May 28, 2009
 The
Buffalo News
has reported that "An Elma businessman who devised a complex scheme to cheat
the U.S. Postal Service out of $350,000 pleaded guilty to three felony
charges today before District Judge Richard J. Arcara. William Toth, 42, was
arrested last year after a lengthy investigation by the U.S. Postal
Inspection Service and the criminal division of the Internal Revenue
Service. Toth pleaded guilty to money laundering, mail fraud and filing a
false tax return, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gretchen L. Wylegala said. While
operating a mail services company called NETEX in the years 2004-2006, Toth
invented a scheme to send packages throughout the United States without
paying the full postage due, Wylegala said. She said the scheme cheated the
Postal Service out of more than $350,000. He also admitted that he filed a
false 2005 tax return, which understated his taxes due by $40,000."
Media Daily News has reported that "Two more supermarket chains are
introducing mobile coupon services for shoppers, marking another advance for
this increasingly popular marketing channel. Tom Thumb and Randall's -- both
owned by Safeway -- are currently cooperating with packaged-goods
manufacturers General Mills, Unilever and Kimberly-Clark to offer shoppers
21 coupons for goods like pre-packaged tossed salad and children's cereal.
Shoppers who have a loyalty card can view and select the digital coupons
they want by visiting the store's Web site on their computer or mobile
device. The selected coupons are registered on their loyalty account, and
automatically deducted when the cashier swipes their loyalty card. The
infrastructure for the system was created by Cellfire, a company
specializing in mobile coupon distribution; it also handles operations and
other technical issues."
Newspaper Death Watch has
reported that "publishers are finally beginning a sunsetting strategy for
their print editions. By driving up circulation prices, they are effectively
winnowing out their low-value customers. Price increases will probably come
fast and furious in the future. Each will cause circulation to fall until a
new floor is reached. Expect circulation declines to quicken as more
newspapers adopt the strategy." [EdNote: Sounds some days like a strategy
the USPS has adopted. Increase your prices. Pass along your costs in the
form of oppressive worksharing requirements, and squeeze the lifeblood out
of your most important First-Class Mail customers by having the Postal
Inspection Service serve them with criminal offense notices. It's a great
way to show the value of doing business with you. Soooooo, who's gonna host
a "Postal Service Death Watch" blog?]
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Intercontinental Hotel
225 Front Street West, Toronto
|
|
As
PC World has noted, "We're in a no-longer-so-new world on the Web and
content producers, like newspapers and magazines, have to experiment,
probably radically, to find a model that compels people to pay for their
product. [EdNote: Makes you wonder when those who are responsible for the
nation's postal system will awaken to a similar appreciation.]
Check
out the
Wall Street Journal for a peek at where newspaper, book, and magazine
publishing may be heading. Hint: It isn't ink on paper.
Kahala Posts Group (KPG),
an international coalition of 10 leading postal
services from around the world, will hold its next CEO Board
meeting at the Westin Miyako Hotel in Kyoto, Japan on July 8. The CEOs of
all 10 postal services will be in attendance. A press conference will be
held from 11 am to 12 noon. During the meeting the
members will consider various initiatives for the development of postal
products and services, as well as marketing, extension of the global postal
network and new memberships in the group. Norio Kitamura,
chairman and CEO of Japan Post Service Co., Ltd., will chair the meeting.
Leading postal services in the Asia‐Pacific region founded KPG in 2003 to
strengthen their jointly managed International Express Mail Service (EMS),
aiming to ensure seamless, high‐quality, end‐to‐end reliable delivery by
leveraging and integrating their networks and technology to provide
transparency to customers. In addition to founding members from Australia,
China, Hong Kong‐China, Japan and Korea and the
United States, KPG now includes members from Spain, the United
Kingdom, France and Singapore, and continues to explore opportunities for
further expansion.
Computing.co.uk has reported that "Royal Mail is looking for a supplier
for a £120m contract for the transformation of its web operations. The mail
service wants to select a partner for systems integration and the
transformation of its e-business division, providing services such as
design, development, hosting and ongoing operation of all its web sites. The
successful vendor will be asked to migrate from or take charge of the firm’s
existing IT platforms and relationships in that area, while delivering a
cost-effective model to allow the launch of new web-based products and
services. The value of the five-year contract may reach £120m, according to
the contract notice published on the Official Journal of the European Union.
Royal Mail said in the notice that spending for the project “will be to such
level as are considered necessary to provide suitable requirements” and is
also subject to reviews driven by macroeconomic factors and other business
priorities. Bids must be submitted by 25 June."
From
Business Wire: "Postea Inc. announces that Singapore Post will license
Postea’s suite of hardware and software technology. Postea develops and
operates companies which provide technology and support to the postal,
courier and logistics markets. Subsidiaries include Proiam LLC and
Innovations Group Inc. (IGI). Innovations Group’s Retail Network and
Franchise Management program is currently in deployment by the United States
Postal Service."
The
Wall
Street Journal wants you to know "Why
Government Can't Run a Business Politicians need headlines.
Executives need profits. overnments are run by politicians, not businessmen.
Politicians can only make political decisions, not economic ones. They are,
after all, first and foremost in the re-election business. Because of the
need to be re-elected, politicians are always likely to have a short-term
bias. What looks good right now is more important
to politicians than long-term consequences even when those consequences can
be easily foreseen. And politicians tend to favor parochial interests over
sound economic sense. Government enterprises are almost always
monopolies and thus do not face competition at all. But competition is
exactly what makes capitalism so successful an economic system. The lack of
it has always doomed socialist economies. Governments use other people's
money. Corporations play with their own money. So a labor negotiation in a
corporation is a negotiation over how to divide the wealth that is created
between stockholders and workers. Each side knows that if they drive too
hard a bargain they risk killing the goose that lays golden eggs for both
sides." [EdNote: A case in point. Name one private sector union with
collective bargaining rights that would rather run to Congress to cry the
blues rather than bring its problems to the collective bargaining table to
work out differences it has with its employer. Now contrast that with the
behavior you see with public sector unions, such as those representing
postal workers.]
According to
Seacoast Online, "Residents of Ocean Avenue Extension ante up their
complaints over the town's decision to make the street one-way, as the York
Village Post Office now refuses to deliver their mail.
The post office will no longer deliver mail to Ocean Avenue Extension,
said York Village Postmaster William Monagle,
because to do so would require the driver to make a left-hand turn.
Monagle said the U.S. Postal Service has a policy not to create new
left-hand turns on its routes." [EdNote: Now that ought to make the
senator from Maine particularly happy with the Postal Service....Advice:
Know your friends. Don't make unnecessary enemies.]
Hellmail has reported that "Billy Hayes, general secretary of the
Communication Workers Union, said top represent some 150,000 postal workers,
added his voice to claims by UNI Global that postal liberalisation is
leading to unemployment, attacks on working conditions and poorer service
for customers. “We’ve said for a long while that liberalisation doesn’t
benefit the market. The UNI report shows that postal services are public
services and don’t sit well in the private sector.” His comment follows a
UNI global study carried out in 13 countries that indicated that full
liberalisation of the postal market was failing. The study examined the
effects of liberalisation on workers and response from unions. UNI found
that the economic theory backing up liberalisation was questionable and that
there was little competition in the liberalised postal markets, with new
entrants obtaining from 0.1% to 10% of market share. The study also revealed
that there are very few competitors to the incumbent, in most cases between
one and four."
Yahoo! News has reported that "Global newspaper sales inched up last
year, contradicting gloomy predictions that dailies face extinction, as
gains in Africa, Asia and Latin America offset slumps in Europe and the US,
an industry group said Wednesday. Newspaper sales grew 1.3 percent worldwide
last year from 2007 to 539 million daily, a rise of 8.8 percent over the
past four years, said Gavin O'Reilly, president of the World Association of
Newspapers. "The sector continues to grow," he said at the start of a
two-day WAN conference in Barcelona, adding media commentators were making a
"mistake" when they predicted the death of daily newspapers."
According to KOMO,
"Beverly Hills has a famous one, but this King County town of 10,000 just
wants one to call their own -- a zip code. The city's only two postal zip
codes are both listed as Renton. "I think it's like living in Lake
Woebegone, where you can't really put it on the map," said Newcastle City
Manager John Starbard. This is no laughing matter. Newcastle wants its own
zip code, and one reason is a city councilman learned those Renton zip codes
are in accident-heavy areas. "Because the zip codes are Renton-based, (the
councilman) is paying about a 20 percent premium on his auto insurance,"
Starbard said."
There's
been a lot of talk these days about the Postal Service serving as a
"laboratory" for the development of longer-life electric vehicles. Here are
two items some might find of interest:
From
Business Wire: "Pizzas 4 Patriots, a non-profit organization, is teaming
up with DHL, the world’s leading global
express delivery and logistics company, and Uno Chicago Grill®, the inventor
of deep-dish pizza, to dish out up to 28,000 pizzas to U.S. servicemen and
women throughout Iraq and Afghanistan in time for Independence Day, 2009."
 Supply
Chain Europe has reported that "UPS announced plans to boost its global
post sales service options by significantly expanding its field stocking
location (FSL) network in India."
MyCentralJersey.com has reported that "Starting in September, there will
be one more venue to do so in the township at a new satellite U.S. Post
Office that will open inside Devine's Pharmacy at 1949 Oak Tree Road. "It
will offer residents the convenience of postal products and services right
here where they live," said Edison Postmaster John Karp. Satellite offices,
also called contract postal units (CPU), are a growing trend, Karp said.
Central Jersey already has a few of them, including one at the Cold Cut
Center at Roosevelt Avenue in Carteret and several on the Rutgers campuses
in New Brunswick and Piscataway."
Heritage
Foundation: Unfair Government Competition: A Threat to the U.S. Economy
Date: June 3, 2009 Time: 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. "Federal, state and
local agencies, universities, non-profit organizations, prison industries,
and other government sponsored and supported entities engage in commercially
available activities that result in unfair government competition with
private enterprise. This adversely affects the U.S. economy by duplicating
activities available from commercial providers, increasing the government
payroll, and diverting public monies from inherently governmental activities
the American public expects of its government. More than 850,000 positions
out of a non-postal, non-military uniformed Federal workforce of 1.8 million
are in “commercial” activities. Every White House Conference on Small
Business has identified unfair government competition as a top concern of
America’s small businesses. Nevertheless, the Obama Administration is
proposing to add some 250,000 new federal employees and “insourcing”
numerous activities currently performed by private sector contractors."
From
PR Newswire: "Valassis, one of the nation's leading media and marketing
services companies, and The Dallas Morning News, the flagship subsidiary of
A. H. Belo Corporation (NYSE: AHC) , today announced a powerful, innovative
alliance that changes the way advertisers reach households in the Dallas-Ft.
Worth designated market area (DMA). Through the alliance, The Dallas Morning
News will combine its advertising inserts with Valassis' RedPlum(TM) Direct
Mail Package, creating a single, shared offering that will reach 1.5 million
households weekly in the Dallas-Ft. Worth market."
 MTAC
and the Postal Service are co-sponsoring an industry volume survey
to help understand the trend of future mail volumes. We need your help to
forward this link to your respective members asking that only one person in
each member company or organization provide his/her best estimate about
future mail volumes.
May 27, 2009
According
to Advertising
Age, "Print is not aging well. Or, rather, its readers are aging rapidly.
That's been suspected and alleged since digital media was born, of course, but
the latest round of industrywide research revealed just how much has changed in
the past five years."
 Welcome
to PostCom Radio
PostCom Postal Podcast
Join PostCom President Gene Del Polito and PostCom Board members
Jolene Johannes, Lisa Wurman, and Michael Winn in a discussion of
the Postal Service's rules governing tabbed
booklets and what the rules mean to mailers.
[This was
recorded in the Exhibit Hall at the National Postal Forum.] |
TriValley Central has reported that "Throughout the county, all ZIP codes
beginning with "852" will make a one-digit change, replacing the first "2" with
a "1." The remaining digits in the ZIP code will remain the same. To adjust for
population growth, Casa Grande's 85222 ZIP code will change to 85122, the U.S.
Postal Service announced this week. Also, 85294 will change to 85194, and the
85230 code for post office boxes will become 85130. "This will give the USPS
capacity to add additional five-digit ZIP codes in the future to handle growth
when new deliveries are added in the area," said Peter Hass, USPS corporate
communications officer. The new ZIP codes will officially be changed on July 1
and residents should begin using them by that date, the U.S. Postal Service
said. By May 28, the new ZIP codes should be effective in the USPS system."
Online Media Daily has reported that "Traditional print media drives online
leads, according to data released today from Telmetrics, a Toronto-based company
focused on advertising call tracking and measurement solutions."
MediaPost has noted that "One of the real concerns of sustainability
advocates is that the stagnant global economy will put pressure on businesses to
freeze, moderate, or even eliminate sustainability-oriented programs and
messages. At a time when corporate profits have cratered and nearly everyone's
job seems at risk, the belief is that spending on sustainability will be lumped
in with other examples of unnecessary corporate excess, like corporate jets and
stadium luxury suites. A review of recent studies and surveys suggest that, in
fact, the opposite is true: companies that aggressively pursue sustainability
will put themselves in a position of unique strategic advantage. Ultimately,
this can lead to more efficient business practices, an enhanced brand, and
improved fiscal performance. "Sustainability and Branding: The Imperative of
Continuity," a white paper recently released by ADC Partners, identifies a
number of the underlying reasons for initiating or maintaining sustainability
programs, and for aligning a brand accordingly."
PostCom Members! Your latest issue of the
PostCom Executive Summary has been
distributed. Please feel free to pass this on to others within your
organization. If you haven't yet received your copy, contact
info@postcom.org
 PARCEL
Forum has reached out to some of the industry's
top consultants to produce a series of all day, intensive
pre-conference workshops. Each workshop is designed to focus
on a specific segment of the small shipment supply chain;
Operational
Efficiencies,
Transportation Law,
Transportation
Technology & Resources and
Executive Management. Now's not the
time to stick your head in a box and wait for things to
change; now's the time to arm yourself with the knowledge to
make things change and... that's where we come in! You also
can get hold of the latest issue of
PARCEL magazine presented in web-friendly NXT format.
At the Postal Regulatory
Commission:
(updated)
 |
PostCom welcomes its newest member:
Production Solutions
1953 Gallows Road, Suite 600 Vienna, VA 22182-3988 Contact: Cheryl B. Keedy Director of Product Development
|
PostCom
Members! The summer sale. Do you qualify? Don't you qualify? How do
you determine your threshold test? You can find the answers in two documents the
Postal Service has provided and can be found on this web site: (1)
Guidelines For Documenting Standard Mail Volume Sent Through A Mail Service
Provider For Participation in USPS Summer Sale Program and (2)
Customer Volume Claim Form Summer Sale Program.
The
DM Bulletin has reported that "Upmarket clothes catalogue Lands' End has
been signed up as the first mail order client of Royal Mail's green DM postal
service, Sustainable Mail. The service, launched in April, offers a lower price
tariff for mail that meets environmental criteria in line with the new DM green
standard, PAS 20:20. Black Horse Personal Finance and Standard Life are already
using Sustainable Mail."
 The
Swazi Observer has
reported that "the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology has
called for the speedy implementation of the opening of exchange bureaus in post
offices. Principal Secretary Nathaniel Mahluza during the opening of the
Southern Africa Postal Operators Association (SAPOA) 8th Annual General Meeting
at Orion Piggs Peak Hotel on Monday, said this would help rural communities and
migrant workers remit funds to their families. He noted that in the SADC region
over 60% of the people still reside in rural areas, therefore, the speedy
implementation of the road transport network, quality service and money transfer
regionally are of utmost urgency. Mahluza applauded the SAPOA for demonstrating
firm commitment and professionalism in the manner in which it discharges its
mandate as defined in the transport, communications and meteorology protocol."
Shacknews has reported
that "the United States Postal Service has denied that it is providing
preferential treatment to the competitors of videogame rental-by-mail service
GameFly, and today filed a motion to partially dismiss the company's complaint.
"In short, the Complaint lacks merit and fails to articulate grounds for any
relief," said the USPS in its 26-page response. "[GameFly] seems to believe that
problems of its own making can somehow be solved by the Postal Service when, in
fact, they cannot--at least not without incurring costs that would be a
disservice to all other mailers."
As the
local postmaster told the readers of the
Spartanburg Herald-Journal, "While it's true that the recession and the
Internet are contributing to difficult financial circumstances for the Postal
Service, the major cause of loss of mail volume and revenue is the economy.
Let's not all throw in the towel and turn to the Internet without considering
some important facts...."
The
Asahi
Shimbun has reported that "Prosecutors arrested a welfare ministry official
Tuesday on suspicion of falsifying an official document that led to alleged
widespread abuse of a discount postage system intended for groups supporting
disabled people."
Business Times has reported that "POS Malaysia Bhd(4634) will return to the
black this financial year as it does not expect to make more provisions for its
investments in Transmile Group Bhd."
Orissadiary
has reported that "India Post also announced its tie-up with State Bank of India
to provide rural banking services across the State. As many as 122 post offices
would extend loan products as home loans, loan against property and gold
mortgage, automobile loans, loans against term deposits, securities, Kisan Vikas
Patra and National Savings Certificates as also non-agro SME loans, credit cards
and kisan credit cards of SBI. The post offices would also be a source of saving
accounts along with term deposit, recurring deposit and no frills account for
the bank.:
The Nation has told its readers that "you may have heard that the United
States Postal Service is in dire financial straits, having lost $2.8 billion in
2008 and on track to lose twice that much this year. Things are so bad that the
Postmaster General recently asked Congress for permission to curtail mail
delivery six-days a week. This matters because the USPS continues to provide a
vital public service. The Post Office not only reliably delivers political
periodicals like The Nation -- a class of content vital to a functioning
democracy -- to anyone anywhere in the country, but the mails still serve to
bind our vast populace together, with many post offices serving as de facto
community centers. In this time of fiscal crisis, there is thankfully an easy
way to support the USPS in the form of House Resolution 22."
 The
Prague Daily Monitor has reported that "Czech postal service operator Ceska
posta saw its sales rise to Kc5.15bn in Q1 this year compared to Kc5.1bn a year
ago."
According to
SmasHits, "Flydubai, the state-owned low cost airline of Dubai, has
announced that the Emirates Post Office, which has more than 100 offices all
over the United Arab Emirates, will act as the airline's selling agent. As the
region's most dynamic postal corporation, the Emirates Post set as its goal the
provision of best service to all customers. With the help of our advanced IT
technology and a trained team, we will provide a convenient and user-friendly
service to Flydubai travellers."
 The
Swazi Observer has
reported that "The Universal Postal Union (UPU) is engaged in projects that will
make the postal network an important infrastructure that contributes to
countries’ social and economic development. Director of Operations and
Technology, UPU International Bureau Sulemani Msofe said quality of service
forms part of the UPU mission and has been one of the strategies adopted by past
congresses which placed quality of service among the most important objectives.
Meeting Msofe was addressing a delegation from the Southern Africa Postal
Operators Association during their 8th Annual General Meeting held at the Orion
Piggs Peak Hotel."
Media Daily News has reported that "Since 2001, 64 of 90 leading consumer
magazines have seen the median age of their readers increase faster than the
population at large, according to a MediaPost analysis of the latest figures
from Mediamark Research & Intelligence. The analysis, based on MRI's spring 2009
measurements, confirms the continuation of a long-term trend previously observed
in 2006-2008. Overall, between spring 2001 and spring 2009, the median age of
readers for the 90 leading publications increased an average of 3.1 years,
versus an average increase of 2.1 years for the population at large."
CEP News
(Courier-Express-Postal), published by the MRU
Consultancy, has reported that:
Thanks to the difficult economic environment, Schweizerische Post saw its
operating profit fall by 13.1 per cent (131.5m euros) in the first quarter
of 2009, with a 1.6 per cent increase in sales (1.46bn euros).
 The
global economic situation has left significant marks on Posten Norge’s
business results in the first quarter. The number of mail consignments fell
by a total of 14 per cent, while revenue in the direct mail sector actually
fell by a quarter. On the domestic market, in contrast, the parcel volume
fell, particularly in the B2B segment.Posten is anticipating the downward
trend to continue for the whole financial year.
Deutsche Post has further increased the pressure in the looming tarif
conflict between the post and the union ver.di (CEP News 21/09). Executive
board member Juergen Gerdes told the »FAZ« (22.05) that
part of the work in the mail sector would be
outsourced to foreign companies.
Deutsche Post plans to absorb the downward trend in the mail sector not only
by cutting costs, but also through new products. Speaking to the »FAZ«
(22.05), Jürgen Gerdes, executive board member of the post, announced the
introduction of the so-called "online letter".
According to a statement by Mr Gerdes, market enquiries have revealed that
there is "a surprisingly high willingness to pay for a reliable and secure
electronic communication". The key advantage over
an e-mail is that the post guarantees the identity of sender and
receiver, as well as the protection of the privacy of letters. If recipients
have no internet connection - around a quarter of Germans - letters intended
for them are collected in a digital mailroom, printed, put in an envelope
and delivered in the normal way.
Singapore Post has closed the financial year 2008/2009 (31 March) with
unusually low positive results.Sales in the important mail sector fell by
2.1 per cent.
TNT Post has reacted with "outrage and incomprehension" to the announcement
that the decision on the amendment to the VAT legislation in the German
postal market will not be made until after the parliamentary elections at
the end of September.
Tatarstan potschtasi, the national postal business of the Russian Republic
of Tatarstan, has completed the financial year 2008 with positive results.
 The
Chinese government is expecting the new Postal Act to contribute towards a
significant improvement to the postal service by 2012.
Overseas Express is the new domestic service partner of UPS in Croatia.
 La
Poste is France’s second most popular company, coming a close second to the
discount sports chain Decathlon.
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
Dead Tree Edition, "By shifting some mail handling from the Bronx to
Manhattan recently, the U.S. Postal Service did an end run around union
opposition and Congressional interference. Postal officials are increasingly
using similar tactics around the country to bring about much-needed
consolidation of their dropship network without stirring up local opposition."
According
to
Rasmussen Reports, "Seventy-four percent (74%) of Americans say it is at
least somewhat likely that the price of a first class postage stamp will be $1
or more within the next 10 years. Forty-six percent (46%) say it’s Very Likely.
Younger Americans are more likely to expect a big jump in the price of a stamp
than their elders in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey."
The following reports have posted on the U.S. Postal Service Office
of Inspector General website (http://www.uspsoig.gov/)
today. If you have additional questions concerning the report, please
contact Agapi Doulaveris at 703.248.2286.
|
SEEKING A SENIOR MANAGEMENT LEVEL POSITION
An experienced professional having held director level
positions in distribution, transportation and
logistics. Hands on management with a strong emphasis in the
areas of domestic and foreign mailing including an in depth knowledge of
rules and regulations governing each. Contracted for and shipped
hundreds of millions of units per year to post offices and distributors
worldwide via air, truck and ocean to achieve on time arrivals. Manage
vendors and processes for moving product through the distribution
channel.
Strong background in
wholesale and retail having held positions in
Logistics and In Store Merchandising.
Product Management and Retail Marketing experience including Point of
Purchase, Store Displays and in store data collection.
Excellent financial skills
with an emphasis on cost analysis and control. Senior level manager with
a strong background in strategic planning,
project and performance management.
Contact: mjcnac@aol.com |
|
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