USPS manager, spokesman Paul
Smith confirmed yesterday. Gallagher "was postmaster here in Philly for six
years," Smith said. "He's been in Philly virtually his whole career with
extensive operational experience in both mail processing and operations."
Neri had held the post for more than three years, and presided over the
opening of the Postal Service's high-tech mail-processing center in
Southwest Philadelphia, which replaced the city's former sorting operation
at 30th and Market streets."
The
Wall Street Journal has reported that "FedEx Corp. has agreed to pay
$26.8 million to settle a California lawsuit over whether some drivers were
independent contractors or employees. The agreement, presented in a hearing
Friday, requires court approval."
The latest issue of
the PostCom Bulletin is available online. In this issue:
Seen the
USPS' video clip on Flat Sequencing System (FSS)? Check it out on
YouTube. You gotta
wonder....Why the blazes did the USPS keep this sort of video under a
basket? Incidentally, it looks like a great system. But you gotta wonder if
there'll be any flats to sort after the May 2009 price changes.
KCCI has
reported that "A declining economy is ultimately responsible for late mail
delivery, according to a spokeswoman for the United States Postal Service.
Mary Berardi said Friday that people are sending fewer things through the
mail. "We have fewer customers at the counter and fewer businesses are
mailing," Berardi said. Responding to complaints from Pleasant Hill where
residents said their mail is arriving as late as 9 p.m., Berardi said
changes were needed to streamline delivery and keep postage down."
December 5, 2008
Lets'
Make History at the National Postal Forum! May 17-20, 2009, Washington, DC.
NOW OPEN
2009 National Postal Forum registration! We have the keys to your future
with 140+ workshops, symposiums, exhibits and networking opportunities
in our Nations Capitol! Visit our website at
www.npf.org/reg1
and learn about the latest tools and insights you'll need to succeed from
the mailing industry's premier event. Register now and receive the early
bird rate! See you in the Nation's Capitol!
The
Sun Sentinel has reported that "Many South Florida shippers and air
freight companies still are waiting for the annual holiday surge of
shipments to the Caribbean. The season typically starts in October and peaks
in November and December. This year, the sour regional economy has slowed
shipping to a crawl."
UPDATED:
The
leadership of
the Senate's chief postal oversight committee has written to the
Postmaster General asking for answers to some rather specific questions
regarding the future fiscal direction of the Postal Service. This is in
response to requests that the Senate Committee and Homeland Security have
received concerning the Postal Service's funding of its postal retiree
health obligation under PAEA. Snippets from the Postal Service's responses
follow.
Media Daily News has reported that "Like a monotonous drumbeat, this
week saw another round of newspaper layoffs, indicating that there will be
no relief for anxious newspaper employees this holiday season. As 2008 draws
to a close, it may be fitting to look back on the disintegration of the
once-proud newspaper titans, which have imploded in spectacular fashion over
the course of just a few years." [EdNote: What's going on in today's
economy isn't just affecting postal.]
The
Financial Times has reported that "The freight forwarding sector faces
significant consolidation as smaller companies collapse because clients
delay payments or change routes, according to the head of the world's
largest freight forwarding business."
The
Montrose Press has reported that "It looks official, but a request for
"annual minutes disclosure" statements is anything but, state and federal
officials say. In recent weeks, Montrose businesses began receiving notices
from an entity identifying itself as Colorado Corporate Compliance. For a
fee, it offers to assist businesses in filing minutes from annual corporate
meetings with governmental agencies. The problem is, Colorado law does not
require corporations to file meeting minutes with the secretary of state.
Advertisement Only at the bottom does it disclose "this is a solicitation
for the order of goods or services, or both, and not a bill, invoice or
statement of account due. ... This offer is not being made by an agency of
the government." The solicitation directs people to send their fees to a
Denver address, which according to the U.S. Postal Inspector's office, is
actually a box rented from commercial mail receiving agent."
WXII12 has
reported that "Neighborhood post offices are gearing up for what is usually
a mad rush during this time of year, with people trying to mail off packages
in time for Christmas. But with the struggling economy, local post offices
are saying there's no need for their employees to work overtime. Customers
said they're cutting back, too."
According to the
Danville News, "More than 150 New Berlin residents have signed a
petition opposing the U.S. Postal Service's plan to eliminate post office
box delivery and replace it with a curbside rural delivery route."
An Post has reported that the Irish postal regulatory "ComReg’s quality
of service monitor recorded an 80 per cent next-day delivery rate for the
July to September period (3rd quarter), maintaining a three per cent
increase on the overall 2007 figure, and a one per cent improvement on the
same quarter last year. ComReg’s quality of service monitor recorded an 80
per cent next-day delivery rate for the July to September period (3rd
quarter), maintaining a three per cent increase on the overall 2007 figure,
and a one per cent improvement on the same quarter last year. The 80 per
cent next day delivery rate mirrors that of the previous (2nd) quarter of
2008."
Uni Global Union has reported that "The Board of the National Workers’
Union of Empresa de Correos de Chile (SINTECH) has publicly denounced the
indiscriminate dismissal of numerous employees from the postal
administration on grounds of an alleged business economic crisis that,
undoubtedly, will seriously affect the entire Chilean working class. In
light of this situation, the union has engaged in a relentless fight in
defence of the jobs of its members."
The
Philadephia Daily News has reported that "Conditions at some local post
offices mirror the problems at the U.S. Postal Service's processing plant in
Southwest Philadelphia, according to letter carriers and a supervisor. In
some stations in the 191- and 190- ZIP codes in Philadelphia and nearby
suburbs, postal employees allege: Overtime records are falsified to reduce
the hours of letter carriers. Mail-volume records at the stations are
falsified. Daily color codes on mail bins are changed to make it appear as
if the mail is not late. Mail is delayed for days, especially bulk-rate mail
that includes time-sensitive circulars and other advertisements.
Tractor-trailers with mail are sometimes parked at stations to "hide" or not
count the mail." [EdNote: If this is true, to paraphrase Shakespeare:
"Sometime's rotten in Philadelphia.]
The
American Postal Workers Union (APWU) has told its members that "The U.S.
District Court for the District of Columbia has dismissed an APWU lawsuit
against President George W. Bush and Postmaster General John E. Potter that
sought to compel the appointment of a Postal Advisory Council.
The court’s Nov. 26 ruling [PDF] concluded that the postal council,
which was authorized by Congress in 1970 under the terms of the Postal
Reorganization Act, was not specifically reauthorized by the Postal
Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006.
The union filed the petition July 16, 2008, seeking the appointment of
the 13-member council — including four members nominated by postal labor
unions — outlined in the Postal Reorganization Act (PRA), which was amended
and supplemented by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA)."
There are three items in the Federal Register from the Postal
Regulatory Commission regarding dockets under consideration:
DI-VE has reported that "Ascent Software have reached an agreement which
will see one of their products, currently used by Maltapost, utilised by the
postal services of Barbados, Guernsey and the British Virgin Islands."
Bloomberg has reported that "TNT NV, Europe’s second-biggest
express-delivery company, lowered its profit forecast for the Express unit
for the second time this year as the slowing European economy saps demand."
The
Ottawa Citizen has reported that "Canada Post workers are unilaterally
leaving the picket lines and returning to their jobs across the country,
Canada Post spokesman John Caines said Monday afternoon."
At the Nov 2008 MTAC General Session meeting MTAC Work Group # 120
"Communicating Entry
Requirements/ In-Home Delivery Dates Solutions/ Seasonality Impact"
reported guidelines were being provided as a tool to better achieve in-home
delivery dates by synchronizing transportation and entry to match the
guidelines. The
guidelines have been posted on this site.
Advertising Age has reported that "In any economic crisis, reduction in
ad spending is inevitable and necessary as companies adapt, Darwin style.
Today's environment is no exception. We're keenly aware that in past
recessionary periods advertising has taken more than its share of cuts. This
time, while the cuts in spending have already begun, the impact will have
even more dire and long-term consequences. As the cuts continue, brand
managers will begin to realize that "my current advertising level and spend
really wasn't helping to build my brand the way it used to, and when I took
it away, nothing bad happened." Or at least "it wasn't as bad as I expected.
Ouch. This time, the cuts won't be just because advertising is viewed as
discretionary or as a non-essential part of running a business; it will be
because the current marketing plan isn't working."
The
U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General and U.S. Postal Inspection
Service consolidated their reports of activities into one new, combined
comprehensive statement of audit and law enforcement work. The newly titled
report is called the Semiannual Report on the Audit, Investigative, and
Security Activities of the U.S. Postal Service (SAR). CLICK here
http://www.uspsoig.gov/sarcs/fall08.pdf to view the new SAR posted on
our website: Click below to view individual audit reports posted on the
OIG’s website (http://www.uspsoig.gov/).
If you have additional questions, please contact Agapi Doulaveris at
703.248.2286.
DMM
Advisory:
"Postal Explorer (pe.usps.com) is your complete
source for domestic mailing standards. The electronic Domestic Mail Manual
is fully searchable and features fly-out menus, cross-reference links, and
an extensive subject index. Today we made the following updates: Move
Update We expanded the Move Update requirement from First-Class Mail
automation- and presort-price mailings to include all Standard Mail
mailings. We also changed the minimum frequency of Move Update processing
from 185 days to 95 days prior to mailing. We made these changes in
233.3.5,
243.3.9,
333.3.5,
343.3.9,
433.3.5,
and
443.3.9. Standard Mail With
Mailer’s Postmark Mailers may omit a return address when using a mailer’s
postmark to precancel stamps on Standard Mail pieces weighing 13 ounces or
less. We added this option in
202.4.2,
302.3.2,
402.3.2,
602.1.5.3, and
604.3.1.8. Labeling Lists We revised the
labeling lists to reflect changes in mail processing operations. Our next
scheduled DMM update is January 18, and it will include all of the new
shipping services prices.
December 4, 2008
CEP News (Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU Consultancy, has reported that:
Contrary
to expectations, the Dutch government decided at a meeting last Friday to
defer the complete opening of the postal market from 1 January 2009. TNT
Post will thus retain the monopoly for letters weighing up to 50 grams in
the Netherlands. The government said that conditions on the labour market
would first require comprehensive clarification.
France’s La
Poste has made a clear downward adjustment of its forecast for the current
financial year. An official statement said that the turnover would not
increase by as much as originally planned because of receding volumes.
Despite earlier
denials, Japan’s ruling party LDP has launched into a discussion concerning
the possibility of reviewing the privatisation of the post, which began one
year ago. Critics of privatisation argue that mail deliveries are delayed
and that Japan Post (still wholly owned by the government) shares were
issued at a time when share prices are falling. The critics also question
whether the division of the post into four plc’s - Japan Post Service Co.,
Japan Post Insurance Co., Japan Post Bank Co. and Japan Post Network Co. -
makes sense.
Austria’s
Österreichische Post has been working on a project to introduce a free
paper. A spokesperson for the post confirmed the plans during an interview
with Austrian daily »Die Presse« (3.12). In a press release the Association
of Austrian Newspaper Publishers (VÖZ) described the project as "an assault
on the free publishing market and private media industry".
Belgium’s
deputy Prime Minister Laurette Onkelinx has demanded that La Poste stop the
introduction of the third version of "Georoute", a software aimed at
optimising delivery routes. In view of the worldwide financial crisis, the
public services must invest toward the creation of more jobs and not
contribute to redundancies.
China Post is
showing first signs of being affected by the worldwide financial crisis.
From April
2009 Danish citizens who do not wish to receive free papers through their
letterbox can announce this publicly by putting a sticker onto their
letterbox.
The French La Poste is paying 800,000 euros in compensation to 176 former
employees who were working under temporary contracts.
Royal Mail is
scoring with the help of surprise parcels. Last weekend the British post
delivered 30,000 so-called "Matter Box" parcels to households across the
country. These parcels contained samples from companies that were making use
of - and paying the post for - a marketing and publicity concept developed
by Royal Mail in conjunction with Matter Media Ltd.
The US post intends
to sort letters and flat items, e.g. magazines jointly in future. Until now,
the consignments have been separated upon entry into the sorting process and
brought together again manually during the last sorting step only. Aiming
for efficiency and cost saving, USPS wants to use systems in future that
handle both streams simultaneously. The post has asked suppliers to present
relevant solutions. The US Postal Service currently handles around 550
million letters and flat consignments at 283 sorting centres. The new
technology is due to be put into operation within the next six years.The
trade unions are following the initiative with some apprehension.
The Swiss
regulatory office has compared various parcel services. The authority’s
conclusion is that private firms carry parcels at more favourable rates than
the post. However, the post has a strategic advantage in its tight network
of post offices. The regulator tested performances by sending a mobile phone
set, a book weighing just under two kilos and three bottles of wine through
Schweizerische Post, DHL Express Schweiz AG and DPD Schweiz AG respectively.
Reliable
sources unanimously claim that Banque Postale - a subsidiary of La Poste in
France - lost around 60m euros in connection with the bankruptcy of the
Lehman Brothers bank.
Canon
(Switzerland) AG is selling its logistics infrastructure to Schweizerische
Post from 1 January 2009.
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 Postal Service's
FY 2008
Quarter Four RPW report is available on the USPS web site.
The
Bradenton Herald has reported that "The city council Wednesday discussed
the effects of a possible closing of the U.S. Postal Service Manasota
Processing and Distribution Center on Tallevast Road. At a workshop meeting,
Councilman Patrick Roff told his fellow council members about an efficiency
study the Postal Service is doing at the facility at 850 Tallevast Road.
“It’s important for us to have our own facility,” Roff said. He said the
postal service was billing the possible moving of some work or closing of
the plant entirely as a cost-saving move. “In the end, they’re not saving
anything, because the jobs will just be moved to Tampa.” Roff said. “And I
understand they own the building outright.”
The
Philadelphia Daily News has reported that "The Postal Service's
weeks-late and missing-mail problems are causing havoc with the medical
diagnosis of some patients - and businesses' livelihoods. Dr. Sow-Yeh Chen,
director of Temple University's oral-pathology laboratory, says that because
tissue specimens arrive weeks late in the mail - or not at all - his lab is
delayed in identifying diseases, and doctors are delayed in treating
patients for cancer and other illnesses. "This is unacceptable," said Chen.
"Surgeons and patients are concerned about diseases, such as cancer, and are
waiting for reports."
Occupational Health Safety has reported that "National discussions for
several months between the U.S. Postal Service and the
American Postal Workers Union have not
made significant progress toward implementing the Modified Work Week known
as "10-4" that would allow employees to work 10 hours per day, four days per
week, APWU President William Burrus said in a message posted on the union's
Web site this week."
According to the
Bennington
Banner, "The U.S. Postal Service is refusing to comply with a local
agreement that it has honored for the past 20 years, town officials said
Tuesday. The postal service agreed to maintain a downtown presence when it
moved the post office from the now Advanced Eyecare building on Main Street
to its current location on Richville Road in 1988."
Sun newspapers has reported that "Members of the American Postal Workers
Union, Manasota Local 7136 met with the Sarasota City Commission Wednesday
to challenge an ongoing U.S. Postal Service study aimed at potentially
consolidating mail delivery throughout Sarasota County.
Hellmail has reported that:
Voxy.co.nz has reported that "New Zealand Post said today it is serious
about the safety of the public and its posties in the delivery of mail and
fully supports Police messages about the dangers of riding mopeds on
footpaths. New Zealand Post General Manager Postal Delivery, Matt Riordan,
said the company's comprehensive training programme for motorcycle posties
had a sharp focus on compliance with the law. He was responding to a Police
Central District statement yesterday that increasing numbers of mopeds
appear to be taking to the footpaths to make letterbox deliveries. Police
are sending a clear message that this is not only illegal; it is endangering
the safety of riders and pedestrians."
Traffic
World has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service is taking its closer
business focus modeled on the basics of private industry into the
international arena."
Air Cargo
World has reported that "currently, close to 1,400 Teamsters mechanics
are negotiating a new contract with UPS Airlines. They are worried about
their jobs being outsourced to other countries."
December 3, 2008
Press Release:
"Businesses everywhere are going global. And they don’t have to be a large
multi-national corporation to succeed. An entrepreneur with a website can
sell products to anyone, anywhere. USPS international shipping services —
Global Express Guaranteed (GXG), Express Mail International and Priority
Mail International — can help build global relationships. USPS international
products and services are priced to help customers take advantage of global
marketplace opportunities. Prices for international shipping services will
increase an average of 8.5 percent in January. But even with this price
change, USPS international shipping services remain the best value in the
marketplace, priced significantly below our competitors and with no hidden
surcharges."
RFID News has reported that "The global postal and package shipping
market has long been projected to be one of the largest potential RFID
applications. However, while leading shippers UPS and FexEx were early
proponents of RFID, they have backed off on significant RFID projects, due
to their sizable investments in bar code based auto-ID systems. In truth,
these legacy systems have–thus far–proven good enough for now, meeting both
customers’ expectations to be able to track and trace shipments on an almost
real-time basis and the firms’ internal needs for business intelligence and
visibility."
Comments have
been filed by the
International Mailers Advisory Group concerning the USPS’s request to
add Global Direct Negotiated Service Agreements to the competitive product
list. The comments note that “deployment of NSAs of this type offer many
business advantages to mailers who may find worthwhile business
opportunities across an international border.” The comments also raise
questions about the impact of the terminal dues regime on competition, and
recommend a study be conducted on this subject."
Dan G. Blair, Chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission, was inducted
formally as a National Academy of Public Administration Fellow on November
20, 2008 during the Academy’s 2008 fall meeting in Washington, D.C. Election
to membership in the Academy is based upon sustained exemplary contributions
and continuing active commitment to improving public administration in the
United States. Founded in 1967, the Academy is an independent, non-partisan
organization chartered by Congress. It is composed of more than 550 Fellows
who provide trusted advice on issues of governance and public management to
government leaders. [EdNote: Congrats, Mr. Chairman.]
According to the
Media Daily News, "this year has been bad for radio, but 2009 will be
even worse, according to the latest edition of the "Investing in Radio
Market Report" from BIA Advisory Services, which has total radio station
revenues dropping 7% this year and 10% next year. BIA warns that station
revenues could fall as low as $15 billion in 2009."
According to
BloggingStocks, "In the Portland metropolitan area, 28 bike delivery
employees will be hired -- by United Parcel Service. UPS bike drivers will
be given special training to really practice pulling 200 pounds and learn,
for instance, "safe following distance in rain." UPS can only deliver 25-50
packages per day by bicycle, compared to up to 150 by truck, but Portland
area spokesman Jeff Grant says UPS will save $38,000 in vehicle operation
and upkeep costs for every three delivery bicycles used."
The
Mainichi Daily News has reported that "Japan Post Service Co.
accidentally left a container containing around 120,000 pieces of mail
sitting in a railway freight yard in Osaka for about two months, company
officials said. The abandoned mail includes approximately 45,000 letters
from the Social Insurance Agency, asking public pension scheme members about
their pension details, following a massive data loss at the agency."
From
Business Wire: "Research
and Markets has announced the addition of the "Express Market Map 2009"
report to their offering. An essential overview of the European Express
sector, including market sizing of 12 countries, analysis of the key drivers
in the industry and forecasts up to 2013."
Docket
No. PI2008-1: The Postal Regulatory Commission has
published a document in the
Federal Register
that "approves most
elements of a proposed Postal Service plan for service performance
measurement. Both the Postal Service's plan and the Commission's approval
respond to requirements in a 2006 federal law that revised and updated the
regulatory approach to postal operations. Postal Service response:
June 1, 2009."
The
Birmingham Post has reported that "Royal Mail misses its first class
targets in West Midlands Royal Mail has missed its delivery targets for
first class post across the region. In Birmingham just over 91.8 per cent of
first-class mail to homes and businesses was delivered the day after posting
in the first half of the year to September. Despite the company reaching its
national target of 93 per cent, it failed to meet the figure in Coventry and
Warwickshire, Worcester, Wolverhampton, Dudley and Stoke-on-Trent where just
89.5 per cent of first class mail arrived on time in the six months to
September."
DC Velocity
noted that "The rest of the country may be fixated on volatility in the
energy markets, but some logistics pros say the best way to deal with the
situation is to ignore it. Traditional tactics like thrusting and parrying
over fuel surcharges have produced little in the way of savings (but a lot
in the way of ill feeling, as evidenced by shippers' complaints that fuel
surcharges were climbing faster than the price of the underlying
commodities). One shipper that subscribes to this line of thinking is the
U.S. Postal Service."
Radio New
Zealand International has reported that "French Polynesia’s press has
detailed the pay of the top people in the territory’s postal and
telecommunications administration during the period 2000 to 2007. The
Nouvelles de Tahiti says according to the accounts office, the head of the
OPT board drew a monthly salary of just under 46,000 US dollars."
[EdNote: That's some $552,000 a year for being the head postal and telecom
honcho for Polynesia.]
Multichannel Merchant has noted that "With the price of postage, paper
and raw goods, plus the recessionary economy, multichannel merchants should
be very worried about pricing. They are: Increasing price and discount
pressure was the top issue for respondents to Multichannel Merchant's
Benchmark Report on Critical Issues and Trends. More than half (57%) ranked
it a key marketing concern. What else is keeping merchants up at night? The
prospect of finding prospects, rated a leading concern by 36%, and rising
catalog distribution costs, including postal (26%). The fourth-ranked
concern, determining the most effective mix of marketing media and
promotional offers (23%), was the top issue in last year's survey."
December 2, 2008
| The Passing of Merle Webb It is with great sadness that we note the passing of Merlyn W. Webb early this morning at his home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin following a long bout with cancer. Merle was a long-time member of PostCom, a former member of the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee, the Immediate Past Chairman of the Board of National Association of Advertising Distributors and a long-time member of MFSA. Merle will be sorely missed. |
Docket No. MC2009-9; Docket No. CP2009-10; Docket
No. CP2009-11: In
comments filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission in the matter of the
international mail dockets noted above, the
PRC's designated Public Representative said that while "these Negotiated
Service Agreements (NSAs) comport with the PAEA statutory requirements by
covering their costs, and appear to be functionally equivalent," there still
were "[t]wo closely related concerns arising from the
offering of this Global Direct competitive product merit the Commission’s
close attention and study following the conclusion of the instant
mail classification case."
9News.com has reported that "The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is
looking into a possible case of fraud after several small businesses in
Colorado received letters that looked like bills. The form looked almost
identical to those from the Secretary of State's office. It requested
information on company officers and a $150 filing fee."
The
Columbus Dispatch has reported that "The U.S. Postal Service is removing
vending machines from lobbies of its 274 locations within the 49 counties
served by the Columbus district. The machines that sell single stamps will
be gone from the Westerville and Pataskala post offices after Christmas.
"They're obsolete, and you can't get parts for them anymore," said Kathy
Lucas, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service."
The
Philadelphia Daily News (the hometown paper of the Chairman of the Board
of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service) has reported that "Retired public
school teachers Joseph and Barbara Downey say they waited weeks to receive
mailed prescriptions - long after their critical medications ran out. Kanaya
Flowers, 25, an applicant to be a 9-1-1 operator, received a mailed
invitation to take Part II of an exam - a month after the exam was given and
the job filled. The circulation manager of an Indian newspaper said that he
lost 30 percent of his Philadelphia area circulation in the past six months
because his mailed newspapers are delivered up to three weeks late.
Yesterday, these and dozens of other customer complaints of delayed or
missing mail poured into the Daily News in response to a front-page story
documenting severe mail backlogs this year at the chronically understaffed
U.S. Postal Service processing plant in Southwest Philadelphia. The story
described how senior managers allegedly ordered the daily mail count to be
falsified by undercounting items by the hundreds of thousands, as
overflowing unsorted-mail bins multiplied on the plant floor, and trailers
of unsorted mail were routed to other processing plants, only to return for
sorting days later. Sometimes mail was destroyed in wake of the severe
staffing shortages - which occurred as a result of a yearlong ban on
overtime, say employees, put in place by managers who received performance
bonuses."
CargonewsAsia has reported that "Dutch postal company TNT has announced
that it welcomes the opportunity to discuss decent labour conditions with
the Dutch Cabinet and all parties involved, Dow Jones reported. Last week
the Dutch Cabinet decided not to liberalise the Dutch postal market since it
could not establish yet whether socially acceptable labour conditions for
the entire postal sector were reached. TNT emphasizes that the other
condition set by the Dutch government for opening the postal market to
competition has also not been met and TNT is unable to compete on even terms
in Germany and the UK."
From
PRWeb: "Window Book's shipping software,
Postal
Package Partner, now supports USPS® Express Mail Open and Distribute for
expedited overnight service. Express Mail Open and Distribute is an
alternative solution for business mailers to send other classes of mail to
destination postal facilities overnight. It allows you to send trays or
sacks of letters, flats and small parcels to BMC, SCF, and DDU. The mail is
prepared according to standards for the enclosed class of mail and presented
at a postal acceptance unit for speedy delivery. When you have
time-sensitive letters or parcels which must be delivered on the next day,
Express Mail Open and Distribute service will ensure you from meeting those
deadlines on time."
Advertising
Age has reported that "Newspaper ad revenue fell almost $2 billion in
the third quarter for a record 18.1% decline, according to
new statistics from the Newspaper Association of America. What's worse,
newspapers' online ad revenue fell for the second quarter in a row. The
historic drop resulted from a worsening economy that sharply exacerbated
long-term challenges already confronting the newspaper industry, and it
affected all kinds of newspaper ads."
The
Bangkok Post has reported that "The seizure of Bangkok's two airports
has stranded more than 100,000 pieces of inbound and outbound mail and
parcels, according to Anusara Jitmitraparp, senior executive vice-president
of Thailand Post."
PostCom Members: The following new items
have been posted on this web site for you.
According to
Kate Muth,
president of Muth Communications writing for Mailing and Shipping Technology
magazine, "If you’ve seen The Simpsons Movie, you’ll remember the scene
where Homer is stuck, literally, between a rock and a hard place. He’s tied
to a rope and swinging between a big rock and a saloon called “Hard Place,”
slamming up against both. It’s a funny depiction -- if a little obvious --
of the adage we’ve all used or experienced in our lives: “caught between a
rock and a hard place.” The U.S. Postal Service finds itself in just that
place. By extension, the Postal Service’s customers share this difficult
predicament."
Shipping Digest Exporter has reported that "wastepaper is the top U.S.
containerized export. The biggest market is China, which recycles the paper
into products that hold most of the consumer goods shipped by Chinese
manufacturers to the United States. But China's appetite for wastepaper
imports tanked in October as the U.S. fell into a steep downturn."
Posted on this site is an Issue Statement for the new
MTAC WG # 127 "Move Update PS 6014 Form Redesign." If you have an
interest in participating in this WG please contact Industry WG Leader Steve
Colella or USPS WG Leader Frank Montemayor.
The latest issue of PostCom's
PostOps Update has been posted on this site.
December 1, 2008
DMM
Advisory: "We’ve posted the
Move Update Customer Policy and
FAQs
on ribbs.usps.gov to help customers with the expanded Move Update
requirements. The policy provides additional details about the Standard Mail
transition period and verification process for First-Class Mail and Standard
Mail."
According to
UPS, "Nearly half of companies with global supply chains say they fear
major disruptions in their ability to source, produce and ship goods around
the world. And they're not doing much to prevent it."
The
Philadelphia Daily News has reported that "In interviews with the Daily
News, postal service employees and a manager have described chaotic
conditions in the chronically understaffed plant, which processes nearly six
million pieces of mail a day on Lindbergh Boulevard near Island Avenue. In
recent months, a manager and several employees said, unsorted mail sat for
weeks in overflowing bins on the plant floor or was stuffed into trailers in
the parking lot and - in some cases - even shipped in desperation to other
distribution plants, from where it often returned for sorting days later. In
some cases, the mail was destroyed, the employees said."
The
DeadTreeEdition has reported that "The first phase of the Flats
Sequencing System (FSS) will save the U.S. Postal Service hundreds of
millions of dollars annually and result in thousands of job eliminations, a
recent Postal Service presentation indicates. Based on the presentation,
Dead Tree Edition estimates the Postal Service is targeting delivery savings
of more than 5 cents for every catalog, magazine, newspaper, and other flat
handled by FSS. Most of the savings would come from eliminating roughly
6,000 letter-carrier and other employee positions as all 100 Phase I FSS
machines go into operation during the next two years. By automating the
sequencing of flats rather than having letter carriers do it by hand, FSS is
supposed to enable a letter carrier to handle more deliveries. Still under
wraps is how the machines will affect costs and employment levels at
processing and distribution centers, where flats are sorted for the delivery
units. But postal officials have said that FSS will result in consolidation
of some P&DCs."
From
Business Wire: "Consumers anywhere in the U.S. or abroad can now have an
attention-getting Hollywood area mailing address for their business or
personal use and can receive and read their postal mail online, as easy as
they do their email. Earth Class Mail, the global leader in delivering
postal mail via the Internet, today announced the opening of a Los Angeles
retail location to provide its customers with the cachet of a street address
in the world's entertainment capital, and the conveniences of online postal
mail, onsite package pickup, shipping, and more."
As
The Spectator has noted, "Slovakia’s
state-owned postal operator is not giving up part of its monopoly without a
struggle. With the full backing of the Robert Fico government, Slovenská
Pošta has announced it will take the European Commission (EC) to court in
order to overturn an October 7 ruling that delivery of hybrid mail
consignments in Slovakia must be re-opened to competition."
Federal
Register: "Under a new law,
the Postal Service
must file an annual compliance report on costs, revenues, rates, and
quality of service associated with its products. It recently filed documents
with the Commission to change some of the methods it uses to compile the
fiscal year 2008 report. In the Commission's view, these documents
constitute a rulemaking petition. Therefore, this document provides notice
of the Service's filing and an opportunity for public comment.Initial
comments: December 5, 2008. Reply comments: December 12, 2008. Submit
comments electronically via the Commission's Filing Online system at
http://www.prc.gov. "
Hellmail has reported that "Latvia is increasing its postal prices by as
much as 29% to reflect rising operating costs, salary increases, and a
Latvian currency crisis which has held back its plans to adopt the Euro this
year."
As
The Republican has noted, "Fewer letters and packages mean fewer
seasonal workers for delivery services during the Christmas season."
Marketing Daily has reported that "Banks are fighting bad news headlines
with messages of their own in the form of direct marketing. According to
Mintel Comperemedia, the country's banks sent 42% more direct mail
solicitations in the third quarter of the year than they did during the
second quarter. Moreover, the 53 million offers sent during the third
quarter of 2008 was nearly twice the number sent during the same period in
2007. Much of the increase is from banks looking to assure customers that
their money is safe, particularly as ownership of many banks and financial
services companies is changing rapidly."
The
Reno Gazette-Journal has reported that "Robert McGowan, the former
Washoe County assessor, is in line for a post to help steer the financially
troubled U.S. Postal Service. But some postal service experts complain that
McGowan is not qualified to help the Postal Service, which lost nearly $3
billion this year and faces continued severe losses. Murray Comarow, who
headed the presidential commission that established the postal service as an
independent federal agency in 1970, called McGowan's nomination
"irresponsible." "I don't know Mr. McGowan. He might be a splendid fellow in
many respects," Comarow said, but he is "extremely unqualified."
From
Business Wire: "SkyPostal Networks, Inc., the largest private postal
network in Latin America, today announced that it has entered into a joint
venture agreement with E-Commerce Ltd. (Kuwait) to expand the Punto Mio
online shopping facilitator services to the Middle East. Punto Mio connects
U.S. e-tailers with international online shoppers and provides international
transport, customs clearance and cross-border parcel delivery to Internet
shoppers."