Deutsche Post DHL has said that it "welcomes the announcement by the Dutch government to fully open up the Dutch mail market on 1 April 2009. Deutsche Post DHL has been operating in the Dutch mail market for a number of years through its subsidiaries DHL Global Mail and Selekt Mail and is one of the leading mail service providers operating there today."

As Hellmail has noted, "With the government about to take on the Royal Mail pension deficit as part of its Postal Reforms bill, the reality that public sector pension schemes are becoming too costly, is starting to hit home. Just how long can the country cover the cost of public-sector pension schemes?"

Yahoo! has noted that "On March 19, 2009, United Parcel Service, Inc. entered into an agreement with Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. and J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. to sell and the Underwriters agreed to purchase from UPS, subject to and upon the terms and conditions set forth in the Underwriting Agreement, $1,000,000,000 aggregate principal amount of 3.875% Senior Notes due April 1, 2014, and $1,000,000,000 aggregate principal amount of 5.125% Senior Notes due April 1, 2019 (the "Transaction"). The Company is filing this Current Report on Form 8-K so as to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission certain items related to the Transaction."

According to Dow Jones, "Banque Postale said Tuesday its net profit for the full year of 2008 dropped 44% to EUR302.6 million from EUR539.6 million a year earlier." [EdNote: So much for banking being the savior of posts and universal service.]

The Financial has reported that "The Siemens Mobility Division is to supply as many as 97 OMS-type flats sorting machines to Deutsche Post AG (DPAG). What makes this Open Mail System (OMS) machine unique throughout the world is its extreme speed.   The new generation of sorting machines is the first that is capable of handling up to 50,000 flats per hour. The order calls for delivery to begin in 2010 and to end by 2012."

Hellmail has reported that "In more recent years, the gradual decline in mail volume in the UK has seen Royal Mail postal delivery walks extended as others are absorbed. With that has come a wave of post office closures making mail storage for these walks often difficult. Lockable mail containers generally require planning permission and as a consequence, both press and TV have picked up on what seems to be a rise in unsecure mail sacks left behind bushes or bins. To combat the problem and also enable postal workers to stay out longer on deliveries, the Royal Mail is rolling out a scheme whereby two postal workers share a vam. It means that the mail is far more secure and presumably gets delivery workers to their walks quicker."

The latest blog entry has been posted on the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General’s Internet site “Pushing the Envelope.” The public, mailers, postal employees, and other stakeholders are invited to weigh in on the online discussions taking place.  To view the site, visit http://blog.uspsoig.gov/.    City Delivery Route Consolidation.  Due to mail volume drops, the Postal Service plans to consolidate more than 87,000 city delivery routes — which could affect as many as 50 million addresses nationwide.  Consolidating routes means some customers will receive their mail at different times — earlier or later in the day.  It also means customers could have a different letter carrier who will have to become familiar with a new delivery route.  Do you think consolidating city delivery routes will have a positive effect on the Postal Service’s bottom line?  Why or why not?  Will it be difficult for carriers — particularly those who walk their routes — to spend more time on the street?   You can visit Office of Inspector General’s public website at:  www.uspsoig.gov.  If you have additional questions, please contact Communication and Work Life Director Agapi Doulaveris at 703.248.2322.

In a postal perspective prepared for the PostCom Bulletin, PostCom Vice President Jessica Lowrance and PostCom President Gene Del Polito note that "The Postal Service is not without hope, and there are some initiatives underway that would make Congress' forebearance a reasonable policy and investment risk. Granting the Postal Service--and it's customers--the breathing room that's needed to actualize these key changes is essential. In fact, it not only would make good policy, it would make good business."

[Ed Note: The Postal Service does not like the CPI cap on its annual price changes. For December 2008, the CPI figured out to be 3.8%. For February, it figured out to be 3.2%. It should be grateful for small favors. Of course, a 0.5% difference to postage-paying mailers is anything but small.]

From the Postal Regulatory Commission:

• Docket No. RM2009–3: Notice of proposed rulemaking. SUMMARY: The Commission announces a new proceeding to address workshare discount methodologies in First-Class Mail and Standard Mail. The proceeding will allow certain issues raised in Docket No. R2009–2 to be fully addressed. DATES: Comments due May 26, 2009. ADDRESSES: Submit comments electronically via the Commission’s Filing Online system at http://www.prc.gov.
• Docket Nos. MC2009–21 and CP2009–26: The Commission is noticing a recently-filed Postal Service request to add Priority Mail Contract Mail 5 to the Competitive Product List. The Postal Service has also filed a related contract. This notice addresses procedural steps associated with these filings. DATES: Comments are due March 25, 2009. ADDRESSES: Submit comments electronically via the Commission’s Filing Online system at http://www.prc.gov.

The Press & Journal has reported that "Solidarity leader Tommy Sheridan stopped just short of calling for a general strike yesterday in a rallying call for action to fend off the privatisation of Royal Mail. Speaking on a walkabout in Inverness, the politician called for a “summit of action” to unite all public service unions in support of the Communication Workers Union (CWU)."

According to one SFWeekly Blog, "San Francisco's City Operations & Neighborhood Services Committee yesterday approved of a proposed "Do Not Mail" registry. Jim Wigdell is the regional spokesman for the United States Postal Service. Naturally, they oppose this measure -- but, Wigdell claims, not just because it would cause the USPS to shift from losing money profusely to whatever is more than profusely. It's about all the folks who depend on this industry. The full Board of Supes will vote on this possible measure on March 31."

The Washington Post has noted that "The news is that the U.S. Postal Service wants to cut its huge losses by letting 150,000 employees -- that's more than the population of Hampton, Va. -- take early retirement. The sideshow is the the postmaster general's compensation package. Both will be on the agenda tomorrow as Congress looks at the declining fortunes of the post office and the increasing compensation of its boss. The Postal Service says it is trying to save $100 million annually through a series of measures that include closing offices and eliminating positions. The cuts are needed because the nation's financial health is in the dumps and mail volume has sunk along with it. A big factor is the money the Postal Service must pay for future retiree health benefits. Without that, the service would have had a net income of $1.6 billion in fiscal 2007 instead of a $5.1 billion loss "

Hellmail has reported that "Slovenian Post has launched a new service called "your email", which allows subscribers to choose those areas which interest them most in terms of services and offers and, as far as we can ascertain, aims to streamline direct marketing so that both providers and customers are more evenly matched. The new service can deliver material to subscribers in the format they choose including email, SMS and MMS but it hopes that more concise data will ensure more targetted distribution for marketeers and more useful and relevant services for customers."

From the Federal Register:
 

Postal Regulatory Commission
PROPOSED RULES
Postal Rates ,
12295–12296 [E9–6197]			[TEXT]  [PDF]
NOTICES
New Competitive Postal Product ,
12406–12407 [E9–6419]			[TEXT]  [PDF]

March 23, 2009

Logistics Management has reported that "Kewill, a provider of logistics and global trade software, and returns management services and technology provider Newgistics, recently announced they have formed a partnership that will allow Newgistics’ customers to leverage Kewill’s technology to drive down costs and augment shipping processes."

RTE Business has reported that "A new report shows that 79% of post was delivered within one working day throughout the state in 2008. The Commission for Communications Regulation's sixth annual report on the quality of service performance of An Post says this is a modest 2% improvement on the service quality performance the previous year. However, ComReg adds that it still remains significantly below the 94% target set for An Post."

Forbes has reported that "Riot police have forced dozens of postal workers out of the French Finance Ministry where they were demanding more pay and no job cuts."

On Wednesday, March 25, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building, the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia will hold a hearing entitled, “Restoring the Financial Stability of the U.S. Postal Service: What Needs to be Done?” The Subcommittee will examine how the nationwide economic downturn, coupled with technological trends, has produced declining volumes and revenues for the United States Postal Service.  The Postal Service’s recent decision to close six of its 80 district offices, eliminate positions across the country and offer another early retirement opportunity makes the Subcommittee’s hearing very timely. The hearing aims to generate effective short and long term strategies to reduce costs and improve efficiency at the Postal Service. In addition, the Subcommittee will question the Board of Governors on Postal executives’ compensation packages. Witnesses’ testimonies, the Chairman’s opening statement and a 10 a.m. live broadcast of the hearing can be found on the Subcommittee’s website, federalworkforce.oversight.house.gov

The Journal of Commerce has reported that "The economies of thirty nations are expected to shrink in 2009, according the head of an international group focused on sustainable economic growth. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development expects growth in the 30-nation OECD area to be 'very negative' in 2009, its secretary-general, Angel Gurria, said March 20."

As Time has reported, "A recent Pew study found that fewer than half of Americans say that losing their local paper would hurt their civic life "a lot" and even fewer say they would miss reading it, partly, it seems, because they get their local news from other media, mostly TV. But since papers are the primary source for most other news outlets, a major link will be missing from the news ecosystem. If a paper does not cover a story, it is unlikely to be covered in the broadcast media, whose reporting staffs tend to be even smaller." [EdNote: Incidentally, that applies equally to the news reported on this site.]

Butler Mailing Service President Todd Butler wants to know: "Mail Piece Redesign: Is the goal to reduce processing costs or mandate the use of envelopes?"

Sindh Today has reported that "A postal service cargo, worth tens of thousands of rupees was hijacked by suspected militants of the Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) recently. The RPF is believed to be an armed wing of the proscribed Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA)."

First Post has a briefing on what's going on with Royal Mail.

Fuel Cell Today has reported that "Royal Mail, the postal operating authority for the United Kingdom is working with CENEX, PostEurop, the association of European public postal operators, and FuelCellEurope, the European association of fuel cell developers to develop a universal design specification for hydrogen fuel cell postal vans."

The Financial Times has reported that "Pressure is mounting on Brussels to open a full probe into a proposed €3bn merger of the Swedish and Danish postal services in the next few days because of implications for postal market liberalisation across the 27-country European Union bloc. The deal is the first big postal merger to be announced since EU lawmakers passed legislation requiring countries to open their postal markets, and get rid of remaining state monopolies, by 2011."

According to Wales Online, "the postbus is about to reach the end of the road in the county where it was pioneered. For more than 40 years, postbuses, which carry passengers alongside mail, have provided a travel lifeline for remote British communities. But many routes have been abandoned in Royal Mail efficiency drives, and Wales’ last three postbuses are due to end over the next few weeks."

Postalnews Blog has reported that "Figures released by the US Postal Service show that the organization spent $78.4 million on relocating employees in the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2008. Of that, almost half, or $37.9 million went to “Residence Purchase and/or Sale/Lease”. The USPS home purchase program for relocated employees has been a subject of controversy since it was revealed that the USPS had spent $1.2 million to purchase the home of a South Carolina postmaster who had taken a voluntary lateral transfer to a position in Texas. Just under $15 million of the home purchase funds money went to Headquarters and Area staff, which account for less than four thousand of the postal service’s 632,000 career employees. A similar amount went to postmasters and supervisors, who make up a much larger share, about 54,000 employees, of the workforce. Employees of the Inspection Service and the Office of the Inspector General, about 3,900 total staff. got $3.4 million in home purchase benefits, down from almost $7 million the prior year. Home purchase benefits for clerks, carriers and mail handlers came to just over three hundred thousand dollars."

Hellmail has reported that "Johnny Thijs, CEO of the Belgian Post office said that modernization of its structure and working methods was essential if it was to be prepared for future competition when full liberalization of market begins in 2011. His comments followed protests by Belgian postal workers earlier this month, unhappy about post office closures and what they say has been a systematic downgrading of jobs and large profits made by stakeholders in the service."

The New York Times has reported that "Responding to the financial crisis, American companies sharply reduced their spending on direct-mail marketing last year, according to the Winterberry Group, a marketing consultancy. Winterberry said this was the first such decline in more than 60 years of record-keeping. The company arrived at the figures by surveying 305 companies in the direct-mail industry. The cuts represented at least nine billion pieces of mail, according to Winterberry’s analysis of Postal Service reports. Not surprisingly, credit card and mortgage service solicitations dropped the most sharply, falling 21.8 percent and 38.8 percent in volume respectively, according to Mintel Comperemedia, a direct-mail tracking firm. Winterberry said the cuts were caused primarily by the financial crisis, but also by rising postal, paper and labor costs, which have pushed marketers toward online solicitations. Winterberry said 45 percent of the marketers in its survey were switching to cheaper paper and raw materials to cut costs."

Radio New Zealand has reported that "Snail mail is set to become even slower with New Zealand Post deciding it will no longer collect mail from street boxes on a weekend. The company will cut its collection days from six days a week to five days a week from mid April. New Zealand Post says there has been a significant drop in the amount of mail posted in street boxes on a weekend, and 95% of mail is sent on weekdays."

Wanna know who's making what over at the Postal Service? All you need to do is enter the pertinent information at the following URL: http://php.courierpostonline.com/data_public/datauniverse/usps/

March 22, 2009

Check out the National Association of Postal Supervisors Legislative Issues Brief.

The Long Beach Press-Telegram has reported that "Long Beach 5th District City Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske will request that the city attorney draft a resolution to oppose the shutting down of the United States Postal Service facility on Redondo Avenue. The USPS is conducting a study to determine if it should move some of the operations from the Redondo Avenue center to centers in Los Angeles and Santa Ana. "We do not want the Redondo (Avenue) facility closed or relocated," Schipske said." [EdNote: Fine. Now send Long Beach the bill to pay to keep Redondo Avenue open.]

March 21, 2009

Weekend Related Media Roundup

• According to Bloomberg, "Newspaper publishers may face more bankruptcies this year as advertising revenue plunges, according to an analyst for Standard & Poor’s."
• Reuters has reported that "U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Wednesday preserving a healthy newspaper industry was important and he was open to adjusting antitrust policy if it could help.
• According to Fortune, "The government's stimulus plan won't work as planned if we don't get consumers spending again. But in the nearly $800 billion package, there is one thing missing that would surely help accomplish this: advertising. To get people spending again, and the economy moving, the government needs to provide help for businesses in America to advertise their products and services. There's a reason that America is the largest consumer market in the world: It also happens to be the largest advertising market in the world. Advertising works -- and it has been proven again and again for over a century. It's a mistake to think of advertising merely as a cost -- it's an investment, and like all investments it can have a wide-reaching impact. Incentives for advertising need to be an important component of any plan to stimulate our economy."
• The Wall Street Journal has reported that "Donald Fries, publisher of Time magazine, is stepping down from his post at a crossroads for the Time Inc. title. Mark Ford, president of Time Inc.'s newsmagazine group, which includes Time, Fortune and Sports Illustrated, will take over ad sales for Time magazine as it faces a challenging ad market and as its rival Newsweek, a Washington Post Co. magazine, is undergoing a reorganization and redesign. Many at Time see that as an opportunity to gain a stronger competitive position."
• WWDMedia has reported that "Charla Lawhon, longtime managing editor of In Style, is leaving the magazine after a 15-year run. She will stay at the Time Inc. title until mid-April, after which she plans to join an online startup that will marry fashion, beauty and celebrity."
• The Wall Street Journal has reported that "WPP and Google are going back to school. The ad holding company and the Internet giant have teamed up to fund research on how ads in traditional and digital media work together to influence consumer choices."
• Media Life has reported that "President Barack Obama continues to have a high approval rating among Americans, including media planners and buyers, but those same planners and buyers are increasingly pessimistic about just how much good his stimulus plan will do for the media economy. Respondents also report that clients are increasingly nervous. Readers were asked: How are your clients reacting to the new president's recovery plans, the ongoing mess in the banking industry, and the sinking economy? The largest share, 41 percent, agreed with this statement: "Not well at all." They're calling a halt to a lot of spending. And what will be the biggest change to media with a prolonged ad recession? Readers could choose more than one answer. The largest share of respondents, 64 percent, chose this answer: "The slowdown will accelerate the ongoing move from traditional media to lower-cost, lower-out-of-pocket, more accountable media." Just 15 percent saw little change, agreeing with this statement: "Change will be minimal. Once recovery comes, advertisers will revert to their old habits, buying the media they were most comfortable with before the slowdown."
• Media Life has reported that "Just in the past month, two major newspapers, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Rocky Mountain News, have shut down, and another, the San Francisco Chronicle, could soon follow. Community papers across the country are suffering, resorting to layoffs and web-only publishing to cut costs and stay afloat. Yet outside the media community, it seems few people really care. That’s according to a study released last week by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, which finds that 42 percent of those polled would not miss their local paper if it shut down, and only 33 percent would miss it “a lot.” 
• Audience Development has reported that "A recent National Trade Circulation Foundation, Inc. (NTCFI) luncheon entitled “Drill Down and Discover More Tips to Succeed” offered attendees some food for thought regarding direct mail, e-marketing, telemarketing and other important topics."
• The E-Paper Reporter has noted that "the New York Times reports it has "more than 10,000 paid subscribers" to an electronic edition of the newspaper on Amazon's Kindle ebook reader. That's the first time a major newspaper has released numbers on how it's doing on Kindle - a platform lots of newspaper execs are eager to see turn into a saving grace for their industry." 
• According to journalist Albert Hunt writing for Bloomberg, "The fate of the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and other American newspapers, much less important economically, may more profoundly affect the destiny of the U.S."

Express Buzz has reported that "With the global meltdown, people fearing to invest in private sectors are going in for postal savings. Statistics reveal that the number of new savings accounts in post offices have increased considerably."

Voice of Nigeria has reported that "The Postmaster-General of Nigeria, Malam Ibrahim Mori Baba, has been elected the Chairman of the Strategic Board of Pan-African Postal Union (PAPU)."

NewsItem has reported that "Address changes have caused numerous headaches and frustration for some residents of this Northumberland County village. They want to know “who dropped the ball,” and when will the issues, which began in the beginning of the year, be resolved."

Here is the Associated Press' report of the Postal Service's cost-cutting efforts. Reports similar to this have appeared in many papers across the nation. All summarize or report on the announcement from the Postal Service noted below.

"U.S. Senators Judd Gregg and Jeanne Shaheen, and Representatives Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes today joined together in urging the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to reconsider its decision to close the New Hampshire and Vermont Postal District Office.  The USPS announced this afternoon that it intends to shut down the NH/VT District Office in Manchester, NH, and relocate its operations to Maine."

The Staten Island Advance has reported that "Making a direct appeal to the U.S. postmaster general to continue to process outgoing Staten Island mail at the Manor Road Post Office, Sen. Charles Schumer said today it would be "unacceptable" to do otherwise, even as a cost-cutting measure. In a letter to Postmaster General John E. Potter, Schumer noted that not only could it result in the transfer of 300 employees who now work at the Castleton Corners facility to Brooklyn or Queens, but it would mean the end of the Staten Island postmark if the borough's mail is processed elsewhere. "It is unacceptable that the United States Post Office is even considering shutting down the outgoing mail facility at the Manor Road Post Office," said Schumer. "... During this economic crisis, transferring these workers to Brooklyn or Queens would cost them time, transportation costs and could damage the quality of [mail] delivery for Staten Island." [EdNote: Oh? And what about the cost to the nation's postal system and all postal users? Having the Postal Service go Chapter 11 for the sake of Staten Island is "unacceptable" too. Who's going to pick up the costs associated with maintaining a redundant postal facility? Staten Island? Or everyone else? Let the politicking stop here.]

Information Age has reported that "Digitising incoming correspondence and storing it electronically for archival, compliance and customer service purposes has long been a burden at most large companies. In many cases they outsource the document management side of that a third party such as EDS or Xerox. So there is nothing too innovative about the decision of Zurich Financial Services Group to outsource its document management to Swiss Post, especially when standardised input process across multinational boundaries create globally searchable and accessible documents. But it is the sheer scale of the Zurich-Swiss Post contract that makes it noteworthy. The Swiss Post brief involved replacing the bank’s inhouse process with a cross-border operation covering six countries – the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Austria – and processing around 146 million documents annually, a mammoth task involving opening 240,000 items of physical mail a day and digitising 150,000 documents a day."

POSTAL SERVICE BOARD OF GOVERNORS Sunshine Act. Meeting Times and Dates: 6 p.m., Monday, March 30, 2009; 10 a.m., Tuesday, March 31, 2009; and 9:45 a.m., Wednesday, April 1, 2009. Place: Potomac, Maryland, at the Bolger Center for Leadership Development. Status: Closed. Matters to be Considered: Monday, March 30 at 6 p.m. (Closed) 1. Financial Matters. 2. Strategic Issues. 3. Pricing. 4. Personnel Matters and Compensation Issues. 5. Governors' Executive Session--Discussion of prior agenda items and Board Governance. Tuesday, March 31 at 10 a.m. (Closed) Continuation of Monday's agenda. Wednesday, April 1 at 9:45 a.m. (Closed) Continuation of Monday's agenda. Contact Person for More Information: Julie S. Moore, Secretary of the Board, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L'Enfant Plaza, SW., Washington, DC 20260-1000. Telephone (202) 268-4800.

According to The Nation, "Communities across America are suffering through a crisis that could leave a dramatically diminished version of democracy in its wake. It is not the economic meltdown, although the crisis is related to the broader day of reckoning that appears to have arrived. The crisis of which we speak involves more than mere economics. Journalism is collapsing, and with it comes the most serious threat in our lifetimes to self-government and the rule of law as it has been understood here in the United States."

Docket No. RM2008-1. The Postal Regulatory Commission has issued a second notice of proposed rulemaking to implement procedures governing the degree of confidentiality to accord information filed by the Postal Service and third parties with the Commission.  The proposed rules, issued pursuant to section 504(g) of title 39, prescribe the tests the Commission will employ to determine whether information filed under seal by the Postal Service and third parties with the Commission will retain its non-public (confidential) status or be subject to disclosure to the public.  In addition, the proposed rules set forth the test the Commission will apply to permit access to non-public materials.  Initial comments on the proposed rule are due 30 days after publication of the Order in the Federal Digest.