February 23, 2009

U.S. Postal Service Shipping and Mailing Services President Robert Bernstock has announced "assignments to key leadership positions in Mailing and Shipping Services.

Reporting to David Schoenfeld:

• Bob Michelson will serve as manager, Program Management and Support, responsible for business and market analytics, competitive assessments and program management support.
• Steve Monteith has been named manager, Transaction and Correspondence Mail. driving growth in all products and services related to bills and payments, Vote by Mail and a broad range of personal correspondence.
• Tom Foti has been named manager, Marketing Mail, and will lead efforts to drive growth in all products and services related to direct mail, saturation mail, advertising mail, catalogs and periodicals.

Reporting to Robert Bernstock:

• Sharon Daniel replaces Tom as Manager, Mailing and Shipping Services Strategy. Office of the President.
• Rhonda Diggins has been promoted to senior executive administrative assistant.

The DM Bulletin has reported that:

• Postcomm is proposing to allow Royal Mail to introduce zonal pricing, or higher charges for mail and parcels delivered to remote areas, for rivals using its 'final mile' delivery service. The move marks a change of heart for Postcomm, which initially rejected Royal Mail's plan to base the cost of sending letters and parcels on the "delivery density" of the destination. Experts predict zonal pricing, if approved for rival operators, to be rolled out to cover all post handled by Royal Mail.
• British consumers rated being able to respond online as the most important factor for encouraging them to respond to direct mail campaigns, according to new research. CDMS commissioned research among 2,000 British consumers asking them what factors were most likely to make them open a piece of direct mail, respond to it and make a purchase. The research found three key factors: the ability to respond online, timeliness of correspondence and personalisation of communications.

USA Today has reported that "the head football coach at the University of Southern California and a Columbia University dermatologist each earned more than $4 million in 2007, making them the highest paid employees at private colleges. The presidents, meanwhile, earned about $900,000 and $1.4 million, respectively. The salaries of employees other than presidents were released today by the Chronicle of Higher Education, which has published a report on presidents' compensation each fall for more than 15 years. It is expanding its scope to other employees, it says, because their compensation "contributes to the broader national discussion about appropriate levels of pay for leaders in all sectors," including higher education. "There are other people getting pretty big paychecks" besides presidents, says Chronicle editor Jeffrey Selingo." [EdNote: And Congress has the nerve to call for a hearing to look into the Postmaster General's compensation? Has Congress nothing better to do? The "problem" today is not with people who are making too much but with too many people who are making nothing!]

Cordis has reported that "A conference entitled 'Good jobs for good services? The impact of privatisation of public services on employment, productivity and service quality' will be held on 24 April in Vienna, Austria. The one-day conference will take a closer look at the outcomes of liberalisation and privatisation of public services and related processes. There will also be a specific focus on employment, working conditions, productivity, service quality and prices. The conference will examine evidence and conclusions from further research by European experts on the privatisation of network industries and health services. For further information, visit: http://www.pique.at/conference/index.html."

From PR Newswire: "DX Group (DX) is delighted to announce the appointment of David Higham as Marketing Director for the group. David joins the group with an MBA from Cranfield University and over 15 years experience of the Postal industry. With various senior marketing positions at both Royal Mail and TNT David brings extensive knowledge of marketing, planning and business development. DX is the UK & Ireland's leading independent mail and courier company delivering around 1 million items of business mail each night."

Transport Intelligence has reported that" in a positive sign that the global integrators are continuing to make investments despite the present challenging worldwide economic environment, both DHL and TNT are expanding their express activities in China. Specifically, the two express giants are further developing their operations and services for that country's domestic market, which at present offers the greatest opportunities for foreign players."

From the U.S. Postal Service: "Last November, the Move Update requirement — the USPS mailing standard that requires business mailers to match their address lists with official USPS change-of-address orders — was revised to help mailers improve the quality of their address lists. The new requirement increased the minimum frequency of Move Update processing from 185 days to 95 days prior to the date of the mailing. The revised standard also extended for the first time Move Update requirements to all Standard Mail — including letters, flats, parcels and Not-Flat Machinable mailpieces. Move Update also helps reduce the number of mailpieces that are undeliverable as addressed, reducing USPS costs. Though the new standard was implemented in November, customers were given six months to improve their Move Update processes. Beginning May 11, as long as a mailing’s error rate for Move Update compliance is under 30 percent, the mailing will qualify for postal discounts."

Special Hotel Rate ends Wednesday!! REGISTER ONLINE TODAY! 

Media Daily News has reported that "The Magazine Publishers of America revealed Friday that it is canceling the American Magazine Conference, the industry's annual trade show and expo scheduled for October, citing the economic downturn. The news comes not long after three members withdrew from the MPA, with Hachette Filipacchi's departure two weeks ago followed by American Media and New York last week. It also came close on the heels of a similar announcement from the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, which also canceled its annual trade show, citing the recession."

Advertising Age has reported that:

• 77% of the members of the Association of National Advertisers say they are planning to reduce their media budgets this year, meaning nuclear winter for the media won't end until 2010 at the earliest. Meanwhile, print is most afflicted by budgets shifting online.
• For all the apocalyptic news about newspapers, there's a distinction worth making: Newspaper owners are far more endangered than the medium itself. Even as they take blow after blow from recession and digital media, newspapers themselves still earn decent profits. They do even better outside big cities, which tend to get all the attention. Publicly owned newspapers averaged an operating profit of 10.8% in the first three quarters of last year. The owners, on the other hand, are variously posting huge losses, at least on paper; watching their stock prices plunge; and, crucially, struggling to make payments on debt they took on under projections that didn't pan out." 

People's Daily Online has reported that "FedEx China is losing money to grab market shares by lowering its prices of domestic express service in China by more than 70 percent in a year to the level set by domestic private companies," Chen Ping, former president of the ZJS Express Co., a private express company in China, told Xinhua. Chen is among many executives of China's private express companies grumbling over the foreign rival's price cuts as they planned to raise service prices to offset rising cost pushed up by oil and labor prices hikes. They accused FedEx of conducting unfair competition, or dumping, as they said FedEx's cost was much higher than theirs."

According to the Arizona Daily Star, "The U.S. Postal Service has asked Congress for permission to reduce mail delivery by one day a week to help the agency cope with decreased mail volume, rising costs and a large deficit. That request, however, doesn't go far enough. We may be in the minority saying this, but who needs mail delivery even five days a week? Most households — not businesses — could easily get by with delivery as seldom as three times a week."

The Mirror has reported that "Up to 1,000 posties will join a rally tomorrow to protest at Government plans to sell off a stake in Royal Mail. The Communication Workers Union said the partprivatisation proposed by Business Secretary Peter Mandelson will be "dangerous, damaging" and threaten jobs and the quality of service."

Transport Intelligence has reported that "Netherlands-based express and mail service provider TNT issued a statement on Friday (February 20) announcing that it had "taken note of the (Dutch) Cabinet's intention to liberalise the Dutch postal market as of April 1, 2009". TNT said the Dutch government had consistently set two conditions for the liberalisation of the Dutch postal market − sound arrangements for the employment conditions in the postal sector and a level playing field in the European postal market." 

The Washington Times has reported that "Congress will hold a hearing next month into why Postmaster General John E. Potter has gotten a nearly 40 percent pay raise since 2006 and was awarded a six-figure incentive bonus last year, even as the U.S. Postal Service faces a multibillion-dollar shortfall that threatens a day of mail delivery."

From today's Federal Register:

Postal Regulatory Commission
NOTICES
Postal Service Price Changes ,
8124–8129 [E9–3781]			[TEXT]  [PDF]
Postal Service
RULES
New Pricing Eligibility, Intelligent Mail, and Move Update Standards for Domestic Mailing and Shipping Services ,
8009–8033 [E9–3481]			[TEXT]  [PDF]

Coastweek has reported that "Kenya Data Networks is removing the hassle out of making calls, surfing the net or even roaming through making it easier to access top-up scratch cards for its butterfly internet users. The package also contains provision of Wi-Fi hotspots- access points to get faster, cheaper and reliable wireless internet connectivity. The leading infrastructure provider aims to achieve this through partnership with Postal Corporation of Kenya - the country's premier postal services provider."

According to The Guardian, "Peter Hain, the former work and pensions secretary, will join a growing Labour rebellion against plans by the business secretary, Lord Mandelson, to part-privatise the Royal Mail. As the government prepares to publish a detailed policy statement and proposed legislation, Hain will add his signature today to a backbench motion criticising the plan. So far 139 MPs have signed the early day motion, guaranteeing that Mandelson's plans will fail unless the business secretary introduces major changes."

eTaiwan News has reported that "Chunghwa Post Co. will launch a broad range of financial products and services this year, including Visa debit cards."

The Telegraph has reported that "Plans to part-privatise the Royal Mail will be unveiled this week - a move which will set Lord Mandelson on a collision course with more than 120 Labour MPs opposed to the move. The Business Secretary will publish the legislation which will pave the way for a stake in the Royal Mail to be sold to a private postal firm. The favourite to buy into the postal service is the Dutch company TNT."

The Times has reported that:

• The postal workers' union will ballot to sever links with Labour in the next few weeks unless plans to sell a stake in Royal Mail are scrapped. The move comes as a Bill to sell part of the state-owned group is to be launched in Parliament imminently, much earlier than had been expected.
• Billy Hayes is going into battle to keep Royal Mail in public ownership. It is a fight that the leader of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) has waged several times in recent years, but the old foe of private investment in the publicly owned postal service is back - and so is its combative opponent. On this occasion, the conflict is centred on the possible sale of a stake in Royal Mail to a rival operator, probably TNT, the Dutch postal group, or perhaps, according to weekend reports, the Danish and Swedish post offices — with the union determined to block any form of private ownership in the group. 

February 22, 2009

Veteran newspaper industry postal lobbyist Tonda Rush has published a piece in Editor & Publisher on how "Newspaper public notices are under attack as never before, as government bodies peddle the notion that the Internet is the cheaper medium. Here are five things to know about public notices -- and five things to do."

According to the Sarasota Herald Tribune, "a truth about newspapers that surprises some people: Your subscription checks and single-copy coins barely cover the cost of newsprint and paying carriers to bring the paper to your door. Advertising provides more than three-quarters of our revenue. So when the recession forces companies to cut marketing budgets, media that depend on advertising take a big hit." [EdNote: One might say something similar about advertising mail and universal mail delivery.]

The Guardian has reported that "Lord Mandelson will defy Labour rebels by unveiling a controversial bill to part-privatise the Royal Mail in the House of Lords as early as this week. The business secretary is determined to push through legislation as soon as possible in the teeth of mounting Labour opposition, which will reach a climax as MPs return to Westminster tomorrow after the half-term break. Unions and more than 110 Labour MPs opposed to the Mandelson plan will stage a series of protests and rallies this week. The issue will dominate Labour's National Policy Forum next weekend."

The Telegraph has reported that "Post Danmark and Posten AB of Sweden, which are in the process of merging, are understood to have registered an interest in forming a strategic partnership with Royal Mail that could result in the combined entity acquiring 30pc in the British company. UBS, the investment bank, has been hired by the Government to evaluate interest from prospective bidders. CVC Capital Partners, the private equity group, is also interested in the Royal Mail stake."

February 21, 2009

Here are some goodies you can find on the Deutsche Post web site:

PostInsight has noted that "The UPU's statistical database provides a dynamic overview of postal development in each country. It contains data from over 200 countries or territories and includes approximately 100 indicators of postal development, grouped in 12 chapters. The data is collected annually by the International Bureau from all UPU member postal administrations."

PROGRAM REGISTRATION HOTEL Don't Miss the 43rd Annual PRINT DISTRIBUTION CONFERENCE March 29 - April 1, 2009 Sheraton Sand Key Resort Clearwater, Florida REGISTER TODAY! (PostCom is an IDEAlliance Partner)

If you haven't yet seen the DMA Green Initiatives web page, you should check it out.

The Royal Gazette has noted that "The Ministry of Energy, Telecommunications and E-Commerce is provided with a budget of $32 million in 2009–2010. The Ministry's primary objectives for the year will be the development of a National Energy Policy, the continuing reform of the telecommunications regulatory environment, the development of a data privacy and protection policy framework, the launch of a five-year initiative to modernise the postal sector and the redevelopment of the Government's information technology infrastructure."

According to The Guardian, "Mandelson is spoiling for a fight over the post. The business secretary is using an emotive issue to get back his image of a parliamentary bruiser."

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

• The Postal Service published its Form 8-K with the Postal Regulatory Commission February 18 as required by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. The form disclosed monumental losses for January 2009.
• The Postal Service has posted its first service performance reports for market-dominant products, as required under the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. The first quarter FY 2009 reports include performance for presort commercial First-Class Mail, Single Piece First-Class Mail International, Periodicals, Standard Mail, Package Services, and Special Services. Deputy Postmaster General and Chief Operating Officer Pat Donahoe told customers at this week’s the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee meeting the USPS can begin to identify service opportunities, issues and challenges now that service standards are in place and measurement is beginning. He reviewed the first quarter results for each market dominant product group with the MTAC audience.
• The USPS shared its latest plans for its roll-out of Intelligent Mail barcode implementation with MTAC this week. The new plan eliminates the previously announced September IMB release and replaces it with IMB releases now set for May and November 2009.
• USPS executives Steve Kearney, senior vice president of customer relations, and Maura Robinson, vice president of pricing and classification, walked Mailers Technical Advisory Committee attendees through the Postal Service’s recently announced postal price changes.
• The USPS this week at the MTAC meeting also officially shared its policy for Move Update compliance penalties, as well as more information about the verification process. The USPS will begin assessing additional postage for non-compliance with Move Update requirements on May 11, 2009, for First-Class Mail presort and automation pieces, and all Standard Mail pieces. Non-compliant First-Class Mail mailings will be assessed single piece First-Class rates for the entire mailing and non-compliant Standard Mail mailings will be assessed 7-cents per piece for the entire mailing. The USPS will not assess penalties for mailings unless 5 or more Move Update errors are found in verification, and will not assess penalties for mailings where over 70 percent of the change-of-address records have been updated. The USPS plans to evaluate the threshold every four months with an eye toward raising the bar as quality improves.
• Bill Galligan, USPS senior vice president of operations, told a Mailers Technical Advisory Committee group the Postal Service will be moving forward on its network re-engineering effort to transform its existing Bulk Mail Center network into one with Network Distribution Centers. The Postal Service plans to begin implementing the NDC concept in the Northeast Area as early as April.
• The USPS has engaged customers through two MTAC workgroups to bring forward ideas on how to grow First-Class Mail and marketing mail volume. The two workgroups this week presented the highlights of their recommendations to the USPS and MTAC audience, including seven short-term growth ideas for First-Class Mail and five ideas for marketing mail that the USPS plans to explore further.
• The USPS this week at the MTAC meeting announced that the deployment schedule for its Flats Sequencing System equipment has slipped by a couple of months, and that it continues to re-evaluate its Phase 1 deployment plans because of continuing declines in flats mail volume.
• American Postal Workers Union President William Burrus says the rate increases proposed by the Postal Service last week imperil its survival and will “continue the failed strategies that have brought the Postal Service to the brink of disaster.” He said the proposal will cause small customers and businesses to subsidize major mailers who will benefit from the USPS’ granting of “excessive” worksharing discounts.
• Mary Ann Bennett, president of The Bennett Group, voices her concerns and objections about the Postal Service’s new Intelligent Mail barcode program.
• In this opinion piece, postal commentator Robert Schrum says the Postal Service can no longer compete in the American market. He urges the U.S. to follow Europe’s example and calls on Congress to privatize the USPS.
• Postal Service releases IPA/ISAL price and product changes. USPS gives financial update during MTAC. Kearney steps into new role at MTAC. Postal Service to test self-mailer designs. More news from MTAC. Del Polito celebrates 25 years with PostCom. National Postal Forum preview.
• Postal previews

The PostCom Bulletin is distributed via NetGram

According to Dead Tree Edition, "If your publications don’t have well over 100 pages per issue, don’t assume that your postage rates will increase by only 4% in May. Even if they mail efficiently, publications weighing less than half a pound will typically experience increases of 6% to 7%, Dead Tree Edition's exclusive analysis has found, even though the Postal Service says Periodicals increases will average just under 4%. Characteristics other than weight – such as dropshipping, co-mailing, ad-edit ratio, and non-profit status – have little impact on the percentage increase for Periodicals mailers who do not change their mailing practices."

The Houston Chronicle has reported that "Federal prosecutors have asked fraud investigators from the Labor Department and Postal Service to examine allegations that a former postal union official in Houston embezzled union funds. Ed Gallagher, deputy criminal chief for major offenders of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston, said he asked the two inspectors general to investigate whether the details laid out in a lawsuit recently filed by the American Postal Workers Union could be criminal violations. The union accuses its former regional coordinator, Frankie Sanders, of submitting thousands of dollars worth of receipts for non- existent hotel stays, including one in New Orleans that at the time was closed because of Hurricane Katrina damage." 

The Times Leader has reported that "Representatives of the American Postal Workers Union Local 175 will conduct informational picketing Thursday in opposition to the plan to close some mail-sorting operations at the Wilkes-Barre Post Office."

The Journal Inquirer has reported that "The postman won’t be ringing twice. A move by the U.S. Postal Service to save money by stopping routine individual delivery to homes in new subdivisions resulted because letter carriers are bringing “less and less mail to more and more mailboxes,” a spokeswoman said Friday. The official, Maureen P. Marion, said that under a policy first adopted in the mid-1990s, the independent government agency is telling developers of housing complexes in Connecticut and elsewhere across the country that they should install “cluster mailboxes” or otherwise allow for “centralized delivery.” She said the intent is to cut costs in “areas of growth because of development, but not necessarily with growth of mail volume.”

DM News has reported that "With a May 11 deadline to improve their bulk-mailing lists or face fines looming, mailers can now receive reports on how well their mail is performing through the US Postal Service. Beginning May 11, 2009, a mailing with a 30% or more error rate for Move Update requirements will no longer qualify for automation discounts."

The Telegraph has reported that "Government insiders have concluded that Royal Mail's business is now so precarious that without a major overhaul it will be unable to continue with its universal daily delivery service. Ministers are warning that Royal Mail risks following the example of the US postal service, which has recently sought permission from the US Congress to drop its Saturday service amid huge financial losses."

February 20, 2009 

Here's some of what's new on the Postal Regulatory Commission website:

As Wired has noted, "With the stroke of a pen — or is it a quill? — George Washington signs the Postal Service Act, creating a national postal service. The U.S. Post Office Department born from the Act charged six cents (about $1.40 in today's coin) for letters delivered within a 30-mile radius, and 12.5 cents ($2.90) for letters traveling up to 150 miles. (That's pretty steep, considering that a first-class stamp today costs only 42 cents, and you can ship Priority Mail anywhere in the country for $4.95.)"  

The BBC has reported that "Most people in Jersey are getting mail delivered within 24 hours of it being posted in the island, according to the island's postal service. Jersey Post said that more than 97% of local mail was delivered within a day. The latest statistics also show Jersey Post beat its delivery targets for mail to and from Guernsey and the UK." 

Canada.com has reported that "In a dimly lit room inside a downtown Toronto hotel, Canadian Jewish groups played video footage from rallies that they said "should shock all Canadians" and asked the organizations involved in the demonstrations to denounce the "hateful rhetoric." The groups that participated in the demonstrations included the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. One picture featured four men standing with an Israeli flag and giving the Nazi salute in Calgary. In another, someone in Montreal held a sign that read, "Israelis are the Nazis of the 21st century." [EdNote: Makes you wonder how many of those protesting had relatives that died on the beaches of Normandy.] 

According to Charles Mapa, President of the National League of Postmasters, "The management style embraced by many, many areas and districts throughout this country is sick. Part of this style is to systematically berate, belittle and humiliate subordinates, including POOMs, Postmasters, and supervisors. All the things that we were taught growing up about positive interpersonal relationships have been thrown out the window; instead, those things have been replaced by the bullying techniques that supposedly get results. They get results all right; the results include disheartened managers surrendering to the will-sapping, abusive, autocratic, micromanagement practiced by their superiors in the areas and districts." 

Hellmail has reported that "PostFinance, the financial arm of Swiss Post, reports a high level of confidence among its customers. In 2008 it posted unprecedented growth. 120,000 customers decided to do business with PostFinance last year. It also increased the number of customer accounts by 311,000, and the inflow of new money totalled CHF 5.9 billion on average over the year. Profit amounts to around CHF 235 million. Given the financial crisis and the necessary writedowns, the result is solid. PostFinance is a secure financial institution that enjoys a high level of confidence among the Swiss public and in the corporate sector."  

From the Federal Register:

Postal Regulatory Commission
NOTICES
Competitive Products Price Changes ,
7938–7939 [E9–3595]			[TEXT]  [PDF]

Tribune has reported that "the Communication Workers Union believes it may be on the brink of an historic victory in its campaign to keep the Royal Mail in the public sector. Labour MPs are furious about Government plans for a package of job cuts, depot closures and part privatisation of the popular public service – almost 140 have signed an early day motion condemning the move – and now a couple of Tories have joined in, too."